The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-03-19
WEBSTER'S BOOK.
The Cold, Dispassionate Work of tho
Great American Lexicograph her.

The Cold, Dispassfonate Work of tho
Great American photographer.
Mr.. Webster, no doubt, had the best
command of languages Of any American
author prior to our day, Those who have
read his ponderous, but rather discon,
nected, romance, known as Webster's I'm
abridged Dictionary, or "How One Word
led on to Another" viii agree with me that
he was smart, and never lacked for a word
by which to express himself. lie was
braIny man, and good speler.
1t would i'll become me at this late day to
criticise Mr. Webster's great Work-a work
that is now in almost every library, school
room and cOunting-roOm in the land. 1t
is a great book. But I have often heard it
said, and so do not state it solely upon
my own responsibility, that Mr.. Webster's
books do not retain the interest OF the
reader all the way through He has tried
to introduce too many characters, and so
we can not follow them all the way
through. 1t is a good book to pick upand
while away an idle hour with, perhaps but
no one would cling to it night and day
until the fire went out, chained to the
thrilling plot and the glowing career OF the
hero.
Mr.. Webster was most assuredlv a brill
liant writer, and I have discovered in his
later editions 11S.OOO words no two OF
which are alike. This shows great fluency
and versatility, it is true, but we need some
thing else. The reader waits in vain to be
thrilled by the authors wonderful word
painting. There Is not a thrill in the whole
to me- [ had heard so much of Mr. Web
ster that when l read his book / confessI
was disappointed. It is cold methodical,
and dispassiOnate in the extreme. As Isaid,
| however, it is a good book to pick up for
! the purpose of Willing away an idle mo-
ment and no one should start out on d
1 7 e. - AL,
his pocket 1t has broken the monotony
| of a many tedious trip for me.
Mr.. Webster'S SDeHcr was a work of less
pretensons, perhaps, and vet it had an inn
| mense sale. Eight years ago this book had
| reached a sale of 40, 600, 600, and yet had
! the same grave defect. 1t was disconnect-
! ed, cold, prOsy and dull.
l read 1t for years, and at last became
close student OF Mr.. Webster's style; yet
! I never found but one thing in the book
/ that was even ordinarily interesting, and
! that was a little gem. 1t was so thrill
| ing in its details, and so Numerically
/ different from Mr.. Webster's style, that I
have often wondered whom he got to
write it for him. 1t related to the dis
| covery of boy by an elderly gentleman
/ in the crotch of ancestral apple tree,
/ and the feeling OF animosity that sprangup
at that time between the boy and the elder
| ly gentleman.
Though [ have been q close student of
Mr. Webster for years, I am free to say,
and do not wish to do an injustice to Il
great man in doing so, that his ideas OF
literature and my own are entirely dis
similar. Possibly his book has Il larger
sale than mine, but that makes no differ
ence. When l write a book it must en-
gage the interest of the reader and show
some plot to it. It must not be ierky in
its STYLE and scattering in its statements.
know it is a great temptation to write
book that will sell, but we should have Il
higher object than that.
do not wish to do an injustice to n
man who has done so much for the world.
and one who could spell the longest word
without hesitation; but l speak OF these
things Just as / would expect people to
critcise my own worll-RH Nye, in Louis
vile COUFier-JOuruaL