The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-11
A NOVEL, EVERY DAY.


A NOVEL EVERY DAY.
That's the Average of Some Confirmed
Devourers of Light Literature.
From the Washington Star
Persons very fond of reading but with
little spare time to indulge their taste who
visit a narrow shop near one of the de-
partments, are apt to come away with
severe attack of the blues. The shelves,
counters and even the floor of this shop are
chOckfull of pretty nearly all the wisdom
of the aHcients and wit of the moderns, done
up in inelegaut but handily pocketable
paper-bound packages which sell at from 10
to 20 cents each. The shop, in fact is a sort
of headquarters for the cheap libraries now
so numerous, and which are said to be d1irg
great damage TO the more pretentious
branches of the book trade. Here for s. a
careful person can purchase a library more
extensive and better than was ever owned
by many man whom the world calls
great and wise. History, biography, poetry,
philosophy science, litera ture ard romance
are mingled in bewilderiag confusion and
profusion. A glance at the titles of the
famous works piled on shelf and counter,
fills one with despair of every being able to
read them all, so numerous are they; and
yet again they are 50 cheap that a person
with the reading habit feels ashamed not to
buy an armful and rush OFF to his den to
devour them at once.
1--WE have several customers who read
two aud three books a day." the proprietor
said to an inquisitive reporter. Zone man
in particular used to come III regularly
every other day and carry off each time
from six to eight volumes. He didn't APP
pear particular about what he read but
took them just as they came. He kept it
up week after week, too. He had place
in the interior department, but was dis
charged not long ago."
The proprietor didn't intimate that there
was any connection between the mans
reading habits and the loss of his position,
but it struck the reporter that there might
be.
NOVEL READERS.
"There are plenty of people who average
a book day, month in and month out"
the proprietor continued. "The5e people
are mostly novel readers, of course. 1t gets
to be passion with them, like anything
else, and they give all their spare time to
it. If they can't get hold of a new story as
soon as they have finished the old one they
don't know what to do with themselves and
are miserable-like tippler whose rations
have been cut off, or a morphine eater who
can't get the drug"
do you notice much difference in the
class of stories preferred by men and
womenF' the reporter asked.
mo, | can't say that do. ] he women
don't seem to be especially fond of love sto-
ries. In fact. some women who come here
won't read love stories or novels written by
women. They prefer the detective stories
and mysteries of Du BoisgObey and Gabo-
riau and Zola's highly-favored stuff G.
w. NJ Reynolds sensational romances used
to have a big sale, but they aren't in as
much demand as they were"
Haven't the cheap libraries hurt the
sensational story papers a great dealP the
reporter inquired.
''Well, not as much as / thought they
were going to at first, " the gentleman said
II expected the story papers would be
driven entirely out of the field by the
cheap libraries, but l hardly think their
sales have fallen as much as % per cent.
The papers have to keep booming them
selves all the time, though, or they lose
ground badly. They aren't the bonanza they
used to be. The newsdealers wouldn't be
very sorry If the story papers were driven
out Of the field altogether The margin of
profit on them is very small, and the worst
of it is, the people who buy them are Of the
'charge-it-and-r ll-pay- you-next-time' class.
profit off of good ma y papers"
'The people who read the story papers,
then, are of different class from those
who buy the cheap library novels"
WOMEN WHO READ STORY PAPERS.
eyes, as a rule, they are. The people
who read these inferior novels and serial
stories g 4 false and foolish ideas of life.
This is especially true of the confirmed
story-paper readers. They are the worst of
all. | can tell one of them almost as
quickly as ] set my eyes on ner-for the
story paper readers are generally women.
They have wonld-be grand and romantic
air about them, use big words and theatri-
cal expressions, and try TO initiate generally
in their manner tho highly -wTought charac-
ters they read about in tho serials. Girls
brought up from the time they are Is or 16
on this sort of reading aren't satisfied with
a man unless he is like the heroes Of their
stories, and so they are apt to wait good
while before they find one who seems TO
promise 10 come up TO what they call their
ideal And then, if they do get married, in
ninetv-nine cases out Of a hundred they
soon discover that the promises were all
false; that they haven't married their hero
at ali, but only an ordinary, commonplace
man. with not enough of the story-paper
ideal TO him TO supply paragraph in one
of The sloppy serials
"These people with the story-paper habit"
tho speaker continued, seem hardly able 10
control their Impotence from week TO week
for the succeeding installments of the ro-
Many Of them makes a practice
of coming here about the time they know
the papers arrive and waiting until they
can get them; and if they should happen to
be late, and all the papers are sold out when
they got here, then there is row."
CHEAP LIBRARIES,
show many Of the cheap libraries are
there in existence nowp the reporter asked.
"Oh, probably fifty, all told" the dealer
answered; land new ones are starting up
every week. The trade has got TO be some
thing immense Many of the Libraries are
published irregularly, sending out volume
once or twice a month. Theirs are abOnt
q dozen which come out regularly from
once to three times week. A couple Of the
leading ones for while published a num-
Der every day, but they seem TO have OK
hausted the supply Of uucopyrighted aud
foreign novels and other available books,
and now send out three numbers week.
1--WE have an arrangement which makes
the cheap libraries cheaper STILL" tho
speaker concluded. 1--WE buy back books
which are not damaged in reading at nalf-