Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-30

man, cutter of stone, with the possibilities o.
an artist In him, altogether Q strong. hnt
fellow. The other is Gabrielle, his distan
| cousin who has come to take the thanklesi
| post of COMPANION to her aunt his mother, the
old lady with the dog. And these friends oper
better doors, one the door of helpfulness, tint
other the door of love.
Hugo was a good deal like that old writer
who set down in book of his-Eccleslastes by
name, and found in the libraries of all respect
| able people-set down there, as the result OF
| his peculiarly rich experience that he ''hated
| lite." And Hugo escaped out of that blind
pessimism, as everybody may, by the open dool
| of help. Some poor children hurt in an acci
dent, an old woman l5 years bedridden,
young girl in time of great moral danger
through Bernhard, Hugo gets interested N
helping these people, and like all genuine
helping, that helps him.
And the other open door is love. But you
must go to the book for that. A good pook,
interesting, earnest pure, uplifting, one Oh
the best books have read for many a day.
So
The people in that little German town which
makes the background of "The Open Door,
talked, almost without exception. about eacn
other. Such sort of conversation may LACE
cbarity-alasl But it seldom lacks interest.
We all like to hear about the dolngs OF otnei
people.
took advantage of it in series of descriptions
of authors at Home, which have been gathered
into pleasant book.
We are introduced here to 20 most interest.
ing men and women, of whom we know NJ more
or less through their writings. we see Inem
face to face and meet them in delightfuny
hospitable mood. We get into their stuuies:
and note where the desk stands. ana VIA tha
books are on the shelves, and how deep tne
litter is upon the floor. This is not particularly
important information, but it is very pleasing
nevertheless
To learn that Mark Twin has billiard table
in the middle of his study and plays first-rate
game, and that, in addition to that admiraDle
scrap-book of his he has also invented "a Vest
which enables the writer to dispense with su5
penders; a shirt, with collar anil cuffs attacnedl
which requires neither buttons nor studs: Z
perpetual calendar watch-charm, which gives
the day of the week or of the month" ana
game of historical events, played somewhat
after the manner of cribbage-this is not SO
profound as Emerson's poem on branma,
but most of us are interested to know It. Also
that bronze bust of Calvin-not the Reformer
ornaments Charles Dudley Warmers study;
and that Mrs. Julia Ward Howe has cornmeal
fapjacks every day for breakfast; and that
Colonel Higginson writes his paper Tor the
Bdzdr at single heat; and that DIR. Hall wears
slouch hat; and that John Burroughs lives in
the midst of the country which he has written
about SO charmingly.
By the way there is a new work by Mr.. Bur-
roughs Indoor Studies is the name of it, but
the author has lived out of doors so much that
the fragrance of the fields and the song OF the
birds gets in. in spite of him. The book opens
with paper on Thoreau, and includes another
on White and Selborne. Nobody can write
more appreciatively about these masters of the
art of seeing and thinking than Burroughs.
At the end of the book he tells us, in IAN
Egotistical Chapter" good deal about him.
self. Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Wads-
worth, Swinbourne he names among writers
who have influenced him. Burroughs, who has
interviewed nature as no man who is writing
to-day has succeeded in doing, never takes his
notebook out he says. He is better reporter
than that. He goes out and sees all he can and
comes home and thinks it over; then he thinks
it over again, and again. In three months he is
ready to write. That is the way to do good
work. Burroughs knows better than to pick
his apples before they are ripe.