The Portland daily press., 1889-12-28
SEEN AND hEARu.


painted by Alphonse de MELVILLE The many
terrible features of the original, the fierce
onslaught Of the cavalry. the determined re-
sistance of the opposing infantry are ad.
mirably shown In the whole picture while
individual figures are made to play promi-
nent parts in this grim and terrible drama of
war. l have never passed this window
since the picture has been there without
stopping to study this horrible, yet fascin-
atinS picture. In the very van cavalry
officer has received mortal hurt and reels
In his saddle. A man behind him leans for
ward to catch him, while the next man on
the left sabres an infantryman. A second
infantryman is taking aim at the cavalry
mans head and in second move the cavalry
man probably falls dead. Like all of de
Neuville's war pictures it is fearfully real
istic. As l stood before it the other day
wondering If such scenes had not vanished
from off the face of the earth forever, saw
two other men stop and look at it. They
studied 1t in silence for sometime when one
finally said Horrible" "Ah yes" replied
the other "well may you say horrible. 1t
was SO indeed was in that charge and /
huOWs WAC u UuEtcI butu, 10 years Olu.
and was a little in the rear of those two
German officers" pointing to the extreme
left of the picture. The two men then walk
ed off, the ex-bugle talking and gesticulating
earnestly as they walked along, and no
doubt fighting his battles over again for the
delectation Of his companion.
stopped. the other day, in front of one of
the bookstores here in town. and while adj
miring the array of ''sets" of various au-
thors, my eye was caught by sign Of
"Robert Ellsmere, at reduced prices" 1t
occurred to me as looked at the sign that
there was one person, at least, ia the world
who has never read the famous book, that
person being the person who wrote the sign.
Surely had he read 1t, or even reviewed it, he
would have noticed the spelling of the sur
name Of the unhappy clergyman. of whose
states of mind, the book treats. Upon
thinking the matter over, however, later in
the day. became convinced that my first
impression was incorrect cannot be that
there is any one who has not. at the present
day, read the book, or read a paragraph in
some newspaper or magazine concerning it,
or seen some of the hats, neck-ties, collars,
or boots that bear the name Of the hero. 1t
must have been that the clerk in question is
afflicted with diplopia as the medical frater-
nifty call it. or double sight as it is more CON-
monty called. think that there is no one
who will not, upon second thought agree
with me. that diplopia and not ignorance
was the cause of the slip. Or possibly the
clerk was one of the class who being given
an inch will take an l.,
An eminent medical man tells me, not as
desiring to contravert my judgment in this
case, but as stating what he believes to be
fact, that diplopia is not fault of the eye,
but OF the brain. He says that seeing double
is no fault of the eye, nor of the optic never.
The eye is nothing more than telephone so
to speak that conveys impressions by means
Of the optic never to the brain and any mis-
takes that may arise in the registration of
the impressions are the fault of the register
ing apparatus, that is the brain. Therefore,
he says. that instead of prescribing spectacles
for diplopia he orders the brain to be rested.
He says further that this double registering
is noticed in other senses than that of sight.
He says he knows man wha invariably
gets in an extra blow when he counts the
striking OF clock, or Of the fre-alarm; and
there are others who hear twice as many
footsteps as there really are, when a person
walks by. My friends did not pursue this
subject of Grain WEAKNESS into the divisions
OF the other three senses, but doubt not
that he could have cited instances to prove
his point In all. He said that this tendency
to double impressions was a sign that the
brain needed rest, and the preliminary note
Of warning before siege of nervous prostra-
tion. By natural influence, the clerk at the
store where l saw the sign in question,
needs vacation.
The slip spoken of, reminds me of the
old, old proverb, or saw, or whatever it is, of
the shoemaker's children, and of the remark
of the druggist. which has passed into a
proverh. 20. we sell these drugs; we don't
take them ourselves" The employees Of
bookstores and other people who sell books
are not safe guides to the traveller in the do
main of literature A few weeks ago when
was journeying short distance by rail,
lady who sat behind me asked the news
agent If he had Max O'Relps book. He
looked his stock over and over again, and
then said mo, Ma'am; guess l amt got it.
Is 1t a popular novel?" The lady explained
that it wasn't exactly novel. "What is it.
then." asked the boy, "history?" The lady
explained that it wasn't exactly history
either. and then the boy said, "Well, we
shouldn't have any use for it then; 'twould-
MT be popular; nothing but novels are popu-
lar. Now. there's dreadful popular book"
he continued, holding one out, sits Donovan.
Did you ever read ftp" The lady never had
She bought copy of Looking Backward,
and was soon deep in its glorious prophe-
cies.
Not popular enough! From the way the
boy dwelt on the word it seemed to me that
he must use 1t as standard. Undoubtedly
the popularity of book makes or unmakes
place for 1t In the railroad libraries. What
is popular book? What measures its pop
ularity? Who keeps the run of the new
publications for the railroad libraries and
advises about their adoption or rejection?
All OF these questions cannot fail to have
suggested themselves to the minds of OBJ
serving travellers, and to have furnished
food for reflection. 1t would be interesting
to know whether the libraries ever venture
out with books In the morning of their ca
reer, and whether they ever get stuck"
1t would also be interesting to know wheth-
er the train boys are taught to count the
number Of copies sold, or to note the appar-
emit intellectual status of the buyers, in or
der to gauge the popularity" It would be
most interesting of all, for everybody en-
joys the idea Of a secret service, to know
whether in actual fact trained detective
and librarian combined is employed'to trav-
ell In the interest of the different news COM
panies and libraries" that supply railway
news agents, and to note both the number
Of copies sold and the character of the buy
ers Of the various works Of fiction put on
board the trains. There must be some
method in the business. Some reason why
Elsie Venner. for instance, is not met with
on the trains and yyhv Podman tho Kaanar