The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-05-15
THEY LIKE LIGHT LITERATURE.
scicptist.. Statesmen ana '"r's.' """
Take Keen Delight In Eeao'ns '''e''
fcr..cial Corrcspondence.l

ccicutist. Statesmen ana ""''e'' VIM
Tale Keen Delight in Reading Novels
fsp4cial Correspondence
Nrv yopy MAY 1O-Some OF the most
o,a;no,t scie1t,sts met in formal session
,n the city of Washington recently AZ
n convention of what Is perhaps one OF
osnization having the most authority on
ecisrtidc matters in the United states
The learned gentlemen read elaborate
- .ooLnical naners. and ID seemed to
- - listened as though their lives
ms. he spent in technical and TED Gus
study. the results OF when 10 'no ei"se
man seem almost unintelhgipie.
II was therefore with some astonishn ens
that the writer happening 10 meet sew
oral If these gentlemen at reception IN
the evening and venturing to suggest GER
tain scientific works, was told by one OF
the most famous Of American scientists
that he did not want 10 hear anything
about scientific books.
Tell me" he said, where l can IND
good novel and am your debtor. science
is my business, but novel reading IS my
delight. and | tell you | have to wade
through a good many trashy WORKS nova
1
These remarks were indorsed by others
of the scientists, and IL was found that
such men as Professor Marsh, the presi-
dent Of this academy; Professor George i.
Barker. Professor Chandler and others
seemed 10 be as eager TO learn Of new
novel which would be worth reading as
they were 10 hear Of a scientific discovery.
OF course, as the gentlemen above alluded
TO said, science is the business Of these
gentlemen and the reading of fiction is
their recreation.
This fondness for good novels is not con-
fined 10 scientific gentlemen. A few years
ago the writer met Justice Lamar. Of the
supreme court, and upon inquiry as to the
Justices health, he said: "Oh, am feeling
first rate. / have just been reveling and
rioting so 10 speak, with the noyelists and
! feel as invigorated mentally as though |
had taken an ocean trip. and / have been
rereading my old fayorite, The Three
Guardsmen."
Lamar is not the only justice Of the SUI
preme court who is fond Of good novel,
for Justice Gray, Of Massachusetts,, used 10
take keen delight in reading them, and
Justice Field finds pleasure IN them even
at his advanced age.
Fx-Speaker Reed was until he became
speaker a great novel reader, and as he is
a good French scholar, reading the Ian
guage with ease and speaking it fairly
well, he delighted in getting the works OF
the French masters of fiction in the origi-
nal. Sunset Cox was literally voracious
reader Of novels, and no used TO say that
he found a good deal Of delight when he
was tired out in reading the remarkable
stories which came from the fertile imagi-
nation of the late Ned Buntline, and Cox
REGARDED Sylvanus CObb's "Gunmaker Of
Moscow" as a splendid but deliciously i'm
probable story, as he said. Cox used TO de-
clare that he had no patience with novel
which did not end happily 1t was the
business Of a novelist, he said, to please
and amuse, and not his business, except
ing perhaps in an incidental way, to preach
sermons.
During Roscoe Conkling's lifetime be
was the last man any one would 4x-pect of
fondness for novels. Yet he reveled in
good stories He was "A great sdmirer Of
Dumas works and read and Teread THE
Three Guardsmen" and Twenty Years
After" and "The Count Of Monte Christie"
for he regarded these stories as superb; in
fact, he said they were the best romances
ever put into English type Conkling was
also a great admirer Of Ouida.
Charles A. Dana finds time 10 read nov
els and gets the keenest enjoyment out Of
them He is not fond Of the analytic or
the realistic novel, which is written a. the
surgeon dissects. Mr.. Dana wants acu0n
and plenty of it. His test is that the au-
thor must write a story so that it will
seem TO be real, even though it will not
bear critical analysis He, too, IS fond Of
Ouidas writing, and regards her story
Under Two Flags" as most fascinating
romance
Some business men Of large experience
are great novel readers. William ID.
Bishop, late president Of the New York
and New Haven railroad, would rather, IL
seems, read good story than draw his diyi-
dends Colonel John r. Fellows; Judge
Truax, one Of the ablest of New HOrk's
Judges, and General Thomas /. James get
all their mental recreation from romances.
The president of Yale college, Timothy
Dwight, who combines in a remarkable
degree the ability Of a business man, the
subtlety Of theolOgian and the tact Of an
educator, looks forward with delight 20 his
summer vacation, when he can 20 into the
country with a yalise full Of good novels
and revel in them President Dwight
leans. however, 10 the novels Of the How
ellis, James and Mrs Ward school.
OF course there are many busy men who
have either 10 time or no inclination for
novel reading. Chauncey VI. Depew re-
Gently said 10 the writer that he had not
read a novel for twenty years, although in
his youthful days he spent more time than
he ought reading them Lord Beacons-
field once said that he never attended the
theater because he found a more enter
tanning, amusing and emotional theater in
life as he saw il about him than was ever
yet mimicked upon the stage That, too
seems 10 be the reason why Mr.. Depew
stopped reading novels. He feels that he
gets more fun out Of life, more excitement
and entertainment out Of his contact with
men of affairs and his daily experience
than could possibly be furnished him by
any writer of romances. None of the Van
derbilts IS a reader OF novels and Jay
Gould has not read story for thirty years
although his son George is very fond OF
good romance. L. j. EDWARDS.
Senator HIPS Baseball Experience.