Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1893-07-06
WITH PEN AND INK.
MAGAZINE NOTES.

The-July Scribner is uncommonly full
OF bright articles upon pleasant variety
OF subjects. For the sportsman there i;
Henry Van Dykes "Trout-Fishing oil
the Traun," with mingling of Austrian
lake scenery and fy-fshing; for the
army veteran, "Two Visits to Gettvs
burg" by A. II. Nickerson, who was
left for dead upon the field after the first
visit but lived to come another day; and
for all OF us in search OF excuses for fol.
lowing lazy summer impulses, spirited
defense of Leisure" by Agnes Reppler
the sclf-appointed champion of the pleas
ant vices. Stevenson has said such
clever and convenient things for the use
OF loafers, in his Apology for Idlers''
that upon opening Miss Repplier's little
paper we fear that nothing more awaits
us of an available sort. But how is this ?
1T is in his pleasures that man really
lives, it is from his leisure that he con-
structs the true fabric of SELF
Not SO good, perhaps, as weapon OF
defense against the working precepts of
Poor Richard, and Others, as Stevenson's
Perpetual devotion to what man calls
his business, is only to be sustained by
perpetual neglect OF many other things; :"
but still not to be despised by those OF us
in need of Arguments to silence a voice
not so still and small as to be quite in
audible on quiet summer mornings.
Harold Frederic begins a stiff-moving
story full of material, not quite ripe, call
ed, ''The Copperhead."
The author of very successful new
book, ga Literary Courtship," signs her
name, Anna Fuller, to bright short
story entitled, can Amateur Gamble. !"
This story has the art to make an entire
ly irrational performance on the hero's
part seem natural and comprehensive
without straining the readers credulity.
II the difficulty Of achieving this success
in story bears direct relation to the
failures of notable writers in convincing
their readers of the likelihood of their
denouements, Miss Fuller is to be warm
ly congratulated; neither Hardy nor
James are in the public's confidence in
such matters.
"The Life OF the Merchant Sailor' is
cruelty harsh and unlovely, unless so
good an authority as W. Clark Russell is
to be doubted. 1t seems as though the
passion for seafaring life were an
especial provision of nature to insure the
manning of ships. A blind god should
be the type of this form OF adventuring as
well as the other, more perilons, sort.
The uninfatuated reader understands the
feelings OF the reluctant conscript who
wished he was "a baby an gal-baby at
that" to avoid the possibility of engag-
ing in this one of mems occupations.
The Cosmopolitan, whose motto runs,
"From every man according to his abil-
ity: to everyone according to his needs"
seems now issuing magazine for the
very needy. The July number announces
reduction Of price to one half its former
cost, to twelve and half cents month,
or one dollar and a half year. 1t has
been evident from the first that the cost
OF production was much less with the
Cosmopolitan than with the Harper or
Century; but that difference was taken
account of in the one-third smaller SUBJ
scription price. Unless the body Of the
magazine is to admit advertising articles,
on which money will be realized instead
Of expended, it is impossible to see how
the present rates can be sustained as a
business proposition. If you went to a
stationer's and bought writing pad of
blank paper, in amount and quality like
that used in the making of the monthly,
you would not consider ten or even
fifteen cents an exorbitant price. When
we think of this in connection with the
TACT that the pages of copy of the mag
azine have been bought by the publisher
of the paper-maker, the author. the
illustrator, the reproducer, the compost
tor and press man, and then mailed to
the subscriber, it is easily seen that very
little of the twelve and half cents re-
mains for Office expenses and editors
salaries. Advertisement must be the
source of income; and, as less is carried
outwardly than by the four dollar mag
azines, the thought urges itself that there
must either be more advertising than
appears, or the owner will discover, as
the months 60 By, fatal connection
between progress and poverty. These
considerations have only speculative
interest for the subscriber; practically he
cannot fail to see that his pennies have
a surprising purchasing power where the
Cosmopolitan is concerned.
Other new features of this months is
sue are the departments, entitled, SIN
The World of Art and Letters" and "The
Progress of Science. This last follows
out much the idea, Of the "World' S
Work" department. that used to be a
feature of the old Century, in the days
when it was Scribner's Monthly. The
object is to keep busy people acquaint-
ed with the more important discoveries
and intentions of the day. The other
department has similar purpose it
undertakes to keep its readers "posted"
as the editor saws. with what is going on