Birmingham age-herald., 1894-10-21
GOSSIP FROM BOOKLAND.


 The greater part of the story is told in the first person, that of Mir. van- derly. h the opening pages he is de- liciously candid in his complaints at not being able to find an appreciatiye listener. He had travelled extensively in Europe, and with view of giving the greater en- ioyment to friends in his little village al nome he had avoided the usual scenes and had taken advantage of all points that appealed to his individual taste. Conse- quently; much to his dismay, upon return Ing home he could not find 'slistenern in all his varied acquaintance, so much to his chagrin and annoyance be decided to sooth his wounded feelings and, I may add, "vanity' by advertising for good "listener,o whose paid services should re- quire him to listen attentively. His first experience, however, was ouly calculated to add fuel to his bitterness of spirit, as he soon found his mercenary listener asleep. It reminds one of the Frenchman who trav- eled extensively from Atlantic seaboard to Pacific slope, and boasted that he discov- cred nowhere "good listener.'
 have never met with more delightful bit of experience-just what we have often felt in every day life, and possibly mur- mured against-the lack of ''listener. ' The book is most entertainingly written, and vii! charm all who have never "dis- covered' it before.
 find have spelled 'traveled' with one "l.' This. according to MT. Brander Matthews, proclaims my nationality, and glory in it. In his little book, and most Criticisms, With Other Essays on Other Isms,' Mir. Matthews wields the pen of defense against columns of criticism in London papers concerning the 'total de- pravity of American spelling" MT. Mat
 that such cry of alarm has been raised over the coming degradation of the Eng l fish language by the invasion of American isms. He says: "'Ignorance of his | neighbor is the character of the typical l John Bull, says MT. R. L. Stevenson, sits apart bursting with pride and igno- raace.' What Scot has written yankee may quote. And the quotation has pertinerco here in view of the fact that in. the last century the English were just as keen against Scotticisms and Hibernicisms
 and just as bitter as they have been in this
 century against Amerlcanisms. Macau- lay asserted that there were in Marmion
 and in Waverey 'Scotticisms at which London apprentice would laugh, and there
 are to be seen in the English newspapers
 now and again petty attacks on the style and vocabulary of American authors of dis tinction, which it is perhaps charitable to credit to London apprentices.
 As to "American spelling" MT. Mat thews gives us an essay which is full of good sense, thorough knowledge of his subject and many trite remarks on Ameri-
 can orthography, and considers the American spelling' of 'center" and nently remarks: "The uneducated reader
 may wonder perchance what the 'g' is doing in sovereign; the half educated reader discerns in the eg' connecting link between the English sovereign and
 the Latin 'regno;' the well educated reader
 knows that there is no pathological con- nection whatever between regno and sov-
 erign,' and so MT. Matthews very indig-
 nantly exclaims against all clamor over
 "American spelling,' when he can dis
 ble dropping of "ko from almanack, the omission of one "g' from wagon, the substitution of single "l'' for @ double ssl'' in such words as traveller, against the omission of the "u' in honour. and the final transposiug of the final two let- ters of such words as theatre and the like. There are good chapters upon "The
 Literary Independence of the United
 States," giving interesting and instructive
 statistics upon the question of American
 books and their increase in recent years,
 how very many more are read and produced
 during each successive ten years as com
 pared from items obtained from two lead-
 ing publisher-Harper Bros. and
 Houghton, Mifflin & Go. But MT. Mat
 
 can above every other consideration and a
 patriotic one too, and he recommends with great deal of gustto an American writer of whom he is very proud-Colonei Hig- ginson, who has published recent collec. tion of essays and Mir. Matthews says: "There is an arsenal of epigram in the little essay called, sWeapons of Preci- sion,' and it is pleasant to see that their effective range is more than 5000 miles. At that distance they lave already wounded Mr nd TouO fOrCad hin, cry of pain. So sensitive did MT. Lang show himself to these trans Atlantic darts that he allowed himself to reveal hls ignorance of Colonel Higginson's rious other men and things in America-a knowledge of which was condition prece- dent to debate on the question ;' and yet after this amusing criticism of Mir. Lang's ignorance, Mir. Matthews very pointedly proceeds to censure Hiss Agnes Repplier for her too great familiarity and frequent quotations from English writers and Eng. fish works in her new book entitled
 "Points of View.' He says: "So it is to be hoped that some of Miss Repplier's
 pendence hall nextFourth of July and show her the bell that proclaimed liberty throughout the land. Then, on their way home, they might drop into book store
 and make Miss RsPElplier .Ell present of Col New Book,' and of Mir. Henry Cabot Lodges Studies in History and also of that volume of Lowell's prose which con- tains the famous essay 'On Certain Con- descension in Foreigners Now this may sound like very wholesome, earnest
 advice, coming from @ very patriotic American writer to another writer equally American, and yet 1t has called forth a very amusing little bit of irony in the shape of an essay entitled ssAmerican- isms and Briticiams'' in Mr. Augustine Birrell's new book, "Essays About Men, Women and Books,'' some caustic re- marks as to the position assumed by MT. Matthaua while making hia su Q peatiOna to