Birmingham age-herald., 1894-12-25
GOSSIP FROM BOOKLAND.

I critic, "hates the very name Of a saga. 1 But in that case, says Andrew Lang, the
 reader is to be pitied and If possible con- l verted, and just as Pascal admits that the
 skeptie can only become religious by living | as if he were religious, so one must take l Pascal's advice and live for an hour or two as if he were lover of the sagas. 1 A saga is neither guile, piece of his-
 tory nor wholly romance. ltis very old | story of things that happened, but hap 1 pened so long ago and in times so supersti- tious that marvels and miracles found their way into the legend. These sagas are full of entertainment, dealing with the | events of mau's life from his birth to his 1 death, and giving the truest pictures of life l and character, manners and customs, and strange beliefs; the most wonderful tales of | enterprise, of fighting by land and sea, l fighting with men and beasts, with storms, 1 ghosts and fends. The best sagas are | those of Iceland, and these in translations | form the most attractive reading. These stories were first told in Iceland, probably from $50 to 1100 B. c. | 1t was from materials and information | obtained from careful reading of these l Sagas that Paul Du Chaillee conceived the l two volumes known as "Ihe Viking | Age,' in which interesting and 1u- structive work he traces the energy, dar- ing, prosperity and governing ability of the English speaking races to the numerous warlike and ocean-l loving tribes of the north, the ancestors of the English speak ing people. In the preface of the first volume Du Chaillee says:
 ''Tbe materials used in these volumes in describing the cosmogony and mythology, the life, religion, laws and customs of the ancestors of the English speaking nations of today, are mainly derived from records found in Iceland. These parch.. ments, upon which the history. of the north is written and which are begrimed by the smoke of the lcelandic cabin and worn by the centuries which have passed over them, recount to us the history and the glorious deeds of the race. During the last fifty years the history of the Northmen has been unearthed as it were, like that of the Egyptians, As- syrians and Romans, by the discovery Of almost every kind of implement, weapon and ornament produced by that ac- complished race.' And these accurate and very numerous illustrations of the vast variety of implements, ornaments and utensils aid very greetly in the study and understanding of the ancient literature and abundant archaeology of our Morse ances- tors.
 What noisy, bustlng, hurried exist ence most of us have; the fast heeting years are filled with the rush of action, the tapping incidents of little nothiDgs that somehow fill the busy days and delude us into the belief that we are leading active, useful and beneficial lives, when in trnt $ if we but snatch a moment to consider, on second to pause and think, we realize how vain such existence soon becomes. Fene. lon very truly said: "Ahl how rare it is to find soul still enough to hear God speak, o And as rare it is to find one still and quiet enough 10 hold sweet commune ion and fellowship with one's own mind. We must lend an attentive ear, shutti ng out the noisy, work a-day world, if we would know ourselves; q quiet room q, cheerful blaze and book that fits our mood; tranquil, happy hour, when all alone we may have time for meditation, for repose, when the soul reaches out and scars above and beyond the ordinary pur- suits of this mundane sphere. Disraeli has very truly said "No man rises higher than his aspirations. And how may we rise to what is noble and best, ever seek ing broader and higher life filled with loIty ideals, if we do not seek the tran guilty, peace and enjoyment of a thought iui, introspective mind, until it may be said of us ''Who through long days of labor And nights devoid of case, Still heard in his soul the music
 Of wonderful melodies?''
 
 Punch and Puck are the representative comic weeklies of the two great branches of the glish- speaking race. Punch has had a great past. h Punch Hood published the "Song of the Shirt, and Thackeray
 
 rold the ''Story of Feather;'' but decid- edy the m ost amusing prose which has ap- peared in Punch during the past few years is the series of overheard conversations called "Voces Populi.' The author of "Voces Populi" is r. Austey, who is we'll known in thie country as the writer of "Vice Versa" It is an open secret that the real name of F. Austey is Guthrie. ''Vice Versa' was the firBt book by Mr. Guthrie. It was fortunately reviewed by Mir. Andrew Lang, who was so taken by its freshness, it's truthfulpess to boy na- ture, and its almost pathetic humor, that he wrote column review of the heartiest appreciation, and Mr. Guthrie afterward said Git was Lang's review that made the success of Vice Versa. '
 
 In discoursing upon the humor of what are considered humorous papers MT. Bran- | der Matthews says George Eliot in one of her novels tells us that s'a difference of taste | in jests is great strain on the affections a profound truth. There is llttle hope of happiness in union where one party has highly developed sense of humor and the other none at all. That is perhaps the req. l son why 80 few international marriages are happy. It is no doubt very kind of MT. Matthews aud very generous to explain the unhappiness of prominent international marriages on account of their lack of hu- nor or too highly developed appreciation of humor. However, we know that MT. Brunner, the editor of Puck, is a humorist, and gives us humor that will endure, for it | is founded on observation and on an under standing of his fellow man.
 The average American has keen enjoy ment of humor, and is delighted by wit, playful and incessant, and never obtrusive; and the humor that appears from week to week In Puck not only amuses until we find ourselves dissolved in laughter, the 'exquiste laughter that comes from a eradication of the reasoning faculty,' but 6 laughter and enjoyment beneath which is often found pathetic truth and realization of clever observation.
 James Whitcomb Riley, the born poet and genius, has new book just published, "Armazinoy," !" and everyone who reads iss interested in anything new by Mir. Riley, for he has given us so many quaint things | in the dressing of the Hoosier dialect. TO POET CRITIC. Yes, the bee sings, l confess it, Sweet as honey-Heayen bless it, Nit he'd be a Sweeter singer
 Ef he didn't have no stinger.