The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-05-04
LITERARY GHOULS.
CREATURES WHO CAUSE you NO
END OF ANNOYANCES.
MosS Audacious Fellows, Who Defaces
Your Treasures and Perhaps Steal Your
Books -- What q Difference When the
Owner Marks "a Book.

W illilc a. plilhtiNt i''''r au-
dressed to the papers, or an advertisement
peremptorily assertive, reminds us of the
existence of the literary thief, the wolf in
sleeps clothing, who borrows books from
his friends and hastens not to return them.
The fact of his being friend makes IL the
more annoying. II he were an acquaint-
ance merely, letter beginning sir or
madam, indeed printed form, demand
ing the return Of specified volumes, might
be forwarded 10 him when decent time
after the loan had been made had elapsed.
But seeing that he is something more no
must be treated as such. Even hint may
be- taken with resentment The narrow
line separating excellent good camaraderie
from outraged feelings is so easily bridged
that bold indeed is he who endeavors to re-
cover his severed property by such hum
BILE sentence as ''If you have quite finished
with il Tor them), 1 should like TO have
that book Tor those books OF mine back,
please"
Chesterfield, n Bayard, n Gandison, a
Crichton, could scarely risk the saying of
such "a sentnecc with impunity. That
which is our own, when lent, is less ours
than the PERSONS 10 whom we intrusted
Il. So rather than keep in book a list of
the volumes with which we have parted,
with the dates of lending and the names
OF those To whom lent, LET us refuse abso-
lutely to one and all plea for borrowing.
This selfish plan is the only one that can
save us completely from the loss of books.
Ii may also save us from other anuoyances.
Among the minor irritations of book
lending the usage they receive at the hands
of borrowers may surely count. Some peo-
pie swathe all their volumes in brown pa
per or linen, rendering their shelves un-
slightly in order to preserve the backs of
their volumes. Others like and encourage
the signs of age and usage that oft read
and handled books gain, just as the toll
worn hands of faithful servants or the
gray hairs of devoted parents touch and
pleasure them. But I'm the same way that
they would hate upon either signs of i'll
treatment, the blcary eyed and bloated
countenance, so upon their books do they
resent tributes of unfair usage at the hands
OF their friends.
An owner of books can do with them
what he will. 1t is perhaps the sign of a
revcrential possessor, rather than that of q
literary lover, should books be met in
shelves with the outer covering paper upon
them, and for this reason one would prefer
10 see them thus clad than smeared with
ugly marks other than those bestowed by
respectable and cleanly middle or old age.
But for borrowers SO 10 sully the backs is
unpardonable. One sympathizes with the
rule made by some people, indulgent
enough to lend indeed, but not of faith
sufficient TO lend unguardedly, who, with
the volume, issue the proviso, please COW
er while you read 1t.
There Is book ghoul OF the exterior, and
thero Is a book ghoul of the interior Some
times indeed he Is in combination, and
then, alas and alack, the day for the un-
fortunate ownerl For in addition to the
horrible treatment just mentioned, he
makes the further outrage Of dog ears and
pencilcd passages-nay, even of commcn-
taries, and, more horrible still, of thumb
marks scrawled upon the margins. Au-
dacity pure and simple Is IL for a man or
woman 10 write upon the book that Is
lent, unless-and the exception must be
most narrowly taken-the friendship that
exists between owner and borrower is OF
the closest and longest character For, be
1t recollectcd, that apart from the insight
illness of marginal marks, there is an am
biguity about them that Is excessively irri
tating to the next reader of the book and
those who follow. Why should this passage
or that word be scoredy Can any one, save
the near friend, even guess the reasonp 1t
Is unfair to the author and unfair to the
pcruser, as well as unfair to the possessor
of the book, to mark it. The result is tho
taking off OF the next readers thoughts
from the subject matter of the volume, the
undue excitement and bewilderment of his
mind and the dcfacemcnt of the pages
nd bn,
ings.
Marked by its owner, a book Is not de-
faced. His marginal notes, his scored pas
sagcs, are but the testimonies OF his regard
or interest for that which he has read. He
sets down reminders upon the pages of
happy studious hours, and should his
friend who loves him be privileged TO see
the copy and his marks the deep interest
he feels In him will receive spur, light
will DC thrown upon his character and n
metaphorical hand clasp will result. For
10 know those we love IL surely highest
bliss, aud perhaps This suitable way of
nak ing his acquaintance beyond the busk
of his outer personality, besides being "a
most enchanting method, is also sure
one Herein Is set forth the great differ
ence between an owner and a borrower.
The conduct of both must DO different en-
tirely Alasl this undoubted truth is only
too often forgotten.
Why, after ALL should books be borrow
edY Why should they not? may very well
he asked az course ones humanitarian
principlss would leach US that they should,
hut whon privilege is % grossly n ish8D-
died as il is ibe nrsO question forces itself
upon ono. Pictures are not borrowed;
neither are carpets nor chairs nor clothes.
What impcrtinencc most Of us would think
IL were we suddenly asked TO lend our
treasured Miliais our Chelsea figure or
our piece of Chippcndalc! Yet our Milton
goes--and perhaps never returns-and no
moro Is left TO us than To- sigh and perhaps
60 advertise, or, IL TO receive again, in all
likelihood in ether guise than when IL left
US, aud with friendship severed. IL is
hard very, very hard, that the book is SO
portable, for to its portability may he
traced it's troubles. Ii may have cost us a