The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-12-20
6616G OLE W1L8G115G1A22
AMID OTHERWISE

to books, editions de luxe, | believe they
call them, | sometimes think of the diff
erence between a thick-skinned, heavy
grained orange that turns out to- be
pretty nearly all back and the thin plant
tenacious skin of the oranges Of some
well-groomed Florida grove which is
stretched to the uttermost for the luscious
juice within
And yet this suggestion Apemantic,
perhaps in it's possible churlishness, may
be but the after-taste of Oliver Wendell
Holiness bitter observations somewhere
ON the ready made, red-backets gilt-baek-
ed, oney-baclxed books Of some newly
rich man in search of the proper kind OF
library.
To some old-fashioned palates there is
| somewhat the difference between these
| new-fashioned fine-backed books and the
| old fashioned worn-backs and dim-backs
| as there is between the bacon-and-greens
dinner with corn-dumplings, chicken with
| dumplings, middling- Git should
| he one world thin corn-bread, stewed
| oysters served with big silver ladle from
| the bowl and the new cut-glass regime OF
| the almost sculptured plate with nests or
| inches or what not for six raw oysters
with place in the middle for Il cube of
cut lemon, thimbe cups of black coffee
after dinner instead of the steaming big
cup completely mixed by the head of the
table" and all that kind OF thing OF
course. | admit that culture and indiffer-
eift digestion lean to the latter kind OF
''eatins," while the heart in some in
stances looks over it's shoulder yearn-
ingly back toward the days of the corn
pone blue thick-china regime.
/ quite realize that all that has been
written above is persifage, and / had no
| intention of writing it, even now it is not
| quite what | mean, but / ask the reader
| to consider it unSaid in connection with
| the book which has just come from the
| publishers, Scribner's Sons in delicate or
| age and gold and white like bride from
| her boudoir. The book has on the back
| in the centre, the simple inscription in
| quaint lettering: I'm Ole Virginia" 1t
is needless to mention the autkcr's name
! Thomas Nelson Page. The cover and APP
! pointments make one feel as if he is get
! ting to something mysteriously delicious
| rs when, for instance, one loOsens care
fully and gradually the slight, strong
| silver cords that bind the last bon-bon
| package OF some swell standard New
| York confectioner
/ But a glance through the pages makes
/ one feel he is not in some fairy country,
4 but travelling the same old sandy, piney
| roads, Illuminating over the same old mig
| ger quarters and getting a glimpse over
| the shoulder OF the same long, columns,
wide halls, high, hard wainscoting and
all those things Of other days in Virgin
la.
The stories selected for this book are as
follows: Marse Chan, A Tale of Old
Virginia; ''Une' Edinburg," A Plantation
Echo; Meh Lady. A Story of the War;
ole 'Stracted; mo Had Pawn" Polly,
A Christmas Recollection The illus
trations are by w. T. Smedley, B. w
Clinedinst, G. S. Reinhardt A. b. Frost,
Howard Pyle and A. Castaigne.
If anything can be as charming as these
stories, it is the work of these artists l
have always wondered as much how
Smedley and Reinhardt could get the
atmosphere" of Pages people as / have
at the inexplicable power which could
get Alabama" out Of Augustus Thomas.
/ am told that Thomas, having been
Chicago reporter, never went South, and
yet he produced Alabama SO much
cannot be said of Reinhardt, at least
He came South, and made study on
the spot Yet even had he not done so,
he would not have fallen short of the
mark. One in the South feels sure al
ways of Smedley and Reinhardt--that
they will feel as well as know their way
toward success in treating Southern sub
jects. Poor Reinhardt, those who knew
him and recall the tender touches of his
talk, can now feel sometimes that, like
Du Maurier, he might have been
quite able to furnish the reading matter
also, for his studies. If he did not carry
"Trilby" with him, / shall always feel
that he carried something, though differ
ent, equally as good concerning the South,
even if it were unsaid And Smedley
too-he would not have been trusted with
Marse Chan unless he had felt sure OF
himSelf-and the trust was not ill-reposed:
for in some respects, his work is better
than that of Reinhardt. But / should not
attempt to speak of the work of these
men, and do not attempt to do so except in
! the sense that one feels warranted in
| saying to an artist whether the reproduc-
ton is good of what he knew, was akin
TO and loved.
AS to the makeup" of this book, 1
take all back | said. l cannot tell about
the technical excellence of it: I cannot
tell why one likes to feel between the
thumb and other fingers a paper that
is heavy, soft and rich, nor just why one
likes to catch glimpses of unfinished
edges to the pages, unless it be from
some such principle as that which steers
the artist clear from making a mans
necktie exactly as it should appear in
photograph. Then--the type it would
take years of apprentice service for one
to know the names Of types nowadays but
it is enough to know that the type rests
the eye as this does-that is enough. The
book is sumptuous, and If one will "feel'
of its beauties well before reading, he viii
find himself in a better mood for what
awaits him in the stories, AS the illus
fioDc oiva tha fEo oP ha