The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-06

seot AIN one corner of the piazza is "A
large table, and on it reposes the various
work baskets attached to the establish
,rent for we are all very feminine, ami
either sew. or knit when we gossip about
the literature which is approved of, at
the present time. When say approved
Of at the present time mean that which
is being read just now. Aunt Maria, the
bpsv housekeeper, is devoted to what
she calls "a good novel;" she says she
wants something that will make her for
get what was cooked for dinner. The
consequence is, she does not choose for
intellectual food. either the problem nov
ol the analytical novel or the historical
novel but she takes instead an out-and-
ont love story, and gloats over it. The
fact that Aunt Maria is nearly 60 does
not prevent her from being interested in
me main suffered by lovers separated, for
the time, by harsh parents, or the wiles
If villains, but united at length in the
perfume of orange blossoms, with white
satin and black broadcloth. diamonds and
five bridesmaids, to make the scene pic
turesque.
Nanny is having the one great joy of
her life. from an intellectual standpoint.
She is reading, for the first time, the i'm
mortal works of the late Alexander Du-
mas. pere The consequence is that Nam
nv is transported to France, has for
gotten entirely about every day people,
and only wakens up to the life around
her when young Jim Johnson appears on
the scene then she tries her best to think
that she is Louise de la Valliere, and he
is Louis XIV. Certainly the famous Louis
was never shyer than is young JIM and,
after all, is there much difference be-
tween a king and an ordinary country
boy when it comes to the question OF
first love?
AS for me, am reading old books over.
There are no new ones worth anything l
am pessimist enough to think that no
good is to be gained by botherfng with
tiresome books l have thought much
more of Mr.. Gladstone since l heard that
he advised people never TO read anything
that did not interest them. There used
to be an idea that one should plough
through certain books whether they were
stupid or not, and force ones self to en-
Joy them T'hat-fs all wrong. That which
does not interest u.s. will do us no good.
Then, too, 1t is said that the grand old
man is given over to books of all kinds,
novels, poetry and history. He, keeps
three going, and when he tires of one,
takes refuge in the other,
Mr.. Gladstone is a reader after my own
heart. Why don't the people who write
books remember their readers? Why don't
they realize that the novels that have
lived have been so-called romantic books?
Who will care for problem novels twenty
years from now? What is gained by draw
ing pictures of loathsome diseases that
cannot be cured? Here, mean moral dis
ease, but in addition, there is a fancy, an
abomtnable one, for picturing people as
i'll with real and very disgusting maiadies.
Many book owes its condemnation to its
being nasty in it's description. They are
the great readers of the day, and they
don't care to linger over descriptions of
physical horrors, especially when they
are unnecessary.
don't care for my books to be too fine
in their covers but must confess that 1
like to see them as do my friends, in a
respectable Dress The paper bound book
possesses no attraction for me; though,
like all book lovers, l really love a book
with pictures in it, l want to see what
the people look like. Then they become
real TO us. From my illustrated edition
OF Thackeray / know Becky Sharp, l
know Henry Esmond, know George
Warrington and love him, and know
Philip; know the doctor and hate him;
l know Amelia Osborn and have the ut
most contempt for her; know George,
and realize from his appearance how nee
essary good friend was to him; l know
Rawdon Crawley, and feel sorry for him,
and l know all the wicked lawyers and
doctors and gloat over them. / am Just
as well acquainted, from the pictures
With Lady Deadlock and the "boofer
lady, with Joe and with Dora. I have
laughed over Jip, and 1 have seen David
and his aunt driving away the donkeys.
good book well illustrated is the finest
thing in the world
Personally, am glad not to have known
me people who wrote the books 1 love.
mink | should care less for them.
remember knowing girl who had met
george Eliot. She told me, from that
ume on, she even hated 'Fdiddle-marchv
enc saw the great writer in the drawing
room OF an intimate friend, and she said
mat she was the most tiresome old wo-
man She had ever met Somebody had to
oe oosing a door, or opening a window;
SWING her shawl, or finding her foot
elooi' pelng certain that the thermometer
was AT such point, and equally certain
NAT the water of which she wanted a
ullhK' was pure. Altogether, George Eliot
So P'StuiSu 10 me as q tlfeSOme old
trump who annoyed everybody around
ner, This young girl announced that the
genius seemed unsatisfied unless she was
Uolherlng somebody about something!
~, tne same friend, who as a very young but
pllght girl, had rare opportunities for see
,Ls great people, described Ouida as be-
.ns oyerdressed and peculiar. She said
Slat' IN Florence, where she saw her,
Sleuemoiselle de la Ramie usually rode
around on a beautiful horse, wearing a
crimson crimson velvet riding habit, with her
soiaer hair hanging loose below her
waist while her steed. followed by about
s~enty dogs. various in their kind and all
,stnHeking in different notes. Since then,
r,1 Docks Of Ouida have been less of sur
prise TO me.
l.. Dut why doesn't somebody write real
~ Interesting book?
Nhat has become of the people with
-'uas lnations? Is there nobody to sue
e eeea Dumas or Dickens, Reade or Thack-
lay Gaboriana or Balzac-this minglng
h.soS seem old yet 1t covers class of
y.ohs that interests everybody. Isn't
b baeIe anybody who knows how to write a
~ oSoA That Will get one up to such pitch
y, excitement that ones heart beats
fr.~ -. 4.