The record-union., 1897-08-10
Pessimistic Pilules.

somewhat morbid elf-depreciation. to
disparage the creative side of contern-
porary Hterature-nay, even to go so
far as to deny its existence. It is the
age-so We say in these moods-of the
manual, the abstract, the handbook, the
primer, and the birthday book, Well.
even if this be the characteristic feat
ure of the age, who shall say that there
is no room for originality of trea tment
in works which partake in their essen
tials of the nature of compilation?
If there is any ONE who entertains any
doubt on the subject, We have only to
draw his attention to one of the most
remarkable and original works that
has ever issued from the press-the
''Ibsen Birthday Book OF Miss Emmie
Avery Keddell and Percy Cross Stand
ing. Why, the idea is a veritable in
spiration! No one who was not a
genius could have thought of such a
collection. And once given to the world
it opens up glorious vista of compila-
tiorls ON similar lines. If ''Ibsen' is
suitable for birthday quotations, why
should we not have bon-bon notices
from Schopenhauer, or Nursery Tales
from Zola?
And when you come to think of It,
the new departure is imperatively nee
essary at the present time, when we
are all still suffering from an access of
jubillous complacency. To depress our
exultation to a proper level We need
some lowering mental treatment, and
here it is, in the shape of a collection
Of dainty pessimistic pilules, one or
f01. AaU r1aaHa nv
kind Miss Enrnie Avery Keddell and
Such an achievement deserves the
need of melodious rhyme, and, with
full consciousness of it's inadequacy,
we humbly offer the subjoined quatrain:
Little daily pills of Ibsen
Fortify our feeble steps
More than all the grateful nibs en-
ticingly prepared by Epps.
Great writer's do not always lend
themselves to what may be called the
tit biological process. But this re-
proach does not apply to Ibsen. On
the contrary his most sublime thoughts
are expressed with a conciseness and
lucidity which brings them within the
range of the meanest intellect. Take,
for example, the quotation given for
January 9TH: ''I am always cold" How
simple it is, and yet how forcibly it
appeals to persons-and there are many
such-who are troubled by a defective
circulation; Or note the astonishing
acumen displayed in the memora BILE
passage given on May 11th: I'VE wo-
men are very different Some get on
best one way, some another" Unless
we are greatly mistaken, no author be-
fore Ibsen ever ventured to intrust this
momentous truth to print. There is a
feeble cropping after it in the Latin po-
cts ''Varium ct mutabile semper fem
ina," but it was reserved for the Scan
dinavian Shakespeare to expand and
enncble the thought and to express it
with unsurpassed distinction and ele-
gance of style. Here, again, is a Won
derfully poetical apostrophe set down
against the date Of March Dist: What
would you gain if lodged and boarded
you? Consider; I know you're a sensi-
bic man." And here, again, is a coun-
sel-savoring perhaps somewhat of per-
fection-Which Will come home to myr-
lads of workaday men and women:
It's better for you to walk-and then
you always save twopence." For in this
sentence Ibsen has contrived not mere
ly to convey sound advice, economical
and physiological, but he has thrown
flood of light on the interesting ques-
ton of omnibus fares in Scandinavia
A world of meaning is packed into a
dozen words; it is the very pem1nican
of philosophy. Another example of
great thought nobly and musically ex-
pressed is to be found on September
I'd: ''Jests must pass at the feast-board
if the merriment is to thrive; while
for September 18th we have the ex-
quisite motto: "One ought never to put
on ones best trousers when
one goes fighting for liberty
and truth Per contra, it is
good to know, on June 10th, that
"One can get through the world with
wig" And yet there are benighted
Philistines who declare that Ibsen has
no sense of humori-London World.