The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-06
OUT AND ABOUT.
SELECTED ITEMS OF PERSONAL
AND GENERAL INTEREST.

SELECTED ITEMS OF PERSONAL
AND GENERAL INTEREST.
DR.. Hall to Marry a Boston Lady--Sir
Richard Burton and the Burton
Society-How Not to Tell a Story
The Browning Class
The formation in Denver of a Burton
society is one of the most surprising yet
gratifying compliments ever paid to
literary man, and the only pity is that
Sir Richard now lies in his grave,
| awaiting the thinking of his cameIs
bells" and will never know anything
about his western admirers, or their
devotion to the study of Oriental litera-
ture. What the size of the society is or
when it was organized are not stated
| on the prospectus, but it has a staff of
officers and directors and is already
undertaking to bring out an entire I'M
expurgated edition of Sir Richard F.
| Burton's great work, THE Thousand
| Nights and a Night" The membership
fee is 800 for each of the first 200 mem
bers and 500 for each subsequent
member, which sum entities one to a
complete set of 1.-THE Thousand Nights
and a Night" The membership of the
| society will be limEed to 1000 persons,
and candidates npust either be proposed
| by a member of the society or else sub
init references from two responsible
residents of the town, in which he lives.
! It is obvious that the Burton Society
is not for the multitude, Membership in
1t will confer something like distinction
upon the individual, as membership in
| the late London Browning Society did
as as it does in the Boston Browning
| Society. Beside. there will be the spoils
| of office,A so to speak, which, where
| they begin to materialize, will possess
an opulence and splendor quite their
own.
Those who have followed the history
of the Burtons need no reminding or.
informing concerning the translation of
THE Arabian Nights" Sir Richard be-
gan his work on this extraordinary
monument of oriental literature in 1852.
and it occupied him for a third Of a
| century, well nigh half the life of an
| average man and the normal endurance
of a generation. Before it's appearance,
The Arabian Nights" was considered
child S fairy story. Scholars received
his version with enthusiasm as a stand-i
ard textbook on eastern life, manners,
customs, beliefs and practices. Few are
the Oriental scholars who could do JUS
tice to a work so STEPPED in the Moslem-
culture and genius as 1.-THE Arabian
Nights" Sir Richard Burton was prob
ably the only one who joined to the re-
qulSlte linguistic requirements a prao-
tical knowledge of eastern life Added
to which he welded a literary style
dlstinctiVely his own, one which per-
mitted him to render into English the
spirit and rythm of the Arabic as we'll
nc. Ire .af i
just enough of antique phrase to give
1t quaint and archaic effect e
Ot course the original edition, only
1000 copies, We're printed and most of
these have long since found q home
in libraries where they will always re-
main. Very rarely is a copy offered for
sale. When it is. 1t is quickly purchase
ed at a price ranging from 5000 up-
wards. The Burton Society propose to
make as exact a fac-simile of the orr
iginal as it is possible to make, the only
variations being a different imprint on
the title pages and the presence of re-
productions of the 100 illustrations by
Stanley l.. Wood, which were originally
published separately. The book was
originally printed for private circula.
ton, and, as the translator said in his
preface, "only for the eyes of such per-
sons as are serious students of oriental
life and manners" There was much
in it that united it for the general
public, and which made it advisable
that only those who had genuine in
terest in the material for culture which
it contained should have access to the
questionable matter with which it also
abounds. Its publication aroused in
England the stories of Sir Richards
personal immortality, which had fol-
lowed him since the days of his service
in the Indian army-stories Which his
devoted life had tried in vain to hunt
down, and which ultimately evoked
from her the colossal sacrifice of the
burning of THE Scented Garden" In
so doing she not only saved her hus-
bands memory from q possible smooth
but destroyed his greatest bid
for Immortality and her own source
of income. Yet perhaps she was right;
perhaps it is better worth while that
one mind which might have been cor
rupted should remain clean than that,
in a world of piauant sensations and
exquisite enjoyments, 100 persons
should have experienced one more
piquant sensation, one more enjoyment.
Mr.. A! Swan Brown has very kindly
offered to decorate the stage Tuesday
evening for the James Whitcomb Riley |
entertainment The music, consisting |
of four selections, will be under the |
direction of Mrs. Carrie King-Ilunt.
The Home Club will have it's annual
lecture Friday at the house of Mrs |
William woodward, from $50 to 5 !
o'clock. Each member is entitled to |
three invitations, D privilege which will |
not be neglected. as Mrs. Irving Wins |
low is to read "Cyrano de I5ergerae."
Bancroft Chapter, y. r., viii meet |
Tuesday Afternoon with the regent, Miss
Bent. The chapter is beginning its new |
year with the prospect of increased |
success. Five applications fel mem
bership have been received since the |
previous meeting.