The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-20

tions. According to the returns Of this
vote. the best Of the 500 books for a
village library is Hugh Wynne." More
than two-thirds of all the votes cast
first named this novel Of the Revolu-
tion. And the pleasant thing about
the result is that the public had all
ready Endorsed the verdict rendered.
An average Of 300 copies day of the
book have been sold since publication,
which means more than $4,000 copies
in all. Next on the list in this report
comes 1.-The Choir Invisible"
1t crowds Hugh Wynne" very close
ly for first place. The third book Is
Captains Courageous" and the fourth
Nansens "Farthest North" Without
naming all the fifty I may give some
of the best known other works in their
order: Soldiers of Fortune" "Old Vir-
ginia and Her Neighbours" Jerome"
EST. Ives" "On the Face of the
Water" the Memoirs of Tennyson,"
american Lands and Letters" Ma
hans Life Of Nelson" Following the
Equator 1;e, r. "Corleone." The Chris
lean Revolution" and Westward
Movement"
These we may accept as the books of
the day which readers can best afford
to own. Meanwhile from Boston we
have the report Of a sale at auction
which shows the value a shabby old
book may have once it is rare and once
1t possesses some intrinsic interest
This volume is "Cushman's Sermon"
of which five copies only are known to
exist and which never before turned up
in an auction room. The price now
paid for it is 81 900. The name of Cush-
man is not familiar name Old SER
mons are not commonly regarded as
literature, nor even as interesting
things to. read. Why then the value Of
this book? That value lies in the fact
that this sermon is the first New Eng
land sermon that ever got printed
This and the rarity of copies alone eX-
plain the $1,000 given for it.
The romanceS of book auction rooms
would make pretty volume of tales
should some one gather them and mar
rate them well. Along with this Cush-
man sale would so another of which
news comes at the same time Fitzger-
AIDS translation of Omar Khayyam"
originally was published in London by
Quaritch and fell as flat as ever any
book fell. Some 200 copies long lay on
Quaritch's shelf unstable. Even when
they were offered at one penny per
copy in 1859, the sale was still slow.
But now in this year 1898, nearly forty
years after, Mr.. Quaritch, wanting to
secure one copy of that same edition,
has had to compete for it in an auction
room and pay the sum of sos for it.
Bret Harte has just brought out
new collection Of his far Western tales
They are as delightful as ever his tales
were. The most remarkable thing to
be said Of Harte is the facility with
which, using the same background Of
local color, he can construct tales that
are ever new-and scores Of them.
Many, many years have passed since
Harte went to Europe to live; but the
memory of the scenes in which his
early life was spent has remained pow
erfully vivid in his mind. Whenever he
has attempted to write stories with
the scenes laid in foreign lands, he has
never quite risen to his California level;
more often he has fallen far below it.
This is about the strongest testimony
I know to the lasting force Of ones
early impressions. We can get away
from most environments that come
with the changes Of life. But never
from the environment Of youth. It
holds us firmly on with hooks Of steel.
Many theories have been cast upon