The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-11-05
I'M THE LITERARY WORLD.

tional interest for Asheville people by
reason of the fact that it is dedicated to
George w Vanderbilt, a warm personal
friend of the author. says the Ashevillc
Citizen. In the dedication Mr.. Ford
says:
My Dear George:-Into the warp and
wool of every book am author weavcs
much that even the slIbtlest readers can
not suspect, far less discern. To them it
is but a cross and pile of threads inr,t-
laced to form pattern which may please
or displease their taste But to the
writer every filament has its own asso-
citation: How each .ut of silk or Woo,
flax or tow, was laboTiouSly gathered or
WAS blown to him. when each was spun
by the wheel of his fancy into yarns;
the color and TINT his imagination gave
to each skein; and where each was final
Nv woyen into the fabric by the shuttle
of his pen. No thread ever quite de-
taches itself from its growth and spin
ming, dyeEng and weaving, and each
draws him back to hours and places
seemingly unrelated to the work.
"And so, as | have read the proofs Of
this book | have found more than once
that the pages have faded out OF sight
and in their stead / have seen Mt. Pts
gah and the French Broad river, or the
ramp and terrace of Biltmore House,
just as / saw them when writing The
words which served to recall them %
me. With the visions, too, has come a
recurrence to our long talks, our work
among the books, oIrr games of CHESS,
our cups of tea, our walks, our rides Gald
our drives. 1t is therefore a pleasure
to me that the book SO naturally grslyi-
tates to You, and that may make it a
remembrance of those past weeks of
companionship and an earnest of the
present affection of
paul LEICESTER FORD"
Mr. Leonard G.. Van Noppen, whose
translation of ''Lucifer' made his reputa-
ton. is in The Hague now at work OH
another translation, which he hopes TO
have completed by Christmas when he
returns to America to deliver a series of
lectures ON Dutch Literture. He will
deliver another course of six lectures
at Columbia University, New York, four
at the University of Michigan, and
six in the Lowell course at Boston, as
well as single lectures in other sections
of the country Mr.. Van Noppen is
young North Carolinian whose success
in the world of letters has given just
qualification to the whole State.
American readers will have am opportu-
nifty to Become familiar with the mo it
striking work which NJ. Rene Balm ,one
of the most gifted Of the young French
writers, has thus far done. in the trans
lation OF '"lhe Perishing Land" which
is to be published serially in The Living
Age, beginning in the number for Noyeni-
her 4. This story attracted wide atten-
ton ON its publication in France, early
this year. 1t is full of incident and IF
local color, and shows rare skill i'm the
delineation of character.
The many tribulations of those who
have endeavored to ascertain the growth
of the separate clauses of the Constitu-
ton Of the United STATES have been.
happily met by WIN. Nj. Meigs, whose
most recent contribution to our Constitu-
tional history is the story of origin and
development of each separate clause OF
the Constitution from its first suggestion
in the Federal Convention of 1857 to
the form finally approved by that body.
Lincoln. Bonaparte, Washington,
Franklin have been our literary fads in
the past decade, and now from the APP
pearance of the magazine advertisements
we are to have Cromwell. Anticipating |
the fact, there has just been issued a |
most interesting and authentic "Oliver |
Cromwell and His Times" by G.. Holden |
Pike, an eminent authority on the sub |
ject.
Life Publishing Company announces |
an attractive list of illustrated publica- |
tons for November These include |
''Coontown's 400,'' by E. W. Kemble; |
Mythology for Moderns,' by James S. |
Metcalfe; THE Gibson Calendar" illus |
trated by G. ID. Gibson, and "Iife's Out |
Door Calendar" illustrated by A. d. |
Blashfield.
The Living Age, which recently re- |
printed from the Nineteenth Century a |
callstic Criticism of THE Womens Con- |
gress written by a women, presents the |
other side in its issue for November A. |
i'm an article written for the Nineteenth |
Century by Fannie I'll Gaffney, president |
of the American Woman's Council.