The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-21
OUT AND ABOUT.

1
perhaps that is why, after half a hun
dred other novels have been read and
forgotten, this story of the old New
! 1ork banker and horse dealer remains
sharp and distinct in memory. There
Is really nothing new to say about IT,
| either, for every one who keeps up
! with the procession has read it by
now and formed his or her own opin-
ION, yet 1t can do no harm to chronicle
the delight of one more reader or to
speak in praise of one of the most
! delicate and brilliant genre pictures in
American literature.
David Harum" is the work of man
who passed his life in banking and not
authorship. Edward Noyes Westcott
was born in central New York in 1S47,
| ana died there, Of consumption March
! 81, 1898. Nearly all his life was passed
IN his native city of Syracuse. This
DOCK, the first and only one he ever
| wrote, SO far as Out and About knows,
was nnlshed While he lay on his death
| ped, yet no trace of his sufferings ap-
pears. 1t was not granted that he
snould 1--we to see it in its present com
| pleted form, contamination he most
earnestly desired.
In David Harum, the author has
made new and, it must be believed.
permanent addition to the long list of
portraits which American literature
can boast in those faithful studies of
certain limited regions and their in
haoltants which is about all that the
leading writer's of the country has thus
| far attempted. Mr.. Westcott's work is
in line with the studies of New Eng
land by Miss Wilkins and Miss Jewett;
| Of the middle northwest by Octave
| Thanet; of Canada by Gilbert Parker;
! of Louisiana by George Gable: of Cali
l n n TO md q Il gl
by James Lane Allen, to mention but
a, few. The book is a novel, with
| very charming love story running
through it, but the title roll is taken
| by the quaint, dry, shrewd old country
banker, David Harum, with his pas
sion for yarns and horse trading, his
eccentric philanthropies and his unex-
pected tenderness. Just to hear him
talk is delicious.
1t is its humor, I suspect that makes
David Harum' the irresistible book
it is-its humor, which is as genial
and sunshiny as the humor of Abra
ham Lincoln and as unstinted and gen
| uine as his was. Foreigners might find
| it rather blind and fail to relish it
| 1892 pages of it, particularly-but no
| American who was worth his salt but
would confess that he had been com
pletely captivated by it,. DO unto the
other Teller the way he'd like to do
unto you-an' do it fust" is David's
reading of the golden rule, but one,
| it should be added. that he lived up to
only in a horse trade. "a reasonable
amount of fleas is good for a dog
they keep him FIN broodin' on bein'
dog" he saws at another time. eX-
pressing with characteristic piCtuT-
sequences his deep-rooted conviction
that there is nothing wholly bad Or
| useless in the world.
A column might easily be fillad with
David Harum's odd, humorous. knife
thrusts, and his SCRAPS of anecdote and
description, but each quotation could
be made only with "vi'lence'' and at
some diminution of the readers joy in
discovering them for himself. David
Harum is not the typical American:
we should not like to have him seized
upon by the English or French or
Germans as a sample OF the kind Of
man this country makes: he is local
and peculiar, not universal. But one
would have to seek far for y more
loveable, a more Appealing character,
n for a more charming story than
David Harum." For siI2 by the Bos-
ton store.
Capt. and Mrs. NJ. g. Stratton are
receiving congratulations on the birth
of daughter Saturday.
| This evenings entertainment in Pill
grim chapel, under the auspices of the
Ladies' Aid Society of Pilgrim Church,
is being anticipated, as it will present
an opportunity for the parishioners and
| their friends to hear Mr.. Cunningham.
the new bassO for the coming year. be-
sides Miss Flora Clifford Of Boston.
who is spoken of highly as a reader,
| known whistler. The ladies are trying
to raise $1,000 which they have pledged
toward the church debt.
1t is so long since the subject of a
club house was mooted in the Worces-
ter Womans Club that MANY of tbe
members have taken it for granted that
the idea of building had been dronned
1t has, on the contrary, been quick
| ened into life by committee meeting
| held recently, at which it was voted Ia
| make a systematic canvass of tho
| club in order to ascertain lust what
| financial backing the project would re-
ceive. 1t is proposed to place the shares
as low as $40 each.
The appointment of Miss Hazard to
| the presidency of Wellesley CoIIage.
seems a little remarkable in that she is
not herself a college bred woman. All
| the time of the announcement. a weel,
| or two ago. it was stated by the news
! papers pretty generally that Miss Haz-
ard was the author OF several we'll
known works. put people in this neigh
| borhood, even those who are fairly wei,
read, failed to identify the Iady with
any form OF literature. 1t seems. how
ever, that she has published a volume
| of 'Narragansett Ballads" and a strdJ,
| of college life in the last century also
that she has collected and edited her
grandtathers writings, consisting of an
essay on language and certain philoso-
phlcal discussions on the freedom of tbe
will, designed to refute the views of
Jonathan Edwards.
Irving Swan Brown, who has in
| charge the musical entertainment at
the ladies' night of the Worcester C,YbI
| tomorrow evening, has arranged an
| interesting program consisting Of niaro
solos by Arthur ]. Bassett. songs NV,
Miss Aagot Lunde of Boston ami "
a. Rowland, and trios by Miss Georr;l
! Bacon piano, Ernest Smith violin nd
| Irving Swan Brown cello. The rnI,si.
| Gale will begin at S.45 o'clock and Z,,iil
| be given in the room in front of thr
! dining room.
Massaging the scalp with kerosene is
one of the fads of the moment among
women who are on beauty bent, ana il,
isn't half as bad as it sounds 7,b,.
country pumpkin who saturated his
! hair out of the kerosene can instoal ,,e
using the bear oil and mutton taii,.,.
that the other fellows used was rnt
| so far out in his reckoning perhans
At any rate, Kerosene is coming in as
"A hair dressing. Take a bottle Of # tn