The record-union., 1899-08-20
Literature and
Literary Workers,

LNGIdly WUlkGIS,
William Dean Howells does not be-
lieve that he was born with literary
talent II came,' he says, .'of read
ing race, which has always loved litera-
ture in a way. My inclination was to
read, rather than to write
Lady Louise Tighe is the only sur
yivor of those present at the Duke of
Richmond's famous ball on the eve of
the battle of Waterloo. She was child
at the time, but distinctly remembers
the whole scene described in Byron's $
"Childe Harold"
Michael Joseph Barry, the poet, was
| appointed a police magistrate in Dub
lin. An Irish-American was brought
before him charged with suspicious
conduct, and the Constable swore,
among other things, that he was wear
ing a republican hat" docs your
honor know what that means?" in
quired the prisoners lawyer of the
court. Il presume said Barry, that
A, set of maps of the time of Ptolemy,
| the geographer, has been found in some
eleventh century manuscripts in the
Vatican library, according to the Tab
let"
Israel Zangwill, the author of '"The
Children of the Ghetto,'' is on his way
to New York to attend the rehearsals
of the play, which begin August 21st.
President Tucker of Dartmouth is a
believer in newspapers. Il do not" he
| says, accept the idealized statement of
Lord Rosebery, who would eliminate
the editorial page from the newspaper.
When the Journalist has the truth of
the fact in his possession and has given
1t to us his professional work has just
begun. He is to interpret and apply
the current fact
The most popular novelist in England
appears to be Silas Hooking. His pub
llsherS aver that for the twenty one
years during which he has been writ
ing the sale of his novels has averaged
one thousand copies week Mr. Hook
ing is a minister of the Methodist Free
Church, and it is the great public of
dissenting England which reads his
works.
The charge of plagiarism preferred
against Hall Caine in the matter Of a
paragraph in ''The Christian which
closely resembles a paragraph of Dean
swift, has been answered by a friend of
the novelist, who admits Mr. Gaines in
debtedness to Swift, but claims that
previous to the publication of "The
Christian" Mr.. Caine had freely men
toned in the course of an interview de-
signed for publication that he had in
several instances Incorporated in his
book the thoughts of other men,
The most beautiful copy of Rubaiyat
is said to be the illuminated manuscript
executed by William Morris for Lady
Burne-Jones. 1t is on Roman lambskin
vellum, twenty-three pages, measuring
SIX by three and one-half inches. On
eighteen Of the pages the illumination
is confined TO central space, three by
TWO inches, and consists of beautifully
drawn and colored flowers and fruit. On
the other five pages the margins are
completely filled with f1oriated designs,
among which are very small but beau
tifully drawn and colored figures.
=
DR.. Conan Doyle got his first idea of
his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes,
says the New England Home Maga-
zine" from an old Professor of medi-
cine at the Edinburgh University. This
man would sit in the patients waiting
room with face like a red Indian and
diagnose the people as they came in,
| even before they had opened their
| mouths. He would tell them their
| symptoms and he would give them de-
| tails of their lives. Gentlemen" he
would say to the students standing
about, I'm not quite certain whether
this man is cork cutter or slater.
observe slight callous or hardening
on one side of his forefinger and a lit
tie thickening on the outside of his
thumb. That is a sure sign that he is
either one or the other His deduc-
t1ons were dramatic. "Ah!" he would
say to another man, you are a soldier
a n-commissioned officer, and YOU
have served in Bermuda. Now. gentle
men, how did I know that? He came
into the room without taking off his
hat, and as he would go into an or
binary room He was a soldier. A
slight authoritative air. combined with
his age, shows that he was a non-com-
misisoned officer A rash on his fore.
head tells me that he was in Bermuda
and subject to a certain rash known
only there
| DR.. Edward Everett Hale saws that
when he brought home his first report
from the famous Boston Latin School
1t showed that he stood only nine in q
class of fifteen. Probably the other
boys are brighter than you," said his
mother. God made them so, and YOU
cannot help that. But the report saws
you are among the boys who behave
we'll. That you can see, too, and that
is all care about"
] Pail Mall Gazette: Here is a true
story of poet. The poet was travel
ling and had lost his luggage, which is
a natural thing to happen to a poet
| Ultimately, though poet, he found it,
and then the trouble began. The au-
thorities, since it was within the Brit
ish Isles, could not do by him as they
| did in Italy for another poet of my
acquaintance = arrest him for having
more money about him than his ap-
pearance warranted. What they could
do they did; they refused to allow that
| the baggage belonged to him. Nat
urally, it was not labeled; naturally,