The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-17
Literature and
Literary Workers.

Dr. O'Meara, author of the famous
volumes, Napoleon at ST. Helena, .
left a journal of his daily intercourse
with Napoleon in exile, less than half
| OF which was drawn upon in his pub
hshed works. The original journal,
containing upward of 10000 words,
was bequeathed by Dr. O'Meara to a
friend, by whose heirs it has been
placed in the hands of the editors of
the Century" 1t abounds in passages
Of the greatest interest, as bearing on
the character and opinions OF Napoleon,
matter which was suppressed by DR..
O'Meara at the time of the publication
of his book in 1872 This journal, which
is distinct from the book manuscript,
though the latter is in large measure
founded upon it, is in a fuller and more
intimate style, and details the life and
conversation at Longwood without re-
serve. The Century Magazine" will
soon begin to publish copious extracts
from this journal
The London Academy publishes the
following amusing poem. entitled
Brother joe which has been inspired
by the fact that Rudyard Kipling has
recently Joined an Edinburg Masonic
Lodge, and is fraternally styled Broth
er joe AS a delicate bit of satire the
Academy announces that the poem is
not copyrighted:
CHANGED to be at rockingham upon a
l met fellow Mason there. and gave the
dr.. man the grip;
What ho,, I said. my Rudyard!" But
col
my name, you ought to understand" he
said, lis Brother joe
o, it's Rudyard this, and Kipling that,
with poems, tales and such
And Rudyard Kipling is name that
can't be known too much
O, it's Rudyard this. and Kipling that,
with any writing dodge
But it's Brother Joseph Kipling when he
joins blooming lodge.
I went into library to get book to
The man behind the counter asked:
re-. What is it, sir, you need?''
L want. | said, the latest thing that
/ GO on" he said, you're chatting me.
Joe Kip? There isn't one,'
Q, it's Brother Joe. and Joseph, when in
signals are out,
And knives and forks are busy and the
bottles go about;
It's Brother Joe from India where'er
the Masons throng,
But it's Rudyard kipLng only when he
writes blooming song.
1.-THE Heart of the Ancient Wood" is
the title of the romance of Canada
which Charles G. D. Roberts has lately
completed.
A letter written by Lamb, in which
he falls into a bitterness not common
to his kindly SOUL is ABOUT to be sold in
London. He says therein to P. G. Pat
more: Mature never wrote knave up
on face more legibly than upon that
fellows. Coal burn him in Beelzebub's
deepest pit" etc.
Charles Whitney, in the London
SPECTATOR You can only reach the
truth by negatives. There is no style
where there is not music, where there
is not a perfect and curious choice of
phrase, where there is not proper
sensitiveness to the genealogical ira
dition of such words as find place
in a sentence. Above all, music is the
secret of great prose as of great verse, {,
and it is music which enabled Milton to
write the "Areopagitica" as it enabled
him to write Paradise Lost" Lucidity
is good in the one medium as in the
other; simplicity is good if it does not
degenerate into commences. But these
pale qualities will never fashion a
mighty style. When the eighteenth
century achieved it's universal triumph
of good sense, it killed for while our
English tongue. Style could not live in
an atmosphere which was instant
death to personality, since style is al
ways, and must always be, not only ar
tificial, but personal. A reporter. in
brief, is not an artist, because hes is in
expressive, and great works, whether Of
verse or prose, live by their expression.
We are born to speak-that is our
birthright. We are not born to write
that is an accomplishment acquired
with pain and forethought In other
words. language is an instrument upon
be taught to play.
If the artists touch and method en-
able him to express himself, then he has
pierced that strange mystery, style. If
he steal the touch and method of an
other, then he need not be considered
more carefully than the imitators Of
Stevenson and Meredith. But he who
writes as he speaks is no better than
llC WIZ coOS DIS lie TuuS. IHe UlNlDcSt
narrative colloquially expressed is dead
tomorrow, and the argument of Swift
merely appears simple to the critic
because the profound artifice of Swift
eludes him. Style, indeed, is personal
and intimate gift, which proceeds from
and is the reflex of sincere thought or
a clear vision. But he who thinks or
sees must understand the use of words,
and have an ear attuned to music. And
the sooner we block such easy cuts to
excellence as that "men should write
as they talk or that "a prose writer
has nothing to do with Words the
sooner may we look upon an English
which is not contemplate For the
newspaper is not yet the ideal of our
prose, and the first lesson a writer
learns is that literature is something
better than conversation materialized
in ink.
London Chronicle: A new kind of |
duel has been invented in Russia NJ |
Novikof has for several years filled |
the post of Zemski Natchalnik Judge |
and Administrator of matters concern
ing DeaSaQtS). and has activoIv inter- |