Evening star., 1899-03-04
1HE 9ARE OF BOOKS
How Various People Have Regarded
This Important Subject.
STORIES OF FAMOUS BIBLIOPHILES
Hatred for the Man Who BoroWs
and Never Returns.
NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS
Iclen Jar. in Hnrner,s Bazar.

Helen Jay. in Hlrper's Bazaar.
An enthusiastic book lover once declared
that he could not enjoy the public reading
Of an eminent author because the latter,
while standing before his audience, rum
pied the leaves of the book in his hand,
bending the covers back until they touched.
Certainly we have all suffered from a sense
OF outrage at the crimes committed upon
Our favorite volumes through the cruel
handling of the careless borrower. When
some beloved edition comes back TO soil
ed and defaced. We feel very much as the
mother does when she views the marks
of blows upon defenseless baby hands and
faces; for the real sting of the wrongs
committed against books, declares the
quaint old chronicler, lies in the wantOn-
ness of the deed. increased by the helpless
ness of the victims. How our liking goes
out to the Rabbi of Ian Maclaren as
he stands among his boxes at Stormont sta
tinn. admonishing Mains, who has come to
convey his belongings to Kilbogie. You
will be Cdreful-exceedingly careful" he
inplores. If one of those boxes We're al
lowed to descend hurriedly to the ground
the result to wha- is within would be dis
astrouS. The top one contains the fathers
deal gently with it; and the reformation
divineS are just below it Books are easily
injured and they feel It. l do believe there
don't like being ill-used' and jeremiah
looks wistfully at the ploughman. 1t is
this instinct, detecting the vital principle
IN books, that marks the difference between
the book buyer and the genuine student.
To one, volumes are simply inanimate OBJ
JectS; to the other, they are comrades and
friends. Some one has put it on record that
a true scholar has a motheriy instinct in
caring Tor books. That he knows every
one and its location, having sense of the
feel as well as the shape of his favorites,
the prodigals, that set off on adventurous
Journeys into other rooms. Perhaps it is
failure To comprehend this semi-maternaI
devotion that causes so many to consider
that books can be replaced or that the loss
OF one matters little where there are so
many.
Pepys' Concern.
None but the genuine book lover can faith
ON the anguish of Pepys as he records
among the national turmoils occasioned by
tn London fire the far sadder fact that
he was nightly troubled, even in his
sleep, at missing four or five of his books
How joyfuily he chatters next davr'
That which did please me most of ali is
thdt ". Hewer tells me that upon inquiry
he DO nnd that Sir W. Pen hath a hamper
NOR thdn his own, which he took for a
hamper of bottles of wine and are books
III il. 1 sent for Harry and he tells me il
Is 50, and byand-Dy brought me nv
hamper of books to my great joy
with the same books | missed The
Lord OF Heaven make thankful and
C ntinue me therein" In tEe chronicle of
the Pepys of New England, Judge Samuel
SeWail, the fluctuations OF his aged affec-
tICHs are accurately gauged by thu books
presented by him during his elderly WOO
lA2S. while h was wandering in his mind
whether 10 live married or a single
ME When he first began to take notice
wren his hrst wife had been dead nearly
Two months, he gave to Widow Winthrop
whom n had admired in her ..slcy', as a
warm expression of awakening affection
thrte precious volumes Smoking Flax In
hafned, The Jewish Children of Berlin"
ana MY Small Vial of Tears" Bur when
Ms wandering heart was deepIy toie he'd
at th- funeral of Mr.. Denison of Roxbury.
ne went home from the tomb with the
widow, praying God to keep house with
her. and in a few days sent her "a
widow 5 book, having writ her name in II "
Ir- Mather's sermons. neatly bound, fol-
lowed soon, and as the crowning gift. "a
Isaim-book, elegantly bound in Turkey
leather From this high-Water mark nf
Il at binding and choice Turkey Iasth
er the tide rapidly receded. Widow TiIiey
was presented with one small volume '.Or
Adiheh's OF Slon, Mrs. Martha RugSles
received a simple Election Sermon Will.
fpr Mrs Mary Tibbs widow of Newton
qulre OF paper. good leathern inkhorn,
d suck OF Sedling-waX and 30 waters in a
niue boA We're quite good enough So
hIgh upon the strand had the buff atinp
waves of courtship cast the moor old ,rifa
seeking judgei
oid New England Books
No one can look through anv couac,ion
OF Old New England books without heinp
impressed by the reyerent care bestowed
upon them by their former owners Judge
Sv"dH was not the only member of the
commonwealth who deemed them the most
IttclouS l"Ee-tokens, the most consoling
So 70 Sr'eI; hawthorne, that Brahmin of
- ss - &c OF 5o0k-Iovers. found in the attic
y ne Old Manse' part of his predeces
sors library The old books wouId have
been worth nothing at an auction In This
venerable garret, however they possessed
." tI'e'ts' quite apart from their literary
Edlue, as heIrlooms, many of which had
hteh transmitted down through a series of
c'EsecTated hands from the days of the
nHShty Puritan dtvines. Autographs of
famous names We're TO be seen In faded ipI-
on some Of their fiy-leaves. and thara w.,
MARGINAL observations or interpoIated nages
closely covered with manuScriDt in iIIaofbIa
Sh'Itnann. perhaps concealing matter of
profound truth and wisdom" We have ali
iclt the tender charm Of some such readine,
especially when books have come to ms
as an inheritance. They may be little old
ana clumsy with a different fasbiO, Of
speech from our own like that o1aint CON.
OF Ihomas kempis that Maggie TuIIiver
took up from the window seat wherein
some hand forever quiet had made at
certain passages strong pen and ink marks
long since Drowned by time" but our kin
handled them and dreamed over their
pages ana those brown pen and ink marks
reveal the personality OF their owners more
lully than the garments or household pIen-
ishinsS that have come to us The writing
OF the autograph was in itself a labor Of
love The old student would have no un-
Claimed mental intimate. He adopted every
volume and caused 1t to bear his name
The carefully inscribed date and place of
reading are no less Indicative of character
than the fine knOtting and conceits of
penmanship about the owners name
HawthOrne's Love of Books.
In nothing perhaps does the innate refine
nent and integrity of the folk of the olden
time appeal more closely to US than In this
reverent care. Hawthorne. the best inter
prefer Of the New England spirit. shows
fis kinship after the flesh most clearly In
This confession: There fingers with me
Supersttlous reverence for literature of
All KINDS bound volume has charm in
my eyes similar to what scraps of manu-
SCRIPTS possess for the good MusSulrnan
Pie lmaglnes that these wind-wafted rec
ords are perhaps hallowed by some sacred
M SCI ana l. that every new book or an
tiue one may contain the open sesame
the spell to disclose treasures in some un-
suspected can OF Truth" A distinguished