The Savannah morning news., 1900-09-24
Amusing stories Alleged 90 Have
neen Found where It's Useless 20
Look for Anything Else.
From the London Graphic.

Look Tor Anything Else.
From the London Graphic
Humor sometime appears IN the most
unexpected places. Or Hnl Burton. In
The Rock Hunter" shows not only how
fertile OF suggestion even sach arid lit
erary pastures as county directories. al
MANAGES. and the advertisement sheets OF
an old newspaper may be but he extracts
humor from law reports and amusement
from collections OF the statutes The
scarchcr. In fact who has a scent for hui
NOR. viii find IL everywhere in the driest
Of hooks II may be found occasionally H.
Eliminating the pages Of preface or index
There Is the preface propitiatory and the
preface arrogant. the address TO the read
er which sets forth the condescension OF
the author. ond another form which
throws che book n the readers head.
There Is also the candid preface ns. for
instance, la that prenNed 90 a dictionary
Of long ago. wherein the compiler excused
his iexicographicnl labors on she indisput-
able ground that he might have been
worse employed. Prefaces sometimes con-
tain unconscious revelations. In the pre-
face 70 book published only few weeks
ego. che author says that In his work ne
addresses himself not 10 the schollast hut
20 the general reader. one wonders what
kind Of q person the writer took a schol-
last 10 he
Index humor. like that OF the preface.
is Of various kinds There Is that which
amufes ond tfat which enragss. ore form
Of the latter Is the humcr which Is shown
ia issuing q big book. full OF detail. with
out any irdsx at an. This T. rather Ia
yciifc form Of amusement. although Of
late years the Oft rep ated remonstrances
Of critics and Students have not been al
together unheard. and fewer jokes Of
this kind are perpetrated than OF old. Yet
so recent and so noticeable book Mr..
Russell's Matthew Arnold's Letters
was actually issued without either an in
dcx or even a table Of contents. we'll
known antiquary. the late Francis Deuce.
used TO feDeat with junction. a terrible
curse invok d by friend OF his on the
heads OF all such as issued Indexes
bocks-a curse with terrifying allUsion
20 a district beyond the internal regions
where the devil could not get for sting
Ing nettlesrr No one knows better than
an antiquary or n grubber among old and
miscellaneous volumes Of forgotten lore.
how cooperating Is the book crammed
with matter on hundred different sub
jects but unprovided with any kind OF
alphabetical key 20 it's contents. Lord
Campbell at the end OF the preface
"a the last volume OF his Lives OF the
Chief Justices" wrote in all seriousness:
so essential did I consider an index 10
be TO every book that | propose to bring
a bill into Parliament 90 deprive an author
who publishes a hook without an index
OF the privilege OF copyright and. more
over. TO Subject him, for his offense, 60
pecuniary penalty" Such drastic legisla-
ton. however. has not yet come into
force. one writer OF long ago was foolish
enough 20 explain why he issued his book
without an index. and the explanation Il
amazingly absurd The book was Howeis
discourse Concerning the PRESIDENCY OF
Kings" a folio published In 1851. At the
end the writer remarked: THE reason
why there Is no table. or index added
hereunto g.. that every page IN this work
g. so fun OF signal remarks, that were
they couchcd In an index. u would make
a volume as big as the book. and 50
make the postern gate 20 bear no proper
q ~ with the building
But even when the index is duly pro-
vided. the compiler can contrive 20 ex-
hibit more than one touch OF humor
There Is. for instance. the exasperating
cross reference. Under "horses" you md
"see hippology." You duly refer TO hip
poioEy" and find see horses" sell" OF
this kind appeared IN the index OF that
very solid work. stubbs Constitutional
History" where arc the entries-"B Beau
mont Earls OF Leicester. see Leicester .
and Leicester see Beaumont" cobbctt
long ago noted an absurdity OF this kind
IN an early edition OF the Encyclopaedia
britannica" In HIS Woodlands" he
says. Many years ago wished tosknow
whether I could raise birch trees from the
seed. then looked into the great
book OF knowledge, the Encyclopaedia
Britannica:' there ! found IN the general
dictionary
Birch Tree see Betula, Botany Index.