Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-07-06

tellectual She wanted to write to him
and to receive his lcttrs, just as a nat
urallst wants to catch a new and
strange insect In his net. She ielt Il
scientific kind Of interest In this new
specimen Her first letter TO him was
short. but II must have piqued his Gu
riosity II only know she wrote,
that you are young, and that you are
unmauied-two essential points. But
/ warn you that | am charming; this
sweet thought will encourage you to
reply" Maupassants reply showed
that he wanted to know more Of his
fair correspondent. She will tell him
nothing. So he tries to force her
hand" by making believe that he
thinks her a man or a plain old wo-
man She only humors the guess and
plays with him.
You may" he writes, 'be a young
woman OF literary society, and hard
and dry as a ma ttresS." Again Are
you worldly or sentimental? or simply
romantic? or again, merely a woman
who is bored and wants Distraction
She only chaffs him in her reply What
Maupassant says about himself is in
teresting, and undoubtedly true;
Il take everything with indifference.
and ! pass two-thirds Of my time In
profound boredom / occupy the third
in writing lines that | sell as dear as
possible, distressing myself at being
Obliged TO play this abomnable part
which has given me the honor Of be-
ing distinguished-morally-by you"
All this must have been very enter
tanning to Marie. But what is more, 1t
gave her the excitement which she
craved, and without which she was un-
happy. OF course, she was abnormal.
Neither mind nor body was in nat
ural condition. She coulG not have
lived. You feel that with her first lei
tiers. Girls such as she was never be-
come old women. II she had not writ
ten about herself and mdlted epistles
to people whom she had never seen
she would probably have been n vic
tim to morphine. Such nature as
hers was bound 10 be the slave of
habit. She had the pen habit-she had
TO write 10 relieve hcrself-in her Jour
nal, 10 strangers, il mattered little, 80
that she could talk about herself. her
appearance her emotions love which
she never felt anything SO that she
was in the glare Of the limelight.
Her death was pathetic but her life
was pathos itself
JEANETTE L. GLIDER,
A few weeks ago the Journal Satur-
day Review offered a prize Of $50 for
the best short book review. In re-
spouse 20 this offer thousands upon
thousands Of reviews poured in from
all parts OF the country. The task ..
reading them all was hercuean The
following was judged by the editor 90
be the best II was sent in by Louis
Howe, Of Saratoga Springs, n. V, to
whom a check Of $50 was sent
THE HELMET or NAVARRO.
The first edition Of 1.-THE Helmet Of
Navarro" is 100000 copies Let that
fact silence the pessimistic cry that the
spirit Of chivalry is dead SJill deep In
the dullest hearts turks the buccaneers
love for the ripple beneath the Keel and
the taut rigging's hum SIN through
the coolest veins runs the warm blood
that leaps at the crash OF steel on a
stricken field
only We may no longer don armor
and away through mysterious woods
where dreadful dragons and distressed
Gamsels await our sword. For is not
every forest path. even in the uttermost
parts OF the earth neatly marked down
In various colored inks, that he who
wheels may read?
Yet may the old lust for danger be
somewhat slaked as beside the evening
lamp we follow a yirile authors soul
out Of the printed page, beyond the
narrow study walls, through the magic
land Of Nowhere, to see great deeds
that might have been. This is the
charm Of The Helmet Of Navarro"
Crude II may be, improbable II must
be, for the probable is always uninter-
esting, and the people We know invari-
ably dun But we have wept over
Mary wilkins homely death beds. have
taken Robert Elsmere' as literary
cod liver oil for our moral systems.
have pandered TO our lower nature I'M
der the excuse Of problem novel, and
now we would be knights Grant and
breathe the fresh air once more!
Therefore viii the hundred thousand
copies go, and more 20 follow. The
book will not live forever; with Wey-
mans and Hopes the dust win gather
on its covers. Yet will our lives be
little brighter, yea, our aims little
nobler, even for the brief journey from
the dull, sordid. money-maklng of to-
day.
LOUIS McHENRY HOWE.
Saratoga Springs April S0 1901