The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-10
ANCIENT TONES MOVING
A Boston Resort Hof BibliOphiles
Taking a New Home,
Famous Men Have Browsed About
Its Dusty Observation-Disclosures of
Volumes in Small Space-VeritabIe
Paradise of Literary Loungers.

| %
Volumes in Small space-yeritabIe
Paradise of Literary Loungers.
In Bromfield Street is a little second
hand bookshop, soon to disappear, that
is so dusty and quaint and worn in ap-
pearance that it looks as if it might have
been there 100 years. Its atmosphere is
essentially bookish, but this is not to be
wondered at when one considers that in
this small space-the dimensions are
4,1d2N24 feet-are stored over 70. 900 vol
umes.
Books of all kinds, costly or inexpen-
siNe, well preserved, or tattered and fad
ed. are to be found in this heterogeneous
collection. Bibles and little goody-goody
| memoirs and primers crowd atheistical
! tredtises; discarded sChoolbooks and for
| gotten poems are heaped in dusty
| mounds, while a long low shelf is cover
| eu with the very real, ephemeral litter
! oI modern magazines. The books reach
the ceiling in such high irregular piles
mat, as one looks up a gfddiness SeiZes
NM what II all these word-mOuntains
I should topple. and tumble down upon one
anu bury him in a heap of learning? 9th
! efWlse IL is friendly little shop: one may
run MS myers along the dusty shelves
! ana pun down the books of his desire or
ne may even mount the stepladder to
survey the volumes above his head Hos
! lltaDle signs guide him to poetry. and
| prose, and wherever the walls give tack
hoid' engravings and fashion plates are
! fastened up.
| outside of the door are small cases
hoiulhS the cheaper books Here many
/ passeIs-Dy pause. Who knows what flu
lure senluses have come, like book-starv-
| hAf tart.,y
and caress the volumes that they could
! not nope to buy? There are, however.
| bolder bookworms, without money in
! their pockets, who calmly walk inside to
| browse over the quaint periodicals and
faded books, that they cannot afford to
| purchase, yet long for with all their
hearts. Young driven 'penny-a-Iiners''
: also enter to CLEAN from old sources. and
| weave the forgotten thoughts of other
! men and women into their daily potboil-
ings.
| But this shop has other and better
| Known visitors, for there is something
about old books as fascinating to men
who write honey is to fies Dexter
SIlth Cielett Burgess Oscar Fay Adams
Inward Everett Hale, Arthur Macy
lhomas wentworth Hlsginson, William
| Shanning, Frank b. SanDorn, and John
y. Long are some Of the men who have
|
| mere are also many others of lesser
| present fame, but men and women who
| READ ana write and think, and 50 find
! these secondhand books congenial com
| paniOns
! The shopkeeper seems to be as popular
! as MS wares. He is a man about thirty
SIX years old, Scotch-Irish by birth, yet
| ehtlreIy a canny Scot, his friends de-
| clare. But something softer than the
| Scotch burr mingles in his speech, for hts
accent Is gentle. his voice persuasive
~Frr 4E.Tf FNNs.g .eEHa. (.
| desk, again walks about to wait on stran-
| gers, or to chat with friends
| Ihe latter help themselves. It's a part
! OF their training in this place" he said
/ VITA a smile. When he is at leisure he
| VIII talk interestingly of the people who
| frequent his shop, and tell some of the
| Sood-natured grinds' that have become
| part and parcel of his stock in trade
| one of them Is unusually good II an
| pears that Dexter Smith, the song writer
| reached fame when he was very young
! w hen Put Me In My Little Bed" was
written he was scarcely more than boy
| Yet most people imagine that its author
| must either be old man or dead from
sheer age, and when this particular ce-
| lebrlty Is pointed out to them, they inva-
| rlaDly say: Dexter Smith. Oh yes he
must be related to the author of the same
name VINO wrote that old song, Put Me
IN My Little Bed" and refuse to believe
that Mr.. Smith wrote his own words.
| This grind, Andrew, as his friends call
| him, tells with delight.
andrew is particular admirer Of
| Gelett Burgess, the author of The Pur-
pie Cow and the originator of the
cIeNer coop people But it is Mr.. Bur
CESS Ballad OF the Effeminate" that
most forclbly appeals to him, and which
ne most strongly praises. And thereby
hangs tale. one day one OF his better
known customers came in, followed by
man he did not know For n whlIe
she discussed books. then suddenly said
MT. -, how would you like to meet
GeIett Burgess?' Madam" he replied
there is no one l would rather meet
than the author of The Man That Likes
II showing and was surprised to have
his wish Immediately gratined. for the |
man who had overheard his own praises |
CESS himself.
This dusty little shop was the beginning
OF an original sort of club About ten |
men, some OF whom write and an of |
whom are fond of reading and discussion
formed the habit of dropping in there to |
chat and argue. Gradually they have ar |
ranged themselves into a kind of ques-
ton class. or. as Mr.. Smith calls il. "A |
General Worry Club" They play at this
literary game. ostensibly for the Dur-
pose of diffusing knowledge. but, to an
outsider II seems that they are trying to |
become experts In the gentle art of I'M
seating each others reason. so many odd,
out-of-the-way questions are asked
WHO wrote The Culprit Fay' and XII
mCuy? Name three English poets be
tween Chaucer and Spenser." What are
the Chitern Hundreds How is the
NOru DtSln, uSeu IN the ecclesiastical
sense spelled" What was the first Eng
lish Comedy, and who was its author?'
These are few of the milder questions
one man has a strong hold on classical
learning, another is proud of his biblical |
memory. while a third member is secure |
in his knowledge of English literature of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, |
ana trips his opponents upon quotations
from obscure dramatists.
The dinginess and dustiness of this lit !
tie shop are the sood-humored butts of
these literary loungers. Just at present !
the books are being taken from floor and |
shelves, and piled In towers of such gro
tcsuue and irregular proportions. prepar-
atCry to moving, that Il touch sends them
sliding down.
Come here" said the song writer,
speaking in tones Of hushed awe Look
and remomberi Never in all my life be-
fore have l ever seen that corner clean
and clear.
one book lover pounced with avidity
upon shelf, hitherto blocked from sight
by heaps of musty old books. ALI he
cried. dclishtedly, y have been waiting
years for this clearing. It's like one of
undations that lay bare the bones of the
mast1don that have been hidden in a cliff
for years Aud he proceeded to pull |
about and collect the tigurative mastadon
bones he had w3ited FOR so long
And SO the joking and fun go on IN |
the customers and the General
Worry Club viii follow the bookseller in !
his coming migration to other and larger
quarters. and 1t is a law of nature that |
wherever books are. there will dust and |
Cobwebs be also: but 1t is a question |
whether the newer and more commodious |
store will give the effect of quaint |
cramped picturesqueness that the older |
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