The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-04-13
Publishers Depend on Titles
Of Books to Carry Them
BY Paul Pry

/ except In 1899, when l did nothing. Mr.
Jacobs lives at Buchhurst Hill, London
and saws that the district is admirably
suited for quiet literary work, as he and
the milkman are the only males living
there who do not go to the city by early
trains Two of his stories have been
oramatized, and he is thinking of writing
a play.
With the information that Mr.. Henry
James has been seriously ILL., but at the
last accounts was very much better,
comes the comment that Mr.. James is
not quite as young as he was. 1T seems
strange to think of Mr.. Bret Harte as
white haired old man, and of Henry
James as a writer who really belongs to
the last generation. Fortunately neither
Harte nor James show the slightest sign
in their writings that they are not as
young as they ever were Continuing
/ the correspondent says that the fact that
tney do not leok any older is que 10
their residence in England, for here the
climate does not turn one out, and the
stress in life is less strenuous than 1t Is
! in America
There Is a lengthy and very interesting
article in a recent New York paper
F, about Miss Mary Johnston and her work.
| It is evidently written by one Intimately
acquainted with the author and her
methods of work. In reciting little incl
dents in connection with Miss Johnston.
the writer says: "Once, shortly after
prisoners of Hope had been published,
she was driving with her father and
friend on a woodland road not far from
Hot Springs. On either side the forest
land closed in so as almost to touch
the axles of the carriage After looking
deep into the woods either side for
! a few moments she suddenly said: i can
| enjoy such a drive as this now, but only
| a short time ago when l passed along
such a trail l could see Landless and
Patricia wandering through the torest,
| until the sight became really painful.
It is really a comfort to learn tina,
i Miss Johnston is also afflicted In this
way, for there are thousands of read
ers continually haunted by the restless
figure of Landless in the forest, and nc
amount of reasoning quite dispels the
gloom of his unhappy situation.
1.-THE Valley of Decision" by Edith
Wharton, is praised by reviewers anc
written about in most enthusiastic terms
ALIENS" by Mary Tappan Wright is
said to be a remarkable novel of con-
temporary life in the South. 1t deals
with a period later than reconstruction
times and one not hitherto treated in fic-
ton.
1.-THE Crimson Wing" by H. c. Chat
| feld-Taylor-a tale of three cities-is said
to be a novel of extraordinary power and
interest The young Chicago social leader
won a degree of literary success with
1.-TWO Women and a Fool" although it is
said people are as yet trying to decide
who was the fool. His new novel de-
ponds for its history on the Franco-Ger-
man war American Masters of Print
ing is the title of Mr.. Charles H. Cof
fms admirable appreciation of thirteer
of our greatest artists-the men like Sar
gent Whistler, Abbey. La Forge, 1nness
ETC., who have been chiefly responsible,
for the change in the foreign attitude
towards American art.
1.-The Opponents" by Harrison Robert
son, is a powerful story of latter day pol
! itics in Kentucky. The opponents, whit
encounter each others rivalry in love al
well as in the contest for election Il
Congress, are strikingly and dramaticall.
; contrasted One of the chief charms o
the book is its sympathetic portTaitur'
! Of Southern women, of whom Mr.. Robert
!, son has already drawn so many striking
likenesses PAUL PRf.