Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-11-15

been a painstaking realist OF the nuIn-
drum sort he would most certaihiy pe
forgotten. He was rapidly deyeiopiis
into something more at the time VI nis
death. Vaguely he was aware OF the
living issues concealed beneath exter-
nal details: his imagination was
Lin1led by the opportunities lying, al
mos, totally neglected by the noveiist'
in the larger aspects Of the most MOD
-.rn phases OF American lie, ana II
acems as if he had had it in him 10
have made some memorable books out
NJ tha material provided by social ana
economic conditions in the great west
and in the Eastern centres OF COM
nnerce. The Octopus IS a crude DOCK.
The good ore in it is mixed up, some
times inextricably, with mere sag; IL
is too vehement in tone, and through
ont seems overdone. IL is pampiiiet
a. much as a novel. But II has vltaii-
". and it suggests especially writer
keen eyed and sincere, VINO already
had a certain grip upon his subject and
with time would have risen TO absolute
control OF it, fusing its diverse ele-
ments into an artistic whole
The price of desirable books. accord
ing TO a specialist of the auction rooih'
is gradually increasing. Mr. j. H.
Slater. in his annual review OF sales
..Rook Prices Current" for 1902, esti-
mates the appreciation in value OF such
books during the last ten years at l'o
nor cent Another trained observer.
Mr. Eliot Hodgkin, has lately COM
plained that the case OF the coiiecloi
with A small purse is growing haroer
and harder. He looks askance upon
the rich parvenu whose lat check
hook will still secure for him at the
rrice of q country mansion the much
beloved picture or the gorgeous mlssai'
ana weeps the sad fate of the painful
gatherer'' who may now look IN Naih'
i'm what he thinks are the untroddeh
corners of the world, for treasures
waiting to be bought for a song IL Is
all very pitable, no doubt. yet we are
not sure that the case of the painful
eatherer" is as bad as il is made out
70 be. There are still untrodden cor
ncrs of the world 10 be explored for old
books ana pictures unappreclated py
their owners, Of that the collector may
feel quite sure, despite the taies lie
hears about dealers scraping the Con
tinent of Europe with hne-tooth
comb. That comb leaves untouched
many an apparently unlikely spot OF
which il is no uncommon thing for the
n,ar..st amateur to stumble across a
! n,ssterniec1. and even in those places
| which have, by all accounts, been
| turued upside down, extraordinary
| finds are made from time to time Uh-
mi the dealers have made house &c
| house canvass Of all Europe and Greal
| Britain. the collector may have hopes
| A correspondent of The Academy
and Literature" makes a plea foi
/ cherry books. He wants "a fist-of tbs
best books tending to give a bright
cheerful. hopeful. optimistic view OF llft
anG its possibilities. The editor is thf
more interested in this communication
because, as it happens, he has found II
! the current Quarterly" an article OF
| The Novel of Misery 1t is little
| difficult to sympatniZe with the emo
/ lions of any OF the individuals concerned
in this inquiry. The writer in The
1 Quarterly concludes that the novel 81
misery was purely commercial in ltI
| origin, and like most commercial un-
dertakings il was discontinued so soon
as il was discovered that it did moi
| pay." The Editor Of The Academy
| does not agree with this conclusion
| But what does il matter? Where both
critics are mistaken, and where the
| correspondent pleading for cherry
| books shows an amusing naivete. is IN
| assuming that the novelist of misery is
somehow managing to carry on form
/ al campaign. that he bulkS alarIningly
| large on the horizon, and that Hist OF
| cheerful novels is only to be drawn up
after long and ,discouraging research
| The world is full of cheerful novels.
| New Cheerful novels are being pub
| lished every week. What, we wonder
| does the optimist want? A novel in
| which sorrow is never mentioned, in
| which no one ever suffers, in which
| every one goes grinning through life ?
| The thing would be more CHASTITY than
| the blacklist novel of misery ever writ
| ten.