Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-02-10
Observation-Disclosures
HTHE ROSARY OF A RAMBLER
a.saaagIasgasIssgKRIKIsgsKKAIEAA!

The old saying that honesty is the
best policy" may be literally true and
ruany people may so contend who after
al! do not prove by their own actions
that they believe 1t. The palaver OF
statesmen and the assurance that this
Is the latest, madam, ana very good
becomes so common in utterance that
but little attention is paid TO the words
But clerk who disregarded such shop
worn phrases was very interesting the
other day, as he stood behind a coun-
people who had come in to buy the
latest books or to look them over and
determine whether they We're worth
the buying or not. According to him,
hut very few of the new books We're
worth the reading. NO, ! don't think
that amounts to much" he said as a
possible customer asked concerning the
value of The Velvet Glove" He went
on to explain He Used to BE Good.
THE Sewers" was really something
very good and With Edged Tools" was
all right, but this is no account. 1t is
my own opinion that this is a book he
wrote years ago. No doubt it was de-
clined by publisher after publisher who
are all too glad to print 1t now that he
has made his fame with the others of
his books. He will make money out of
this perhaps. but he will not make any
reputation for himself" The possible
customer picked up The House of De-
Mailly In answer to the inquiring
look. the man who was supposed to sell
the book said well. 1t is a remarkable
book for young girl to have written.
You know there Is only one decent per-
son In the book. and the king and his
minister and the whole court try to
have her to be something else. But it
is we'll written" His wrath was not
seriously aroused until the possible
customer said, And what of The Fifth
Strong? Then he laughed a strange
little laugh. 1T is about on par with
the stories of Laura Jean Libbey. Yes,
of course, Sousa's name will sell It. but
l haven't the least idea that sousa
wrote It, For / don't believe he can
write. think he hired some one to
write 1t for him or else that some one
who has no name persuaded him to al
lew 1t to be published as his own,
knowing the name of Sousa would sell
i; whatever its merits If that Is the
correct surmise there will be a great
revival OF interest In 1t when the de-
ception is made known. The advertis-
ing Is good. If 1t is some one else's
book. But the illustrations are good.
They are Christy's and really worth
while. and they alone will sell the
book" So he talked on. telling what he
really thought the merits of the books
were and also what their failings were.
Il was not the orthodox way to do, but
yet seemed to sell many books. One
curious onlooker and overhearer turned
to another and said. isn't 1t strange?
The only book he has praised is The
Right of Way I wouldn't think they
would keep him. Doesn't he spoil lots
OF sales?" The other laughed and said
He draws the largest salary of any
bookseller in the city. People know
that he has an excellent knowledge of
books and that he always tells what he
really thinks about them. So they rely
onphin. See. he has sold every book
mentioned TO the group who has heard
him. You know curiosity is great
thing and really he arouses their Curl
csity to such degree that they buy
even the books which he ridicules the
most" AS they went out the door we
could hear him saying. We'll, we're
selling lots of In the Fog and 1t is
clever for detective story. However.
don't think 1t is in Davis best style"
Yet the customer probably bought the
book.
Did you ever see silly, foolish young
girl, who knew almost nothing of liter
ature or the drama, of life and of peo-
pie, who was determined to Ego on the
stage. If you have not, one of the most
foolish as we'll as most pathetic sights
has been spared you. There are I'M
doubtedly many such. Many of them
never make the real break which takes
them away from home or their steady.
but uneXciting positions In office. store
or school. Many more are frightened
by the hard work which they must un-
dergo and are glad to escape from the
life. Others go on and fill the minor
parts and finally grow contented with
them or seem to and give UP all hopes
OF starring. There are, of course, few,
but they are very few, who go on and
make for themselves fame and fortune.
But they are not developed from silly,
foolish young girls, who know almost
nothing of literature and the drama, of
life and people. Such girl has been
plead with and besought within the last
few weeks by those who know her. to
give up her dreams and stay in the
store where she has worked SO long and
so Well that she owns part interest in
1t. 1t is only suburban millinery store
but the trade is good and the silly, fool
sh young girl has made more than
good living from 1T. Yet she has grown
dissatisfied with it and has decided to
sell her interest, take the money to
train herself for the stage and then
lust what her dreams are no one but
herself knows, and she is. too wise to
tell, but the look on her face and the
way in which she has spurned all adj
vice to give UP her ambition, prove that
hey are very roseate. She has not an
ota. of talent. She can scarcely read a
chapter from a late novel so that the
one who hears her can understand what
t is all about. She doesn't know bur
hat Chaucer wrote The Idyls of the
King, and If you would tell her the story
If Hamlet. she would probably think it
vas one of Dickens stories. She knows
low to trim hats and to make the dear
.st fancy bows and she knows how to
sell them. and she has a shrewd little
head on her shoulders when 1t comes to
ieallng with the landlord, the plumber