Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-08-02

Those who think that the dramatiza-
ton of novels is being carried to an
extreme may attend to this bit of his.
tory, taken from. the Dial of July l:
From the earliest decade of the nine
teenth century the dramatic hack laid
violent hands on the library. Scott was
a ready victim. Nearly every one. OF
his novels transmigrated to the stage,
each multiplying itself into from two
or six or more versions. Thackerays
characters were less readily appro-
priated. but Becky Sharp, the War
rington boys, Henry and Beatrice,
were early paraded before the foot
lights-seidom successfully, because the
subtleties and liberalism of Thackeray
offered no purchase for the attack OF
the opportunist. Dickens has, from
the appearance of "Oliver Twist been
almost as familiar in the playhouse as
in the library. The appearance of each
of his works, and of SCOTS pre-
cipitated scramble for dramatization
beside which the phenomenon of the
past eight years has not been COM
parable. Many of the stories APP
peared on the stage in dramatic form
within two days after the books were
published. In one instance Dickens
found his story dramatized and acted
before it had run it's serial course in a
@sr,,< s~,,r mo n q
Of number of Cooper's tales, of two
of Harriet Beecher Stoves. one OF
Hawthorne's, two of Washington Irv-
ing's, and of several of Wilkie Col
Inns and Charles Reade's, all long be-
fore the present renaissance.
The Putnams are to issue a novel
which has attracted some attention in
England, ''The Poet and Penelope" by
l.. Parry Truscott. The poetic tenn
permanent is set upon a pedestal and
at the same time tied to her apron
strings by the spirit of common sense
and practically. A man and a maid
find mutual attraction in their in
capacity for complete understanding
of one another. and serve the novelist
with no little store of misunderstood
ing full of dynamic possibility for plot.
With his assistance they finally make
out what they are severally about, and
end by liking one another all the bet
ter for their temporary misconceptions.
Hamilton w. Mabie gives the follow
ing helpful suggestions:
1t is necessary, in the first place, to
realize the value of time. The people
are few who have no time for reading;
some people have too much, and many
have a great deal more than they take
account of. The man who knows the
value of ten minutes has gone a long
way toward making himself rich in
mind Thrift of time is as necessary
as thrift of money, and he who knows
how to save time has learned the Sc
cret of accommodating educational op-
portunity. If you have ten minutes in
the morning, ten minutes in the after
noon, and ten minutes in the evening,
put them together by using them for
one purpose and you have half an
hour: put these half hours together
and in the course of week you have
three hours and a half: and three
hours and a half a week, patiently
utilized. are sufficient for making the
acquaintance of a great group of books
or learning a language. Men who re-
gard it as sinful to waste money,
waste time with a prodigal's lavish
ness because they do not understand
the value of short periods of time; So
ciety is full of people who might en-
rich themselves an hundredfold and
make their lives immensely more in
teresting if they learned this common
place truth.
Mr.. Barry Pains new story, 1.-THE
One Before" is said to have had a re-
markable success in London. AS the
book is in the humorous class, it might
be supposed it would not be successful
in that country. The entente cordiale
between the English and American
peoples generally receives a severe
strain when it comes to things humor-
Gus. 1t must be said, however, that
1.-The One Before is good fooling.
From earliest times the ring has al
ways been made to possess marvellous
and wonder working properties, but
surely none before ever was quite so
wonderful as the "Sahih-i-dirina" ring
of Mr.. PAINS story. The translation
of the Persian is 1.-THE One Before"
and the ring had the miraculous power
of changing the character of a person
to that of the one who last wore it.
Mr.. Ernest Saunders Barlow of the
story is what his servants call near
In plain English. he is stingy. His
daily dinner is a civil war, being torn
as he is between the two opposing in
fluences of natural greediness and nat
ural economy. Mr.. Barlow, moreover,
is tyrannical in his household. He
domineers over Mary, his wife. What
better subject for experimenting with
the ring than Mr. Ernest Saunders
Barlow? None. thinks his nephew,
Jimmie. after a visit in his home. Fly
some slip, however, the wife becomes
possessed of the ring instead of Bar
low, which, as it turaed out, was all
right. A lion tanner had been "The
One Before" and the sweet and sub
Mary, having no lions, started
in on her husband. 1t wasn't long be-
fore Mary wishes it" became the
watchword of Mr.. Barlow's existence.
Mary even wished him to play golf,
a. nd fh.a Oh. Il.