The Topeka state journal., 1902-06-21

LIul 10 l. lDl D4 EltitAt iiles At+'A +-'-
ter and Lord StaVOrdale, with many hall-
tone illustrations, Tnalies 2S-lDiisl ~, .
don Pp XIV. 654 popular edition in
Guiding two volumes in oneJ
In this wonderfully entertaining and
instructive book is a sentence Whch
suggests a depression beyond the linlls
of the ordinary review. Inc sups lance
of this digressiOn has often been IN my
mind and it seems best to speak IL out
The reader Will pardon deviation. me
sentence in question is ia a letter OF
Lady Sarah LennOx or date June 3,
1866 written from England to her 10 ST
intimate Lady Susan Fox StrangeWays,
whose family had drawn down tnelr
faces and banished her to New ofk-
because she eloped with a charmlhs
Celt Of the family of O Brien- In lilS
letter Lady Sarah said in speaking OF
America. Il am just like the Nulgars,
and fancy everything is savage but at
New York
This. sentence. one hundred and thirty
six years old almost to day, describes
a number of Americans now alive ana
under our flag They are good people
as well as gOOdly in number, but lnty
fancy everything is savage but at New
York Their experience in the geogla-
ply Of their country is not large 1t mas
happened in the few weeks have peen
writing these reviews for the stare
Journal that several folks-not to say
Particularly NAAtl-lit-fE e -1AN III
people out there tthe west generally ana
Kansas particularly don't read any
thing but light novels There's no sale
there for anything else
Wen. I think I know my audience
think / know there are thousands OF
eager folks. old and young. young and
old. within the periphery of the state
Journal, who are wishing to know or the
best new thing in bOOks,-fOlkS VINO
know their Homer and Virgil, and nave
nj a N down na 0fNInRlX 1liuI1na-
ted line to Lowell and Browning; and
who are looking for other and new
Homers and other and new LOWells just
as we all are who love literature To
such readers I want to say that l choose
books that I think viii best please
them-boOks they would best like TO
read to keep in touch and sympathy
with present day letters And OF these
books I say nothing / do not believe
to be true The ratio of intelligence
believe to be as great outside New York
as in it-greater when one considers our
East Side Outside the metropolis peO-
pie have leisure for reading the great
books. Here We have lusn. and iron
confusion: and things they call "amuse-
ments." and now and then some gen
timely good thing i'm talk and literature,
for we are at the publishing-cO -cOnVergtug-
centre. But occasionally hear talk of
books that reminds me of the young
sophomore in the University Of Kansas,
who spoke at length with great appreci-
alton and vivacity of the Waverly nov
els. never having read q line OF them;
or of the New York critic OF popular
religious weekly who said, Why, I've
read -'s History since / reviewed it
and I like it. But l downed it when I
wrote about it,"
When Lady Sarah Lennox, whose let
ters fill the stable book named at the
top Of this column. was introduced at
court, the then Prince of Wales gave
considerable evidence that in his ans
atomy he carried a heart She was
little Irish girl. with a complexion born
of the mists, and barely fifteen, Il
ought to have been in my nursery she
wrote of that time when she was sixty,
.and I shall ever think it was unfair
to bring ME into the world while
child Her mother had died and she
was living at the house of her brother
in-laW. LORD Holland a cOurtier. Her
sister. Lady Holland. took her to court.
All testimony says that she was the
most beautiful. most charming most
engaging. most lively and witty of all
young women then In London This
testimony it is not difficult to believe
These letters bear it out
But these letters, although so delight
ful. would hardly at our time have gone
into six editions in six months or in
deed have been published ait ALL if the
Prince OF Wales or rather. as he then
became. George III, had not actually
been houted i'm his matrimonial aspira-
-
and then later ON had not Tilted the
lady in turn. So bold, so beautiful so
graceful. so clever q pl0tter against "the
divine right of kings" was a marked
woman among her contemporaries. and
her historic values persist to our day
through her own genuine worth.
To the end of his life poor George III
had soft spot in his heart for this
early love Of his-and she, she confesses.
Tor him in the midst of his madness,
his blindness, and his many woes Even
when she was is Gin 1761, she wrote
Lady Susan Fox StrangeWays to whom
by the way. the Duke of Gloucester.
the kings brother, was affected. Now
as 10 what / think about it as to myself
excepting this little revenge. 1 have all
most forgiven him. luckily for me
did not love him. and only liked him.
nor did the title weigh anything with
me; 50 little at least that my disappOint-
Enent did not affect my spirits above one
hour or two l believe The
thaug i am most angry at is looking so
hike a fool as ] shall for having gone
(ro court) so often for nothing but
don't much care; if he was to change
MS mind again and not give me very
good reason for his conduct. I would
not have him. for if he is so weak as to
be governed by everybody. I shall have
but bad time Of it ' And later in life
when she was "A. she again wrote Lady
susan. still rejoice I was never
queen and so I shall 10 my life's end
rms extract touching the king is a
1alr expression of the spirit Of the let
ters. entire confidence and trust in the
Qnchanging friendship of Lady Susan
70 Whom they are addressed 1t is the
ideal spirit for friendly and confidential
letters the absolutely personal, the faith
thar whatever interests the writer viii
interest the reader, and wherever it ex-
ISIS II testlfies to the merit of character
or both sides. Such letters passed he
tween Lady Sarah and Lady Susan for
more than so years. Their friendship
surpasses in length and strength Others
that have become historic
Then another delightful quality is the
unconsetousness of the letters-unc0n-
sciousness Of the eye of any other read
er save hers to whom they are address
ed In many such series, and in some