Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-10-18

on the ed OF October, though 1t W1{3
first scheduled for the 18th. The fark4l
orders for It are given as the reason
for the spostponement. Who Mary
Adams'sis II secret still locked IN the
breasts bf few; one reason suggested
for her esecretiveness is that II she isl
really - mar4isd. woman the Qenf2ea
sions Are Of such a professedly autos
biographical nature: that her husbapd1
would De greatly embarrassed.
What Is the author Of a serious work
in literature to do. when he compares'
the slight sale of his own book with
the. heavy sale OF some altogether un-
important publication, inquiries the
New York Tribune. Is he toewrap
himself in sorrow and go about max {
ing pessimistic observations? 2. 1t hard
" seems wise for him to take this line.
The story is told in The Academy and
Literature" of AN author whose last
book. "A volume to which he had given
three years of thought and application,
has found thirty odd publishers in six
months" That is not encouraging,
and matters are not made much more
/. omising by the contrasting anecdote
Of six readers lately noticed in a MORN
M train For the first portion Of the
journey they all read newspapers. AZ,
terward the situation was as follows:
"One, the was a clergyman read Shell
ley's Queen Mab.' another 'Pendennis,'
another Mr.. Headlam's 'Nuremburg,'
the fourth and fifth read sixpenny
magazines. the sixth read nothing
when he had finished his paper. We
should add that the reader of Queen
NAB succumbed first. In half an hour
he.was fast asleep. The eyes of one of
the magazine readers were still intent
on the pages when the train stopped at
the terminus" Suggestive indeed arc
these lines. Nevertheless, let us not
be discouraged. Are good books left ut
teriy unread today? We do not be-
lieve Il.
That the strange case of the short
story grows stranger every day is the
assertion of The London Morning
Post" Editors of magazines. that
Journal says, always declared that
they only secured them with the ut
most difficulty; publishers of books
said that there was no sale for them.
The difficulty of the editors seems to
have Increased, for We know of more
than one recent case in which authors
have been paid quite pleasantly for
the right to reproduce stories that have
already appeared in a magazine, and
afterward in book" This would APP
pear to point to an improvement in the
quality Of English short stories. and a
certain improvement has, indeed, been
noticeable among them during the last
few years. Whether Mr.. kiplings ex-
ample has caused 1t or not, we do not
know, but unquestionably the British
magazines have been stronger of late
In the department of brief fiction. On
the other hand. we would not be sur
prised to hear that the generosity
mentioned by THE Morning Post was
inspired chiefly by short stories Of the
entertaining type. written around an
adventurous or otherwise attractive
figure. for the less fastidious portion of
the reading public. In spite of the i'm
pr0vement acknowledged above. in
spite of the exceptions supplied by
few men of genius, the English short
stery'is not, on the whole, as good as
II might be. n-.. -.-t t....4.s
Tangled Up in Beulah Land" by 81.
+. M just issued by Doubleday, Page
d Co., is a sequel to "A Journey to
Nature the very successful book of
last year by the same mysterious au-
thor The former book was a story of
stock broker who was ordered to the
country in a condition of broken down
heaith. and shows a rare feeling of ma
lure and human character. In the
new story the young son, Charlie"
mas now grown to have entanglements,
winch drive the pair away from the
great city to the wilds Of the Pennsyl-
vania farming country, where their
friend Doctor" has set up a patri-
archal northumberland there they
ma Polly" The unknown" author
Is SAID to live, Thoreau fashion, some
where In the hills west of the II ldson,
winch accounts for the rumor that he
is no other than J. Pierpont Morgan.
Mr.. kipling does not always In these
Gays turn out the best work of which
ne Is capable His South African mili- ;.
.aty story in ''Everybody's Magazine"
Is exceedingly poor, weak, formless.i
mnated and stale, 1t is not to his
credit that he is willing to send forth
sucn stuf.-New York Tribune.
Inc name of the author of THE
SHADOW of the Gar" romantic novel
winch Little. Brown & Company ex-
pect VIII be popular success, is given
as John R. Carling. but the publishers
assert that he Is as unknown to them
aS 10 the reading public at large
:, FRANCES Charles, the young San
.rsnc'sco author whose In the Coun-
uydod Forgot" published last spring.
. now in its fourth edition. is at work
on. another, novel.
Hamilton W. Mabie in a recent criti-
:, ism OF Mrs. Banks novel "Oldfield," a
Aentucfy story Of the last Century,
says that readers of Mr.. James Lane
Allens charming stories do not need to |
~ 'oidf that there is rare quality in !!
sne most characteristic Kentucky life
HAPPY combination of free individ-
Saaty and eld.fashioned courtesy. This |
nsn,orsd air which gives the plainest |
toun4ings a touch Of distinction |
petsadas Mrs. Banks novel" Hell
~. scterizes it as "a restful, Arcadian |
s OF quiet Kentucky, village, not
w,.s ns aus thread Of romance and not