Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-03-07

little folks in "StOrleS from Homer. =
The German ara Celtic folk-tale have
| been simplifieG i'll the same way; there
are the story of Roland" the Story
of siegfrea, 1hH 3Beg,s King Arthur
and ther Fay s-fsd5 Y Z ttheysarc all good
| req ding. and they acauant the child
With the great folktales of his race.
| Nobady's education is complete with
out Alice in Wonderland" the "Ches-
hire Cat" is constantly Undertaking. in
| literature. When the children know
these things ycu may give the "Goops' .
! THE Topsy and Turveys." Toby
Tylers," and "Donalds and Dorothys:"
hut bv all means the old books first
Woman's Home Companion.
The heavy. arm breaking, temper
| destroying volume of the past is
doomed. Book buyers cannot have
| failed to notice q marked Improvement
in the makeup of the new books of
certain publishers-their increased
lightness of weight. Until recently
the English book manufacturers have
been far ahead of the American in this
respect. and most light weight paper
used by publishers had to be imported
from England. But about five years
ago American publishers began the ag-
itation in this country for home
made lightweight paper. The moael
to be initiated here was the English
Esparto paper, made from esparto
grass, a rush-like grass growing only
in Northern Africa and Southern
Spain. This paper is made in limited
quantities even in England, because of
the scarcity of this grass. At the re-
peated inStigation of publishers, sew
eral American manufacturers COM
menced experiments in the light pa
per. At first little progress was made
The American product, though light
lacked the necessary coheSivenesS-a
fatal defect. The work was persisted
in. however until success was achieved
in the last year or so, and the Ameri-
can lightweight paper is now coming
into general use. Made of it, a book
weighs between thirty and forty per
cent less than one of equal size made
of the old smooth, heavy paper. The
light weight paper is not SMOOTH and
to the uniformed it appears to be
rougher. and supposedly cheaper, than
the old smooth paper to which readers
are accustomed. But, as matter of
more expensive to make. 1t is to be
ment in book making will be strenu-
ousiy persisted in by the publishers.
Harper & Brothers published Lady
Roses Daughter by Mrs. Humphrey
Ward. on March 5. There are three
editions of the book-tne popular one
volume edition, in red and gold bind
ing. with eight illustrations by II. c.
Christy; the two-volume edition. in
sapphire blue and gold with sixteen
Illustrations by Christy; and the two
volume autograph edition. in dainty
light blue and gold, with sixteen illus
trations by Christy. and autographed
by Mrs. Ward. That a new novel
should be issued simultaneously in
the world of books. The necessity fol
this is said to be the fact that Lady
Roses Daughter" appeals to a far wild
CT range of readers than most novels,
since it presents that ideal combination
for a popular book-a capital story, Il
mastery literary art, and heroine
Who-Whether you like her or not
cannot be put out Of mind when once
her acquaintance is made.
Some hitherto unpublished letters of
Emerson are to be printed in the April
atlantic" They were addressed to
Hermann Grimm and are to be accom-
panied by the Germans replies. The
correspondence is mentioned as a par
tcularly interesting one.
OF the late Thomas y. Reed it is
said that he was lover of good books.
contributor to THE Atlantic" notes
that when at his home. in Portland,
'he was certain to be seen almost at
any hour of the Gay seated at his IL
brary Window, book in hand-not the
same book. nor books of the same
kind He read and delighted in poetry
had the sensiblities it moved and
gratified."
1t is said that Zola's widow has been
left inadequa tely provided for, and his
house and effects are announced as
for sale. Yet the novelist is supposed
to have earned $4,000 year for thirty
years.
Miss Jeanette L. Glider. author,
playwright, and editor of The Critic,
New York talking of Mrs. Wards
Lady Roses Daughter" said: Mrs.
Humphry Ward has been going stead
lily up and up and up ever since her
first novel Robert Elsmere, made her
~ nf an