New-York tribune., 1903-02-05
MAGAZINE NOTES.
Entertaining and Suggestive Papers
IN the Februa,y Numbers.

The second instalment of the Poe-Chivers
rapers IN The Century is at once heart reno
ing and humorous-humorous in its reNeiatloii
of the absurdities of that cheap poet III
Chivers and heart rending in the story OF SUI
fering told or suggested in the letters OF rue
The weakness. the standardization OF ihe mo-
of genius are piteous to contemplate q" IL
pains of crushing penury and futile s0useie
We can but hope that the day viii come "
moor Poe viii be allowed to rest in pea0e ~
-oas e,a errors have been thoroughly
thrashed out that il would seem TEDIOUS "1
rrue, to pursue them further. Much that mas
49, x--,,fe, ano,,t him in recent years has been
,,,erelv the nuttine Of the old story INTO ie"
words and personalities have often s"aiile0
.ha+ with which mankind has most cohceIn
faultv and unhappy poets strange anu
ful work. -. .,r
~ uoodberrv's current contribution. no"
eyer was well worth printing, II ouiS M
amusing picture of an arniaole oonhes -,
literary assumptions We coniiheu -.
asder q perusal of Simrnss franN ie'
.-,oet" and the poets" answer
.--,e,. were rough and they were sturos. N'iN
they were plucky men coulo oe a,
are the virtues which Mr. JanVleI 49,
..f5a-per' to the Dutch coionlsts oA 80,
,.ro--,se he has not much to say IN tleH
.,,or holding that Irvings mirthlui ms
&c t,ndlier than the plain truth ne
D,+hout doubt and his csTeiul -
-,e..,,a. ,,ror,ise 20 be valuable as well as N
,a-es+ing. but il will be many oay peIOe - -
,-,osl Manbattanese of "Knickeroocker "Hl
80 An +be readers mind to the later
-, -se, colony of ''hard-heaoed ana mar
,,++,rr ,,ea." They did not come mere i''
their health, says Mr.. JanTier-
A. h,x bannened in the Of Inucn lateI
,-+-oef settlements this continent ~ ~;
-heated the savages whom they Iouhu in aIso
dence and most cruelty oppressed @ LIIeiA ,,+ Of
HeliCe, o,esion thew cheated each other; OUT ol
-z-r;ch ha hit as IS shown by the Nei
-rds of their little courts arose NJ tt.,seiyes
Irrigation of q snarling sort afloIis t:s tbe1-
In q larger and more impersonal Iasliol. Is ~.
.ro-sis+ently cheated the revenue ia~ u ,,o
colony: and with a fine equanlInltS el!eH - aba;r
o o.be- laws which happened to get IN -heIr
Izay-a line Of conduct that Is not 70 oe -. So
.ernned sweepingly, however. peoaue aud ,nsny
~ st gere-al laws were unjust intrinsicaIly,
and were administered in manner Ihat e. esI
- those who evaded or broke them Go"i ueaI @
a. - ~ Of colora BILE excuse In q Woro, cur
Dutch ancestors who founded this city hao me s
vices Of their kind enlarged oS me Ni'
their time.
Mr. Hewlett's new story buonoei'ho
,ba a-st half of which has the place Of honor
a, .,is ,,,,,,lar is another of his Little Novels
Of italy, and il the concluding chapters mann
-.;r ,,,e interest Of those now printed II is
r.e1z 10 1orove one OF his finest productions ne
6ea1s with a delightfully."- romantic theme hol
forgetting however, 10 make his pages Is NNiN
in the portrayal of old Italian life Us tllousH
he were writing history The passages "e
scrir1i1e of the hero's matrimonial negotiations
are mastery in their realism The i'usIr
nv Miss Elizabeth Shippen Green are. in their
v-av as good as the text; so good in facI 'haI
we hope this clever artist will have many more
For, -T7a 1TS2Tr
jects-
ur Ros+u-ick an official Of the New-1ork
Public Library. tells US. in the course OF an III
structive article in The Criterion that 'iie
resent mania for reading has certainly not CORE
sT,anded with an increased demand Tor HaSh-
fta adds this comforting statement;
Most libraries find that the proportional
amount Of fiction withdrawn for home use mas
decreased during the last ten years In New New
York from 1856 TO 1896. the percentage never
fell below al In TWO Of these years II ven ce u
10 - Since 1896 il has never exceeded oo, ana
in the last three years If has reacnea nun 70 IN,
n1uml-61 per cent This does not look as Il ~
crease Of library facilities meant increase OF
fiction reading. as if there were reason 70
fear such an increase from benefactons Ike MI
Carnegie's.
General J. c. Wilson contributes to this peri
o5iral = neatly illustrated article the Con
r7e,1icGlt town Of Litchfeid and its noted resi-
dents He quotes an incident described 10 MN
hv Admiral Porter, relating to Porter's great
grandfather one of Foston's famous Tea Par
~" The leaden statue of George III, when it
was torn from its pedestal on Bowling Green
was taken 70 Litchfield. broken up and melted
into bullets Porters ancestor secured one arm
Of the statue and with the aid Of his wife. con-
xer4ed il into bullets which used at Bunker
Hill Margaret" said the old man. this Kings
right arm will shortly deal such a blow against
his own soldiers as neither ne nor they ever
anticipated"
There is a refreshing vigor in paragraph on
early reading forming part Of an essay by Mr.
Edward Fuller on real forces ir literature in
the current Atlantic" II is not a novel state
rnent that the person whose taste Is formed on
trash VIII have trashy taste TO his dying day
and perhaps il is little sweeping. but II Is
largely true and there is sore need of Impress
ing il upon indulgent parents who. as this
author asserts rejoice when their children turn
10 books -as If the printed page were in itself A
vretched stuff yearly offered to and de-
voured by minds which thereby made inac-
cessible to any literature that is worth while.
Better the old pioneer time Of poverty, when
the Bible and the primer were the only books at
hand when children began read They made
q good foundation for the books that in scanty
numbers were 10 folow-not pretty little stories
hut pieces Of real literature that meant delight
unspeakable T. craving brains The necessity Of