The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-08-07
Books and Authors
THE DAUGHTERS WAY

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THE DAUGHTERS WAY
The Boston Herald tells, edtorially, a
story on Light Summer Reading" in
which a sprightly daughter, after discov-
ering in her erudite fathers trunk, about
to be transferred to o summer resort,
quantity of abstruse and arid scientific
works, persuaded him with much diff
Guilty to permit her to add a dozen lively
and allurlng novels. Arrived at the re-
sort, father and daughter unpacked and
she arranged the novels where he could
not help seeing them. Pater accepted
novel, and, after several hours, during
which he appeared to be reading vigor-
ously, the daughter peeped over his
shoulder and found he had read half Of
a chapter and seemed desperately tired
and bored. Pater complained that it was
too solid a work for a summer vaca-
tion." He found the author had ito pro-
found observation and dealt too deeply
with the complexity Of human passions
and his mind was taxed too severely
He had come away for rest and to get
thru the light summer reading" task she
had given him would take him three
months at his rate of progress The girl,
little despairingly, made supreme eff
fort to set Pater on the right road. She
said:
'oh, father, you don't know how to read
novel Why, know girl who read who read
four of this same writer's in four days and never
d Gppsf s thanf Weld minute yaersef why
to him and let Il him think, and feel
for you? This man is no profound psycholo-
g1st He Is simply clever. rollicking hit-or-
miss miss fellow with a keen eye in his head for the
follles and surface griefs of life, and happy in
style that sends one pleasantly tripping and
lifting along the road. Now, I want you to
promise me that If It rains tomorrow you will
go hop:skip and jump thru 125 pages in two
hours and never stop minute to think.
Some light as to novel reading dawned
on Pater, who did. 125 pages the next day
in two hours. The daughter was encour-
| aged. Pater found it not necessary to
chew custard and syllabub as hard as he
| chewed treatise on spherical astronomy
or elements of the theory of integers, or
| the fastest work on the Indo-Iranian Ian
guages. 1t is true that some people who
are great novel readers and let none es-
cape them of any consequence, absorb to
their own sdigestion's discomfort, too
large mass of custard and sylabub.
Others worry too much over plots and
| counterplots and allow imaginary con-
tretemps and catastrophes to strike them
like realities. Others read themselves
| foolishly into other realms and atmos-
phere their lives with the glamor Of days
long gone and the fads and fantasies OF
people long persisted. Light summer
reading is pleasant to think upon, but
| as a matter of fact if one takes a trunk
full Of such literature to a summer resort
he generally Cor she) reads more Of sky
and water and woods and flowers and
living people than of the light summer
literature" conveyed in such large 4quant
tiles. Indeed, little Of the lattersis read
LiTERA EAnoTEs
The Bookmas assspoy1e,s new
be entitled .'The Return 81 sasherlocl
Holmes Sherlock is yet valuable enough
to Sir Conan to yield him 50 word. H,
has written four of the series Of tales
! which will appear in this country in Col
Elier's Weekly. 7as. ~ t.. .s... .
( Sir Conan Doyle once parted with Sher
q. lock Holmes, but he recalled him to maxi
THE Hound Of the Baskervilles'' saleable
i The public are by no means tired of tn
astute detective yet. s- ....-.,.--
Professor Peck says in The Bookma1
of the late William e. Henley: AS TO
Henley's bluntness with regard to Ste
venson, the Judgment of his contempt
raries has dealt harshly with him, no
because he spoke that which was untrue
but because it was all so true as to often,
those foolish souls who let their admira
ton for Stevenson the writer perceive
sort Of demigod in Stevenson the man
Posterity, however, will be grateful t
Mr.. Henley for the unflinching courag
with which he exposed the egotism, tn
, selfshness and the misery meanness o
) a character which was typically Scotch Il
its blend of sentimentality and slyness.'
William Dean Howells las written sixt
, books, for the most part novels.
Tom Moore's "Odes of Anacreon' Wi
!, be published by G. P: Putnam's Sons mex
month In a small de luxe 16mo volume
with many illustrations. ..+
w. L. Adm tells this in recent lette
from London: 1T has been revealed tina
the "Girl' who recently wrote bool
: entitled "a Girl Among the Anarchists
is a daughter of William Rossetti, who
as most people know, is brother o
the late Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Thi
fact will tend to confirm Lon1broso in hi
belief that genius is simply lunacy. Their
Is plenty of genius in the Rossetti family
and in the case of Miss Rossetti, it wa
evidently developed in the form of an
archism, which is, Of course, only form
of lunacy Miss Rossetti appears to hav
) repented and abandoned her early an
arcilism, and it is to- be hoped that here
after her hereditary genius will be devel
oped in other ways"
The ST. Nicholas secured from tn
! late B. L. Farjeon, Joe Jefferson's SON in
law, a new story for children before hi
OedLn IN hampstead, ElS. IHe story VIII
. be Illustrated by Fanny Y. Cory.
Il Morgan Robertson Is writing anothe
novel He found "Sinful Peck bette
appreciated by a lenient public than h
expected. He should go slowly now, i
he wants to get his name in the Tempt
Of Fame.
Hanllin Garland will have none of ''rac
suicide His wife recently presented hin
;. with a son.
Dana, Estes 6 Co. announce white
wash by Ethel Watts Munford, author o
"a Mercenary Marriage" etc. It is
story Of fashionable life in New Yorl
city.
Fred Pattee, writing Of literary fad
in the Booklovers' magazine, says 9TH
you give all your time to master tn
, 'Rubaiyat,' and tho you may expoun,
, Browning from Alt Vogler' to Sludge, tn
| Medium and have naught else, it profit
, you nothing Literature Is wider than
fad; culture is broader than a cult, an,
II the fact that a man knows but singl
: poem, would in itself raise within m
, wicked impulses to blackball him, wer
! his name to arise within my club.
The Ibsenites will naturally resent thi
i comment upon their enthusiasm by Jane
L. Ford, in Everybody's Magazine: 9Th
) Eavowed Ibsenites in America are larg
| and noisy band. who go about declarin
t that Ghosts is a greater tragedy tina
) Hamlet and 1.-THE Dolls House supe
rior to anything on the modern stage, an
8 are ever ready to applaud any actor VIII
! seeks to exploit his rneretricious art a
r the expense of the great Scandinavian
/ fame. But they will not pay for thei
4 seats, and there is scarcely one of Their