Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-04-04


The author of those Letters to a
Literary Aspirant," which are appear
ing in .sBlackwood's Magazine" is, with
his CAV humor, performing a needed
service in exposing anew the vagaries
of one school after another. He
NAYS his compliments to realism with
delightful point. Realism" he re-
marks. "attends to the ash bucket, the
smell of the fried eel reservoirs, the
bottle nosed loafer propped against the
wall. and it is realism, he continues.
that remembers 1.-The number of the
lampposts passed, the pattern of the
pavement flags, the specks of the ev-
ervdav dust floating in the air." OF
course your realist would deny that he
calls this "a picture of life," that the
aims he keeps steadily before his eye
are 1.-The reiteration of the unimportant
and the obliteration of the pictur-
esaue", But, as a matter of fact, 1T is
| in the words we have quoted that real
ism and it's works, as they are known
at the present moment, are not I'M
fairly to be described. There is no
earthly reason why the realist should
not wreak himself upon the writing of
the most romantic of romances. But
when he takes it into his head that the
method of lola, say. is the method for
him, it seems next to impossible for
him to find inspiration in any themes
save those which lola would have APP
proved.
Kate Douglas Wiggin leaves this
week for England, where she generally
spends the spring and early summer
She is at work on new story, the
nature of which has not yet been dis
closed. Another author who is just
sailing from New York is the Baroness
Won Hutton, whose latest book, "Our
Lady of the Beeches," was one of the
successes of the autumn.
| Mrs. Sarah Cowell LeMoyne, the
we'll known actress, is the possessor
of some rare copies of first editions,
among which are authors presentation
copies given to her while she was in
England. Among these are several of
Tennyson's works, and one or two OF
BroWning's. Bret Harte and Walt
Whitman also contributed to this in
lteresting collection. Thoroughly ap-
preciative of the best in literature,
these works have been kept in perfect
condition, and are highly treasured.
Miss Emma Brooke, the author of "a
Superfluous Woman" a novel, which
attracted much attention in 1894, is
about to bring out a new story. 1t is
a study of the "vice of vanity" and is
| to be called 1.-THE Poets Child" Miss
Brooke is student of economics, and
a member of the Fabian Society.
| Professor Hugo Munsterberg's clev-
er book, American Traits" has gone
through five editions. 1t is a book
which will have particular interest
for the twenty-first century man, who
goes browsing in an old library.
| Lewiston Sun: The latest lecture
before the Ruskin Club advises those
who would study Ruskin to the best
advantage to take a pencil and mark
the passages in the authors works. A
better way is to dispense with pencils
and trust to the memory, or to some
thing besides pencil marks. Disfigur-
ing the pages of any book with pencil
marks is a school girls trick that needs
Observation-Disclosures Herald.
Not by any means. Mark your books.
Emerson, for instance. Those jewel
sentences. each of them philosophy!
What {, delight to discover them; and
then, after months of other books, to
lpick up volume Of Emerson and run
upon the marks you made in former
readings! AS to remembering, let the
memory take care of itself. There are
degrees of memory, all good. The
| In INV arf tho lon
poems and the scenes from Shakes
lpeare that one knows in broken patches
1.-The single lines or couplets that
keep coming back, the thought with
out the exact words; and not least de-
llightful the remeeting with old friends
lyour pencil marks bring back.
By all means own some few books
and mark them. The marks you
make in your book distinguish it as
yours-not one of a thousand volumes,
all exactly alike, but your special edi-
tion-an edition Of one.
The Outlook Company. who are to
publish w. f. D. SCOTS THE Story of
Bird Lover" this month, have been
obliged to print a second edition before
publication. The book is different
from both the usual nature pook anu
the usual autobiography. The love of
birds and the study of their lives and
habits form the theme throughout, but
it is closely interviewer with the story
of the authors life, which is interesting
and unusual.
/ J. A. Altsheler, author Of Before the
Dawn" is a successful novelist and al
so a successful newspaper man in New
York City. He was born in Kentucky
during the Civil War, and graduated
from Vanderbilt University. The
, writing of books for boys was his first
profitable literary undertaking, and he
has since written nearly dozen nov
els, each with increasing popularity
tMr. Altsheler so much resembles w. j.
Bryan that he was several times mis-
taken for the Democratic candidate for
lDro.;dopt in tho far West during the