Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-09-05

At meeting Of society Of women
writers in London Mrs. Kate Douglass
Wiggin Riggs told of the number of
children in various kindergarten es-
Establishments that had been named at
ter her. That's nothing" said an
Englishwoman. MY friend Marie
Corelli had a race horse named after
her, and the jockeys persisted in call
ing it the Merry Gorilla, 50 she has to
suffer that nickname from the know
ing"
The advent of a new edition Of Du-
mas has moved a writer in the London
Globe" to dubious reflection on the
peculiar influence Of the story teller In
modern life. When children call for
a story" he says, they are not critic
al as to it's literary charm; all that
they want to do is to be able to follow
it with breathless interest,"" and he
notes with sorrow that many adults
show the same tendency. There is an
Unsuitable demand for fiction, and very
little curiosity as to its intrinsic
merit" All this has been said a thou
sand times before, and it has always
struck us as absurd. The vogue of the
story teller is no new thing. He has
been beloved in all ages. Literature,
realizing that it is made for mankind.
has for centuries played into its hands.
All the great novelists have been con-
summate story tellers. 1t has been left
for your modern realst, particularly
the small and peddling realist, whose
imagination is feebleness itself, and to
whom invention is "a thing Of dread,
to rise up in sublime faulty and insult
his tetters. He cannot tell a good
story to save his soul. Therefore, he
tells you, the true artist has never told
u story of set purpose, but entirely by
accident. He is so sure of this that,
with all the ease in the world, he goes
a step further and cOnvicts the whole
human race of idiOtic error. The man
sawhO writes an entertaining story is
bad enough he thinks, but the man
who wants to read it is worse. What
we must all DO is toGorswear cakes and
ale. take our fiction as we take our
scientific reading, and buy it only At
the Sign Of the Pointless Proser.-NeW
York Tribune.
Count Tolstoy's pamphlet. Thou
Shalt Not KILL" was considered by the
Provincial Court of Leipsic the other
day and condemned for leZe majesty,
and all copies that the officers of the
court can lay hands upon are to be de-
stroyed. The work is pronounced to be
an insult to the German Emperor!
Apropos Of this episode, we find it stat
ed in an English journal that. while
Tolstoy is in no sense a popular writer.
his works have a wider circulation
than those of any living author. a
the close of 1902 his books had been
printed in forty-flve different languages
and dialects. His first appTsciators.
curlously enough, were the GEe$ks The
first Greek, translation of his Work was
published in 1870, apd dlll.iAg Sthe fol-
lowing thirty years eightesi \ Greek
TRANSACTIONS We're printed.sssIn the new
Russian photography of p Dragonoff
there appear one hundred and thirty
Czech translationS, close on Il hundred
servian and eighty Bulgarian Last of
all come Portuguese and ROumanian
tranSlatiOnS.
Mrs. Humphry Ward has instituted
in Bloomsbury Il Vacation School for
the children of the POOR. One feature
of the enterprise is the telling of stories
to The children. in a pleasant garden
adjoining the Passmore Edwards Set
tlement in Tavistock Place. 1T all
arose" Mrs. Ward has explained to an
interviewer "out of an article | read in
Harpers Magazine Il little more than
year ago. The article described the
Vacation School of New York in so at
tractive Il way that we made up our
minds to try the experiment here. We
succeeded in making arrangements be-
fore the summer vacation of last year,
and the result was so entirely success
full then that the opening of our school
here for the present vacation was
quite inevitable" The little girls are
taught to make dresses for dolls, The
children are instructed in the colOring
of outlined pictures, they are taught to
cook, and to handle the tools of the
carpenter. There are swimming class
es, there are nature studies, and. of
course, the school is provided with a Ii
brary. Speaking of her work, Mrs.
Ward said
What We hope to see, some time. is
the organization of n London League of
Play for the capturing of the children's
playtime. | should like to see evening
play centres established in every dis
trict of London. with superintendent
of Fairgrounds in all the parks and
many open spaces during the summer
holidays. | regard this as the natural
complement of the school education the
children are already receiving. and as
of equal Importance. There is reason to
hope that one result of the success of
our school here will be some action on
the part of the new education authority
toward further experiments in vacation
schools in other parts of London be-
fore very long"
NJ. Jules Verne has reconsidered his
decision against submitting to an
operation for cataract His countless
readers will hope that the operation
may be successful and that he may feel
encouraged to resume his literary Ia
bors.