Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-08-01


who had been mildly communicative 10
his charwoman. was asked the other
day with touching simplicity: Might
you be the author of the Canterbury
Tales. sir?"
The simplicity of the half booklsh can
also be entertaining in rather
grievous way. C. X. S. of "The
Sphere" remarks this week that ref
erence below picture to the removal
of the Kings household gods from
| Marlborough House to Buckingham
Palace brought him the following from
| a reader: There is a mistake on page
IS of this weeks Sphere Instead OF
household gods 1 think you mean
household goods" London Globe.
The writer of Musings Without
Method a feature of BlackWoods
deliveries himself of the opinion that
reading is not of itself good or use
full action, but that with many 1t IS
merely another form of laziness. he
has come to this conclusion from study
ing carefully the use and abuse OF Tree
libraries. His comments are in part as
follows: Something else than ink ana
lpaper is needed for the vague quallty
called culture and not even the
lchampions of free libraries are
wholly satisfied with their achieve
ment. They are obliged to confess that
the number of real students is small
indeed; they complain bitterly that the
vast majority of readers demand no
more than the trumpery novel, which,
as an anodyne is formidable rival to
W.T. l,a1 oh ,,1l hn
otherwise? 1t is a fruitless task to
thrust intelligence summarily upon an
unwilling populace. A library should
be something better than hastily
purchased agglomeration of books, and
it. is doubtful whether the gift OF
building and the sudden imposition of
an unwelcome rate are the wisest pos
sible encouragement Of learning.
1.-The truth is that reading is not of
itself a good or useful action. 1t is
with many merely another form of lazi-
ness. A statesman once delivered
wise address in favor of desultory
reading; but before a rider can leap
from horse to horse, he must acquire a
firm seat in his saddle. In other
words, no man can be deSultory
reader if he do not thoroughly under
stand the use and abuse of books And
the worst of free libraries is that they
place before all and Sundry mass of
printed matter which the victims are
unable to distinguish or appreciate.
Facility can only be bought at a price
and the price we have paid and are
paying for the general diffusion of
knowledge is false learning and much
bad literature.
To evaluate the qualities in Ameri-
can fiction would be to deal exhaust
lively with the American character as
we understand it. We see a people
speaking our language, and speaking
it with a directness which we have
rather eft behind: who are made up OF
a variety of races from Europe-just
that adventurous residue which has
the courage to cross the sea and set out
on the rev life. combating all sorts of
difficulties with extraordinary wit and
tenacity. This people have reached
that point where, having conquered
their own continent, they have begun
giving back to the world some of the
qualities, and much of the experience,
| which they have gained in the strug-
| gle. The fiction of America has, there
| fore, been the mirror of it's progress,
| writes j. M. Bullock, in The Lamp.
| Time was when we regarded the Amer
| lean novel rather as picture of Amer
| lean life than as an exposition of the
| abstract art of fiction. But that has
entirely changed. We find the Ameri-
can travelling to the uttermost ends OF
of the earth, and seeing life and his
| tory from the vantage ground OF his
own intense individuality. The art of
of storytelling knows no geographical
| boundaries. Thus it is that the Amer
lean is able to tell all the old stories
over again, not as a dull, recurring
decimal, but from the point of view OF
the keen obs4tver who comes to the art
of letters frdn the energizing spring.
board of the world of affairs. I take it
that this is the explanation of the sue
cess in this country England) of the
novel wrfttenlby Americans.
In one sphete, 1 think the American
novel will hold it's own to the detriment
of English ficton-I mean the histori-
cal story. The reason is obvious: the
American Is Iaoking on the past with
new eyes and l new method. For the
, | mail lIOIlI Tie new COulllly tliC olel "
gime is, theoretically at least, full OF
fascination whehIis practically lost
, upon Observers living actually within
its influence. BY way of illustration
one has only tol think of our attitudes
as two peoples to our heroes. In Eng
land, we have oily one historical char
acter, Nelson,s Who has the slightes
magnetism for the man in the street
the rest are myths. compare with this
the attitude of ihe, American toward
+ even the minor figures in the war be
y tween north and south. The differenc
o is largely one between the people: il
q this respect alone the, American strike
+ one as a man hurgering for a history
4 and this attitude has formed vas
8 asset for him as d writer of fiction.
Nofeature of American fiction strike
II the English readerso conspicuously a
n the methods of it's wit and humor, "A
o. a matter of fact, American wit is abso
o lutely different from. English hume,
h 4 There is, for eXamle.sa great gulf be
" tween Lowell and dickens, two me
-. who were intensely Characteristic G
their own countries in the interven
ing years the twp countries hav
N learned very great deal from one an
l.. ~