Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-07
THE DIME-NOVEL HABIT

newspapers, to the effect that the vener-
able and scholarly senior senator from
Massachusetts, Mr.. Hoar. is an omniverous
reader of dime novels" said Capitol at
tache. It have not only seen him buy
armfuls of the shockers, but 1 have sat
close to him in trains while he has occu-
pied himself in reading the things with all
Of the manifest intensity of interest Of
messenger boy bound on an important err
rand. The senator never sets out on
railroad journey in fact. that he does not
provide himself with fresh bunch OF the
thrillers. He purchases them at a little
cigar and news store on the avenue be-
tween the Capitol and 9Th street. The pro-
prietor of the store always smiles broadly
when he sees Mr.. Hoar entering his place,
and turns to the counter where the dime
novels are stacked up without even inQulr-
ing Of the senator what he wishes. He
merely gathers up the latest assortment of
stroyers, and Billy the Bites, and wraps
them in neat little package after the
senator has cast his eye over the tltles
with an expression of mingled delight and
anticipation.
1.-THE senator only reads the spine-shat-
terers when he is traveling-he Is always
too busy around the Capitol to divert him
self In that way. It is spectacle worth
witnessing to see Mr.. Hoar settle back IN
his chair in a par3or car. unite his pack
age of dime dreadfuls, and begin to de-
YOUR the first one that meets his eye.
''The pinkness Of his youthful skin takes
on an intenser hue as he reaches the critical
points OF the yarns and he begins to sit
more erect in his seat, and it is perfectly
plain that his excitement grows with ev-
cry step in the progress of the yarn he Is
deyouring. Sometimes he smiles with OBJ
vious satisfaction always conclude that
the hero has just visited some astonishing
sort of retribution upon the v1llyun or VIII
yuns when Mr.. Hoar smiles-and when he
7Y,tS the he looks out or
the car window for a long while, getting 1t
all settled and slowed away in his nina, 1
suppose, before he takes up another one.
He doesn't take any interest Whatever In
the comings and goings of the passengers
when he has got his stack Of dime novels,
and I have seen him lean out OF the car
window in the Philadelphia station and buy
a couple of apples from fruit boy while
still keeping his eyes glued to the pages OF
his absorbing work Of fiction. The stuff
rests his mind, of course, and gets his
thoughts away from the more serious e al.
characteristics of American public men OF
eminence needs to be informed as to how
profound a student Senator Hoar Is and has
easily the best-read man now in the Senate.
It shows the catholicity Of his mental
taste when he can derive an equal amount
of enjoyment from Virgil and from con-
sideration Of the miraculous deeds of Riley,
the Red-headed Roarer Of the Rockies.
1.-THE late Tom Reed was another emil
nent New Enelander who was devoted to
red hot paper-covered yarns, but his bent
was toward the Hist! Eureka! type OF de-
tective stories. He read them every time
he got chance, and he was as absorbed q
looking statesman when he was in the mid
die of Cap Collier or old Sleuth' story
as can be imagined. He read them with
particular gusto when his mind was worn
out with the exciting affairs of the Con-
gress during which the Car title was
fastened onto him. He used to retire to
Ian y{v,rY ooA NJ
leagues in the chair, and reach into his
desk for his dog-eared detective yarns, and,
from a worried-looking, distraught leader
he would soon lapse into the very picture
of happy juvenility as he turned the pages
of the tremendously exciting narratives OF
the deeds Of the extraordinarily slippery de-
tectives.
'.He hated to be interrupted. too, when he
was right in the middle Of one of these
yarns. I remember one occasion when two
or three of his republican confreres rushed
into the Speakers room while Mr.. Reed
was stretched out on his couch reading one
of the detective stories. situation had
arisen on the floor which demanded Mr..
Reeds immediate assumption of the chair.
Mr. Reed rose from the couch with an ex-
preston of genuine peevishness.
"tCan't you fellows hold EN- at bay until
I get through this chapter? he inquired.
"They shook their heads and said that his
presence in the chair was imperative. Mr..
Reed turned the corner of the page down
with an ejaculation of disgust, carefully
locked the thriller away in his desk and
numbered out after his colleagues like an
Office boy who has been called upon to run
an errand right while he was in the middle
of the doings Of Merciless Mike the Keel
Hauler He took a genuine interest in the
eventual fates Of his detective story heroes.
and once heard him say. after finishing
one Of the old Sleuth' shockers:
"'Well, they'll be killing that fellow.
among them, one of these days, and when
that happens I'll feel stranded
1.-The late Senator ingalls, was another OF
the men of mark who took a rapturous de-
light in the reading OF dime novels. He
claimed with all solemnity that they ex-
banded his intellect, although his friends
always derided him when he made this
statement. Mr.. ingalls, always maintained
that he would infinitely prefer to have his
growing children read the out-and-out lurid
dime novels, which, .le said, never failed to
point the moral OF manliness ana nlgh-
mdndedness than the yellow-covered pieces
of more or less communicating erotic fiction
with which the more pretentlous book stalls
were cluttered-and don't know but what
he was right. Another kink of Mr.. Ingalls,
was that he was fond Of reading we'll
ten accounts of the doings of the bad men
Of frontier days.
HE had known personally good many
of the bad men, including Wild Bill and
several others of equal notoriety, and he
always maintained that they were fine fel-
lows who were misunderstood by the min
ions of the law. He professed to feel very
highwaymen were rounded up by posses.
and claimed that he invariably rooted for
the nervy desperadoes to get away from
their pursuers.
II remember that he was particularly in
terested in the case of Black Bart the
lone highwayman of California, who, for
number of years, held up the stages of
southern California without any assistance
whatever and plundered to the tune of
many thousands of dollars. This Black
Bart after accomplishing hold-up of
this sort, invariably left behind him on the
trail piece Of derisive verse. Mr.. ingalls,
was travelling in California on one occa-
sion when Black Bart executed one Of his
most daring hold-ups Of a stage. and the
senator talked with number Of the pas
sengers of the stage that had been held up.
This fact probably intensified his interest
in the lone highwayman. Anyhow. when
they finally nailed Black Bart, Mr.. ingalls,
spoke of the capture with a long face and in
a tone of regret that certainly seemed gen.
uine.
Fellows Of that Sort he said, are
growing so scarce in this country that it
seems a pity they should be landed behind
the bars and then he would glance around
at his listeners to ascertain If they were
taking him seriously. Only those who
knew him very well could catch the twill
kle in his eye when he made such remarks
of Sympa thy for the bandits and the 9TH