The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-08-01

TOT the magazines. HOWellS likes nothing
| better. incidentally. Howells has lately
| entered upon dalliance with the occult, ant
his ghost stories send chills down the spine
| For an agreeable literary sensation nothing
| surpasses the chill at this season.
| Leaving Howells and Kipling for the mo-
| ment. at the expense of literary tone. 1t
! may be profitable to consider literary
magazine. The Reader, which. by the
| way, is a publication Of serious merit. easily
ranking with the best of its kind. contain
ing unbiased estimates of books and book
people. and generally preserving an impair
tial attitude. striking feature of The
Reader is a clever propensity. r..ther large
ly INDUCED. for satire. Contemporary lit
erary magazines and book reviewers come
in for fair share of the same. Un6er the
head Of Reading Sauce in the August
number, are some Literary Notes" which
bear quoting:
by request. Mr.. Charles G. D. Roberts
has eliminated the explosive initials in his
name. and will hereafter be known as
Charles Roberts.
Miss Josephine Dodge Daskam. has also
consented to abolish both the Dodge and
the exclamation point and now signs her.
self Josephine Daskam.
Mr.. John Burroughs says he will write
the Introduction to Mr.. Ernest Setons next
BOOK of animal stories. Mr. Seton says
he won't.
Miss Carolyn Wells. the Railway Won
der. Is making her annual pilgrimage to
Limerick"
From Opie Read 1t is not a very long
jump to Max Adeler. author of I'm Happy
Hollow. This author may or may not have
his effect on the slump in values before
mentioned. In any event he provides sew
eral diverting passages. and those who have
heretofore not too carefully Disseminated
between cheap and genuinely refined humor
those who. let us say. have laughed at
Bill Nye. Mark Twain. Sam Jones. Mr..
Dooley and George AIDE. not forgetting
George Meredith-may laugh with and at
Mr.. Adeier. In Happy Hollow" he has
presented burlesque Country town.
story. 1t has something of the atmosphere
of THE Gentleman From Indiana" of THE
Tennessee Judge" and Of other stories OF
the well-known Courthouse square type.
and contains some Of the regulation ana
some unconventional characters. the pecu-
liarities of all being emphasized as to
give the impression of farce. 1t is but fair
to say, however. that the impression is tenn
pered here and there with reality. Colonel
Joseph Bantam, Mayor, is the chief fun
maker. He boasts of a war record. of
which the public is skeptic. A new
acquaintance asks him: You were in the
army" And he replies. 1T is my prouoest
recollection. sir. that barred my bosom to
the foe and stood with uplifted head amid
the flaming terrors of the battle line"
You were in many engagementse"
Engagements sir! 1 never speak of It
but to friends. and I refer to It now re-
luctantly almost shamefacedly. but my COM
panions in arms. against my continued pro-
test. would insist upon calling me Fighting
Joe; my first name. you know, is Joseph.
I plead with you to refrain from employing
the phrase in abiding to me-
Colonel Joe Is not altogether new but do |
not despair. reader he is not the whole |
od ht- TNntA r.
Coz
PEGGY AT FAULT.
A fair sample of midsummer pessimism Is |
Afforded by LIES critic. Mr. ]. B. Kerfoot. |
in disposing of Peggy O'Neal: "a story Of |
A. d. 1879. told in the idiomatic English of |
1879. and introducing women dressed In the |
crinoline costumes Of not earlier than 1853. |
Apart from these little anachronisms, the |
lab of history inculcated by the book is
we'll told and entertaining" 1t was kind in |
Mr.. Kerfoot to even up things with those
four last words-"wel told and entertain
ng" cover a multitude Of sins. Alfred Hen
" Lewis is "story teller of the first wa
er. Stories are stories. either good or bad
Der Sc: and good story tellers are just lit
lie bit immune from severity and censure.
indeed. it is-begsing Mr.. Kerfoot's pardon
lot thought to be quite the height of good
to interrupt a good garner with an
inquiry about dates and costumes. If the
late is anywhere this side of about 2OG0 B.
:. and the ladies are dressed with some re-
ard to the proprietes. that Is sufficient.
'esgy O'Neal is an essentially divertng
'oung person and it is admitted that she
vore plenty of crinoline-had it heen mere
arleton some objection might be entertained
-and 1t doesn't matter whether she wore it
ust at the right date or not
Childhood Classics" edited by Uncle
II he is James Barries
Uncle Charlie" who edited the Children's
'ets corner in an agricultural monthly
collection of Mother Goose rhymes !
nd other rhymes, fairy tales and stories. |
is rather happy idea to again put forth
UGH combination. Nothing can take the
lace of those wonderful old ditties. sprung
rom the hearts of mothers and grand
lothers, nor can We ever do without the
ascinatiing stories of Cinderella. the Sleep
lg Beauty. Blue Beard. Puss in Boots.
ock Robin and Jenny Wren. There are
1any pictures. some in color. explanatory !
the text. Oaird G. Lee Chicago)
THE QUEEREST LANGUAGE. (!
The word 'pidgin' comes from the mis-
Of the English word 'busi-
ess" by the Chinese. the nearest they |
ould come to the proper pronunciation Of |
he word being 'pidzin' or 'pidgin." To-
ay ''pidgtn" English is the universal me-
ium: representatives of all nations use 1t, |
nd the natives Of many of the Provinces | I
ave recourse to It. In country like Chi
q, where there are as many dialects, or,
lore properly. spoken languages as there i
re Provinces. 1t Is no uncommon thing
Provinces where trade with foreigners