New-York tribune., 1903-04-05
Gbr Netu;2lork Gribm''e
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT.
SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 1908.

In recent address on the subject OF readlhS'
Dr Richard Garnett characterized the Tree
library as "a most powerful instrument VI cur
+ure but one whose actual employlntht
for true culture depends upon the feellhS o. d
highly democratic constituency. SeehihS loi "
way in which to lead that constituency lhto the
-i,ht nath he said that he felt sure that tine
higher the class of literature in common use a'
the free library, the more nearly the library
,orresnonds to the intention of those VINO Set
e. on foot" and the Inference is that II you HI
vour free library with good books, ana WIN
rood hooks only your democratic constituency
,,,iu in due course "get culture 1t Is a pau
sihle Inference; perhaps it is little more thdh
nlaushlp But to assume that by following tiile
polfcy one will promptly eliminate ignorance
and bad taste is to court disappointment II
dorrod oS docs if" and we fear that this trulSm
is not widely enough recognized we are 'oo
ready to think that the reading pubic IL We
happen to look for it at the bottom OF the scale'
can be changed in its ways over nlSht- Col-
slider the difficulty of persuadlng some oI tie
most cultured people in the world 10 aDaiuoh
4 literary fad
A writer in the DAILY Mall points out that
the question of local color, about which we
have heard so much, has meant great ueill
more to modern novelists than to their preue-
cessors 'sIn olden days, he says, no literary
man bothered his head about truth 10 scenery
or truth to dialect, or even chronological accu-
racv" Scott, on the other hand, was very coll-
scentious in these matters, and so also were
Dickens and Charles Reade. Sir Conan Doyle
is cited as an example of the novelist VINO dl-
costs many volumes before he puts pen TO paper
when writing historical fiction. Yet 1t is doupt-
ful continues this critic If do not place
of a
believe that he is right. Mr.. Hewlett, we are
told, sometimes freely dscards local color Wheh
he wants an effect. OF course he does, ana
ovcrv comDetent novelist does the same thing
i, tha same circumstances. Indeed, We are not
cure but that your really capable novelist is
tha last man in the world to bother himself
uuduIy over what is, after all, only an Incl
dental element in his work. We will go further
and say that many a book that promised great
things has been spoiled through the authorS
,7ndun soIicitude for what he has been pleased
10 consider accuracy. ltneSs FlaubertS Sa-
lammbo." That might have been made great
hook but the events that should march through
lis pares with GibbOnian tread are clogged
and almost invalidated, so far as living effect Is
concerned. bv the archaeological detail in which
the narrative is whelmed. 1t is the old story
Of succeeding with the letter and failing with
the spirit Periodically there is an investiga-
tion into the inaccuracies Of the masters. But
# is significant that no one thinks Of them, if,
indeed any one realizes that they are there,
until some dullard goes through Thackeray,
saw or Scott with a magnifying glass, and trl-
umphantly reports to the world some utterly
unmportant slip of the pen that he has dis
covered
An interesting point in the ethics of publish
ing has been raised by the announcement of a