The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-03-31

n Books Unread" must have al least
melancholy interest for all who love
looks. He mentions an acquaintance.
low aged So, who began to read seri-
,usly in 1897, and who is still devouring
n literature Four times has this in
atiate reader Derused the whole Of
sibbons mighty Decline and Fall of
he Roman Empire He balks at moth
ng, and has conquered all those monu-
mental books which no gentleman's
library should be without" 1t is evil
lent that this sort Of regimen is not
or the busy workers of the earth, but
or the lotos eaters who have infinite
eisure. and who might have been
hristened in accordance with Charles
samb's plans for the son who existed
My in his day dreams, little nothing
o-do." For the most of us-even those
Who love TO read. and do read wisely
nd well-there usually remain a large
number Of books which we are ever
banning TO read Year after year men
az to themselves that at the first OPP
oortunity Goethe's Faust shall be in
Illired into. What manner Of wonder
'ul book was it that Bishop Butler
Erote-"The Analogy of Religion
which has held master minds captive
or generations? What is the perennial
harm Of Marcus Aurelius, of Thomas
a'Kempis Malorys "Morte d Arthur"
Why is il that ten thousand books and
monographs formidable library in
tself-have clustered about Dante's
Divine Comedy" in the form of mere
Comment and exegesis? Wherein are
he virtues Of Plato and Socrates that
hey still hold sway over thinkers, and
emper the conclusions of modern
ethical and philosophical writers?
Frederic Harrison, the English
rite, gives the useful advice that
Wise education, which, in fact, de-
,ends on ludicious reading. should
eave no great type of thought, no
dominant phase of human nature,
wholly a blank. He SAYS:
Whether our reading be great or
small, so far as il goes, il should be
general. II our lives admit of but
short space for reading, all the more
reason that, so far as may be. il
should remind US of the vast expanse
IF human thought and the wonderful
variety OF human nature
The besetting sin, however, is the
dissipation Of time and the attention
on waste places. on the ephemeral,
he flats and deserts of literature. We
hang around the back door when the
palace gate stands wide open, admit
ing to the wonders of the world, with
glimpses Of heaven. It is vain to urge
the ordinary modern. looking for dis
sipatiOn. TO read the best books. They
are such hard reading" is the an
swer. Emerson said that the library
is the true university and that there
should be professors of books. It was
a wise word A professor of books
would point out to the most careless
Of mortaIs that there are examples of
literature which are as light and as
absorbing. as full of gayety and gen
uine fun as Falstaff. There are books
which require no greater effort of at
tention than a turn" on the vaude-
Vile stage. and they are classics. Don
Quixote has more fun, more Jokes,
more Quips and cranks than all the
minstrel shows on earth; they are
good ones told with infinite zest and
charm; 1t has more philosophy than
q meeting Of the Metaphysical Soci-
ETY., with a good deal more sense and
stirring adventure than a modern his
torical novel, and more genuine hu-
NOR in its first chapter than was ever
comprehended in the philosophy of
the association of ''Jokesmiths" re-
Gently formed in Baltimore.
II. 3. Marriott-W Watson, literary critic
Tor the London Mail. has a few re-
marks 10 say about the alleged de
cadence" Of fiction. Says he: I'm the
National Review Miss Jane FindIater.
herself a novelist of note, raises the old
question, Is fiction deteriorating?
Nothing and nobody, am sure, will
lay that troublesome specter. It VIII
still haunt the minds of the critic and
The censor OF morals, and the admirer
II old times. Miss Findlater suggests
hat It is a pity novelists are putting it
abroad that every woman is at heart
rake. But are they? We need.
she thinks, a return to nature But
is not that precisely what the school of
writer's she finds fault with is aim
ing at?
Miss Findlater, no doubt, would say
that this class OF fiction only represents
one side Of nature. Well, il is possible
u does. But there are many other
kinds Of fiction to represent other sides
Was Miss Charlotte Yonge more truth
ful 10 nature than Mr. Vaughan.
whose remarkable study OF a feminine
temperament, Mrs. Craddock,' Miss
Findlater quotes with evident disap-
proval2 There was plenty Of goodness
ia the pages of Miss Yonge and Miss
Mulock. and, at a later date, of Edna
Lyali, but the fiction by these ladies
does not precisely palpitate with life.
John Halifax. Sir Guy Morville OF
The Heir Of Redclyffe.' Donovan, and
their kind have simply no relation to
life whatsoever. They are noble lay
figures upon which the respective
authoresses hang what virtue and gen.
erous habits they will Because these
types do not thrive now It is hardly
fair TO tell Us that fiction is deteriorat-
ing. And yet the types do thrive to-
day, or some other equivalent types.
Better an honest sincere attempt to