The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-11-12
BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
Critical Reviews Of Some Of the Latest and Best Things
in the World Of Letters

! Tile l1aLcSU allu beSG llllllSS
lei Of Letters.
I lines motives and, sigriNcnnces whose
/ presence there woid no doubt be a great
surprise to tho author, Is wlttily dis.
sected. 1t has now gotten 80 bad that
whneeyer one OF the heroes Of the Had,
for example, does anything. 1T means
six or eight other things, and they can
never take II step without. leaving u foot
note. Why need every honest poet
Sometimes the second or third meaning
Is less Interesting than the nrkt nnd
| tile. only really difficult thing about q
| poem is tho critics explanation OF it,
/ Bat active minds must find employment.
and II you cannot b,irrow. how can yoti
be deep? And II you arc not deep, yotl
nre that wretchcd vulgar thing, a casual
reader, and ~ sbe snubbed to the end
OF your days by these naughty troglo-
dytes. SO when one of them comes
along, never let him sec you feeding OF,
the surface of a poem. Dive to the
| bottom lkc loon. YOU can bring up
! queer things from below rs we'll as.
fe. Swear YOU got5them from the deep.
est part Then hc will feel degraded and.
superficial and blush awlSardly like q
casual reader
/ a
toward quotntion OUR Justification must
lie In the fact that Mr.. Colby Is 50
cminently quotablc. His pages fairly
sparkle with witty comment, pithy, tcrse,
and TO the point, OF singular attraction
to the sickle OF Tic CLEANER Of eplgram
But though we have. noted many other
things which We should like TO set forth
here, las an invitation to the reader to
seek further the limitations of space
must make us content with the chance
exeisons we have already offered. The
worst thing that can be sud OF "1magl-
nary Obligations" Is that they are plainly
for tho moment only. that the obliga-
ton to write tlAm and equally TO read
them, as a contribution to permanent lit
eraturc is purely imaginary. But if
entertaining and witty writing upon
matters of real, II somewhat superficial
interest ever pays its way for Its own
sake. Wf may say without fear OF con-
tradiction, that Mr.. Colby's coume car
rles with It both its excuse and It's pass
port to our favor.
BITS or GOSSIP. By Rebecca Harding
Davis e33 pp.. sl.c5. Houghton. Milf
8 hin & Co., Boston Bell Book and
Stationery Company.
The keynote OF Mrs. Davis's personal
attitude in her new volume of reminds
cences Aeens TO BIO given in her own
1T has happened to me to meet many
oil tho men of my day whom the world
IA agreed /, to call great. I have found that
most Of these royalties seem to sink into
ordinary citizens ut close approach You
will find the poet who wrinss the heart
of the world, or the foremost captain
of his time. driving a bargain or pairing
u potato. Just as YOU would &c. gz
Mrs. Davis. In other words has seen.
royalty with It's coat off, and tells us
what 1t looks like. The disclosure VIII
not come as n surprise to those of54us
who have learned the old truth regarding
the hero and the kccn-eyed valet.
Mrs. Davis, however. Is never unkind.
and we would not wish to be thought to
disparaNs the spiritin which her inter-
esting rocollcctions are written un-#
doubtedly, the great have their weak
ncsses like anybody else, and Mrs. Davis
has perceived and mot elabora N,!y con-
cealcd them. Her chapt err OH : Boston In
the Sixties" Is very agreeable reading.
AT All evening reception in 1852, our all-t
thor was approached by n tail, thin
young woman who twas plainly dressed
and had that watchful, defiant air with
Which the woman whose youth is slip.
ping ava v is apt to face the world which
has offered no place to her The thin
young woman told her, apropos OF little
or nothing. that she was very poor was
then wearing her only decent dress, and
had once taken II place as second girl
adding lin the same breath, "My name Is
Louisa Alcott." Mrs. Davis met her years
afterward only to lind her metamorphoseds
into "a large, portly. middlc-agkd wo-
man. richly dressed, now IAN assured
success" INA AZ
Emerson she knows quite well. and
says Of him that che studied souls as
the philologlst does words. or an cntomo-$
L. ,torn In,
ego was so dominant that 1t probably
never occurred to him to psk what others
Thought OF Him." OF Oliver Wendell
l1Iomcx she says that he "enjoyed his
work as much as his most fervcnt adj \
&mirers, and openly enjoyed, too,N their
applause" On one OCCASION. after dragging
from Mrs. Davis's unwilling lips the fact
that, She nyas llnfamilia rwitlin certain one
of his poems, 'tlle little doctor" Immediate
~ sprang to an adjoining bookcase, and
standing in tic middle Of the room. read
the whole poem aloud, with every cvl-
3dence Of delighted appreciation. Many
OF her distinguished men and women Mrs
Davis afterWard came to know. but OF
them all, she says, Hawthorne only had
anything OF the God-like aloofness.
The present season appears TO be sin
gularly fertile in charming Sacollfctlons,
many OF which are OF permanent valuc,f
over and above their passing literary In
terest Both by the associations Of her
life and tho bent OF her talents, Mrs.
Davis is admirably qualified to contribute
n volume to our growing library OF rem-
nscences, and 8"Dts or Gossip" despite
Its somewhat unall'rinE title, is full
Of interest.
THE SEEKERS. By Harry Leon VII
son, Doubleday, Page and Com-
Dnny. New York. For sale BY tho
He'll Book and Stationery Company,
book that Mr.. Wilson has written. ills
the story Of two brothers, told from their
childhood.
OneSof the boys Is an ardent, impul-
sive little lad, who Isl full Of imagination
and who ldealizes everything around