Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-09-23
Books, Bookish People and Things
We get no good by being ungenerous to book.
E. B. Browning.


Les notes pleine de donceur:
Je trouoe ia muse touchante.
Je la nomme Olga ma soeur.
Pour meriter de la patrie
Pas nest besiu d'ctre tribun.
Toute langue a sa poesie
CONNIE chaque neur sou par FUN.
Moi, dams la langue de Racine,
Toi. dau celle de Tennyson,
Melons rode a laile divine
Au bruit joyeux dune chansoa."
We have few saner critics than W.
| G. Brownell, in whose victorian Prose
Masters" we find these true words
about Rusl<in: Even outbursts OF
impassioned eloquence, when they
merely or mainly express emotion.
gain in elevation and permanent charm
through the element Of artistic re.
straint. But there is no room for
doubt that the positive need of this is
illustrated by the mass OF Ruskin's
rhapsodical writing. His eXuberance
is very often absolutely savage and
meaningless. . You feel that there
Is something lacking, some element
tending to repose, to sanity.
| Take, among a multitude Of eX.
amples, the once admired passage de-
scribing the piazza and church Of st.
Mark. II Is perfectly INSCRIPTIONS
in its rhetorical devices. and thor.
cughly puerile in its cheap tropical.
ity.
"Ruskin would iufallibly and cor.
rectly describe such passage in an.
other writer as 'cockney'. 1t is be,
cause his great defect Is excess OF
emotion, and because emotion In one
way or another Is nearly his only
source Of strength; and because prac.
tical form is almost sure to counteract
excess, that English literature has
perhaps lost from Ruskin's exclusive
devotion to prose. To the preponder
ance Of his emotional over his intel.
lectual side, at all events, are justly
attributable the two great defects
which imperil his position as an Eng
lish classic, namely. the lack OF sub.
stance In his matter and the lack Of
form in his style"
1. 1. +
| whatsoever shall offend one of these
little ones, II were better for him that
a mill stone be hung about his neck
and that he be drowned in the depths
OF the sea" furnishes the theme for f.
Marion Crawford's new novel to be Is
sued in few weeks.
| 4 4 4
Next month will appear in book
form THE Sea Wolf" now running
in "The Century. Popular Jack Lon
don is the author.
In connection with "The Promoters
by w. II. Smith, Captains of the
World" by Gwendolen Overton, will
read well.
In The Singular Miss Smith" we
are told that the heiress lived in 'the
great Smith mansion on Beacon
street. While there Is for us only
one Boston and one Beacon street,
there are many Smiths, and the state.
ment is a safe one thought 1t may
prick curiosity.
For convenient manual of English
literature from Chaucer to Tennyson
one need go no further than Stephen
Gwynn's The Masters of English lit.
erature".
| The friends of certain bookdealer
down in El Paso, Texas, are having a
little laugh at his expense. On the
screen door in the front of his store
is cloth sign. Across the top appear
In large letters the words, THE Graft
ers," discernible from the other side of
the street, while the rest of the ign is
lost from that distance. The friends
say that they have rarely seen man
so frank about his business. Nearer
inspection shows that the sign refers
to the railroad novel by Francis Lynde,
which is very popular all through the
West and becoming more popular ev.
cry day. So, despite the gibes of his
friends, the dealer refuses TO haul
down his banner.
+ 4 +
THE Forerunner." By Meth Boyce.
Cloth, 5Ax7% in. 4O5 PIP. Fox.
DufTied & Co, sl.50.
II is perhaps a good thing to read q
popular book, particularly novel,
months after 1t has been talked about.
Al any rate, while the book has not
lost any of its qualities by waiting, the
reader has probably gained poise. a
better judgment; a truer literary sense.
THE Forerunner" Is not a recent book,
10 "a