Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-11-19

but fortunately the thought came to her
before publication that there would
hardly be any lard" pals In the Yid-
dish home and the lard" pail became
plain tin" pail,
One OF the most prominent Russian
journalists, whose pen-name Is 'Bouk-
va" writing from Lelpslc, says In a
Moscow daily that even IN Germany,
a country claiming intellectual pre-eml-
nence to say nothing OF Europe at
large, the business OF writing and pub
fishing serious and substantial books
Is decaying, The Russian journalist
quotes a leading publisher as saying
1--WE give the translation OF the Lit
erary Digest) Yes, this business Is
dead--or at least dying Books Who
now wants book, and for what2
Books are read nowadays only by pro-
fessors. manacs, pedants and prison.
ers condemned to solitary confinement,
Books cost money and time, and con-
temporary readers have neither. Why
should one pay several marks for a
single book when for the same amount
one can all whole shelf with manu-
featured periodical rubbish Aud how
Ia one to get time for books when the
struggle for existence hardly leaves a
moment OF leisure? Men think OF the
existence OF books either IN railway
carriages or-in bed, when they desire
to fall asleep with the least delay" Tho
writer declares further that the atti-
tude OF the publishers toward scientific
men and authors Is one of chilly indlf-
ference, even Of scornful contempt, To
them everything Is stale. Anticipated,
uninteresting, superfu0us. Everything
has been said; everything has been
printed and consigned to the storeroom.
A book which can count on no more
than a total sale OF three or four thous-
and copies Is rejected by publishers as
hopeless proposition. They viii not
put II out, at their risk, even II the
author foregoes all compensation"
From the London Globe comes this
lament There Is no more painful
sign OF modern hustle than the ever
decreasing lease Of life allotted 10 nov
els nowadays. An interesting inter-
view with publisher In monthly
magazine which deyotes itself to the
fortunes Of books, shows what an ex.
pert thinks OF the matter. Few peo-
pie, he says, realize how short the life
OF an average book Is. Fifteen years
ago you could count on It's existence
for two or three years. Now three
books out OF every four are dead as
a mutton In three months. II Is, OF
course the transient interest In the sub
ject matter Of the majority OF novels
which accounts for their short life.
What are called Bible novels. such az
ben HUT" and "Tarry Thou TN /
| Come" which are still having good
sale, rest on more lasting basis and
VIII appeal Just az strongly 20 the read
ers OF tomorrow as to those OF yester-
day and today.
One OF the most fanclful. practical
! Jokes ever played by Gelett Burgess, the
author. with VIII Irwin, OF THE Reign
Of Queen Isyl" and THE Plcaroons, "
had for fits victim whitley, OF Lon
don, the Universal Provlder" whose
/ celebrated boast Is that he can furnish
anything that can be ordered by any
customer There are tales OF his
having furnished on rush order n
bride for wedding TO have delivered
a white elephant to British officer
who had wagered II could not be done,
and Of having furnished for a fastldi-
Gus customer a secondhand coffin. II
remained for Mr. Burgess TO put White
ley 10 test that proved too hard for
him. While Mr.. Burgess was living
IN London he wrote TO the establish
ment letter purporting 10 come from
young American helress whose special
fad II was to collect epltaphs for her
own gravestone in advance IL have
already succeeded In getting one from