The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-04-23

novel, THE vireinian." has appeared,
with sixteen illustrations Of scenes and
characters from the play. Seldom do the
people who represent a book on the stage
carry out so well ones mental picture Of
the characters
Grover Cleveland is not in the habit Of
posing before the public as a literary
critic. But when he does talk about
books, he manages to be as interesting as
ne is on other subjects. Not long ago he
was discussing recent political novels
with his friend, Mr.. j. H. Ecklcs. for
meriy Comptroller of the Currency. Men
ton was made Of 1.-THE Spokesman" The
Lieutenant Governor" and finally OF
Brand Whitlock's THE Thirteenth Dis
trict."
THAT book interested me greatly" eaid
the ex-President, because it deals with
matters which persons acquainted with
politics know about" He then Ven on
to explain that The Thirteenth District"
analyses the character of a Congressman
who fails to distribute political patronage
to the satisfaction Of his constituents,
and becomes involved in trouble thereby.
In a philosophical way, Mr.. Cleveland
added:
"The hardest thing a man in public life
has to do is to pass around appointments
so as to please everybody. The one who
has the distribution of offices must not
only consider the individual cases, but
keep the who'll situation in mind at the
same time. I have had to suffer many a
pang because Of the way some of my
friends have taken refusals."
A correspondent has informed John Ken
drick Bangs, author of The Inventions Of
the IDIOT" of a conversation he recently
held over the telephone. He called up a
book store and his version Of the result
follows:
NE: Hello. Is this Blanks book
~store?'
B.. B. s.: yes: who is this?"
Me: Have you got John Kendrick
Bangs's Coffee and Rapartee.' published
by Harpers?"
3. B. S.: please repeat that"
Me: Have you got Bangs's Coffee and
Repartee?'"
B. B.. S.: II got tho first part Of that
all right, but what kind of tea did you
say?"
Me: "'Coffee and Repartee'-a book!"
d. D.. D. W. Hceo "o ~ AoOh =
guess you've got the wrong place. You
want Blanks grocery store"
The he rang off and the would-be pur-
chaser groaned and gave it UP.
The plain, ordinary spider solved the
airship problem for himself long ago.
Being merely an earth-creature like man,
he nevertheless sails through the air
whenever he wishes to. and sometimes
when he doesn't. He makes his own air
ship. has the necessary materials about
his own person, and achieves flights that
are nothing short of marvellous. Doctor
H. c.. McCeok. president of the American
chronological Society. describes his clever
methods of aeronautio travel, In Harper's
Magazine for May. Many people have
been frequently puzzled at finding spiders
in remote high p~laees-as, for instance. on
the highest point of st. Peters. as Doctor
McCook perceived them-and are puzzled
to know how they arrive. Doctor Nc
Cook makes It quite clear.
william Butler Yeats's morality play,
"The Hour Glass" which he wrote for
presentation On the stage of the irish Ma
tional Theater. was acted at the Garrick
Theater. New York, at a special matinee
on April Z. The play was published re-
GENTLY in the North American Review.
during Mr.. Yeats's visit to this country.
He has now eturned to Ireland.