The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-07-22
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD

The End Of the Book World; An Incident
Connected fTherewIth as Seen by The
# Uneasy Chair In Dream-A PleIess
Fl Nlghtmare--New Book Of Poems by
Henry Van Dyke Promised for This
4 FaII-oueen vlctorla's Correspondence.
Is Last night The Uneasy Chair had
dream He. found himself in high
al eheds room dimly lighted and gloomy.
As his eyes grew accustomed to the less
than d half light, he saw all about him
books & The walls were lined with them,
piled tier on tier clear to the ceilings
edge The shelves, which bore them,
Rugged the. narrow windows so closely
that only a subdued light could enter, and
that was almost wholly shut off from the
main corridors of the room by numerous
alcoves, also reaching to the ceiling. What
remaining light reached the corridor where
The Chair stood was somber gray,
hue gathered from the dusky and dusty
bindings of the books which were every
where about him. i
The air was oppressive it seemed to
hold. in suspense the spirit of the whole
tragedy of past ages the very soul OF
time whose records, real and fanclful,
We're written in the books which filled the
place. seemed imprisoned in the room and
restless,aand The Chair was shut in with
down.
He knew that on the shelves somewhere
were books that in his days Of liberty
had been true friends and had brought
succor and consolation in times OF need
and suffering, but now they voiced no
cheer .They have. been murdered here.
thought The Chair shudderingy, "throt-
tied, smothered into everlasting silence.
He thought of those gay and happy COM
panions who had provoked him to laughter
and had in very truth seemed TO laugh
with him in days gone by. the only
answer to his thought was the ghost Of
a laugh that seemed to whisper sepul-
chrally from distant, shadow filled cor
ner Of the bookish catacomb. he shlV-
cred with fright. He would have moved
to a window, but his feet were lead. he
tried toslift his hand to his brow, but
he was powerless to move it. He opened
his mouth to cry out for help, put |ho,
sound issued. - j
The darkness suddenly grew denser, the
earth seemed to rumble, but without noise,
the floor quaked. The Chair fell trenl-
bling to the floor, his face turned upward
Horrors! Gray flames burst ~, rom cie ~ ths
among the piled-up books The tops OF Inc
tall shelves leaned inward! Then, all al
once, the shelves-the whole structure
was falling upon him. 1t was, the emu
of the book world! And
The cry with which he aWoke must
nave SCdTCleO LllS DuSl VI soiAeIkA'PSA
usually looks calmly from his place on
the summit Of The Chairs elastic DOCK
shelves 1t frightened The Chairs cat, az
least, and the beast ran meWlng 1ro"
| the room.
The dream was one which made further
reading of The Queens QUAR-, or The SIX
Years Tragedy, for the evening IMPOSE
Eble, and The Chair turned to It's tapie
for something purely fanciful. II found
what it wanted at once in The Court OF
Sacharissa (the Macmillan company,
which. unless the dream of last night
comes true, or something else equally
tragic befalls, will receive some attention
in this column tomorrow evening.
SO far as The Chair is able to remem-
Der such trivial matters, 1t ate no PIE
yesterday.
! Dr. Henry van Dyke, before sailing LOT
| Europe completed the correction OF the
proofsheets Of his new volume OF verse 10
be published this fall. He will have IN the
! August Scribner's poem called Lhght
i Between the Trees.
Quite the most conspicuous book an
4 .nouneed for autumn publication in the
autobiographical field. at least in English
ewes, is the correspondence of Queen vac
Etoria says the New York Times Saturday
Review. The work. in two or more vol
umes is to have special and copyrighted
American publication with the imprint OF
Longmans, Green & Co.