Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-21
Gossip from the World Of
Books-Review Of New
Books Authors Plans
for the Season-Notes.

What does desultory mean in the thought
OF our stroEg-braiced. strong iiled poet
professor. critic and patriot. himself one
Of the most widely-read men oil mis- CEN
furyo There appears to be common
misunderstanding: it is not dssuitoIy
many Subjects. Some desultory readers
nIod conscicntiously through each article
of every magazine that they take up ana
read each word Of every book tnat they
begin. The important and unlinpoi tant
the familiar and the unfamiliar. the good
. bad and Indifferent receive the Same
stupidity thorough rea Snfi, ,, Hon ,haa
without Il they are as depleted as the
constant tippler without his dram ASK
them what they have READ. even II 4 De
but the day after. and they can give no
coherent account ana month alter they
can barely remember the subject. yet they
have a repu alton for being literary and
take pride in their thoroughness and as
siduity.
Theie are others whose reading is not
desultorv, and yet who find little time
amid Grove ed days for more tnan nj
teen minutes glance az me dailE paper
book or magazine. perhaps a different one
each day. The difference between the two
is mat one reads diligently whatever
comes in her way but without discrir1ina-
ton and without purpose. the DINERS.
skim with purpose DesuitorE reauihs
pose and with no power to select and
rrasp the essential thoughts.
More than year ago John Burroughs
proved to me satisfaction OF the reading
public that the natural history tales as
Written bv Rev Mr.. Lang and Professor
ThomsoE-Seton. while very interesting as
fiction were not facts and could not be
facts under any conditions which pre-
vailed on this earth. Mr.. Lang. being a
clergyman squirmcd and stormed about
for a time. as man would naturally
were his veracity called in question, but
the proofs against him We're So over
whelmIng that he has subsidized at last. no
doubt a sadder and wiser man AS TOR
Thompson-Seton, or Seton-Thompson.-
for he has the habit of invertinG his nam"
readily as ne does his storles-he Wis
~ held his tongue and kept on writing
NOR natural history fables and dra wing
pictures. which were as faithful repre-
sensations of heather mythology as tney
his reputation. he felt as if John Bur
roughs could do him no harm. Mean
Will. the reading. and thinking public
had sized him up for what he was worth,
and had refused to credit his tales.
Ard now comes Allen Kelly Il newspa-
per man. and accuses Thompson-Se Seton OF
books, which was published two years
ago Mr.. Kelly is a faithful worker and
truthful man. 1t was our pleasure TO
have met him and worked by his side on
He was witty and forceful and wholly
r-lia BILE. From Boston he went as manaS-
ing editor to the Fall River Globe. staying
there until the New York Evening Sun
was started. when he became city editor
of that paper under the best newspaper
man then living. Amos Cummings. after
ward member of Congress from New
York City. From New York Mr.. Kelly
drifted to San Francisco and found en-
pIoy;nent under William r. Hearst.
! While in thai city he was sent to the
mountains to capture a i've grizzly pear
: and bring it to Frisco as hit of news
paper enterprise. He spent thousands OF
dollars. and more than six months OF
tune but he secured The bear and Brought
II down to the city alive and very savage.
This bear is now in a public menage,ie In
that city. having been pres. nted by Mr..
Hearst. After working up brief accounts
of the way he captured the bear for the
Cosmopolitan magazine and other publi-
! cations. Mr.. Kelly included the story in
a book. under the title of Bears | hav.
Met and Others; His BOOK App, apPeahr eG
T 1hsM pssn Seton. w %iit Mr.. Kelly was
still! working on the Pacific coast. Thomp,
son-Seton called upon him and asked
him to relate some stirring tales from
actual life in the woods. Mr.. Kelly com
piled with the request and told severa
true tales. as we'll as few which he ad-
rnit.ad were no mere than stories that old
bear hunters tell around camp fires.
And now comes the final act Of late
under the title of Monarch the Big
Rear" which contains the same stories
which Mr.. Kelly had told him. AMI which
MIR. Kelly had published later in his own
book Instead of giving credit for the
tales he admits no more than the fact
that he had talked with a man whose
speech is unknown to script rms. MI
Kelly thinks, is rubbing in tn. insult
rather thckly. SO in late issues of 'FOres;
and Stream ard Shooting and Fish
ing he makes mild protest against a
mans right to steal from another mans
book and then slur him. instead Of giving
credit. To all fair minded men Thompson
Seton has put himself in ar unenviable
position. Mr. kely's proofs are So strong
that no sane man can contradict him. II
ThompsOn-SetO attempts to explain II
will make matters worse for him. II ht
remains silent. he will he condemned by
the few admirers he still retains.-Bargor
News.