The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-08-16

the library censor has just found out
that Ella Wheeler wilcox is not as
fierce as she sounds deponent sayeth
not. Speaking of Booker T. Washing
ton, Gle was spoken of, way back
there, some place-) his up From
Slavery" Working With the Hands,
Building are among the most popular
books in the library, and the colored
poet, Paul Lawrence Dunbars OLD
Plantation Days" Lyrics of Love and
perhaps more than any other poems.
There is another new book by a negro
in the sociological department, Souls
OF Black Folks" by w. E. B. Dubois,
who takes rather gloomy view of the
negro character. These works of negro
authors are popular with the colored
people who have library cards. AS
rule colored people who read at all
read serious things They call for al
most no fiction
OF course the books which relate to
new discoveries in science are always
popular and there are many calls for
work on -Radium by S. r. Bottone.
Authors who are much in the public
eye are sought eagerly by readers and
so Jonn MitchelPs Organized Labor is
very popular. President Roosevelt hav-I
ing had little time of late for literary
labors and having produced nothing
new is not much read as he was a
year ago when all his books had a
great run, but there are many calls
indeed all Mr.. Riis' books are read.
Two books by Topeka authors, Charles
NJ. Sheldon's THE Narrow Gate" and
Mrs. Margaret Hill McCarter's Cotton
woods Story have many calls. Stories
about crime and criminals popularized
by Joseph Flint, Conan Doyle, E. w.
Harnung and others retain their hold
on the public interest and Frank Spear
mans and Will Harben's railway stor-
les continue good.
There is much interest in animal and
nature stories such as those of Ernest
Thompson-Seton, Jack London and
linck's Life of the Bee is usually out"
In religion and philosophy the new
thought like Abou Ben Adhem's !
name leads all the rest. There are still |
Tune With the Infinite and others of
that ilk. A little girl called at the Ii |
brary the other day with her mothers |
card and asked for I'm Tune With the |
cept anything else but the librarian |
finally persuaded her to take Trine's
book home and see if it wouldn't do.
The influence of the Christian Science
theories is also seen in the number of
new books about Health Without
Drugs, True Science of Living, Perfect
Health, and so on most of which ad-
yocate simple and sensible habits of life
md the disuse of drugs and stimu-
ants.
Children's books written for grown
Fps are having a great run now-the
Emmy Lou stories and others and
here are many calls for nonsense
hymes and "foolishment." The juv
nile library has recently added num-
Ter of these books, among them The
)ogley-Oo, Miss Bounce, India Rubber
lack, and The Grumps by S. Q. Wood
louise and w. c. F. Richardson. illus
rated by Gerald Sichel. Other new and
popular books for children are Chasing
he Iron Horse and Thomas in Tennes-
ee by Edward Robbins, Nine Rhodes
silver Innings, a pretty story of little
lind girl, dedicated to Helen Keller.
nd The Little Girl Next Door and
Neighbors by the same a1Vh-
T. Mary Stuart Cutting, known to old
T readers by her Little Stories of Mar
led Life, is the author of another good
oOk for girls, The Heart of Lynn and
can Webster's When Patty Went 10
'Ollege is a great favorite in the juven-
lie department.
New books by William Dean Howells,
henry James, Frank Stockton, Thomas
Jelson Page, Mary Wilkins Freeman, l
. A. Mitchell and F. Hopkinson Smith, s
re in the library but although these
uthorS have won an established place
mOng the writer's of fiction and few s
ears ago a new book by them created !
considerable interest there are fewer !
allS for their novels than for those of
many new and untried authors whose
ooks have been cleverly exploited. '
larry Johnston, Winston Churchill. Lack I
.ondon, Alice Hogan Rice, Robert
hambers, Charles Major, Booth Tuck G
lgton, Halle Erminie Rives, are what :
ne people want now and meanwhile =
.etters Home, The Better Sort, Gordon
-eith, The Givers, The Captains Toll
art neglected on the shelves while e
here are not enough copies of Sir Nor
mer, The Crossing, ct al to go around.