Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-08-06

these days of strenuous fiction. it is
wholesome and refreshing to turn back
to such n writer as Hawthorne. He dill
not neglect the depths of human ma
ture hut there is n freshness and
puritv in his greater stories which are
lacking i'm too much of the work of to-
dav. Put then Hawthornes are few
and far between.
Stewart Edward White has not yet
heard that his latest book. THE Silent
pIacrs' is the best selling novel in the
United States. for he is now enjoying
a three months honeymoon camping
trip, alone with his bride. in the Santa
Clara mountains. California. Mrs.
White. who WAS Miss Elizabeth Grant.
Of Newport, is = tenderfoot compared
with her experienced outdoor husband.
II follows that bookish affairs are just
now Of loss interest to Mr.. White than
the dramatic possibilities of burnt flap
Jacks and the art Of expression while
tightening diamond hitch"
The Current Life publishes reduced
cuts nf two pages from one of its num-
censored Til" ccnsor's ink is very
black indeed and is spread darkly over
each paragraph or picture in which
l.uesia is mentioned. 1t presents
urious spectacle to an American.
Senator I:-v"ridGe says in his inform
ing book The Russian Advance. that
there are over one hundred periodicals.
published in Moscow alone. What n
tame lot they must be after the censor
has read them!
on one of Mark Twain's later trips
down tn" Mississippi. he made the
Journey mcognito in order to gather
material for stories about Mississippi
lilotc, and the following story was told.
bv man who knew him we'll. of the
way Twain was discovered: The
steamer was hardly under way when.
through the automatic action of tn"
brain, the author instinctively wan
dcred to the rilot-hOusc. and essayed
the role of the sreenhorn. The pilot
loaded him with the kind of river chaii
and badinage that must have recalled
the days Of his Youth more vividly than
would have tn" taste of one of his
grandmothers pies, ana our author
WIS enjoying it as keenly rs if he were
at country circus. slowing away page
after page Of the most delightful
material, and secretly hugging himself
with the thought that he was getting
a large amount Of the most desirable
copy from the very source to which he
| had looked most longingly. and for the
ocuuisition Of which he had been rack
| ing his brain in an effort to decide as
TO the hest method of procedure. At
the moment when he decided on beat
| ing retreat. in order that his stenog-
raphnr might take down the intcrvie"
whilr 1t was fresh in his mind. the
pilot left the wheel. and. turning to
Mr.. Clemens, calling him by name,
said: Here. You take her and lie
| awhile-you're handler at II than am:
| Trying to play yourself for stranger
and an innocent, Why, I knew you
before you had spoken seven words
and 7 made up my mind to find out
what was your little game. 1t was 70
draw me out. Wei. let you. didn't |?
Now. take the wheel and finish the
watch. and next time play fair and you
won't have to work your passage.
| The results Of this trip were incor-
porated in the second half of Life on
| the Mississippi 0Harpers).
a collection cf the latest short stories
of Thor7as Nelson Page has just been
issued bv the Scribner's house, under
the general title of "Rred in the Bone
The collection contains some OF the
hest short story work yet done by Mr..
Page. that dominant. picturesque fig
IRE in southern life and literary eX-
preston The stories are characterized
by that subtle insight into character
and deicacy Of literary expression