Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-06-26
Books and Authors.

than three hundred poems in various
magazines during the last twcnty-eight
years. FROM the best of these he has nov
."saue selection which will be published
~ the autumn by Houghton. Miifn & Co.
"r. Cheney Will spend six weeks yaca
ZION THIS summer on the Pacific Coast.
10 ell the really good stories get pub
iished? Many discouraged youne writor
may doubt it. but William Dean Howel,s
thinks that they do. So MANY stories
mat are not really good are published
mat 1t is likely he is right-provided al
ways or course. that the authors of all
really good stories are persistent in their
enorts to dispose of their literary wares
.here Is room for a good story of any
Aiho' Mr. Howclls said recently. al
e'ioush an editor governs his Judgment by
WAT MS readers have liked before often
eIecuhg something they would like much
'.er' no good thing in story ever re-
'"li's unpublished. Some one will re,d
-, ieei It's truth. and print it, If it is true"
e taxes pains to fortify his position.
o"e'er' by adding that he does not be-
iie'e any one can write a really good
,''ei until he has lived at least thirty
"se years in experience with the world"
"''housE ne admits that there are rare
e"ceptions How rare? No doubt most
a"thors Will do their best work after they
are thlrty-hve, but it must be that few Of
'hehi whose stories are worth reading
nave not done really good" work before
they reached the halfway post on lif...
journey.
D"hkor news: 1t is hoped that no read
er OF thls paper is too busy or too dull In
stuoy some useful book during the sum-
Iier' "hich Is now upon us. No matter
ho" ola or uneducated we are there is
anyways Joy in learning new facts. In
TIE '"lhter We read history, and study
exact science. We delve more or less
deeply into religions of the world in or
oer 10 learn their powers over the minds;
OF men. and We follow the growth of DO
Ntical Ideas down the leaves of time, and
"atch the unfolding of popular form of
government from despotism. Old laws
are compared with the enactment Of to-
Jay. FORMER conceptions of science are
measured with the result which modern
seekers have derived from experiments.
Our reading in the winter. like our diet, is
nearly and sustaining. But on the ap-.
proach OF warm weather we relax our
strenuous quest and devote ourselves to
lighter matters. We buy books on birds
and flowers. and take them with US when
we go out hoping to identify species OF
lie which have been strangers to us.
Poor indeed is the man or woman who
cannot learn the names and natures of "a
few plants and birds in Il season.
The amount Of real knowledge which
we have about our most familiar opera
| tons Is very meagre. No person can pass
MS spare time in the summer roaming
abroad without discovering some interest
| ing fact that is almost unknown to sci
ence, or If it is known, it has been mis-
understood. How do the birds capture
their insect prey? Do they follow their
game On alert wings and run them down.
| the way a greyhound catches rabbit
Or do they search out the crevices in the
bark or trees. or hunt the limbs or peer
wisely into stone piles. In what shape
are the blossoms of the different plants
DO they put forth in clusters or hang
sinsly? Are they bold and glaring. fiaunt-
ing Themselves iii the sun. oil do they hide
| away under rank leaves. as if afraid
some one might see them? 1t is wonder
| full what big lot one can learn in "A sin
gle outing. Though he be dull as Callahan
or as wise as Ariel Nature still has new
marvels to show him every time he visits
her.
And then there is the 10Y of reading
| novels! Very many of our esteemed
friends condemn novel-reading. saying it
| is waste of precious time. But we hope
this assertion is not wholly true To on"
who is mentally and physically wcaried-
who is dog tired" with the tasks per-
formed-a novel is very restful. Never
| mind if it is so dull to put the reader
to sleep-isn't it good to sleep when one is
tired? The summer novel is Il blessing.
The magazine is a delight. Some stories
are better than others. and some maya
zines arc superior to their contemporaries.
although there are very few so wholly de
void of interest as to be unwOrth a trial.
| For example, we have Il seated disease
| for the stories of General Charles King
and Canon Cyrus Townsend Brady. Both
men are no more than StringinE out words.
When Hamlet WAS asked what he was
eading. and he replied: Words, words.
| words" we believe he WAS reading Il
novel by Brady or King or somebody of
their school. But even when the plot Is
commonplace, and the fiction tedious and
the imagination is lacking. n story can be
read with pleasure if one is weary. The
reading causes one to forget for the time
his fatigue and his worry. and leads him
forth among new scenes until he. is
either lost to the world through CHI isinG
| the characters or he drops off to Il slum-
bcr which is often better than any novel.
May the good Lord bless all dull story
writer's, for next to tedious clerEynen
they have produced more sweet sleep than
tany other SOporific agency on earth.
! The active men and women who are
chasing their hobbies so closely that they
cannot spend time to read novels are go
ling to break down. Health and happiness
come from change of occupation: The
person W no enjoys life most and VINO ilvcs
longest. Is he who can cast Off his busi-
ness worries for 4 time and become over
whelmed in an interesting book
Triumohs Of Modern Surgery.
| Wonderful things ara done for the
| h,,~ap bnr,, hy cnrUery Organs are