Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-12-09
Books. Authors

older in this country than any other one
more distinctly American. Indeed. we
fear that some of our clever young $50,
and their drumbeaters are APT 10 i9 9nz'e
that the thing they are doing was done,
and done we'll. some years ago by divers
accomplished authors. Consider Tor eX-
ample, the work of sara Orne JeWsu::
not so very long ago. the public had be-
rtn to get tired of historical novels, and
60 the book met with less than its just de-
serts but in her many STORIES .6nes Oh u nem
of her subject and an original charm
which might well be commenced 10 the
notice of those beginners who are now
being exploited with SO much energy
Miss Jewett forms one of group whose
importance ought not to be overshadoWed
by the passing vogue of new writers. De
the latter never SO clever-Ne" YORK
Tribune.
In view of the recent revival of inter
est in the works of Thomas Hardy, the
statement made in the International Jour-
nal of Ethics by Professor E. s. Bates. OF
Oberline College, that Hardy will ulti-
mately be adjudged an Optlmist, is slsnlll-
cant. There are two kinds OF optimism.
he says. docile and heroic. The docile va
riety assumes without question the ulti-
mate worth CT the social order in which
we live. The heroic optimism has trials
akin to what is called peSsimism. Mr..
Hardy finds that heredity and environ
merit drive many men to deeds OF unln-
tended evil and final self-destruction.
The world for Mr.. Hardy is not Il world
ity are generally attainable. The deeper
Hardy. however, concludes Professor
Bates, whose manhood speaks to US
through his spontaneous pictures of life
more entirely than in his reflective re-
marks. 1 certainly call not a pessimist.
but an optimist. for he shows worthy
humanity, true to itself, unconquered by
destiny, sanctified by love-.
Here are Emerson's famous rules for
reading adapted to more modern condi-
eions, as propounded by the weli-known
critic IT, and n. reviewer, Mr.; H. w; Boyn.on'
l suppose there are no better known or
more generally disregarded rules for
reading than these. of Emersons; %
Never read any book that is not a year
old; ~ never read any but famous books;
go never read any but what you like.
Probably nothing better can be done with
these bits of advice than to disregard
them. If it becomes question of taking
them literally and as rules Only the
third will bear close examination, the two
others are merely hints. Certainly Elmer
son did not expect his own books to be
put in cold storage for year before they
actually got upon the market. He must
have counted on a few persons here and
there to undertake the drudgery OF max
ing his work known to fame. l do not
mean reviewers, but persons in real life.
reading what they like. Literary criti-
ciSm does not make fame, it simply ac-
counts for it. Moreover, formally critical
minds are exceptional in the nature oil
things, and Emerson was thinking OF the
ordinary reader. He believed that this
reader spends good deal too much time
over the Just OUT books. He therefore
eNhorts him. in his uncompromising way,
to abstain totally from ms favorlte in
diligence. He next proposes a pretty
stern alternative, and appends the third
rule as saving clause to mitigate the
austerity of the second
1t was always EmersOn's habit to affirm
rather than to qualify. How much less
effective these suggestions would have
been IL ne had given some such form as
this: ID The chances are that any given
new book will not be worth reading for
persons who are anxious to use their
time for reading to the best advantage;
% the chances are that the best-known
books are the best books, for a few books
90 not survive from among many without
good cause; 80 they survive because they
have given pleasure to more persons. and
a more permanent pleasure, than other
books have. Some of them will not hold
pleasure for you. Read those which do.
Booth Harrington comes naturally by the
dramatic gifts evinced in his writings.
His Observation-Disclosures was the beautiful
Mary Newton, who figures in the annals
OF Old Salem. Mary Newton married
Walter Booth, and from these were
descended the Booths who were the pride
and glory OF the stage thirty years ago.
The Rev. Thomas Hooker, scholar and
orator of Revolutionary fame, was also
one of the authors ancestors Mr.. Tark-
ington's full name is Newton Booth Tarf-
ington, as he was named after his uncle,
Newton Booth, Senator and Governor of
California, who was also prominent
orator.