Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-07-10
Books and Authors.

English letters. And you don't KNOW
where they are. They have made your
churchyard and your parish distinguished
all the world over / have come three
,housa nd miles to visit Charles Lamb $
crave and YOU, the rector Of the church,
don't know where vt Is. You ought to
he heartily ashamed of yourself" And
T turned upon my heel and left him stand
ing there, speechless and confounded.
Never before perhaps. since the days
of Cromwell was English priest so spok-
en- to at the porch OF his own church.
Half an hour later, while l was sun
groping about in the twilight, STUMBLING
over the mounds in which the rude Tore
fathers of the hamlet sleep, searching
in vain for the resting place upon the
lap of earth of one poor youth unknown
to fortune but well known to famo. the
rector approached me, took on ms nat
and said: Il am heartily ashamed OF
myself; and If you will step this way
will show you what you have come SO tar
to see. Let me assure you that no one
will ever accuse me Of such ignorance
again"
Tolstoy has lately been elected a MEM
ber of the Rousseau Society at Geneva,
and in a letter accepting his election he
writes:
Rousseau has been my master since
was fifteen years old. Rousseau and
the Gospel have been the two great and
beneficial influences Of my life. Rous-
seau never ages. l have lately read some
of his works again, and with the same
admiration and elevation of soul that
felt when l read them in my youth
This is what R. L. Stevenson's marine
friend, Captain Otis, says about the au-
thor: His mental makeup was such
that he always took the side of the under
dog in any fight that arose, without wait
ing to inquire whether the under dog
had the right of it or was in the wrong"
Bangor News: Speaking before body of
learned men in England last Saturday, the
earl of Roseberry demolished several Brit
ish idols when he started in to specify the
authors who should be read in the sum-
mer months. When a noble earl who
is rich and cultured and learned can
stand up and ask if there is any one who
reads Southy and Tom Moore today he |
is coming very close to the tender senti-
ments of not few good persons Lord |
RoSeberry argued that the reason why
so many very poor books were printed |
was because the average publisher does
not know a good book when he sees it |
He intimated that the art of seeing ones |
productions in print consisted of exert
ing the right kind of a pull with the
pubffshers. THIS with favorttism won |
the case, so that some of the best books
which have been written never saw typel
owing to the short -sightedness of the
publishing houses. In giving an illus
tratlon OF the point he was trying toI
make his lordship said that the Long
mans paid Tom Moore $4,000 cash in hand
Tor Lalla Roorke before il was written
Not only this. but having purchased the
poem on the fame of Moore they printed
1t without reading. and though they los.
money by the venture, the next famous
man who came along received an eauallyI
favorable consideration. SO in the end the
libraries We're filled with books which
nobody thought of reading
Back of his mirth and badinase how
ever Lord Roseberry gave some most ex-
cellent advice as to how one should con-
duct his summer reading Summarized
it amounts to this: For best results kaenI
half dozen books at hand and readi
for time in one and then shift over to|
another Do not read fiction all the time.
Make sandwich of reading spending
part of the time on heavy and inform
ing books, part on history and travel
and chink in the spaces with novels.
foil L
first to last page. but in pursuing this
method the interest of the reader is CEN
tired on the narrative more than on the
manner of telling. Read for the enrich
ment and expansion of the mind. Read
WORKS OF imagination and thus cultivate
a most useful faculty. Read novels for
'heir style and humor and pathos more
lhan for the stories they tell Read his
lorS ior the story. and thus become famil-
lar with important facts Arrange his.
loilcai iacts IN the mind chronologically.
Hold fast to the central fact. and FORGET
All apout the names of the sovereigns who
Read history for the pur-
pose ol learmng about the progress ofI
humanity hihgs and prime ministers andI
sehefa's ana admirals are no more thanI
actors in the great play
DesoNgh very rich and aristocratic since !
ms marriage to the wealthiest woman in
r-hsiahd' f@ari Roseberry is a man ofI
ish cuiture and one who has given the
SUBJECT of reading much thought EvenI
Il one never takes his advice. his talk 8
S nsefui as a guide to show how at least
'ne very eminent statesman conducts his !
reading