Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-05-11
Gossip from the World Of
aooks-RevieW Of New
Books Authors Plans
for the Ssason-Notss.

| in firm, clear strokes, the tragedy OF
the trivial; has shown US how the sus-
ceptibilities OF tender and serious
spirit. hampered by physical infirmity.
may be crushed and traE,pled under
/ foot in the mad social race for luxury
| and amusement. A handful OF vulgar
people. bent only on spending and en-
| jOyinE, may seem a negligible factor in
| the social development Of the race; but
| they become an engine of destruction
through the illusions they kill and the
generous ardors they turn to despair"
] That Sidney Mccall, the mysterious
author of "'rruth Dexter" has still in
mind the dear old public that he (Or
| she) perpleXed so nightly a few years
| ago, is made apparent by the an
| nouncement of another novel from his
| (Or herr pen. 1t is to be called "The
| Breath of the Gods" and will be pub
| lished on the thirteenth Of May by Lit
| tie, Brown & Co, three separate ma
tionalities. French. American and Ja-
panese, being involved in it's plot and
| it's scenes being laid in Washington
| and Japan.
| Lord Byron is again to be the victim
of a novelists fancy. Following hard
| upon THE Castaway" and THE Mar
riage of William Ashe" will come
| Love Alone is Lord" story by F.
Frankfort Moore in which the romance
of the poet and Mary Cha worth will be
| celebrated in fiction.
! Speaking of the decline in "book
booming" YOU have probably noticed
| that no books are advertised nowadays
as having reached a sale of two hun
| dred or five hundred thousand copies,
says a writer in The Critic for May.
| Nothing is said about the number of
copies sold. Publ shers are content
HOw TO mention the number of "edi-
tons or impressions" which seems
to be the favOrite term. Even in the
| case of The MaSquerader" no definite
| figures are given. and yet that is one
| of the best selling books of the year.
| 1t seems to me that the present way is
much the fest; il is certainly the most
| dIgniheC. Shouting the number of CO.
pies sold never seemed quite in keeping
| with the character of book publishing.
| which Is supposed to be more aesthe-
| tic business than soap-making. for in
| stance. And yet even in soap-making
the manufacturers of that indispensa-
BILE commodity never advertise the
number Of cakes sold: they advertise
the article they have for sale. and ex-
pect it to sell on its merits. or on the
| amount of advertising given to il.
| The AprletonS seem to be devoting
| themselves especially to the exploita-
ton of American authors. Only two
volumes on their spring list bear the
| names of foreigners-"MyP Poor Rela-
tions." stories of Dutch peasant life by
, Maarten Martens. and "Longbarrow
| Hail. a novel of English country life
| by Theodore Wilson.
Baltimore American: Articles intended
! to be satircaI have been written in
comment upon an anonymous paper
which appears in the current num-
| her Of one of the great monthly
| magazines, which gives an outline of the
reading of President Roosevelt since he
came to the office of chief executive. The
writer reveals that he gained his inforrna-
tion ircn1 an intimate friend of the PreSi-
dent, ana from what is well known of tho
taste of Mr.. Roosevelt and of his omni-
lorous capacity. il may be assumed that
the almost appalling list of books is quite
correct.
The range is from the great histories
70 books of travel and adventure: from
Homer and Dante and Shakespeare and
others OF the immortals to the gentle and
1rtchlnS lyrics of Bliss Carmau: from
BalZac and Thackeray and Dickens and
james and Howells to Mrs. Wigs of the
cabbage Patch, and before and above all
this to keep informed OF the world
movements from Il voluminous reading of
the newspapers and to have an eve oren
Tor budding genius by closely scanning
1l.lI r,1.l .,syi,,
amounts to hundreds of volumes and
parts OF Volumes and il is assumed bv |
writers who find amusement in the ar |
,i ,iele tlat one who so eormanlizcs his
literature must necessarily have n had |
case of intellectual INDIGESTION
Such critics clearly have not learned |
the rudimentS of the art of reading
drf Mn" tnat ta @ has ono once read the great epic.
dramatic and lyric poets ever thinks of |
reading every word of them a second |
time Even as the mighty Homer |
Nodded: timoS ,, so an the other mighty ones at
learned the art of reading harks back to |
ms old favorites at frequent intervals to |
take another sip from the classic foun-
.al1; nut he does not dip so deep as to |
reach the incOnsequental sediment which |
would roll the draught Little of thai
which is called literature in this day is |
worth worth one reading. but that person who |
wlShcS 10 Keep up with the vast aud |
growing procession of books must at least
scan the mass lest some gem escape
1t has been often written Of Mr. A p.
SpoTorc. for 4 generation the librarian
oI M the Library of Congress- that he knew
tne contents of every one of the volumes
OF the vast cOnglomerate mountain of |
wiring which is now housed almost be
Nond IT'S deserving. His method was TO
scan. ard by long practice he could read
page ut glance. and if there were one
sentence worth attention il would catch
ms eye That is the art of the profession
al pook reviewer. 1t is the art of every
reader who desires to have a universal
knowledge of the best there is in books
that nc shall frequently return to the
pearls OF great price in the volumes which
nave escaped eternal oblivion. and of the
n,asS or current production that he shall
pc able oy intuition to know what is
Wyorthy or moments halt by sweeping |
the eye over the nimble pages.
Ifat is the habit of all men and women
VINO wish to have the best of the past and
10 Keep in touch with the present, and il
Is countless the habit of the President:
therefore what may seem to be a sort Of
deslltory and Improbable wholesale con-
sumption. with danger of distressing. s,,r-
ieit. IS bat the exercise of an art which
mas bcen learned and which is practiced
by myriad Of readers.