The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-02-20
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD
THE UNEASY CHAIR

The Appalling Burden OF Books.-Liko
Carthage on the mind of the old Roman
Is the burden Of books on the mind Of
The Uneasy Chair. If The Chair ever goes
mad, its vagary is likely to be: Books
must be destroyed The burden would
not be SO bad If the books were better, but
With them as they are for the most part
Inc Chair becomes semf-annually de-
pressed to the verge of despair, following
the spring and fall book output.
The trouble is (and it sticks out like
large and swollen sore thumb) that the
writer's Of most Of the books, being fired
from our rapid-fre, MISUNDERSTANDING
printing presses, are writing chiefly for
lucre. They overlook the real reward of
the author, to obtain which presupposes
good work. DR.. Henry van Dyke, before
the Lotus club in New York, recently told
what that reward was. He said:
1.-THE real reward of an author doesn't
come in his pay. It comes in friendship.
10 be a companion by the flreside or on
! summer walks; to cheer loneliness and as
suage pain; to give ray of pure, serene
| sunshine to men whose hearts are tired
| that is what is worth while!''
| AS evidence that gold or it's paper
equivalent is the bait that draws books
from the minds Ito be generously of to-
days writer's, speaking sweepingIy, The
Chair heard yesterday that an author,
whose first story is just now hot from
the press, already had another book half
DONE OF course, this does not prove that
this author, who is well supplied with the
wherewithal that smoothes life's way, is
writing merely for pecuniary gain, but it
raises a strong suspicion, especially in
view of the fact that book number one is
far from the finished work that one writ
ing for higher motives would be content
| to put out.
Well, The Chair has voiced its biyearly
plant, and offered it's prayers for better
things in the book world. Perhaps, in
deed quite likely. the plant will do no
good, but The Chair will at least have
the consolation and rejuvenated hope that
spring from lofty meditations.
Unfair CompetItIon.-O. Henry, author
Of cabbages and Kings Mcclure, Phillips
& Co., New York;, tells whimsical tale
[ of what he considers unfair competition in
the short-story field. A short time ago he
says he was in the office of q big maya
zine, and witnessed the return to de-
jected-looking young fellow Of couple OF
manuscripts. II am sorry for that fell
low" said the editor. ''He came to New
York from New Orleans a year ago, and
regularly brings some stories to our Of,
flee. We can never use them. He doesn't
make a dollar by his pen, and he is get.
ting shabby and pale.' A month or sc
later 0. Henry saw the same writer in
the same office, and the editor was talk.
ing to him earnestly. you had better &c
back to New Orleans said that gentle.
man. "Why?" said. the young man
Some day may write a story you may
want. But you can do that just az
!; well in New Orleans" said the editor
and you can save board bills" "Boarc
bills" calculated the young man. 'Wha
do care about beard bills + have al
income of 5000 year from my father:
estate
More than Instinct In Anlmals.-A ma
/ turalist who tells of wonders done b,
coons, and even toads, showing a capacit,
for reas on1ng, is William J. Long. autho
; Of Little Brother to the Bear. Mr.
7 Long writes of animals, some of which
build dams and canals, "some have def
: mite social regulations, some rescue com
= rades in DISTRESS; some bind their owl
wounds, and even set a broken leg in
, clay cast. which is made more adhesiv
by being mixed with fibers or feathers.
> We can imagine John Burroughs saying
that Mr.. Long is "stringing'' his readers
} The broken leg setting story, or one lik
It,, has already come under Mr.. Burroughs
criticism. But Mr.. Long says his storie
are from his own observations thru thirt,
years. 1t seems, therefore, to be con
: test Of expert witnesses. At any rate
Mr.. Long tells his stories we'll.
CHM & Co., Boston.
Luther's Works In EngIIsh.-Volume ~
of the works Of Martin Luther in English
edited by John Nicholas Lenker, DID,, /
out. It bears the title Luthers Churc
. Postil. and is the translation Of DR.. Len
4 ker and associates. and contains walch'
9 analysis and Bugenhagen's summaries
4 also an extended Introduction OH ''Lu
| In
in the English Speaking Countries of tn
l 1Nor11 "