Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-06-21

came of 1t. Now, instead Of one mOnu-
ment. there are to be three-One by M.
Antonin Mercie at the Place du Thea
ire Francois; another by NJ. Granet;
and a third, a bas-relief will be erected
in the Avenue du Bots de BOulOgne.
Edwin Lefevre, author Of the "Gold-
en- Flood" has been doing the "fnan-
cial" on the New York Globe for
number of years and. consequently,
knows with the utmost thoroughncss
the atmosphere OF Wall Street
and the methods of the money
and stock market. Mr.. Lefevre's
name indicates his French ex-
traction. He was born at Colon,
Isthmus of Panama, in 1871, his
grandfather being chief justice in the
country at that time. He was educat-
ed for a mining engineer, and afte:
school teaching and some business ex-
perience in Mexico. he went to New
York and Joined the Engineering and
Mining Journal. later going to the
Globe, his purpose being to study Wall
Street and use it as u field for his fic-
tiOnal endeayors.
a Melbourne paper recently started q
discussion as to the twelve best novels"
and it elected 1173 letters and lists. The
final results of the voting placed David
Copperfield" at the head of the poll. and
and "a Tale of Two Cities" among the
successful twelve. Vanity Fair was
good second. and the other eight were
Ho j RGSn Eyr Aea% e" the
Term of His Natural Life" Monte
Cristo." and "John Halifax. Gentleman"
Mr.. Maarten Maartens's new long novel
is not to appear until after he has pub
lished a book of short stories.
Apropos Of Charles Dckens's work. the
tbnss mGfss in that his
mot the least of which was that he en-
ployed his novels as vehicles for the con
veyance OF political and moral lessons s sn,s. i'm
prOvement was in the air. and people iost
sight of the elementary truth that II
literature be a faithful mirror Of life It
will teach exactly what life teaches and
no more. At the moment when the writer
becomes conscious of n moral purpose he
ceases to achieve it. because the very tact
leads to distortion and consequent false
hood. To picture life truly. to set forth
in an undying record the true and genuine
impression that it has made in his own
ist It may possibly end in failure after all.
and will assuredly do so unless the writer
be possessed of clear insight to begin
with Should he take any fantastic o:
distorted view Of life that will inevitably
be apparent in his work and render 1t OF
less worth than it would otherwise have
been. Thus, high motive is not in itself
any guarantee of greatness.
Here is a wholesome judgment from
1.-THE Athenaeum." pronounced concern
ing a novel whose characters can mostly
be identified with real persons: CLOSE
pOrtrajture of the kind is both bad art
and bad manners"
The choice Of books for summer differs.
in the last analysis. but little from that
of selecting literature for other seasons
Of the year; it Is entirely a matter OF
taste, with this distinction. however. that
the vacation season offers to many an
oppOrtunity to read the hooks which they
have not the leisure to read in winter, or
spring or autumn. q,
A book or two of the "Faerie Queene,
the poems Of Herrick, play Of the Res
toration, Lambs Essays. all these may
be as truly summer reading as Thoreau,
or Jeffres. or John Burroughs. or the LAT.
est successful novel or a pOpularization or
recent advances in science. or George Ber-
nard Shaw's "Man and Snperman." or a
book on automobiling. There he tastes
many, and each can be suited by CONSUL
tation with an experienced bookseller.