The San Francisco call., 1905-01-29

him president in 1899. He is member
OF the Washington Academy, the Bos-
ton Academy of Arts and Sciences. the
Philosophical Association, the Boston
Authors Club. Thursday Evening Club. .
etc. He holds an honorary LID. from
the Washington University at st. Louis
and has been decorated with the Red
Eagle OF the third class by the German
Emperor.
The following advice, quoted in vol
ume VIII of the Jewish Encyclopedia,
is worthy Of consideration by all who
have Libraries, however small:
Take good care of thy books; cover
thy shelves with fine covering; guard
them against damp and mice. EX
amino thy Hebrew books on the first
of every month; thy Arabic ones once
every two months. Arrange them all
in good order, so that thou weary not
in looking for book when thou
needest it.. Write down the titles Of
the books in each row, in order that
thou mayest be able to see exactly in
which row any particular book is with
out mixing up the others.
good care of the individual leaves
which are in the convolutes and fas-
cieles. Look continually into the cata-
lcgue in order to remember what books
thou hast When thou lendest a book
record its title before it leaves the
house; and when it is brought back
draw thy pen through the memoran-
dunn. Restore all loaned books on
Pesah, and Sukkot."
A lively discussion has developed
over Margaret Hugonin, the lovely
heroine of James Branch CabelPs Vir-
ginia romance The Eagles Shadow
Letter writer's and card writer's all
over the country are alternately at
tacking and defending MIR. Cabell for
putting very strenuous language into
the mouth Of his heroine. There are
some people who believe that Mr.. Ca
bell has violated the best traditions of
the American girl in fiction, and there
are others who are equally strenuous
in the belief that he has made faith
full, even If tempestuous, heroine. All
the while Margaret serenely makes her
way and the book was one of the most
popular of the holiday volumes.
Prodigal Son." published by d. Apple
ton & Co., is netting him many thou
sands of dollars. was once asked if he
were happy in his tremendous success.
Happy" said the great author.
1.-THE only times that writing makes a
man happy is when he is actually writ
ing, actively evolving a scene or pas
sage that seems to him successful. or
directly after. There are many poor
places in all great books and all great
poems, but there are a few spots in
each that are as CLEANS Of light, after
the writing of which one feels a tenn
porary satisfaction. After describing
the death of Thora in The Prodigal
Son l had a satisfied sense of finality
because 1 knew that that part would
not have to be written again. Nothing
in the world, especially no long piece
of prose, can be all satisfactory any
more than any human being can be
perfect. / presume that the poets ap-
proach nearer to perfect happiness
than the prose writer's, in spite of the
general theory that poets are the un-
happier of the two. Think of how
Tennyson must have felt after writing
Crossing the Bar
ION the other hand" smiled the nov
eliSt, literary history has it that even
and will not deny that there is GER
tain amount of satisfaction in the ma
terial benefits from ones work.
Booth Harrington, it will be remem-
bered, was a short time ago elected a
member of the Indiana Legislature,
and during the last year there have
been appearing in the monthly maga-
zines stories by him, written out of his
political experiences, dealing chiefly
with political characters and political
situations in a small Middle West COM
munity. These political stories have
been collected, and will be published
by Mcclure Phillips in book form the
latter part of January under the title
of In the Arena" The simple Hoosier
people ard the humorous and pathetic
figures that rise out of the rural popu-
lation into political prominence are
sympathetically shown in Mr.. Tark-
ington's stories. He touches the life
with somewhat the same mixture of
humor, satire and pathos that Mr.. Ade
has exhibited in his recent rural come
dies.
A new book by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell
and one by the Hon. Andrew d.
White are scheduled for publication by
The Century Company in March. 1t
is said that DIR. Mitchell considers his
new novel the strongest piece of fiction
he has produced. 1t is a story OF
Northerners in the South during the
Reconstruction period and its publica-
tion will follow soon upon the authors
seyenty-fifth birthday, which is Feb
ruary 10. The "reminiscences and auto
biography Of the Hon. Andrew d.
White, some chapters of which have
appeared in The Century, will be
awaited with interest
Dr. Lyman Abbott's recent sermon
at Harvard University. which has pro-
voked widespread discussions is soon
to be published in booklet form by
Messrs. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. II
is entitled God in His World" News
na0er critics and theologians have
been greatly divided in their opinions
over the published accounts, some
calling DR.. Abbott an atheist, others
a pantheist. while still others warmly
commend the utterance.
A large demand has arisen for the
publication of this notable address in
permanent form. and a wide sale for
it is therefore predicted.
The Century Company reports that