The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-01-13
DARING G|DE At KING EDWARD


n ONDON, Dec 20 Sir Wilfrid Law
son, the apostle OF temperance and
social reform. in conjunction with
F. Caruthers Gould. the caricarturist,
has just issued volume of Illustrated
verses entitled Cartoons in Rhyme and
Line" 1t is dedicated ito the best of
wives from the worst OF poets
So far as the poetry is concerned it
sufHcfes to say that Sir Wilfrid lives
up to the reputation which he gives
himself. But he does certainly put gall
and wormWood into his doggerel- And
he does not care bit whom he stings.
OF that the best example is this qua
train, headed From Lord Burton to
the King:
Which, as you know. made me a peer;
II you will only learn to brew,
God knows what it will make of you.
The point of this reference lies in the
fact that when his majesty visited
Lord Burton recently he turned a
switch that set in motion the machinery
which brewed lot of ale. The lines
are as daring q reference to the king
as anything ever seen in print in Eng
land.
Sir Wilfrid inherited a baronetcy,
and well content with his seat in par
lament, evidently has no desire to be
elevated to the house of lords. Peer
ages have been conferred on several
rich brewers. But there is no instance
on record where any man attained to
that lofty honor by the advocacy of
teetotalism.
Gay responsibility is not a quality
which lovers of Omar Khayyam have
associated with its best translator, Ed
ward Fitzgerald, but he must have had
large streak of it, judging from the
stories which his old friend, Sir Cuth-
bert Quilter, told at a dinner the other
evening.
Sir Cuthbert declared that he had be-
gun his yachting career with a twelve
ton schooner purchased of Fitzgerald.
The poet named the craft the Emetic,
and proyisioned her originally with ap-
pies, behring's and bottle of gin! Sir
Cuthbert added that it was told of
Fitzgerald that one day he was on
board the Emetic in his usual tall hat
and frock coat, reading the Times,
when the boat gave lurch and the
translator Of Omar went overheard. 1t
was a most remarkable fact, and not a
bit of Eastern Imagination, that when
Mr.. Fitzgerald came to the surface
again he had his pipe in his mouth.
his tall hat upon his head and the
Times in his hand. It was further
stated that when he got back on board
his little craft he calmly finished read
ing the article that was previously en-
gaging his attention.
There are few more enthusiastic
bookmen in Great Britain than Lord
Resebery, and the earl was at his hap
pfest the other day when he opened the
new Carnegie library at West Calder.
Among the other things he made wit
ty reference to ssthe index which ex-
listed in the Roman Catholic church,
list of books which, in the opinion of
that church, it was not well for people
to read and then said that he wanted
several induces. He did not want one
for objectionable books, for so great
was the force of human curiosity that
he was afraid those were the first books
that a great many ill-constituted minds
would seek "
He wanted, in the first place, an in
dex free from all private influence of
authors and publishers, to tell them
what were the books they ought TO
read, and the books they ought to buy,
which were not by any means the same
thing. The amateur adviser as to what
and what not to read he had found an
intolerable person. Such advice had
broken UP many friendships. The man
who was recommended to read a novel,
and after getting a hundred pages into
1T found 1t impossible to go on, and yet,
after having read SO much. found it
improbable to lay it down swore an
eternal enmity against the man who
recommended to him that book.
No limitation of means could in these
days excuse anybody from not buying
books but he distinguished between
books to be read and books to be
bought. They read in order to see
whether the book was worth buying
He found two further classes of books
the books that they borrowed from
friends and returned and the books
they borrowed and did not return.
The non-returning of, books had end
ed more friendships and terminated
more affections than any other cause
of which he was cognizant. The man
who borrowed one volume from set
and never returned it was man who
should be treated like vermin-trapped
or shot at sight or any. other of the
punishments which might be extended
to the least and yilest of mankind
His ideal index would be that which
told them the best book to read on any
subject that they might ask for but his
fear was that they would get nobody
to frame any such index because his
life would not be safe. Authors and
publishers who did not find their names
and their books on the list would seek
his life and he might have to sit like
the newspaper editor in the Western
states of America with couple of re-
volvers In his drawer ready to shoot at
sight the first complaining person that
should appear. H. C.