Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-05-11
BOOKS AND
| AUTHORS

| An enterprisng, if unaesthetic, book
| seller of Atlanta, Ga, has touched the
| top notch of literary advertising in his
| efforts 10 secure IA wide circulation OF
Mrs. Humphrey Wards latest novel In
| hlS city. He sent out engraved invita-
| tiOns to his patrons inviting them to be
present at 1.-The Marriage of William
| Ashe," to take place in one of his shop
| windows on a certain mrning. A crowd
| gathered that blocked the street ana
both sidewalks. and at the appointed
| hour the curtains in the window were
| drawn aside, revealing an attempt 10
| reproduce. in tableau of wax figures,
the wedding ceremony of William Ashe
and Lady Kitty, the figures being cop
led closely as possible from Albert
Sterners' Illustrations. The merchant
got in little side line of advertising
for his other wares by filling another
| window with an array of Lady Kitty
wedding presents" which appeared to
consist principally of books and sta
| tiOnery. with the prices somewhat os-
tentatiously displayed.
| Several new novels will be brought
| out in May and June by the Macmil-
| lans. Among these is the long prom
;sed and several times postponed, story
Icy Charles Egbert Craddock CMlss
Murfree), entitled THE Storm Centre.
| which is said to deal with the peacefui
arts Of love in Civil War times. An
| ether novel is F'Oxcroft DavisS story or
| Washington society and politics. to be
called Mrs. DARRELL" and other titles
are "The House of Cards, by MAJOR
John Heigh: "Sturmsee." story ny
the anonymous author of "Calmlre.
which introduces some of the charac-
| ters cf the former book; and Tine Toll
of the Bush.'' a story of New Zealand
life, by William Satchell.
The fact that DR.. S. Weir MitchelTs
new novel, Constance TrescOtt. has
followed so closely on the heels OF his
| Youth of Washington" would seem to
suggest that DR.. Mitchell is becoming
as rapid and prolific writer as An
drew Lang or DR.. CYRUS Brady. This.
however. is not the case. 1t appears.
DR.. Mitchell has actually been working
on his latest story for more than three
| years, in which time he has rewritten
lit no fewer than three times. The
| manuscript was put into type for thH
first time two years ago. and a single
| set of page proofs was struck OF on
| large sheets and bound up for the au-
thor. He worked for n year on these
| proofs, and made SO many alterations
| that it was found to be cheaper to re-
set the book entirely than to attempt
Ito make the corrections. with the
| necessary overrunning anC remake-ur.
| It is said that Thomas Dixon. who
| was preacher before ne gave up the
pulpit for fiction writing. had still
| earlier experience rs an actor. When
| he was about twenty years old he was.
| like many another youth. fired with a
longing to thrill the world with his in
terpletdtion Of Shakespearan roles.
He was living in New York at the time,
| and fell in with an apprcciative man.
Iagnr. who. for consideration of 81.
offered to allow him to play the Duke
Of Rio hmond in production of Rich
ard H." which he was preparing to in
hict ON the provinces. Mr.. Dixon made
| a payment on account and Travelled
with the company as Ear west as
| Herkimer. where the dismayed man
|
| collect the balance due him.
Writing in The Bookman for May.
Edith Wharton finds much opportunity
| for favorable comment upon Howard
Overing SturgiS's novel Of English life.
''Relchamber.' I'm u lav when almost
everyone writes too inach.'' she says.
Mr.. SturgiS has the rare fault of writ
| ing too little and 'Belchamber' in some
respects suffers from the fact that its
authors hand has been inactive since
the production of the shorter tale: but
the redeeming merit Of this inactivity
is found in the preservation of that
freshness of view so often sacrificed to
technical facility. Mr. Sturgis has not
seen his story through other novels, his
own or those of others: if his first pages
are reminiscent Of Thackcray. that is
merely literary echo, the announcement
of the infrequent writer rot quite in
possession of his formula. AS the story
develops. Mr.. Sturgis instinctively
throws off this meth I'd, and tells his
tale in his own way: in a confidential
desultory, but not proliX manner. as
though he were sitting over the fire
with his reader. and giving the facts as
II.
'Relchamber.' in short, has at once the
faults and the freshness of the novelist
who has told little but observed much.
faults of construction and perspective.
such as the hack writer would easily
have avoided. and freshness Of sensa-
ti"n and perception such as he could
never have achieved. It las. above all.
the quality of the thing in ITSELF with
something of the des,lltoriness. the
irregularity. Of life Caught in the act
and pressed still throbbing between the
leaves Of the book The t,l,
belongs TO the class which is sometimes
described as unpleasant by readers
who do not pause TO distinguish he.
tween a writer's purpose and his theme
Books dealing with the adventures of
idle and fashionable people do not gem
orally make for edifcation. for tho raa-
son with which DR.. Watts has fur-
nlshed us. But there is a noble wav os
viewing ignoble facts: and that 10 tn,
view which Mr.. Sturgis has taken of
the world he depicts. He has shown nc