The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-19

The w. N. Caldwell company of Bos-
ton has added two novelties to it's al
ready famous list. One is THE Log OF
the Water Wagon" by Bert Iitson Tay-
Tor and w. c. Gibson and the other IN
Bohemia" by James Clarence Harvey.
The first of these is bound in very
striking and large figured cloth and it
gives the diary of the ship water
Wagon" on a cruise with its freight OF
thirst laden souls. It is original and
amusing as well as unique and can
not fail to attract attention In Bo-
hemia" is also startlingly bound and is
q compilation of bright stories, terse
sayings and clever poetry.
September will witness the conclusion
of another round in the legal fight be-
tween Life and the Theatrical Trust 1t
Is expected that the New York courts
will hand down a decision affirming the
right of Lies critic Mr.. Metcalfe, to
enter any public place of amusement If
ne cares to pay the price of admission
The confusion of the two verbs ''to
lay and "to lie' is a mistake of daily
occurrence. One can scarcely open a
newspaper or a novel without finding
such an error. Several interesting let
ters have recently appeared in the
London Spectator, regarding the mis-
use OF the verb ITO lay" and Prof.
Lounsbury of Yale university. in the
August number of Harper's magazine,
shows that not even our finest writer's
are free from this error. Even writ
ers of the highest grade have gone
down before the confusion which exists
in colloquial speech between lay and
lie. The confusion of lay and lie
naturally goes back to the period when
the Dreterite of the one verb came to
have precisely the same form as the
present and infinitive of the other. 1t
would not be surprising, therefore, TO
find the two COMPOUNDED, as they are
now, by the uneducated or the imper-
fectly educated. Yet" he continues,
ment of the one for the other where
no plea can be set UP on the ground
of ignorance, no palliation can be Of
1ered on the ground of haste or care
lessness, no justification on the ground
of real or fancied poetic necessity"
Among the list of offenders, Prof.
Lounsbury cites Bacon, Byron, Field
ing, Pepys, Sir Walter Scott. Irving,
being an ''incorrigible offender wholly
Indifferent to contemporary rebukes.
However, as Prof Lounsbury justly re-
marks, when one takes into consider
alton the millions of times in which lay
and lie are COMPOUNDED in popular
speech, and the petty number of in
stances of such misuse that can be
CLEANED from the most exhaustive
study of all our great authors, the
wonder is not that these errors should
rarely.
Among the new Macmillan books
are: The sixth and final volume of
Austin Dobson's edition of 1.-The Diary
and Letters of Madame D'Arblay;" a
volume on "Abbotsford," by Rev. w.
S. Cr' kett, with twenty illustrations
in col from paintings by William
Smith. 1.-The Scenery of London" by
c.. E. Milton, with seventy-five illus
trations in color by Herbert NJ. Mar
shall; THE Geology of South Africa
by F. H. Hatch and G. S Corstorphine;
1.-The Life of Wagner" by John F.
Runciman, in Bells Miniature Series
of Musicians; THE Labyrinth of the
World and the Paradise of the Heart"
by Komensky, edited and Englished by
Count Lutzow; THE Metaphysics of
Nature" by Carveth Read; Part V. of
resume of Russian History" by A. S.
Rappoport: Vol. III. of DR.. H. NJ.
Wards work on Trees" and 1.-The
English Lakes, Painted by A. Heaton
Cooper, Described by William Pal
mer."
IF: A Guide to Bad Manners
Sketches and humorous verse by
James Montgomery Flagg, has Just
been published by Life Publishing
company, New York. Humor is like
sweets, In that both very quickly cloy
the palate. No one should ever sit
down with professedly humorous
book to read it through. There never
was a truer saying than "a little nom
sense now and then is relished by the
wisest men," if the accent be placed on
the little" That is why comic his
tories and other sustained efforts to he
funny are in fact the most tragic and
deadly of all things literary. But a
humorous book is a blessing in this
Work-a-day world if it is of the kind