Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-02-12
Books and Authr0s
A BaIled Of Last Years Books.

A BaIled Of Last Years Books.
0. books that rest in sweet heartscase.
SedatcIy splendid, shelvcd arrow,
The garner of long centuries
or weary thought and bitter woe
Though tarnish of dead years you show,
The dust of time is incense here
And gossips, ! am fain to know
Where are the books of yester-year.
They came, i'll kinds and all degrees.
In gilt and ornament a-Elow.
Book nOtsaIn from the alien seas
Was bcached in PaternOster Row;
In critical imbroSlio.
A host of names was vanIuished-Sheef,
That came and went with last year S
SnUN-
Where are the books of ycstcr-year?
1t may be books that failed to please,
In LumbcrdCm stor'd high and low,
Are 'ullcd by WORKOUT melodies,
Old tunes that murmur long ana low
In mournful weird adagio-
locust dronc that SoOthes the ear;
This fancy is not final though
Where are the books of ycstcr-ycar!
L'ENvoI.
Lord Of the years that outward flow,
This drift c1 rhymingS Scaward bear,
\ moments grace and row we go
Wh' are the books oil yester-year?
Paul Herring in BOOkworm.
In his recent book, 1.-THE Young Man
and the World" Senator Albert j.
Beverdge has the following to say
concerning the necessary books: "Af-
ter awhile one wearies of the endless
repetition, the 'damnable iteration con-
tanned in the great mass of books. You
will finally come to care for nothing
bat the Bible. Shakespeare, the
twice-told tales indeed"
new novel by John Oliver Hobbies
(Mrs. Craigie) is expected. 1t is to
bear the queer title of 1.-The Dream and
the Business"
OF books published in England last
year-there were S,252 of them-1. 731
were novels. The works connected
with education numbered 694, and of
theological books there We're 56S. There
were $40 historical and biographical
works. Poetry and the drama figured
not SO largely.
The fact that Mr.. Winston Churchill
was paid at the rate OF II cents word
for his biography of his father recalls
to an English commentator this old
story:
To Mr.. Kipling an American once
wrott: Hearing that you are retailing
literature at 81 word, 1 inclose 81 for
sample" Mr.. KiplinE complied with
the word "Thanks," and kept the dol
lar.
, Miss Beatrice Harraden's new story.
''The Scholars Daughter" congresses
its incidents within a period Of three or
-four days-a short time indeed for the
action of a novel.
Rudyard Kipling. who spent his
fortieth birthday en- route to South
Africa, is just the sort of man to sub
scribe to tho Oslerian doctrine of "too
old at forty" His pen works slower
than it did. but then an author who
commanded shilling word for his
railroad story, "No. 007." can afford to
lie fallow at times. Those who arc
not admirers. meanwhile. may amuse
themselves with examples of the trip
ping of Kipling. for even his passion
ate devotion to detail has not saved
him from the error of making a lance
corporal wear a sash. or bringing Hy-
ing fishes d hundred miles across coun-
try to the ''old Moulmein pagoda."
But Kipling does not mind. As he
| once said: AZ have been called Il poet
and other names I don't like. but the
| one thing that / am really proud OF Is
that I edited II paper for fhrty-eight
hours and it didn't stop."-Pall Mall
Gazette.
| Few of the readers of the stirring
stories, of Robert Nelson Stephens. who
| died last week at his English home.
ave aware that he was the victim Of an
| inSidous disease which kept him on
| pain-rackcd beds much of the time.
Forced to travel far in search Of
| health. his career is fairly comparable
with that Of Robert Louis Stevenson.
The two romancists suffered from the
same disease and each bore up cour-
ageouSly under the burden. Mr..
| Stephens he'd Stevenson's talent for
| nimhit witted story. and that he was
student of the master is evident by tho
| title of one of his best known books.
phrase borrowed from Stevenson: "The
| bright face of danger"
It is Interesting to list the writer's
who have striven under conditions
similar 10 those which burdened Stew
| enSon and Stephens. The Philadelphia
Press discusses the matter interesting
ly:
| Ono has to go back to Scott for such
an cxampe of blithesome imaginative
! writing under the oppression of bad
| health as afflicted Stevenson and Ste
phens. Thomas Hood composing jokes
on his deatlibed is another Illustration
Of tho same herOiSrn