The Washington herald., 1906-12-23

The elevator boy
Acts lust as if the fact that I
An living gives him Joy.
The door boy has smile for me;
The ianitor is kind;
He thinks so much Of me. II seems.
/ N always on his mind.
The waiter brings me what I want
His ways denote that
Am suA1a who in has esteem
Ranks wonderfully high
They are dsinterested quite
And not whit IN fall
IN their esteem if Christmas time
! don't remember all.
It has always puzzled me TO know why
some people are accused Of plagiarism
anG other aren't It isn't so long ago
that a very good friend of. mine was
reprimanded in print by an editor to
whom he had sold short story, because.
said the editor, somebody else had writ
ten story with precisely that same plot
earlier in the history Of things. And
within the past year third author has
used the plot, and nobody has ever so
much as limited that the idea wasn't abso-
lutely original with him. Not six months
ago there was threat. or maybe more
than a threat, of lawsuit in regard TO
Paul Armstrong; play. "The Heir to the
Hoorah. A Iady-whose name I've for
gotten-insisted that khe idea of the piece
belonged to her husband, who had used It
in a short story, and there was great talk
about it, but just last week Mr.. Goodwin
played a comedy against the author Of
which nobody so far as I know has ever
breathed a suspicion of plagiarism. Yet
certainly the best idea of The Genius
is twin brother, at least 10 one in Miss
Sinclair's the Divine Fire" Miss SIN
clair's man passed off paintings and
poems and essays written by hired I'M
successful geniuses as his own and
gained great fame thereby. Miss Sin
clair hasn't complained. I wish to good
ness she would. because the discussion
of the theft of ideas always adds so TO
the gayety OF nations It never reaches
any point beyond discussion, and it never
is decided whom the idea really originated
with, but the spectacle of two claimants
fighting it out affords so much harmless
entertainment to the rest of US.
Speaking of authors who have the
same idea, I saw on odd thing on the
shelf of a drug store bookcase the other
day TWO books with exactly the same
title stood side by side. One patron Of
the library marched of tTiumphantly
with one of the books under the disap-
pointed eve of another patron who
wanted it,
-Oh, dear me-" said the left out lady:
7 did so want that book"
Here's another copy" said the oblig
ing young man in attendance. handing it
10 her
she went away perfectly satisfied with
THE Fighting Chance" under her arm.
Gertrude Lynch" was the authors name
on the book she took, and Robert w.
Chambers" stood forth plainly on the vol
ume the other patron chose.
It's a shocking thing when you've just
assured yourself that YOU feel as young
as ever to have something happen that
forces you to admit your birthdays.
went into a music store one day last week
10 see whether I could find out what the
piece is that the woman in the next fat
plays-Tm perfectly sure she plays it
wrong. and when I find it I'm going TO
hire some one TO play it exactly right on
my piano, and make her ashamed of the
way she's numbering it-and next me
stood a girl Of possibly twenty, who
wanted to buy the piano score Of some
pretty opera, she said. The saleswoman
4 suppose she was eighteen. or there
about-handed out Chimes Of Norman
dy." The would-be purchaser looked it
over critically.
Are there two operas in the back?" she
asked. 1t says Chimes of Normandy
here, and here Les ClOches de Come
Vile
Il guess that's what Chimes of Nor
mandy means in French" suggested the
saleswoman, at a venture. IT'S all one
opera"
rs it pretty?" ased the would-be pur-
chaser.
Il don't know the saIeswoman admit
It'd. 'Its part of a lot Of music we got
in for the holidays, and 1 haven't heard
cur pianist try it
The would-be purchaser still regarded
il Jhoughtfully.
I haven't read anything about it." she
said. WAS it a success?"
1 suppose must have made some sort
of a gurgling sound of despair, for they
both turned to me.
DO you know anything about it?" the
girl of twenty asked me. rs 1t as good
Didn't YOU ever hear of it?' ] asked.
No" she said THE only operas I
heard last year were Nile. Modiste' and
Little Johnny Jones'. Did you hear tt"
No" I said, saddened. If I have TO
live with a generation that knows not
Chimes of Normandy I'm HOt going 10
admit that 1 can Tememi4r the piece.
Now, I think of it, I never really did hear
it. My grandmother used to play parts Of
it when 1 was just learning to talk.
Ever since the fashion for huge headed
hat pins came in I've been wondering
where on earth some of the women I've
seen ever managed to find the fancy door
knobs that adorn their hats Now
know Ny friend Lucy came 20 see me
yesterday, and at the side Of her fur
toque was a big, round Dresden china
ball
Let your eye rest on that" she said.
Isn't it the smashingest thing YOU ever
saw? There's nothing like It in any Of
the shops, and you can't guess in a hun
cred years where got il. Don't you re-
member that umbrella I used to have
with the Dresden ball for q handler I
quit carrying it, Of course. when handles
like that went out OF fashion. I thought
about il last week and had it mounted
for hat pin. It makes everybody per-
hdious with envy"
I caught her looking GENEROUSLY at the
glass knobs on my high-boy, They'd make
even larger hat pins than her umbrella
handle made, but Lucy shan't have them.
shall be wearing them myself before the
winter IS over.