Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-04-07

! and writers Of every sort In this coun-
| try, even as they are the despair of the
luckloss public out OF whose pockets
| the money has 10 come. These SAL
| aries. II may be said, have steadily
increased. To begin with, when
first the compilation Of the
| history was begun In 1903, the his
4, torIan himself was paid $4,000 year:
| an assistant adjutant general received
! SS.250 and a deputy assistant adJutant
| general the same amount, while, ac-
| cording to the army estimates a so
| called attached officer drew $2,50 n
| day---the total salary In this case being
| 1915 or pay for $3.50 days, which APP
| parently implies that he not only
| worked on Sundays but on Feb. 20 OF a
| leap year!
In other words the original cost OF
| the history was at the rate of about
$il,2S3 year. but IL seems that IN
| l904-o a more generous provision still
was made for military literature. The
historian continued to receive his snug
$4,000 and trihe of 100000 was
put down for miscellaneous expensesl
Same amount In tho following year,
while in the present estimate the item
Is exactly 1905 So IL appears that
In round figures SIZE 900 have been
spent upon this official history, of
which not single line has yet been
given to the public. And indeed there
is a pretty good reason why there
should be delay IN issuing so fascinat-
ing, If so visionary work. For Brit
ish generals are by no means In agree
n1ent as to the facts and he must be a
bold man who, even at $4,000 a year
and with $4,000 for miscellaneous
expenses would apportlon the respon-
la ~ nnN
der, however, IL the British taxpayer
Is curious to know when the promised
war office history of the Russo-Jap-
anese war for which he is TO pay s6,-
1850, Is to be expected, considering that
there IL not so much as hint yet,
as TO when the herculean task of COM
plling the South African record Is like
ly to be completed?
or late we have been hearing quite
a lot about the mothers of distinguish
ed authors Steyenson's, for instance,
Is brought before us sympathetically
IN her recently published letters, and
now the Rev. w. T. Kingsley, who win
be 92 next June. and who was the
friend and Intimate of John Ruskin.
has been telling an interviewer about
the mother OF the author of Sesame
and Lilies" Evidently she remained
unimpressed by his greatness and au-
thority. for she was as ready to alt
upon him, metaphorlcally speaking
after his reputation had been won as
she could have been In the earlier days
when he was Just her boy" In tell
ing OF visit 10 Ruskin once, Mr.
Kingsley describes how the artist
critic INDUCED in an argument with
HIS mother II was from her. he says,
t..s La. kls ttxat
Richmond. the artist. was one Of the
company, and some point raised
brought on lively debate. In which
Mrs. Ruskln Joined. "Ruskin," says
Mr.. Kingsley, was right, think: but
whenever his mother seemed inclined
to that belief and feared getting the
worst OF the argument, she always
closed the discussion by saying, Hold
your tongue. joint" which seems
evidence that Just as no man Is hero
20 his own valet, so no man Is an oracle
TO his own mother.
II Is possible that before these lines
are printed the answer will be known,
but at present all London is asking, as
L.ytton did in his novel, What will he
do With it?"--the he in question be-
Ing the person who recently managed
to purchase for six pence. or IL cents
In American money! book worth IN
the neighborhood Of $4,000 The point
IS that the London dealer who mad
vertently parted with an original copy
of Lady Hamilton's Secret History ~
the Court of England for this nsig-
niflcant sum, Is now offering sI5 for
Its return and everyone Is wondering
II the lucky purchaser Will be satisfied
with this tidy profit. or whether he
will hold on TO his treasure in the hope
OF making n few thousand dollars on IL
at some time later on
Well, we shall see. i'm the meantime
this Is how the amazing sale came to
be made The property OF prominent
second hand dealer In oxford street
this rare book which IL half-leather
ootavo-volume with worn and soiled
back-Was kept with other valuable
tones IN glass case ut the back OF
the booksellers shop. The other day
however the books were taken out to
be busted, and by some mistake the
precious Secret History" found It's
way into tho box outside bearing the
legend ANY One OF These for Six
Pence" and before more than a few
hours had passed some one had snap-
ped Il up at that price, and there was
mourning and smentauon IN the Sec
ond hand establishment
Did the purchaser know the value
of the volume which he thus got for
the traditional song" There Is rea-
son to suppose he did and that he can
afford 90 hold on TO 1t for q while.
otherwise he would probably before
this have returned the book and pock-
eted the merchants s75. Meanwhile
the actual value Of the history" seems
to be well a;tested. for the unfortunate
book merchant points out that orig
inal copies OF this work are exceptions
ally rare, and that $4,000 was recently
offered In New York for one similar to