The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-21
On JERONfE j. JERoAfE-

/ when he finds one. have
been dipping into THE Cree
! ~ yer Papers" edited by Sir
Herbert Maxwell, and pub
Hshed lately by John Murray: and
/ nave gained, therefore, some useful
1 knowledge and much pleasant enter
tam nent. 1t is not on everybody's ad-
wee that nowadays 1 buy expensive
/ DOCKS l know one dear old gentle
man who used to cost me pounds. on
parting from him 1 used to make a
Deellne to the nearest booksellers my
trouble being lest the particular work
ABOUT which he had been talking to
me should be sold out Later, grown
| more cautious, L used to suggest his
sun worse for me. I could avoid read
! ing book 1 had bought and paid for
But a book he had lent me.
l just had to read that through from
beginning to end, or he would know
! the reason why. It was no good my
printing myself with one or two re-
views, and attempting to confne dis
cussion to the passages quoted. He
knew that dodge. He would insist on
/ taking me into odd corners of the book
where no one but himself apparently
/ had ever penetrated. If I could not
answer he would send me back home
with the book that I fOndly thought I
had seen the last of, thrust again into
my hand. He is a firm old gentleman.
/ But in these later times l also have
/ learned drmness. I positively decline
4
There are, I know existing in the
world already books enough to interest
/ me for the next one hundred years To
/ this number every year, experience
teaches me, some half dozen are add
ed that I also wish to read For my
1 requirements this suffices. AS it is I
sometimes feel doubtful of getting
I through them all 1 would I were
better skipper. Intelligent skipping is
an art to be cultivated by the lover of
! books. A great lover of pictures I
! once ran against in Dresden could
not persuade to visit the gallery there,
because he had only had one day to
spare. But you can see d few of
I them I urged. f'NO / can't, that's
just my trouble" he replied. I'm
bound to try and see them all in the
time, I shall get a headache and re-
member nothing.
Some people have a genius for skip
ping. They will sit down for couple
of hours to NanSen's two volumes OF to
MOrleys life of Gladstone. and rise up
with the best part of the book inside
their head. I have d sort of relation
who always read a book through from
the title on the fly leaf to the printer s
name at the foot of the last sheet. She
reads the Introduction, she reads the
preface to the first editions. She pre-
fers first editions; it saves the reading
of prefaces. She had had a certain
book for three days when 1 asked her
how she was getting on with it. "Oh,
pretty we'll" she answered, but with
out enthusiasm. I've finished the in
PRODUCTION to the present edition and
the life of the author, and the pref
aces, to the first four former editions.
Land the list of authorities. I've only
got the authors apology now between
; me and the book. She reads the cata-
logue of the authors previous works,
the list of illustrations, the appendix
Why she does this she herself cannot
say. All she knows is that If she
doesn tiff she skip so much as the
/, .7F al,.o flnr. hnr
gives her no rest night or day 1t IS
/; an odd sort of conscience On all other
matters, as far as 1 can judge. 1t seems
to be fairly well behaVed-listens to
reason. is capable of seeing the other
side of the question, has a sense OF
give and take. But reading matter of
any kind appears to excite it. At
operas we have to see to it that she
has not concealed about her a hbretto.
Otherwise she never looks at the stage,
but will sit the whole evening with
bowed head, pouring over the book.
At one moment she is bent double try
ing to catch upon the page some stray
CLEAN of light from gas jet IN the
gallery: the next minute, with her
back to the orchestra she is holding
the book over her head hoping 10 get
the lime light upon it. Put it down. .
we urge her. "enjoy yourself while
you are still young-to say nothing
about the unfortunate people round
labout YOU DON'T she answers,
"now you've made me lose my place.
The music worries her. When they let
down the curtain and turn up the
lights she is happy.
The Creevey papers is not book
. to be taken up and read straight
: through. It would be like sitting down
to read through Pepys Diary or the
Percy Anecdotes. l heard OF q man
t once, who. starting at page one and
5 finishing at page four hundred and
thirteen read through cOnSclentlously,
not missing a line, a work entitled
lone Thousand and One Gems OF Brit
5 ish Humor." Like poor King Henry
he never smiled again. 1t was not the
t fault of the book; it was the fault OF
{ the darned fool himself The BOOK
was an exhaustive, comprehensive
I compendium. I have never heard a
> Joke before or since that was not IN It
= On the shelves of thousands of haro
< working men and women 1t remains tc
t this day. a valued and serVlcea DIE
friend But like Betsy Prigg's bottle
2 it should be reached down only when
4 the reader feels SO disposed This
= man sat down before the fire with it
took it up to bed with him, read il
> through without a break, one gem OF
British humor after another. 1t is al
, phabetically arranged commencing
! with the free translation of a Hebrew
? Joke against Adam and ending with q
! witty anecdote told by famous states
\ man in the course of speech advoeat-
3 ing the adoption of an imperial zoll'
2 verein. The largest division comes UNI
I der the letter c. which contains all thu
jokes ever made about cats and all the
funny things that have ever beer
or that ever will be said by children
But d, embracing all the best known
British humor connected with dogs
: runs it pretty close Often, after {
> merry evening, when friends have sa
n around recOunting stories beginning
:. II must tell you what George said ths
I other night or ''Well, speaking abou
q retriever dogs" I have reached this
> book down from its shelf It is admir-
o fnIiv arranged and divided into thei
proper subsections, and with patienc
e I .-a,.al,r eaiI To trace what Cseorgie sail