The Washington herald., 1907-04-28

--- $1,000
Over many things.
ApropOs Of the recent LOngfelloW Cen
tenary there is modest little home
near Philadelphia which treasures a relic
intimately associated with the great
poets home side It is a little white
mustard pot, with a blue band decora-
ton. The great-grandfather of the pres
ent owner was Judge john Greeuleaf. OF
Cambridge He formed one of a quin-
tet of close friends. which included
Longfellow. Holmes, Aggasiz. and John
Greenleaf Whittier. The first Sunday al
ter Judge Greenleaf was married all of
the four came 10 tea with the newly
wed couple Much 10 the chagrin Of tire
blushIug housewife, IL was found tina:
among all her new treasures there was
no mustard pot. 50 the mustard for the
cold meat was mixed i'm "a JCaCuD and
handed around. On the following Sunday
evening the same company We're together
again at the Greenleats to tea when
L0ngfellOW pulled a mustard pot from
his pocket. and declared that as he hoped
often 90 enjoy their hospitality, the least
return he could make would De 10 pre-
sent them with the only thing that he
NNAi4 TFE Was 4tfEAtNA t0 mani A+tf -fNf
home complete in every detail.
Mr. Louis Joseph Vance's new book is
called The Brass Bowl" but previous 10
its publication by The Bobbs-M Merrill
Company. Mr.. William De Morgan had
written Joseph Vance" The hero of
''The Brass Bowl" is Daniel Maitland,
and it only remains for Maitland 10
write Mr. De Morgan, and then the
matter viii be fairly settled sun. 1t
was careless OF Mr.. Vance TO have been
christeued Joseph. 1t seems ale
most an infringement Of copyright pos
sibly actionable.
Louis Becke. who has won fame by
his stories of the South Seas, has made a
radical departure in his new book.
Sketches from Normandy" just publish
ed by the j. B. Lippincott Company
Philadelphia. He has turned his atten-
ton TO the North of France, and tells
charmingly of the people and their ways
Mr.. Becke has been severely criticised fOI
his disdain of recognized rules Of gram
mar. and In the form OF a preface TO his
+ latest work he writes as follows: THE
author earnestly trusts that the readers
.
accept his solemn assurance that he has
( spared no time. or toll. or midnight oil
+ % redeem himself from the charges So
often made land justly SOB Of being care
/ less and shockingly Incorrect In his gram
mar. If he has again failed. he car
only plead, as an excuse, that he sub
mitted the manuscripts in turn to three
/ clergymen. one barrister. and lady nov
eiist They an returned them with suci
/ c0ndemnatory remarks that ne ha.
thrown himself upon the mercy of hi.
/ publishers reader and has asked hin
I 10 do his best If that gentleman re
/ fuses, he should be dismissed without {.
/ character
Nobody tells the whole truth, no
even Mark Twain, who in his new auto
F. biography says, Il am used to having m,
/ statements discounted. My mother be
gan it before / was seven years old. Ye
all through my life my facts have hat
a substratum of truth, and therefore the,
were not without preciousness. any per
son who is familiar with me knows hoI
70 strike my average, and therefor
knows how TO get at the jewel Of an,
fact OF mine and dig it out Of its blue
clay matrix. Ny mother knew that art
When I was seven, or eight. or ten. O
twelve years old-along there-a neigh
Dor said to her.
Do you ever believe anything tina
that boys says?
My mother said:
He is the WeIl-spring of truth, bu
you can't bring up the whole we'll wit
one b1cket'-and she added, = know hi
average. therefore he never deceives ms
discount him 30 per cent for embFoid
cry. and what is left is perfect ana price
less truth, without a flaw in 1t any
where
Although the series of Geographic
! known as the English Men OF Letters
includes about sixty books, it has not Il
to the present time contained a life q
Shakespeare. This omission Is at last {
be repaired by the publication this mont
+. of a biography by Prof. Walter Raleigh
of Oxford University.
At the eleventh hour Mr. Wmiu
! Knight. who has been editing a cole,
ton of the letters of William and DorC
i thy Wordsworth, for publication by Gin
, q Co, Boston. has discovered a remark
2 able series Of letters written by Il
e Wordsworths to Coleridge. betwee
= Christmas, 1899, and May, 1907, info
: tunately this new find was not MAD
until after the first two volumes OF lie
tiers Of the Wordsworth Family was a
e ready printed, and the proofs Of the thii
I volume passed upon. As a result this II
o. teresting and Illuminating correspondent,
I must appear at the end of the third vo
4 ume. instead of in the chronological o
$ der. according to which the rest Of Il
% work is arranged
Z The letters in question do much 70 sho
e the intimacy that existed between Il
/ two poets. Wordsworth tells Colerids
r many of his plans, and explains much
his work Incidentally, various interes
ing episodes of the home life at Ora
= mere are recounted; there are paragraph
: on the people OF the district. records
= walks and drives. and references TO Il
work and travels of Coleridge. NJ
Knight is 20 be congratulated on haviI
, been able to offer such valuable ado
( ton 70 the letters already published al
s known.
e John Grier Hibben. professor of log
/. at Princeton, contributes to the Ap
d | 70 number of the North American Revue
l. a fascinating paper on Popular Fan
!. eies." Logic we ind is, after all. n