Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-12-02

that is his message demands, and the
money and fair words that rccogni-
ton means? Or is it going to come
back and come back from shrinking
editor and shrinking publisher" on it
a, on a foundation he rears the dreams
Of an AInaschar-visions Of q listening
world, and visions of gold in his pocket
To buy him nights in Bagdad, or days
by The sea. according TO his fancy.
Now and again something is pub
lshed: the fair words ere few. the
coins fewer. OF all the creatures that
breathe and crawl upon the earth, the
man OF letters is most often chorused.
His message falls on deaf ears; for
him there are few nights in Bagdad or
days by the sea. For years he lives
from hand 10 mouth. the spirit Of the
gambler waxing ana waxing in him.
II at last his lot leaps out of the rat
thing urn. or. in the happy phrase of
the vulgar his message makes 4 sue
cess and he is plastered with fair but
irrelevant words, and the good red gold
comes rolling in. what wonder that he
displays a gamblers prodigality,
Moreover, the essential difference be-
TWEEN the prudent seeker OF popularity
in literature or the artS. working wiki
a steady eye on his bank account, and
the genuine artist, is a certain generoS-
ity of soul. The one is forever saving
his energy in order To produce the
greatest quantity Of the Salable; the
other is only eager to give himself
lavishly to a world which does not
grcat"ly desire him. Having been
lavish Of himself. is il likely that lie
will be sparing of his money? Such
Il ono To rejoice must have others to
rejoice with him: and if his money will
buy them joy. on joy he lavishes il
With both generous hands-Edgar Jen-
son in THE Gamble of LitcratuTc,' in
the book News Monthly.
When 4 man comes past 80, tn one OF
the arts of expression, he assumes his
task with both advantages ana diSad-
VantaGaS. writes Talcott Williams in
the Book News Monthly for Novem-
Der. He has not only passed the first
hot FOYER of life in which nearly all tn
glcgt who rule US from their urnS hay"
dome their most symptomatic and char
| aCtcristic work, but his view of life is
settled, continuous and constant. He
! is Il longer writing to learn-note how
! tile paInitating thrill Of new knowledge
| glow@ in EcatS-he is writing to teach
| At fifty man is no longer lookout
| 1T re bow. lie is helmsman at tho
wheel. Contrast Catullus and Horace:
| one soothing with emotion and the
| o,hCr enjoying its "reminiscences. This
| Suflusns all pr. Mitchclls fictiCn. EN-
| pcrience. assured. rcplete with gn"mic
| utteranCn. on the sheer imaginative
| side th"rC is always Il limitation. 1t
limits the rrdor of youth for his pages.
| save where the historic romance an
pcais Hugh Wynnc" is of a CON
Stant vogue with early readers. The
men who successfully write fiction late
always have the wisdom quality. and
| If them all the only one who mas all
youth f"r his own is Dcfoe, who, be
| ing Il journalist. never grew old. The
capacity for proVcrb and dicteS is Of
| the rare>t. 1t shines in "CharICt"r-
| is,ic~' and 'nr. North and His
| Frlrnds'' Som" reviews quoted
a2oihc-cms Ly the column. In our
letters. Helps is TIE only man who has
done this precise thing. using the run
| ming talk Of the novel as q notebook
on life. ana the Philadelphia physician
| has Il wider range and knows both
sides Of the woven web Of human eX-
| istence better than the clerk of the
rrivy council ! doubt if any works
| in American fiction have provoked Il
more mdltifarioES response from the
audience of readers than these two.
| 1t rAincd letters as their frankly auto
pioGraphi rarleyingS. with varied
experience. passed through the Cen
tury. .Sucn books will never be "beSt
sellers They make pretty good stay
erS. Men return to them az they do
to Friends in Council" and have to
the "Colloquies" of Erasmus to catch
the flavor of period. Nor is the
comparison strange. In day of the
specialist, physician. neurolOgist. poet.
novelist and man of affairs, Dr.. Nit
chell is man Of the Renaissance.
can Interrupted Honeymoon" by
Jane Gr1svenor Cooke, author of 1.-THE
Ancient Miracle, will soon be pub
lishcd by A. :. Barnes & Company. 1t
is the story If IL man and a woman
who marry after 4 long courtship. take
ride Of twelve miles in a buggy from
her town to his as q honeymoon, quar-
rel on the way and separate. the girl
going back to her home in the village
and the man to his home in the larger
town. The Ncause Of the quarrel is u
mystery and the rest of the book is IL
very human. intimate. and humorous
story Of n second and unusual court
ship. The story is remarkably well
told.
The announcement by Little, Brown
4 Co. cf a seventh printing of Eliza
Calvert Halls "Aunt Jane of Ken
lucky" is now closely followed by the
statement that an eighth edition. also
Of 10000. is in press.
j Gerald Massey, dead in his S0th
Year, was a figure Of consequence a
generation ago. Born the son of n
bargeman, says the New York Times
Saturday Review, he became a lyric
poet Of very wide popularity, applaud
ed and acce pted as a friend by Ruskin
and other eminent Nictorians. His
ambition, however. was to win i'm
mortal fame as an abStruse prose writ
CT. and for the last 80 years he had
engaged himself in the study OF his
| origins IIic nartinnI1r