The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-08
READING IS MADE EASY
From the New York Post.

From the New York Post.
 N some magazines the short story is
 now introduced by a terse eulogy of the author, and an outline of his nar- rative. Labels of this kind are useful because they not only whet the reader S curiosity, but give him an inkling, If not a warning, of what he may expect. He can consult his own taste, and decide at a glance whether 1t is worth while for him to read any further. It is true that these predatory notes are sometimes mis- leading. Insipid narratives may be de- scribed beforehand as highly spiced;" tales of tea-drinking curates and prosy old ladies, as admirable character sketches;'' but generally the reader can avoid what he dslikes. He need not plunge unwarily into historical stories, into scenes when knighthood was not only In flower, but over-ripe; and he can escape the tedium of heroes who brag and swagger, using all the favorite oaths of the middle ages. mixed with colloquial- isms of the twentieth century. As rule, these advertisements are expected to ar- tract The person who buys a ten-cent magazine is expected to read eagerly if such notices meet his eye as these:
 MT. Blank has never done anything better than the following breezy account of a how western girl won the heart of the substitute pitcher on a college ball nine''
 "A story of automobile adventure, in which that fascinating author, John Smith Dash, shows in his customary il- luminating manner that a warm heart may beat under chauffeurs coat" Even the long story, when published as a serial. Is often preceded by an an- nouncement only slightly different. Let the reader purchase a magazine in which the tenth installment, for example, of a novel appears, and he may find at the beginning brief synopsis of all that has gone before, so that he can plunge into the middle of the narrative on equal terms with one who has read laboriously every chapter from the first Indeed, it is strange that more novels are not pub lished in this abbreviated style There would surely be market for a duodecimo volume entitled and containing five hun dred popular novels in condensed form"
 The method ol introducing and epitom- izing has been so successful in fiction that it might be adopted with advantage in the graver periodicals and books de- voted to science and history. At the op- ening of an article in a mathematical re- view we should read:
 ''we publish below a valuable contri- button of Prof. John Johnson to the science of geometry. The professor knows more about the typothenuses of scalene triangles than any other living author"
 In an historical magazine one might come upon some such foreword as this:
 'Dr. Mary Ann Jones, whose brochure on the Monaco dynasty Is we'll known in Europe, has consented to give us four studies of municipal reform in Finland.'
 Old-fashioned students are satisfied with the analytical table of contents, which is A labor-saving device. But those who are used to getting the news in "coarse print may soon demand journalistic headlines for scientific articles. A. philo- sophical criticism might be entitled: Her bert Spencer unmasked by the Rev John Smith; Panic at the Universities; Shame less Errors of the Evolutionist Exposed" In the matter of current literature, it seems sometimes as if the race were in it's second childhood Words must be printed in capital letters to attract attention. As in Swift's Laputa, people must, figura- lively speaking. be reused by blows of inflated bladders containing rattling peas. Information must be cut up fine and pre- digested, after the manner of the old nur- sery primer, Reading Without Tears" Unless unusual devices are employed to force the reader to attend, much is left neglected. The authors portrait, as we'll as his name, must be published with his article. There are those who would rather look at pictures of the popular novelist, of his house, his dogs, and his wife, knaw what he eats for breakfast. and