The Washington herald., 1907-03-24

ating Without too much action or ex-
citing incident, the Ku-l5ux days are de-
scrlhed and The author gives a picture Of
/ a state legislature controlled by negroes,
to the shame Of the State. The story is
/ not convincing, nor particularly interest,"
/ ing. II sounds, unfortunately, as If It
/ we're a true story-the story OF a real life
that had been passed rather piacidly, and
which rather magniies the importance
Of unimportant events. It Is not book
that need ever hope for popularity
washington. The Neale Coz
The record of the most popular books
at the Public Library for the week just
past shows that in nonhction the most
called for were Mark Twain's Christian
Science" and Mrs. Ravenels Charles
ton: The Place and the People. In
fiction, there were forty-two calls for
Dumas "rhe Count OF Monte Cristo, !"
and in second place OF popularity De
lands Helena. Ritchie5" Hichens' 'Caii
OF the Blood" and A1cCutcheon's Jane
Cable were tied, with twenty-five calls
for each. In the Juvenile field, the books
most called for were Lang's Blue Fairy
Book and Alcott's Eight Cousins"
Meredith Nicholson. the author OF .'Tae
House Of q Thousand Candies" and ''The
Port of Missing Men, rises TO the de-
tense of buttermiIk. He was the guest OF
honor at the recent dinner of the IN
diana Club. Of New York, and In The
coursc of his speech, took occasion TO
reply 10 its detractors:
New York and Indiana have stood shoulder to
| shoulder in national elections for many years.
/ said Mr. Nicholson. As for home state,
never has there been a time when railroad Or
/ express company has sent its agent 70 represent il
! in the senate The sun has raised the issue Of
buttermiik. by the gay about my ucighbor Charles
/ Warren FAIRBANKS Buttegmilk nevertheless, VIII
I be the motto Of the next campaign. ButteTmik is
/ TO Indiana what whisky Is 10 KENTUCKY, CT prune
jlica is 70 Massachusetts, and there must be =
spot on the eye Of the sun when Il speaks lightly Of
our states slah Of life +"
Why do the suffragists rage when wo-
men write the fiction Of England2 Is a
question asked by a writer in the New
York Mail Women who ere ciamoring
for the ballot in England have only 10
reflect. asserts this observer. that BY
/ writing the twelve best sellers in 1906
/ they are already their country's rulers.
For not since Rousseau and Richard
/ SON. 1t is argued, has the thought OF a
nation been shaped-0r az least reflected
by its novels, as it IS to-day" IN Amer
| lea the opposite is 90 be observed as to
4 the sex Of the authors OF the six best
/ selling novels In view of these facts the
writer asks rs the old country femi-
nized, or have its women writer's grown
| maseJline2 II the literary taste of Amer
/ lea Virile. or does the sex Of our favor
/ ite stOry-teIlers serve only 70 mask fem
/ mime mentalitiesT- Some OF the facts
upon which these reflections are based are
given herewith:
I'VE must judge others by ourselves,
/ though the old saw forbids. And By our
/ standard the women who wish TO rule
/ England waste time in storming the
House Of Commons, because they rule
already. In list of twelve English best
sellers not a single man is represented
! The books are: 'Fenwick's Career, by
Mrs. Humphry Ward. The Far Horizon,
/ by Lucas Malet (Nrs. Harrison); The
/ Treasure OF Heaven. by Marie COrelii;
/ The Gambler by Mrs. Cecil Thurst0n;
/ Prisoners by Mary Cholmondeley; The
/ Dream and the Business, by John Oliver
/ Hobbies Mrs Cragie); The Viper of Mi
lan. by Marjorie Bowen; The White
House by Miss Braddon: In Subjection,
by Ellen Thornycroft Fowler A Sow
| ereigu Remedy. By Mrs Steel, The In
: complete Amorist. by f. Nesbit (Airs.
Hubert Bland). and a Queen OF Rushes.
by Allen Raine (Mrs. Beynon Puddi-
/ combe)
THE American list. on the other hand.
gives a new and interesting answer TO
1 the old query, Who reads an American
( book% Americans do. We doubt If any
year prior TO 1906 showed not single
one OF England's favored books among
/ the six best sellers in the United States
/ By the lists OF the Bookman We were
! less gallant than the transatlantic read
ers. Men wrote FIVE Of our six most
/ popular novels. And thereby hangs a
very pretty quarrel
NJ GOron. for many years chief Of the
Paris detective police. and one OF the
/ foremost criminal-takers In the history Of
crime, has been prevailed upon by Mr.
Albert Keyzer to relate some Of the most
/ interesting OF his experiences with Pa
risian criminals. Mr.. Keyzer has edited
and translated these recoIlections, and
/ they are 10 be published during the
/ spring by the J. B. Lippincott Company.
under the title of The Truth About the
/ Case. The stories are said by those
/ who have seen the proofs 10 be, in many
/ cases. more bewildering and ingenious
than any Of the inventions Of Conan
Doyle.
DR.. Howard A. Kelley. professor of
! gynecology in the Johns Hopkins Uni
versity. is preparing an illustrated cyclo-
pedia of American medical biography, to
he issued in several volumes; the work
viii include sketches OF the careers of all
/ the medical WORTHLESS of the United States
and Canada from the earliest times 70
our own day.
/ Everybody who loves r. L. Stevenson
must have read that "Virginbus Pu-
rescue" essay of his. about the dangers
Of matrimony. If you read it again, you
viii wonder how. II the essay ever
! chances TO fall into the hands Of a bache-
I lor, he ever summons up courage
enough to get married And yet, after
/ all. there are many who take the risk
and willingly admit "a spy into their
/ lives" as Stevenson says. Perhaps Mr.
/ Sydney Royse Lysaght did not mean his
sonnet as an answer to Stevenson's es-
say, but it is a good and sufficient an
swer, nevertheless, and therefore, IN case
/ some swain should be holding off in doubt.
we print the sonnet Tor encouragement;
II Love should count YOU worthy and should dsign
/ One day 10 seek your door and be your guest
Pause ere you draw the bolt and bid him rest,
/ II IN your old content you would rsmail.
I For nos one he enters; in his traia
/ Arc angels Of the mists. The lonely guest
1 Dreams Of the mfulhiied and unpossessed,
I And sorrow and Life's inmemoria pain
1 He wakes desires yen never may forget
/ He shows you stars you saw before:
/ lie makes yol share with hin. forever more
The burden of tbe worlds divine regret,
How wise were you TO open not l-and yet