The sun., 1909-02-28
THE CRITIC ON THE MARGIN
WHO WRITES QUEER THINGS
IN LIBRARY BOOKS

And Undersoeres Whatever Touches the
Opposite Sex In q Tender Spot Sen
tIments which Women hark--ntad-
ers VINO Argue With the Author.
| Every ono who resorts 10 the public
libraries for much OF his reading must
have been Interested in the pencil mark
ings which are scattered literally through
some Of the books. They arouse tho same
sort Of curiosity that you feel when,
tramping through a wilderness, you
come upon the ashes OF somebody eise's
campfire.
| There is a certain fascination in the
woods in speculating upon who has been
there before you. You examine any
bit OF evidence left behind and set your
wits to work at making deductions. A
scrap Of paper lying on the ground 10
often an invaluable clue in such explora-
tions-it may give you name or even
an address. An exploded cartridge little
heap OF feathers, oven an empty tomato
can or a cracker box may pioce out the
story for you.
Well. It is much the same whom you
follow the track OF a previous reader
throug gh q book. A note on the margin,
perhaps nothing more than a line drawn
around a sentence or two. will show
you where some one else has pitched the
tent of meditation and interrupted his
onward journey.
There are books in the British Museum
which are considered precious because
Macaulay scribbled on the edge OF a
page a note Of approval or disapproval
or perhaps supplemented the authors 8
knowledge with a contribution from
his own marvellous store Of information.
Mr.. Gladstone used to leave a capital X
on the margin whenever he read state
ment which seemed to him to call for
protest or denial.
| Think how overwhelming the effect
must be when a person ENCOUNTERS upon
the printed page the simple word "Bosh!'
and knows that it EXPIRE sses the opinion
Of Thomas Carlyle as to what he himself
| has, just been reading. II it were a
printed, impersonsl footnots, even though
1t were by Mr.. Carlyle. IL wouldn't be
so terrible, but 10 see the actual written
sorawl and to realize that his hand put
it there, why. it's as though Carlyle him
self had beloved that "Bosh' into your
own ears aud you sat mute and guilty
under the spell of his awful frown. 1t
would take some courage TO believe any
bit OF composition which had been thus
excommunicated by the glo owering T. G.
or Gladstone's frigid and final X.
We can't always, or even often, be
meeting great men on the sidelines OF
! literature. but there is a subdued pleasure
in discovering the hand prints Of anony-
nous nobodies and ruminating upon them.
Was it a man or a woman, you say. Some
times the answer seems obvious, one way
or the other. and sometimes you will
! think il was a woman, while your wife
will DO positive it was a man. in which
case there Is no telling where the discus
sion will end or what the consequence
OF il will be.
Happily. however, there are markings
which admit of no dispute. For instance,
you are jogging comfortably along over
the early adventures Of Miss Becky Sharp
in VANITY Fair wherein she is spreading
| the net for Mr.. Joe Sedley, when on pa ge
! 20 you are brought to halt by the follow
ing observations OF Mr.. Thackeray in
closed in brackets by some person whose
name and identity you don't know and
never will know:
| We have talked of Joseph Sedley being
ss vain as a girl Heaven help us! The
girls have only to turn the tables and say
OF their own sex. she is as vain as q man I"
and they will have perfect reason. The
/ bearded creatures are quite as eager for
praise. quite as tinical over their toilets,
quite as proud of their personal advantages.
quite as conscious Of their powers OF fasci-
nation as any coouette in the world
1t was no masculine hand that seized
/ the pencil and held that sentiment up
to the admiration Of a candid world.
! A little further on in the same vol
ume, where the love letters of the gen.
| tie Amelia Sedley are under considera-
: ton and the author is opmsed to admit
that in their poetic parts they sometimes
stumbled and in their prose they often
transgressed the rules Of Mr.. l.. MUIR
ray in such case made and provided
what age. sex and condition do you sup
pose il was that embraced the following
declaration in a tender parenthess:
But, Oh, mesdames, II you are not allowed
to touch the heart sometimes in spite OF
syntaA, ana are not 10 Dc lON6Q untll you
all know the difference between trimeter
and tetrameter. may all poetry 60 10 the
deuce. and every schoolmaster perish
miserebly!
II the women are quick 10 take advan-
tage Of any admission which may be
turned to the discontinue Of their natural
enemies and prosecutors or to mark any
passage which may seem to them almost
like bit OF fond personal biography +,
you may bs sure that the men are not
above setting their little monuments
about any fragment Of literature that
aims 10 exalt the pantaioon over the
petit coat. In all the fiction Of recent
times there has been nothing to compare
with George Bernard Shaw's comedy Of
Man and Superman' for dividing the
sexes into hostile camps. 1t Is here
that Bachelor and Benedick have their
innings, and how heavily they do score
and underscore.
Every quotation that ia made in this
article was found in the writer's casual
reading Of books in a single library.
and that not a large library, either. II
is distinctly against the regulations
to mark or mutilate book in any way,
but the temptation is often too great
to be withstood, especially as the chance
Of detection il 40 small as to be negligi-
BILE. II the evidence were submitted to
anx ii.ry Af man aav pvar An and mot