Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-08-07
BOOKS

Jason" is the story of an interest
ing young man who through his tenn.
%porary infatuation for beautiful.
girl becomes entansIed in a family
mystery, which results IN several sit
uations and almost ii tragedy for the
hero. The title indicates his enlbaTking
upon a search forSthe missing brother
Sof the girl who has mysteriously dis
appeared on the verge of his majority,
when he is about to inherit large
& fortune from a. rather dominating and
severe grandfather. The story of the
plot involving his disappearance and
the search for him by the hero. on the
promise of receiving the sisters hand
in marriage as reward. makes some
delightfully."- interesting reading.
The novel is by Justin Miles For
man. and enjoys a distinction rare
among novels by American authors In
having had serial publication in an
English magazine. the windsor Mag
azine, 81 asonn is illustrated by William
Hatherell. who made the drawings for
&"The Testing of Diana Mallory
Harpers are the publishers.
ssrhe Great English Letter Writers"
is the new volumes in Harpers Read
crs Library, is made up Of letters
written by some of the most famous
OF English authors going all the way
; from the early centuries UP to the
present. Crabbe and Horace Walpole
are represented and Robert Louis
Stevenson and George Meredith, Char
alotte Bronte and her sister and the,
women authors of more recent date are
depicted in the intimate light OF per.
sonal correspondence, more otter than
anything else a mirror Of character.
The selections have been carefully
arranged. with q view not to chronolo-a
Eical order so much. as to the lllustra-4l
Z ton Of the growth Of the art of IL liter
writing. The object has been to show;
I how various men and women, scattered
through the different ages, have borne
themselves under the same crisis of
emotion and action. The Introductory
essays aim at general historic survey
OF the art of letter-writing, together
with a critical estimate OF the writer
and of their relation to the literature Of
their age.
Has the day OF letter-writing gene,
+ by? There Is no doubt some truth IN
the contention, since the conditions OF
modern life are such that there is nell
Sther the time6nor the occasion for the
elaborate letter, is the way William j.
Dawson, joint editor of the Harper's
Readers library,,' writes OF the coll
lection of letters which make up THE
Great English Ietter-Whitersss9 Just
published. 'Where men 1--we Tar u part
and the means Of communication We're
expensive. they naturally did not write.
to one another unless they had some
thing to communicate that seemed
worth while. And because they had
leisure they were able to write fully
and at length, These conditions arc
not likely to return. No man would
waste his time today in writing to q
friend q detailed account Of public
events which he might be quite sure
had already reached his correspondent
In the morning paper. The busy man
will write as little rs he can on any
subject: he will use the telephone and
4typewriter and never yet was there
Il letter OF any value dictated to an
obedient machine. But this, after all,
B is only one phase of life. There are
still seauestered and serene existences
whose chief traffic is in ideas. atfec-
lions, and emotions. Women, especial
8ly.5 are, as "a rule, excellent letter-writ-
ers because they live In their emotions.
II Will hazard the statement that We're
Il to publish selection from the letters
I have received during the last twen-i
4ty5 years from persons whose names are
totally unknown to the general public,
Il could produce a volume not much
inferior In interest and art to the pres
Sent volume. The reason for this ex-.
5celence lies in the fact that the letter
sis, and must remain, the best possible
vehicle for the transmission of emo
5tion."f