Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-26
THE REALM OF BOOKS AND AUTHORS

| Ihls is the announcement regarding
Hamlln Garland's plans that his pub
ilshers, Harper & Bros, are sending
out. 1t appears that Mr. Garland in
| tends to write no more novels. and
| lhat mis- intention hereafter is to de-
| vote himself to the construction of
pays Mr.. Garland" we are told, "is
SO closely identified with native fiction
| III inns country that it will be difficult
10 detach him from it, even at his own
request. When he was a youth way
out on the plains of Iowa he began to
write little sketches descriptive Of the
| country, scarcely daring then to as
plre to fiction, but venturing a short
story at last, and then securely march
ing on to novels. He has explored
many realms. from the unstudied
Western realism of Main Travelled
Roads to the conventionalized West Of
Money Magic and has wandered in
the spiritualistic precincts of The
Shadow World besides. But he is
ndelibly a story teller, and however
far the talent may serve him in the
| new field, we should have more than a
little to regret if he We're to withdraw
it from the old
William De Morgan's new book,
Blind jim is finished and ready for
publication. The book will not be
brought out until next spring. Mr.. De
Morgan is leisurely worker and the
story of his literary career is unique
in every way. In the years following
1854 he was chiefly engaged in stained
ola Tn, !, h; =
tention to ceramics, when his expert
| ments in luster attracted attention
| among artists. In 1904. when he was
more than 60 years of age, he pub
| lished his first book. Two others fol-
| lowed within the next two years, and
| now the third is completed and is an
ticipated with interest by readers of
discernment and good taste.
OF Robert Buchanan, an author
whose books seem nowadays in a fair
way to be forgotten, there are some
| interesting glimpses in Chambers s
Journal A friend says OF him that he
| was a man who was constantly in
difficulties in regard to money matters.
He would have a pOcketful of money
one day and none at all the next He
| gave money away IlSllI anu iCiS ~
those who appealed to his sympathy,
and he was absurd in generosity as re-
| garded his friends This particular
friend says of this trait:
| found it extremely difficult to get
| him to accept any money due to nm
| for transactions undertaken for me.
! If | asked him, How much do l owe
| you. Bard?" he invariably answered
| in the same strain, Eight thousand
| five hundred and nineteen pounds four
shillings and sevenpence,' or give me
| half a million, and we will cry quits
| If we dined together casually. one. two,
six of us, he invariably managed to get
| hold of the bill and pay it. This trick
| of his, of course, became familiar, ana
we seldom asked him to dinner unless
we had arranged the matter before
hand with the powers that be. Whcn
| he discovered that fact he would say:
| '.Oh, this is a dukes affair! All right,
T expect to be treated as in ducal
mansion" 1T was the same with CABS
and trains. He was large, stout
man, but he had a curious faculty OF
reaching the claimants hand or the
ticket office before the sliInmest OF us.
He was a confirmed turf speculator-a
strange pursuit for singer of songs
and dreamer of dreams; and it need
hardly be said he lost far more thah he
gained: but when he was successful
and occasionally his winnings We're
large-he always managed to ma q
means of sharing his good fortune with
those less privileged than himself. one
If his MANY methods of telling white
lies was this: How are you, y,
owe Won ego" This is the first
have heard of it, would likely be the
renlv "Oh. | took the liberty of put
| ting a sovereign on King Charles LOT
Won. and he started at 20 to l. ana
forthwith he handed over the money
Edward w. Townsend the creator OF
"(,him;nie Fadden," and most recently
tho author of '"The Climbing CourVa-
| e,s " takes no stock in the purveyors
or ancient lineage In a recent letter
l. - q, AGENT who solicited his subscrip-
| SO, "a an edition de grand luxe OF
his family history he wrote: Please
accent my very best thanks for the op-
nortunity you offer to subscribe slo ior
| :, cony of the Townsend-IoWnsenu
penealogy, and thereby to see myself
as II were caught up to the thlrd heaN-
on OF English nobility through my an
ccstcrs, and to claim kindred now
and to have that claim allowed-with
gorgeous folks in coronation rooes'
| themselves sib to his majesty klnS Eu-
| ,r,rd VII This sounds delightful, nut
even were proofs of coronets ana NOT
| man blood within the scope OF my am
hilton I should feel that ] were SUP
scribing for your valued computation
under false pretences, having the as
surance of my father that his grand
Gather John Townsend, who settled IN
| putnam County, New York, IN lao
was but an honest farmer, WhAe
am nroud to bear the same surname as
tho PANEL Townsend included in the
list of the Americans killed at Lexins-
TON. 7 am but vaguely interested in the
| assurance your book offers that l am
related to the present MARQUIS OF
| rowrsend. kinsman of King Edward
| VII
I-non one side of President street.
| prooklxn. not far from the romantic
| ,;>,,. of prospect Park circle there