The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-04

Mind am not inveighing against the
fairy tale, pure and simple cautioned
Miss Tarbell swiftly. THAT will always
be a most delightful form of litera-
ture. I speak of the fake fairy tales,
the books that pretend to present lift
and really give such false aspects of it.
I'm this class the most prominent
examples are the tales of the virtue
| triumphant order. The poor girl al
ways ends in a palace. She couldn't
possibly land anywhere else. Through
trials and tribulations she holds fast
to the honor that is dearer to her
than-life, and on the last page of the
last chapter, volume two. she in be-
held on the throne-still wearing her
simple muslin gown, one white rose in
her hair.
Now the trouble with these books is
that they raise such wild and foolish
expectations. They are elaborated and
exemplified to the nth power versions
of that old saw, Honesty is the best
policy And that always seemed to ne
the most sordid reason for being hon
est,
Now these immortal say it en-
lphatical1y-books are undoubtedly read
| in greatest numbers by the women
of the working classes, the factory
girls, the girls who work In stores. all
the women trained primarily to use
| their hands rather than their brains
believe that the women of this class
do read more trashy books than The
men, because the men are doing other
things with their leisure time. The
small boys revel in penny-dreadfuls
but not their fathers and big broth
| ers.
But the women particularly the
young women, feast on all this fa;sity.
| They are not melted to commit murder
| or band together as highwaymen. like
| bad small boys, but they do get TO
thinking that the aim of life is to
| marrWa lord, and that titles and wealth
and all the rest of the flummery are
the things most to be desired by poor
but-honest maids like themselves. the
| things without which life is but a bar
rem waste They actually feel injured
| II mere honest young man of their
own social station wants to walk home
with them. When they wake up-then
perhaps the honest young man has
found another girl who doesn't READ
novels
1.-The novel-reading girls. too. arc
SO willing to trust themselves, no mat
| ter how dangerous the trust In their
books the heroine always escaped the
villains clutches, and most of the fine
and fair and rich young men whom
she met in her wanderings were re-
strained by their innate sense of chiv-
airy from doing wrong. She is such a
goose, that Perfect Heroiner
| But do you think so many women
go in for that sort of reading now
that the free libraries supply better
things?" 1 asked.
THAT does help" agreed Miss Tar
bel. THE good books gradually push
out the cheaper ones. Our cheap and
good magazines are also helping in
this way, particularly with women who
travel much. They buy the reasonably
good magazine, instead of the cheap
railway paper-ba ed novel, If for no
other reason than that the magazine
Is easier to handle"
And about the writer's of those
cheap tales? Do you really think there
are more women than men among
| them?"
GO and look at the collection on
the nearest newsstand" observed Miss
Tarbell oracularly.
/ went accordingly-and among the
II different authors there were eight
women's names. Maybe those British
book publishers did know whereof they
spoke.