The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-26
THE "FIvE-FooT SHELF FoH
DESERT ISLAND.

If YOU were going to be MAJ
alone on desert island for year
and We're privileged to take along
twenty-five books to solace your soli-
.ude, which twenty five would you
lake? This question was submitted
he other day to little literary and
oclal club of Richmond men. with In
eresting and in some respects instruc-
i've results. The diversity of the hui
man mind never cropped out moro
There were ten lists sub
mitted. which meant $50 titles. and OF
all this array of books. only forty-one
books appeared on more than ono list.
over 200 books that is, represented tho
individual taste Of only one reader. Only
one book Of the ESQ got as many as
seven votes. Only two books got as
many as six votes and only four books
got as many as five. And tho selections
ran the whole ganut from George
AIDES .'Tables in Slang" to Adam
Smiths Wealth of Nations
1t Will be interesting TO set down
list of the best" books as these men
picked them from the point OF view
of long and lonely sojourn. The
numbers after the titles represent in
each case the number Of votes received.
i. Carlyles French Revolution, q
Q. Gibbons Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, 6.
g. Green's Short History of the Eng
lish People. ).
A. Henry Esmond. ..
s. Boswel's Johnson. 4.
g. Pickwick Papers A.
l. Tennyson's Poems, 4
S. Plutarch's Lives. 4.
| .. Pepys' Diary, i.
! 10. Pilgrims Progress, {.
| H. Vanity Fair, 4.
| IL. Bacon's Essays. 4.
10. Emerson's Essays, 3.
IA. Macaulay's Essays. 8.
IL. Darwin's Origin of Species 3.
1s. Burns Poems, 3.
II. Keats Poems. 3.
is. Sartor Resartus, 5.
10 The Nowcomes. ;.
No other book got more than two
votes, but there were twenty two
4 which got two. AS it would unduly
extend the list to include all of these
/ let us arbitrarily select six of them to
make up the stipulated twenty-five.
20. Les Miserables, 2,
| 81. Arabian Nights. 2.
90. Canterbury Tales. 2.
49, Westward Ho. ..
"a. Lecky's History of European Nor
ais, 2.
%. Marcus Aurelius.
What Immediately strikes the read
er is the popularity of history In this
list. two most sober historical work!
leading all others. and Green dividing
third honors with Henry Esmond.'
six of the twenty-five books ar
novels, though two of these are anon;
the arbitrary selections, and Thackera,
is distinctly the most popular novelist
/ He is represented three times anon;
! the books which got three or NOR
votes, while Dickens is represented bu
( once. Dickens comes up strongly
| however, in the two-vote class, whcr
Scott. Dumas, Sterne. BIackmore
/ Kingsley and Mark Twain also appear
! Tennyson leads all the poets In a lis
! which is fairly strong in poetry. Th
cssayists. too. are well represented
while science gets nothing but Darwil
\ Philosophical and meditativc books ar
pear scanty, though there arc "Sartt
Resartus,n the Pilgrims Progress" an
Marcus 9Aurelius. II might be ado
, ed that the Bible and Shakespca
!. were both Barred on the theor
Il them and thus reduce the range
r choice 10 twenty three books.
d If the above list seems heavy
/. some--and we don't know that
! will--the conditions under which t
a books were 10 be used should be TAX
,e into account. Alone on an island
!. a twelve-montt, far from the friv
J. and fripperies of sregarious life .
Al with no other companions than
,s elemental forces of nature, n
r. would probably want reading Of
~ solid, helpful and even didactic 81
10 Much that he finds pleasant and
10 PERTAINING under tire evening la
would perhaps seem trivial or II
ii pant under the wide and starry SIX
Ss But would any of these men, OF 8
IL other man. be likely to get tlrou
Is. the list in the allotted time? Plutal
OIL is flfteen volumes or suclr mat
IN and nobody ever read G!bbon at
mt sitting exactly We think of
cir desert ISLANDER as lr~ing lntermina
in stretches of time at his disposal,
OF would that necessarily prove the ca
TO II II quite possible that after he
ul- KILLED his meat. cut his firewood
the cooked his meals, washed his clot
ete scanned tho offing for steamer
arc worked oil Ills raft for escape, 1t W.
he time 10 20 TO bed, Maybe the W
the Sear would slip away and he W
tate never get chance to do more
Mr.. peep into his library AT least
val know people in civilized parts
ouldl seem to have nothing at All to d