New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-11-18
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Current Talk of Things Present
and to Come.

Current Talk of Things Present
and to Come.
Mr.. j. c. Snaith. the author Of Ara
mlnta"-one Of the most delightful ana
winning of modern sprlghtly novels
has contributed serial to THE At
lantic" Of 1912 II is entitled The
Principal Girl" and 1t tells the story OF
the marriage of a peers son to the fas-
cinating daughter OF a theatrical fam
lily.
Reading Inferior Authors.
There are many people who won't be
averse to finding good excuse for
reading inferior authors The distin-
grished Emile Faguet provides it. DO
II occasionally, he says. He points out
that II will be a salutary if dangerous
practice, for lit is the only way In
which we learn to appreciate the good.
He thinks that people who contine them
selves 10 the best literature can hardly
avoid disdainful narrowness Of mind.
There is more Of the dangerous than OF
the salutary in this practice, we think.
The Middle West.
A series of papers on the Characters
tics Of the Middle West and the condi-
lions therein will appear in 'The Cen
tury" during the coming year. The au-
thor is Dr. Edward Alsworth Ross, pro-
fessor Of sociology in the University of
Wisconsin. In view of his feeling that
in unanimously dynamic epoch like
ours the chief danger is lest adjustment
in laws and institutions be made tardily
and only after a needless interval OF
acute suffering, his articles ought to be
of great interest.
Ruskin's Message.
One who once sat under the teachings
of John Ruslkin says i'm the Pail Mall
Gazette" that he remembers wildly a
severe scoldng he received for a chance
phrase which seemed to imply that Rus
kins fame was founded on Modern
Painters" He adds;
The Master would have you know that
the only message Ht Idu ~ give ~ AIt
world was the message, which was forever
neglected and misunderstood, of the unut-
terable woe and desOlation or its present
social state. In his second professorShip
at oxford he was as careful ana patient az
ever in teaching his pupils the elements of
drawing. but when he took a Turner draw
ing from its case TO eXpound IL to you IL
became a text of a shining and eloquent
discourse upon human life, from the point
of view of RuslNnian economies. The pro-
facgorfc Lectures brqdtllpGS C0nfllGf
between art and subverSive social theories.
in which the latter invariably got the upper
hand. to the scandal sf the orthodox.
Right Kind Of Novel.
The novel which, in spite of Mr.. James
and his disciples, continues to achieve
popularity is that which ends hap
pily'-that is to say with the sound NJ
wedding bells. Mrs. Annie Swan quotes
a cockney cook. whose invariable rule IT
was to read the last page or chapter Of
a story as announcing IF she as him
I reads it, and If she won't then I
don't" 1t is not only the iliterate who
cherish that taste
Parkn,an in Pocket Edition.
What promises to be an emnently USE
full edition of Francis Parkman's works
Co. 1t is a pocket edition. the twelve
volumes of which will be bound in limp
morocco and illustrated with photo
gravure frontispieces and maps.
Poems by j. I. c. Clarke.
A volume of the collected poems Of
Mr.. j. I. C. Clarke is to be published
soon. Its title, The Fighting Race
and other Poems and Ballads" is
drawn from that Of the ballad OF the
Spanish American war time which has
been uncommonly popular and has been
copied and recopied by appreciative edi-
tors. Nearly a hundred poems have
been added to the ballad. and these in
clude groups under the titles Of Songs
of the Celt," Songs of America"
"Glints of Life" Lyrics" Ballads Of
Battle" "Life's Love Knot" and the ode
entitled Manhattan"
The Best Books Of Travel.
Sir Clements r. Markham, the author
OF many Volumes anu the culLOT oil
twenty-five volumes of voyages for the
Hakluyt Society, said the other day that
he long ago came to the conclusion that
the best books of travel including voy-
ages, were written in the Elizabethan
age. The report of his remarks con-
tinues:
Referring to one or two early voyagers
whom the critics of their day had dis
credited but whose statements had since
been found TO be quite correct, Sir Clements
Markham said that the admirable nara
tives Of former days had been falsely
aspersed They ought to be the models of
recorders of their travels. Modern writer's
should first consider whether their pro-
posed books were wanted. That was the
main point. Then they should consider
whether they were the men whose knowl-
edge and training fitted them to write.
Writers with knowledge and training
should study the art of geographical de-
scription, and read the early literature in
order to catch some of the spirit of the
Eliza bethan age
Served Them Right.
Three irreverent persons were sum-
moned before a magistrate the other day
for maliciously damaging the tombstone