The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-26
HARMLESS PHRASE
SHOCKS LONDON
LIBRARY CENSORS
Smith & Co. Refuse to Han
die Magazine Because
of Name
H. S. WELLS TAKES
UP HAMMER AGAIN
Roasts Hall Caine and Calls "The
Woman Thou Gavest Me" every
Primitive Novel, Which
Do Not Care For

London. October 25.-(Special)-- )--Vere
smith who owns and edits that popu-
lar English magazine, "The Lady's
Realm is. he tells me, the latest vic
time of the so-called Library Censor
ship" which has resulted in the ban
ning' of books Of Compton Mackenzie
and W. B. Maxwell-not to mention Hall
Caine-and which gets more tyranical
day by day.
Smith, by the way, is much like an
American than Briton, having spent
three years on ranch in Washington
and earned his daily bread both in New
York and Chicago. He has been arrang-
Ing for some time to bring out a new
monthly, mostly devoted to humor and
has chosen for 1t the exceedingly Ameri-
can title of Tickle Me"-or, in full.
They Just Tickle Me-" the reference be-
Ing, OF course, to the stories in the maga-
zine. On the eve of getting out his first
number however We're Smith has been
informed by w. H. Smith & Co., who
control all the railway bcokstalls through
out the country and run big circulating
library besides. that they decline to ham
die Tickle Me- because of the title.
which is too suggestive" for their ultra
puritanical taste. AS We're Smith al
ready has put over $500 into his new
venture, he is not disposed to abandon
1t tamely, nor is he disposed to change
It's title which strikes everybody else,
(save Messrs. Smith, to whom 1t has
been confided,' as extremely neat When
last 1 saw him he was still engaged in
efforts to overcome the obduracy of these
narrow-minded monopolists whose atti-
tude is the ridiculous in that they un-
blushingly supply their customers. every
week with journals like, 1.-THE Pink 'Un"
and THE Winning POST which special
ize In risky anecdotes and jokes.
Smith, it may be mentioned was
reader to the well-known London pub
fishing firm Of Hutchinson & Co.. be-
fore taking over 'The .Ladys Realm"
and in this capacity discovered" among
others, Cynthia Stockley of "Poppies''
fame. He also published H. G. Wells
marriage as a serial in "The Lady's
Realm
Wells Is Using Hammer Again
Speaking of Wells reminds one that he
has got his episeolary hammer again-it
seldom is long in retirement-and this
time his blows are aimed at the noble
head of his fellow author-Hall Caine
Asked by weekly journal to express his
views on the Library Censorship Wells
takes the opportunity to have a shot at
The Woman Thou Gavest Me-" punch
called it "The Booming Thou Gavest
Me,D which the Libraries banned, SO
effectually that 10000 copies had been
sold Of 1t at last accounts.
II think it is regrettable," says Wells.
that English people do not respect their
own minds sufficiently to resent the
Library Censorships. But 1 do not think
Mr.. Hall Caine has any great grievance
In this matter. Whatever attempt has
heen made to suppress his very primitive
novel, (Which do not admire) has given
him an opportunity to advertise it (of
! which he has availed himself. fully) and
thousands of respectable people in the
country districts must be buying 1t and
reading 1t in state of infiamed curiosity
who would not have opened it had they
had unrestricted access to 1t.
One would not be surprised to hear.
now. that Hall Caine docs not admire
Wells new story. THE Passionate
Friends" ,
But Little Heard of Hyne
: OF Cutcliffe Hyne. who gave us the i'm
mortal Captain Kettle" the world has
heard comparatively little of late Evil
IDENTIFY he is still alive and kicking, how
ever, for l hear that the charming VIII
lage IN upper Warfdale, to which Kettle
retired after his astonishing adventures
has been chuckling over notice in the
window of the largest shop, which is
also postoffice. This reads:
May | suggest to the individual who
stole my apples that it is inadvisable
to eat the specimens that have been dosed
with strychnine for the birds.-C. j.
C,t7l ne Tyne
Those of us who love our Dumas-and
10 there anyone who has read him who
waiting eagerly for the
film version of "The Musketeersn which
has just been made in France and Is
soon to be exhibited on this side, of the
Channel
Speaking as an ardent Dumas wor-
shipper, l never have seen a really ade-
quate stage version Of ''The Three Mus
|keteers-no more than / have Of Monte
Cristo"-and the news that james O'Neill
has been nirnsd in The Three Ausks-