The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1914-12-03
ON A SHELF OF OLD BOOKS.

How they troop into Memory's watches!
Here rides 1.-THE Knight ofthe Sorrowtul
Countenance,' armed cap-a-pie, on his
Bucephalean Rosinante, followed by faith
full and practical minded Sancho Panza,
seeking to redress the wrongs OF the world
in behalf of his beautiful Dulcinea Del
Toboso-what pleasant comradeship with
Don Quixote they inspire!
Next, the clustering Notwithstanding
his Fastaffian- minded elementalism OF
Gargantua and Pantagrel. And Scott,
whom Carlyle despised because she could
be read while lying upon sofa,' still ap-
peals to our mood for romantic adventure.
The weird Meg Merrilees, Marmion, Ivan
hoe (knight sans peur ct sans reproche)
and the gallant, courtly hosts trooping
through his pages-they command our
perennial affection.
Then Dickens-perhaps the boldest
painter of them all-limning with hercu-
lean strokes characters which will live
while English is read. Their very names
have become adjectives in our common
vocabulary. We speak of ''Uriah Heep'
disposition, ''sykesian" brutality, Peek
snffiana subserviency, "Jaggers" eva
siveness. The wonderful gallery which has
acquired "a local habitation and name
through Dickens instrumentality, but be-
comes brighter (like Bokhara rug or
looorotinnN with fho
passing years.
And who is there who has not felt the
naive simplicity and charm of Thoreau's
"Walden,'' or the Journey Through the
Maine Woods? Contagious is his gentle
raillery, as he lies abed in the early morn
ing, and hears the cattle dealer and his
charges splashing through the mud to
town. We, who have suffered from bores,
can sympathize with the man who, when
catechized regarding ''his horrible lonei-
ness on the banks of Walden pond" could
say, 81 had plenty of company, especially
in the early morning, when no one came y
His Francis of-Assisi ability to charm the
little wild folk of the forest, and call them
to his side, to make them recognize his
comradeness-what gentle, tender spirit
this denotes!
Next to hand, that titantic achievement,
lies Mserables." Splendid Jean Vatican
stands out in bold relief, veritable Socra-
ties! No nobler or more self sacrificing
character has ever been hewn out of the
enduring rock of thought. His sins ''are
written in the sand.'' His dross of imper-
lection is burned away in the magnificent
career Of immolation, which eliminates in
his bearing the wounded and insensible
Javers to sunlight and safety, upon his
mighty back. No more triumphant saga
to duty was ever penned than this won
derful description of the journey through
mile after mile of noisome, rat-infested
leys (but for the suicide of the detective
1t is a classic, "gem of purest ray Sc.
rene" and we should turn to it constantly
for inspiration, as we do to Shakespeare OF
Milton.
The mental smaster of the show" now
Kaleidoscope Charles Reade's "Cloistel
and the Hearth upon the screen of con.
sciousness. The splendid book contains
the most vivid and accurate description o.
life in Europe during the Middle Ages O.
which we have any knowledge. The
thong habits, and characteristics o
these mediBvalists are depicted with {
frankness, sincerity and fidelity to histori
cal detail almost of an eyewitness. Ole
Froissart himself couldn't have intoned i
more clearly and alphabetically.
Through the accommodating mists of years
the volumes of Prescott '.plead, trumpe
tongued" for recognition. 1.-THE Conques
of Mexico" and 1.-THE Conquest of Peru
are written with a narrative charm ane
swing which grip the attention and compe
the most intense interest. It is histor,
idealized, and .vivified into almost uncanny
realism.
In the long winter evenings under tn,
reading lamp we travel with the intrepie
Ulysses and his gallant crew to the isle,
Of the lotus eaters. We share his sorrow
over the fate of his companions in tn,
cave of Polyphemus; we exalt as the craft,
Odysseus forces the cruel Gree to restor,
their human bodies to his ill-fated sailors
We convoy him through the straits o
Scylla and Charybdis, and through tn,
seas of the sirens; and joy with his ole