The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-11-20
BURCES JOHNSON TALKS ON BOOKS AT LOCAL SCHOOL
Miss Angel Will Address Jewish Women of City
 November 28
AUTHORS CLUB RAISES
 $4OO FOR RED CROSS
Sodality of St. Augustine's k, Church Has Whist Party
 Tonight

|
 Delightfully."- entertaining was Prof
 Burges Johnson, who spoke to the Courtland School Graduates Associa. ton at the home of Mrs. F. c. Bas. SICK on Park avenue, yesterday after- noon. His listeners went from one 1 delighted chuckle to another as he remln1sced concerning his early ex- periences in tie great publishine houses of G. P. Putnam & Son. and Harper's. He did not hesitate to re- late humorous incident after humor- ous incident with the jokes mostly on himself.
 He began his talk by saying that he did not wish to lecture but would rather just gossip a bit about books First he explained the mechanical end, describing the process of print ing and then getting into the publish CTS part he related anecdotes of Mark Twain, Ebert Hub bard Arnold Ben nett and other well known authors his.incidents being out of the ordin- ary run of such stories. enhanced by the personal touch.
 |, To his mind the worst thing about book is the tradition that it is val uable because it is a book Books that have outlived their usefulness should be destroyed, or at least not kept. Some books should be burned and some we have no right to give away to foist on others. By these statements he said he did not mean books that were indecent or immor- al. Books on theology that has been proven spacious, and said Prof. John son. there is nothing so dead as a dead theology Books of science whose theories have been proven fa1la- cious. All these are worse than use- less.
 His anecdotes of the Dutch Treat Club frequented by writers, artists, |. all of the prominent men of New York ih those professions, were ex- .tremely funny. It was a rule of the club that no one be asked to speak at the weekly luncheon One famous actor was bidden to lunch but did not know of the rule. At the end of the meal he could be seen getting in readiness to answer the call. Some of the members would lead him on bit, Just to see him get all set. But he wasn't asked to speak and was a mighty bewildered man in conse- quence.
 When Arnold Bennett was in this country he accepted one dinner in- vitation and that was to this Dutch Treat Clubs annual formal dinner given in the evening. He accepted on one condition, and he even put it in writing that he was not to be asked to speak. The club agreed. After the dinner was over Rupert Hughes asked permission to speak, and getting to his feet he almost open ly insulted the guest of honor, called his famous novel, "Clayhanger, "Straphanger'' and made other re- marks along the same lines. Member aftet4member did the same thing un- til finally Bennett leaned over to the toastmaster, and said something to him in a most agitated manner. Ris- ing to his feet the toastmaster an nounced that Bennett has begged for a chance to answer.
 The committee of the Authors Club in charge of the most successful con cert at the High school last evening, feels sure that the money taken in will be in the neighborhood of S400. This money is to go to the Red Cross. The club is to be congratu- lated on the SUCCESS dCAlCsco e@AAo OA1 the excellence of the program.
 Every nation and every people have certain fundamental traditions that persist through generation after seneration. Some exhibit this in the form of sculpture, others in paintings and still others in literature. In this way and because of these things we are able to study the life of a nation that has perished as a nation but which lives in some form of art.
 Every nation sings and tells stories There is no exception to this. True. the songs are widely different and are rendered in many forms but it still is true that for every nation this form of it's art is found whether or not any other form persists NY % The war has produced such study of the countries of Europe as was never before known. In an attempt to get to the fundamentals people are delving into the literature, arH history, language and geography of all the warning nations. To all these students the coming of Mrs. Alexina Carter Barrell who will give a pro- gram in the auditorium at the High school on Thursday night on the ..Folk Songs and Folk Dances of the Allied Nations of Europe and America" will be of especial interest.
 Mrs. Barrell comes under the au- spices of the City Normal school with the fiattering announcement that of all the out of town talent utilized last broadening the horizon educationally of the student teachers, she is the only one asked to return.i Accompan- jed by Miss Lynch, interpretative dancer, she will show in song and dance the fundamental emotions of the nations at war on the Allied side.
 Miss Elizabeth Angell will meet the group of workers and their. friends tha twere explained by Mrs. Law renee Finklestone on Tuesday, Nov. 2S This gathering will bring togeth- CT the prominent Jewish women of the city who will have the idea of