The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1920-03-20
NEW BOOKS

Treasure Island" which has de-
| lighted the hearts OF thousands of boys
came into being to please a 12-year-old
| step-son of Robert Louis Stevenson.
who up to that time thought Il. l.. s. q
writings very poor and uninterestng.
This step-son, Lloyd Osbourne. per-
haps the greatest and most severe
critic Stevenson ever had, tells the
story thus:
Years ago when | was a little boy
OF IL | was spending my holidays
in Scotland with my mother and my
step father. He was an unknown and
unsuccessful author who wrote books
that never passed beyond one small
edition and whose gay acquiescence in
failure cost me many childish pang.
knew that his books were very poor
for being a geat reader, / had toiled
through every one of them. Indeed,
they were so uninteresting that | even
wondered he had as many as $50 readers
whom he claimed.
Feeling that he ought to do better
| often timidly demonstrated with him,
pointing out that while he wrote beau
tifully, his faults seemed to be in the
choice of subjects. But his only an
swer was to burst out laughing and
then to tell me with humorous i'm
pressiveness that there was certainly
one thing he would never be-that was
a popular author.
THE thing that puzzled me was that
ne was as fond AS | of Mayne Reid.
Fenimore Co = Jules Verne and
Marryat. 1t COS not as though he
didn't appreciate good books. and GER
tainly none of the $50 readers of An
Island Voyage. could possibly have re-
ognized in him the Indian, or frontiers
man, or explorer. or navy officer with
accompanying midshipmen) landing with
secret dispatches on a hostile coast,
which served to give such delight to
90 walks together and always brought
me home in such a glow of romance.
That idolized step-father of mine was
the most inspiring playfellow in the
world, which made It seem all the sad
der that he was unable to write a book
worth reading
I'VE lived In a small house that was
known in the neighborhood by the
somewhat depressing name Of the late
Miss McGregor's cottage and here one
rainy morning, busy with a box of
paints, I happened to be tinting the
map OF an island | had drawn. Stevenson
came in as | was finishing 1t, and with
his affectionate interest in everything
l was doing. leaned over my shoulder,
and was soon celebrating the map and
naming 1t. / shall never forget the
thrill of Skeleton Island. Spy Glass
Hill, or the heart stirring climax Of the
three red crosses And the greater
climax still when he wrote down the
Treasure Island at the top right hand
corner! And he seemed to know so
much about II. too-the pirates, the
buried treasure and the man who had
been marooned on the island. Oh for
story about It" I exclaimed in Il
heaven of enchantment and somehow
conscious OF his own enthusiasm in the
idea.
Then, after writing in more names
he put the map In his pocket. and
can recall the little feeling of dsap-
pointment ] had at losing 1t. After all,
1t was my map. and had already be-
come very precious, owing to its asso-
citation with pirates, and having been
found in an old sea chest that had
been lost and forgotten for years ana
years. But my stepfather took it away
and the next day at noon | was called
up mysteriously to his bedroom Che al
ways spent the mornings writing in
bed. and the first thing | saw was my
beloved map lying on the coverIet. Stlll
wondering why had been summoned
so specially, and not little proud and
eXpectant, | was told to sit down while
my stepfather took up some sheets OF
manuscript and began to read aloud
the first chapter Of Treasure Island
Thus one of the greatest, the most
universal, of all romances came to be
written, and that | should have had n
share in its inception has always been
source of pleasure to me-"
1.-THE Book OF the Damned"
1.-THE Book OF the Damned" by
Charles Fort: published by Bent &;
LiveriRht. This is n remarkable book,
q startling book. TO some people it
will no doubt be an intensely irritating
book. Mr.. Fort thrusts n ruthless
hand into what we have come to accept
as the mechanism of the universe and
whether or not the large spoke which
he has put into the wheels will inter-
fere with the smooth running OF that
s S se %sGhan'm Ts Be Book 6 to tine the
Damned" is unique in that It is scien-
thc discussion by a man who rails at
scientists. There have been metaphy-
scans before who spurn the appear
ances OF being out OF the conclusion OF
absolute negation, but no one else has
gone about II in lust such a way as
the author of THE Book of the
Damned"
Mr.. Forts quarrel is with dogmatic
science. Il know no positive differ.
ence between Christian Science and
science. Lord elvin and "A Mrs.
Eddy and something not to their liking
1t doesn't exist"
by the damned he means the ex-
cluded, and he has gathered a vast
amount Of data which science has eX-
cluded: rains Of blood falling fakes OF
raw meat. strange carved stones-all
sorts OF phenomena which have either
been explained away nv science or
given the Christian Science treatment
OF negatlon.
These things are. according TO Mr..
Forts theory Indications of the exist
ence Of other worlds whose inhabitants
are endeavoring 10 hold communica-
ton with ours.
'1t there he not an overhead traffic
In commodities similar 10 our own COM
moditics. carried on over this earths
ocean then 7 am not the deep sea flsh
think ! am"
sea fishes, or intcrmcdatists. Al that
IL commonly called existence Is n
pseudo existence and all appearances
In II partake Of It's essential fictitious
ness. Intermedlatism is merely the