Evening star., 1923-12-22
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOvER

Carol as tho story which best expresses
the Christmas spirit. ! believe it
should be reread, preferably aloud
to the family, every year at Christ
mas time, just as tho good citizen
should read the Declaration of Inde-
pendence each Fourth of July. After
you have read 1t I suggest a reading
In the December Atlantic Monthly OF
A. Edward Newton's characterize
ton of 1t entitled "The Greatest
Little Book in the World" Mr.. New
ton quotes with approval the opinion
of Lord Jeffrey that "the Carol had
done more good than all the pulpits
In Christendom." He points out that
although 1t is just eighty years since
1t was first published 1t still remains
best seller and that 1t has been
translated into almost every lam
guage In the world. The greatness of
the Carol" he says comes from the
fact that 1t makes every one want
ito make the world lietle better"
Dickens" he continues, gave Christ
mas a new meaning; from being
merely a festival of the church, kept
to some extent by church people, he
made 1t a universal holiday, and he
did this without in any way dero-
eating from it's scored character"
X X
Mr.. Newton is a book collector and
specializes in editions of Dickens. He
relates that he was showing his
books to friend who remarked at
the number of editions he had Of the
Carol" and asked him IL he was
running a corner in them. His reply
was that as Dickens collector he was
obliged to have all the early issues
and said he, IT always keep a few
Spares on hand for emergencies.
When asked what he would call a
emergency" he replied: well, If !
were to meet a man at Christmas
time who had not read the book,
should consider that an emergency
requiring immediate action"
Readers of this column may recall
that year ago I expressed a prefer
enoe for "a Visit From st. Nicholas
as my favorite Christmas poem. A
discussion of the authorship of the
poem IL given in the newly publish
ed book, Famous Single Poems" by
Burton Z. Stevenson. 1t appears
that the authorship was long claim
ed by his descendants for Henry Liv-
ingston, farmer, but Mr.. Stevenson
concludes that the poem was written
by DIR. Clement c. Moore for his chill
dren. Mr.. Stevenson takes as the
theme Of his book a quotation from
oliver Wendell Holmes: "I would
rather risk future fame upon one
lyric than upon ten volumes" He
quotes fifteen sucn famous lyrics"
sometimes giving variant editions
and in one case a parody. With
much ingenious detective work,
which often makes his book excit-
ing reading. Mr.. Stevenson discusses
the cases of disputed authorship and
sits the evidence of various claim
quoted and discussed are There Is
No Death" by John Luckey Nc
Creerys who spent much of his life
in government employment and was
NJ Roses Kaiser & Co" the recita-
tion of which by naval officer dur
ing the Spanish American war was
almost an international incident;
waiting" by John Burroughs; Ben
Bolt" by Thomas Dunn English;
Beautiful Snow" John w. Watson:
Nothing to Wear" by William
Wheeler Wilcox.
Just at this season there is much
demand for collections of Christmas
songs and poetry. Especially TO be
recommended as admirably filing
that need are two small volumes en-
titled Christmas in Poetry" first
and second series, the selections for
which have been chosen by a COM
mittee Of the Carnegie Library
School Association (Pittsburgh). The
compilers have included many an
cient Christmas carols drawn from
England, Russia, France Spain and
Italy; Christmas hymns ancient and
modern, Martin Luthers Cradle
Hymn" Phillips Brooks 20 Little
Town Of Bethlehem" Richard Wat
stocking Song on Christmas Eve"
| and many others by such poets as
Kenneth Grahame. Robert Herrick.
Josephine Preston Peabody, Francis
Thompson: G. X. Chesterton and Eu-
gene Field.
s+ Xxx
"Sir John Deering." by Jeffrey Far
romance, a cloak and dagger ro-
nance of the late eighteenth century.
Sir John Deering is a remarkable
gwordsman and also has the dis
tinction Of being considered the
wickede man in England. The other
characters are all fighting noblemen,
beautiful ladies and confidants. hench-
men and maids who are attached to
the noblemen and beautiful ladies'
The plot contains smuggling, poach-
ing, mysteries, fighting. murders and,
the end almost all the characters
are paired off and tied up in matri-
mony.
The politics of a small nation are
not at all uninteresting, provided
the nation be, as in the case Of Hol-
land, more or less in the thick of
world business. Holland Under
Queen wilhelmina," by Prof. A. ].
Barnouw of Columbia University,
covers the period from the accession
to the Dutch throne of Wilhelmina,
at the age of ten, to the present time.
In a foreword Edward w. Box speaks
highly of DIR. Barnouw's peculiar fit
ness for writing such a book and
calls 1t a model of condensation.
Queen Wilhelmina, like Queen Vic
toria, the author shows, has devoted
herself to being a wise ruler and has
spent no energy on the various forms
Of dilettantism, as did, for example.
the ex-kaiser. Since her maturity
she has made 1t her first business to
be we'll informed concerning all af-
fairs of state and spends much time
in studying state papers. Her in
I'D
economic development of her coun-
try has been very important. Prof.
Barnouw answers at some length
the charge that Holland was pro-