Evening star., 1924-10-29

place careless william opened II too
violently. How could you remon-
strate with him7 He would call you
the worst sort of crank, brand you
as 'fncky,' whatever that means.
and secretcly despise you into the
bargain.
This sort OF manhandIer of books
has a cousin in the person who used
wetted thumb to turn tho leaves OF
nice new volume. Many real gen
tlemen and gentlewomen do this. so
no one can call II crime In any
sense of the word
1t simply happens that they are not
fond of books as things. To them q
book is something to be read. to be
used. to be enjoyed. If "a wetted
| thumb solves the difficulty of close
clinging pages. why. how fortunate
that Nature made the thumb 40 handy
and saliva so plentiful.
Yet II gives us start to gee som"
kindly old person whom we would not
offend for the world, thus giving one
Of our favorite volumes "a page by
page baptism.
1t is not that the practice is insan :
itary, although 1t certainly Is all OF
that The point is that 1t is entirely
unnecessary. There ought to be a
school started to teach these well
much as they teach schoolgirls now
adays the proper way to hold baby.
1t Is just as easy to separate pages
with dry fingers as wetted thumbs,
once fair trial has been made of the
method, and the wear and tear on the
book is much less, to say nothing of
the irritation saved to the nerves OF
the man who loves his books az
things. X +
Now Wordsworth loved his books,
too. and yet he cut the pages with
a buttered knife that had just done
duty on the toast. How could he do
1t? He. a poet, do such a trick as
that,
The only answer is that Words
worth, great poet though he was,
did not love his books as things. Amy
man who can butter his toast with
his knife, then use the same knife
to cut the pages of a book is lack
ing in great elemental something.
One would expect "a man like that
to look at his hostess new dress and
blurt out: mo, l don't like it," I'm
doubtedly, he would eat peas with his
knife, well as cut the pages Of a
book with it.
quisite ode on immortality, yet we
would not invite him-willingly-to
inspect our library. He would turn
out to be Il vcritahle bear in a china
shop, a pig in the living room, a tur-
tie in thin glass tumbler
We would rather have him out on
the veranda. and tell him Al Jolson,s
latest turtle joke. speaking of turtles.
Two frogs were talking together,
when one asked the other to go get
him some headache medicine. The
second frog, refusing. turtle that
happened to be there. volunteered to
90, and disappeared over the wall of
the pool. The sick frog and his com
panion waited and waited. Months
went by. Il have had this headache
for two months now" compla ined the
first frog. Il knew that turtle never
would come back" Just then the tur-
Just for that I'll not go and get
your old medicine" he said.
4 + X
There is one warming that ought
to be issued to those who like books
as things. who treasure a particular
volume for itself and in itself, who
would rather have that one book
than all the other copies that might
be printed.
The danger is in letting this feel
ing become an obsession- BY this
1 do not mean to reflect upon the
collector of old and rare books. He
is the king of all those who love
books for themselves. Rather,
mean those who have a certain fussy
regard for their books, who are
afraid to loan them lest one bend d
single page, or hesitate to take them
out for walk because a drop OF
rain might spill upon them.
Between this extreme and that OF
cutting the pages with buttered
knife. there is but one choice: Spread
the butter on thick. cut that fail
new volume with avidity! 1t is bet
ter to have loved and lost than never
to have loved at all