Evening star., 1924-02-09
The Library Table
BY THE .BOOkLovER

Many of us consider "The Life and
Letters of Walter II. Page" by Bur-
ton Hendrick. the most valuable Ii
brary work growing out Of the war.
ambassador of our country to Great
Britain during those trying years
was such a fine one, as revealed in
THE Life and Letters" that 1t is
pleasure to continue our ac-
quaintance through an earlier book
or Walter Page. now published in a
NEW edition. "A Publishers Con-
fession," originally published anony-
mously, aroused much interest at the
time, but will cause much more now
that the author is known to- be Wal
ter Page. AS successful an editor
and publisher as he was q diplomat,
Eage was well qualified to write on
the profession and business Of pub
fishing. His standards were unusual
ly high. and he had no respect for
the publisher who is Interested only
in his bookke keeping balance. the pub
FISHER who uses brass band" meth
DDS, or the vanity publisher" The
publisher who fleeces the innocent
but vain author. by putting out at
the authors expense books which he
knows viii never Sell, calls forth
rom Page the vigorous epithet
"heartIess pirate" The reason why
some novels are accepted by pub
fishers and some are not and why
sometimes a bad book succeeds and
q good one does not are discussed
from the vantage point of an expert.
This book has the same readable
quality as The Life and Letters
and is enlivened by many good anec-
dotes of authors. editors and pub
fishers.
Another book of the same type as
Walter Pages "a Publishers Confess
sion" is Remembered Yesterdays"
by Robert Underwood johnson. Like
Pages book, Johnson's memoirs are
real contribution to the subject of
American publishing. Robert Under
wood Johnson began his editorial
work on the old Scribner's Monthly,
afterward the Century Magazine. J.
G. Holland. the poet and novelist, was
at that time editor; Richard Watson
Glider followed him, and at.Gil-
der's death Johnson became editor.
Throughout his years Of editorship
johnson became intimately acauaint-
ed with many of the most famous
and Interesting literary people of al
most TWO generations. The pages Of
fsemembcred Yesterdays" are filled
Win such names as Bret Harte. Mark
TWain. Charles Dudley Warner Ma
rion Crawford. Frances Hodgson Bur
nett. Joel Chandler Harris. John Hay,
hlpiing, Theodore L. De Winnie. Frank
lF..It L
rouShs. Mary Mapes Dodge. Theodore
Roosevelt and Maurice Francis Egan.
The active part played by the Century
In promoting various causes and re-
forms inspires some of the most inn
portdnt pages Of this book. The Cen
tury and its coterie fought tireIessly
for civil service reform. free art for
est conservation. international copy
risht. international arbitration, the
reform OF tenement abuses the gold
standard and the Australian ballot.
they fought with equal zeal against
an forms Of graft and political boss
ism. Like Walter Page. Robert Tn
derwood Johnson served his country
in diplomacy. He was ambassador to
Italy during President Wilson'S sec
ond term.
Many works of fiction might be
called atmospheric. that Is, they have
such reality of place that the reader
if he have any imagination at ALL
finds himself living in the scene of
the story. sometimes quite regardless
of the characters and action. "The
Judge" by Rebecca West, is a novel
of this type. In the first part Edin-
bursh 10 seen,- felt and lived in COM
pleteiy by the reader: in the last
part the lonely home of Marian,
standing aloof alike from tho
the sordid villas of the town, is
almost equally visualized 4 writer
who has had slight attention from
the critics and is not as we'll known
as he deserves, but nevertheIess has
to n high degree this power of Great
ing atmosphere is Frederick Niven.
Hugh Walpole says in his preface to
Frederick Nivens Justice of the
Peace: AS Edinburgh is the protag-
author). 50 is Glasgow in Justice OF
the Peace I believe that there is
no other novel in the English Ian
guage in which Glasgow is SO marvel
ously rendered. The close. streets.
moving cloud, the tea shops with
their surging customers. the strange
! mixed whirl of art and Presby-
1erianism. the little pictures of
Scottish country life, all these things
compose into one beautiful whole
x X !. *
| According to Samuel McChord
Crothcrs in his essay "The Leisurable
Hours of John Wesley" in the volume
1.-The Cheerful Giver," the founder Of
Methodism was, outside his hours of
religious devotions and impaSsioned
exhortation of his large audiences, q
j ohm Wesley read much on horseback,
and commented in his Journal on the fact
that his horse almost never stumbled
{ while he rode with q slack rein, Mr.
Crothers says: He gradually adopted
the philosophy of the loose rein in
/ his reading. The ferVent
preacher seemed to have felt no re-
sponsibilty for the guidance Of his
| thoughts between sermons.
He reads the works of BolIngbroke.
Chesterfield, Voltaire, Rousseau, and
catches no harm, though many pious
see what volumes were in the fervent
itinerant's saddle bags" Some of the
other books carried about in the sad
die bag library were Tasso's "Jerusa-
lem Delivered" Ariosto,s "oslando gn;1s.e, Q
| Practice of Physic": "The Life of
Sir William Penn" Dr. Johnson's
'Tour Through Scotland" John
J Knox's History of the Church of
| Scotland" Swift's Letters" the
calculations" of Marcus Aurelius, and
| 1.-THE Life of Ignatius Loyola" Con-
! corning Marcus Aurelius. Wesley
commented: What a strange emper,,
or! And what a strange heathen /.
- 1 make no doubt but that
I this is one of those many who
shall come from the east and the
west and sit down with Abraham,
! Isaac and Jacob while the children
of the Kingdom nominal Christians,
l Ton