Evening star., 1924-11-01

Most readers of books at some time
or other have come across an author
of whom they thought they would
never tire.
II have become sort Of fed up on
all the rest" one would say, but
here is the real stun at last. This
Is great! do not see how / can ever
become tired of this
Alas, for human hopes, the great
ness Of books, tho frailty of mans
likes and dislikes!
At the end Of a certain period
1t may be a week, 1t may be month,
1T may be q year-the new love
wanes. The enthusiasm that seemed as
if it might last forever begins to cool
and the great author is put away on
the shelves to give way for another
Thus it was when Dickens came
into ones life. One did not see but
that these books would last one for
ever, always to be as enthralling as
at that first reading, when, with bat
ed breath, the adventurers Of Little
Nell were followed through to the
bitter end.
While we still have the greatest
fondness for Dickens. we have to con-
fess, in our secret heart OF hearts,
that never again can we get as much
out OF him as We did at that frst
reading.
Something has gone out of his
books for US. 1t Is still there for
others, perhaps, especially the young
people who are coming along, but for
US it is as the touch of vanished
hand.
We simply have completed another
of our cycles of reading, that is all
Every one reads in cycles, whether he
realizes it or not. Every stage has It's
charms, and it's memories. What has
been great to US once can never be
other than great to US in the end. In
the meantime, however, 1t can hold
second place to new enthusiasm.
* X X \
These cycles in reading vary. OF
course, with the various tempera-
ments Of children and men.
Most of us begin with an enthusi-
asm for fairy tales. The adventures
of the famous four little pigs and
the wolf that did huff and pun and
blow their house in, give way to the
more mature stories of the brothers
Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.
These treasure troves disappear
from the child's horizon, too. in the
same way that they succeeded Jack
and the Beanstalk." Perhaps the
next stage is the Horatio Alger
books. followed by the even more
famous Henty books. Probably most
boys prefer the latter.
SO ingrained is war and strife in
human nature that even boys Of
peaceful disposition seem to like the
Henty books the best. OF the scores
of these semi historical adventure
stories, perhaps The Cat of Bu-
bastes" is the best, although each
person may hold some other par
ticular volume in precious memory.
These gave way to the nickel nov
els" about which the mothers Of
America made the greatest literary
nisjudgment in all history, since they
frowned upon stories entirely inno-
cent in nature, usually well written
and embodying generally the highest
ideals Of manly conduct.
What memories are those which
throng of Frank Merriwell. Nick Car
ter, Old King Brady. The Boys of
10" Buffalo Bill. Fred Fearnot and
others, Why. their very names seem
poetical, even judged at this dis
tance.
1 have read a stack of these paper
books, which, If they could have been
piled on top of each other, would
have topped the Washington Monu-
ment.
Iooay tnere is no need TO apologize
for this taste of ones boyhood days.
it has become generally recognized.
of recent years, that the old dime
novels were not as bad as painted.
1t was perfectly possible to read how
Old King Brady raided Chinese
opium den single-handed. and then
turn right around and enjoy Shakes
peare's Julius Caesar" Thousands
of boys did it.
X X
To many the novels of Walter Scott