Evening star., 1924-10-29
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEHELL.

He who looks upon book as
| merely something from which he can
| get a certain kind of information or
| entertainment in time of need is in
danger of missing a great deal, be-
cause he has never known the pleas
ure to be derived from book as a
| thing.
! A sbook as thing. you know. Is
different from book as a book. AS
a book, any volume may be read.
| studied enjoyed, put to practical use,
| placed on n shelf. thrown into n
| waste basket. yet the reader may
never once have any real love for
books az such.
The true book lover, in some de-
gree. has fondness for books as
| things. To him book is as much
| an entity as a rose, or the Washing
| ton Monument, or ton OF coal, or
| any other visible, tangible thing men
come In contact with daily.
| He. too. gets al the possible use
and enjoyment out of a book, but he
secures an additional pleasure be-
cause to him books are things to be
| treasured in Themselves. Like the
handsome cat one bids welcome in
| the house because of its glossy coat.
not just because it catches mice, n G
greets every new book that enters
utterly aside from that which the
author gave it,
Indeed, that is just what any book
has, no matter how mean or worn
its exterior is, or how sumptuouS or
bright its cover may be. Every book,
for itself and in itself, is person
ality in the great republic OF books.
and he who is so careless or indiffer-
ent as not to recognize IT as such is
In, "a af
Snob. :, l. x i.
10 thoSe who love books as things
the meanest volume in the republic
OF letters has something dignified
about it. something that makes l.,
unlike any other book, something
that calls the receptive mind to con-
temptation and repose
We get no good
hS oelng ungenerous, even to a book
ANA circulating pruits-so much helm
W. W. 40 o,nrtan, innrh reading 1t is rather when
Soul forward. headlong, into a books profnnnd
,,ihpass1oned FOR its beauty and salt OF truth
- Is 'heh we get the right good from book
ne VINO so regards books. would
no more think of breaking the back
or one of them than he would of
throwing any of his other friends
down the steps
Yet think OF the thoughtless in
dlehities heaped upon books by those
VINO nave yet to grow into the stat
ure of liking books as things,
Rave you ever had treasured
volume. one whose inside and ont :
side are precious to you, "A book per
maps given TO you as present that
! has an added sentimental yaIue ve,
which in itself is such fine exl
ample of the bookmaker's art. and
has in it such treasure of worth thai
you would not part with it for any-
thing whatever?
ifere 1t lies upon table, one of
Your priced possessions. You have
handled 1t with extreme care. as be-
hts its worth, both as a book and as
a thing In comes kindly old Bill
Jones, who admires books in the abb
stract.
Pretty book" he saws. grabbing
the unsuspecting volume from the
table IN grip of iron. You shudder.
You know what is going to happen.
You have seen this book murder
practiced before. Always YOU have
felt the same way about il, yet in
bly, you have acted in the same
cowardly fashion.
Let go that book, you strangler,"
your soul would cry out Yet the abb
surd conventions of polite society
strangle those words on your lips,
and all that issues forth is a weak :
Yes, pretty book"
Bill seizes the front cover in his
left hand, the back in his right. You
close your eyes. The other jerks the
book open violently, there comes a
crack, and the back of the poor book
is broken forever. Bill, however. not
caring for books as things, sees
nothing wrong at all. but goes on,
leaving behind him split that time
will never heal.
Ever thereafter you will shiver
every time you pick up that book.
which falls open automatically at the