Evening star., 1924-05-31
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOVER

ports that to read "Garrulities of All
Octogenarian Editor" is next best
thing to sitting up with Henry Holt
till 2 or 3 o'clock In the morning
hearing the same kind of talk as is
found in his book This volume
which is further described on the title
page as containing other essays
somewhat biographical and autobi-
graphical" is not continuous auto
biography. but consists of reminis-
cences, Impressions and convictions
many years as they suggested them
selves. Part one is devoted to the au-
thor's life and his friends; part two
to his four great teachers-Frank A
Walker, E. L. Godkin, Herbert Spen-
Ger and John Fiske; and in part three
ON politics, spelling reform, marri-
age and divorce, birth control, pro-
hibition, education, religion and many
other subjectS-reached in his long
experience
Henry Holt, who is now more than
eighty-four, talks in the opening
chapter of his book in large part
about old age, or, as he puts it
about getting old and keeping
young" and the diet exercise and
habits that have proved successful in
his case. The Booklover was much
struck with what he had to say about
the use of tobacco. A quotation will
show the quality of the good talk
which makes up this book:
Il have seldom used tobacco to eX-
cess. / never smoked before ! was
six years old, and thence only at rare
intervals until l was nearly eleven.
Then / went to a school in the coun-
try where we kept pipes in our huts
in the woods, and used them pretty
freely Between thirteen and four
teen I changed schools and until
after seventeen smoked only in va
cations, two or three cigars a day,
though about the end of that time
entered college. smoked habitually
and in one vacation found / was run
ming over twenty cigars a day. From
that time until L was about sixty |
averaged perhaps four or five. About
then i really did begin TO smoke. My
good doctor explained that it takes
the average system about twelve
hours to eliminate tobacco, and if it
then has four or five hours absolute
freedom from it-siXteen or seventeen
hours abstinence in all-it Will
stand all that is apt to be put into
it, But not the slightest whiff must
be taken in the off hours. Since then
I have seldom smoked all l wanted
to-usually four or six cigars. some
times a dozen, or since the war pinch,
their equivalent in pipes. !
confess that l phrased the beginning
of these confessions regarding to-
mVSplf a LITTLE hN
imagining the holy horror of some
of my readers. The confessions are
all true, however. Tobacco can be
poison, but I've found it mighty
slow one"
The authors native Norway is the
scene of Johan Bojer's latest novel,
The Prisoner Who Sang" as it has
been of his earlier ones. The chief
character of the novel. Andra es
Petersen Berget, is a wanderer al
most equal to Goethe's Wilhelm
Meister, but a mental. not a physical
wanderer. He Graves not only new
scenes but also new personalities
and becomes in his own imagination
in turn a lay preacher, a farmer, an
engineer, a bank messenger, a gyne-
coloeist and various other things
Born in a peasant hut, the illegiti-
mate son of hunchbacked woman.
he is really poet and a great
creative artist. As fluent liar
boaster and irresponsible egoist he
is the equal of Peer Gynt. He
wanted to put on another's very skin
to be Peter today and Paul tomor-
row." He explains to the prison
chaplain: MY crimes consist in imi-
tating other people. 1 could not rest
hait oh i'm q q
fate-I longed for fresh ones" AS
Peer Gynt is saved from the button
molders ladle because Solveig has
loved him throughout his life, sc
Andrea is redeemed by his love fol-
Sylvia.
The circumstances of Robert Louis
Stevenson's marriage to Mrs. Fanny
Osbonrne are told in new book by
Lloyd Osbourne called An Intimate
Portrait of r. l.. s." Mrs. Osbourne
and her two children were staying
at Graz-sur-L -Loing when Stevenson
then only twenty-six years old, came
there also and met the Osbournes
Later they met again in Paris. and
about three years afterward stlll
again in Monterey, Mexico. Lloyd Os-
-
old. His mother told him that their
old friend "Luly' was coming. Soon
after the arrival of "Luly" another
visitor also came. Mr.. Osbourne says:
"Then my father came down for
short stay, his handsome face just q
tntonation in his voice during his
long closeted talks with my mother.
He was tall, very fine looking man,
with a pointed golden beard and a
most winning and lovable nature.
Once as I was studying my lessons in
an adjoining room and felt that
strangely disturbing quality in their
subdued voices-reproaches on her
part and most affecting explanation
on his Of financial straits at the time
of my little brothers DEATH sud
denly overheard my mother say, with
like a knife, oh, Sam, forgive me.
soon after this Stevenson, on a walk,
told the boy that he was going to
marry his mother.
British American Relations" by J.
d. whelpley, attempts to reveal to
Americans and to British their vari-
Gus factors of temperament, policies
and material circumstances which are
likely to prevent or promote the &C
complishments of closer union Of
the English-speaking peoples. Mr..
whelpley has been called in England
the unofficial interpreter of America
He has lived in England almost as
long as he has lived in America. On
the other hand, former Ambassador
George Harvey, who has written the
introduction to Mr.. Whelpley's book
has stated that he considered Mr.
WhelnIey to be the best informed
American he knew concerning Eng
lish life, conditions and affairs.
X X X X
The American Library in Paris has
prepared the following list of French
novels, published during 1928, which
IL recommends for purchase by lbra-