Evening star., 1926-08-21
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BOOkloUer.

RAUL Sn1llnS, III tIc FAuil oliu"> >''
only two or three miles from White
Pine Camp. and the seat of the Presl-
dents executive offices this Summer.
has a very interesting history which
is told by Alfred L. Donaldson in his
History of the Adironda cks." Paul
Smith was the dean of pioneer guides
and hotel men. He outlived them
all and outshone them all in success
and popularity" His real name was
Apollos; he was nicknamed POL"
which in time became Paul. The
foundation of his early success in his
first primitive house Of entertainment
on ST. Regis Lake was undoubtedly
his wife's ability to cook a good din
ner, and his. own gift of telling u
good story. He soon became a fad
with people of fashion and wealth,
though he never inconvenienCed him
self in the least to show them def
erence. Soon they began to buy land
and put up luxurious camps and, of
course, they bought the land. lumber
and supplies from Paul. The orig
inal lodge-hotel was slowly added to.
but city improvements were for a
long time not considered necessary.
There Is story Of q guest who had
been trying for some minutes to ring
what he supposed to be bell, and
finally descended to the piazza. where
Paul was tilted back against the
clapboards telling a story. and de-
manded some water. Paul went into
the kitchen and brought out pitcher,
which he handed to the guest. and,
pointing to an object nearby. said:
There's the pump. Go and help
There's plenty of water for every
body up here" Mr.. Donaldson com
ments: This was Il typical incident.
1T breathes the spirit of the man and
the place. No discourteSy was meant.
Simply, direct methods prevailed. You
either liked them, or you didn't, and
Paul did not try to sway your de-
cision."
Paul Smith had natur. business
ability. and the Civil War period
pre- we'd profitable for him. At one
time "he learned that the Mutual Life
insurance Co. of New York had fore
closed mortgage on 13 900 acres of
land adjoining his. This land had
been numbered over and consequently
was not considered commercially very
valuable. But Paul had begun to
see new standards of value in Adj
rondack real estate, II it contained
'e.iNS AiOhlS anu were near a DaS6
or supplies. .. He went to New
York and entered the Offices of the
Mutual Life early one morning He
oHered to take the 1900 acres at
$4,000. the company's price, if they
would take $1,000 down and the bal
ance on contract. The offer was ac-
cepted. After paying off his
contract and taking title to the prop
erty he sold five acres as camp site
TO the Carrots of Baltimore for
S20,000-what he had paid. less in
terest, Tor the entire tract. Mrs. Paul
Smith died in 1891. She not ONLY
was good cook and excellent house.
keeper, but. bein: the better penman
or the two. kept the books, made out
the blllS. and even drew many of the
iand and labor contracts for her hus-
band In the early days and he always
boasted with pride that he had never
loSt any money on q contract she
mad drawn Some of his old friends
and patrons gave him birthday sur
prise dinners, with speeches. on his
seventy ninth birthday and again on
his eighty fifth. On both occa sons
ne said, with tears in his eyes: "How
wish my wife could see this" He
f1nally Incorporated as "The PauI
Smiths Hotel Co." and turned the
management over to his sons. while
he remained president of the com
pany. He also incorporated the
Paul Smiths Electric Light and
Power and Railroad Co." which in
cluded an electric road from Lake
Clear junction to the door of his
hotel. In his latest years he snent
his Summers at home and travelled
during the Winters. He went to Can.
ada and California, but never crossed
the ocean.
"A contribution to the folklore of our
South is Percy MacKayes Tall Tales
OF the Kentucky Mountains" His Ole
Sol is a fit companion for Uncle
Remus. Ole Sol, or Solomon Shell.
was a real person, who died at the
age of %, some years before Mr. Mac.
Kaye went to the Kentucky noun
talns hunting for tales. He was the
famous story-teller Of the region. and
on account of his abilities was a vel.
come guest for miles around. If the
mountain women sometimes accused
him of 'contraptious lie foolin's' and
deserted to the next room. they usu-
ally came "toe-teeterin' back again
shortly to listen. There are 10 tall
tales in the volume. Hunting ex-
ploits, religion, domestic quarrels and
are told In the mountain dialect. with
the exaggeration and boasting which
the title implies.
The American village is becoming
| sufficiently important to be the sub
| Ject of sociological treatment, and not
merely in a short chapter of some
long volume, but in a book entirely
devoted to it-"American villages
by G. Luther Fry. The book is the
result of much research under the
auspices Of the Institute of Social and
Religious Research. 1t is not exactly
a popular book. There are too MANY
statistical tables for that But it will
be of great value to the student of
American problems in civics and So
GEOLOGY. According to Mr. Fry. one
in eight Americans lives In a village.
so the village is an important factor
in national life. He finds the village
a stronghold of conservatism. the
seat OF trade and manufacturing in.
terests on q small scale and the home
of clergymen and old people Village
population Is more predominantly ma
tive white than is the population of
the average city. Mr.. Fry concludes
that village population is not de-
clining, as some sociologists have held.
From 1900 to 1920 the increase in vii
lage population was As per cent,
whereas the increase in the entire
population was only 80 per cent. The
increase is greater in the South and
the Far West than in the East.
X X X
The modern English novel. as a dis.
tinct type and as related to it's literary
ancestors of the eighteenth century, is
discussed by Cornelius Weygandt, pro-
fessor Of English literature in the
University Of Pennsylvania, in his
book, "A Century Of the English
Novel" The period covered is that
from the heyday of Scott to the death
Of Joseph Conrad Many nresent.