Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES h. TRACEU ELL.

Of ours. or "Pickwick Papers" that
great, hearty slice of old English life.
On a blustery, raw afternoon when
a nor'easter has set in and there is
not much to do outdoors for even the
heartiest. nothing could be better than
following the adventures of Samuel
Pickwick
The papers are blustery in their own
right They breathe the atmosphere of
n rougher civilization than Is ours Of
today in the great cities And 1t Is
well for us now and then to turn back
the pages of time and take such stories
in hand
The ale and the meat pies and the
stage coaches have their place in his
tory, lust as loud speakers, chocolate
sodas and automobiles have theirs.
Dickens told us Convincingly and
charmingly of the former One may
wonder If any modern writer will leave
as imperislable record of the latter.
ThackcrayS Henry Esmond" We
we're glad to find on the shelves. This,
too is a good seaside story, although a
better selection would be Vanity Fair,
in our opinion.
The beauty of such shore libraries Is
that they are growth, books being
brought down year by year, either by
the cottage owner or by friends, and
most probably by both.
Thus each such collection repre-
sents a composite picture OF reading
tastes. Fiction easily carries the
shelves. Little or no poetry is in
Guided.
Just how the primary arithmetic got
in we do not know, unless from the
hands of some youngster who promised
IT, T. I,r} ha t,+nttiG Hhn1aO nm
the subject during the holidays,
We feel convinced that ne never did,
and were happy that he had not; for
there was not a page turned over at
The corner. This was as 1t should be.
Who wants to study how many square
yards of carpet it will take to cover a
room 9 by Is feet when he may be
studying the number of crabs in the
bay. or the quantity Of fish IN the
ocean. or experiencing the brute force
Of the breakers, or exploring the mys-
FERROUS Softness of girls hand at
night? This latter problem. Of course,
If the Young man were bit olderO
X x II
We do not care to put into cold
print lust how few of those books we
had read Perhaps no one would. II
Is NOT GSSEHbIdi 10 uNIDE tIidt Olie SilNuANi
have read Hardy's sonber tale. Jude
the Obscure" Or that one know Denny
by heart.
We were glad TO see Kingsley's
Yeast" on the shelves There was a
book We had been promising TO read
for more years than we would like to
admit We decided to read it. Is It
necessary to state that it is still un-
read?
After all. books at the seashore are
mainly ornamental. As long as the sun
shines and companions are gay there
is little need of them. We az all like
the boy and his arithmetic is much
more fun to be in sunshine, on the
beach or in the water than to sit read
ing in the shade.
We may read any time. but only a
fortunate few can know the seashore
day by day. month by month. year after
year, Yet II is pleasant TO have the
quiet companionship of books, excel
lent to know that they are there. in
spring 10 feel their presence amid so
much distraction.
Like cats, which ornament a home,
books are old friends. whether one reads
them or not. Just as one may not pay
much attention TO the household pet,
yet nevertheless may feel its subtle
charm, so visitor appreciates the shore
library, whether he reads any of its
books or not.