Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-20
THIS AND THAT.
BY CHARLEs E. TRACERELL.

specialist" In building a certain type
Of Anticipated small house.
In the maze of the new biographies,
therefore, 1t would seem that the careful
reader must move with ctrcumspection,
IL he wants to get the most fol. his
reading dollar.
Perhaps as good a way as any is to
refrain from reading biography until
| ie is at least two or three years old.
Let them try it out on the dog, "
and If the aforementioned literary bow
WOW buys 1t to any great extent, that
fact will show something.
Survival must mean something.
The fact that book is here today
that was here years ago, or 10 years
| ago, or 100 years ago, or 1000 or 1000
| years ago, does mean great deal. when
one thinks of the hundreds and thou
sands and hundreds of thousands OF
volumes which have fallen by the read
| ing wayside. >
It is an impressive procession those
ambitious books which came from the
presses, In all the glory of sRe binding,
hopeful of becoming best Sellers" each
and every one of them.
Some did, had their hour of glory
and persisted from the earth Others
did, had their hour, and still, through
all the following centuries, held on to
| literary immortality.
Others had no hour at ALL or even a
minute. but faded quickly after an in
itial edition of 1000, or maybe 1000
copies, or at the most some 5000.
The ruthless sorting out of the ages
left us the classics, those priceless
utterances of mankind which the world
does not let die.
n n
The same process is going on today
Publishers have the art of publicity
down to a nicely, so that many a book
makts a great splash, which yesterday
would have made none at all. But the
same old ruthless hand of Time is get
ting in its deadly work with them, too
The mills Of popularity today not
only grind exceeding fine, but they
grind swiftly. A book put out in a
SIS edition now will appear In a dollar
or 75-cent formal next year, and
after that you may have to hunt for q
copy.
So the discriminating, who are not
much concerned with the mirage Of
keeping up to date" wait patiently to
see what time will do
1t is now time to read Ludwig'S ma
poleon," and Sandberg's Lincoln"
Charnwood'S Lincoln" may be APP
preached. The biographies of In
dianas Beveridge remain true and
tried. Strachey charms, If he does
| not edify.
Maurois sticks out his tongue at
life and letters. and wonders If medi-
cine will continue to play any part in
the biography of the future.
The candid reader will enjoy all
this as it is going on. All acting is
not confined to the stage. nor yet to
the movies"
The larger life around us includes.
as in jeweled frame. the life and work
Of literary men, who interpret life
for US as we go along.
Writers make minds of men visible
on paper, but we do not necessarily
have to believe that they have said ali,
nor that what they have said is entirely
true.
In regard to the "new biographies, y
many find 1t pleasing to accept them
with the proverbial grain of salt. There
are too many of them to be read, in the
first place, so we will read only a few.
And We will be sure that they are good
before we read even them. Just how
we are going to know is another mat
ter, but we rather suspect that such
| articles as those of Mr. Adams will
help us nightly.