Evening star., 1932-02-04
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES I. TBACEWELL.

him to read Is going to strike him as
good.
Now what does one mean by good"
novel? Not necessarily of a moral tone
to please persons of certain training.
Not necessarily conforming to any ones
particular views as to morals or
knowledge or life.
No, a good novel as Jones sees it,
and as Jones friend, the good critic,
the good book selector. sees IT, is simply
story In which the author accom-
plishes what he set out to do.
What If the words the writer chooses
do not altogether meet Jones sense of
the eternal fitness of things? Jones,
the reader, has enough common sense
to realize that when he becomes Jones,
|. the writer, If he ever does, he will use
such words as he chooses himself.
He accords the same right to the
author whose book he is reading. He
realizes that his friend, the critic, knew
he would feel so, knowing him; that
he would know that while he (Jones)
might question the use of certain words,
he woud not be offended at them. There
Is great deal of difference between
questioning thing and being offended
at it.
To select a book for another human
being to read is not slight matter, to
be done ofihand, as 1t were, the same
as one might pick an apple from tree
Of apples.
All apples Of the same tree are more or
less alike, but books, even though they
look alike, are strangely dissimilar
He who can select book for you
must know you, to begin with. His
knowledge Of books must be secondary.
All the Intangible sympathies which
exist between attuned human beings
must be in existence, if you are to like
the book which he recommends
The basis for this attunement of
two human beings, whether man and
wife, or man and man, friends at work
or play Is simple honesty. You two can
be honest with each other, without one
taking advantage of statements made
1t Is the basis Of all true life, the only
life worth while for an intelligent being
The animals know something of the
same glorious state of being, because
they do not talk, and therefore no syn
cophant, no hypocrite, no trouble maker,
can distort what is said, or put wrong
construction on 1t, or deliberately twist
1t TO mean something which it did not
mean
But honesty among the animals,
while great for them, is not the same
as honesty between human beings. The
latter must know where the opportuni-
ties for distortion exist, and must de-
liberately withdraw from them as un-
worthy of them. This is the great dis
tinction.
Until one realizes 1t, and knows It
in given situation, he will not be able
to do so simple a thing as select a
Hoir
then, could he select way Of life for
another?
1t might seem an easy thing to do
10 recommend book, but it is rather
more difficult than deciding what type
Of hat looks good on another
The appearance of things In the eX
ternal world is more a matter of angles
and curves, and of harmonies wrought
with them, but in the mental atmos-
phere where books really have their
being great many more indefinite
points must be taken into consideration
My friends life has been so and so,
his likes and dislikes are such and such,
his spmpa thies are this way, his in
clination is that way. He has had so
much training, and he has trained him
self to a point Of his own making.
| VIII this book which I Recommend
to him fit in with all that? If it does,
land he has not changed since yester-
day, then he may like this book.