Evening star., 1932-12-23
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

of the most thoroughly sarcastic atti-
tudes of all time.
Whatever one may think Of Gibbon
and his tour de force. there can be no
doubt that 1.-THE Decline and Fall' Is
the most lasting of all the histories
produced In that momentous century.
Only the other day one of Americas
publishers issued a new cheap edition.
Now, Gibbons work Is unquestionably
an excellent example of what Is meant
by tho term heavy" in regard to
reading.
The style Of writing throughout goes
at an even pace, with never q let-down
at any time. It is not grandiose style,
although 1t has some aspects Of It; 1t
might be called exalted" in sense,
but never fine writing" Nor is this
amazing work pedantic, as erudite as
its writer Is. Source materials are
handled with ease. In the controversies
which the history aroused, especially
in relation to the attack on Christian
ity, . most daring thing for its own or
any other age, the author still seems to
have slightly the best Of the argument,
or, If overcome, to smile lightly down
the avenue of the years.
It Is, however, a distinctly heavy
work. It would be interesting to know,
If there were any way OF finding out,
how many sincere and capable readers
have attempted THE Decline and Fall, 7"
only to find their interest declining
page by page and ultimately falling by
the wayside.
What is even more interesting Is the
fact that not one out of hundred OF
such readers would place the fault upon
the historian, but upon himself, since
any writer must be judged on what he
set out to do, not upon whether one
agrees with what he does
Gibbon tried to write history, and
the world has since agreed that ne sue
ceeded very we'll indeed. II the grand
total OF his volumes Is somewhat dull,
that may be because readers in general
are lacking In the persistence necessary
for the mastery Of more than light
fiction"
Our own Emerson once spoke-we
his journal-of the portion Of dullness
which goes with the serious tempera-
ment.
1t may be that all books which nat
urally fall into the classification OF
"heavy winter reading" bear with them
some residuum Of boredom, some unes-
capable amount Of ennui as very
essential Ingredient since by its pres
ence they scare away the triflers.
It is pleasant to think as one picks
up one of the great old classics that
not every one Is doing the same. There
is no such uniformity here as prevails
at the gates Of the motion picture
theaters and other popular prevailing
types of amusement.
Eighty thousand persons may attend
foot ball game. but not a tithe of the
| number will be reading at any given
time, and even the world around, Glib
bon's Decline and Fall" or Smiths
Wealth Of Nations" or Boswells John
son."
For every 100000 persons who would
recognize O photograph Of Greta Garbo,
| how many would there be, do you sup
| pose, who, unerring, would know the
pictured faces Of Edward Gibbon, Adam
, Smith, James Boswell?
No doubt Greta Is the prettiest and
loveliest Of that quartet. We saw her
picture in frame in a store the other
day, and defy any one to say she Is not
| pretty. But one somehow has a suS-
picion that long after her face and art
are forgotten the name and fame Of
our three homely gentlemen will be
very much alive, kept so by their Slight
| ly ponderous but essentially great books,
! fuel enough for any Winter evening.