Evening star., 1944-12-08
This and That
By Charles Z. Trnce,DeH.

Dear Sir:
There Is q row Of books in my house
I want to tell you about. 1t Is not long
row, but 1t has been my companion for
many years, and have had more sheer
| pleasure out of 1t, am sure, than all the
better-known five feet rows of books In
the world
ut is merely six small books in red
cloth and leather not uniform In any
way except for the author. They are
English printed. I will not keep you in
suspense any longer. They are the
novels of Jane Austen.
There in the row are Persuasion,
Mansfield Park Emma 'Northanger
Abbey Sense and Sensibility and
Pride and Prejudice give them to
you in that order because that happens
to be the way they are from left to
right.
1T also happens that the one I like
least is the last in the row, Pride and
Prejudice I have read it many times,
and it still remains the least Of them
all for me. I am aware that some very
eminent readers call 1t the best of the
lot, but I am not an eminent person
in any sense. just know what like
These books have been my solace on
many wakeful night. 1t is pleasant
to feel that I have enough culture, in
its best sense, to appreciate them.
know from hard experience that many
readers do not Maybe this Is due to
being forced to read them, especially
Pride and Prejudice in school.
Il have often wondered how much
hurt the schools have done to genuine
reading taste and pleasure by their
insistence on reading certain works.
also have wondered whether the schools
still do this. I guess they do, because
I saw young girl on the bus the other
day with worn copy Of Pride and
Prejudice under her arm. felt sorry
for her. If she could have come to that
book naturally, as the result of living
and reading, she would have had q
treasure, and maybe in her small row
it would have stood first, not last, as
it does in mine.
"very truly yours, E. p"
A row Of Jane Austen shows civilized
mind.
Here are stories which may be read
time after time for their distinction,
long after every vestige of surprise is
gone.
No one but highly civilized person
every reads them.
Yet tough explorers have carried them
as their only library, and no doubt in
many a pack In the wars one or more
of Jane Austen's simple stories may be
found.
We hope that no one buys a one
volume edition. The. peerless Jane
should not be read in an omnibus edi-
ton. She should be divided up into
small books, as BELTS the smallness of
her vista.
Our correspondent might have added
that sleeplessness is not unpleasant
when these stories are at hand. They
are not exciting, even may be said to
be soporific, in the best sense.
No one. perhaps, ever sat UP until 2
am. reading Jane Austen to see how
the heroine of the moment came out.
Her ladies are foolish, at times, but not
IN the modern manner. Her heroes are
not exactly stuffed shirts, as the saying
has 1T, but at the same time they can
not be pictured storming an enemy's
foxhole.
Her people are gentle people, kind
and home-loving people, and her stories
appeal to the same sort. They have
about them certain universal quality,
which is both sensible and charming.
Emma" is our favorite of these
stories. Listen to the opening: Emma
Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich,
with comfortable home and q happy
disposition, seemed to unite some OF
the blessings of existence, and had lived
nearly 81 years In the world with very
little to distress or vex her" You can
go on from there, and we hope you
will. soon.