Evening star., 1946-11-28
This and That.
By Charles 3. Trace,oeH.
"FALLs CHURCH, Va.

FALLS CHURCH, Va.
Dear Sir: -
ION the 10c shelf Of a second -hand
bookshop I found this Conduct Of Life
Emerson always being to me a signal
to pounce, did so, and bore 1t of in
my purse tjust good size).
Imagine my delight when got time
to look into 1t and found the yellowed
clipping OF This and That, and the
name Of the person assume was the
first owner of the book and the 1876
date.
"The book is, of course. badly worn,
but, as you said in that article, q great
book is a great book STILL and / thought
you would like to have 1t, so 1t gives me
pleasure to send 1t to you.
sI only wish 1t were possible to get
together Emerson, C. e. T., n. M P. and
r. NJ for q conversation-and let me
listen inl yours truly, r. L.
Thanks to this correspondent for the
book and the yellow clipping, the latter
of the vintage of the early .20s.
Emerson's "The Conduct of Life" is
always good, If you like Emerson. Some
people don't. but that is their loss, many
will think.
The old. yellowed clipping gives us
pause, however.
It is not always an unalloyed pleas
ure to be faced suddenly with something
you wrote many years ago.
The only thing we like in that old
writing is the key sentence, mo matter
how cheap the binding, great book Is
a great book still"
That isn't bad, but We blush for the
rest Of it!
we can do better now, and that IS
as 1t should be.
AS for Emerson, he is always perfect,
If you like him: and II you don't, It
doesn't make any difference one way
or the other.
mo matter how cheap the binding" !"
etc. Perhaps we had q preview. In the
minds eye, Of the 25-cent books now
fairly flooding the market.
There are too many Of them, and too
many of them too cheap In content, but
the idea still remains good one. If you
can find what you want, not what some
one else wants you to take.
xkk
One who writes for newspaper can
regret at times the lack of hard covers,
but many books 60 to pieces over the
years. too.
Newspaper clippings, as they are
widely called by readers, are treasured
for years, and have the facility OF 60
ing into odd and unexpected places.
There is versatility about the clip
ping that no book ever had.
There is a certain comradeship about
newspapers and newspaper clippings
lacking in the cold, hard feel of the
book.
It is best to say that books supple
ment newspapers, and newspapers sup
plement books.
The true reader likes reading in any
and all forms.
He does rot value book because Of
its cost, nor refuse to value 1t for that
reason, either. He takes what he reads
as he finds it, never despising any sort
of writing that is well done and sincere.
Women, perhaps, are greater treasur-
ers of newspaper clippings than men,
just as they are better readers and Ger
tainly better letter writer's
Those gentlemen who advertise foun-
tain pens to write for many years swith1
out refilling, never knew my wife as
Templeton Jones put IT.. sWhy she can
write any pen ever made dry inside Of
a few months She doesn't just write
letters--iier letters are books. They
are. indeed. no hard and fast lines be-
tween books, magazines, newspapers
and letters. They all begin IN the mind
and come to life On paper.