IN THE LIBRARY

Northern Advocate, 2 July 1927, Page 9

IN THE LIBRARY

(BY '‘.THE BOOKMAN;”)

AUTHORS AND THEIR EXPERIENCES. What a pity it is that books cannot write their autobiographies! What amazing stories some of them could tell about themselves—-of labour and the midnight lamp, of despair conquered by patience and diligence; of inspiration found by accident and art by authorship, says a writer in T.P.’s Weekly. Many great authors like Joseph Conrad (wo are reminded by his letters just published) found the writing of their books a terrible labour. Over a quarter of a century ago Conrad confessed that “the work itself becomes like the work in a treadmill—a thing without joy, a punishing task.” On the oilier hand, prolific authors like .Scott, Thackeray and Dickens revelled in writing. Trollope was a most industrious writer. He believed in getting his nose down to the grindstone; yet it cannot be said that the Barchester novels arc cither otiose or wearisome in places.

Mr Pett Ridge urges that the youngwriter should set aside appointed hours for regular work; application of intellect being as important as intellect itself. “The people who) day they write ■when the lit comes on them have trouble to discover a really good art.” Conrad experienced a far greater tax ou his mentality than he had oyer felt on his physical powers —and he was a man who had served as a sailor before the mast! Moreover, he Fad overcome the handicap of foreign origin in order to give to us those wonderful stories in the style for which he is so famous—stories written in a tongue, the intricacies of which he had first to learn.

The prison cell could tell us many a tale of famous books. How much of his writing did Raleigh accomplish during those weary years in the Tower, one wonders! There was another prisoner of the Tower —Janies I. of Scotland, who was “detained” in this and other English prisons for nineteen years. His poem, “The King's Quhair” was eomp/bsed during that period and was discovered in 1783.

To the persecution of St Peter and St P;uil we owe those letters and works that .have become part of the grand literature of the world. Oscar Wilde likens the prisoner Peter to the Pope in the Vatican in one of his sonnets. Then he himself becomes a prisoner and gives the world his wonderful prose poem of penitence. It was in prison, too, that Bunyan was able to turn his pen to numerous pieces of prose and verse, and by his incarceration of 1675 we have been presented with his “Pilgrim’s Progress.” The writing of some books might wc.ll be a miracle.

AN EFFECTIVE REBUKE. Commander Hartford, in his book, “Commander, E.N.,” tells an excellent story of the way the ship’s doctor cured a sarcastic sentry.

The doctor is a great power on sea. In one ship the surgeon had a habit of humming during his hours of leisure; a -sentry passing his cabin, who disliked him, imitated him with obvious sarcasm. The doctor heard, and called out to him, “That’s a nasty cough you’ve got!” he said. The sentry denied that he had a cough; the doctor insisted, and sent him off to the sick bay. There his throat was examined.

“Yes, it is as I feared. X have had a prescription made up, and you are to attend the sick-bay every four hours when the sick-bcrth attendant will _ see that you take a dose of it. You need’nt come between 2 pan. and fi a.m. Meanwhile you can tell the sergeant-major that you are to carry oh duty as before.’ I have hopes that your throat will be quite all right again in a week or so.” The proscription was not pleasant; and the sentry never made fun of the surgeon again!

“■Home, Sweet .Home-” is always considered a typically English song, yet the words arc written 13y an American and were- inspired by memories of an American home. That home, the lovely thatched, cottage of which John Howard Pajme speaks so movingly, is about to be sold, and its fate is 'uncertain. '.The cottage is really a weather-beaten old farm house, nestling under huge trees at Easthampton, Long Island, New York. The village in which it was built, nearly three hundred years ago, was called by the English settlors Maidstone, after the town from which thev came.

j CRANFORD WAYS AND DAYS. y Cranford was a hamlet where wo|mon reigned, so Mrs Gaskell writes in. her delightful story. If, once in awhile a man found himself alone at an evening party—alone with those quaint Cranford ladies—he sought excuses, later on, to keep away from the “lady* like' ’ place—his regiment, his ship, dr j pressing business —and Cranford went t on very well!

‘ ‘ For keeping the trim gardens full j of choice flowers without a weed to i speck them; for frightening away little boys who look wistfully at said flowers through the railings; for rushing out at the geese who venture into the gardens if the gates are left .open; for deciding all questions of literature and politics without troubling themselves with unnecessary reasons. Of arguments, , . . the ladies of Cranford are quite sufficient.”

Mrs Gaskell knew Cranford and loved it. She came to live there-r-thpt is in Knutsford—when she was. a small child; so, all through her story, fact and fancy are most .sympathetically - and lovingly interwoven. She writes of the “elegant economy” practiced in the little town, where it was considered \vulgar “to give expensive in the way of eatable or drinkable at the evening entertainments. Wafer bread-and-butter and sponge-biscuits were all that the Honorable Mrs Jamieson gave;” and though many of them . were far from rich in worldly goods, they were all aristocratic, and “none of us spoke of money, because that subject savoured , of' commerce and trade.” In the tiny town good-will 1 ruled, and .partly—we' are tempted to believe —because, “.although the ladies of Cranford know .all each other's proceedings, they are exceedingly indifferent to each other'-s opinions. ” - Miss Mary and Miss Limy Holland, (the Miss Deborah and Miss Matty Jenkins of “Cranford”), were cousins . of Mrs GaskeU, for whom she had a most affectionate regard. Miss Mary, who spent some time in London, was remarkable in many ways, and num- ■ bered among her friends people of’distinction and worth, of whom were Hallam and Miss Edgeworth. Return- " ing toKntusford from those wider. , contacts, she became an influence for good in her old home. Gentle, loving Miss Lucy, who painted this water 1 colour of Knutsford in 1846, had a fine artistic touch and taste, and we thank her for leaving us this attractive picture. '

Twenty years after the publication of “Cranford,” a niece of Miss Marft ■ and Miss Lucy, Mrs Mary Sibylla Holland, wrote inimitable letters from, that demure town, with almost ,as sympathetically humourous a tone as . Mrs Gaskell: — '

‘‘Church House, Knutsford, ■ May, 1847. ' ' “Time goes slowly in this old-world place. . . . Aunt Mary still blames ‘ Lady Holland for‘dressing the boys in • 1 jackets instead of dn green velvet: - 1 coats, with gold buttons and wide frill- , ed collars, in which they looked ,so handsome. And Aunt Lucy says there were many njore birds* nests before the Reform Bill, which taught the farmers to trim their hedges so close, and wonders that I never heard of Romper Low, with highwayman, who liiyed .on the Heath here, and had an -underground passage to Old Tabley, and wasso civil to the Miss Eumbolds when' they met him and asked him to take care of them over the Heath to Church House, and how Dr Holland met him afterwards and thanked him. It is so strange to hear all this, and the very primroses and lambs look as though •'■■■ 4 they .were only a remembrance too. ’* : One evening, just as in Cranford, .' 4 they spent reading old letters —“Edgeworth’s, Barbauld’s, Aitkens’, Ear- ■ win’s, Wedgewood’s, and all that ojd . ■■ set . , . Miss Edgeworth’s letters , are charming and there are drawers full of them.” * • "

With a Mrs Gaskell touch, Mrs Holland writes of the old church* : ■ “I thought of you all Sunday morning. The old ladies, though dissenters (Unitarians), keep a rigid hold bn the house pew, which is situated in /the N.E. aisle of the church, under the great ten-tiered gallery, and in: line with the Three-decker. It was relined’ with baize in 1801. Date in brass mails on the floor. The corners are wide and the hassocks large, and I" am ashamed to confess that the seclusion was not uncomfortable. Not a soul could see, save the parson himself;” Procuring writing paper at the risk of waking Miss Mary or Miss Lucy: presented a humourous situation ah'd some 4 ingenuity: * “P.S. —It is so difficult to get papfef here, for one cannot stir without -waking an aunt, and then one has to talk or read. I was ten minutes hooking this piece of paper noiselessly on to my-knee!”

Michael Arlen J s new novel, ba wfiieS ho has spent much, time, was announced to appear at the end 5f Spill* IS® had several titles in mind for it, just as there are many characters of modern society in it, but he eventually decided on “Young Men dn Love.** Th® Hut chin sons will publish the novel, Ahd they announce these f urther stories - fey other well-known writers: —“Tile 'sl- - ling-hams,” by May Sinclair; Jury,” by Eden Phillpotts; “The jOlS' deal of Monica Mary.” by Wj George; “Nine Little Hovels,” lip Gibbs; “The Watch Dog» ty iwi. 1 ert Hiehens. , .j / * a, {