SOCIAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1956, 20 August 1891, Page 39

SOCIAL TOPICS.

POT BOILERS.

" Why can't people write books like this nowadays ? " says Paterfamilias as he closes " Westward Ho ! " with a sigh.

The question remains unanswered, for it is Sunday morning and everyone is lazy.

No doubt a great many people will say that there are just as good books written nowadays, but if that is so why do we always turn with relief to the well-known works of bygone authors when we want something reallyinterestingtoread? There are thousands of novels published every year which are duly puffed by well paid critics and then allowed to die a natural death. Every library is fed with a constant stream of new books ; the old ones are shelved as the new ones take their place, and every now and then there is a rush for some fresh novel that takes the world by storm for a few weeks and then is heard of no more.

Now why is this thus 1 Have we no clever men in our century ? or are we too dense to appreciate them ? No doubt the 'nexf century will pick out a jewel of two from this worthy to be ranked with the gems of the past. Anyhow let us hope so ; for out of all the scribes that put pen to paper in the present day it would indeed be sad if none could win immortality. And yet when we ponder over the names of the living authors of our time who is there among them whose genius could shine for even half a century after their vital spark has flickered out ? Perhaps we are not able to judge our contemporaries for the same reason that a prophet is witbont honour in his own country ; but so far as we can form an opinion there certainly appears to be no living novelist worthy to be classed with either Scott, Thackeray, Jane Austin, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, or Dickens. And the moral of this is that Pot Boilers are to blame.

A German philosopher says tbat to write well one should not write for money ; yet how many there are who would not write at all if it were not for the sake of filthy lucre. A clever men in need of a few pounds has only to get hold of some novel idea or theory and write an article for a magazine or review, or spin it out to the extent of a threevolume novel. The more startling it is the better it is paid for, for the public love novelty as much as the Athenians of old,, and an amusing Pot Boiler is better paid for than a carefully thought out treatise on philosophy signed with an unknown name. The motto of tho present century is '* Make money," and nothing is valued that cannot be turned into hard cash. Is it a wonder, then, that authors spread so thin when they hare to make their brain power last so long, and when poverty jogs their elbow at every turn and compels them to write Pot Boilers in order to bring grist to the mill? But all authors are not poor, you say. True, O king J but those who are not have no need to write Pot Boilers ; and yet which of them has risen above mediocrity 1 Thomas Hardy is about the best, but he does not appeal to everyone ; and George Meredith, although he is the fashion, requires the patience of Job to read and an intellect more than mortal to understand. Radyard • Kipling has "struck oil," but where will any of these writers' works be 100 years hence ?

Bat to return to the Pot Boiler. As long as rubbish is well paid for it will increase, and the more ignorant the reader the better he will appreciate trash. But in these days of higher education the intellect of the rising generation is becoming trained to know the difference between good and bad literature and to discern good pictures from daubs, and although,, the " Ohristchurch girls " have not yet reached a very high standard, yet even they will in time no doubt be able to recognise a Pot Boiler when they see it. And what will poor authors and artists do then, poor things ? They would turn their thoughts to nobler work if Pot Boilers were refused; and perhaps art and literature would profit by the result. For no true artist cares to employ his talents on inferior work merely in order to make money ; therefore genius would never suffer if Pot Boilers were refused ; for neither riches nor poverty can stifle it, for "genius like diamonds is best plain set, set in lead, set in poverty." — (Emerson).

Both as an anodyne and expectorant, Ayer'e Cherry Pectoral ie prompt in its action. It checks tbeadvanoe of disease, alloys all tendency to Inflammation and consumption, and tpeedily restores health.

—Official calculations show tbat 30,000 domoßtio servants emigrate from England yearly. The great majority of these go to the United States and Canada.

— The consumption of intoxioating liquors is inoreaßing rapidly in Franoe. In some towns the increase last year waa over 25 per cent. The tax upon alcohol in Paris alone brings in £1,200,000 yearly.