LEISURE IN THE LIBRARY

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 2, Issue 9, 1 March 1924, Page 35

LEISURE IN THE LIBRARY

Bygone Best Sellers

In a recent issue of that excellent journal, John 0' London's Weekly, Mr. H. Greenough Smith writes entertainingly about the best sellers of the past, and reveals some curious and amusing causes of popularity. It is not surprising, of course, that best sellers for over a century have been mostly fiction, and romantic fiction at that, though the modern tendency a passing phase—is rather more toward morbid analyses of sex problems and kindred nonsense. There was a time when "Don Quixote" was in the hands not only of every nobleman, but in those of every page and scullion. The "Lame Devil" of Le Sage, : the demon who let Cleofas look through the city roofs and watch the lives of the inhabitants—a vantage point of study that would still yield remarkable material for novelists—could not be printed fast enough to meet the rage of the demand; and at one bookseller's a duel was fought for the last copy. For which book, think you, would men fight a duel nowadays? It would have to be a very, very naughty one, and even then it is probable that they would effect a compromise and read it together Perhaps the oddest work that was ever a best seller, writes Mr. Smith, was the great Bishop Berkeley's treatise on the virtues of tar-water. Everybody at the time was quite mad about the virtues of tar-water, which was, according to the author, the Bishop of Cloyne, a cure for all the ills that flesh is heir to. It was prepared by stirring tar in water and allowing it to settle, and of which the dose was from a pint to a quart a day. It appeared on every table in the kingdom. The eating-houses supplied it free of charge. Henry Fielding, the author of "Tom Jones," took it for his dropsy; and the Bishop testified, with natural pride, that it had cured the bite of a mad donkey. Well, the world has always been looking for a cheap cure for every ill, and has tried tar, tea, and lots of stuff that requires a great deal of faith.

An Illustrator’s Problems

During the Avar (says a T riter in the “American Bookman”), hen the public would read nothing but war stories, and look at no illustrations which lacked military fla\ T our, I foolishly wrote a tale in which there was absolutely no reference to war. In order to publish the story it was necessary for the editor of the magazine to Avhich I sold it to get a military note into the illustrations. I had described a scene in which a beautiful Avoman stood on the banks of a lake, feeding swans. The art editor simply ordered the illustrator, Arthur Fosdick, to picture this scene in all its calm beauty, but to put the swans in uniform, making one of them a colonel and the other a brigadier-general. Thus the story w T as saved. Once the reader had begun it he forgot there Avas no war in it. The problem was to get him started.

Helps to Young Writers

Critical Notes on Manuscript

[No MS. will be returned unless accompanied by stamps. No liability is undertaken, re voluntary contributions. Name and full address must appear on the MS. itself.] T.J., Whangarei.Your verses run smoothly, and with a little revision should be quite readable. You should avoid forced rhymes, as in "Loth to remain for his force to amass," which is clumsily aimed at providing a rhyme for "crevasse." The last verse will not do. Its meaning is at present wrapped in mystery. • A.A., Greymouth.— Wish" is unique, but why write it in four-line paragraphs? In plain prose it might be taken seriously. Pukeko, Waipukurau.—lf this is a first attempt, it is possible that with study you may later write printable short stories for little folk. But they must be fresh and natural. The one you send is about an imaginary Peter. Somehow he is not reala kind of New Zealand Peter Pan. And he is far too young to behave as your Peter behaves. Such a sketch needs rounding off in many ways. And by the way, you forgot his mother. A.C., Waikato.l am sorry to disappoint you, but your lines clearly indicate that you do not know the simplest rules of Prosody, and until you study this subject you will certainly not write readable verse. Prose would seem to be your best means of expression, not verse. Molly Howden, Wellington.—Your work has fallen below the standard of your verse of some months back. "Thoughts at Eve" would be quite as interesting if written as plain prose. Sketches of this kind done in prose chopped up into varying lengths are unworthy of one who takes her writing seriously. Most people can reel off yards of this sort of thing without unduly taxing their brains. You who can do so much better should certainly aim higher. "Desires" is a pretty little thing. I shall retain it for the present. o o o

Eight Women Novelists

Among the women novelists of to-day whose work will probably be well known in the near future are Olive Mary Salter, whose "Out of Bondage" has not long seen the light. Monica Ewer's second book, "Not For Sale," shows an improvement on the amusing "Film of Fortune," published a year or so ago. Janet Maitland, with "The Incoming Tide," and Lady Dorothy Mills with "The Road," Ethel Colburn Mayne with her exquisite studies of life, entitled "Nine of Hearts," are coming into public favour. Mary Fulton has written a rather striking romance in "Grass of Parnassus," Nora D. Vines has found immediate success with her fine first novel, "Last Week," and Grace Rhys has a sprightly story of an Irish family, entitled "Eleanor in the Loft." o o o Gertrude Atherton, in "Black Oxen," gives an astonishing picture of the vulgarity and rawness of smart society in New York. Written with much power and dramatic force, the book is one of many merits. o o o Katheri:n t e Tynan says in "The Wandering Years" that there came in a letter from Lord Linlithgow: "We've had " (a famous primadonna) "staying with us. She was perfectly charming, but she never even referred obliquely to her beautiful voice. The last morning at breakfast I said to her: 'l've often heard, madame, that singers warble in their bath, so I waited outside your bathroom door this morning, hoping to catch a note, but not a sound did I hear, only the bump when you slipped up over the soap.' " o o o

“ Roads ” in Fiction

Can you think of any word that has been more often used in booktitles than “road”? Lady Dorothy Mills has called her latest novel “The Road.” There is “The Broken Road,” by A. E. W. Mason, and “The NeAV Road,” by Neil Munro. Alexey Tolstoy’s novel of Bolshevik Russia is called “The Road to Calvary.” Elsie Singmaster, an American novelist, has just written a book called “The Hidden Road.” Then, of course, there is “The Road Mender,” by Michael Fairless, and Holcroft’s play, “The Road to Ruin.” And there may be others.