W The Book Table Rare HEN the head of the Department of Political Science in McGill University wrote, "I would sooner have written 'Alice in Wonderland' than the whole Encyclopædia Britannica," some of his readers probably said: "Of course! So would I!" Others, however, surely put it down as another of Professor Stephen Leacock's humorous exaggerations, if they did not frown a little at the thought of any comparison between a work of "serious scholarship" and a "merely amusing book." I think that there is an unconscious but widespread notion that a really witty after-dinner speech, the book of a good Edited by EDMUND PEARSON Birds comic opera, some pages of excellent light verse, and a humorous novel are things which any man of first-rate intellect-say the president of a university or a profound member of the Senatemight easily achieve, if he had the time and the inclination for such trifles. The condescending references to "light" verse and the respect paid to many so-called learned works the result of nothing but persistent grubbing-lead one to believe that, as a nation, we do not understand how rare is humor, and that a book of deft and witty verse is encountered as infrequently as the passenger pigeon or the great auk. During the penitential season it would YY when we were rather older by fairfax downey decorations by Jefferson machamer be beneficial if every American citizen had to read, for one week, that most turgid and deadly of all publications, the The utter"Congressional Record." ances of our wise men at Washington— and who but ourselves is responsible if they are not wise men?-are so pompous and dull, so deficient in anything faintly approaching wit, so frayed and motheaten in their literary allusions, that such a reading would go far to cure the superstition that America has any international monopoly of humor. Nobody, it is true, goes to politicians for humor, but the "Congressional Record" could only exist in a country which preferred its statesmen to be solemn to the verge of absurdity. The gloomy side of the job of a writer of book reviews is to gaze upon the widening stream of ponderous and unnecessary books: "sociological" works which prove nothing and are too dull to read; enormous biographies of men and women whose lives deserved, perhaps, fifty pages of description; ecstatic and sentimental books of travel; novels which contain not one page of genuine entertainment, but claim attention because of their conscientious "study" of the salmon fisheries or the housing problem; volumes about psychology or psychiatry which simply display their authors as more gullible than children of three; treatises or works on education written by doctors of philosophy, it may be, but showing no sign that their writers ever got beyond the sub-freshman stage in common sense. From these depressing books the obvious relief is to turn to others which possess wit, while their wisdom is apparent in that they do not pretend to much of it. It is unusual and pleasant to have three of them in one season. Last week a quotation was printed from Stoddard King's "What the Queen Said."" Suppose we listen to another: minton, balch & company MATTER-OF-FACT LOVE SONG If I were lord of the sun and moon, and king of the heaven's blue, I would string the stars on a golden chain, and carry them all to.you; I would make a scarf of the Milky Way to cover your raven hair, And write your name in letters of flame as high as the Major Bear. 1 What the Queen Said. By Stoddard King. The George H. Doran Company, New York. $1.50. If I had power to command the sea, to govern its restless waves, I would bring you diamonds and pearls I would summon a breeze from the But since I've not, does a chocolate If I knew all of the secret lore that is Will you take this pome, and give it a home, and try to call it square? And before we quote the next of Mr. King's rhymes, it should be said that he is no wicked Easterner, gibing at the Golden West, but a dweller on the Pacific coast, or near it-the columnist of the Spokane "Spokesman-Review." HERE'S TO CRIME When a man does murder in Portland, Or Memphis, Tennessee, There's nothing unique in his technique, It's simple as it can be. One pop of a gun, and the deed is done, One splash, and the victim drownsBut how much better they do such things In the California towns! So loudly strum on the big bass drum, A California murder plot Must never be tame or trite, So the fellow who means to plan the scenes Has got to know how to write. And then, having first been well rehearsed In the showiest way to shoot, The murderer slays while a brass band With lighting effects to boot. GE A turn of the switch now lifts or lowers heavy burdens anywhere. If you ever had The monogram of the General Electric Company is on many different types of motors, some small enough to wind a clock, some powerful enough to pull a train, but all designed to lessen men's labor and lower the cost. Look for it when you buy anything electrical. to lift a safe Not being a truckman, you will probably never be called on to lift a barrel of sugar or an iron safe. But if you were, you would be very glad that the "lift-truck" had been developed. It is one of the great number of machines by which electricity is taking over the world's heavy burdens. If, as a certain large factory found, one of these little trucks saves $12,000 a year, what a saving there will be when all material in all factories is handled by electricity! GENERAL ELECTRIC BOYS' CAMP Sagawatha Lodge Bantam Lake, Connecticut Litchfield Hills, 1,000 ft. elevation, 100 miles from N. Y. C. Cabin camp for 50 boys, 8-14. Land and water sports, riding, shooting, shopwork, tutoring, camp mother, doctor, experienced counselors. Booklet from Dr. J. H. HOBBS, 213 Harrison St., East Orange, N. J., or Lakeside, Litchfield Co., Conn. "The Book Lovers' Corner" FOREIGN LANGUAGES President: REV. S. PARKES CADMAN, D.D. TOURS TO EUROPE PALESTINE, EGYPT, Etc. 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Large investors find this feature particularly desirable for investing interest or dividends from other securities. From "When We Were Rather Older "' For real nefarious Sanguinarious California crimes! In writing to the above advertiser please mention The Outlook A Gardening ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN. By Ernest H. Wilson. The Stratford Company, Boston $5. Mr. E. H. Wilson-"Chinese" Wilson -has introduced to American and European gardens more than 2,700 species of plants of widely various types; but the woody plants are his specialty. This unusual and interesting book is chiefly devoted to shrubs and trees, although it contains a valuable chapter on lilies and one on new herbaceous plants from China. It is not a popular garden book of the common kind, but it will appeal strongly to gardeners and plant lovers who are alert for novelties to grow and wish to learn something of the beginnings and history of a few of the more important old favorites. To the owner of many acres it should be richly suggestive, and the possessor of even the smallest garden may find in it a hint for something-perhaps a single tree or, shrub which will lift his little plot out of the commonplace. Even he who has no land at all may be moved to refrain from the usual sidewalk maple in front of the house and plant a Kalopanax ricinifolium for a change. Kalopanax, or Acanthopanax, has no pet diminutive, unfortunately, but its name is its only drawback; it is hardy, tough, and beautiful, with white flowers and large palmate leaves, and Mr. Wilson especially recommends it for a street and park tree. Town foresters, please take notice! Travel and Description PORTO RICO: HISTORY AND CONDITIONS, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL. By Knowlton Mixer. The Macmillan Company, New York. $4. This is a purely informative book, without any effort to be picturesque or interesting. It tells much about Uncle Sam's biggest island in the Caribbean that the people of the country ought to know. Mr. Mixer has gathered and compiled his facts carefully. AMERICAN SHRINES ON ENGLISH SOIL. By J. F. Muirhead. The Macmillan Company, New York. $3. The author is well known as the wri ter of American and English "Baede kers." Here he tells all about those English homes, churches, and monuments which. relate to American history and literature. Their number is surpris ing and there is many an incident and picturesque story added to the historic accounts. Fiction THEY HAD TO SEE PARIS. By Homer Croy Harper & Brothers, New York. $2. A supposedly funny account of a newly made millionaire in oil, Pike Peters, who with his wife, his son, and In writing to the above advertisers please mention The Outlook GC SEA |