8
THE BOOK SHELF.
(Conducted by ALBERT LEE, ’9L.]
Americans have come to took upon
the average Englishman of trade as
rather devoid of any sense of humor,
or certainly devoid of that keen ap-
preciation of the ridiculous which
seems to be inborn with the great ma-
jority of Americans. The lack of a
sense of humor implies a certain sim-
pleness of mind, a childishness of in-
tellect, so to speak, which requires an
explanation in brackets of the per-
petrated joke,—a sort of literary sign-
post with
HERE IS A JOKE (3
inscribed upon it. We all know how
frequently English writers explain
their attempted witticisms for the ben-
efit of their readers; and what Amer-
ican has not felt a sense of personal
injury at the manner in which the
London comedian, in the imported bur-
lesque, interrupts his dialogue to elab-
orate his latest pun, that the veriest
lout in the top-loft may not miss it?
Of a similar nature must be the
characteristic of the British reading
public, which requires such a prefa-
tory note as the following, with which
Mr. Norman Gale has disfigured the
opening page of his latest book of
verse, ‘Songs for Little People,”’
(Westminster: Archibald Constable &
Company; New York: The Macmillan
Co.): ‘Mothers and grown-up sisters
or aunts, will, it is hoped, translate
and explain whenever a young read-
er appears to be perplexed.”
This is only the last sentence of a
fifteen line note, but the preceding
phrases merely lead up to this im-
portant statement. It is important
because we have reason to believe that
it throws a_ strong light upon the
characters and dispositions of British
mothers, grown-up sisters and aunts.
It would seem that, unless urged to
do so by Mr. Gale, the mothers, grown-
up sisters and aunts would not pause
in their lecture of Mr. Gale’s verses—
to which “a few rather difficult words
have been allowed entry,’’—‘‘to trans-
late and explain,’’ whenever the young
Briton’s countenance assumed a blank
expression of wonder and dismay.
Of course, if that is the case, Mr.
Gale is fully justified in prefacing his
book with such an injunction. But
why restrict the admonition to moth-
ers, grown-up sisters and aunts?
Why not include fathers, brothers and
uncles,—or does not the male Briton
read verse to the young? And what
are you going to do about the or-
phans, and the little ones who have
no grown-up sisters or aunts? Are
they not to be read to? And, if they
are, why should not Mr. Gale, merely
as a precautionary measure, likewise
enjoin step-mothers, nurses, govern-
esses, cousins, guardians, sisters-in-
law, grandmothers, great-grandmoth-
ers, and great-aunts? This is a very
perplexing question; but we trust that
the mothers, grown-up sisters and
aunts of Great Britain will, in some
manner, free themselves from the stig-
ma of indifference to the perplexity of
the “young reader’ which Mr. Gale
has placed upon them.
The verses of this collection are not
quite up to what we should have ex-
pected from Mr. Norman Gale; yet
many of them have a true lyrical mel-
ody and should be pleasing to the ear
of the ‘‘young reader,” even if the
stern mother, grown-up sister and
aunt refuse to take things too se-
riously. One of the most rythmical of
all the songs is ‘‘The Bees,”’ of which
this is the last stanza:
You passionate, powdery, pastoral
bandits
Who gave you your roaming and
rollicking mandates?
Come out of my fox-glove; come out
of my roses
You bees with the plushy and plau-
sible noses.
The book leaves the impression that
the poet has striven to furnish us
with a second “Child Garden of
Verses,” and this impression is inten-
sified by the manner of the illustra-
tion which, however, is so far, far be-
YALE ALUN! WrREEKLY
—
hind the graceful art of Mr. Charles
Robinson as scarcely even to justify
the mention of it.
Two books which are rather more
about children than for children, are:
“A Child World,” by James) Whit-
comb Riley, (Indianapolis: The Bo-
wen-Merrill Co.), and “W. V., Her
Book,” by William Canton, (New
York: Stone & Kimball). The latter
is pretty evenly divided between prose
and verse, and the prose is so far
ahead of the verse in quality and in~—
terest that we might well wish it were
all prose. The book tells of the very
charming views of life and philosophy
held by a little four-year-old girl, ‘“W.
V.,’ in a manner so sympathetic as
almost to makeone feel thepersonality
of the child. There are touches of pa-
thos, too, made all the stronger by the
atmosphere of probability which Mr.
Canton has managed to put into his
work. Especially attractive is the in-
cident of Uncle Little John lost in the
snow with W. V. Another book by
the same author, to be entitled, ‘The
Invisible Playmate,’ is announced;
and if it is anything like ‘‘W. V.,’’ it
should be welcome.
Mr. Riley’s, “A Child World,” is
verse throughout,—a sort of epic,
lightened and brightened here and
there with lyrics. James Whitcomb
Riley stands to-day among the fore-
most of our living American poets,
and his work is’ particularly note-
worthy for its individualism and, l
might say, Americanism. For that
reason alone his latest work should
command the attention of all who wish
to keep abreast of what is being done
by Americans in literature. “A Child
World’’ describes the life of a village
family in the middle West, fifty years
ago, from a point of view that no oth-
er writer, to my Knowledge, has ever
taken, and describes it in a style so
simple and yet so powerful as to bring
the old days—and even the unfamiliar
scenes—vividly before the reader.
Mr. Thomas B. Mosher, of Portland,
Me., has been sending out into the
world for the past two or three years
a number of reprints of interesting
works that limited editions have
placed beyond the grasp of the ma-
jority, but I doubt if any of his pre-
vious publications have come from his
press in a more attractive form than ~
the three little volumes he has put
into the ‘“‘Brocade Series,’—‘‘The Child
in the House,’’ by Walter Pater; ‘“‘The
Pageant of Sumner,” by Richard Jef-
fries, and “The Story of Amis and
Amile,’ from the French by the late
William Morris. These booklets are
printed on vellum throughout and are
veritable little bric-a-brac volumes.
If they get a fair chance at the pub-
lic’s eye, they will ruin the Christmas
card business, for they answer that
holiday purpose surpassingly, both in
appearance and price. Mr. Mosher
also publishes Justin McCarthy’s proSe
version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Kay-
yam—of which 550 copies only were is-
sued in London in 1889. This volume
will form an important addition to the
Omar bibliography, and the form in
which it appears will make it wel-
come to every book lover.
—___—__++4
Prize Offered to College
Seniors,
The National Society of the Sons of
the American Revolution has offered
a series of prizes, to be awarded for
the best essays on ‘The Principles
Fcught for in the War of the Ameri-
can Revolution,” written by Seniors in
the principal colleges of the country.
The winner of the prize in each col-
lege, takan separately, will receive a
silver medal and the writer of the es-
say adjudged the: best of all in the
competition will be awarded a gold
medal valued at $100. ‘The winning es-
say will be sent to the President-Gen-
eral of the society. The committee on
award of the prize is to consist of the
professors of American history and of
American Constitutional law, and the
award is to be submitted to the Presi-
dent of the University on or before the
public exercises of Commencement
Day. Each essay must contain not
less than 1,600 words nor more than
2,000. All essays must be left with the .
committee on or before the first Mon-
day in May.
ELIGIBILITY RULES.
Lack of Uniformity in Requirements
of College Athletes.
(W. T. Bull in Leslie’s Weekly.)
- The question of eligibility of men in
the various branches of college ath-
letics shoull receive attention at this
time, with the end in view of making
uniform rules to be lived up to by one
and all alike.
Now, at Princeton, Baird, who is
playing fullback on the football team,
is a Freshman. He was a Freshman
last year. At certain other colleges
Baird would be ineligible to play this
year, being a dropped man.
At Yale a player on the football
team must show a standing of two
hundred and _ twenty-five in his
studies; otherwise he is restrained
from playing. Goodwin, the Fresh-
man, is an example. Having failed to
keep up, he was debarred, thus rob-
bing the eleven of a first-class running
halfback.
In the Harvard-Princeton football
game Brewer played at end for Har-
vard. He was not graduated with his
class last June, and he is now in the
Law School. Should he have been per-
mitted to play? This is a question for
grave consideration.
Another case is this. Gailey, of
Princeton, and Woodruff, of Pennsyl-
vania, are married men. Should they
be allowed to compete with boys?
So far as eligibility for standing in
studies goes, the writer believes that
if a student canot engage in athletics
and keep up with his class, then he
should be made to quit. It is no cred-
it to Princeton that Baird is allowed
to play, and all fair-minded men will
agree in this opinion. The case of
Brewer is similar, and reflects a bad
light on the Harvard Faculty.
ATHLETIC CLUB PROFESSIONALISM.
The defeat of the Harvard football
team by an athletic club elevén, score
8-6, serves to emphasize the fact that
the monopoly of decided superiority
* of the bigger college teams over their
smaller brethren is a thing of the past.
While the teams’ of Williams, of Wes-
leyan, of Amherst, of Cornell and of
Trinity may not succeed in defeating
Yale or Princeton or Harvard for some
time to come, the athletic clubs, with
their various and powerful resources
for getting together star aggregations
of players, are likely to do so at any
time, that is if they get the chance.
I say, “get the chance,” because it is
by no means improbable that college
teams will shut down entirely on ath-
letic club teams—that is, refuse to
give them a place on their schedules
until such time as these clubs show
that they are properly influenced by
the spirit of amateur sport.
This season of football just closed
has proved a disgraceful one in a way
—for professionalism has run rampant
in the athletic clubs. To the writer’s
knowledge certain players represent-
ing athletic club teams were paid as
high as three hundred dollars for one
game, and five hundred dollars for two
games.
Now, the colleges will not stand any
such business as this; and, as the only
way to stop the practice is to refuse
to play games with them, then this
should be done. The smaller college
teams, however, are surely getting
pearer their bigger rivals, but in a
legitimate way—that is, through the
coaching of experienced men.
—__—___+—__——_
New York Not the Place.
[New York Tribune.]
A multitude of New Yorkers would
be grievously disappointed if the prin-
cipal game of the year were hereafter
to be played elsewhere, but we ad-
here to the opinion which we have re-
peatedly expressed, that this city is
not the most suitable place for an
athletic cont2st between colleges, es-
pecially when neither of them has its
home here. College towns furnish the
most appropriate arena for college
games, unless they lack some essen-
tial condition of fairness-or conveni-
ence, and in that case a neutral field
so situated as to preserve the true col-
lege spirit of the sport ought, if pos-
' Alecks of New Haven?
sible, to be chosen. All who have at-
tended a Yale-Harvard game at
Sprinzvield will acknowledge, we
think, that it possessed a certain de-
sirable element of interest and pro-
priety which is lacking where the in-
timate sense of a college competition
is lost in the general excitement of a2
great public spectacle.
The discussion of this point has been
intelligent and amiable in the past,
and we hope it will continue. In the
meantime we congratulate the win-
ners of yesterday’s manly contest up-
on their brilliant victory and their
possession of the many admirable
qualities which it illustrated and re-
warded. They won nothing which
they had not honestly earned. As for
Yale—well, Yale still has left a large
and varied stock of athletic distinc-
tion, and can afford to take a beating
cheerfully, in the confident expecta-
tion of being heard from another year.
+44. -—___
What Football Defeat Means.
(New York Sun.)
The fact that some of the Yale un-
‘dergraduates made some observations
when the Boy Orator of Salt Creek
urbanely mentioned the ‘“‘‘ill-gotten
gains” of their fathers still rankles in
the Bryanite bosom. Thus ou: es-
teemed but happy contemporary, the
Butte Miner, emits these bilious and
revengeful sentiments in regard to
the defeat of Dr. Dwight’s eleven by
Dr. Patton’s eleven:
“Are there any tears in this vicinity
over the defeat of the Yale team? Are
the people of Butte sitting up nights
nursing their serrow over the humil-
iation of the sons of Eli? Do you hear
any heavy sobs in this vicinity over
the walloping of the pin-feathered
Well, hardly.
Yale is getting a part of the medicine
it has earned. Never since the day
when the students disturbed the Bry-
an meeting and made it impossible for
the Democratic candidate for the
Presidency to speak, has there been
a warm and friendly feeling for the
yowling yawps of Yale.’
This is eminently ccurteous_ lan-
guage, and no doubt the young gentle-
men at New Haven will accept the
gentle rebuke and. recognize in their
overthrow at football the vengeance
of the gods. Yet it must be admitted
that there is no tradition of defeat at
Yale; and next year the Butte wor-
shippers of juvenile elocution may
have reason to believe that the gods
have short memories and have given
up avenging the youthful prodigy.
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