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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1897)
8 a ae—a—e—csc0—m—m THE BOOK SHELF. (Conducted by ALBERT LEE, "91.] There is enough of the real boy left in most of us to make us enjoy any story that treats of strong men, and although Porthos will always be the King and foremost of the all in our minds, we are glad to hear of the ex- ploits of less famous giants. For this reason I think most readers will prefer the story of the “Three Strong Men” in Mr. Brun’s “Tales of Langue- doc,” (San Francisco: William Doxey) to the many other provencal yarns he spins in the same book. These three fellows had great experiences, and all were so powerful that they played quoits with millstones as a diversion. One of them was surely a populist, for he had long whiskers that reached down to his feet, but they were of more use than any populists’s whisk- ers I have ever heard of. For at one stage of the story, when ‘the wander- ers came to an unfordable river, one of them seized the end of his com- panion’s beard, and His Whiskers, then went through the motions of throwing the hammer and hurled the other to the opposite bank of the stream. This same fellow, who played the part of the hammer in the previ- ous incident, has a fight with the Devil. First, he gets him in a hole— which is where we would all of us like to get the Devil—and then follows a battle royal in which the Devil is finally killed. But I guess he must have come to life again, for he still seems to be getting in his good. work. I wish the Three Strong Men would come to America and kill him, so that Harvard and Yale might reach an un- derstanding and resume athletic rela- tions. In one of those moments of weakness which publishers, as well as other mor- tals, are doubtless subject to, Messrs. Stone & Kimball decided to publish “At the Sign of the Sphinx,” by Caro- line Wells, and did publish it, and their part of the work is exquisiteiy done. A prettier cover has not been put out, even by them, for many moons, and the whole make-up is de- lightful. The subject matter, however, is pretty light. It is a collection of charades, in verse, of which this is a fair sample: “T am my whole, I have been married twice. My first wife was my second long be- fore My second wife became my first. more, I was my whole to each. suffice.”’ There is no particular value in this kind of writing, as poetry, and life is too short to spend any part of it in trying to guess Miss Wells’ secrets. There are other things of more import- ance that keep us guessing now-a- days. And Let that Much more to our ‘taste are Mr. Shipman’s ‘Urban Dialogues,’’ (New York: Stone & Kimball). These little conversations are bright and vivacious, and contain some real humor with not @ little satire. The illustrations by C. D. Gibson contribute their share of in- terest to the little volume. It is plain that Mr. Stephen Crane used the same paint box when he pre- pared ‘“‘The Little Regiment,’ (New York: D. Appleton & OCo.), as that which he used when he laid in the color for “The Red Badge of Courage.” The newer short stories aré full of the Same reds and blues and yellows, with a few ‘‘mystic’’ horses thrown in, but on the whole the general effect is bet- ter and more pleasing than that left by the book which made his reputa- tion. Of the two I think I prefer ‘‘The Little Regiment,’’ and there are a cou- ple of stories in it which one may well take pleasure in reading again, It is possible that I may be grossly misjudging the vast aggregation of A. B.’s who may properly be styled the ‘constant readers” of this depart- ment if I assume that only a very YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY small number of them would look into a book which rests upon our shelf en- titled “The Bible as Literature’ (New York, T. ¥. Crowell & Co.). I am pre? pared to admit that I should merely have glanced carelessly through its pages myself, if it had not been tha one of its chapters was written by Prof. A. S. Cook, whom the Class 91 initiated into the mysteries 9 pedagogy at Yale, while he intro duced the Class of ’91 to other mys* teries. As to whether Professor Coox or the Class of ’91 retains the pe | impression of the two ceremonies, |] am ait present unable to state; and the question (although important) certain ly bears no relation whatever to the paper ‘On the Influence of Biblical upon Modern English Literature.” / I had rather expect to find this an essay couched in the style of those lectures which formed a part of the mysteries to which tthe Class of oo was introduced, confess that I was considerably dis- appointed at discovering that the Dé- per is largely a catalogue of examples from literature in which the influenge of King James’ version is recognizable. All’ this shows that Professor Cook has read a great deal— which is not at all surprising—and that he has noted many of the pecu- liarities of the books:that have come his way; but the subject he had to treat is one of considerable interest and one that we must regret he did not handle in a manner that would have called for more original thought and which consequently would have been of much greater interest to his readers. Having read Cooks ‘contribution ito this book con- cerning Bible literature ,I was curious to see what some of the other learned gentlemen had to say’ upon their various themes, and I must say that many of the dissertations are exceed- ingly interesting. Dr. Whiton’s treat- ment of “Ruth and Esther’ puts that Biblical romance into an entirely dif- ferent light; and I forthwith took down ~ my Bible and read the story aga'n — interesting, and “much more dramatic (while wate © than any: and found it most ly ‘far better written), modern tale that the seekers after new effects have furnished us with this many a day. “The Beginners of a Nation” (New York, D. Appleton & Co.) is the title of the first instalment of an import- ant historical work which Mr. Edward Eggleston is writing upon the history of life in the United States. The pres- ent volume treats largely of the early settlements on this continent with the especial object of tracing from their source the various movements which prompt emigration. It is not a book that the average busy person will care to pick up for light reading, yet it is written in a style so pleasing and so clear that the subject is presented in a manner most tempting. What will probably appeal most strongly to those who are not especially interest- ed in the doings of those early days is the discussion of the characiers of those Puritans who have always been held up to us in the story books as very pious personages, but who, it seems, were about as promiscuous a lot, as to their virtues, as the average body of human beings nowadays. This makes one feel satisfied with the times, more or less, and conveys the impres- sion very strongly that Mr. Eggleston is at last telling us the truth about a good many things which have hitherto been heavily veiled by misconceived reverence. The most noteworthy of recent con- tributions to Omar literature is un- doubtedly Mr. Nathan Haskell Dole’s Variorum edition of the Rubaiyat (Boston, Joseph Knight Co.). A more complete compendium of information upon this absorbing topic has never before been presented. Not only have we biographical sketches of the prin- cipal translators of these poems, with countless bibliographical notes, but Mr. Dole gives us the readings from the various Fitzgerald editions, and many pages of comparative versions, so that we may. see side by side the French of Nicolas, the German of Bodenstedt and Von Schack, the soft metre of Fitzgerald and the beautiful prose of McCarthy. But it makes a and must therefore plainly © Professor — was not uncommonly ‘this idea seems now to exist to a cer- book lover and collector almost weep to read that Guaritch, who had 20) of the 250 of Fitzgerald’s first edition, which was printed in 1859, sold almost all of them at one penny each, be- cause he could not get anybody to pay more. Nowadays a copy of: this first edition brings a somewhat higher price. In 1887 this same Guaritch (this same house of Guaritch, I might better say) sold a copy for four guineas, and in 1894. another copy brought six guineas. I don’t suppose there are any for sale, even‘at that price, today. Of the lighter literature of the day we have the usual variety at hand, and among the best, so far as story telling goes. is Conan Dayle’s latest tale, ‘‘Rodney Stone,” (New York; D. Appleton & Co.). Here we read of those days when Beau Brummel and the Prince of Wales went to prize fights, when everybody was a “dead game sport,’’ and when no driver ever ‘met another on the road that a race did not follow. One of these road races furnishes one of the most ex- ‘citing incidents of the book—the strug- gle between the coach and the tan- dem comes very near being thrilling. —_—_—_—_+o—__—_—- The Position of Wale in Chess. » -In a recent interview published by the Yale Daily News, Mr. E. A. Cas- well, the honorary manager of the Intercollegiate Chess tournament, spoke of the game of chess and the cause of Yale’s weakness in the recent ‘tournament as fo'lows: “Tf there is any ‘game which denotes true intellectual development and careful mental training that game is chess. This fact does not seem to be generally recognized among college students. A few years ago the game | ridiculed and tain extent at Yale. The importance of athletics should be in no way under- rated, but should. athletics be consid- ered of so much more account than a game which requires intellect alone? A man is supposed to go to college for the sake of mental development. Chess is a most excellent test of this, while football, rowing and _ other sports, are not. If this fact were more fully appreciated at Yale the chess teams of the variouS years would have been more successful. The fact is the teams have no support from the College as a whole. If a half of the . enthusiasm and spirit with which Yale supports her athletes were extended toward the chess team the elub would have more financial sup- port. This would secure the services of a competent coach for a longer time than this year and would also cause a larger number of men to com- pete for a place in the team.” In speaking of the tournament Mr. Caswell said: “Better chets was played in the tournament this year than in the pre- ceding contests and more general in- terest was taken. Over a hundred lickets were sold and many compli- mentary tick=ts were issued. The Yale team exhibited more experience and training this year than the team of last year.” —_——~$~ > ___——- Brawn and Brains. [Kansas City Times.] The attendance of 400 at the inter- collegiate oratorical contest, compared with the crowd of 8,000 at the foot- ball game on Thanksgiving Day, shows that however much we may re- gret it, sports have a fascination for the American people that is not shared by intellectual contests. There is one feature . of the case, however, which is entirely overlooked by most of those who comment upon it. That is that college football games show the very highest order of sport, while college oratorical con- tests do not furnish the highest order of oratory. The youth is entering upon, if not at, his prime physically. The college debater, on the other hand, is immature intellectually. In fact, he is still about twenty-five years from his intellectual prime. Since college athletes, therefore, play foot- ball better than college orators speak, Tiffany & Co. New Series of Gold Watches An entirely new series of superior Gold Watches at the following attractive prices: for Ladies, in plain 18-karat gold open-fuce cases, $25. In enameled gold cases, with enameled dials, $40. In enameled gold cases, set with diamonds, $70, $75, and upwards. ee For Men, extra flat open-face 18-karat Gold Watches, $100, $150, and upwards. UNION SQUARE NEW YORK it is nct strange that people crowd to see boys play football and do not crowd to hear boys speak. There is of course more fascination for Anglo-Saxon people in sports than in intellectual pursuits. For one thing, the former are more easily followed by the audience and do more to en- tertain it. But it would be absurd to argue from this that the American people value strength above intellect or even above oratory. We have only recently seen the eagerness with which the people grapple with abstruse questions, and hang upon the words of those who employ their eloquence in the effort to elucidate them. —_—_—_ oe -- Chemical Club Organized. | Shortly before the close of the last term a meeting was held in Kent Laboratory for the purpose of or- aianizing a Chemical Club. There were about twenty-five present, among others, Professors Johnson, Chittenden, Mixter, Gooch, Dr. Smith, Dean of the Medical School, and Dr. Wheeler of the Sheffiield Laboratory. The object of the club is to bring to- gether those in the University inter-_ ested in Chemistry and to broaden the ideas of ihe members generally on the subject. 17 HERE IS A GOOD PROPOSITION : THE CREAT BOSTON SUNDAY HEAALD For $2.00 per year. Replete with news from every sec. tion of the earth. Literary features in abundance. A Page of Sporting News! Social Page for Women! A Page of Music! Illustrated Fashions from Abroad ! A Page on Household Matters! and many other attractions for men. and women. The Herald is easily New England’s Greatest Newspaper. eet DAILY : . 50 cents a month; $6.00 per year,
