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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1897)
YALE ALUMNI WHEKLY ae THE BOOK SHELF. (Conducted by ALBERT LEE, "91.] The story of Dr. Jameson’s raid into the Transvaal Republic was pretty fully told and retold in the newspapers at the time of its occurence, and it has been described again and again since then in monthly and weekly publica- tions on both sides of the sea; so that it is not at all unfair to presume that any one who follows the news, even in the most casual way, must be fairly familiar with the history of that movement. Nevertheless it is pleasant to have the thing summarized and placed before you between covers, and — this has been done by Mr. Richard Harding Davis in “Dr. Jameson’s Raiders,’’ (New York: Robert Howard Russell). The author claims that he has “sundry facts here collected and set down for the first time,’ but they are few and far between and not easily discoverable. However,.it is not new facts that the readers of Mr. Davis’s pamphlet should desire. We all know that he was not with Dr. Jameson and that all he knows about the raid he got from the newspapers and from men who were with Jameson, so, at best, his tale comes to us at second or third hand. But. that again, is a mat- ter. of minor importance. What we welcome is the tale itself, told con- nectedly and _ interestingly in Mr. Davis’s pleasant manner and enlivened bere and there ‘with occasional ex- pressions of opinion with which we may agree or disagree, without feeling that we are showing any want of re- spect or confidence in our writer, for we know that he was no nearer ‘the scene of action than we were.. It is very enjoyable to be able in this man- ner to put one’s self on an equality, so to speak, with the author in - hand, and especially so over a story of this kind—a story which I think is the best that the dreary world has offered us for some two hundred years. As Mr. Davis puts. its: “Dr... Jameson's: “act was suited to the buccaneering days of Sir Francis Drake. He tried to put back the hand of time some hundred and fifty years, but he only succeeded in jarring the works for a few seconds, and the hand swept him out of its way and moved steadily on: «-Thesart:—y ‘selves almost wag. of the romancer lies in giving veri- similitude to his narrative, and the greater the semblance to truth the more enjoyment is there for the reader, But here is a tale that may rank with the wildest romance, and yet we all know, aS we read along, that th events actually occurred a little over a year ago. It must have been Mr. LDavis’s journalistic instinct that recognized this as a “good story’’— better probably than any he could fabricate—and led him to put his name to the telling of it. Whether he has given us any new facts or not, is of small moment; the pamphlet shouid be read for the very fun to be had out of the story. ' Stories about dogs are almost ail- ways interestirg, unless the dog is a very sad dog indeed. Miss Maria Louise Pool ‘has collected all the stories she knows about dogs in a lit- tle volume named ‘Boss, and Other Dogs,’ (New York: Stone & Kim- ball), a little volume. with a binding covered all over with dogs and a dedi- cation addressed to a dead dog. The whole combination, therefore, . ceedingly doggy, and the tales them- Here you may read of every kind and condition of hcw-wow, and although the book is not of the kind that one finishes at a sitting, it contains a number of good yarns, of which the title story is ky no means tne best. There is a quaint turn of humor in “Concerning Laddie and Others,’ but most of the stories are pathetic. Why not write about funny dogs? Is not there enough sad- ness in the world as it is; the man or woman who laughs makes a_ better citizen and a better neighbor than the cne who sighs and weeps. A very well written book is ‘Life the Accuser,”’- by E. EF. Brooke, (New York: Wdward Arnold); © but:. the author has drawn cut her discourse to — a most unnecessary length and has woven a number of minor issues into her main plot that might better have — been left out. The theme is mattis. monial infidelity—the same old not that“has -been»harped--on: for. the pe is eX-. five. or six years by those writers who have not enough imagination to build a plot on any other foundation. The Ciscussion of the subject is not going to help maters any, and so long as Miss Brooke has certainly failed to bring us any closer to any kind of a solution of the question, we cannot help but feel that she would have Gone better had she spent her time in writing upon some other topic. A wo- man who has the command of lan-- guage possessed by Miss Brooke can do more for literature by working along another line. we. ae 7 President Eliot on Athletics, (From Annual Report to Harvard Overseers.) The conduct of intercollegiate sports during the year proved afresh that the management of these sports at Har- vard has been for some years unin- telligent, and for that reason unsuc- cessful. The evils of overtraining and excessive exertion on the part of the members of the prinicpal teams were exhibited in a high degree. A fundamental defect in. .the athletic organization has been that coaches of limited experience, who may be either unobservant or obtuse, can override on the spot the advice of the trainer and physicians. The re- sult is that the principal players of football are almost all more or less in- jured early in the season, and. are then brought to the principal games in a crippled or exhausted condition; while the crew comes to the final race less capable of endurance than they vwere-a month earlier. The remedies are the subordina- tion of zoaches to an expert in train- ing or to a medical adviser, and the general adoption of more reasonable views about all trainin g for athletic sports. It must be perceived and ad- mitted that training which goes be- yond pleasurable strenuous exercise is worse than useless, and that so-, ealled sports which require a dull and dreaded routine of hardship and suf- fering in preparation for a few excit- ing. crises are’ not worth what . they cost. They pervert even courage and - self sacrifice, because these high quali- SE ties-are-exereised for ne adequate end. ee enna TIFFANY & CO. Makers of Corporate and Frater= nity Seals and Dies Silver Testi- monials Athletic Prizes Class Pins Society Emblems Engraved Invi-= tations and Stationery for the Leading Universities Colleges and other Educational Institutions. Cuts of Watches and Chains sent upon request. UNION SQUARE NEW YORK. Professor Lounsbury’s Address. Prof. Thomas R. Lounsbury recently gave an informal talk before the pupils of the Harry Hillman academy. A press report condenses his speech as fcllows: The gist of the talk was that just as the body is trained for athletic contests so should the mind be trained for the work of life. The student who starts out to train for an athletic contest does not prepare himself by spurts, but by long weeks of daily application. "Tihe same laws which govern the body govern the mind. It is the steady work of every day that assures success. The speaker alluded to cramming for examination and said this led to permanent impairment of the memory. Knowledge cannot be gaized in that way, but only by review- ing and re-reviewing. Knowe'!dge iS a2 matter of growth. We may know when we have mastered a problem in geometry or memorized certain facts in history, but we cannot tell when we have become educated any more than the athlete can tell when the became strong. In both cases the process was one of slow and imperceptible growth. Today is a king in disguise. The man who is doing ‘his daily work the best he can, will other things being equal, show his superiority over this fellows. Regular, systematic training, whether of mind or body, will develop strength and nothing else will. Contents of Yale Courant. ‘The issue of the Yale Courant for the first week in February has appeared with the following table of contents: ‘‘Lay- son,” by A. D. Baldwin, ’98; ‘“‘Recom- pence,’’ (poem), by R. L. Munger ’97; “The Island of Beria,’’ (concluded), by F. Tilney, ’97; and the regular departments, ‘‘Bachelor’s Kingdom,” conducted by F. Tilney, °97; “At the Round Table,’’ con- ducted by R. L. Munger, ’97; and ‘‘Clip- pings,’’ conducted by C. E. Thomas, ’97. ALL THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE IN THIRTY VOLUMES. This is indeed an era of unread books. In this bustling, feverish age of ours few are the favored individuals who can lay claim to being ‘‘ well read.” The vast majority of educated people finish their ‘‘serious” reading just as they begin to be able really to appreciate the treasures bequeathed to us by the mas- ter minds of the past. The Need of Condensation. There are many, however, who hon- estly desire a large acquaintance with the great authors and books of the world, but the task is so enormous that a lifetime would seem too short to ac- complish it. The realization of this fact has pro- duced a unique ‘“ Library of the World’s Best Literature,” the simple yet daring plan of which is to present, within the limits of twenty thousand pages, the cream of the literature of all ages. The lines upon which this work has been carried out are as broad as literature itself. It offers the master productions of authors of all times, irrespective of the personal predilections or tastes of any one compiler or group of compilers. Although Charles Dudley Warner is the editor-in-chief, with Hamilton Wright Mabie, George H. Warner, and Lucia Gilbert Runkle as associates, the assist- ance has been sought of an advisory council, consisting of one eminent scholar from each of ten of our leading universities, thus insuring the widest possible breadth of literary appreciation. A Few of the Famous Contributors. The arrangement is not chronological, but alphabetical, thus diversifying the matter and avoiding the heavy monot- ony of ancient or medizval literature. There are also elaborate articles upon all great authors, great books, and the literatures of different ages, nations and periods, and these articles have been intrusted to over three hundred of the foremost critics and writers of the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany, and signed by such authorities as Dean Farrar, Andrew Lang, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Dr. An- drew D. White, W. D. Howells, Henry James, and many other literary celeb- rities. These articles greatly increase the interest in the contents, and adda tremendous educational value by col- lecting for the student the most schol- arly literary judgments of our own time, Some Special Features, One must search long before finding any similar combination of the scholar- ship of all lands called into harmonious and effective collaboration. The wide range of subjects is indescribable. The reader may compare the oratory with which Demosthenes stirred the souls of his fellow Athenians with those colossal utterances of our own Daniel Webster ; the finest essays of Bacon with those of Emerson ; the style of Herodotus with Macaulay ; in wit and humor the best is to be found, while all that is vulgar or debasing has been eliminated. In that most popular form of literature—fiction —the choice of writers extends from those of ancient Egypt to Bunner, Kip- ling, Stevenson and Bourget ; while in poetry, it extends from Homer to such modern singers as Tennyson and Long- fellow. In Politics, Letters, Biography, Sciences and Philosophy, Theology and Pulpit Oratory, Drama and the Theatre, likewise, the names of the greatest ex- ponents are to be found. There are, moreover, a host of legends, fables, — antiquities, mythologies, folk-songs and folk-lore. More than a Thousand Illustrations. The work is embellished with more than a thousand full-page and vignette portraits of authors, which enable the reader to obtain a perfect idea of the appearance of nearly the entire list of literary celebrities. The exceptional typographical beauty of the Library, and the attractive bindings, will endear the edition to the most fastidious book- lover. A Literary Education. No one with any aspirations to liter- ary culture or taste can afford to be without this monumental compendium. In a word, if one reads at all, it is in- valuable. With the aid of this great library which Mr. Warner and his able associates have so admirably wrought out, one may acquire in a season’s easy reading a wider grasp of literature than could otherwise be obtained by the in- dustrious study of a lifetime. Although this proposition may seem startling at first, these thirty volumes really contain a well-rounded literary education. How to Secure this Great Work. A limited number of sets is being dis- tributed through the Harper’s Weekly Club to introduce and advertise the Library ; these sets are at present sup- plied at less than one-half the regular price and on easy monthly payments. Club No. 2, now forming, will close in February, after which the price will be advanced. The introductory sets available will be so quickly claimed that arrangements have been made with the Club to reserve a limited number of sets for the Special benefit of YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY readers. Those who first apply, men- tioning this paper, will secure them. Applications for special prices (and sample pages) should therefore be made at once to Harper’s Weekly Club, 97 Fifth Avenue, New York. ~
