Ideal Fiction THE IDEAL attitude of the public library toward fiction should be one of severity, tempered by toleration. A ■ public library should buy all the good novels and buy them in large numbers. The bad novels it should not buy at all. All a public library, then, has to do in the matter, in reference to any novel, is to discover whether it is good or bad. This is a very simple thing to state, but a well-nigh impossible thing to do. There are easy-going readers who think there is some good in all novels, and there are implacable haters of modern fiction who stiffly main lain that, at present, no good novels are written at* all. From a com mittee made up of the implacables, the easy-goers and intermediate types of critics the public librarian should get varied estimates of all the novels published, and from these varied estimates draw his own conclusions. These conclusions will frequently be wrong, but he will have lived up to the best light he has. He will probably find some good novels. To deny that good novels are written today is to make a too sweeping im peachment of our literary output. Let the librarian do his best to find these good novels and then duplicate and reduplicate them many times. It is undoubtedly a misuse of one's time and a perversion of his intel lectual faculties to read fiction, even of the best quality, exclusively. No one knows better than the librarian that there are a large number of readers who never do read anything but fiction. They have lost the power to wrestle with books that deal with realities. The fiction drunkard has lost the intellectual stamina needed to clutch and grip the great, thinkers who write real books —science, philosophy, literature. Much fiction has made them mentally flabby—their mental muscles are paralyzed by intel lectual dissipation. They are literary drunkards, and all good librarians have an interest in their reformation. Good fiction presupposes a considerable degree of intelligence in its readers. If it deals with the eternal verities of human nature it must make its readers interested in many and varied domains of thought. A good novel by a real thinker should stimulate its reader to broad investi gations, and, sometimes, to long-continued research. It is hard for a libra rian, even with the co-operation of many helpers, to select the small per centage of good fiction from the large percentage of the bad. His action, whatever it may be in the matter, will not. be without vociferous pro test on the part of the public. But Jet him do bis best and abide in coin- _ r placent good nature. v5 lro>QXp*s> Plan to Compel Criminals to Work By SARAH BLUEMENTHAL Again, there are many instances where the family of the murdered man become the charges of the public at large because the only bread v.innor has been taken from them. Where the convicted men are executed society is forever placed beyond he possibility of drawing upon the wrongdoers for the support of those ,vho have suffered most keenly. The public is put at a double expense, the expense of the prosecution nd the support of the sufferers. There should be indefinite imprisonment, first and foremost for the uirpose of making good to society, to as high a degree as possible, for 'ie harm done. The work done by the prisoners should be at a living wage so that lie very source of the privation caused by crime should have an opportu uty to make restitution. If once the principle is decided upon the nielhod can easily be dis overed. Too Much Emphasis on Mere Learning By Prof. John M. Tyler, Amherst College teachers are working is antiquated. It iiist shift its emphasis from mere increase of learning—or memory— i increase of physical, mental and moral power and efficiency. Such a change will force its way here but slowly against the preju ces of parents and public, who would have even the baby devote himself learning something "useful." Comforts for Men Charged With Murder By Agnes Hull A mighty few such convictions would have more effect than dozens convictions under the present system, whe/e the murderer is followed court by dozens of women. Public Library Should Contain Good Novels Ry SAM WALTER FOSS Aside from all ethical reasons why capital punishment should 1)6 forever abol ished I beg to mention a more potent one. I make my appeal now in the name of economy. We all know that in most cases the ex pense in the prosecution is in direct ratio to the financial rating of the accused, but even where four men are sentenced to he hanged within two months of the date of their crime there is a certain amount of money spent by the state. It seems hardly fair that the public should he taxed for this purpose needlessly. The school should furnish the training formerly furnished by the farm and the home, or the education of fhe child will be defective in the most important respects. It can no longer be merely or chiefly an institution of learning, as it could con tent itself to be a century ago. It must furnish training in skill and ingenuity, in planning and doing, as well as in learning and abstract thought. It must educate for efficiency and power. We have fine buildings, good equip ment, but the system under which our Who comforts the wife murderer? Ev ery' day we read of some brutal murder and the next day we read of the notes of sym pathy and the flowers sent to the murderer by tender-hearted women. His trial drags on and on until he has been pitied by women from one end of America to the other and finally he is either an acquitted or convicted hero. Women's influence should be exercised to make a country-wide law that would execute a woman murderer as nearly in stanter as would be compatible with justice and with no sympathy whatever shown him. PEERLESS LEADER OF THE CHICAGO CUBS i ii. -!■ : :■; : I Frank Leßoy Chance as Seen by Cesare. By HOMER CROY. Frank Chance is "The Peerless leader" to all America with W. J. B. Just coming in sight around the bend. W. J. may be the last syllable when It comes to a crown of thorns, but what does he know about first base? When it gets down to real peerless ness, Chance of Cook County has got the Lincoln leader lashed so tightly to the mast that he can't move an eyebrow unassisted and unabetted. Frank Leßoy Chanco (honestly) was born in California, was a catch er on the Washington College team and in the winter time lives at Glen dora, same state. From the first pro. team he was on —the Fresno (California) club —he was picked up and derricked to the Chicago Cubs, where he still sits with one hand on the throttle, the other on the sand lever and the safety clutch between his teeth. He is one of the most superstitious men in baseball, but having 13 for his lucky number. When on a Pull mun it would take a straight-Jacket and a new cable to make him sleep anywhere except in lower 13; if the club gets a car with only twelve berths he writes 13 on the door and doubles up in the stateroom. He re fuses to change his shirt as long as the Cubs are winning; he's very firm about this and cannot be won over with either pleading or powder. After the budding bruins have had a lucky streak he has to remove his Ciuett with a kneaded rubber eraser. BALM yWTES^ 'Mansfield, Ohio, has traded First Baseman Frank Reynolds to Racine, Wis. A. D. Dodson, Jr., is the new presi dent of the reorganized Galveston club. Frank Rock has been made secre tary of the St. Joseph Western league club. Managers McGraw and Bresnahan have five-year contracts with their clubs. Spike Shannon, released by Kansas City, would like to land a job as an umpire. All the recruits look good at pres ent, but wait a month and many of them will vanish into the past. John Dovey, formerly of the Boston National league club, will, according to report from Ix>uisville, act as scout for Billy Grayson this season. Buffalo will give Charles Pugh, a shortstop, another trial this year. He is a semi-pro who warmed the Bison bench for a while last summer. Joe Cohn of the Spokane club wants the Northwestern league to take up the plan of numbering players recent ly adopted by the Pacific Coast league. Hugh Duffy has signed a pitcher named Mathias Zieser. The former Sox leader is a diplomat and is mak ing himself solid with all nationalities of people. The Newark fans are all certain, and they are backed up by Joe Mc- Ginnity, that Bill Louden will be the find of the season. He is to be play ed at third by Hughie Jennings. Johnny Evers, the brainy member of the Cubs, is angling for the purchase of the Albany (New York State league) club. Johnny Is not figuring on quitting the big league, but he wants to be a magnate on the Bide. Del Howard says that he has no plans for the summer, but If any club wants the services of a good slugger as well as a political speaker he says that he will consider the proposition, i The temperance clause that was In- < serted in the contracts of the Pirates i last year was of great benefit to the i teara in the estimation ot Barney I Dreyfuaa, and he has himself signed i Frank Chance is one of the best dressers in baseball, considering it a public disgrace to be seen on the street without a Mason and Dixon line down each trouser leg and ad justing his tie before going down to breakfast with a sextant and a spirit level. Miss Edith Pancake of Chicago took a Chance and now he has a hap py hearthstone and ladies' magazines on the center table. Chance is the only man in the big league business who was ever elect ed captain of the team by the rest of the players, and since that he has framed four National league diplo mas. Besides that he has pasted up a lot of other records for posterity. It's just as well the cold, unsparing truth be made public now as any time, for ii must be remembered that a bird cannot fly away from its tail. Well, here it is, briefly and bluntly— Frank Chance is a D. D. 5... but he is now trying to lead a noble and up right life! Every time you call him "Doctor" he heats up In the palms and begins to talk about his two orange groves in California. A part of his comfortable fortune has been made out of tho groans of men, th'e cries of women and the shrieks of children, but he has thrown away his forceps for the ash stick and is honestly trying to bri pleas ure and sunshine into the world by lulling down flies instead of up mo lars. (Copyright, 1911, by W. G. Chapman.) one of the pledges for the coming sea son. Manager Fred Clarke has Just clos ed a deal for a half interest in the J. P. Baden Mills at Winfleld, Kan. The mills are among the largest in south ern Kansas and are expected to add many thousands of dollars to Clarke's yearly income. Joe Adams, the scout who discov ered Otis Crandall, and Arthur Wilson of the Giants, is not connected with the national pastime in any form at present. Adams was manager of the Mattoon (111.) team at the time be found the Giants' stars. Manager Jack Tiglie of the Louis ville Colonels is kidding himself that he will get Eddie Lennox back from the Cubs to play third for the Col onels the coming season. If half of the reports about the ability of Len nox are true, Tighe will have to keep on kidding himself. STAR OUT OF OLYMPIC FIELD Ralph Craig, Wolverine Sprinter De tained at Home by Pressure of Private Business. Ralph Craig, the famous sprinter of the University of Michigan, has an nounced that he will not compete with the American team at the Olympic Ralph Craig. games at Stockholm next summer. Craig was expected to score heavily in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. He de clared that he cannot leave his posi tion for the length of time that train ing and Vna trip requires. \ * CATCHER AS MANAGER Problem as to Why They Wake Best Leaders Unsolved. "Red" Dooin and Roger Bresnahan Oft Not Find Duties Too Arduous to Prevent Them From •Playing in Game. Every year somebody rise 3 to i mark that the bench manager is su perior to the man who directs his club's allairs from the field. You can prove this by several cases. You caa prove it isn't so by just as many. Therefore, like the ancient query as to the Age of Ann, the answer is not yet. But here is one line of dope you have some foundation to argue on: Catchers make good managers, wheth er they lead from bench or behind tho bat. Of the 16 major clubs 6 of them are piloted by catchers or ex catchers. Why the backstop should blossom forth as a manager isn't ap parent, unless, perhaps, he has been so busy bossing the pitchers that the habit grows to include the entire club. Two of the catcher-managers are ac tively engaged behind the bat and do not find their duties too laborious to prevent them from being top-notchers as participants. These two are Rog er Bresnahan of the Cardinals and Red Dooin of the Philließ. Cornelius McGillicuddy, when he lug ged that impossible name into the big league, was a receiver of rare worth. The only reason he quit receiving was to become head of a club. His work with the Athletics has been a great accomplishment. Frank Chance, termed the "Peerles3 Leader," when the Cubs were at the hey-day of their glory, started as a catcher. Then he went to first base, because there was nobody else on hand to occupy that position. Harry Davis also was a catcher, but gave it up to play at the initial station. It is certain the catcher-manager who can warm up his own pitchers is going to have the Inside track in se iii '"Mi 111 IWnil a-?' i, ——..V. .... "Red" Dooin. lecting the box artist.. When one works with a pitcher day in and day out he comes to know the occasions when he has the "stuff." The catch er realizes if his pitcher's ball isn't breaking right or if the fast ball hasn't the hop. Of course, a lot of flingers are slaughtered on their best days, but that is part of the game. In the long run it works out that the pticher who is right on a certain day does bettei than a fellow who hasn't his best as sortment of foolers. No ball club ever went very far without a star catcher, with the pos sible exception of the Detroit Tigers, and they possessed such an unusual array of hitting talent that they were exceptions to the rule. Lucky indeed is the club that has the manager in the strategic position behind the bat ter and able to do sterling yeoman duty day in and day out. As a demonstration of what intelli gent catching means, look what hap pened to the Cardinals when Roger Bresnahan quit working last autumn. Johnny Kling, who was taken over from the Cubs by Boston and handed the managerial reins after Fred Tenny has failed, will get a chance to show his worth this season. Kling is cer tainly one of the best catchers in the game, but just how he will work with the manager's troubles will be seen the coming campaign. Fred Tenney himself broke into baseball as a catcher. Hard Hitters in American. Every team In the American league last year had at least two outflelderg who hit for .300 or over, with the ex ception of the St. Louis Browns. Half Million In Athletic Field. Los Angeles Y. M. C. A. has ex pended over $450,000 on Its new atf* letic field and grounds. WONDERS OF THE DEAD SEA Interesting Trip Around This 3ady o* Water Told by Jacob E. Spafford. Jerusalem. —An interesting trip around the Dead sea was made in a motor boat by Jacob E. Spafford, a ] member of the American colony in Jerusalem. In circumnavigating the lake four or j five very fertile plains or ghors were | met with. "These plains," writes Mr. j Spafford, "naturally bring to mind the i connection of the Dead sea with So dom and Gomorrah, the 'cities of the plain,' that were overthrown. They i have been variously placed on every | side of the sea. "These plains and the small oasis I ftt Engedi are the only points where | life of any kind and water are to be Defile Leading From River Ammon. ! had. This evidently was a little para | dise in the time of Solomon and is I frequently mentioned in the Old j Testament. "About ten miles from Engedi lies I ! the peerless natural fortress of Ma j eada (Sebbeh), first fortified by the j Maccabees, the* used as a place of refuge by Herod. At the foot of the I tableland can be seen the Roman wall of circumvallation and the two Ro ' man camps on either side of the small . ravine. "The fortress, 'which is 1,700 milea | above the sea, has steep sides at about | an ungle of 75 degrees and cannot be | approached, except from a connecting \ neck called the Serpentine. A more | inhospitable place or one more disad j vantageous to besiegers could not be \ Imagined. "Eight miles away i3 Jebel Usdum. | a mountain of rock salt rising to a height of 500 feet. In this mountain is a large cave which was explored I to the extent of about 200 yards, at | which point a tapering cylindrical | shaft of about 20 feet in diameter was | discovered, piercing the solid rock salt ! 80 feet high, as though through pol ished marble, evidently the effects of ; the rain. "Great snow white stalactites hung from the ceiling. The approach to this mountain presents most fantastic ap ■ pearances of walls, buttresses, par apets, projecting towers, etc., caused by the stratification and lay of the | salt boulders. "A little south of Masada lies the I rich Ghor-el-Mizra. Here and else where abound the apple of Sodom de scribed by Joseplius." CHEESE DENOTES THEIR RANK i Swiss Pamily Found Without Aged Variety of Delicacy Is i ' Scorned. I I Lucerne. —The Eiigtlsh, the Ger ! mans, and the Norwegians are great 1 consumers of cheese, but the people of Switzerland surpass them all. The ! cheese of Zermatt is so hard that one is obliged to scrape it or cut off chunks | with a hatchet, and its use is con | sidered most important on all cere j monious occasions. The rank of a ; Swiss family is known by the age of ! its cheese, and the more affection or ' respect a guest inspires the harder Is I the cheese which Is cut in his honor. ! It is said that there are families in i Switzerland whose cheeses date from j the first French revolution, and these : are served only at baptisms, weddings | and after funerals. The larder in every family is guard j ed with care and the cheese is named. Upon the birth of a new hetr a cheese I is made that takes the name given him or her, and that particular cheese is never under any circumstances cut until the boy or girl grows up and is ; married. On such occasions each of i the guests takes a piece of cheese from the bridegroom and from the bride and drinks to their felicity, th» cheese held aloft.—Harper's Weekly. Sold Water Tower to Farmer. Chicago.—lJoyd Moulds, just in from Ihe farm, liked the looks of the old N'orth side water tower, and "con" men Immediately sold It to him for 126. A policeman arrived in time to save his money. Was Wrapped in Film. New York. —A moving picture film 1,000 feet long was wound about the body of Victor Weiss when he was ar irrosted by police, who charged him I irlth robbing a film company's plant.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers