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.