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The Commoner.
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Most Popular Books of the Month.
Tho latest roports from booksellers
rind librarians in the chief cities of tho
United States (sent to Tho -World's
Work, April) give the following re
sults: BOOK-DEALERS' REPORTS. '
1. Allco of Old VincennesThomp
son. 2. Eben Holdfen Bacholler.
3. Tho Life and Death of Richard
Yea-and-Nay Hewlett.
4. Eleanor Ward. .
5. Strlngtown on tho Pike Lloyd.
G. An Englishwoman's Love Letters
-Anon.
7. In the Palace of tho King Craw
ford. 8. Monsieur Beaucaire Tarkington.
9. Rostrand's L'Aigion Parker.
10. Undo Torry Munn.
11. Tho Cardinal's Snuff-Box Har
land. 12. Napoleon, tho Last Phase Rosc
bery. 13. Tho Mantle of Elijah Zangwlll.
14. Qulncy Adams Sawyer Pidgin.
15. Tho Master Christian Corelli.
1G. Elizabeth and Her German Gar
den Anon.
17. The Voice of the People Glasgow.
18. More Fables in Slang Ade.
19. The Lane that Had no Turning
Parker. '
20. Tho Redemption of David Corson
Goss.
21. Tho Life of Phillips Brooks Al
len.
22. Tommy and Grizel Barrie.
23. That Mainwaring Affair Barbour.
24. Mrs. Clyde Gordon.
25. Life and Letters of Thomas Henry
Huxloy Huxley.
26. Tho Stickit Minister's Wooing
27. Rostand's L'Aigion Parker.
28. Tho Relgh of Law Allen.
29. Love Lyrics Riley.
30. Tho Conscience of'Coralie Mooro.
LIBRARIANS' REPORTS.
1. Eben Holden Bacholler.
2. Allco of Old Vinconnes Thomp
' ' son.
3. The Master Christian Corolli.
4. Eleanor Ward.
5. In the Palaco of tho King Craw
ford. G. Tho Cardinal's Snuff-Box Har-
land.
7. Strlngtown on tho Pike Lloyd.
8. Rostand's L'Aigion Parker.
9. Tho Reign of Law Allen.
10. Tho Lifo and Death of Richard
Yea-and-Nay Hewlett.
' 11. Elizabeth and her German Garden
Anon.
12. Napoleon, the Last Phase Rose-
bery.
13. When Knighthood Was in Flower
' Major.
14. To Have and to Hold Johnston.
15. The Gentleman from Indiana
Tarkington.
16. Unleavened Broad Grant.
17. Wanted, a Matchmaker Ford.
18. The Riddlo of tho Universe
Haeckel.
19. Life and Letters of Thomas Henry
Huxley Huxley.
20. The Redemption of David Corson
Goss.
21. The Life of Phillips Brooks Al
len.
22. Tommy and Grizel Barrie.
23. David Harum Westcott. '
24. The Hosts of the Lord Steel.
26. The Sky Pilot Cannot.
26. Richard Carvel Churchill.
27. Bob, Son of Battle Oil! vant.
28. Black Rock Connor.
29. Oliver Cromwell Roosevelt.
30. Janice Meredith Ford.
Of these, "Eben Holden," "Alice of
Old Vinconnes," "The Life and Death
of Richard Yea-and-Nay," "Eleanor,"
"Strlngtown on tho Pike," "In the
Palaco of the King," "L'Aigion' and
"The Cardinal's. Snuff-Box" are among
the first twelve of each list, and aro
probably tho most widely read books
of the month. All but the third, fourth,
sevonth and eighth are by American
-writers unless Hr. Henry Harland,
who was born in St. Petersburg of
Amorlcan parents, educated in Paris,
Rome and at Harvard, and who has
odited The Yellow Book In London for
fifteen years can be put down as an
American.
In England the following, according
to tho London correspondent of the
New York Bookman (April), aro the
most popular books, all of them by
British writers:
Life of Irene Petrie, by Mrs. Cams
Wilson. The Master Christian, by Marie
Corelli.
Tho Master Sinner, by a well-known
author.
An Englishwoman's Lovo Letters.
Hosts of the Lord, by F. A. Steel.
With Christ at Sea, by F. T. Bullen.
Queen Victoria: A Personal Sketch,
by Mrs. Ollphant.
Rue with a Difference, by Rosa N.
Carey.
Private Life of the Queen, by one
of H. M. servants.
Brass Bottle, by F. Anstey.
Eleanor, by Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
Tho Cardinal's Snuff-Box, by H.
Harland.
.Many Cargoes, by W. W. Jones.
Literary Digest.
flatly Misquotations.
The well-chosen crew of the Bell
man, In "The Hunting of the Shark,"
as readers of that classic will remem
ber, were "all of them fond of quota
tions." This is a weakness which they
shared with the average men and wo
men of today. But quotations are dan
gerous things to trifle with, says Will
iam H. Garrison, in the Junior Mun
sey, and it is not an exaggeration to
say that "misquotation" is the beset
ting sin o even the educated people,
who would fain use the thoughts and
words of others to embellish or to aid
their own .ideas. ,
A few illustrations' of every-day er
rors will be more convincing than
many pages of generalities.
"Water, water, . everywhere,
And not a drop to drink,"
passes current, but Coleridge wrote:
"Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."
The usual quotation from Moore is:
" 'Twas ever thus from childhood's
hour."
What the poet said in his sigh was:
"Oh, ever thus," etc.
One of the most hackneyed and stub
born errors is in these lines:
"The best laid plans of mice and men
Gang aft agley."
Tho word "plans" should bo
"schemes," to reproduce exactly what
Burns said.
Butler made a perfectly understand
able statement when he said:
"He that complies against his will
Is of his own opinion still,"
but in the usual form
"A man convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still "
it is nauseous. The same author wrote:
"Look before you ere you leap,"
which is certainly better and more
precise advice than the usual "Look
before you leap."
Shakespeare is so badly maltreated
at second-hand that It Is Impossible to
give more than a few examples. He
said:
"Misery acquaints a man with strange
bedfellows." .
And also
"Dressed in a little brief authority."
instead of "misery makes strange bed
fellows" in the first instance, and
"clothed" in the second. He also
wrote:
"A looker on in Vienna,"
and not "a looker on in Venice." This
Is one of the most common blunders.
In the famous soliloquy of Jacques,
"the infant" is usually spoken of as
in "his" nurse's arms. But the "men
and womeu" were in "the' arms of
their nurses, 'and therefore .the gender
is not restricted to "his." Another
passage is usually quoted thus:
"Nothing extenuate, ,
Nor aught set down in malice."
It should be:
"Nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice."
A pitfall lies in:
"A babbled of green fields."
Commonly quoted, it runs:
"And then he babbled of green fields."
The "and then" is not in the text,
and the "a" is construed by some com
mentators to mean "ayo" and not "he"
at all. The context supports either
reading. But Shakespeare did write:
"Comparisons are odorous"
and not "odious." It is a raalapropism
that antedates that charming and dar
ing excursionist into the fields of mis
quotation. "Now is tho winter of our discon
tent' is almost always used without
regard to the context, and its meaning
is thereby perverted. A glance at the
passage will show that the meaning is
that "the winter of our discontent" is
a thing of tlie past, and "glorious sum
mer" is at hand (now) brought by the
"son of York."
Shakespeare also wrote: "One foot
in sea and one on land," not "One foot
on sea," etc., as many will have it.
A bone of contention lies in this line
in Gray.'s Elegy:
"Kept the noiseless tenor of their
way."
For noiseless, the practical mind,
which refuses to reconcile the idea of a
tenor with the absence of noise, sub
stitutes "even," ' and for "kept" the
word "held" is often used. Bishop
Porteus wrote:
" held
The tenor of his way,"
which may account foi some of the
confusion.
Raleigh also, apeaking of "floods and
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but the deep
streams," wrote:
"The shallow murmur,
are dumb."
John Pomfret said nothing about
"Kissing the hand that1 "gave the
blow." . , ..'.,? !,i- ., ,
iiuab m: uiu rviim yud, r ;,-
"We bear it calmly though a ponder
ous woe, "' '' '
And still adore the hand that gave the
blow."
And Jonathan M. Sewall said:
"No pent up Utica contracts your
powers."
Not
"No pent up Utica confines his
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Two common errors are to he found
in variants on Middloton's "All is not
gold that glisteneth," and in "Appro
hation from Sir Hubert "Stanley is
praise indeed."
It would seem to ho almost impos
sible to go astray in the little prayer
from the "New England Primer." but
it is done every day. In the 1777 re
print of this book, in which it first ap
peared, the first lines read:
"Now I lay me down to take my sleep,
I pray the Lord," etc.
In the 1784 edition it read:
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord," etd.
In the 1814 edition it was changed so
as to read:
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray Theo, Lord," etc.
It will be seen, therefore, that the
accuracy of the quotation depends
upon the edition from which it was
learned.
.Pop said: "Speed the going (not
the parting) guest;" and Milton's Hue
is: "Fresh woods tind' pastures new,"
not "fields." The tongue is not an
"unruly member," but an "unruly
evil." You make "assurance double
sure," and' not doubly sure. It is a
"wet sheet and a flowing sea," as Cun
ningham wrote it. and not a "flowing
sail," and "mercy droppeth as the gen
tle rain." It does not "fall" like tho
"dew."
There has ever been a question, as to
tho good or bad taste displayed in the
use of quotations at all, but there can
bo but ono view of misquotations.
They are inexcusable, and should be
reformed altogether. -Baltimore Sun.
TOASTS ByWger
Most mon dread being called upon to respond
to a toast or to mnVn nn
address. What would you
not givo for the ability to
bo rid of this embarrass
mont? No neod ,to give
much when you can learn
tho art from this little
book. It will toll you how
to do it; not only that,
but by examplo it will
show tho way. It is valu
ablo not alono to the nov
ico, but tho experienced
speaker will gather from
it many suggestions.
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