Richardson; then came my favorite, Fielding, our first real realist; and finally arrived the critical period with its early representative in Jane Austen and more recent upholder in Meredith. We had to pass through stages far from real life before we reached the time of direct dealing with life, of real criticism of life. Take such men as Wells and Galsworthy and maybe Arnold Bennett are they not trying to see life through and through? I do not believe in the realism that merely depicts for the picture. Realism of the kind I mean not only depicts but interprets as well."

"And how about Fielding, your favorite ?"

Oh, he had his faults, but they were honest ones." Miss Glasgow shows enthusiasm while talking. "He was the first to teach us that life and ordinary life, too has poetry in it. There are some of our writers with a social conscience who use narrative as a mere vehicle for philosophy. It is always well to have a big central idea to hold the building together, but realism though some novelists would separate it cannot be practiced apart from vision. The novelist must have perspective in life."

Montrose J. Moses, in New York Times.

To Succeed in Playwriting. In the Broadway office of Bayard Veiller, author of "Within the Law," on the wall opposite to the desk hangs a large sign, in very plain print, which reads, "If it is n't an entertainment, it's a failure."

"That," said Mr. Veiller, pointing to the sign, “is the cause of whatever little success I have had. My wife, Margaret Wycherly, had it painted for me seven years ago, just after the failure of my first long play, The Primrose Path.' I have watched it day after day for seven years, during which time I have written and destroyed no less than twelve plays, so you see whatever success may have come to me from Within the Law' can hardly be called 'sudden.'

be followed, to make a successful play. You spend years and years learning them, and then some one comes along and, breaking every one of them, turns out the most interesting play of the year. But no man can break the rules with success if he has not first learned them. That is what makes playwriting so fascinating.

"Personally I don't believe that any one can write a good play until the technical part of his work has been so thoroughly learned that it becomes instinct rather than knowledge."

"Well, granting the necessary technical equipment in a playwright, what is the next important thing he must do to make a successful play?" Mr. Veiller was asked.

'Pound his pulpit," was the answer, sent with characteristic directness, straight from the playwright's shoulder.

"In the days when the churches were crowded, and that's some years ago, too, we had a race of clergymen that we used to call pulpit-pounders. They'd run along quietly through their sermons, until the congregation began to nod, and then suddenly, to emphasize a fourteen-ounce phrase, the land clergyman would an eighty-pound wallop on his pulpit. Of course, everybody sat up and took notice. I think we can all take a leaf from those old ministers' books, and I am quite sure the harder we playmakers pound our pulpits, the better our audiences are going to like us, always provided that we do the pounding in the right place.

"That's where your technical equipment comes in. There is no sense in hitting two blows where one will do, and I think the secret of it all lies in starting with a little love tap, and ending with a blow that breaks the pulpit in two.

"It all lies in your climaxing. A prizefighter does it, if he has brains as well as muscle: a shopkeeper does it, or he has an empty store. Why should n't a dramatist ?

"We are living in a staccato age. We italicize everything that we do, and the man who shouts the loudest is the man you hear over and above the general din. But here

comes another of those exceptions — you can do it in another way. In acting there are two ways to put an important speech across the footlights. One way is slightly to over-emphasize a speech, and so attract attention to it; and the other is to speak it so quietly, and with so little emphasis, that the interest of the audience is kept keen just to catch the value of the word. So in spite of my theory of pulpit-pounding, there are other ways to get your effects." - New York Times.

The Poets and the Public Stephen Phillips has been appointed editor of the Poetry Review, an English periodical intended to bring meritorious versifiers of to-day in touch with the British public. It is another experiment in publishing poetry so that the writers may hope to obtain some profit from the exercise of their talents. Various ventures of a similar kind have been made in England and America. They have prospered for a time, then languished, and finally died of inanition. Even the best magazines are shy of using poetry except for filling out a page. No wonder that "magazine poetry" has become a derogatory term, though in truth a good average of poetic quality is maintained in the lyrical contributions to the better monthlies.

The poets fare no worse to-day than in days gone by. For instance, the first venture of the Brontë sisters in addressing the public was a volume of verse, issued in 1846 at an expense of about $250, which they could ill-afford from their very slender resources. At the expiration of a year, and only four months before "Jane Eyre" appeared and caused a literary sensation, Charlotte Brontë, using her pen name of 'Currer Bell," wrote to Tennyson, saying: "In the space of a year the publisher has disposed of but two copies, and by what painful efforts he succeeded in disposing of these two himself only knows." Before transferring the edition to "the trunkmakers," she begged that Tennyson would accept one of the volumes.

A poet of Thomas Campbell's reputation was willing to accept two hundred copies of his poems in exchange for the copyright.

This meant that he had to bestir himself to sell the two hundred copies. Robert Burns, going among the farmers and squires on market days at Kilmarnock soliciting subscriptions for his poems, is a classical figure in literary history. Wordsworth was more than sixty before he received any return for the labor of a life devoted to poetry. Tennyson's two-volume edition of his poems in 1842 "made a sensation," as the publisher told him two or three months after their appearance, when five hundred copies had been sold. That poet himself, while taking the cure at a "hydropathic establishment," soon after the edition of 1842 appeared, was not above requesting his publisher to bring or send him two copies for each person in the establishment who wanted them. - Philadelphia Press.

A Poetry Shop. - England's first poetry shop was opened yesterday. In an eight. eenth century house in Devonshire street, Theobald road, Mr. Harold Monro welcomed an enthusiastic crowd of poetry lovers to the inauguration of what is intended to be a sort of poetry guild in London. To this old house, it is hoped, people will go to read poetry, talk about it, and buy it.

Marshaled on the shelves in the ground floor rooms are editions of poetry ranging from the slim little fugitive verse of the unknown to the heavy collected works of the famous. Upstairs is a large room where poetry will be read aloud twice a week, and above that are bedrooms where visitors (say, poets from the country) may have lodging for the night.

"Our object," said Mr. Monro, "is to further the publication of poetry. There are poetry lovers all over the country who would like to keep in touch with the work of new men, but the ordinary bookseller's conviction that poetry. does not sell well often makes new verse difficult to obtain. Here we shall have a bookshop devoted to the sale of poetry and of all books, pamphlets, and periodicals connected directly or indirectly with poetry.

"We invite the verse-lover to come here, look round the shelves, sit down and examine a book at his leisure, and discuss it

with his friends. It is an artistic more than an economic enterprise."

Mr. Henry Newbolt, the poet, delivered a short lecture on modern poetry during the afternoon. London Express, January 9.

Hints for Fiction Authors. The feud story: Take one family of Holcombs, one family of Hatwoods, a few slouch hats, some Winchester rifles, some "moonshine" liquor, a sprig of rhododendron; sprinkle well with "we-uns" and "you alls" and serve in 3,000-word lengths.

The "red blood" story Requirements, one civil engineer, an uncivil landowner, a deep gulch, a right-of-way, a railroad president and his daughter. Place all of these characters in a runaway train, have it blown up by dynamite, but get the first train over the new line in time. If illustrated, young engineer must be dressed in a khaki suit with a broad-brimmed hat.

The detective story: One shrewd detective, four stolid policemen with Irish names, three finger prints, three fingers of liquor, a stolen tiara, and a beautiful damsel.

Use a

desperate criminal if necessary. These characters in a successive setting of suburban mansion, police station, state prison, and the trick is done. Detective may or may not wed the girl, as may suit the whim of the writer.

The business story: Two young brokers, one young woman, a scene in Wall Street, a panic, two stock tickers and a bankruptcy proceeding. A new idea would be to refer to some stock as "P., D. & Q. Preferred." The newspaper story: First essential, gruff city editor. After that four "star" reporters and one unappreciated "cub. The conversation must be replete with "scoops" and "clean copy" and "throbbing presses." Let the "cub" get the big "beat" and have the story printed on the first page just as it comes from his typewriter "pulsing with human interest." On the strength of the story raise the "cub's' salary to seventy-five dollars a week. (Remember, we are speaking of fiction.)

The society story: Use most any character you can pick up, but not until he is manicured and attired in a dress suit.

THE SUCCESS OF LESLIE'S WEEKLY. With portrait of John A. Sleicher. National Printer-Journalist for January.

MEMORY REPRODUCTION AND ASSOCIATION. Ernst Mach. With frontispiece portrait. Open Court for January.

MEREDITH HIMSELF. Illustrated. Joseph Warren Beach. Bellman for January 4.

VULGARIZING SPEECH. Richard Burton. Bellman for January 25.

MRS. CAROLINE WELLS HEALEY DALL. Rev. Christopher R. Eliot. Christian Register for Janu

ary 9.

ROBERT COLLYER : SAINT AND SEER. I. and II. Rev. John Haynes Holmes. Christian Register for January 9 and 16.

ROBERT COLLYER ONE WORD MORE. Rev. Henry G. Spaulding. Christian Register for January 23. HISTORY AS LITERATURE. Theodore Roosevelt. Outlook for January 11.

THE SUNSET YEARS OF AMELIA E. BARR. With portrait. J. L. Harbour. Christian Endeavor World for January 23.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC STYLE IN MEDICAL LITERATURE. Frank Place. New York Medical Record for January 25.

WHAT THE PLAYWRIGHT IS UP AGAINST. Illustrated. Charles Klein. Saturday Evening Post for January 25.

THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF JOHN RUSKIN. Rev. James Mudge, D. D. Zion's Herald for January 29.

NEWS AND NOTES.

Owen Johnson is in Italy, where he will spend the winter in a Florentine villa, working on a new novel.

Frederic Harrison is now more than eighty years old, but he is about to publish an important work, a "History of All Religions."

Richard Le Gallienne and his wife have sailed for Marseilles, where, with knapsacks on their backs, they are going to begin a tramp of 450 miles to Paris.

Professor Harry Thurston Peck, filing a voluntary petition in bankruptcy, says that all his property, including copyrights on his books, is worth $365. His literary assets consist of fifteen copyrights, collectively valued at only fifty dollars; a contract with Dodd, Mead & Co. for royalties on "Hilda and the Wishes," Studies in Several Litera-tures and The New Baedeker"; and a contract with the Macmillan Company for royalties on his "History of Classical Philology," valued at $100.

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In England last year 12,886 books appeared, of which 10,477 were new. Fiction heads the list with 2,290 novels. Then come religion and theology with 934; children's books, 821; biography and history, 674; and educational works, 522.

In this country, according to the Publishers' Weekly, there were 10,135 new books brought out in 1912, of which 960 were fiction, 865 religion and theology, 802 scciology and economics, 783 law, 631 science, 620 poetry and the drama, and 533 juvenile publications.

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Sardou and the Sardou Plays," by Jerome A. Hart, is published by the Lippincotts.

"Wordsworth, Poet of Nature and Poet of Men," by Dr. E. Hershey Sneath, is published by Ginn & Co.

"John Forster and His Friendships," by Richard Renton, is published by Charles Scribner's Sons.

A piece of autobiographical writing by Henry James, a book called "A Small Boy and Others," is to be published by the Scribners.

The Naples Table Association for Promoting Laboratory Research by Women offers this year, for the sixth time, a prize of $1,000 for the best thesis written by a woman on a scientific subject. The thesis must embody new observations and new conclusions based on independent laboratory research in biological, chemical, or physical science. This prize has been named the Ellen Richards Research Prize, in honor of Mrs. Richards. The Association also maintains a research table for qualified women students at the Zoological Station at Naples. The chairman of the committee is Dr. Lilian Welsh, Goucher College, Baltimore. prize is offered every two years.

The

"Edgar Poe," by Emile Lauvrière, is published by Blond et Cie., Paris.

The editors of the Independent (New York), now in its sixty-sixth year, announce that from now on contributors are to have a large part in the making of the paper, and to that end invite short articles on topics of present-day importance.

The New Review, just started in New York, is a thirty-page "weekly review of international socialism," with about 15,000 words of text devoted "to education rather than to agitation." Hermann Simpson is the editor, and the publication office is at 150 Nassau street.

The Woman's International Review (New York), edited by Anna Garlin Spencer and Clara Helene Trimper, is a dignified and substantial periodical which, its editors say, "will reflect the present status of educated women in the broad scope and trend of their activities, and at the sante time appeal to that ever-growing feminine public that, in advancing thought and observation, has risen above the field exploited by the current woman's magazine."

The Eye-Witness, the radical London weekly started by Hilaire Belloc, has changed its name to the New Witness. It is now edited by Cecil Chesterton. The staff and policy will remain the same.

G. W. Arrowsmith, the publisher, who died in England January 19, was the discoverer of Hugh Conway, whose novel, "Called Back," achieved world-wide popularity, although it remained unappreciated until a favorable notice in Truth directed the attention of the public to the tale, which has since reached a circulation of 400,000. Mr. Arrowsmith also published Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat." On the other hand, he refused to touch "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" when Conan Doyle approached him with the offer of the book.

The curators of the University of Missouri have accepted the Eugene Field monument fund of $1,350 for establishing the Eugene Field scholarship in journalism.

The President and Fellows of Harvard College have voted to establish the Harvard University Press, for the publication of works of a high scholarly character, whether produced within or out of the university. This recalls the fact that the first printing press in America was a gift to Harvard College in 1642, and was set up in the house of President Dunster. Among other important books which were printed on it were the Bay Psalm Book and John Eliot's Indian Bible.

There is to be established in Leipzig, we are told, a library wherein will be collected the whole literature of the German Empire in German and in foreign languages issued from January 1, 1913. Those works begun before this year will be completed, so far as possible, by the addition of the parts issued earlier. Journals in the German language and pictorial representations, with or without writing, will be on file, music and daily papers being excluded.

The English Illustrated Magazine for January prints the late H. C. Bunner's short story, "The Love Letters of Smith," without change of title or text, and ascribes the authorship to "M. Northington."

"The Recollections of the Brownings," by Mrs. William Kinney, mother of E. C. Stedman, which are being published in Neale's magazine, are somewhat more candid and critical than most of those previously issued.

Among the death claims filed with United States Commissioner Gilchrist because of the Titanic disaster is one for $300,000 for Jacques Futrelle, the novelist, by his widow. She also asks $3,600 for manuscripts and manuscript material.

Will Carleton left an estate valued at $5,000.

Harry Peyton Steger died in New York January 5, aged thirty-six.

Harold Van Santvoord died at Kinderhook, N. Y., January 8, aged fifty.

Dr. Wolfred Nelson died in New York January 15, aged sixty-six.

Mrs. Julia C. R. Dorr died at Rutland, Vt., January 18, aged eighty-seven.