Life — December 26, 1907 — page 19: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Happy Days in CALIFORNIA THE is the famous train that makes get- ting there as much pleasure as being there. Lowest altitudes, an interest for every mile, and a comfort every hour. Chicago and St Louis to Los janta Barbara and San Francisco Rock Island Start to plan now, by send- Ing for illustrated books tell- ing in story and picture all about the delightsof California in Wieter, Write t to JOHN SEBASTIAN, Passenger Traffic Mer., Rock Island Lines, Chicago. BERMUDA “THE IDEAL WINTER RESORT” Ody 45 hours from New York boy frequent steamers of Quebec $.5. Co, jaayy Ne V2) Outdoor life, Vaclting, Driving, Golf, Sea lath g. Climate delightfal Uirooghout the wlater, The well-known PRINCESS HOTEL 39:% HOWE & TWOROGER, Mgrs., Hamiltoo, Bermuda Send us your songs and instrumen- ONGS tal pieces for inspection. We arrange, compose, revise and publish available manvicripts. Write us to-day. VICTOR KREMER, 216 Marine Bldg., CHICAGO, ILL. The foundation of Health and Happiness “ Bedbooks” (There is said to be a steady demand for “ bedbooks” in England. ‘There are readers who find in Gibbon a sedative for tired nerves; there are others who enjoy ‘Trollope’s quiet humor. Some people find in. Henry James's tangled syntax the restful diversion they and others enjoy Mr. Howells's unexciting realism.— The Sun.) ‘OW sleep the brave who sink to rest Lulled by the waves of dreamy diction Like that appearing in the best Of modern fiction! When sleeplessness the Briton claims, And hits him with her wakeful wallop, He goes to Gibbon or to James, Or maybe Trollope. No paltry limit, such as those, ‘The craving-slumber Yankee curses— He has a wealth of poppy prose And opiate verses. A grain of—ought I mention names And say whence sleep may be inspired? Is it the thing to say of James, “He makes me tired?” To say ‘a dose of Phillips, or A capsule of Sinclair or Brady, Is just the thing to make me snore?” O lackadaydee! Nay! It were churlish to review And specify by marked attention Our bedbooks. They are far too nu- Merous to mention. Franklin P. Adams. Dashes THE lady president of the New York Browning Society, on a recent or- casion when the club met to discuss “A Forgiveness,” was reported by a Truthful James as saying: “I wonder how many of you counted the dashes in this poem. ‘There are one hundred and eight of them, and wherever Browning puts a dash he means you to use your brains.” This is much better than the hypo- critical practice of putting down a dash fora damh. The dash is, in fact, one of the most useful forms of punctuation—a delicate indication of the proper pause in reading; but it should be employed dis- creetly. A dash of dashes rather flavors a poem; 108 of- them borders on excess. And, oh, yes, will the president of the New York Browning Society, who has made a study of these things, tell us what the dashes mean in a woman’s letter? We do so awfully want to know. GREAT BEAR SPRING WATER “ite purity bas made it famous.” LIFE -» will celebrate its ‘Twenty- fifth Birthday in the issue of January Second, 1908 It will contain: A New Drawing by Charles Dana Gibson Reminiscent Articles by John A. Mitchell James S. Metcalfe and Thomas L. Masson Birthday Poems by Julian Hawthorne and Edward S. Martin Also Reproduced pages from the first number of LIFE, and a num- ber of special illustrations with special text by LIFE’S best artists and contributors., Order in advance from your newsdealer or begin your sub- scription so as to include this historic number. comicbooks.com