Life — September 11, 1913 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

How Old Is Any Book? GENTLEMAN contributor writes to The Dial, of Chicago, com- plaining that one of the best publishers in this country sent out for review a book bearing the date 1913 on its title page when the book was in reality a reprint of 1908, as shown by the copy- right date on another page. He wrote to the publishers about it, and they replied that the title pages of books “are always changed to the date of the year in which the special edition has been printed, the date on the copyright page remaining the same.” The Dial omits the name of the pub- lisher: When publishers reprint old books with new dates on the title pages, and with no explanation, are they fooling the reading public? If a shoemaker should attempt to sell you old stock with new labels on it, wouldn't you feel that he was playing tricks with you? And isn’t your mind more im- portant than your body? Why should anybody be deluded into buying a last year’s book any more than a last year’s straw hat? This is bad enough, but when we step from the publishers to the authors it’s worse. .For what guarantee do we have, when we attempt to read any book of the present day, that the au- thor isn't palming off old ideas upon us? Not only the actual date of the book, but also the actual date of the ideas in it, ought to be placed on every title page. A proper explanation might read about as follows: This book was first published four years ago, and this is a second edi- tion. he idea rewritten by the author, however, is at least two thousand two hundred years old. BY soothing the nerves, calming the mind and relaxing the bodily tension brings about in a natural way a sense of repose and contentment. Its use tends to make life normal and enjoyable thereby helping to prolong it. A real tonic for body and brain and gratifying to all the senses. __All'dealers—C. H. EVANS & SONS, Hudson, N. Y. ACCESSORIES, 5 foched Score Pa UST am TV 26 a SO a eS SRE If you believe in music you need a Victor-Victrola If you believe in the power of music to elevate your thoughts and broaden your intellect, to stir your imagination and quicken your emotions, to soothe your mind and lighten your toil, you can appreciate what it would mean to have a Victrola in your home. Music is no longer a luxury to be understood and enjoyed by a select few. Music has come to be an actual necessity in every home, and its foremost exponent today is the Victrola. With this wonderful instru- ment, you bring some music into your life each day toadd to your happiness and make your home more complete. There are Victors and Victrolas in J great variety of styles from $10 to $500. Any Victor dealer Mahogany or quartered oak Victor-Victrola XVI in any city in the world will gladly demonstrate the Victor-Victrola to you and play any music you wish to hear. in, N. J., U.S. A. real, Canadian Di New Victor Records demonstrated at all dealers on the 28th of each month Hymns Tt is a melancholy thing to read an English hymn-book. Doubtless for most cf us sacred associations gather around the hymns we sing, so that we abandon ourselves to the feelings called up by these associations, and do not notice what we are singing, Yet if in a critical mood we examine them, we cannot but be overcome with melancholy, They are so well meant, and so badly exprest; so pious, and so ridiculous; they are sentimental when they should be im- passioncd, grovelling instead of feni- tent, incoherent when they ought to be simple. It is not true that great poets are irreligious; on the contrary, their glory it is to see a soul of goodness in things evil, and this is the essence of religion. Yet our hymns are obviously not written by pocts. There is surely no reason why religion and illiteracy should be unequally yoked together ; and it were better to sing no hymns at all than to sing trash —Prof. W. H. D. Rouse. in The Eng- lish Review. comicbooks.com