BOOKS AND THEIR AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 10

BOOKS AND THEIR AUTHORS.

I learnt; thai. Mri.BarneSr'wroto books i'-was •interoste'di.l ;he modestly proclaimed-them to 'bff.'wqrtK'.'th'eir weight in gold, I desired, to. hear no .Mora. 1 havo read a good "many; of Mr. Barnes's articles,' and' thiiik-'I/',can truthfully say I novcr romemboritp'have found in them- one original idea, or : even .an 1 -. old one originally expressed. Mind, I do not dispute that his books may bo worth thoir weight in gold— or radium for that he seems to mo to hoard his gold in a most miserly fashion—never'a'grain, : by any cha'n'co,' ge'tting. mixed witli his printed matter.' I have been called 'a Socialist, and always do-the best I can to deserve such an honour ; but I hardly think a Socialist, more than anyone else, has-a right to inflict dull, leadon, old'stuff on an'.uhleisured public, while, proclaiming his' clipboards t0,,, bo overflowing with bright, new gold. ~, , ;.If Mr; ; Barncs will. biit'. favour us-with ati' ingot of his ."choicest metal; you, sir, I am sure, will be only too pleased to encase it in a column-of ; tho best Dominion type, and invito, your - spccial.litorary cssaycr to demonstrate its,-less obvious perfections. To bo poor—to have <no money—is a horrible .thing, certainly, :but to have no sense of humour seems to me m'oro. horrible still.— I am, ctc.-, -; -- . 'LYME DROR. July 27. ~ . ' "