OCR Text |
Show Little Journeys. There is a literature which begins to assume such portentous proportions that those who keep pare v ith Its ud-Vancefl ud-Vancefl have time for little else. Indeed. ! one marvels. In our day of predlgested nourishment thut no man hu yet j availed himself oT the future awaiting the compiler of anthologies in this field. ' The omission may be traceable to the ! fact that the literature In ipiestlon Is I perhaps more elusl e of description than any other It is not quite travel. I It Is not quite history It Is not quite biography. And even at the iis-k of Seeming to drag In a smart phrase by the ears one must say that it Is not quite literature. It clings to the skirts of literature this gossip, more often pleasant than unpleasant, by people who have been less conspicuous about those who have heen more so. its chief concern is with the Birthplace and the Tomb. From the t'asual Residence however, or the Fateful Snot, it does not turn. Occasionally In truth it deal with ko vivid a fai t as the Personal Impression. For my own part I am an Insatiable devourer of such pallulum. I cling to the skirts of literature as tightly as I may. In the first place. 1 am an American, und Americans above all other men ;i i given to this species of manufat ture. Having no past of our own we dedicate prodigies of romance to that of oilier peopb-. But, In the se -ond place. I am by nature the most sentimental man in the world. Scones that have witnessed great events, object ob-ject Which have been touched by important im-portant pprsons, individuals about whom hovers some aura of Celebrity, I have for me an Inordinate Interest. It makes no difference what persons or what events may he conretned. I an of a perfect catholicity in the matt Personalltv to me Is naught tnd fame is all as evidence of which I m'is;hi -that the Mallbran theater ami the Hole Danlell, in the pleasant city of Venice, are equally dear to me on account of their respective associations with Marco Polo and the affaire Sand De Musset, And. exactly to the same degree, de-gree, i shall never forgive myself fr,-havlng fr,-havlng traveled some years Bint e entire day on the same boat with ol : and BJornsen without once suspect! the propinquity of greatness H 1 Dwlght. In December Smnrt Pet |