Many Books

From the Perth Amboy Evening News, March 6, 1913.
 By Walt Mason.
 

 They turn out books a-plenty, they print ‘em by the mile, and one, perhaps in twenty is worth a reader’s while. So many books are dizzy, so many books are flat; so many keep you busy a-guessing where you’re at; so many books are sporty, so many books are vile, and one, perhaps in forty, is worth a reader’s while. Translations from the Germans, translations from the Swedes, and masquerading sermons the weary victim reads; translations from the Spanish, translations from the Finns, translations from the Danish, and other bookish sins; and native authors nifty print volumes by the pile, and one perhaps, in fifty, is worth a reader’s while. We’ve books by four time winners who would expound the truth, and books concerning sinners pursued by wondrous sleuth; and we have problem novels and books about the slum, where, down in filthy hovels fierce people live on rum; and we have volumes weighty, and some that make us smile, and one, perhaps in eighty, is worth a reader’s while. We’ve books about the toiler, and books about the dude, and books about the spoiler, and books that shock the prude; and we have books that worry about our modern ways, and other books that hurry us back to ancient days, to lady on her pillion, to knight who scraps in style; and one in fifty million is worth a reader’s while.