The Rambles of an Idler 



whither must the aspiring writer go? Surely, 

 not to the library. Hindrances only will be 

 there. A new book — ^new in every sense — 

 should be conceived, if not written, where books 

 are never seen, but wherever the stern realities 

 of life are all-absorbing — amid bustling activ- 

 ity and the fiercer struggles for bare existence ; 

 or in green fields, where Nature holds sway and 

 is never idle; or on a mountain-top, where 

 freshest breezes blow; or deep down in the val- 

 ley, where trickling waters are wearing away 

 the rocks; anywhere that books are not, the 

 breath of life may enter into an honest thought 

 — an actually-new creation! 



What constitutes a new idea is as evident as 

 the fraud of old ones set-up as new is patent. 

 It is something not previously thought — a 

 new combination of familiar facts giving in 

 their association a strictly novel impression. 

 Such ideas occasionally burst upon the world 

 in the past century, and are to be remembered 

 with its notable meteors and comets. 



As the. race of writers is likely not to grow 

 less, the effort for their betterment should be 

 very earnest ; but whether such effort will ever 

 be made is problematical. Unfortunately, 



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