The Importance of the Miscellaneous

Before examining a deceptive meaning in the miscellaneous it is wise to examine the basis of an interest in the miscellaneous. I have just been examining a book review section of a newspaper. Most of the books of the week are itemized neatly under such headings as history, biography, fiction, etc. These headings give a clue as to content and one has a fair chance of finding there such material as one wants. Thus the inveterate reader of fiction has things made easy for him. This, of course, would be one of the main purposes of such a book review section in a newspaper. The newspaper brings news to the reader that he could secure in no other way.

Sunday newspaper reading, in our country, is something of a weekly luxury, indulged in during the most relaxed moments of a week-end. It is associated with a feeling of ease and security and the general feeling that all is well with the world. Even the particular paper one reads becomes a matter of habit; one may expect to find all of the conventional material therein with the small departures and variations that may make life interesting during the ensuing week; the new style, new bit of news, new show, new apartment, new book, each a. little different from that of the previous week, but not too much so as to disturb the tranquility of a Sunday. The average American finds it something of a major catastrophe if he has to get his news from a Sunday paper other than the one he has been accustomed to reading.

The more adventurous individual may not find such an examination of his paper adequate. He may wish information that is less stereotyped or that departs a little more from the conventional. When I examine the book listings in my paper, I find that some publications are included under the heading of pamphlets. Here one must assume that the newspaper has decided that pamphlets require a special designation in which subject matter is not considered, whereas once a book is bound solidly, its subject matter achieves a special sig