. Busyman's Magazine, July-December 1907. boardingat seaside house under Carpentry forAmateurs ? I asked, assuming anexpression of mild inquiry. Jack became suddenly solemn. Helooked up more in sorrow than inanger. When a woman tries to be humor- 54 THE BUSY MANS MAGAZINE. ous she generally says something ex-ceptionally silly, he remarked. Thisidea of mine to collect and classifyinformation on all subjects gleanedfrom every reliable source, and topublish the net result in twenty yearstime, is surely worthy of serious con-sideration and of sensible treatment. He was so much in earnest that Ifel
. Busyman's Magazine, July-December 1907. boardingat seaside house under Carpentry forAmateurs ? I asked, assuming anexpression of mild inquiry. Jack became suddenly solemn. Helooked up more in sorrow than inanger. When a woman tries to be humor- 54 THE BUSY MANS MAGAZINE. ous she generally says something ex-ceptionally silly, he remarked. Thisidea of mine to collect and classifyinformation on all subjects gleanedfrom every reliable source, and topublish the net result in twenty yearstime, is surely worthy of serious con-sideration and of sensible treatment. He was so much in earnest that Ifelt rather sorry for my flippancy. Itseemed almost like sacrilege. *But wont the information of to-day be just a little old-fashioned bythe time the work is completed andpublished? I ventured, speaking in amore serious tone. Suppose, for in-stance, that he had just issued sucha miscellany as you propose, and thatone of the proud owners of the En-cyclopaedia wished to refer to an ar-ticle on bicycling, written by an expertin the year 1887?. Jack scarcely spoke a single word his lips were moving continuously and he wasstaring stonily at the gas bracket. He would look under the letter B,of course, said Jack sagely. Certainly, I agreed. But that isnot the point. Our information wouldprobably be indexed in this way:Bicycle, How to choose and ride aspider! Jack explained that the V\^ork wouldhave to be thoroughly revised beforepublication, and that all out-of-dateinformation would be eliminated. Heappeared to be somewhat discouragedwhen I calculated that the task ofelimination would probably wipe aboutfifteen volumes out of existence; buthis ebbing enthusiasm revived againbefore the evening, when he returnedfrom the city with four large indexes and some dozens of newspapers andperiodicals. The half-dozen bookswhich were distined to receive the ear-liest cuttings had arrived earlier in theday, together with a pint bottle ofgum, a new fountain pen, and half agross of blue pencils. It was
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