An interesting address was given by Mr. 8. Couling at Wednesday's ies necting of the Union Church Literary and Social Guild, the subject of it being the novels of Charles The Share Market, Reade.
Beginning from January there Mr. Couling began his lecture wae a fair amount of activity in with a few remarks upon the cul-the share market, the principal tivation of "literary taste" and stocks dealt in being cottons and came to his subject with the remark sangeats, There was no doubt that The Cloister and the Hearth" chat prospects for cotton were was one of the most skilful, varied, good, and the output from and interesting narratives ever writ. tne Langkats way increasing. ten. With all his defects, Reade But the greater part.of the business could hardly be denied his place was in speculation. Trams and among the few writers of great fic-Telephones sise participated in the tion. A sketch of the novelist's life neeavy advance in prices. With followed, with some allusion to his few exceptions all general stocks dramas and their connexion with were untouched, and rubbers: ce his novels. The two stories " Peg Woffington" and "Nance Oldfield Before April, practically all busi-pecially were a drug on the market. were discussed, and "Christie John-especially as the management decentred in Langkate; stone," with its uncouth dialect.
For the writing of this story of cided to publish the output daily,- fisher-folk, Reade actually put a glorious chance for speculators, money into the fishing busi-By May, cottons weakened slightly, ness and spent many a night as there was a sort of lull in busi-catching herrings. The thoroughness of his work was best ness. Trams came down also, and other stocks were not noticed at all. shown, however, from his own account of his preparations. For writ-The culmination of the gamble - in ing "Its Never Too Late to Mend,"
Langkats was in May when pross reached over Tls. 60. After thi Blue books were read, prisons were visited, sailors, gold-diggers, Jews, activity began to decrease, especi and sheep-farmers were all cultivate ly as the hope of the maintenance ed and catechized, that every fact of the very high output, of a few might be correct and the whole book days, proved to be unfounded. This be true. gamble in Langkats brought about The lecturer then gave a long a far reaching change in the Stock resume of the narrate Exchange. After the rubber boom vf 1910, the Exchange formulated some illus certain rules with regard to for-what light it threw on medieval ward transactions; and it was history. A passage was also read thought that those rules should pre-from the article on Erasmus in vent @ repetition of the boom and Bayle's Dictionary (1735 edition) help the market to maintain a sane where are found the dry facts on tone. Last year, however, it was which the great romantic novel is found that the rules were more based. honoured in the breach than in the "Hard Cash" referred to' sbservance—for various reasons. Written for "All the Year Round"
'Before the war, the speculation in at Charlss Dickens' invitation, it Langkats and cottons was so serious reduced the weekly circulation that many feared a crisis,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.