ted in
semicolons. This matter of interest is so important that it is well to
know what things all persons, authors and readers alike, are
interested in. What, then, is generally interesting?

The Familiar.

First, _the familiar is interesting._ When reading a newspaper each
one instinctively turns to the local column, or glances down the
general news columns to see if there is anything from his home town.
To a former resident, Jim Benson's fence in Annandale is more
interesting than the bronze doors of the Congressional Library in
Washington. For the same reason a physician lights upon "a new cure
for consumption," a lawyer devours Supreme Court decisions, while the
dealer in silks is absorbed in the process of making silk without the
aid of the silkworm. Each is interested in that which to him is most
familiar.

Human Life.

Second, _human life in all its phases is interesting._ The account of
a fire or of a railroad accident takes on a new interest when, in
addition to the loss of property, there has been a loss of life. War
is horribly fascinating, not so much because there is a wanton
destruction of property, as because it involves the slaughter of men.
Stories about trees and animals are usually failures, unless handled
by artists who breathe into them the life of man. Andersen's
"Tannenbaum" and Kipling's "Jungle Books" are intensely interesting
because in them trees and animals feel and act just as men do.

The Strange.

Third, _the romantic, the unique, and the impossible are interesting._
A new discovery, a new invention, a people of which little is
known,--anything new is interesting. The stories of Rider Haggard and
Jules Verne have been popular because they deal with things which eye
hath not seen. This peculiar trait of man allows him to relish a good
fish story, or the latest news from the sea-serpent. Just for the same
reason, children love to hear of Little Red Riding Hood and
Cinderella. Children and their parents are equally interested in those
things which are entirely outside of their own experience.

These, then, are the general conditions which govern the choice of a
subject. It shall easily lend itself to the form of discourse chosen;
it shall be suited to the peculiar ability of the author; it shall be
thoroughly understood by the author,--common, but not trivial; it
shall be interesting to both reader and author.

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