The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-17
ANTHONY TRoLLoPE.
The Trials and Vacations of the Early Years
of a Famous Literary Man.
Gable Special.

The Trials and Vacations of the Early Years
of a Famous Literary Man.
Cable Special.
Since Carlyle's Memoirs nothing more in
teresting has been given to the world than
Anthony Trollope's autobiography He
wished it to be published speedily after his
death. He knew that the story of his life
was the best novel he could publish.
He says in the preface: 1T will not be so
much my intention to speak of the little de-
tails of my private life as of that which /,
and perhaps Others around me, have done in
literature, of my failures and successes, such
as they have been, and their causes, and of
the opening which literary career offers to
| men and women for earning their bread"
Trollope was even more unfortunate in a
! father than Dickens. The elder Trollope was
! born frail and was cursed with an execrable
temper. He was a chancery lawyer. His
temper drove all the attorneys away. He had
| a little money and considerable ambition.
Having abandoned his hopes of professional
! success it occurred to him to try his fortune
! at farming for which his chief qualification
| was absolute ignorance of country matters.
| A house which he occupied near Harrow has
| been painted by the son IN "Orley Farm"
Anthony was sent TO a Harrow school as a
! day scholar, then to Winchester then again
| to Harrow. What he endured he tells with
all the freshness OF painful memories and
! the simple pathos of truth. He had no
! pocket money. In his rags he always looked
disreputably dirty. Once he was stopped in
4 the street by DIR. Butler head master,
who sternly asked him whether it was pos
sible that Harrow school could be dis
/ graced by so dirty boy At Winchester
! his bills were left unpaid, and tradesmen
/ told to stop his credits He could not even
provide the five shillings for college servants
When he went back to Harrow he had to
/ walk twelve miles a day through muddy
/ lanes to his daily tasks. His holidays were
! spent in his fathers dismal chambers, Lin
coins Inn. The dirty, penniess, and appar-
emily dull boy, wherever he went, was treat
/ ed by his claSs-fellows as a social pariah Yet
I withal he had an intense craving to be loved
! by everyone. After leaving school he became
a clerk in the general postoflice. Colonel
Moberly, the secretary, disliked him. On one
occasion a letter containing some bank notes
We're missing from Colonel Moberly's table.
Mr. Trollope writes:
A letter has been taken said the Colo
mel, turning angrily and by - there has
been nobody in the room but YOU and as
ne spoke he Numbered his fist down upon
the table. Then, said l, by - you have
taken it, and 1 also Numbered
my fist down, but accidentally
/ upon the table. My fist came on the
onePs face and shirt front AT that moment
in came the Colonel's private secretary with
the letter and the money, and was desired
to go back to my own room."
There were other troubles. A young wo-
J man in the country had determined to mar
/ ry Anthony Trollope, but he refused. At
last the woman's mother appeared at the
posto office.
| My hair almost stands on my he ad now"
! he says, las l remember the figure of the
1 woman walking into the big room in which
l sat with six or seven other clerks, having
/ large basket on her arm and an immense
/ bonnet on her head. A messenger vainly
endeavored to persuade her to remain in the
/ ante-room, but she followed the man in,
/ Walking up the center of the room, and adj
! dressed me in loud voice, Anthony Troll
lope, when are you going to marry my
| daughter? We have all had our worst mo-
ments; that was my worst l lived through
| it. however, and did not marry the young
| lady. These little incidents were against ME
| in the office.
| Then there was money-lender into whose
| clutches the young clerk fell, and whose
| daily visits at the office were terrible He
! had always the same words to say: Now,
wish you would be punctual. If you only
would be punctual should like you to have
any thing you want"
| Readers OF Phineas Finn will recognize
! the original of Mr. Clarkson For seve
! years Trollope remained at the postoffice.
During that time he was wretched hated
! the Office, hated his work, hated his idleness,
! but the only career within his reach was that
! of author. His mother, the author OF Amer
lean Notes." introduced his first book, ''The
/ Macdermots of Ballydoran," to the publish
ers. 1t brought in nothing. For his third
novel, La Vendee," he got 500,
but it was failure. Then he wrote a
| play called 1.-THE Noble Jilt," but George
Barley the actor, condemned it so strongly
that it was not even offarad to a manager
The plot afterward was used in ''Can You
Forgive Herr" The warden" was begun
put down again. and not published till 1855
! Tho proHtc hOIf OK fret nd
$50 the second. Trollope had been writing
articles from time to time, but at the end of
1857 he had received only 1915 for the hard
work of ten years. The greater part of Bar
! chester Towers was written on train, and
subsequently Trollope got into the habit of
writing in railway carriage.
II made for myself little table, and found
after few years. exercise that could write
r riage g as at my desk. l worked with With
pencil, and what l wrote my wife
copied afterward. The only objection to the
! practice came from the appearance of litera-
ry ostentation to which | felt myself subject
when going to work before four or five fell
| low-pasSengers"
"Barchester Towers" was published on the
half-proft system, and the author received
! $500 in advance. From this his reputation
was assured The largest sum he ever re-
| ceived for novel was $15675, which was re-
allied by "Orley Farm" but he obtained a
higher rate of pay for shorter story THE
Claverings" was sold for 1000 He writes:
81 have not once through all my literary
career, felt myself even in danger of being
late with my task 1 have known no anxiety
as to copy. The needed papers were far
ahead. have always had in the drawer be-
side me little diary, with its dates and ruled
spaces. 1t is a record that must be seen to.
1t is daily and weekly demand upon my
industry that has done all that for me-" He
wrote more books than any man of his time.
He filled more volumes than Voltaire.
Things One Would Rather Not Have Said.