The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-12

tar removed from literary vanity. have never known more painstaking author than Mir. James. Notwithstanding his gteAt talents and requirements, he has not an over-weening co06d dence even in h's ability to construct a sentence prop efiy. He corTects and rexises every page until his manuscript is totally iilegi6le to any one but himself It has locS been a question among brain-~orkers whether morning. afternoon or night is most ia vnr&bie tc production Some 6nd the re- freshing state which failo~s light break fast best adapted to the purpose Others contend that a we'll cooked dinner shaTpens the intellect while the majority think that night, when all the cares of the day are over and darkness has wrapped the world in silence, is the time when the mInd is most inclined for steady work. Mir. Ames holds the last view and be IieveS, in the words of late eminent writer, "that there are ie~ really great thoughts, such as the world will no; will- 'ngly let due, which have not been con- ceived under the quiet stars"
 George w Cable is sa,d to be the most absorbed ot literary workers He really acts hts dialogues wnle writing them prancing about the room, addressing imaginary persons, smiling, frowning, making love to aud denounciog the crea- lures of his imaSination. An intimate triend of the noveiis, told me that the usually quiet Cable would be taken for a howling lunat'c by any one who might oeep through the window of his study The depic:cr Of Creole life is another be- liever in the theory that labor is mere powerful than genius. Like Pope, he makes corrections even when hls manu- scripts are in the hands of the printer Once he telegraphed to his publisher to change a certain sentence which he had tound cap ibe of improvement It may be here remarked for the benefit ef aspir- ing young writers, that this extreme care 4oout the little details of phra,eoiogy is characteristic of all the men whose works do not sink into obscurity a few months afer birth. A do wing style ap- pears spontaneous to the reader, bu, only those who have worked in the fl cid of letters themselves know of the erasures,
 he turning of sentences and clauses and
 he many rewr,tings that evolve the de. ughts of the printed page. Faoile work vas never good work, As old B.n on- son said "Easy writing makes hard req ting"
 In this connection we might take a glance at the occult arities of few of the most popular wrie beyond our shores. :, Ouida works dressed in the style of the ooble ladies who compose exclusively tho feminine element of her novels and surrounded by all the luxuries of prin cess apartment. George Eliot wrote the descriptive portions of her stories while walking about the places she described making her pen sketches almost as accu- rate as photographic views. She was, strange to say, methodical weman Her idea about the best time for work vas that an empty stomach was most con- cuct;"e to intellectual activity. Henle she wrote at early morn. Dickens com. posed most of his books tramping up and down the room and dictating to his secretary. He had fondness to be sur rounded by funny little hrouzes. Scott used to plan bis stories during the long rides he took over the Scottish moors. He wrote them in the open ar, also, when the weather permitted. His study vas rude hermit cell amid the splen- did apartments of Abootsford. Thack- cray could write better ln a railroad train han in his room He said that hustle and noise made him feel that he was in the would ia which his characters were moving. Charlotte Blonte never felt in the mood for working unless she was in her own little dark chamber, imoedded in the gloomy hills about her native town. Fielding liked to write behind a rampant of halt-6llled wine bottles Richardson was fend-but neigh ho if ~e peer backward any further into the world of letters we will be wondering at even such eccentricities as Beh Jonson composing his learned tragedies 10 full stage attire and Lord Bacon unable to carry on his inductive investig ations out side of box like room impregnated with the odor of rotten ,pples-the small room to concentrate his thou ghts and the smell of the decaying apples to keep down luxurians verbiage.