The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-12
AUTHORS AT WORK.

,he capital is George Bancroft, author ot i inc only complete history of the Ulited 4 S,,tes. The venerable historian IS one of & ,se few methodical bra,n. worker. | have ever known. He IS living refutation st scott's assertion "that no man ot genus vas ever 4n orderly man." He is g be- I lie er in th0theory that the brain at work is sensibly affected by the external ob- iects around in some degree takes it tone from them. The historian works in a long. narrow room, adorned profusely vita 6ne historical paintings, among them Columbus landing at San Salvador"
 aPonce de Leon standing on the banks of the Mississippi" and IL s llle explor- ing the Father ot Waters" From hls seat he has full view of his art treasures. and freq aently gazes at them as il for ln splrauoa. Ills desk is a model of order Instead of pgeon-holes he has numbered hooks, corresponding with the chapters he is writing. There are enough pens before him 10 supply an average college class. He uses a paper of peculiar color, cut up in large, almost square sheets It Is not yellow, nor yet green. but a disagree able combination of )th l was sur prsed to hear that thus peculiar paper IS necess 4ry to keep up the flow of the his- ,or,an's thoughts and expressions. He has often sad that, with ordinary white paper before him, the composition ot slngle sentence was the work of fifteen Or twen Y minutes There IS also but one kind of pen that suits nina large f Il
 oue of English make. When composing
 hts history Mir. BAncrofs sits almost erect
 seeming hardly to bend hls neck, as the
 pen travels over the paper. When the
 pen begins to hesitate he stops work. He writes little at one time, but that
 little freely. The preparatory looking
 over references is done atter breakfast
 Next follows long walk, during which
 he sits the evidences, constructs the p age
 or chapter mentally, and has it's outline
 before his eyes when he begins writing
 which is usually about four h the after
 noon. The wording is, of course, the easlest part hence the facility with which
 the historians pen does It's work.
 Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, the
 novelist, un the other hand, is an example of a mind evolving ideas, and fingers obed .ently penning them without regard to external circumstances. She may not
 be able to perform her intellectual work
 under such unfavorable conditions as Goethe, who durIngVhe bombardment of
 Verdun was so little disturbed by the con-
 f,ct around him that he could give his
 mind unreservedly to scientific consid- eration of the phenomena of colors; or
 Got frey St. Hillare, who wrote re- ularly
 in the midst of the beseiged city of Alex
 andria; or Archimedes ot old. absorbed in mathematical problems while hostile soldiery was ransacking hIs house. Her work was usually done in the breakfast room, with her children about her, pratt ting and playing their innocent pranks
 The children not only do not disturb her, but she even 6nds pleasant relef in an occasional word with them or in watching their childish movements. Unlike BAn- croft, she doesn't adhere to one kind Of paper through even one work. It is said that nearly every installment of Through One Administration" her last novel in the Ces S,y Mogazias, was written on sheetS ot different slzes and texture. A du pencil is her favorite writing instru. ment.
 lknew Mark Twain when he was a fellow Washington correspondent, many years ago, before "lnnocents Abroad brought him fame and fortune. had opportunities to see his working habits then, and hear that he has not mate. rially changed them since. "Mark was then writing letters for California paper, while at the same time planning several gigantic works, as is the won't of begin ners in the field of letters. His room was perfect chaos, his table a curiosity in its way. On it could be seen anything from soiled manuscript to old boots. He never laid his paper on the table when writing, partly because there was no avail able space and partly because the posi-
 ton so necessi, ated was too much for his lsIs bones. With both feet plunged in MSS, chair tilted back and notebook and pencil in hand he did all the writing ever saw him do. An ordinary a,mos- phere would not suffice to set in motion the stream of :" Marks ideas It must ftst be saturated with the vilest tobacco smoke, which he puffed from villainous pipe-said pipe having never received cleanipg-as many newspaper frien ss Of those days can testify. He reg arded this pipe as his salvation from bores, taking ghastly delight in pufiog away like locomotive when an undesirable visitor dropped in, and eagerly watching the paleness which gradually crept over the face of the enemy as. the poisonous stuff got in its work.
 So much has been recently written about Joaquin Miller and his log cabin that the story is getting rather tiresome- iimagine that Jos quip, though an alleged poet and supposed to be above the arts of t,e sensational advertisers, had jas lrt- te eye to business when he adopted such an ou,landish way of living within the shadow of the Capitol. Is possible that the idea of free advertising through news paper correspondents did not enter for moment into his calculations
 As the novelists of the day receive more attention from readers than the la- horers in any other branch of literature, their working idcsyncTacies are propor- TA