Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-10-15
THE AUTHOR OF "CALLED
BACK

IflenuSnlp Had existed between us from
youth. ="
The gentleman who made these re-
marks was Mr.. j. w. ArrowsmitIl, of
Bristol, TO whose enterprise Is due the
publication of Called Back We
were seated in Mr.. Arrowsmith's sane
tum sanctorium in Quay street. Bris-
tol. Tie four walls of the apartment
denoted the versatile sympathies of its
daily occupant. Mr.. Arrowsmith is, |
should say. on the bright side OF 30
chatty, agreeable, and well-informed.
When mentioned the name of Hugh
Conway, | could judge from the de-
meanor OF my vis-a-yis that had hit
upon the subject just then uppermost
in his mind. "Ycs," he broke in,
Erred Fargus was remarkable man;
and must tell you, as you viii natur-
ally suppose. that | have no patience
with the quidnuncs who kept saving
that he died in the fulIness of his
fame. / remember years ago Fargus
went in for writing satirical skits in
| rhyme, which lie distriOut among
MS friends, much to their satisfaction.
In 1881 made up my mind to publish
a Christmas annual, and | asked Far
| gus TO do something for me. He con-
sentrd, and spun me off short poem.
called The Golden Page OF Youth
| But he did more; he turned hi, prem
tice hand to prose, which was conceiy-
| ed in his peculiarly weird vein Of fancy.
This was entitled The Daughter of the
Stars, and it was absolutely the first
attempt at storytelling made by Hugh
i Conway. | can't say it set the Thames
on fire, but it was pretty extensively
read After that he managed TO get
place on BfGc5Wo0dS and Chambers
Journal. A year elapsed. and | want
ed something fresh for my annual of
1885, SO applied to my friend Far
gus
''He promptly produced the Ms. of
! Called Back. remarking ut the time,
| remember, that it had cost him ten
weeks labor. ! was not quite decided
in my own mind about the value of
| another mystic tale. but | carefully
went over the copy. and in quail
fled spirit of criticism thought 1T would
do As for Fargus himself, he was
| from the first confident Of its success.
! This was in November, 1851 always
issue my annual early. As TO terms.
| offered Fargus $50 for the couyrght of
his new story. He did not at first seem
| particularly satisfied with this; but
eventually he agreed. | did not feel
myself safe to pay more, because was
not quite so sure of my author-in fact.
| will confess to you that | was not
violently struck with the plot of Cali
| ed Back, as | had read il in MS.
well, the novel became my abso-
lutte property for $50, and set about
getting it up in a moderately attractive
| form. And now occurred circufn-
stance curious enough in the annals of
publishing. and one which | believe is
not generally known. | published
Called Back in royal Svo ed ition Of
| some ninety pages. 1t simply fell flat
as ditch water worse luck '-contin-
ucd Mr.. Arrowsmith with comical
expression of rucfulncss, which sug-
gested knowledge of heaps of unsold
copies piled away somcW here in the re-
cesses of his premises. Il printed OF
this edition in November 5. 90 copies,
and despite the fact that it was pub
lished ut OIL, miscrably few
were sold During this period of de-
| preston | used to be ilriiatcd by the
| daily checriulness of Far.u,. OF
course, he had no risk in the venture
whatever. and could afford to come
around my Office and glecful,y specu-
| late rs 10 what then sadly deemed to
be gross improbabilites. His faith in
the ultimate popularity of Called
| Back was 30 remarkably unalterabe
that l sometimes WAS tempted 10 take
courage and JON him in his wanderings
in the air castles of success.
And it was not long before his
prophecies wr.' realized. BY some
fortune Mr.. Conyns Carr had the book
! placed in his hands rs one Likely 10
move his dramatic instincts. 1t is re-
ported that that gentleman went to
sleep in searching for the merits of the
story. But that was in the evening.
Next morning he made further essay,
and was at length so raptiyated by its
richness of incident that he telegraph
ed straight away 10 FArgus with whom
he was intimately proposition 10 CO.
laborate with him in dramatizing it.
Almost simultaneously IL London pa
per saw in the book what all the world
has discovered in it since.
Then the tlutter came" went on
Mr.. Arrowsmith. with evident satisfac-
4
was deuged with kilograms ordering
| Called Backs.
when discovered the almost daz-
cling success of the novel Immediate
| l. made an offer 10 cancel my abso-
lutely proprietary right | agreed to
pay him a royalty upon each copy sold;
and when tell you that something
| like 800, 900 have been disposed OF, you
will guess the sums that have changed
| hands have not been insignificant. Be-
| sides this, he reapcd a heavy income
from the dramatized version of the
work.
How did Hugh Conway take his
! success? Oh! as to that said the
| genial publisher, sit made no differ
ence in the world to him in his unob-i
trusive bearing toward friends; but it (
| was very evident that it created 4 re-I
solve to surrender business for litera-
turc-a resolve which he carried into
| effect. 1t also made him less scrupu-
louS about the preservation of his an
| onvmity. Before Called Back came
out he had always n nervous dread of
| being identified. beyond the circle of
| his immediate friends, as Hugh Con-
way.
''lIow did Hugh Conway come to be-
lieye so steadily in the supernatural rs
basis for his fiction? Was he spir-
itaalist? Not in the least; but he had
n kuack of treating those things with
n solidity which almost gave the stamp
of reality. | know he has been ac-
cuscd of being medium and that
sort of thing, but that was nonsense OF
n purely speculative kind. Why, he
received shoals OF letters from spirit
ualists and dealers in the mystic gen
orally. demanding to know further of
the celebrated murder vision in Called
Back These communications he
treated as jokes more than anything
else; but they were certainly tributes
to his realistic grasp. He was swift
and accurate in his conccptive power;
but he never divulged to me how he
became possessed OF the Called Back
idea"
HUGH CoNwAY'S LAST LETTER
The letter is written in n neat. COM
mercial hand. and is dated "Monte
Carlo. April" Ii proceeds; II am sure
the best way of answering your kind
letter to my wife, and of thanking you
for the sympathy and anxiety you have
shown during my illness, is to let you
see one of the first letters l write
do Halter myself that the sight OF my
II b,u.l.x-,stipr will ba =,