The Arizona sentinel., 1886-08-07
A GREAT NOVELIST.
Why the Undoubted Genius
 Never Became Famous.


 To a friend of mine who is well ac- ouainted with several noted authors, and who is a literary man himself. l once expressed a desire to know the methods of work adopted by men who had made themselves famous. In the course of the conversatiun that ensued he said:
 'I will, if you like, take you to see a friend of mine, who is one of the most remarkable of English novelists.
 "Who is he?"
 'sThere would be no use in my tell ing you his name. You never heard of him"
 "A coming celebrity, eh?''
 You can judge better of that when you know him. have just received a note from him, saying he has com menced a new book, and he wants me to call so that he can read me the first chapters"
 sI see. You want to shove the hearing of them off on me, do you?"
 ''No. will sit it through. It is sure to be good"
 We went up St Martins lane and turned down one of those streets that might have led into Soho square, and then again might not. You can never tell just where those streets will land you. Coming to one of those old brick houses built in 17 something, we rang the bell, and rather untidy girl open ed the door and expressed no surprise as we passed her and went up the stairs. At the very top my friend knocked, and some one shouted in a hearty voice ''come," from the inside. When the door was showed open I saw man of about forty seated at a rough pine table, with cup of coffee at his elbow and some broken biscuits beside it. On the floor and upon the table were white leaves of manuscript paper that had been written and carelessly flung aside. There were hundreds of pages, and it looked as if the table had boiled over, letting the white paper pour over each end on the floor. There was absolutely no more furniture in the room besides that table and the chair he sat in, ex- cept'a single wooden bench, on winch lay the coat and vest of the man in his shirt sleeves.
 One window, high, deep, narrow, dusty and partly set in the roof, gave what light there was in the room. Through its semi-obscure panes could be seen the chimney-potted roofs and the spires of part of London.
 The author sprang to his feet when he recognized my conductor and ex- tended his hand in hearty, unreserved manner that made me like him from the first.
 Arthur, my boy, I'm awfully glad to see you. Any man except a bill collector who will climb those stairs is a friend indeed"
 ''I have brought with me an apprecia- tive fellow whom l would like you to know. Mir. Luke Sharp, whose fame all over the world makes the mere mention of his anne sufficient introduc- ton. Sharp, Mir, Boning."
 MT. Boning shook hands with trife oi embarrassment.
 "You don't mean to say you've never heard of him, Boningr
 Well, you know, Arthur, very sell dom read anything, and, in fact"
 Never mind, MT. Bon ng," I said. ssThat is his one and only ioke-at least he thinks it's joke. He intro duces me as if I were a celebrity, and hopes to enjoy my chagrin and the other fellows perplexity at having never heard of me. I'm getting used to it, but some day I'll drop him out of window for it.
 Noble resolution" said Boning, 'syou couldn't have better chance than right here, only have never succeeded in getting this window open. Hasn't been opened during the present century. But sit down, sit down, and he swept | coat and vest off the bench to the floor and waved his hand toward the seat.
 We sat down.
 ''Well, Boning, how's the novel get ting along"
 '1Splendidly, Arthur, splendidly. Do ing two chapters day easily"
 ''Has John Dudgeon solved the mys- tery yet?''
 'Oh, that one," cried the novelist in a tone of disgust. Hang that story. | I've chucked it up weeks ago."
 ''Chucked it up! Why? You had a | splendid plot in it. Couldn't better it if you tried ten years.
 ''The plot was reasonably good, but | there's more than plot wanted nowa- days. The truth is got heartily tired | of John Dudgeon and couldn t work out | the character of man I had tired of l don't want to tire my readers when I get them. But I've got a scheme now that is real Mackeye. I came across very intelligent young Coster who"
 An intelligent Coster! Oh, I say, Boning, isn't that coming it rather too strong?"
 '1 know your ideas about what you | are pleased to call the lower classes. By