The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-17
1B0I-T LITERARY MEN.
..ruoDs OF WRITING AND OTHER
IRREGULARITIES

E,ora the Edinburgh Dispatch.
,...no,,- men at work might almost be
,. l',e into smokers and non-smoArs, and
CT; little doubt that the smokers have
:. Among them are not included the men
,.4tors or journalists who smoke only be-
thav write. or after they have finished.
loiV one is Mr.. Andrew Lang, who is
GU husv man nowadays that he would
9-e grudge the time spent in lighting
' o;ne occasionally. Mr.. Lang does most
his work in the early part of the
o. H' which habit he resembles
gay ss9 Sala Both get through an aStonish-
~ o,,,oIrnt of work, twice as much GER
Ig as they get credit for, yet they are
~ 'i.a; seen in society. Mr.. Sala is such an
wy.rbority on cookiug-he has the largest
Si,rarv on culinary matters IN tins country
that the country would be astonlshed
u they see him at his frugal breakfast,
eoS ga S+iIi more frugal lunch. He breakfasts
au nlif he eats one egg, and lunches heavily
" he has a chop 1t is acknowledged among
\ nrol.v men generally that the best work is
oo1 the lightest food. Many of them
u uoI, m for their abstemiousness in the
.ariy mart of the day by an exhaustive
Cd even exhausting late dinner, but not
g .bev have to work after it. Several of
.ba
W. ro snch confirmed smokers that they fill
ond reIlpht their pipes without knowing it.
Tginovv one prominent London editor who
tnoke. cigars while he writes This is I'M
~.nal Indeed, to smoke a cigar and write
~ the same time requires a great deal of
"ra,tice. The editor referred to has also
he trick of sticking any pen nib that he
soss living about into his cigar, and when
his staff see him approaching they conceal
their pens, Ill.,.
snoken of as resident in London do not
really live there Brighton, for instance,
The home OF Mr.. Herbert Spencer. Mr..
William Black. Mr.. Edmund Yates, and
many others Though these writers, other
things being equal, would prefer London,
tbey ind that their health is not only better
in brighton. but that they can do more
work away from the roar of the metropo-
lis It's rather curious that the only two
society papers of note in London should be
edited by gentlemen whose residence is out
it. Mrs Oliphant lives on the Thames,
near Eton, and is understood nowadays to
he assisted in her literary labors by her
SON Mr. Blackmore is among the writers
who do not like to be driven and only care
TO write when in the vein. Consequently
he pursues two callings, combining htera-
ture with market gardening
Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson is like Des-
cartes in this respect that he works out
some Of his best ideas in bed. Descartes
Il leDt to his bed on principle, buJ Mr..
Stevenson cannot always help himself. Ac
c0rding to an American reporter who re-
emily interviewed him and found
# him on his couch smoking cigar
cite this writer's CDR. Jekyl and Mr..
HYDE was dreamt before it was written. If
"a 80 Mr. Stevenson dreams to some purpose
t.o of fapt ha only Araa NIT ba
tnuatio of story that had haunted his
waking hours. lie is an author who writes
hest with quiet surroundings, and his
house at BOurnemouth, within high walls,
is in curious contrast to the life and Incl
dent Of his rolnances. Mr.. George Meredith
writes his wonderful comedies in three
volumes in an arbor. 1t consists of two or
three rooms erected in the garden of his
house near Dorking where Keats wrote
"Endymion'0. Here Mr. Meredith does
most Of his writing, and bis friends know
that it is one thing to be asked into his
house and another and rarer) to be taken
to the arbOr. As can be gathered from his
novels, Mr.. Meredith is of opinion that
smoking is an assistance in thinking out a
story. Mention must also be made of the
hlStorian-whOse name it would probably
be unfeeling to mention-who, while he
writes, smokes no. only one cigar, but sew
invent a new cigar holder. This
has the ordinary mouth piece, but
branches off, so to speak, at right angles at
The other end. There are holes in these
branches into which the cigars are placed,
as many as four at a time being a posi-
pity. Though Carlyle was a great smoker
he flung himself too completely into his
work to be able to keep his pipe in while he
wrote. Had he contrived to 90 so some OF
his writing MIGHT bayya haan, loss I,itfar for
aplpe Is said to check irritability. A good
story OF Carlyle in this connection is not
generally known. When he was still a
young man he walked from Ecclefechen to
Admburgh-a distance of more than eighty
mIeS-to consult doctor about his health.
ihe doctor asked if he smoked, and hearing
That he did, said that was what
was wrong with him. Carlyle gave up
smoking, and sometime afterward he went
Tor walk in a wood. Here beneath a tree
ne saw lying a pipe with tobacco and
matches. He at once remembered that the
IneClcal prescription had done him no good,
ana came to the conclusion that the whole
allalr was providential. So he lit the pipe
ana never again gave up smoking. Car
yves walk IN the wood reminds one that this
was Irollopes favorite prescription for
pahnlng fresh novel. He held that once
you were inside a wood of which you could
A.
I4at was admirable for inventing. As he
Always tried a wood himself when he could
EeI H. there is, doubtless, something in this.
lrolopes way Of working, however, was
@methodlcal that he could plan story or
write 1t anywhere. Others beside he have
.ound 1t possible to bcguile the voyage be-
tween England and America by writing,
ouV ne Is the only author who is known
" nave trlumphed over the difficulties
VI writing in a railway train. Trollope
%%"ays telt uncomfortable at the thought
"ia9 long railway journey meant the loss
u vue great part of a day, and it preyed on
an mud VII he got writing table specially
Instructed for the train This was a COM
lieVe success. There might be other persons
~ .ne compartment, but as soon as the nov
v vlS. got IN he set up his table, got out his
",IVlng materials, and worked as uncon-
IVIueuiy as II he were at home. As Troll
~ neld that serial stories for magazines
a "e5e SSpollt if written from month to month";
o o,"t Always except in one case, finished his
I%1 oelore its publication began, it is nota-
,bo Cna0 the exception, which appeared in
sT' opening numbers of CornhHJ, is gener-
ny acknowledged to be his best novel.
Cba. flr3t Person Singular" one of Mr.
nL uElle Murrays stories, there is "A novelist,
s rnOoe manner of working is doubtless to
~ ia0 extent photographed. Sometimes
novelist is longer worrying over
NJ T'ltence than writing the rest
~ Tue chapter. In another of his
o9 1oH a1i, Mr.. Murray gives a curl
nW,N. a