The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-11
THE AUTHOR OF @BEN-HUR. /"
How the Great Novel Grew and Took Shape
Like Magic Under Lew Wallace's Touch.

sge when the years were all summers Her
happy lot il was to visit Mrs. Lew Wallace. in
Charlottesville, Ind. the home where the imag-
snsry child Bsn-Hur growing up Inc
famous ''chariot-racen was at that very time.
and one might fancy it would have destroyed
the family peace as thoroughly as the car OF jug
gernaut crashing through the house. But NOS
30. for General Wallace adds to his great
ness the supreme grace of being amlaole at
home.
tits pleasure to remember that during
the week spent near Ben-Hur and the
ssyyife of his youth the sky was not darkened
by one imnatient word The crack of that
chariot whip is heard around the world in
seven different languages, but it never fell
upon those of his own household. The book
was dedicated to his lady-love, q royal
Offering, worn with every womanly grace
BETTING it General halaces manner was SO
courtly that the first half day the visitor
-tEembled and wished him away, that she might
enjoy the charming wife unoppressed by his i'm
perisl presence. But the gulf was bridged by
his music. The next morning the house
fairly quAked as he paced his study. to the tune
Of ''gocd old Ortonville, some other bulwark
of the Methodist hymn book, roared so Justify
thar it might have walked mummyl At the
breakfast table he said. with awful stateliness.
"Dld you hear sounds Of melody from my
this morningP Yes" said the bashful maiden
fwho still had the earachel, ''but l shout call
that bellow-dy." The singer stared an instant,
not being used to such very plain English, then
burst out into laugh as merry as the Cheeryble
Brothers. The ice broken and behold The
waters beneath were warm-the veriess fountain
of life and good cheer.
The Ben-Hur study had but few requirements
Tor this easily satisfied man, SO he had chosen
little nook as far from the household sounds
possible. and as barren Of modern convenlen-
cies as q monks cell. The children of his fancy
needed no seats-they peopled the air-and he
occupied the only chair in the room.- All the
rest of the furniture stood the four legs of
EaOl0-DeHg and EeaD9d a
big blotter, the New Testament, Geikies Life
of Christ" "Ivanhoe." and few reference
books. The door was always shut for work, but
opened readily for play, and the visitor usually
knocked she passed. and always heard the
cordial Come in" responsive to her Interrupt
f1ons. Then he would tilt back his chair and
pocket his hands. like all other men, and laugh
and talk like precious few other men. Often he
would read aloud what ne had just written. and
ask If it would do in way that would have
fattered the very elect, and which rise to
the visitors doubtful boast that she had helped
write "Ben-H ur'--that is. she hindered; but it
was all the same, so the author had made her
think.
This was courtesy, pure and simple. and an
example to less bGsy men. He wrote first on
slate to rub out easily, then on soft paper with
a pencil His patience in going and over
the same ground till he had brought it up to
his standard would have commanded the
Spect of an ant. The final copy of the book
was on large unruled paper, in violet ink,
quistey done that the professional reader of
the FrAnklln-square house pronounced IL the
finest manuscript ever offered him.
/ remember little dispute between Ben-Hur
and his wife a word: He said that when
he began the book he was two days searching
for adjective with Just the right color in it
to describe certain thing. and at last he found
1t in opaleaeent Mrs Wallace declared for
opaline as being simpler, but. wife-like, she
yielded to the stronger authority, and, no doubt,
donrished opaline in her next publication.
We fro this jewel of a word in the march of
the wise men-'.By and by the moon came up,
and as the three tall white figures sped with
soundless tread through the opalescent light
fvrn froT hafa nj
shadows"
General Waace's Observation-Disclosures is a |
proyerb in his family. which brings down many |
a gibe on his head. and before the laughter at /
his putting sugar in his soft-boiled egg 1.-TWO |
heaping spoonfuls) had died down, he might be
Eeen, just SIS deliberately sailing his coffee.
This quality might be one of heredty. If certain
wild iegions pointing toward MS maternal grand
father are true. He is peculiarly man of re-
serve force He lives in the background of him
self, and the casual observer fails to the big
heart buttoned within. the laughter carried
hs pockets Read the record of what he has ac-
complished in the fields of battle, diplomacy,
art, and literature. and you see how great his
energy Is, though every trace or 1t Is sup
pressed. somehow, as he goes about his daily
duties with less buster and hurry-skurry than
the ordinary man takes TO get his talent
buried in the ground. So he always had time
fer household matters, and could and did minis
ter to them as we'll as he could. and did minister
the little bantam hen has hatched her family"
Has sheT said he, ''how many2' with as much
Interest as il they were American eagles. And
when she asked him s'go and take her Off he |
went. and could be seen stooping down before
the nest, handling the tiny hairsrring chickens
tenderfy enough to suit even the fussy bit of a
mother If those chickens knew who it was
that set them up housekeeping they would all
have grown up peacocks. Fancy Thomas Car
lyle asked TO stop so low He would have
initiated "all those pretty chickens and their
dam at one fell swoop," and then erumbed for
week because the hen had picked him.
General Wallace is fond of writing out under
and
the bantams used to settle his shoulder and
knee and eat out of his hand as he sat there
alone with his own creations.
Through all that visit fun carried the day and
part of the night, too, for each evening brought
d party in friends house, and Ben-Hur
was ruthlessly dragged from bis chariot and car |
ried off to every of them. He went not ssas |
n school-boy toward his books" moreover-nay,
he focked with the magpies and jay birds as if
he had been of their feather, AMI mary time
Mr.. Beecher to the contrary, Notwithstanding
The eagle was heard to cackle To be sure, he
he was sailing the ether of eighteen hundred
years agone, but somebody would bring him
down with jocular lasso, and be never failed
10 fall with his smile top He carries but
two signs of mis- wears about him fhe
was born in Bronkville Ind. April
10, 1927 His hair has reached that
Ind salt, and then the spectacles-he is a sad
victim to them-they and he play at perpetual
game of hide-and-se OF course he never
members where he put them, nor what their fa
vorite hiding places are. and after overhauing
everything within reach he Gusts them from
ambush on top of his head in his other hard.
They worry him quite out of his wits, and have |
seen him. while in the mazes of his admirable
lecture on Turkey, before crowded house, be- :
gin that pitiful search with his hands feeling
and reaching for them all over the lecture field
He is so used to depending on his wife TO supply
All his little personal needs that IN the specta-
,le-case, which is the only one she cannot fiIl
ne finds himself entirely at sea She
in his secretary, almanac aud memorandum |
and wife in the highest sense of that high
orH f1uaa If haP fave re i
or those love is my chief joy" She and four
listers were brought up by Quaker mother to
he wholesome old belief that lit was wicked to /
be idle and her well-ordered home shows the
precept in hourly practice. liz All their tastes
Ben Hur and she one, and though fame
las written mis- name in every language that has
literature. be can never outgrow Mrs. Wallace
The golden calf Of the family was IN orange
olored pony, inherited from the forefathers
4 =. -. IL II. Ii.