San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-11-24
THE TIME TO WRITE.
THE GREAT DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
AMONG PEN CRAFTSMEN.


Noted Prose Writers Have to Say on the
Subject-Prominent Examples-Disturb-
ing Environments.
When can a man do his best writing with
easel Or, in other words, what time is the
best for good writingI
Iheard, recently, this latter question talked
over by some pen craftsmen, and their con-
versation brought out great differences of
opinion One, a writer of fiction, said that
the best time for writing was when you
burned the midnight oil Another main
tanned that the best time was in the early
morning hours when the sun ''ariseth in his
majesty While third, a writer Of poetry,
threw out the suggestion that you can write
easily and rapidly when you "feel most like
it." Thus the question becomes one that will
be answered in q different way by different
kinds Of writers.
Obviously there Is, there can be, no best
time for writing poetry. If the poets them
selves are to be believed, the times for CON-
posing rhyme, like angels visits, are few and
far between. When Lord Byron wrote is a
mystery, for no one ever found him writing.
Yet we know that while he spent the day in
pleasure, he passed the night in work. Lord
Tennyson regards the morning as the best
time for poetic thought, and hence we find
him in early morn weaving rhyme over his
pipe Of tobacco. Longfellow was an early
riser, and we are told in a recent biography
of the poet that he found the morning the
best time for solid work. There is tradi-
tion-and 1t Is only tradition-that Edgar
Allan Poe could dash off flowing verse at al
most any hour Of the day or night Indeed,
Poe himself gave color to this notion, but,
unhappy master of the raven as he was, he
kept lonely vigils far into the night, polish
ing and filing his exquisite verse. In truth,
as many, if not more, examples could be
given Of poets whose verse ''snelt Of the
midnight oil" as could 70 given of rhyme
breathing the freshness Of dewy morn. For
with some writer's the dead of night is the
noon Of thought
When we come 10 prose writers there is
tho same difference as to the time for writ
ing. The greater part Of an authors time"
said Dr. johnson, ''fs spent in reading"
Thus, Lord Macaulay spent the entire morn
ing in reading, and then when the time came
he put his thoughts on paper. Few readers
of Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay will forget
the picture of the industrious historian nous
ing among the manuscripts in the British
museum morning after morning, cleaning
the facts for his immortal history With
writers Of fiction the case is different. Or,
to quote DR.. johnson again, "When a man
writes from his own mind he writes rapidly"
Although Balzac wrote rapidly from his own
mind, he spent much time in reading He
found the night the best time for writing,
and many cup of black coffee he drank in
order to keep his faculties on the alert-on
edge, as he called it
OF English novelists Williie Collins is
prominent example Of an author who found
the midnight hours the best time for writing.
David Christie Murray is another volumin-
Gus novelist who often labors so far into the
night that he often "sees halberdier with
an ak dressed in black and red" coming
towards him in a threatening fashion. On
the other hand, Anthony Trollope set about
his work in a mcthodical way. he sat down
every morning to his desk, rain or shine at
$50 Il allowed myself he plaintively
says, mo mercy. / was called by my groom,
and did SO much writing regularly before
breakfast William Black also thinks the
morning the best time for writing. He
writes two hours before and two hours after
morning luncheon. Thomas Hardy says
that he writes at irregular intervals, some
times IN the morning and sometimes in the
evening The method of James Payn is this:
lie carries the plot around in his head till
completed when he writes 1t out as rapidly
Us possible, often working fifteen out of the
twenty-four hours of the day.
We may close this part of the subject by
citing the opinions of two American novel
lists, as to the best time for writing. Said
Mr. HowellS, In a recent interview with q
newspaper man: 1.-THE first half of the day
is the best part Of mans life, always
select it for my working hours, l usually
begin at 9and stopat l O'Clock" 70 the same
effect is the testimony OF the late E. P. Roe,
in recent number of Lippincotts Magazine
Il go into my study" says he, immediately
after breakfast usually about o'clock,
and write until 8 or in the after
noon, stopping only for light lunch. y !"
In former years wrote at night, but after a
severe attack Of insomnia this practice was
almost wholly abandoned"
Finally it should DO born in mind that the
time for good writing is largely influenced
By circumstances and by environment
Many of the distressing and annoying cir
cumstances incident to city life are particu-
larly unfavorable to easy writing. Above
all, noises and harsh sounds have ever been
tho bane of the writer. They distract the at
tention and put the mind out Of tune for
orderly and continuous thought. This dis
turbing force Of sounds is vice of modern
city hfe.-L j. Vance In The Epoch.
The Fountain of Youth.
What Joy may come 10 married pair,