Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-12-19
AUTHORS AT WORK
Oliver Wendell Holmes wr,,.. =, -,
Habits and Elnn.,,.. Hhe

OAver Wendell Holmes wri,cs oe ~,
HABITS and Pleasures.
Writers and speakers have a.,
idlosyncrasies, their habits. their tr ;ael
it you had rather call them So ="
Their ways Of writing and speaking
There is very old and familiar stors
accompanied by feeble jest, wh;cl
most readers may probably enonri
nave met with in Joe Miller or elsea
where. 1t is that Of q LAWYER S wh
could never make an argument withou.
navlng piece of thread to work unon
With his fingers while he was plead;naa
some one stole it from him one dav. ana
ne could not get on ut all with 'i b;a
speech-he had lost the thread Of his
discourse, as the story had il. Nov,
this is what 1, myself, once saw !.
was at meeting where certain rrors
matters were debated in an assemIn "s
professional men. A speaker, whom
l never heard before or since, cot m
ana made long and forcible argument
l did not think he was LAWYER hnt
ne spoke as if he had been trained ~
talk to juries. He held o long strino -
one hand, which he drew through tha
other hand necessarily, as he smoke
JUST as q shoemaker performs the mo.
ton of waxing his thread. he anneo ~
to be dependent on this motion TIa
physiological Significance Of the f f
1 suppose to be that the flow Of who+
We call the nervous current from, A.
thinking center to the organs Of snaach
was rendered freer and easier IL ~.
establishment of a simultaneous collat
eral nervous current to the set of INNS.
scribed. -|''o 10
l do not use o string to helm ma
write or speak, but I must have Il,
equivalent. must have my paper and
pen or pencil before me to set nv
thoughts flowing in such form that thay
can be written continuously. Theral
have been lawyers who could think ont
their whole argument in connected
order without single note. There are
authors-and I think there are many-
who can compose and finish off a noam
or story without writing word Of it
until, when the proper time comes.
they copy what they carry in their
heads. l have been told that Sir Ed
win Arnold thought out his beautiful
Light of Asia" in this way.
I find the great charm Of writing con-
sists in its surprises. When one ia in
the receptive attitude of mind. Che
thoughts which are sprung upon him.
the images which flash through his
consciousness, are delight and an ex-
citement. I am impatient of every
hindrance in setting down my thoughts.
of pen that will not write, Of ink
that will not flow, :.of paper that will not
receive the ink.
A chief pleasure which the author Of
novels and stories experiences is that of
becoming acquainted with his char
acters as he goes on. They are at first |
mere embryos, outlines of distinct per-
sonalities. By and by, if they have any
organic cohesion, they begin to assert
themselves. They can say and do
such and such things; such and such
other things they cannot and must not
say or do. The story-writer's and play
writer's danger is that they will get
their characters mixed, and make A
say what B ought to have said. The
stronger his imaginative faculty, the
less liable will the writer be to this
fault; but not even Shakspeare's power
of throwing himself into his characters
prevents many of his different person
ages from talking philosophy in the
same strain and in style common to
them all.-OliUe,' Wendell Holmes IN
atlantic Monthly.