The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-12
THOUGHTS on WRITING.
Some Idiosyncrasies. Habits and
Tricks Of Writers and
Speakers Of Note.
Lawyers Who Can Talk and Au-
thors Who Jan Write
Without Aids.

The stylographic PEN for Poets and Imaa
inative Observation-Disclosures With
the Characters Portrayed.
Writers and speakers have their idiosyr
crasies, their habits, their tricks. il 20
had rather call Thorn 20, as to their ways Q
writing and speaking. There Is an old and
familiar story, accompanied BY feeble jes
which most Of my readers may probabl
enough have met with in Joe Miller or else
where. It is that of lawyer who could new
or make an argument without having
piece of thread to work upon with his fin
gers while he was pleading. Some one
stole it from him one day, and he couls
not get on at all with his speech,-he had
lost tho thread of his discourse, 40 the stor,
had it. Now this is what I myself once
saw. It WAS alta meeting where certain
grave matters were debated in an assembly
of professional men. Aspeaker, whom / new
er heard before or since, got up and made
long and forcible argument. I do no,
think he was lawyer, but he spoke as it b.
had been trained to talk to juries He held
long string in one hand, which he drew
through the other hand necessarily, rs be
spoke, just as q shoemaker performs the
motion of waxing his thread. He appeared
to be dependent on this motion. The physi-
illogical significance Of the factI suppose to
be that the flow Of what we cali the nervous
current from the thinking center to the or
gans OF speech was rendered freer and
- m n<0h0 oh - ~s
taneous collateral nervous current to the
set of muscles concerned in the action have
described.
do not use string to help me write or
speak, but must have its equivalent. I
must have my paper and pen or pencil before
that they can be written continuously.
There have been lawyers who could think
out their whole argument IN connected or
der without single note. There are
authors-and think there are many-who
can compose and finish off poem or story
proper time comes, they copy what they
carry in their heads. have been told that
Sir Edwin Arnold thought out his beautiful
Light of Asia" in this way.
ind the great charm of writing consists
in its surprises. When one is in the recep-
tive attitude of mind, the thoughts which
are sprung upon him, the images which
Hash through his consciousness, are a de-
light and an excitement. I am impatient
OF every hindrance in setting down my
thoughts,.of a pen that will not write, of
ink that will not How, of paper that will not
receive the ink. And here let me pay the
tribute which I owe to one of the humblest
but most serviceable of my assistants es-
peoially in poetical composition. Nothing
seems more prosaic than the photographic
beauty. and to some extent of its individual
character. The brutal communism of the
letters it forms covers the pages it fills with
the most uniformly uninteresting characters,
But. abuse it as much as you choose, there
is is ,s;sa like it for the poet. for the
Of thought Eas been checked, hn perf ngM
arrested, by the i'll behavior Of a goose
quill. Many an idea has escaped while the
author was dipping his pen in the inkstand.
but with the photographic pen, in the hands
how to use it, unbroken rhythms and har-
monious cadences are the natural products
OF the unimpeded how Of the fluid which Is
the vehicle of the authors thoughts and
fancies. So much for my debt Of gratitude
not furnish the proper medium for the cor
respondence of the intimates, who wish to
see as much of their friends personality
as their handwriting can hold-still less for
the impassioned interchange of senti-
ments between lovers; but in writing for
It's movement over the paper is like the
flight of the swallow, while the quill pen
and the steel pen and the gold pen are all
taking short. laborlous journeys, and stop
ping to drink every few minutes.
"a chief pleasure which the author of
novels and stories experiences is that Of
becoming acquainted with the characters
no draws. It is perfectly true that his
characters must, in the nature Of things.
have more Or less of himself in their COM
position; II should seek an exemplifca-
ton OF this in the person of any of nv
1eacups, I should find it most readily in
tho one whom have called Number Seven |
the one with the squirting brain. II |
think that not only I, the writer, but many |
of my readers, recognize in our own men, |
tai constitution an occasional obliquity Of |
perception. not always detected at the |
time, but plain enough when looked back
upon. What oxtravagant fancies you and I !
nave seriously entertained at one time or |
another! What superstitious notions have |
got INTO our heads and taken possession Of |
u. empty chambers -or. in the language Of |
science. seized on the Rroups Of nerve-cells
in some Of the idle cerebral convolutions!
The writer. I say, becomes acquainted |
with his characters as he goes on. They
Are at first mere embryos. outlines Of dis.
tinct personalities. By and BY, il they
1sVns. any organic cohesion. they begin to
such and such things; such and such other
things they cannot and must not sav or do.
The story-writer's and play-writer'a dan
ger is that they will get their Character.
mixed. and make say what 3 ought to
faculty, the less liable will the writer be to
This fault; but not even Shakespeare'a now
81 OF throwing himself into HID characters
prevents many Of his different personaRes
rom talking philosophy in the same strain
Polmea in NnvamhAp Atlantis 80 - T.