The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-11-16
LITERARY LEAVES.
AoREAT WRITER'S IDEAOF OTHER
WRITER'S.

AoREAT WRITER'S IDEAOF OTHER
WRITER'S.
Literary Idiosyncracies which Promote
Good Results - DIR. Oliver Wendell
Holmes Saws He Must Have Paper and
Pen to Set His Thoughts Flowing.
Writers and speakers have their lido
syncracies. their habits, their tricks, II
YOU had rather call them so, as to their
ways of writing and speaking, says
Oliver Wendell Holmes in the NOvem-
Der Atlantic. There is very old and
familiar story, accompanied by feeble
lest. which most of my readers may
probably enough have met with in Joe
Miller or else where. Ii is that Of a law
yer who could never make an argument
without having a piece of thread to
work upon with his fingers while he
was pleading. Some one stole it from
him one day, and he could not get on at
all with his speech-be had lost the
thread of his discourse, as the story had
it.
Now, this is what | myself once saw.
II was at a meeting where certain grave
matters were debated in an assembly Of
professional men. a speaker, whom
never heard before or since, got up and
made forclble argument. | do not
think he was lawyer, but he spoke az
if he had been trained to talk to Juries.
He held a long string in one hand,
which he drew through the other hand
necessarily as The spoke, just as the
shoemaker performs the motion of
waxing his thread. He appeared TO be
dependent on this motion. The physi-
illogical significance of the fact | sup
pose to be that the flow of what we call
the nervous current from the thinking
centre to the organs of speech was rem
dered freer and easier by the establish
mentof a simultaneous collateral ner-
vouscurrent to the set of muscles con-
cerned in the action | have described.
do not use a string to help me write
or speak. but must have its equivalent.
must have my paper and pen or pencil
before me 10 set my thoughts flowing in
ouch form that they can be written con-
tinously, There have been lawyers
who could think out their whole argu-
ment in connected authors-and think
there are many-who can compose and
finish off a poem or a story without
writing a word of it until. when the
proper time comes, they copy what they
carry IN their heads. have been told
Sir Edwin Arnold thought out his beau
tiful Light of Asia" in this way.
find the great charm of writing con
ssts in its surprises. When one IS IN
the receptive attitude of mind the
thoughts which are sprung upon him.
the images which fash through his CON
scIOusness are 4 delight and an excite
ment. am impatient OF every hinder.
ance in setting down my thoughts OF
pen that will not write, of ink that
will not flow, of paper that will not re-
ceive the ink. And here let me pay the
tribute which owe to one of the hum
blest but most serviceable of my assist
ants, especially in poeiical composition
Nothing seems more prOsalc than the
photographic pen. 1t deprlves the hand
writing of its beauty, and to some ex-
tent of its individual character
The beautiful communism Of the
letters it forms covers the page it fills
with the most uniformly undressing
characters. But abuse it as much as
you choose. there is nothing like 1t for
the poet. for the imaginative writer.
Many a fine flow of thought has been
checked, perhaps 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 stylographic pen, in the hands
OF one who knows how to care for II
and how TO use it, unbroken rhthms and
harmonious cadences are the natural
products OF the unimpeded flow of the
fluid which is the vehicle of the au-
thor's thoughts and fancles.
So much for my debt of gratitude 70
the humble stylographic pen. IL does
not furnish the proper medium fer the
correspondence of intimatcs. who wish
to see as much Of their friends person
atty as their handwriting can hold. still
less for the imprisoned interchange OF
sentiments between lovers but in
writing for the press Its use Is open to
no objection. It's movement over the
paper is like the flight of a swallow,
while the quill pen and the steel pen
and the gold pen are all taking sa0rt,
laborious journeys. and stopping TO
drink every few minutes.
\ CHIEF pleasure which the author of
novels and stories experiences is that
of becoming acquainted with the charac-
ters he draws. Ii Is perfectly true that
ms characters must, in the nature Of
things. have more or less OF himself in
their composition. If should seek an
exempIfication Of this in the person Of
my teacu2s. [ should find it most
readily IN the one whom have called
Number Seyen-the one with the
squirting brain. think that not only
|, the writer, but many Of my readers,
recognize IN our own mental cOnstItu
ton an occasional obliquity of percep-
ton no always detected at the time,
but plain enough when looked back up
on. What eXtravagant fancies you and
| have seriously entertained at one time
or another. What superstitious notions
have got into our heads and taken pos
session Of its empty chambers-or, in
the language of science, seized on the
groups OF nOrye cells in some of the
idle cerebral cOnvolutlOns
The writer, say, becomes acquainted
with his characters rs he goes on. They
are at first mere embryos. outlines OF
distinct personalities. BY and by, it,
they have any organic cohesion, they
begin u assert themselves. They can
say and do such and such things and
such other things they cannot and must
not say or do. The story writer's and
play-writer danger is that they will
get their characters mixed, and make
\ say what b ought TO have said. The |
stronger his imaglnitiye faculty the
less liable will the writer be TO this |
fault; but not even Shakespeare power !
Of throwing himself into his character |
prevents many Of bis different pei
sonages from talking philosophy in the |
same strain and in style common to
them all