The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-28

It was always a marvel to those who
knew Horace Greeley where he found the
time to write the volumes which he gave
to the public. Mr. Greeley was very
rapid writer, and his contributions to The
Tribune frequently exceeded two columns
day. His thought was as fluent as his
chirography was bad. He wrote several
books, which had wide circulation, but
that whicE was the most profitable to him
pecuniarily and was read with perhaps
the widest interest was his history of the
civil war. When propositions were made
to him by publishers, he found that he was
expected to produce within few months a
book Of some 600 pages, which was to be
followed at the close of the war by another
of similar size. Mr.. Greeley knew that the
manual labor entailed by such writing was
so great as to make it impossible for him
to do it and his work upon The Tribune,
and he therefore yielded himself with
something Of horror to a stenographer.
Usually his thought was so rapid that he
mad found, in the few experiments he made,
dictation to a stenogr2pher wearisome
There was no help for it, however, in this
case.
A little room was hired in the Cooper
institute, and here for two hours every
afternoon the famous editor dictated the
story of the civil war. He used to get quite
impetuous when doing it. Sometimes he
forgot that he was debating, and he would
arise and stamp around the room, utterng
in his shrill, treble voice sentence after
sentence so rapidly that the sweat poured
down the poor stenographer's cheeks, and
he was at last in sheer desperation com
PEELED to call halt Mr.. Greeley finished
the first volume in an incredibly short
time, and Immediately after the close Of
the war began the second, which was
also rapid piece of workmanship. His
publishers were thus able to get to the
market first, and Mr.. Greeley's profits from
this venture were the largest he ever re-
ceived from any enterprise excepting The
Tribune
When Mr.. Charles A Dana became
editor in chief and one of the stockholders
of The Sun he was in the prime of life and
possessed an enormous capacity for hard
work, which he in fact retains TO this day
His editorial laborS in re-establishing, SC
to speak, The Sun, were very great, and
yet he found the time in connection with
Mr.. George Ripley, the literary editor of
The Tribune, to edit the American Ency
clopedia which the Appletons were to pub
hsh. The amount of work this eutailed
was prodigious Yet Mr. Dana, by syste-
matte use of time, fulfilled his obligations
with seeming ease. He used to go every
morning to an apartment where his work
was done, and would enter with that viCor
Gus step and that hearty and vigorous
manner which beUokened perfect health,
and for an hour, sometimes two, became
absorbed in this work. Mir Ripley, who
had more leisure, seemed to feel the pres
sure far more than Mr. Dana ever did.
This contract was most advantageous one
pecuniarily, and it was said that Mr..
Dana's and Mr.. Ripley's profits combined
were something like 100000.
Within week after the death of Presi-
dent Lincoln. publishers approached Henry
j. Raymond then the editor of the New
York Times, with an offer to write a life
of Lincoln. Raymond accepted. He pro
cured a room and hired a secretary and
stenographer, and some assistance was
given to him in the way of arranging
material and verifying dates. In this room
for two hours every day Mr.. Raymond
worked like a steam engine That was
something he was accustomed to. He once
wrote with his own hand, between 10 O'Clock
in the morning aud the time when his
paper went 10 press, some Ju,OuO WORDS OF
biography Of Daniel Webster. He dictated
the life Of Lincoln in something less than
two months, and for 50 rapid a production
1t was remarkable piece of work II was
also profitable venture for him.
Mr.. Samuel Bowles. who won fame as
the editor of the Springfield Republican,
published one book which told the story of
an overland trip TO San Francisco by stage,
and this had vide sale but it was not a
hurried piece OF workmanship, because II
was made up for the most part OF Mir.
Bowles' letters 10 his newspaper.
These are the principal published works
of the great editors, and small as the num-
Der seems to be it * probably much larger
than any permanent works between GOV
ers of editors OF this or the next generation
will be. MIR. Henry Watterson. OF The
Courier-Journal, once undertook 70 write
a novel, but he was his own seyerest critic,
and he consigned the manuscript 70 the
flames. He also at one time, at the sugges
ton Of Joe jefferson turned over IN his
mind drama founded on Co0pers spy"
which, had il been completed. Mr. Je1ser- |
son promised 20 play. but politics and I
journalism prevented that scheme from /
having other existence than IN Mr. Wat /
terson's brsin L j. EDwAgDS