The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-03-11

the platform is incurable; his past acqualnt-
ance with it having fixed his determine
ton. Fortune has been propitious TO him,
His wife brought him s250, 900 to $500, 900;
he cleared S75, 900 by the dramatization OF
the '"Gilded Age (of which story Dudley
Warner was co-author, though he had no
share in the profits of the play, and he is
an active partner in prosperous publish
ing house He is reputed to be worth
about 81, 000, 600, a very small proportion
of which has come from the "Innocents
Abroad. "Roughing 1t" Tom Sawyer"
and "Huckleberry Finn" Had he de-
pended solely on his literary talents, he
would. exceptionally successful as he has
been, be pinching along to-day, instead OF
firing his hands by cutting off coupons.
William D. Howells is one of the most
highly esteemed authors of the time, and
one who gets the best prices for his work.
But he has never been obliged to trust to
the haphaZard of selling his wares for
what they might bring which is strictly
literature. Ever since he ceased to be con-
sui at Venice twenty-seven years ago, he
has had a salary for doing some sort of lit
erary work After his return to the United
States he was on the staff of The Nation,
next he became assistant editor, and later
editor of The Atlantic Monthly; then he
received a certain sum from J Il. Osgood
& Co, Boston, for mis- exclusive service,
was for time employed by the Harpers
at handsome salary, and is now with The
Cosmopolitan at very high figure. He
has, happily, never known the desperate
struggle so many authors have known
who have been constrained to earn their
dinner before they could eat it.
Henry James has a ready market for
whatever he chooses to write IN England
as well as here, and he commands the high
est figures. He is bachelor, too, and lives
mostly abroad, with an understanding of
how and where to economiZe-a rare art
with US Americans But, despite all this,
he would have had a hard time had he not
inherited a moderate property. 1t is OF
inestimable advantage to an author to be
able to choose his work-to reject what
does not suit him, either as to quality or
price; and this advantage belongs to Henry
James.
Charles Dudley Warner was on the staff
of the Hartford Courant when he made his
first venture in literature, my Summer in
a Garden" contributed originally as Sc
ries of papers to its columns. In book
form they made hit, giving him wide
reputation as humorist and establishing
his place in the field of letters. He was
past forty then. rather late for literary
debut; but he has since risen fast. 'Saun-
terings," Back Log Studies" "Badeck,
and That Sort of Thing" "Moslems and
Mumnies" and other books have followed
in quick succession. They are very clever
and sell we'll; but neither they nor his
magazine articles provide for his daily
wants, or for those of his wife. He has
good salary on The Courant, and is owner
of third of the establishment.
John Burroughs is settled on fruit
farm on the Hudson, and is also national
bank examiner, by each of which voca-
lions he gets more money than by such de-
Hghtful books as ''Wake, Robin, :" Winter
Sunshine" Birds and Poets" 'Locusts
and Wild Honey"
Donald g. Mitchell Ok MARVEL had the
luck to sell most of his farm, of which he
writes SO pleasantly as "Edgewood," in
the form of city lots, by the growth of
New Haven, long his home. He is also,
or at least he has been, professor of bellies
lettres at Yale. The fresh and charming
books of his youth, 'Reveries of Bache-
Tor" and Dream Life" have been repub-
lished recently; but neither they nor their
successors have fed and clothed his family
Edward Everett Hale is Unitarian cler
gyman with comfortable salary; John L.
Trowbridge has a journalistic position; +.
Marion Crawford has means of his own;
William A. Hammond is a money making
physician; John Hay has a rich wife, Mon
cure ID. Conway has a competency. Indeed
almost no Literary man Tin this article lit
erary women are purposely omitted) lives
in this country by literature alone. More
than two-thirds of the Authors club con
ssting of about l20 members are directly
or Indirectly associated with journalism.
Some famous native authors, whom for
bear too name, luxuriate on credit at home
and abroad Enough has been said to
show that literature has not yet become a
remunerative profession, if profession at
all, even in New York, and that they who
pursue it must fortifv themselves for the
long chase from other sources.
JUNIUS HENRI BROWNE.