The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-01

Christ, and is now the first book of Ben
Hur') to the death Of Christ. the crucitiIion.
| was engaged about five yeas on this sub
iect. reading and meditating. l cane ont
a firm believer in God, and without n doubt
in the divinity of Christ. and-wl'h Ben
Hur."
Upon the publication of Ben Hur,'
Gen. Garfield. the president. and old-time
friend, read it and sent for me. In the in
ter yiev. he said: 4 want to send you as
minister to Turkey. The labor will leave
you plenty of time for writing, and I want
you to give me q book on Constantinople,'
lie gave mo my com commission. and in the
lower left hand corner, in his own hand
writing. were the words aud initials, Ben
Hur. j. A. g. l never saw him again. l
sailed soon afterward for Europe, and at
Liverpool received by cable tho informa-
ton that he had been shot.
With what patience and fidelity and
airy part of his mission the public will soon
be permitted to judge. The book Of Con-
stantinople is within a few pages Of COM
pletion. 1t is u story of romance laid for
the most part about Constantinople in the
period of 1850, the catas.rophe being the
assault and capture Of the city by Johann
med. During his term of servics thsre
Gen. Wallace had abundant opportunity to
study the locality and lay in the outline of
the work on which he ia still engaged.
The sultan was very kind to me-" he
says, permitted me to 20 where J. wanted
to and under the most favorable circun-
stances"
NO" he answers. "Why should / waste
precious time in learning a language which
never could be of any use to me after l had
| left that country? They have no literature
for me to read, and since l had good inter
prefers l had no need to know their
tongue"
When Con. Wallace has determined TO
write q book tho hrst thing he does ia to
make a map Of the scene in which the story
is to be- laid. Nothing il one haphazard,
nothing left to g~uesswork. With i'm
measurable pains he searches out the pre-
else location Of every hill and vale, stream
and bridge, road and building, everything
that is to play any part in the story. A
famous theoloKlan has said that the map
prepared for the writing of "Bsn Hur' was
the most complete and accurate one ever
made Of the scenes of tho tale Of the Christ,
yet Cen. Wallace had mover visited any Of
those sosnes. This ~tirsless attention to the
minutest details accounts for the remarka-
BILE fact that. notwithssanding the vast
number of critical readers the pool has
had, the only mistake that has yet been
discovered in it is that slight anachroniam
which sets Vesuvius smoking four years be.
fore it was = volcano.
Shall you ever correct that mistaken" l
asked.
NO. he said; cit ia there TO stay"
A suggestion of the amount of work Gen
eral Wallace has had TO DO in tho gathering
Of facts for the book on which he ia now
engaged may be had BY following him to
his study, a rear room ON the second floor,
and looking over the titles OF a few OF the
most important books he has had to digest
as Il preliminary task. ZONE OF them are:
The New Testament, SInnett's 'Esoteric
buddhism" Adds and Arnold's Catholic
Dictionary, 'The Flight Into Egypt"
Trevor's Ancient E9yp t," Edwin Arnold's
"The Light of the World" Albert F.
Heard's The Russian Church and the Rus
alan Dissent" "Arius, the Libysn," IAN
anonymous idyl of the primitive church,:
Man. "Fragmsnts of Forgotten History
"Hippodrome of Constantinopls and Its
Still Existing Monuments,' by Edwin A,
Grosvenor. professor OF history in Robsr,
college, ConstRntinople. who was the com.
panion of General Wallace in many OF his
excursions and explorations in and about
the city of the sultan; Won Homme,',
History of the Ottoman Empire (eigh
teen volumes in French), Labberton',
New Historical Atlas and General His
tory" "Bibliothsqus Orientale' 1777)
"Antar; A Bedouin Romance" Ia coi!ec
, ton OF prehistoric Arab Ieasnu
in four volumes); Rev. Richard Burgess
Greece and the Levant" (two v%oluInes)
| PLAN OF Constantinople,'' Les Isles de
Princes" Whites Three Years in Con
stantlnople' (thres volumes), Stanley Lane
/ Poole's 'Turkey-The Story Of the Nation,
The Mysteries of Magic a digest OF Eli