The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-12-05

be assigned to duty upon the plains, nav |
ing some original notions as to the man |
ner in which the army should deal with |
the Indians
Today these four men are friends, hay-
ing kept up the acquaintance since they
left West Point, and, strangely enough,
they are all distinguished for successful
work not as army officers, but as writers
or men having to do with the publication
of writing They are not in the army, but
they are earning more money than they
could hope to do as army officers, some of
them receiving yearly income larger than
the senior major general of the United
States army does in salary. These
four West Pointers, who are not now OF
the army, are John Brisben Walker, Al
pheus :. Hardy, Colonel Richard Savage
and Captain Charles King, or Charley
King as he is known to his friends
Mr.. Walker Is perhaps better known as
the editor and publisher Of one of the lead
ing magazines than as writer, although
after he left the army he was for some
years q newspaper writer and managing
editor at one time of the now traditional
Washington Chronicle. He took hold of
! magazine that was almost moribund, and
| after an expenditure of some $500, 900 Sc
| cured for it circulation of over 200, 900
copies and a remunerative income. Mr.
| Walker Is now erecting, almost within a
stones throw of Woolferts Roost, the
home of Washington Irving great build
ing fashioned in imitation Of the senate
wing of the capitol in Washington. Here
| his magazine will be made. Even the edito-
/ rial offices are to be removed from New
! York city to it.
! Mr.. Walkers associate editor is his old
West Point chum and lifelong friend, Pro-
fessor Hardy. After Hardy was graduated
from West Point it was thought by his in
structors and his associates that he might
become conspicuous as an engineer, or, II
he chose teaching, as an instructor and per
haps writer upon mathematics. He did
write one work upon one of the most diff
cult branches of mathematics which
brought him great repute among mathe-
maticians. He became a professor of math-
ematics in Dartmouth college, and while
holding that post he surprised his friends
and delighted a cultured public by an I'M
expected novel, "But Yet n Woman"
The surprise to his friends was caused by
the revelation that this mathematician had
also remarkable powers as IA romancer and
teller Of delightful tales. The public, not
knowing of his mathematical powers, sim
ply recognized in this book the advent of a
|
in romantic literature might reasonably
be expected. Mr. Hardy followed this first
novel a year or two later with another,
and he has written some charming poetry.
Captain King saw much service upon
the plains, as he hoped when student To
do but in consequence of i'll health he was
compelled to give up active life in the
army, and at first, perhaps more to occupy
his time than to crafty a literary ambi-
ton, he wrote stories of army life. They
were instantly popular, and of late he has
received the highest praise from one of the
most famous and successful of living gen
erals, himself successful writer, Lord
Wolseley, who has said that Captain Kings
description of a charge at the battle OF
Gettysburg is one of the most graphic and
perfect Of battle pen pictures. Captain
Kings earnings from his stories are large
and military men who have read his writ
ings believe that it may be his lot to write
the really great story of the civil war.
The fourth Of this group, Colonel Rich
ard Savage, has not long laid aside tn,
sword to take up the pen. His first story
My Official Wife, " while it lacked per
haps literary grace, was thrilling tale o
adventure and intrigue and had an enor
nous sale. 1t brought his name to tn,
front of the writers Of that sort of litera
ture. He has since produced with rapidly
almost equal to Dumas novels of adven
ture, which find "a ready sale.
These four men are the most distin
guished group of litterateurs who have evel
come from West Point. FenimOre Cooper
as an officer in the American navy OBJ
tained many of the incidents afterward
worked into his famous sea tales, and Cap
tain Mahan, IA graduate of the Naval acad
envy, has written two very profound works
upon the sea power in the making Of his
tory, which have caused the ablest men OF
Europe to give him rank among the most
brilliant writers of philosophical history.
4. j. EDWARDS.