New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-30

a knowledge of the value OF evidence.
rake what romance of his you WILL II you grant
him his premise you grant him the whoie. MS
logic is inhexible His feet are just aS "i'",
nIanted in Fairyland as among the 'o'"' an
hno,hor through which Alan Breck conducts
David Balfour. He said himself OF iieH'"
leland" that there was but one incident ne couiu
ao,ond He thought 1t doubtful whether his
80 ,a,oed hero could have climbed the stockaue'
7, &c ,his cIoseness Of grip. this uniiinchihs a."
hororce IN the laws ne lays down FOR hmseH' 'i''o
,,,o, for verjsimitudc. and his unweaiieu
rairs in working out every problem mechai''a,'
a,a r,.thematically which In part explain ms
hold unon the reader and the reader p'"'' -
belief ,,, -, ,mag-
IT, taking for granted the great gnu y. -
nation and poetic invention one VIZ .,,
ra.ra In addition to his veracity one o''e
y, which his fame depends SHOULD say u''''"
,tor uo had-and the two by no means away
90 Observation-Disclosures OF nina anu a'So '''
,ion If methods. in other worcs' s'Se' v,
Then we touch the ultimate reason NV %
have had all the rest and If he had not ia" '''
all might have been unavailing' ne ""' f
owore of It, He described IN "eh-h"o"
,assaces the pains he took t. learn to write anu
-, ,,, ~ Mains. what mistakes he made anu
49,, c,ouv no found the right road II ne never
'.oa = eevcn years apprenticeship TO any
.ar A. did GUY de Maupassant to flauoc'''
-, ,ouod at his own trade for near seven times
ION Itis whole life from bOyhood to MS dea'h
49, .nor, N learning 10 write lie wrote ana r.
r,,o To bo clear and to be expressive ana al
u.ovs in he brief-those were his primary aims.
,rtervard came color and picturesqueness anu
the rest. lie had. he says. wager VIII" HIM.
self AMI he won H.
The hest anecdote In Rudolf Lehman
",r,,s.s' "Reminiscences is of ThackefaS'
ohna,r q German by birth. told Thackeray ne
had learned to read English from his 'a"i'S
Fair" And that was where learned 10 "'''
#" replied that Incompatible novelist II l.
good Illustration Of the Emergencies Of genius
stevenson would have sad II no single po'A
that il had taught him to write. BIT 1hacKer"Y'
whose nature was OF a more maS'er4u' N'''''
wrote. as is known. continually under p'esSu
tho nrintor's devil waiting at the door for copy
o,a Two magazine waiting. Patience and the
studious and experimental habits of stevenson
were not his enter upon no comparison except
ON this one point Each knew best what ne
could do best. and how. But stevenson l. '"c
writer whose processes the young "'l'rr "''S
best take as a pattern Froude. AGAIN KIN"
not the secret Of his own style any more Una"
his reader knew II. The sentences gre" "''''''
his pen like many Topsios
stevenson could have described to you every
process and stage Of the structure Of each SEN
fence and Of each passage. for ne had inc
rbvtbm not II the sentence only but Vi the
,,co and the sense Of balance and proportion on
= croat scale as Frouie also had. though al
unconscious.v The young writer may PohIer OH
that. unless he happens to be Journalist III
which case perhaps he had better not The con-
ditions Of Journalism and OF Literature arc not
the same. and are probably irreconcilabie unless
when Journalism is practlseA In IN" le'Surey
way. which does sometimes make Literature III
! journalism possible. f'r cXampl" III ftah''
! Rcnan Is the final proof that the divorce between
! the two is not invarlabIe or inevitable
I will ouote once more the familiar passage IN
which the author 81 the admirable Familiar
s,udies Of Men and Books describes ma early
toiling at his trad:
All through my boyh'ol ana youth was
,.,,,y, and uointod out e., the pattern u an
! idier. and vet I was Away busy ON my own
private end which WAS To learn T. wIite N'pe
| always two books in my pocket one 10 I""4; ".'r
10 write In. As | walkcd. my MIND WAS nuSS
d,ting what | saw with appropriate words, wh'h
sat By the roadside would 'ltheF l,a', 81 D."
pencil and a penny Nersion-Do'K W'Uu pr III ~,
! hand 70 note down the features 81 me H-'h' ."
! cnnn,omoraie some hating s'anzns. Thus !
lived with words And what thus wrote WIS ior
no Interior use; II was written '"hsclouss '''
he an author Though wished mat tpo) az that
I had vowed tina, would learn to write
T, * nIaln that he was doing more than learn
~ write: he was learning also to observe. Ana
hr,,d az &c the line between Journalism and
Literature. every word u this passage Il 81 goa
f,r tho Young journalist. II ne have In him the
making Of man OF letters. well ana good II ne
no foredoomcd to live and die In newspaper
Office. he may still practise thes" simple rules
with great profit 10 himself ana To hiS rea'erS y
,,reo, ar,is. ike stevenson he may never become;
they are never many. the great artists bu ne VIII
,o,rr 70 handle his tools There are other ways
in which he may learn. this Is one lie may note
o,so that Stevenson was born with an Instinct
, for language: with natural skn In the selecV"h
and use of words. II ne had taken no pains ne
| ,.ould have written better than most men lie
,bouyht II worth while to take immense pains IN
order 70 write better than almost all He read In
order 70 write There was ~ style OF when ne
d,1 mot cock 10 know the secret. With all ms
creative faculty he had the critical FACULTY ana
no nut II al the service OF the creative re-" .ih
do that. critical chill 700 "i''n H1opr Wv W." ~,
~ blood In the veins. and congestion loio"S. III
! c,.yonson's cage there was no congestion. thtIe
was but the inevitable suggesuon-occSs 'oiau u,
inevitable--of the artificial ra'her IMAM inc "''S
I, does not spoil his popularity either win the
General or with the judicious MT Lang sdys
truly: "All his admirers were enIhusI.,so
ehInners: from the schoolboy to Mr Matthew AT
nnid he won every vote" Very likely Mr. Lang
means n fling at Mr.. Arnold. at whom ne on, on,
,' o,n ~. hut never mind LIT Matthew Arnold
.'H a. the impersonation Of modern English
criticism He too. was both poet and critic. bu'
viii end as I began. All Stevensons arr wa
u%sid,arv Revond it all above 1t all was IN,
hoou,iful nature which expressed Itself In MS arr
The more completely because his art was 80 con-,
nle,c vet which was ~ Itself and In ITSELF Deauu
D., a,d Win ar without art would have won ,h'
Of xyh
Ias''is an -. 1910 G.. W. S.
cOLORED SOCIETY ~ WAsHIN'ToN'
From The Philadelphia Press