St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-06

list for this winters course. Il am on
my way now to deliver a lecture at
Helena. and shalt 20 from there to the
Pacific coast to lecture in other cities.
And, by the way, this will be the Arst
time l have sven the Pacific coast. 1t
seems little singular that an Am erican
should have seen all of Europe 50 often
thst he Is thoroughly familiar with IL,
much vt Asia and other countries. yet
must admit that he has never seen the
racine coast; l am ashamed to own up
to il. Well, as to how came 10 write
ben Hur.' Briefly, Ben Hur' was an
accident. l started out TO write q series
OF articles on Christ. hoping to be able
TO dispose OF them to some magaZ Inc. In
my writing drifted along, almost fol-
lowing the dictates Ct thoughts OF the
moment, and certainly not knowing
where l was Roinx to windup. When
finished my writing and discovered
that
1t Looked Like q Novel.
IL was still very much In doubt as to
WHISTLER any magazine would buy 1t.
And even after had disposed OF 1t
: did not suspect that the novel possessed
any particular merit. ! was as much
astOhished ut its success as anybody
3 else could have been. The book was
=
is now translated in every written Ian
guage in the world, and Its sale seems
TO be unlimited"
" The conversation drifted upon "The
l Prince OF lEdia," Gen. Wallace's last
novel, and which he has been accused
OF plagiarizing from a novel previously
written by Rev. DR.. Ludlow, of New
Jersey. The general admitted that
Ludlow's book was written first.
that the plot was laid in the same
locality as his. covered the same
time, and that some Of the characters
were similar to his. But" said Gen.
Wallace. "'there is such distinct dis
similarity In every other respect be-
tween the two novels that it Is clear that
one was not used as a model for the
other: The first part OF DR.. Ludlow's
BOOK Is clever and strong, but l think
he let down little before he finished.
! had not read his book until some time
after the publication of The Prince of
India. and 1 was hardly aware of its
existence, and certainly not of its char.
acter, until was attacked by the critics.
The critics seem to have become con-
WINGED that l was not guilty OF their
charge. for they have long since ceased
to attack me. l like to have people read
DR.. LudlOw's book, for all that do and
have read The Prince of India become
convinced that have not plagiarized."
The general talked politics just a
little. He said that he doubted that
Gen. Harrison desired to run for presi-
dent again, and that he would allow his
came to 20 before the next national
convention. OF the Oriental war, the
general thought it would he a good
thiOg, in that it would force China to
throw down her wall and join the other
nations OF the world as an open country.
."Russia." said he, '.has long ignored
the Chinese wall; or, at least, she has
extended her commerce long way over
into China beyond the wall. 1t looks as
though GreatBritain were about to take
step in the direction of driving Russia
back on her side of the wall. But this
Is only conjecture on my part"
Gen. Wallace is about five feet eight
inches in height, has a firmly knit but
not stocky fraiHe. rather dark com.
plexion. brown eyes, full, neatly cropped
beard. linged with gray. an untrimmed
mustache. and altogether he has a
Southern makeup.
II am about to begin writing another
novel" said the distinguished author.
II can't say vet what it will be like"
what will be the title?"
III knew 1t wouldn't be wise for me
to state at this time. You see, i am a
Slow writer, and some of those people
who eau evolve novel in a month or so
might undertake to fOrestall me-" con-
Guided the general. loosely.