The herald., 1894-12-02

himss,fat all about mis- fsmo thar: he ia
getting or failing TO get, and quite indif-
ierent to whatever recognition or Lack of
it his return to Los Angeles may have
called forth.
Mir. Lumlnis came to Los Angeles in
February, 1856 and became city editor of
the Times. His manner of coming was
Q little unuaual. for he came on foot all
the way from Chillicothe, .. As he was
expecting to make his permanent home
in the west, it seemed to him a good
plan to thoroughly familiarize himself
with all its characteristics, and he re-
solved to walk to the Pacific coast. The
distance covered was 3507 miles, coming
BY rather oircuitous route. aud the
time consumed was LAB days. As an
athletic feat this was no mean perform
ance. The description of the undertak-
ing "a set forth in his book, A Tramp
Across the Continent, forms highly en-
tertaining tale.
In his college days (Mr. Lummis was
. agraduats OF Harvard, 1922. he was
noted for his strength and skill as an
athlete, and his unusual physique, COM
binsd with tireless industry. led him
into q mistake which cost him several
years of illness and very nearly sacri-
feed his life. The position of city
editor on progressive paper in rapidly
growing town is anything but q sine
cure. The amount of work that il de-
mands of man is limited only by the
amount of his strength. endurance and
industry. There was no limit to Mr..
Lummis' industry, and he fondly imsg.
ined there was no limit to his strength
and endurance. He allowed himself
only an hour or two of sleep e day, for
nj W
and no time of leisure. 1t WAS not his
good fortune to break down slowly with
frequent warnings. When the cstsstro-
phs happened it came like a cyclone,
and the form it took was that which is
most like death-paralysis. This was
during the last days of 1888 when he
waseserving his fourth year as Los
Angeles newspaper man.
The first shock deprived him of the
use of his left arm, and it is only within
eighteen monthd that il has been re-
stored to him. Subsequent shocks de-
privsd him of the use OF his left side and
rendered him at one time speechless. A
story of his which Was recently syndi-
Gated by Mcclure describes with mel
sncholy distinetness and force the
Aorrors OF this epoch of his life.
1t is hard to believe that il was during
of many of his friends merely lingering
at the entrance to the tomb, that be
achieved most of the work that has
made him famous. While he was etil
college boy the Atlantic had accepted
one of his poems. and small volume of
them printed on birch bark had obtained
some popularity and had been COM
mended by such men as Longfellow,
Holmes, Andrew Lang and othsrs. 1t
WAS not until his illness had driven him
out OF newspaper work and compelled
him to flee to the mountains OF New
Mexico for peace and free air that he
began systematically to write for the
magazines and to gather material for
books. His name presently began to
appear in Scribner's, Century and the
Cosmopolitan, and series OF papers on
the life and ways OF the Pueblos written
for young readers and appearing in st.
Nicholas attracted widespread atten-
ton. At the same time the pages of
Puck and life began to sparkle with his
bright thinge, and his friends, laughing
over some quaint fancy, stopped to won
der how man apparently blasted in
body could be go extraordinarily alert in
mind.
During his period of newspaper work,
Mr.. Lummis had experimented little
with photography, and on going TO live
mong the Pueblos he began systematic
wurk, portraying every phsze of their
life ana customs. He has now colec-
tion which probably cannot be paral-
leled for scientific accuracy ann COM
pleeness in the study of any LN1ern
race.
in 1899, after Mr.. Lummis' books n
begun TO appear. and he had obtained
some note us historian, explorer and