The herald., 1894-11-11
HOW BEN HUR WAS WRIT TEN,
Gen. Lew Wallace's History of
His Great Work.
The Labor He Performed in Col
lecting His Material.
At First But the Manuscript for n
Serial Story, the Book Grow
to Volume A Five
YeRrs' Labor.

The author Of Ben Hur appeared be.
fore highly cultur> and literary
audience last night at kitty church and
told them how he came to write his
masterpiece.
people have asked me so often how I
turer, 'that l decided, though with
many miegivings, to make the answer
the subject Of one OF my lectures. So [
call it Ben Hur, Its Why and Its Where
ore.
in 1875, when was getting over the
restlessness resulting from my years o!
service in the civil war, | turned toward
literary labors. At that time held no
conviction about God or Christ. neither
believing nor disbelieving. Ny reading
covered nearly every gu bject. Indiffer-
ence was the wor most perfectly de-
scriptive of my attitude. When ! be-
gan the work which afterwards became
Ben Hur found myself growing reyer-
ential and sometimes even feeling Of
awe would steal over me. For as it has
been with 80 many writer's who strongly
feel their work. my characters are living
persons. They rise and sit, look, talk
and behave like themselves.
AT FIRST A SERIAL.
''In beginning to writo upon the sub
ject had ever carried in my mind the
conception OF the wise mon meeting on
the desert | thought that perhaps a
serial upon that subject might be &C.
ceptabls to some one OF the magazines.
and it was with this end in view that
wrote of the events preceding the birth
OF Christ.
when l finished the proposed serials
l locked them in my desk waiting for
courage to send them to Harper's, never
thinking of the possibility OF a full
grown book. In looking over Ben Hur'
can place my finger on the very spot
a. which for the first time l thought Of
making it book.
ut was in 1876 that l wrote. / was
ashamed OF my ignorance OF the history
of the time, and my punishment OF
spirit ended in determination to enter
into the study thoroughly and earnestly,
if only for the satisfaction OF deciding
one way or the other aB to what | could
and could not believe. Yet it was not
into theology that | delved. Those
writer's seemed to me but dealers in the
bones and husks OF early preju6ices and
supsrsttions. Theology I have always
looked upon as q veritable Slough OF
Despond. where people stagger on and
on but never stagger up to God.
1.-The snbject was dry. Was there not
some way OF making it bright and sa-
worry to the reader? All. then it came.
| hn laaLv JoI h
the birth of Christ. Why not 90 on and
continuing to the very death OF Christ
A new light shone upon my work.
Nothing can be conceived by man
more crowded with poetry, mystery,
beauty and majesty. What more SUBJ
lime than Christ's birth, what more
stupendously dramatic than the cruci.
fxion? Then there was the thought OF
showing the manners and customs, the
conditions and forces which preceded
and enveloped the birth, and to show
that the birth OF a sage was q necessity.
Then passed on to incidents and char
| acters. The commitment to the galley
! the sea fight, the chariot race and itt
preceding orgies were Roman phases
Just as the love-making of the Hur fam
lily, the steady pursuit of vengeance By
the son and his easy conversion to the
ever-growing idea of the Messiah. q mar
| like C;e ,ar, were characteristic of Judea
In order afterward to bring into relie
the miraculous power of the Son o
Bethlehem, l plagued the mother anc
sister of my hero with leprosy. 1t wa
cruel. yet essential.
WITH MAPS AND CHARTS.
81 had never been in the Holy land
In working out the details of my story
it was needful not only to know more OF
its historr and geography, l must at the
same time be- able to paint it's water
land and sky, nor would the critics ex
cuse me for mistakes in the customs oil
costumes Of the people representGtively
| uced--Greek, Roman, Egyptian
and especially the children of Israel
Ponder, the task There was but ont
way open to me, at least | could see bu
one. [ examined diligently books anC
ma aps-everything l could find bearing
upon the subject, and sent for every,
thing likely to be useful. And when @
length l began writing it was with G
chart always before my eyes on the wal
and German publication showing al
the towns and villages, the sacred places
the hills. the deprsssions, the passes
and ali the distances given with the
greatest accuracy.
Travellers then told me of the birds
animals and vegetation, and this, witt
the aid of extensive references, saveC
me from making mistakes which GER
tainly would have occurred had | trust
ed to the memory OF tourists alone. Of
so the accuracy OF my authortie9.
'But the greatest OF the difficulties
encountered, and the one which at frs
looked like an absolute prohibition o
the work--it was nothing to do with thl
art, or the arrangement or choice o
characterH-was another difficulty. Th'
Christian world would not tolerate
novel with Christ as its hero, and
knew it. Nevertheless, writing of hin
was imperative. Further, l was re
quired to keep him before the reader
the object of superior interest through
ont. There WAS to be no eermonizing
If you will think of it, few religion,
novels nave been successful, and scr
monizing is, | think, the cause of tht
failure. But how could l avoid it
These are tho rules | prescribed for my
SO in the dilemma.
A DILEMMA SOLVED.
"First, determined to withhold tn
appearance OF the Savior until the YER
last hour. Meanwhile he should be al
ways coming. Today would have him
as it were. just over the hill yonder
Tomorrow ne would be here, and then
tomorrow.
| stTo have Ralthazar talking ahnnt IN