The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-15

promise Lndb ne Will sometime Jell Inc
remainder Of the story-the novelist is
fond OF leaving his questions open in this
way--but he has not done so. 1t will be
pleasant news to those who followed this
Photographic study OF Lemuel Barker,
his friends and enemies, to know that Mr..
/ HOwells intends to keep his promise be-
fore long. He has the sequel to the story
already well arranged in his mind, and
/ intends to make the writing Of il one of
his early tasks.
The ending of his books has always
] been the hardest part Of the work Of
/ writing them for Mr.. Howells. This be-
gan with the very first story he wrote.
I That is an interesting episode which has
! never been told before.
"When 1 was boy" said Mr.. Howells,
in speaking of it, II worked on my
! fathers paper. Among other things,
| set type Those were days of great strug-
/ gle for all of US. The paper was not
| profitable, and ours was a large family
| My tastes and am billions were all literary,
and | wanted TO write story.
Father gave his consent, so / went to
work at it. Instead of writing it and
then setting it up in type. l composed
it at the case aud put it in type as l in
vented 1t. Father printed a chapter of it
weekly in the paper, and so it was pub
lished as fast rs 1 got it up. 1 tried to
get three or four chapters ready in ad-
vance, but / could not do it. All | could
| possibly accomplish was to have one in-
stallment ready every time the paper
went TO press. This went on for a long
while, and that story became a burden to
me. 1t stretched out longer and longer,
but l could see no way TO end it. Every
week l resolved that that story should be
finished in the next week S paper; every
week it refused to be finished. k:-~lly
became positively panic stricken, and
ended it somehow or other.
The experience discouraged me TO
some extent. / made up my mind that
could not invent"
Il wrote Their Wedding Journey
without intending to make it a piece of
fiction, or considering it to be one after
had finished 1t. 1t was simply book of
American travel, which hoped to make
attractive by a sugar coating of romance.
| was very familiar with the route over
which had taken the bridal couple, and
l knew it was beautiful, and like most
American scenery, was not appreciated.
Tine book was more of success than I
expected it to be. l attributed its sue
cess to the descriptions of American
scenery and places. | gave it to a family
friend and asked her to mark those parts
of it which she thought real incidents. l
was very much aStOnished and greatly
pleased to find when she returned it that
she had marked some passages which
were purely invention. This made me
ask myself if l might not hope to write a
novel some day"
Each of Mr. Howells' best books have
been written, think, with some definite
object aside from the making of a pleas
ing story. The two most striking of his
stories (although they are not the most
popular), "a Modern Instance" and 1.-The
Quality of Mercy are based entirely on
big questions "The Quality of Mercy"
is the story of man who was tempted
and who committed a defalcation without
criminal intention. The book is an ar
raignment of the extraditlon laws which
at the time it was written permitted
our defaulters to find safe haven in
Canada. 1t is never possible to estimate
the influence of a book but if the photo
graphically realistic stories of the men
tai miseries of Eorthwick, the chief char
acter in The Quality of Mercy" has not
saved some man from taking the fatal
step that Northwick took, then it is
scarcely reasonable to suppose that books
have any influence at all. There is more
of the truly dramatic in this book than in
any other that Mr.. Howells has written.
From the very opening of the book, when
Northwick, not acknowledging even to him
self that he is thief, but only admitting
that he has been unfortunate
in his speculation with the
money which he has borrowed" from
the company, fees to Canada with a new
stealing, taken in order to have money to
carry out retrieving enterprises: through
the winter Of dull desolation in Canada,
when his shattered family thinks him
dead, and when the shock of his disgrace
and exile make it impossible for him to
carry out the great plans by which he
was to make new thousands and restore
all that he had stolen; to tho moment
when, giving up, he decided to so back
and take his punishment, there is no line
which does not press the lesson that the
way of this particular kind of trans
gressor is hard deeper and deeper into the
readers mind. Yet there is no dramatic
Ostentation in the book. The life of
Northwick and the lives of those con-
nected to him are described as quietly as
such lives are lived. The end of daugh-
ter, killed by the agony and disgrace, is
told like this
Suzette wrote that Mr.. Hilary had
come over from his farm and was staying
at Elbridge Newton's, to be constantly
with them: and. in fact, Matt was with
them when Adellne suddenly died they
had not thought her seriously sick till the
very day of her death, when she began to
sink rapidly.
The end of the tragedy Of Northwick's
lie Is GOlu as Simply, anu gamer strength,
as most things do, from i-s simplicity
MIR. Howells' literary methods are sim
pie. There is, in fact, nothing eccentric
about him. He Is as genuine as are the
people in his novels He has no great
love for the unusual. He has a fondness,
however, for the queer little foreign
restaurants that one finds in unsupported
corners Of New York. The family break
fast occurs at in the morning.
after that, said Mr. Howells with a
smile, Il put my work Off as long.as l can.
Finally when begin it, | generally keep
at it for about three hours. In that time
l can write from 500 to 1000 words of a
story, and more than that if the work is
not fiction. Yes, | am metho1ical, l sup
pose. Imapmy stories out very carefuIlyin
my mind before | begin work on them. /
do not write out synorsis. l arrange
what might be called the landmarks of
the story, and it generally comes out at
the end about as | have st the beginning
thought it would. Sometimes when l be-
gin a story the last word, the last look,
Is plain to me.
- carry my work in my mind from day
to day without dihlculty, and each day /
try to stop at an interesting point so that
my attention will be caught at once the
next morning"
will there ever be q distinctively
Ameri, an school of literature, Mr.. How
ells?" I asked.
Yes, l think so, in a measure As vet
we are overcome by European traditions