The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-07-07
LITERARY NOTES.

King Humbert has made Mr.. Robert I'm
derwood Johnson. assistant editor OF the
Century Magazine, a knight of the Crown
of Italy.
Hamlin Garland is on his ranch In
Wisconsin writing a novel during the fore
Moons and hoeing strawberries during the
afternoon.
Samuel Minturn Peck and william H..
Hayne, it is said. are to take the platform
together. Peck weighs two hundred and
Hayne nlnety-seven pounds; but they are
both good poets.
drawings will appear in August. These
and their subjects are all Italian. Some are
in colors and all will be produced in fac
simile.
The English sales of 'Trilby," counting
all the editions, have reached thirty-four
thousand copies. The recently-issued large-
paper edition was practically exhausted by
subscribers and booksellers before it was
published.
b. w. Yeats, the young Irish poet. is
mentioned as reminding one of Stevenson.
He wears a scarlet sash and a sombrero in
the streets of Dublin, and has "a tall, will
Lowry frame, with the tint in his checks OF
the wild olive"
Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett and Mrs.
Louise Chandler Moulton were the Ameri-
can writer's who were of the company in
vited by the New Vagabonds, q mans club,
in its recent dinner, in London, to leading
lady authors"
A granduncie of Mr.. Rudyard Kipling, an
ancient gentleman verging on ninety years,
has lately burst upon the world as a poet.
His verse does not suggest the powers of
his hon0red relative, but 1t Is comparative
ly well-meaning.
Mr.. Walter H. Page has resigned the edi-
torship Of the Forum. Mr.. Page has been
in the service of this review for more than
seven years, and has had exclusive editorial
control for more than four years. 1t was he
who reduced the price of the Forum to %
cents.
Thackeray always alluded to his books in
a half comic, half satiric vein. and would
rarely express any preference, speaking in
a contemptuous strain of them all. His
friends believed. however, hat he regarded
Vanity Fair as his best. One says, be-
cause it paid him best.
Mr.. Owen Wister has in mind the writing
Of a novel. 1t is, he says, to be "a serial
on The Bannocks.' taking in their wars.
on the borders of Idaho, Oregon and Wash
ington. The scene will be largely laid at
Oyhee and Malheur. There is a great fund
or fact, romance and detail of various sorts
in the subject. To me the Bannocks seem
very interesting"
Emile lola has been on the acute point of
total breakdown Of mind and body. and
has suspended all work for the present,
under the peremptory ommand of his
physicians. Hence Rome" which was to
have begun as a serial publication in Oc-
tober, cannot possibly start before the end
Of the year. lola himself has learned to
ride a bicycle. and is out with it all day
long.
The business aspect of the novel in Eng
land IS thus reviewed by an article in
Chambers's Journal. 1t seems that the aver
age production there is three every twenty
four hours, and, including reprints, some
two hundred more. When there is a novel
that has marked life in it, Nude will take
three thousand copies. If popularity means
merit, Mrs. Wood is the great author, for
over one million of her books have been
copies of Han Gaines "Manxman" have
been sold. Neither publishers nor public al
ways know what Is a good book at the
start. For instance, five months elapsed
before a few hundred Of Barrie's "Auld
LIGHT Idylls' were sold.
1t is announced that Mr.. Du Maurier's
new novel. 1.-THE Martians." will not be
published before a year from next Decem-
Der. The author has now completed about
two-thirds of his manuscript. and so la
borious and p~ainstaking is his revision that
he will need at least eighteen months to
nothing to do with "Trilby." 1t will be con-
cerned, in the opening chapters, will school
life in France, and then with English life
In various strata of society, and there will
be much about the artistic world of Dus-
seldorf and Antwerp. There is to be a SUI
pernatural element in this tale, too, and a
love story. with a proper accompaniment OF
laughter and tragedy. The story will be SO
long as to run through twelve numbers Of
Harper's Magazine, where 1t will first ap-
pear in serial form