The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-04
MISS HARRADEN.s BOOK.
Her Account of the Writing of "Shipa
That Pass in the Night"
McClure's Magazine


1 gathered much Of the material out OF
which the book was built at Petershof.
moutain health resort, probably identifled
by many people. l was there myself for
six or seven months, and during that time
was too i'll to have any thoughts of writ
ing book or to take mental notes of the
sufferers around me. 1t was more than q
year after leaving Petershof, when was
supposed to have gs-ined a certain amount
of strength, that 1 was strongly urged by
those who loved me to take up my writing
once more; and, moreover, my hand, which
for some time had been entirely useless,
was still very troublesome member, often
tickle and uncontrollable But this did not
fret much as the bereftneSS IT was
that which made me feel that 1T was folly
to waste the time and energy on attempts
which were foregone failures. should new
er have gone with MY task but for the
the little book was dedicated. 1t was writ
ten chiefly in their home, and L count 1t
my greatest pleasure in remembering now
deep interest they took in every SEN
tence, and how gratified they were when L
seemed to be less dissatisfied than usual
with my mornings efforts.
And here, perhaps, 1t would not be out
of place to say that, before falling i'll,
had attained to certain amount OF quiet
success, having, of course, passed through
the usual round of disappointments, all of
them well merited, and useful as stepping
stones in that apprenticeship which every
workman must have. But l confined my
self almost entirely to the short story for
/ felt, and have been told, too that this
ger and more sustained attempt; and / had
no wish to rush headlong into novel, and
then have cause to regret my hastiness-
But after waiting some time | did begin a
novel, and had written about twelve chap
tiers of it when / was obliged to give up
on one side and afterwards burnt, a cir
cumstance which has ever since caused me
unmixed satisfaction. But to return to the
book which was not burnt.
The suggestion that / should go back to
my old occupation weighed heavily on me,
for / was quite out of practice and out of
touch.
When l began my work again | had no
idea of inventing a story about Petershof:
but as / bent lazily over the blank sheet OF
paper, memories OF the kurhauS came
crowding over me, ana much to my own as
self. But that did not help me greatly, for
/ could not think what to make out of
the characters which l had thus casually
introduced on the scene; but | went on in
dull kind of way, not knowing from
sentence to another what / going to
say next. And, indeed, it was not until /
arrived at the thirteenth chapter that I
felt | beginning to take hold of my
people and to form some vague idea of what
might possibly be done with them. But for
all that, IT was very vague IDEA; ana,
indeed, the dimness of purpose pursued me
drawback was that / could not use my
hand for more than a quarter OF an hour
or SO at time and in consequence of this
hindrance, my work seemed to me hopeless
~ disconnected, done in such snatches, and
without the advantage of continuous APP
plication But! with the exception of a
word here and there. I made alterations,
and the pages stand just as / originally
wrote them. The second chapter in the first
part, containing a few details about my
heroine's life previous to her departure for
Petershof, was written last of all, and gave
me some trouble. j knew, of course, that
| should have TO account for Bernardine's
existence, and refer however briefly, to
her surroundings; but | put this off TO the
end shirBing the difficulty until l was
obliged to turn and face it, In reading
novels / have always felt irrtated when
the author gives a long and detailed
count of the back history of his characters
and determined to try and avoid tedious
ness from which / myself had often
suffered, just at point, too, where my
interest had been aroused in the present.
and where the past seemed unwelcome
Intrusion So ! made my second chapter
as short as possible and felt more than
thankful that Bernardine had only one re-
IatiOn.