The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-08-22
BOOKS THAT ARE READ 5.

Richard Harding Davis has Travelled
many steps from Gallagher" to Sol
| ders of Fortune" and any one who turns
| from the latter to the former will fully
| appreciate the steady advance and i'm
| prov+ment this young writer has
achieved. AS everybody knows, the
! first writing of any kind that Mr.. Davis
had to do was done in the Office of a
great metropolitan newspaper. With
many the very name of Reporter" con-
notes literary qualities which to say the
least are barely readable: yet it must
be admitted that the reporter who in any
way comes up to the standards of his
profession must n cessaTily possess soma
very unusual and very admirable quail
ties. This sort of experience was I'M
doubleday for Mr.. Davis a very good
school of training. 1t gave him perma-
nently point of view.
Many of our younger writer's have es-
sayed more than one form Of literary pro-
duction, and make many experiments in
trying to find their range" as + were.
A writer usually starts in some un-
certainty on this point, for instance,
Anthony Hope hovers b tween two
ranges. He has found the target WI n
both and cannot make up his mind be-
tween them Even Crawford can hard
~ be said to have found his distance
from real life, as Scott had, or Dickens,
or as Mr.. How lis himself has, and sticks
to it. All writer's sooner or later find
their favorte distances-all different,
yet they cannot be confused
Now Mr.. Davis has the journalistic
point of visw, that is, like the reporter.
he does not write for himsslf, but for
others; he seeks to please. to in
form, to entertain. 1 know of no writer
who has received more uneven treat
mint at the hands of reviewers and
critics, yet the dominating fact remains
that his books sell. The public buys
them by the thousands now whether the
public is the ultimate critic or not is
most debatable qus stion-anyway, it
holds the purse; it re&.s with this sama
public to buy or neglect to buy an au-
thor's books. Mr.. Davis commenced
with the short story, the more direct out
come of his repertorial observations and
experiences then he took TO travel and
gave us a fairly good account of what
he saw and encountered and his next
venture was novelette,, Princess
Aline," which was charming in the ex-
trsme. His final and most ambitious
effort is a seriously intended and lengthy
novel, Soldiers of Fortune.
I don't know that this young writer
could be described in a few sentences
more ters+ly than in the following from
the London Academy" Mr. Davis
has vigorous ideals; he is in love with
heroism and courage in men; with beauty
and frankness; with freshness and youth
in women, and liking these qualities, III
also likes writing about Them
That is one of the dominant Impressions
we receive from the writings of Mr.. Davis
that he knows the people about whom M
writes, and he knows the places and
scenes about which he writes; he looks at
1t all effectively, as the reporter might
do, and SEEMS to enjoy writing about it
immensely. In fact, throughout all of
his work the effect of the training and
drilling received in his repertorial work
is perceptible. The photograph of Mr..
Davis with his autograph at the bottom,
tuyned in the woman's building at the
Nashville Centennial you saw him, and
If the placid self-satisfied, cool expression
of the countenance-you all know the
picture with thu hair parted in the mid
dle-means anything in particular, it
means that Mr. Davis knows what his
constituency wants, and he also knows
that he gives it to Them It's no wonder
that they say his fine young head has
been turned by the adulation he has re-
ceived, for is not Van Bibber his own
creation? and surely great is Van Bibber.
You will not find a young person who
does not like him, in his characterization
they recognize "Chappie who is one of
the "Set." "The new American swell,
not precisely as he is in life, but as he
would like to be, and as his sisters and
his friends sisters would greatly like to
have him. He is an ideal, an aspiration.
He is always irreproachably dressed, and
has IMAM" He is imperturbable and
nonchalent and insouciant and appears
duly bored by everything. Altogether
Van Bibber is a delightful being, brave,
witty, affahle and above all, intensely ar
istocratic"
I heard it said tina. Mr. Davis was a
very good writer but superficial" WE'LL
he may not in his pictures of life go very
deep down into the recesses of human
mature, but he at any rate goes deep
enough ito touch The source of laughter
and tears. Through all his writings we
find these touches of humor and OF pa
thos. A hundred little turns of senti-
ment and tenderness meet US and reveal
a c,ltta l1nIfs,al IA Lanf and q dalicana nor
ception of of artistic possibilities. Take
for Instance, the incident from 1.-THE Ex-
iles." where the district attorney is leav-