The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-17

1t is the remark of whoever observes
Gen. Miles near by that his capacity of
attending to details is most extraordinary;
and to persons who know him ii viii seo0
i'm no wise Incredible however il may
seem to people in general-that at the time
when he was helping to direct the move
ments of Gen. Skaters army back of
Santiago de Cuba, and was assembling
and fitting out an additional force for
service there, he was attending 10 the
minutiae of seeing a book through the
press. OF course any busy person might
see a book through the press if ne were
content to leave all he details to the
printers proofreader or to his own secre-
tary But this was not Gen. Miles way:
It is not l understand, his way in any
thing. Not the he is a man who cannot
avail himself of the help of others, he is
as apt and capable in that as any one;
but he knows all the time, down to quite
small particulars, what those who help
him are about. The book he has been at
work on Is a record Of his observations
and impressions of the armies and COM
manders of Europe as he saw them in sn
official journey he made through Europe
last year. He has already published two
or three magazine articles on the subject
II will be no surprise TO any one who
has remarked Mr.. Marion Crawfords YER
satility that his latest novel is historical
and deals with the second crusade; for.
apparently, in the way Of a novel, he Is
man who can do about whatever he Will.
OF course, he pays for his facility by haV-
ing it flung at him. now and then, AZ
reproach; but none the less, IL Is an unus-
ual gift, and no other American, so far
as / can recall, has cqualled him in Il.
There have been some notably able-bod-
led producers among the English novel
lists; it is the Englshmen, as rule, who
have been the noYel-a-year men; and Mr..
Crawford has met them and rather beat
en- them on their own ground. There Is,
therefore a certain fitness in the fact
that his publishing has always been, even
for his own country, in the hands of the
Masmlllans, an English firm. It would
have been an interesting instance Of pres
c,ence, If, In taking up Mr.. Crawford
while he was yet improved, the Macmil-
lans had acted on conviction that they
had in him a man who could meet the
requirements of the English circulating
library system and infalibly have a new
novel ready for the press by the time the
backs of the old one began to give out.
But probably this virtue in Mr.. Crawford
was quite unforeseen, and his first novel
was accepted for itself alone. II IL now
just sixteen years siucc he wrote IT, be-
ing encouraged to It by his uncle, Sam
Ward, the best known club man and bon
divant Of his day In New York.
Mr. Crawford once himself tod the
story Of the writing OF the book, and it
is one of the most interesting Of It's kind.
This Is exactly how il happened" said
he. ION May 3, 1882, uncle Sam asked me
to dine with him at the New York Club,
which was then in the building on Madi-
son square now called the Madison Square
Bank building. II goes without saying
that we had a good dinner, If 1t was or
dered by Uncle Sam. We had dined rath-
err early. and were sitting m the smok-
ing room, overlooking Madison square
while It was still light As was perfectly
natural, we began TO exchange stories
while smoking, and / told him, with a
great deal OF detail. my recolections OF
an interesting man whom / had met in
Simla. When I had finished he said 10
me. That Is a good two-Dart magazine
story. and you must write It for me i'm
mediately. He took me around to has