The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-04
E LITERARY OUTLOOK.
THE AUTHORS CLUB AND IT'S En-
CEPTIoNAL PROSPERITY.

seton Thompson and His Artistic
StudiO-KipIing and Conan Doyle
| at spOrt-Authors and Athletics.
| Various Items.
New York, Dec 5.-The Authors Club |
has la tely entered upon its sixteenth year. |
! There has been no particular note taken |
of the fact, so far as 1 have seen; but |
there well might have been, for under |
the conditions that prevail here, 1t is no
ordinary achievement to have maintained |
such an organization for so long. At an
earlier day, say just before the war, there
seems TO have been a kind of instructive
drifting together on the part of writer's
! in and about New York. But since then
the disposition has seemed to run just the
other way; so much so that doubt has
often been expressed whether New York,
in spite of the magnitude of its publishing
interests and the large number of people
here who are devoting themselves, in ono
way and another, to the literary center,
was in any true sense a literary center.
Yet the Authors Club has lived; and what
is more it has prospered. From the day
OF its organization, Oct. p, 1882 it has
had money in its treasury; and it now
has a surplus of about $1,000. in addition
to a handsome benevolent fund.
| Meanwhile the club has been able TO
provide itself with commodlous suite of
rooms, furnished rather richly and to per-
fiction for the special purposes had in
view, and here it dispenses a hospitality
| marked by anything but the scantiness
| If
collected a considerable library, partly by
donations from members, but largely by
purchases with money from the treasury.
AS it can, it is getting together especially
books in literary biography. 1t already
has about 400 volumes of this kind, some
of them extremely rare, and the design
is finally to get a collection worth hav-
, ing in this department of whatever tongue
: or time Then, In order to have the club
! | fully equipped for the service of members
| who desire to do work there, an excellent
? collection of books Of reference has been
r | provided
! From the f1rst it has been the study of
the Authors Club to avoid an excess of
1 government 1t has no president, and, If
by any inadvertence, you asked who the
4 | president was, you would give offense. It's
, | affairs are managed by board Of nine
4 trustees, and these at present are Ros-
r sitter Johnson, secretary; George Cary Egg
d gleston, George Haven Putnam, ]. d.
g Champlin, Henry Marquand, treasurer; f.
il r. Stockton, chairman; Albert Mathews,
s. James H. Morse and Duffield Osborne.
II Three Of the nine retire each January,
e when the annual election is held. Mr..
Eggleston and Mr.. Putnam, however, have
e been elected lately; Mr.. Eggleston to fill
v a vacancy caused by the resignation OF
? Oscar S. Straus, who is absent from the
e country as United States minister to Tur.
key, and Mr.. Putnam to fill a vacancy
=" caused by the death of Col. George e
. Waring
I'd 1t has sometimes happened that authors
III organizations were distinguished by tn,
Id absence of authors. That is not the cas-
Of with the Authors Club It is genuine
and in looking over its list Of members
he you don't often need to ask who the PEG
Mt pie are. Among the founders were Georg
Of William Curtis Edmund Clarence Sted
It man. Richard Grant White Edward Egg
es gleston, Henry NJ Alden. Richard Wat
10 son Glider, Parke Goodwin, p. L. Godkin
d. Noah Brooks, Laurence Hutton and Bran
20 der Matthew'S and the present member
m ship, which comprises about 100 persons
er is Of the same quality. Not all of tn
members, however, live in, or even near
m New York. For instance, Henry JAIME
lives in London; James Whitcomb Rne
in Indianapolis and Hamlin Garland any
ba where from Alaska 20 Boston.
ir- But while 1t confines its membershi
,ra rather vigorously to authors, requiring tina
one shall have published at least one boo
in order to eligible the Authors Club doe
n not fence itself off from the rest of tn
world 1t opens Its doors 10 visitors wit
10 rather more liberaity than most club
"a do. 1t is not a dining or lodging cluf
per and 1t is mainly resorted to on the ever
an ings of the fortnghtly meetings, when
,o1- generous spread is served and partcula
efforts are made to render the rooms az
ai tractive. Al some Of these meetings vis
an itors are especially invited; from none {
are them, l think, they excluded, If proy
en-. ery introduced by members. In the viii
ter, the club gives a series of afternoo
teas, and then ladies are admitted.
. Mr.. Ernest Seton Thompson, whose ne
81 book, Some Animals I Have Known"
"a just now giving a special familiarity
~ his name, is principally an artist and
"A visit to his apartment, In the lower pa
81 OF Fifth avenue, is a delight to the lov,
~ Of old and delicate draperies and choi,
ha curios. 1t is not a particularly spacloI
n place-few New York apartments are bl
ge the interesting things that Mr. and Mr.
tn Thompson have succeeded i'm suspendir
Sc and dropping and trailing and piling ava
VI in It are beyond number. / perhaps ougl
to say that 1 write from a visit of la
spring, for we are much moving Poop
here, the artists especially, and the apar
Hleht all ouliihlB may now nave ceds'
the to exist and the house that held 1t ha'
lc6 | .,o 10 ~ a,,n,,, re ~ ct t,,.o,1
in sOiS " - Imp - ~ "NT "o"SFe
)ng l am sthl sure down 70 TINS very inStan
POI and that is that Mr.. Thomson is a mo
re, interesting man, and that there is amp
Bo justification in nature, for the fact tn
ri his new book Is found good. Let the rea
dy' er beware of concluding that the sophi
nee ticated apartment / have referred to di
ON credits the claim made by Mr.. Thompsi
DRY IN his hook that he has rersonnalv know
-. - . -.
low the animals ne writes ABOUT ivy apai
My ments hold him only for a small, incleme
ear fraction of the year He Is an Guido
n. man, and he lives for months at a tir
the out among the Indians, beyond the ed
lDe OF civilization. He has studied the Indi
o"o and his mode Of life in the same ntina
ege- loving way that Edward Kemeys a
rate IIarnlin Garland have. and IL is not a /
Iv tie In this special department that
4.n | -..--.l.. %. .rllal nrc Of NJ Lntern-