The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-26
THE LITERARY OUTLOOK.
AND INTERNATIONAL CORRES-
PONDENT.


The Lack of Literary Center i'm
New NOrk-Mrs. Helen WattersOn
MoOdy-Other Notes and Items.
New York, June 25.-If we had no other
clear sign of an unusual condition in our
public affairs, we might still infer it with
confidence from the temperance among
us, at this time, of Mr.. Henry Norman
of the London Daily Chronicle, who CON-
pleted his observations and set sail for
home last Tuesday. So sure are you lat
terly to find Mr. Norman wherever there
is a special International complication that
his very presence has come to be GOOD
proof of the condition that never fails 10
bring him. We first came 10 know him
generally In this country at the time of
the Venezuela difficulty. Recognizing the
gravity of the situation he came to Wash
mgton in behalf of the Daily Chronicle
and while there set to burrowing curious
ly into the diplomatic archives, and dis
covered and dispatched to his newspaper
documents that put an entirely new COM
pleXion on the controversy over the Vene
zuelan boundary. By this publication he
was thought to have made so important
contribution to the cause of peace that
he was specially thanked for it by Presl.
dent Cleveland
While it was this achievement that made
Mr. Norman well known in the United
States, he was already no stranger in the
country. Though a native of England. ne
chose 10 come over to Harvard University
TO complete his education and graduated
| there ha ha
coming back from time to time as public
occasion arose, and so he has come to
know us very wen, indeed. He knows
many other countries and peoples, 100,
for ne has been great traveller. On the
continent of Europe, of course, he is about
as much a. home as in England itself
Even in the southeast corner, down among
the semi -orentals, he has recently made
considerable sojourn, travelling especial
| ly in all tthe Balkan states, and he will
| soon publish book, entitled, THE Near
! East" recording his observations and ex,
periences there. On the far East he has
| already published two books, both well
Real Japan" ana THE Peoples and Poll
! tics of the Far East" He writes always
from the fullest observation; he spent
four years in the far East visiting every
country there, and studying them all
| closely.
in his good social qualities. He is a pa
| tient, intelligent observer, but he does not
| ccpend for his information and impress
sons simply on his own looking about.
| He gets al men, and makes them talk
| and wherever he may be he works into
the current of the local daily life. This
| gives his observations a special practical
| ity and timeliness, and as he has the gift
of expressing them in vigorous, fluent
| style, ii is always, not only well worth
| while, but decidedly entertaining to read
what he writes, and editors are always
| eager for his contributions. He is espe-
| cially interesting now, at least to Ameri-
| cans, because the subject that particular
| ly engages him is the effect our foreign
\ war is having upon us and the likelihood
| of its resulting in an alliance with Eng
| land, as he himself thinks it will. He
| has just completed an article on this sub
| ject for the July number of Mcclure )
| Magazine He is now about 40 years of
| age, and, with his native alertness and
intelligence, his careful education, his
large acquaintance and his wide observa-
ton, he gs about the ablest man for his
work whom l know of anywhere.
I made mention some weeks ago, in
this correspondence of Lieut.. Jasper
Brady, whose forthcoming stories of the
life of l. telegraph operator l forecast
would prove good reading This is the
same man of whom you have been reading
lately under the designation of Capt
Brady as plying the government censor :
blue pencil vigorously on the press dis
patches down al Key West. When he got
10 the front his long experience as a te:c-
graph operator before ne entered the army
and his literary tendencies indtca ed him
as the proper man to supervise the press
dispa tches, and see. that no important war
crets were given to the public. There
fore, he began to exercise the editorial
function on a larger scale than, perhaps,
any other man in the country, and, in or
der that his rank might comport with the
deadliness Of his office, he was made a
captain. The step from authorship 10 edi-
torship mas always been a short one, and
il is no surprise that Capt Brady should
have taken IL, but l hope he'll retrieve it,
sooner or later. fer The must be all the
time now laying in a rare stock of material
for stories.
Literary centers and gathering points
are of a remarkably transitory charac-
Ter in this country. They may be so in
all countries for aught l knew; but here
certainly, you scarcely learn that they
are before you become well aware that
they are not Here in New York there
Is always a new, hotel or restaurant
coming forward under the legend that
ii Is the place most resorted TO by men
and women who write, and then, just
when the hero wors hipping outsider be-
gins 10 haunt its office and doorway In
the hope of getting a sight, of some of
the people upon whom the literary in
spirat,on has descended, ne comes into
the chilling knowledge that, while this
used TO be the place where the authors
came, il is the place no longer. Thus
little French hotel in Ninth street has al
tracted at one time and another not few
transient patrons because it was re-
puted to be a favorite dining place with
Thomas Janvier Mr.. Howells, and 9TH
ers Of their kind. And a little French
restaurant over on Washington square has
enjoyed like strokes of patronage under
a similar repute. But in neither, / fancy
has the curious visitor often found a re-
ward to his mind; and if you want to
either to-day in the hope of literary cell
ebrities you would find something quite
different
This mutablity of the literary center
is not to be imputed wholly to the tickle
ness OF the literary stomach. No doubt
the writer, like any other man, finds
any,. hotel or restaurant deteriorate, on
acquaintance and yields to the inexor-
able disposition TO move on. in the hope
that the next place will not prove ag