Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-17
RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.

RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.
Success hath it's penalties no less thar
failure. Mr.. Richard Harding Davis, tn,
novelist and alter ego OF Charles Dana
Gibson. has tasted the sweets of celebrity
and to-day he feels the pricks and stingl
OF criticism. Though still an object OF
| alteration with the ladies'. he has OF late
become an editorial target. and many are
the Outrageous sings that he has had
10 suffer. Though once a reporter him
SELF he has not kept in with his profes-
sion, and to-day he appears 20 have the
| 81 will Of all his quondam brethren. One
rarely reads kindly allusion TO him,
| and though he is often mentioned, 1t Is
generally in the most belttling way.
We have seen him variously designated
as "Hichard Harding Davis" Richard
Darding Havis." and Orchard Harding
Ravis," and worse still, he has been carl
catured as "a young literary gentleman"
and "thc head Of the marshmallow school
Of fiction" In truth. there seems to be no
end to the nasty little things that have
been said about him. though. II we mis-
main undiminished.
OF course the successful man. no mat
ter what his calling may be, must armor
himself against the assaults OF his less
fortunate comrades, for human nature at
best is very frail and envy is a malignant
passion. But Mr. Davis, we think, has
left many vulnerable parts exposed. and
al, of a
sneers which have been launched against
him. On days when we were not inclined
10 take life too seriously, we derived much
pleasure from the young novelists
"marshmallow fiction" And though 1t
was not always so elevatng as Macau-
lays essays it was, at least, very good
and very readable sample Of what 1t pur-
ported to be. But within the last year or
so, our young literary Alexander, like the
National Government. has sighed for moro
worlds to conquer. And there's the rub.
Just when we had begun to regard him
as an authority on Paris In general and
almost everything else in particular, he
underwent a metamorphosis, and presto
change! we behold him as a Cuban war
correspondent. He hadn't ought to have
done it." In the first place. we have been
kept in state Of continual uneasiness,
lest he should get hurt, and in the second
place, he has proved failure as corre-
spondent. Many Of New Yorks Van Bib
bers have made melodramatic successes
in the regiment of Rough Riders, but Mr..
Davis. the kid-gloyed litterateur, has for
gotten his old trade as newspaper man,
and less celebrated individuals have out
done him. The mountains groaned in ap-
prehension of his thunderous efforts, and |
an epistolary mouse has appeared.
First, he sent a dispatch from one of |
our warships on the occasion of some I'M
important skirmish off the coast of Cuba, |
dating his communication ION the bridge |
IF the, ETC., ETC." For this prominence OF
position which he bestowed upon himself.
nc was coaxingly. but firmly persuaded
o leave the fleet. Next, he became en-
gagged in a controversy with Mr.. Poult-
hey Bigelow, and in the columns OF his
,wn paper-the New York Herald-the
after denounced him as a liar and fool.
only a few days since we trembled for
he safety Of our army at Santiago, when
We read his serious insinuations against
;hafter, whom he led US to suspect of in
emperance and inactivity. In this COM
he posed as prophet Of evil
hings, and we dreaded the udings OF the
morrow, but-Santiago surrendered In
ess than a week.
We had been Mortified by fallacious
iagnosis-a diagnosis by Il novelist, not
y newspaper man. And that's the trou-
e with Mr.. Davis. lie is not a news
aper man, and neither travel, education,
or command of rhetoric will make him
ne.
one cannot be everything in this world,
nd we think this particular war CORE
pendent should be content with the role
f very popular writer of fiction
The following from the New York Sun
truthful. and much kinder than many
Kings we have seen about Mr.. Davis:
''You can always expect something new
rom him. He is incapable Of saying
lng that he believes not TO be so, but
Q is also incapable Of seeing anything as
is. In passing through his mind fact
refracted until II stands on its head IL
IT, Davis should see Mount st. Elias he
ould describe IL as large plain. He is
OF careless. On the contrary he is
linstaking and conscientious reporter Of ,
hat he thinks he sees. Consequently, his
orks are not only interesting, but valua-
e, to the student OF originality"
1t would, however, be unjust to deny I
lat in his proper sphere, Mr.. Davis is a I
Dung man OF exceptional ability and (
ost commendable energy. He has flung
) Ratchet high in life, and has not alto q