The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-05
ABOUT HAROLD FREDERIC.
Interesting Personal "Reminiscences
of One Who Knew Him Well.


it had burned its brightest. when Harold
Frederic died. Few people, perhaps even
among those who wondered that the same
man could write the genre stories of life
among the simple-minded people Of the
Mohawk valley, the vivid character sketch
of March Hares," and such a bold and
powerful book as THE Damnation of
Theron Ware" app eciated the versatility of
this stalwart American, who, at the age OF
forty-two had become one OF the literary
celebrities of two continents. His early life
was one of privation and hardships When
he went to New York, to fight it out alone,
he was a big, awkward boy, without educa-
ton, without experience, and almost with
out friends. His inclinations were towards
newspaper work, and when he finally got
a start it did not take him long TO be pro-
noted from doing police" to the star re-
porter" whom all the other city men en-
Wed, and most of them ha.~4, because he
had succeeded where they had failed. Ed
itorial work was the next step, and then
came that for which all young newspaper
workers in New York were and are striv-
ing, the position of special correspondent
of one Of the big papers in European
capital.
Frederic went to London for the New
York Times and remained there until he
died, and his cable letters were so much
better than those of the others that they
were syndicated and sold to number of
papers on this side of the ocean. Numerous
contributions to English journals and mag
azines, a number of novels, the beginning
OF historical-political romance, which, so
lar as l know, was never completed, liter
airy work of all kinds-these were the sue
cessive steps until, while he was still a
young man, with the premise of his life
only partly fulfilled, Death took the pen
from his stiffening fingers, wrote fms, and
closed the book
Readers of recent fiction know OF Fred
cries work but few know of the him
self as | had an opportunity to know him
during an almost daily association with
months. Physically, we'll as intellectu-
ally, he was giant. He was prodigious
worker 1t was no uncommon thing for
him to work continuously days and nights
at time, with no rest to speak Of, and the
quantity and quality of the work he thus
turned out were alike marvellous. He fire.
quently wrote a dozen chapters of a novel
in half as many days, and thought nothing
wrote them, and this thinking process was
going on all the time, even when one least
work, he was a wonder. He had been hard
student and a close observer all his life
and apparently had forgotten nothing. he
had ever learned. The universality Of his
knowledge has never been equaled by any
one have known. ne knew the secret
history Of every political intrigue and of
W
occurred which caused the world to stop
and wonder, he would give a logical reason
for it, His sources of lnforma ton were as
mysterious as they were reliable, He was
on terms of absolute intimacy with Emperor
William, the "enfant terrible" Of Germany,
and spent month as his guest at the pal
ace at Berlin. Frederic had studied the po-
litical and social conditions of all the Flu
ropean countries so we'll that he could tell
with almost unerring accuracy what would
better result of any great movement among
the people.
ny
ton Of Anarchists than he, and yet l have
| seen him and Stepniak arm in arm, walk
ing down the Strand apparently on the best
of terms. When the great English news
! papers wanted information about anything
in this country they sent to Frederic and
letter Ito to the e. New York Times every satur-
day, and without referring to notes or
memoranda, he would dictate ii to a stem
ographer as readily as a business man die
tates an ordinary letter He wrote graph
| ically about rumors of war and. peace;
about shaking dynasties and powers be-
| hind the thrones; about great labor agita-
| lions; about the men and women who were
at that time in the center of the worlds
| stage. under the gare or the limelighti
| about art and books. and music and other
! civilizing influences. and he wrote with a
| better understanding of the facts and better
man in London. If there was anything
worth knowing about he knew it.
| He was positive in his opinions and abso-
! lutely fearless in expressing them. One
| Illustration of this recall. Frederic was
the
| honor-and great honor It was-of belong
| ing to the Savage Club, the most famous
Bohemian organization in the world, into
| which nett influence nor money can get
one unless one has proper qualifications.
Another member of prominence was st.
John Brennan, an English dettante, who
| always mi II 6 o Keep himse II In ev de- &c.
|. Frederic uId not like him. and took no pains
! to conceal it, At one Of the club dinners
he got up and in the most nonehalant man
| can afford to associate with St John Bren-
nam" A dynamite explosion could not have
caused a greater sensation, but Frederic
relighted his pipe and went on talking to
| his neighbor as If nothing had happened.
! A great row resulted Brennan sued Fred
| eric for III 81 GOT n nominal Judgment which
| he regarded as "vindication," and the
upshot of it all was that both of the men
| resigned from the club.
| 1 once went with Frederic through the
| studios of the London painters on artists
day" that, is, the Sunday before the pic
| lures are hung in the academy, and the
artists are at home to all callers, and 1t
seemed to me that he had a better technical
knowledge about the pictures than the men
| into the studio of James Mcneil Whistler,
which was crowded with celebrities, and
| the famous American artist with the mon
| ocle and the white spot in his hair called
the worst description" and the author OF
1.-THE Gentle Art of Making Enemies
laughed at it, That night in a queer little
French restaurant under the viaduct in
Fleet street I sat for hours listening to
Frederic and Krehbiel. perhaps the most
famous of American musical critics, discuss
music ancient and modern, with compre-
hension of the subject that amazed me. Few
men had touched life at so many points as
had Frederic. and no man to whom I have
ever listened could tell what he knew as well
as he told it.
It did not take long for the Englishmen
who know things to appreciate this giant
American who criticised them so fearless
ly. No man was more welcome than he TO
the ga ther;ngS of famous people. A brilliant
raconteur and after-dinner speaker. he was
much sought. and he paid no attention to
Invitations that other brilliant men would
have given almost anything to receive. No
dependence could he placed in him to keep
enga gements, for he would stop a beggar
in the streek and talk to him for an hour,
or wander into a bookstall and stav there
more important things demanded his atten-
ton One of the hardest tasks ever under
took was to get him and the late Eugene
Field who was much like him in many
WAYS to come to dinner with me at the
same time although both faithfully prom
ised and really meant to come
Frederic earned a lot of money by his
work and when it came to spending it. the
Prodipal Son deserves only honorable mem
ton in comparison with Inn. He was no.
toriously improvident and always hard up.
borrowing money was a necessity with him,
but he was scrupulously prompt about pay
ing it, He dropped into my office one aft
ern0on, filling the doorway as he entered,
with a SLOUGH hat pulled down over his eyes.
a black pipe in his mouth. and wearing a
short corduroy coat. from the rockets Of
which protruded papers and books. Mrs.
Frederic sent me ont a 9 o'clock this morn
a.