The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-06-08
Literary Side of the War,

| ing Post writing from Key West. says:
1hose who expected that this war, from
the sensation it would awaken. must do
something for art and much for literature,
have had foretaste similar to that ex-
| perienced by those who thought II 7els
| going to be "a boon 10 business" There
are here on the scene, eagerly obsevant-
! some with retinue OF servants and
| cavalsade, and some with no aids to COM
| fort and more daring than talent-many
| notabiiites in illustrative art. story tell
| Ing, and historical writing. hoping the
sounds OF battle and sight OF blood will
give strong value to what they do; but,
so far as one may judge from published
specimens and stray sketches and pages
OF manuscript, either the technical equip
Enent IS lacking or the ms piration tarries.
Whatever issues from the Campaign in
the shape Of literature is evidently 10 be
much tinctured with Kipling or with Cap
tain Charles King. In the book stores Of
Tampa and Key West there are few vol
umes of Kipling left. for. like most of the
works of Captain King. they have been
packed in the grips of the correspondents
and story writers. Kipling is especially
studied; his Soldiers Three" is known
almost by heart by the followers Of the
army, and choice lines from his DE
stroyers,' which. by the way, Is read
with relish by torpedo boat officers. are
EGIiDOicA OEl the USTlHS u oil " no AO4iOn
the navy.
One who spent several days on a war
ship was especially impressed with the
opportunity yielded by the jackies.
They are unique, individual. quite as in
teresting in character as the military
Tommy Atkins of Britain" he said; and
they have not been done. Among the Of
fcers Of the navy there is the most per-
feet fearlessness / can imagine. and il
10,
take ventures by habit, regardless of re-
suits, Let me tell you something that
concerned me closely, which may Illus
trate this in mild way; 1 was climbing
down the side of the New York, when the
rope l held TO gave way where it was
knotted.
II felt it 1oosen-it was quite q dis
lance from where 1 was to the boat, tos-
sing along side below-and 1 shouted TO
the jackie underneath to look out, get
away, l was falling. He simply ducked
his head, stiffened his back into a curve,
and caught me q weigh 1S2 pounds) full
and fair, so that l rolled into the boat
unhurt 1 might have broken his back.
But he was all right, and had perhaps
saved my life. What should 1 say? What
should 1 do? I couldn't thank a man like
that; / couldn't offer him money. So L
just turned at him, and in language he
don't you know any better than that?
Why, you son-of-a-gun, you might have
been killed. And by his face l know
that my acknowledgment had been fifty
spoken"
One can imagine the story teller-who
prefers, by the way, to be called war
mountaineering this up so that
1t would appear rather fine; but TO me,
appreciative as L am alrady of the quail
rrl;,
Of the quality of one of the most priva-
tely petted and publicly picked upon of
American fictionists. In the episode which
another story writer described TO me as
the one which touched his fancy deepest
there appears to be little that any obser-
yer would not have recognized IS
human interest" and picturesque detail.
He is a man whose subjective delineation
of the element of courage In a fighter won
him celebrity. He was one evening at
dinner in the Junior mess; they had fin
ished coffee. and were smoking, and one
young officer was rafting off a gay song
at the piano, while others were, as he ex-
pressed it, doing various, merry stunts"
when suddenly down the hatch came the
bull roar of the bo'sun's mate:
Man the batteriesi'
INSTANTLY everybody grew as ser
ious as HI" he said, in his talking, not
deck; but finding the ship was merely fir
ing a a company of cavalry on shore,
we watched the shooting a moment or
two. Then those not required for duty
returned to the mess room and took up
their songs and jests where they had been
interrupted Meanwhile the string band
kept on playing at the door of the ward |
room, though every little While over
Whelmed by the boom of the S-inch guns" /
a rot artiOn Of the
when the torpedo boat Winslow went into !
Cardenas harbor under orders, and En-
sign Bagley was torn almost in two by a
shell, six men killed, and the boats steel
skin pierced by one-pounders from shore !
field pieces, no writer or artist was on the /
scene. 1t will have to be described and |
pictured from hearsay. This, in the case /
of the artist, should not be a great deal |
of a handicap. Mr.. Zogbaum was on /
board the flag ship at the bombardment |
OF Matanzas, but in his picture of the /
event he shows the New York firing al the |
batteries through the cruiser Cincinnati. |
Mr.. Zogbaum often writes better than he |
draws. In this description of this bonn
bardment. however, he has taken liberties |
with naval nomenclature. and, consider |
ably to the wonder Of the jackies, has |
called the tunnels, or stacks, or smoke
pipes of the Cincinnati "chimneys."
10 Il recent number VI I1di pei = w SChAy |
Mr. Smedley contributed spirited and
rather artistic wash drawing, the worth of
which was unfortunately injured by in
correct details. 1t exhibited Admiral |
in a place he never occupied-the
forward bridge of the New York. That
is Captain Chadwick's bridge, the one for
the flag being aft; and II IL happens
that the admiral and captain come into
consultation on the same bridge, Ell
quette demands that IL shall take place
on the stamping ground of the superior
officer. That which, in this picture seems
most ill-inf0rmed 10 naval men, is the
height Of the awning stanchions; they
rise only to the breast of the admiral, so
that if, as is usual in these waters, the
awning We're up, he would have to enter
the bridge on his knees.
Some of the best drawings illustrative
Of the war have appeared IN Truth. New
York Herald, and Chicago Record. To be
timely however, Truth lately, by the
mere use OF labels. turned what were in
tended as portraits of the Brooklyn and
the Iowa into false representations OF the
Olympia and the Oregon. and over the
Texas had q merchantmen signal hoist
ed. 'Remem Der the Maiue!' Between the
merchant code and the naval code there /
are immense differences, and TO use the
one for the other. Is an absurdity in naval
eyes Mr.. Reuterdahl, who painted the
original Of this Hthograph, has seldom
failed before in accuracy Of detail.
Personal.
For the past ten years Sir Henry Irv-
ng has had an income OF about sl5D00
per aHnum. Al one time, as he proudly
,onfesses, he was continually solving the
problem of how TO live on one pound a