Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-19

form OF fiction. an unusual aide OF real life.
Naturally, the people who read such writing
with most intensity are those who have had
a share in the particular kind OF life por-
trayed, and to these the beast inaccuracy or
the smallest omission is apt to be a mortal
offense. Many OF them cannot rest until
they have written a letter ID the author, or
his publisher, showing him up in all OF
his charlatanry.
For instance, a very stormy letter was
written not long eince to Mr., Herbert Ham
blen, author Of that thrilling book OF rail-
road experiences, THE General Managers
Story" Indicating to him 4 large assortment
Of small facts that proved conclusively that
he knew nothing OF railroads and railroad
life. To a man who has himself set brakes
and fired and run locomotives, as Hamblen
has, this was something of a revelation, but
he could not escape-there were the facts.
He had called some rod by another name
than that by which, according TO the writer
Of the letter. all genuine railroad men noto-
riously called It; he had run an engine in
conflict with SOM rule or custom which any
cub could have told him, the letter writer
affirmed, made the running OF an engine In
that fashion clearly impossible.
Another author, who recently published a
story that had to do with a whaling voyage,
had a similar experience. The publication
of the story led to his being looked up by
an old friend, whom he had not seen for
a long time, and his friend said to him, in
an of-hand, matter-of- course way: THAT
was a frst-rate story you wrote; l read it,
and l liked II. But, say, you never were
on a whaler, were you; no, that's clear!"
AS the author had made quite a cruise on
- .1.los tLA so, that GrsN aa,,a 10 htc
lips was not a cold one. He denied himself
however, and simply said, 20, yes-yes,
have been"
mo, no. returned his friend obstinately
at couldn't be, you know, You speak of a
'What-you-may-cal (my own bad memory
in mechanics forces me to a makshift here
the name actually employed, and the object
1t will be applied to, l must confess l quite
forget), and on a whaler that thing is never
known as a 'What-you-may-call,' but al
ways as a what's-its-name."
After the publication of Captains Cour
ageous," Mr.. Kipling and his publisher
were favored with considerable correspond
ence enlightening them on any number o
minor points in the language and life of tn,
Gloucester fishermen; and even generou
proposals were made to write articles o
books portraying the Gloucester men as the
really are.
Literary Notes.
1 suppose there will be quite a stir nov
among the people who hunger for though
in their novels. They had a rare feas
three or four years ago, in Esther Waters.
And have you read Esther Waters?'" the
demanded, eagerly, when they met. IAN
what did you think of it? 1t is very stront
don't you think? ~Strong-and original?
The author of Esther WATERS Mr.. Georg
Moore, has prepared a new banquet |
Evelyn Innes,'' a novel that is to be pub
lished within a few days. As the scene
it is laid in Paris and London, where ther
is no end of opportunity for passion an
, psychology and ethics, It. cah scarcely ia
, to prove to Moore's admirers just the so
of thing they like. Though MIR. Moore hs
still something the regard of a new ma
g among us, it was full twenty years ago tn;
. no published his first book. But he has NJ
been one of the book-a-year men, and h
list is still comparatively short. "Esth'
Waters published in 1894, vas the first
y attract general attention in This country.
Mrs. Ella Higginson, who olives in VIII;
= seems to us here the farthest corner
A the country, namely, at New Whatcom,
the state of Washington Though, no doul
{ to her and her neighbors it is we who see
y to inhabit that cornerIa Siss preparing
volume of her poems fsrsthe press. H,
r two volumes of shorts stories, publisht
within the last two years, have had vel
d fair success, and there is reason to belle,
/ that her poems would find much favor ais
:, for the best of them show the same realit
Of sentiment and scene and the same SUR
ness of execution that mark the best of h
stories. Mrs. Higginson had no easier woI
securing her recognition than most 9TH
writer's have had. Her stories, written muc
I better than the stories of novices usually al
r and disclosing always a certain genuinene:
in their conception and execution, WEI
}, around from editor to editor, only to fir
. publication in rather obscure places or to |
. returned at last for good and all. Yet al
editor who read them must have felt, eve
/. when he passed them on, that they wei
;. not tho ordinary volunteered stories. By slo
d degrees one and another stayed where 1t W;
= first sent, and little by little Mrs. Higginsc
. found herself growing into an assured pos
ton. One of her most profitable conques
at the time was the winning of the fir
/. (e 5000 prize, about five years ago, in
: prize story contest. The premium story WI
. one of her very best; it was widely notice
: and it must have done more than any 9th
t piece she has published to make her nan
known. e. C. MARTIN.
u