Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-10-07
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
ThOs. Henry Hall Cainc, ManX
Author of Novels and Plays.

of JoIlyinE Amcricans-Somc Notes
to Help In Understanding the MINI.
NEW YORK, Oct. 6. Especial. l-Opin-
ions differ as to whether Thomas Henry
Hall Game, the Manx author, whose story,
1.-The Christian, is now being acted out
on the boards of one of tho New York
theaters, is great man or not. But there
Is no question whatever that he Is non
commonplace. Neither is there doubt or
shadow of doubt that no is ablo and will
ing to advertise Hall Cainc.
In stature Hall Caine is below the mid
die grade He might fairly DO termed
little man were it not that his chest is so
broad and deep and his short legs so stur-
dy. His hair is red-some call it yellow,
and some term 1t auburn-and he wears
1t long. His full beard and mustache are
redder than his hair. His eyos-blue, of
course, and somewhat sunken-generally
show the tired look that is strong fea-
ture of most of his published pictures. His
face inclines to pallor. His mouth is softly
curving, and his lips seem made for smiles.
His manner shows nervousness. His
speech is rapid, and he gesticulates lot
when he talks He never hestates to Jolly
Americans in every way he can think Of
and he declares that our hospitality is of
warmth and quality that can be matched
nowhere on earth outside of America and
certainly not in England. When in this
country, he would rather talk about the
beauties thereof and the glory of being
American than of any other mundane sub
jects except himself and his work.
Talks Much of Himself.
There is probably no other writer in the
English language whose methods of com
position and habits in general have been
so thoroughly explained to tho public as
Gaines, and himself has done tho explain
ing. Thus 1t became known years ago
through his own instrumcntality that he
hadn't sat down to IA desk to write for
years" that his composition is accom-
plished in his head while tho actual writ
ing from memory" is done on any old
scrap Of paper which happens to come
handy, and that in writing--always with a
fountain pen-he holds the scrap Of paper
on his knee.
From the same unimpcaChable source it
Is learned that he doesn't bother much
about plot in advance, but that he docs
generally work long time in searching
for u central idea. Once that has been OBJ
tanned the incidentals in tho story he Is
about to write come very quickly" for in
vention is "a very easy matter" to him.
Having got his central idea, he "labors
like mad" in getting knowledge, visiting
every place he purposes to describe, read
ing every book that can he found bearing
on the topic and making "voluminous
notes.
All these things accomplished, then be-
gins the agony said Mr. Cainc in an in.
terview printed two or three years ago, and
from his description the production Of q
Hall Caine story must he an "agony" in
deed. He wakes ut in the morning every
day, and for two hours laborS hard with
his brain, laying out the work of the day
Then for another hour no mentally revises
the composition, and then he gets up and
writes 1t all down las fast as ever it will
flow. The remainder of the day ho puts
in thinking about the work Of the next
day and this goes on with an occasional
intormission till the story is completed
No one can read Mr.. Gaines own pictur.
esque description of how Mr. Caine does
his work-only the bricfest skeleton has
herewith been eprOducCd-withOut under
standing that he is in no sense u common
place man. and the fact that ho has been
willing to draw the curtain and show how
he does it intensitlcs his noncommonplace-
ness immensely. Not every writer would
be willing to have commonplace folk know
how the wheels go round, even for tho sake
of increasing sales by being talked about
Thinks Well of His Writing.
Mr.. Gaines opinion of his own writing
was expressed in the interview quoted
from above with even more naivete than
that which characterized his description Of
his own methods.
Il take great joy in sheer lucidity,"
hnE f..
not at the very first sight express my mean
ing rewrite it. Obscurity of style ind-
Gates that the writer is not entirely master
of what he has to say"
His notion of the cagcrness with which
the world at large is holding its hand to
its ear to learn what he thinks of all sorts
of world topics is quite in keeping with all
the foregoing, and on the whole tho news
papers on both sides Of the ocean have gem
orally gratified his desire to give his
thoughts publicity, but when he offered
seven or eight columns or moro of his copy
to the New York papers on the manner in
which the United States should treat Spain
they declined with one accord to publish
the same, and that must have been shock
to him.
Hall Cnine Notes.
MIR. Game pronounces the name of his
little son Ralph "Rafe, " making it rhyme
with safe. In Chaucer's time he says, the
pronunciation was "Rawfe," TO rhyme
with trough.
He does everything, even tea drinking,
with laborious and careful earnestness.
When he is talking and drinking tea at
the same time he often gesticulates with
q filled teacup in his hand, but so careful
ly that he never spills drop.
He is one of the few writers, Rudyard
Kipling being another, who have ever been
allowed to sign their names to articles in
the London Times. He is prouder of the
fact that he knew Dante Gabriel Rossetti
we'll than of most other facts personal to
himself. Rossetti and Game lived in the
same house some time before the death of
the former, and Caine was present at the
last. He likes to sit in Rossetti's chair
when writing and says Rossetti did more
for English literature than almost any
other man who ever lived