The age-herald., 1898-05-29

| sohal appearance Nothing save a talk with him gives you that"
 Frank R. Stockton first attracted general notice by his now famous "Rudder Grange thoroughly original piece of humor and one which is still good seller. Tn the same vein are Mrs. Aleshine," and "Pomona's Travels" and "Ardis Claver- don.A This latter the author declares to be his favorite woman character. lbe says T had tremendous time to find hef, as you shall hear. I couldn't seem to run across the type I wanted. I hunted and hunted. But 1t was in vain- One day was talking my problem over with a certain eminent authoress-no, will not say who she was-and an idea struck me The idea grew upon me. Ardis Claverdon was finally modeed upon her" .The Late Mrs Nuil,'' 1t will be remembered was his best selling novel and before its appear ance every one had said that he was short story man alone. and could never write anything more than that. MT. Stock ton went on to say, "The hardest work have Is naming my characters Many of them are completely made up, others are suggested by something, others are but slightly changed from real names. sei- dom use a name that in itself Is a deserip- tion of the character. That was Dickens way, you remember. Ardis in Ardi6 Claverdon is an old family name of mine. My mother was Virginian, and l have llNSu a 6iCdN dcdi uoWh SOoths
 "A dealer in magic and spells is the Stockton of today All that has been add ed in recent years is greater technical fa- cilty The same sort of oddities that years ago he set down to his pen come from his lips to his stenographer's ears now. A long list indeed has he contribut- ed to make up his charming reputation, until now we are not surprised at any eff of ssCfoo1xfonian art ' from the fairy tales of a quarter of century ago to the materalism of today, through which he weaves humor and merriment and tells It all with a delicacy and wit that sets old men and severe matrons, young girls and men of affairs laughing at they know not what.
 Fresh generations of young people still discuss "The Lady or the Tiger" Here the interviewer acknowledged he had come to a question he feared to ask. for it was question Stockton had already been asked ten thousand times.
 Was it." he began.
 Mir. Stockton smiled kindly, though shade wearilyl. "I do not know, he said, 'T really have never been able to decide whether the Lady the Tiger came out of that door. Yet l must defend myself People have for years upbraided me for leaving it a mystery However, when l started in to write the story, I really in- tended to finish it. But it would never let itself be finished. I could not decide And to this day have, l assure you, no more idea than any one else.'
 As you may have guessed this interview with Stockton but leads up to the notice of his latest work, which is of special in- terest from the fact that 1t has not ap- peared serially. "The Girl at Cobhurst' is a worthy addition to "Stocktonan Art While do not like it so well as his form CT books, "rhe Adventures of Captain Horn," and Mrs. Cliffs Yacht" this is only a matter of preference "The Girl at Cobhurst' is just as original in it's situations and we find the same extraor- dinary conjuncture of circumstances which happen in the most natural Stock tonian way to the most commonplace and ordinarypeople. If "The Girl at Cobhurst' has fault it is to be found in its length. There are places where it comes perilously near being tedious and its diffuseness pro- duces a heavy strain on the whimsical humor of the situation. For MT. Stock ton is nothing if not fanciful; but the fanciful postulates of his stories being once granted they are absolutely rational. However this last book is as fresh and pure and bright as all that has come from the same source, and one secret of MT. Stockton's unique charm is the absolute naturalness of his characters, no matter how unnatural their situations They
 
 and abide in the memory like people of flesh and blood.
 It is noticeable of MT. Stockton that his finest creations are women of maturity and in this recent interview he says: Tt is much more to my liking to write about middle-aged women than young women. The older ones have more character; you can make them do more amusing things. People tell me can do elderly women much better" This should endear the author to a large class of the reading public. Miss Panney-and how appropriate her name-s a notable addition to the already long list of popular bright women; though Miss Panney has reached mature an age that we have to excuse her for being also extremely cratic. But for all that, she is charming character, as are many others in the book Not the least interesting by any means-to feminine readers-is the in spired cook, La Fleur." You may find by the dozen philanthropists, kind friends, helpers and counsellors, the most loving and generous but cook like that in a Thorburg family is as rare as-as-I can't think of anything so rare.
 Sam Johnston said, ''To furnish pleasure that is harmless, pleasure pure and un- alloyed, Is as great power as man can possess.' Can greater eulogy be placed upon MT. Stockton? For this Is his chief
 'a"teristic, that he so delightfully."- comes
 a.' prosy lives amid the stress and storms and amuses and entertains and en- livens until the shadows are gone and only sunshine is left in the heart and memory. May he live long to give us many more like "The Girl at Cobhurst." PAUL PRY. 
 Entire new show at East Lake. commence T