The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-11-24
DRIFTED INTO STORY
THE BEGINNINGS OF SOME FAMOUS
LITERARY CAREERS.

meh WIN busNNS SNluuWGEGU SuC
World of Letters Came Ia invade
the Domain Of Fiction.
There Is an unfalling fascination In
The story of the beginnings Of brilliant
careers, and especially of the careers
Of men and women who have con-
quered the world Of readers, and have
won fame and fortune In the difficult
path of letters.
One of the most successful Of literary
partnerships had Its origin Is a casual
supper conversation ut n Bohemian
club. Walter Besant and James Rice,
both young men Of literary ambitions,
were discussing n Of Dickens novels,
when Rice said, casually: IF | give
you the plot Of 4 story, Besant, will
you write itY IT don't mind trying"
Besant answered.; and within Il few
weeks the first OF Il brilliant series
of novels vas under way.
Rider Haggard was reading for the
bar In the early eighties with an eye
on the woolsack, and no dream OF the
career In fiction that awaited him,
when 1t occurred to him, us a recrea.
ton from the dry bones of the law, to
weave a story out Of his South African
experiences, TO his surprise and de.
light the story flowed fiuently under
his pen. and finally assumed ample
shape as 1.-THE Witch's Head" That
1t was not a success mattered little;
for it had shown him his true meter,
and paved the way for king Solo,
mons Mines" and all the gold they
yielded.
1t was only when briefs r%esolutely
declined to drift to his chambers that
Anthony Hope Hawkins, u young bar
rister, in all the modified glory Of an
u%ntarnished wig, turned his thoughts
to the pen to while away the hours Of
waiting for solicitors who never came.
1t was thus that he wrote "A Man Of
Mark" which was rather suggestive Of
future distinction than productive Of
present profit. But fame came quicker
than briefs after all, and his "Prisoner
of Xenda," four years later, gave him
all the start he desired.
Grant Allen had wooed science to lit
tie pecuniary purpose for many years
before he was tempted to stray into fc-
ton, for which he never had much
respect. Perhaps no one was as sur.
prised as himself to find that he could
write a story quite as cleverly us a SCI
entitc treatise, and while "Physio-
lnnioul AavthatinS'p hNn,,uht him ,,apv,ta
as a man Of science, "Philistia" point
ed the way to gold, which In these days
Of stress Is SO much better. The science
which he designed for a staff became a
recreation, but his heart was in 1t rath-
er than In his novels.
M. lola was tying up parcels In
Hachette's publishing house when he
was tempted to read one Of Flaubert's
novels. Much as the young packer was
impressed with Its cleverness, he
thought he could write a novel quite us
good, and he Immediately set to work
with the results known equally to the
world and his bankers.
1t was the memory OF his long tramps
through the Australian bush that turn
ed Guy Boothby's thought to fiction.
He had new material full Of interest to
the reading world. Why not present 1t
In the marketable form Of a novel?
The suggestion took shape In ION the
Wallaby," and the world knows what
that led to.
With Morley Roberts 1t was the
same. He had for many years led q
life Of adventure, which was stranger
than fiction, In every part Of the world,
and In all characters from cowboy to
common seaman. 1t was easy from
such rich material to weave the WEST
ern Avernus," the first Of his long Sc
ries Of thrilling romances.
Jerome *. Jerome's Bohemian life
and stage experiences suggested to
him the idea Of his first venture In let
tiers. ION the Stage and Or" rs ut
least a variant from teaching, clerks
work and acting, which had made up
his precarious existence for some
years; and when Mr.. Zangwill grew
sick Of teaching the three RS to young
Jews. what more natural than, with
his skill with the pen, he should weave
a story Of the "Children Of the
Ghetto" although this was not his first
venture In literature?
Marie Corelli had no thought Of fc-
ton when she was training for the
career Of a musician and composer;
and 1t was a strange ~psychical ex-
p%erience that turned her thoughts to
the pen and inspired her Romance OF
Two Worlds" which took novel read
ers by storm.
It was loneliness and weird inspira.
ton Of the South African veldt that
impelled Olive Schreiner, a dreamy girl
In her teens, to speak her thoughts on
paper In "The Story of m African
E'arm."
Mrs. Hodgson Burnett was only .
schoolgirl, busy with her books, when
a group Of factory girls streamed past
the window through which she was
gazing. One Of them, unlike the rest,