The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-26

/ improve. At 20 much per word, they ar
/ que, / make 50 much, if / write and sell
| so many words. and on less than so much
| 7 cannot live and thus to merely write
so much becomes their sole endeavor. II
Is all hack" work. in their esteem, and
the more lightly disposed Of the better.
| This has not been Mohetts way. He has
done some things better than others; he
has, no doubt. sighted particular tasks,
but always az bottom, he has held faith
fully TO the design OF improving. He has
had always to sustain him In his strug-
gle an exceptionally good physique; he is
strong OF body and cheerful in tempera-
ment: and he Is a pleasant man to look
upon and talk with, and he easily comes
into good relations with the people he
has to deal with, and all this IS, Of course,
capital. and Is to be taken Into account in
any consideration Of his achievements.
Moffett is a strong man even among his
friends Ga thing not so much matter of
course as II may a first blush seem); they
are numerous, and they like him immense
ly. The length of his stay in Europe is
uncertain, but II is likely to extend through
a good many months.
I should think no one who had read
wv. V. Her Book" with any approach
to appreciation would need 10 be running
to the author, as some one lately has
been, to know If W. v. and The Boy
were real children. The book could have
had no such charm as it has If they had
not been real children, and children, too,
with whom the author was about as init
mately acquainted as with his own mind
and heart. II was through the "W. ""
sketches, al published within a few years,
that Mr.. William Canton, the author, be-
came az all well known; but he is not
strictly new writer nor strictly young
one He is a man Of 50 years old, and
he brought out book OF poems as long
ago as 1887. He did not make a second
appearance however, until 1894, when The
Invisible Playmate" afterward published
in this country in a volume with Nv. V.
Her Book" appeared Mr.. Canton has
never l believe, followed literature other
wise than as a diversion or subordinate
interest. He is a business man, the man
ager of some sort of company. He has
his home IN the London suburb of High
gate, and it Is easy to imagine him there
of an evening dfverting himself with w
V. and The Boy until they have gone 10
bed, and then turning to his desk and
embOdying in sketch or poem. while the
impression is fresh upon him, the best of
their quaintnesses and drolleries. w. v,
/ am afraid, will soon be outgrowing her
literary usefulness to him; she must be
close or quite up to the period of sophis-
tication by now.
The announcement that enough unpub-
iished poems by the late Edward Rowland
sin have Lately been got together to make
a new volume has interest for what Is at
least a very devoted. IL not a large. pub
lie. Sill died twelve years ago, at the
age of As. Since his college days, it had
been a constant fight with him for life.
From Connecticut where he was born
feeble health had driven him first to the
Middle West, and then to the very shores
of the Pacific, and had confined him to
vocation that more or less obscured him
from the world at large. He was by ma
ture one of the shiest and most sensi-
tive of men, and his illness made him
more so. Thus, ne became personally
well known to very few people; and the
two small books of poems that have thus
far been the sum of his published writings
cannot be said to have greatly extended
knowledge of him. Yet few men have had
a more loving following. The people who
did come to know him in life found him a
man of extraordinary quality and attrac-
ton; and the same thing has followed
with those who, by whatever chance, have
been led to make acquaintance with MIN
in his writings. one of his closest and
most sympathetic friends was Mrs. Ward
elizabeth Stuart Phelps. and she has
made him some very cordial public testi-
monies. l remember one only year or
two ago, in which she Illustrated Sin's OK
traordlnary constituencies with the follow
ing aneCdote:
An editor once wrote to him. careless
ly, Of a certain contribution which had
the appearance OF being less popular than
others:
1.-THE people are tickle. They want some
new thing all the time. It Is "goodby'' 70
you to-day. and welcome somebody else
Tomorrow
Another man might have taken these
thoughtless words as lightly as they were
given. MIR. sin was with difficulty per-
suaded to write again for that magazine -
There have been few more industrious
and productive men of letters than Mr..
Horace e. Scudder who some months ago
resigned the editorship of the Atlantic
Monthly and went off for a good long va
cation in Europe. For over thirty wears
he had been actively associated, as editor
aud literary adviser with the house of
Houghton Miffiin & Co. and the list of the
published books covers, should say. about
thirty titles. His writing has been unus-
ually various, ranging from history and
the gravest polemieal essays to the live
lest of children's tales, but 1t has been
A collection of children's tales, indeed.
! made his first book. Seven Little Peo-
| pie and Their Friends" published when he
was "a When these were written he was
| living in New York, but this period was
| only three-year episode, devoted mainly
to teaching. All the rest OF his life, except
| for occasional visits elsewhere, has beer
| passed in Boston, where he was born: and
! his sole vocation, except the one bit OF
| teaching, has been writing and editing
| Some of his books have had very large
| sales. The familiar ''Bodley Books" fol
! example, have nearly all done wen. and
| indeed continue TO do well. Mr. Scuddei
| is now just GO years old so there is stll
much good work to be expected from him
| L. c. Martin.
Keeping Fig sunday.
"Iong Rope Day" is an old name fol
I