Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1901-10-24

just been brought out.
1t is difficult to imagine any one writing
Of war and strife in the peaceful, quiet
surroundings of Mr.. Bensons home in
West End. 1t is on the edge of the suburb
with only one or two other residences
near 1t, and the house is completely hid
den from the street by trees and foliage.
There Is the most delightful old-fashioned
flower garden in front of the pretty cot
tage home, with dozens of rambling rose
bushes and evergreen hedges. 1t is at the
very back of the cottage that the authors
den is situated, shut off from any noise
save the prattle and laughter of children
playing in the yard, it's windows looking
out on a miniature apple orchard. 1t is
an ideal place for isolation from the world
"a place in which to give oneself up en-
tirely to the powers of imagination, and
this Mr.. Benson seems to have done to
remarkable extent. In reading his books,
the second of which is a sequel to the
first, one marvels at the truth and fact
crowded into them. They seem, and es-
pecially "A Friend with the Countersign,
detailed even beyond necessity and one
is astonished at the remarkable memory
Of a man which can recall every turn of
road and seemingly every branch and twig
along the roadside
However, when questioned as to the
truth of these details in "A Friend with
the Countersign,'' Mr.. Benson laughed.
There is really very little fact in it,
he said. 1.-THE positions of the armies and
their movements are, of course, true to
history, but the expedition which Jones
Berwick, the hero, undertakes and the
details of his various experiences are all
fiction, every bit.
IT have made no attempt" he continued,
Ito write gracefully. There have been
many objections to the short sentences
used so much through the book, but the
shorter the better for me, because l wish
ed to make 1t clear and appear real have
frequently rewritten a sentence dozen
times in order to find a simpler word. If
the book impresses the critics as all fact
ii is possibly the result of a capacity of
putting myself in the place of the char
acters. I suffer with them and rejoice with
them.
THAT next to the last chapter" con-
tinued Mr. Benson, turning to that indi-
Gated as he spoke-"the one in which Jones
Berwick thinks he is about to die and
writes seemingly for the last time to
Lydia-I would not write that again for
a thousand dollars. For the time being the
suffering was as intense to me as it would
have been in reality. could only write
little at a time and had 10 go out and get
my mind off of II"
Speaking of the title of the book, Mr..
Benson mentioned the fact that the for
mer story, "Who Goes There?" took its
name from the question asked by pick
ct on duty and "A Friend With the
Counterslgn" is the reply.
Zones Berwick" he continued, still
referring to the title, ''is a friend be-
cause so far as one man can take two
sides he is supposed to do so. On &C
count of his former association with the
Confederates he will not shoot them.
when he finds himself in their ranks
as a scout of the Union army, he will not
shoot the Yankees. Though Berwick's or
der from General Meade was not strictly
a countersign, it was in the nature of a
perpetual countersign, and bears out the
title.
THE story, I think, is a good example
of the compound plot; on the one hand,
the development Of the hero's uninten-
tional efforts to escape justice in the
courtmartial to which in romantic and