Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-13

(The Young Historian Who Attacked AAp
 miral Schley.)>
 legs. He is persistent and stubborn in character and is proud of his Scotch ancestry.
 While at work on the first volume of his naval history, says the Chicago In ter Ocean, Maclay was reporter on the New York Tribune, covering the board of education. Robert s. Maclay, a relative, was then prominent in edu- cational circles and was at one time president of the board. At that time there were nine sons of clergymen on the Tribune, and Maclay, like all of them, was fond of staying up in the mornings after work was done, but as he had life work ahead of him he decided he would have to practice economy.
 It was hard work for Maclay to write. Words came slowly to him, and it was difficult for him to handle a pen or pencil. He wrote a small, cramped, irregular hand, the lines be- ing so close as to make him unpopular with copy readers At that time he had all his data for his first volume. It was while at Cornell that he con- ceived the idea of, writing a naval his- tory, having come to the conclusion that there was none in existence worthy the name. When he left the university he had a little money, and he went abroad for data. There he made use of what knowledge he had of French and German and searched the libraries.
 One day after Maclay had learned all with just enough money to pay his way to New York city on the steamer. He had three days in which to get the steamer. How to live without eating those three days was question, and how to get the steamer was another. Somehow he got on board boat going down the Rhine and on that boat he found bags of unroasted coffee. The bags were of canvas and his knife was sharp enough to cut holes in canvas. He laid in a store of green coffee beans. and he had not starved to death by the time he reached the steamship. Ever after that he liked German cook ing and the Germans.
 
 hurry every evening to a little Ger man restaurant at Thisd avenue and Tenth street and fill himself with the products of that German kitchen at a moderate expenditure. Sometime $ in the summer he would take glass of imported German beer instead of coffee, of which he was extremely fond even when cooked. Beer he drank in moderate quantities on Saturday nights, when he usually went to Will liamsburg, bought ticket for some ball given by fower-makers or paper box makers, or shop girls. He would dance to his hearts content and then be very careful for the rest of the week.
 Maclay always believed that writ ing was low art, and that no matter how we'll man could write he could never achieve fame unless he really had something to say. When he got through writing the first volume of his naval history he got Erwin Wardman, then copy reader on the Tribune, to go over it for him. Wardman was a Harvard man, and was considered an authority on English language and lit- erature Ward1nan often grew tired, but he kept at the work of editing the volume, and when it appeared in print ft had smoothness to it.
 In1s94 Maclay left the Tribune and begaM writing naval editorials for the New York Sun. When he got ready to write the second volume of his history he obtained an appointment as light housekeeper at Setauket, l.. l., and got married. He has children. Maclay kept plugging along until Assistant Secretary of the Navy Allen was sent to Porto Rico. Maclay wanted to be his successor. He is now clerk in the Brooklyn navy yard