The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-16

emma
home, bring { there
IF you tell a Londoner that in a GER
tain part Of Africa the natives bow
backwards, he is not haf so much in
terested as when you tell aim that peo-
pie ride on Rotten Row at a. m. in
stead of p. m. The devil they do he
says, and repeats the information to
ali his friends. When Mr.. Kipling said
that the British public was more inter
ested in the tate of the Tommy who
steps forward to pull a comrade back
into the square than in the woes and
( trials Of d commissary general, he
spoke from certain knowledge.
Mr. Davis added that this third
rule. in his opinion, is the best in news
paper work 1t is, however. more Of
less arbitrary, for it presupposes that
every writer can see and depict the
/ human interest that so generally ap-
peais to readers. But that requires an
abrupt breaking away from journal
are not many writer's Who could cable
a long story to the London Times about
big battle in Greece, telling only how
small boy behaved 8Ir. Davis did,
story 1t had printed of that war Not
a word was said about flank move
meats. charges or captures: nothing
about the effect of artillery or infantry.
But all England WAS Interested just as
much as the American cOrrespondent
y
Of the@army that occupied his native
Mills who ran TO bring up shells as
though ct a snring circus who suavely
lea the generals about like a gentle
man showing people over his landed
estate
In Fomance, Mr.. Davis observes much
the same rules as in journalism In
fact, he says there is no dividing line
between the two. @Kipling,n he told
me, wrote just as good stuff when he
was editing that Bombay Gazette in. a
reeking hot newspaper Office as ever
appeared in his books. Every day
you can find just as good literature in
the New York Sun as max be found in
any magazine Whatever the nature
of his work, he picks out the essential
and leaves the other. That comes
pretty near TO being the art OF writing.
But romance gives one, IN this in
personality.
Stevenson's wonderful short story
"A Lodging for the Night, inspired
Davis. the young reporter. and his fell
lows ~ the Office of the Philadelphia
Press with an enthusiasm that took
the form of a letter Of admiration to
the brave sick man far away in the
South Seas. Here is Stevenson,s re-,
ply. which has never before been pub
Dear Sir: Why, thank YOU very
much for your frank. agreeable and
natural letter. 1t is certainly very
pleasant that all you young fellows
should enjoy my work, and get some
good out of it; and il was very kind
IN you to write and tell me so. The
tale of the suicide is exceHently droT
and your letter. you may be sure VIII
be preserved If YOU are to escape un-s
purt, out OF your present business, You
must be very careful and you must
md in your heart much constancy. The
swiftly done work of the Journalist and
the cheap finish and ready-made meth
DDS to which it leads, you must try to
counterfeit in private by writing with
the El0st considerate sJOwness and on
the most ambitious models And when
say writing %, believe me it is re-
writing that l. have chiefly ia mind II
you viii do this. hope TO hear OF YOU
some day s
Richard Harding Davis is now 81
Years old and in the height of his vigor
Beyond occasional attacks of scf;,,ic,i
ne enjoys robust health. He takes as
much interest in the journalist world
as when he first entered as a sscf1f,'
reporter. His mind is like a spring thai
mas never been fiattened down but re-
ceiYes impressions with the rauidftv
ana distinction of a biograph The pc
culiar power of concentration which
was cultivated in a newSpa per office is
more intense than ever. 1t enables him
10 get into a subject, immense him
self completely whether in the snok-
ing room OF a steamship OF. secluded
IN the little cottage at Marion. Mass.
where Tor the last eleven summers I,a
has retired to do his work. and where
most Of his fiction has been written
ne has no fixed number of hours for
working. nor fixed rate of words for a
gay. he iengthens or shortens the hours
like one does stirrup straps. TO suif
hRnself, Sometimes he puts three hours
Oh single paragraph, the next dav
writes LOCO words. He seems also Fl
have profted by the advice Contained in
, tevenson's letter He is engaged now
- - - elils a novel the scene of which
IS laid in Central America. and v,l,fct3
ne hopes viii prove TO be his best pro-