Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-03-07
RICHARD nAnDIga DhyIs.
Tells what no THINKS mskes His Work
Successful.

4 =" ~ ''thNiNb w ftuHt HofoouU F1-
mark; We'll, according 10 all the
stories circulated about Richard Hard
ing Davis. he must be very obiec-
tionable person. and don't like him.
Hut somehow or other when you begin
one OF his articles you've got to read
IL to the end. ] don't think he's n
great writer, mind you, but he's opr-
tainly interesting. don't know why. :"
Mr.. Davis, having made study
81 nIs art Tor fifteen years, should be
best able 10 explain.
In the first plaos. he says, Il use
SMILES that ths man Mt home can M.
derstand; secondly, tell the thing az
1t impressed me when I frat saw IL |;
thirdly. always tell the thing that
most interests me,
Carlyle could make q semicolou
talk Mr.. DAVIS can put battle In
south Africa before the eyes OF tho
Chicago reader In q ssntenos. la
writing OF the Tommies packed to-
gather en- kopje, he SAYS they looked
like o crowd on this bIeaoher boards Of
q baseball match, and you Gao sea
them. 1t is great tenptation Of
writer's OF travel TO sbow of, to tell
new many countries they have visited,
Mr.. Davis avoids this. He docs mt
say this Pyramids are higher than the
Mosque of St. Sophia, but that they
are one hundred feet higher than
Madison Square tower He was writ,
ing for New York public then and
could not feel sure that majority OF
his readers bad seen st. Sophia. The
latter he describes as about Us big ~
the auditorium OF the Fifth Aysnue
Theatre. In another place be says,
'Brindisi looks like Long Island City
When you come into II from the rear
That puts man at home 10 BrindlsI,
anu he Is prepare to learn more about
lin support OF bis rule 10 tell tho
thing as he first saw 1t, Davis goes on
tho theory that the reader is no more
Intelligent than he was when he landed
10 q town or country. He beliases
what the Intelligent person already
kpowH, that after one has lived 10
place for while he tecomvs 20
much part of it, so much involved la :
Its politics and menage that he ia no
longer an impartial observer. He he.'
gins to USE the country's local phrases
and write as though for the local
paper. lie iorgets that the business
man in Denver and Buffalo Ia not
travelling aloUg with him, instead Of
trying to get vivid understanding Of
the country OF battle from distance
OF 10000 miles. Davis always puts
himself in the position OF the MAN at
home and while other correspondents
clog up their accounts with personals
tics and localisms DO sticks to the irsr
impression.
"As to the third ruls. Mr, Davis
says II formed In his mind one day ct
q prize fight. 1t was the first one be
had ever attended, and while deeply
fascinated with the tieer.like move.
ments OF the ppgilists, the painful kiss
Of tho tive.ounco glove, and the spray
OF red blood, what Interested him more
Was the conduct OF the mayor, This
city Official sat near the ring and every.
body watched him; took their ope
from him, The mAn'H collar had lost
it's noorings behind and In conse-
qpenco oil dignity. With each suc-
ceeaiye round IL behaved more errsti.
oally, now moving up, now down, his
honor clutchipR madly at times TO hold
1t in its place, 80 that the cellar fairly
reflected the fight. Instead OF dsscrib.
ing the various upper outs and straight
jsbs, therefore, Davis merely o..
scribed the struggle 'twist the mayor
and bis COLLAR.
" This conviction to writs what 10.
forests me, said Mr.. Davis, was
STRENGTHENED on visit to Mexico,
where i was stranded in ~ out,
way village and chanasd 10 pick up q
Magazine, The three lln,
portant articles were one by Weeks on
India. Que by Child on South A merica,
and one by julian Ralph on Chicago.
Well, the only one read was the one
Oh Chicago, and | asked myself wby3
You don't know anything about
South America or India saId,
and, obviously. those are the plsecs
you should read about. | could only
get interested, however, 10 tbs Chicago
story. Gauging the average American
BY myself. I concluded that be would
rather read about something he
Knows something pear home, and II
China Is not homo, bring it there.
to read What. tho critic thinks about
other plays, but OF tho one saw. Id
you tell n Londonar that 10 o certain
part Of Africa the natives bow back
ward bio Is not half so much intsreated
SO when you tell him that psoI le ride
IN Rotten Row at 0 q, H., instead of 4
?. n. The dovii they do he says,
and repeats the information 10 all bis
friends When Nh, KIplipg said that
he British public was more interested
10 the fste OF the Tommy who steps
Onward to pull y eomrade back into
,he square than In the woes and trials
u tho oommissary general, he spoke
rom certain knowledge. The writer
Who has the GIFT OF seeing thing from
he human interest standpoint should,
iepiet ii That way
ule, in his opinion, is tho best Ia
newspaper work, the best In cora-
and travel, II il, however,
more OF less arbitrary, for II prosup-
loses that every writer can SEQ and
lepiot tho human interest that so
generally Appeals to readers. But that
eqpires an abrupt breaking away
rom journalistic formula and pre-.
edent, and there are not many writer's
vho would cable long story to the
london Times about a big baltic In
iresce telling only how small boy
behaved. Mr., Davis did, and bis
'Hper pronounced Ii the best story II
lad printed of that war. Not d word
vas said about flank movements,
hnrges OF captures; nothing about Ii q
fleet OF artillery or infantry. But ell
lnglsnd was interested Just as much az
he American correspondent In thu
puntry lad who acted as host to the
rmy that occupied mis- naive hills;
mo ran to bring up shells us thouah
: spring circus; WHO suayely led
pc generals about like a gentleman
moving peoplB over his Ianeisd