The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-15

rather suddenly. How long l pirouetted
on the summit of explosive flame dixie
a berry bestuck with pins at the end
of a pipe stem when boy blows
through the bowD. 1 can scarce re-
member. 1t seemed to me that l was
| projected a considerable distance into
| the empyrean. What | do remember
with most painful and distinct recollec-
ton is that / came down with ire
mendous bump on one end of my body
and very little skin on the other. The
powder had been stolen, and good folks
said it was a judgment / shall wear
| goggles forever in memory of that
soaring hour.
81 was nearly fifteen before l was
sent to Ayr Academy-to which | owe
| everything l am. That maynt be
much, of course; l may be bad debt,
! as the Irishman said to Sir Pompous
Bletherby, the M. p. You know the
story? Yes. gentlemen said the ora
tor with a falter in his voice, all that
am I owe to my wife Poor old wo-
man. said Pat from the gallery. That's
one bad debt on her book
From Ayr Academy I went to Glas-
gov University, from Glasgow to OK
ford, from oxford to London. And
that's about all can tell you
It CHANGED to be the writer's good
days ago during the. gathering of the
Indiana authors for the benefit OF the
Harrison Monument Fund. There were
collected in that one city during the
two days Of the exercises more we'll
known writer's than are to be gotten
together easily in any place. and the
particular pride of the inhabitants or
the state was that every one OF these
famous people had been born in lndi-
| 80 k.a4r a.afff yif taC a
extended over a longer period of time
than that of any similar gathering Tor
among those present were writer's from
| Gen. Lew Wallace, as years old, to
young men scarcely 30-an almost un-
broken period of fifty years of literary
service. 1t was Gen. Wallace who tok
| occasion to express regret over the alb
sence of two of Indiana
favorite sons, Edward Eggles-
ton and Maurice Thompson: the
former, her first novelist of note; the
latter one of her best. There is one
remarkable quality common to the In
! diana people which is perhaps the first
! thing a stranger would have noticed at
these meetings of the authors, and that
is the patriotic pride and affection in
which each one of these writers is held.
There is scarcely an Indiana child who
does not know about the work which
each of these authors is doing, and
every native of the state has a most
inofensive way of proclaiming Riley.
Wallace, AIDE. McCutcheon, Tarking-
ton and others of lesser light as the
greatest men of the time.
On the other hand probably the de-
sire of these same authors to retain the
respect and affection of their home
friends and admirers is just as strong.
Mr.. Riley refuses to appear in his
home town. Indianapolis, more than
once in two or three years, because. as
he explains. he is afraid the people will
tire of him. His greatest fear is that
they will come to think little less of
him than they do now. AS a matter of
fact it is only necessary for Mr.. Riley
to appear before them to witness a
sight in the way of demonstration of
approval and affection that is rarely
equaled On this recent occasion Mr..
Riley had agreed to appear on Friday
evening. Ills nervousness during the
day was pathetic to witness, and when
it was urged upon him to appear also
on Saturday evening he replied:
I'm afraid to do 1t. Wait until I see
how the thing goes tonight, and if the
people seem to like what / read, per-
haps / will go on again Saturday even
ing"
The same fear of failure before their
own people seemed TO be present with
most Of the others who were to read.
Mr.. Tarkington read one of his short
stories. during the entire course OF
which he trembled like a leaf He made
three attempts 10 get a handkerchief
up Ia his face. with very slight success
only toward the last. George AIDE had
almost 10 be pushed uron the stage
when Il came his turn TO go on. and.
during the day previous TO his appear
ance he was "A most unhappy man.
General Wallace alone seemed 70 re-
tain his composure. and yet an 81 them
made a most decided success and were
greeted with round after round Of APP
plause.
With the purpose OF the book ia
mind, Clara Morris LIT upon q most