Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1902-02-28
SHORT CUTS TO FAME
SUDDEN LEAPS TO EMINENcE IN THE
LITERARY ARENA

Bestower Of the Laurel wreath.
There are two roads by which fame
In literature may be reached.
One kind Is the result Of slow, Ia.
borious work Of years. That is the
long. winding road. which often crosses
many hills and descends into many
deep valleys. OF such is the fame Of
Walter Scott. who built for himself a
memorial In print and paper which
will last 80 long as the language that
he wrote In and many others shall
endure. The other kind Is Of the hap
by inspiration OF q few marvellous mo
ments. which have been permitted to
win a fame almost n not quite, as
enduring as theirs.
For instance. how many among the
myriad readers Of modern poetry and
drama remember the name Of William
COngreve. who about 300 years ago
was one Of the most famous English
dramatists7 Probably not / per cent,
yet Congreve wrote one immortal line
that everybody knows:
Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast.
Cougreve wrote many fner lines than
this, but this Is the one that has saved
him from twentieth century oblivion.
possibly only the Inspiration Of Il
magical moment. and yet that line viii
live as long az the English language.
Another Instance Of a writer taking
a short cut to fame Is that Of the Rev.
Charles Wolfe. In the yeAr 1917 he
read In the Edinburgh Annual Regis
ter an account Of one Of the greatest
tragedies Of the English army. He
wrote a poem On It and gave 1t to the
world anonymously. 1t was copied iu'
to the newspapers and magazines, and
the best literary critics OF the age as.
cribed It not only to Southey, but even
to Campbell and BYRON himself. ALL
disclaimed the authorship. and Byron
described It as the most beautiful ode
i'm the language. When people forget
to speak English. they will forget the
lines beginning:
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note.
As his corse to the rampaTta We hurried.
Lady Anne Barnard. a friend Of Sir
Walter Scott. might have lived and
died In o%bscurity. &c far as the greater
world outside her own social circle
was concerned. IL an Inspiration had
not come to her. no doubt suggested to
her by some Scottish tragedy of peas
ant life. The result OF that inspiration
was a song which viii live as long as
the sweetest that ever flowed from the
pen Of Robert Burns. Its title is Aud
Robin Gray"
Nearly 400 years age there was born
a lighting poet who wrote some Of the
sweetest songs In the English Ian
guage. Thousands OF English readers
and readers Of English poetry at home
and abroad know four lines of his as
well as they know the most h~ackneyed
passages from Shakespeare, and yet
only a score OF so of them could say
where the lines come from or who
wrote them:
would not love thee, dear. so much,
Loved / not honor more,
and
Stone walls do not a prison make
Nor iron bars a cage.
How many who read these lines know
that they were written by Richard
Lovelace while he was in prison. pen
niless and dying Of consumption?
It is commonly supposed that ThOm-
as Gray's fame rests on a single poem.
and that an inspiration. This Is u mis-
take. Thomas Gray wrote the Prog
ress of Pocsy" and THE Bard" and
these would have secured his place In
the temple Of famc II be had never
written a line Of tho "Elegy In a Coun-
try Churchyard." They are the two
finest odes In the English language.
The "Elegy" may probably have begun
with an inspiration. but It took seven
years to write.
There are, of course, many instances
of an author earning immortal fame
xote" is perhaps the most famous. Ger
vantes plowed the literary fields for
many years and produced many crops,
but this one Incompatible harvest is
the only n that has survived.
There is another kind Of fame which,
though well deserved. comes. as II
were. by accident. There are two mod.
ern instances OF this In which Mr.
Gladstone acted. once knowingly and
ono unknowingly, as the bestower Of
the laurel wreath. When Mrs. Hum
phry Ward wrote Robert Elsmere.'
a copy fell into the hands Of the great
old critic, and be criticised II unspar
lngly. The criticism. of course. made
the book and the fortunes Of the au
thoress. If II had not been for tina
criticism. the fortunes OF both Nigh
have been different. At another tim
Mr.. Gladstone went to have bis photo
graph taken. The artist suggested tina
he should have a book In his hand
taking one of bis tlDie and giving
to him. The light fell on the title o
the book 80 that II could easily be read
The title WINS John Inglesant."
had been published In Birmingham ant
had run through an edition Of 500 COP
les.
II was one OF the best modern novel
ever written. but II the PHOTOGRAPHIC
had given Mr.. Gladstone a copy o