The Savannah morning news., 1902-11-09


acres for what he calls literary res
ervation"' has excited considerable in
terest among those whom the land
grant is supposed to benefit. The Cal
ifornia philanthropist believes that il
he provides homes near to natures
heart" for struggling young authors
he will be doing a great service tc
literature. 1t is doubtful if a single
publisher will agree with him. There
is too much stuff written now. If ore
book is published out of ten written,
there are produced in this country now
nearly 100000 book mss. 1t is not at
all unlikely that the proportion is
smaller and consequently the results
of writing much larger.
Projects of this kind for the i'm
provement of literature get little SYM
pathy from the men who are respon-
sible for the books now issued, but this
is not at all because they think the
present standard is good enough The
publishers above all others, are really
most anxious to issue better books,
but they do not believe better books
are to be had by making the task
easier for the ambitious writer's than
at present.
AS "A matter OF act. Few take lHS
plan of the Californian seriously any
more than they took seriously the le-
port that Booth Harrington would pro-
pose q bill in the Indiana Legislature
whereby prizes would be offered for
literary efforts of Indianians.
Frank Norris, in the few years of his
life in New York, advanced from
clerkship in a publishing house to the
of a successful
novelist, and his death few days ago
cut off a most promising career of a
most pronounced realistic novelist. AS
a newspaper man in San Trancisco,
Mr.. Norris did very creditable
work, and the short stories which pre-
coded him eastward made possible his
connection with a New York house.
Ii was just at the outbreak of the
Spanish-American War that Norris
reached New York, and his enthusi-
asm for the real activities of life led
him to the scenes of the skirmish line
and camp. When he returned to New
York he divided his time between
proof-reading and the handling of sub
mitted manuscripts and the labor of
writing | think it was 'McTeague"
that came out of this arrangement.
Then came a fairly sufficient degree
of prosperity, and the young author
went back West to claim his heroine.
y,
viously written.
The Trilogy of Wheat was Mr..
Norris next work. THE Octopus
made a success as a book as year ago
and The Pit" is now appearing as
serial-the book is promised shortly
and those who have read 1t say that
il is, by all odds, the best thing he
wrote Not more than a month ago.
he completed his final revision of the
proofs.
Mr.. Norris death came at a most
unfortunate time. He had Just given
up his plans to sail on wheat steamer
out of San Francisco in order to coll
lect material for the last book of Me
trilogy-"The Wolf" because of ffis
failing health and had bought a
ranch close by the place of Mrs. Rob-
ert Louis Stevenson. AS soon as it
was learned that he had appendicitis
he was taken to a San Francisco hos
pital. He died two days after the OPP
GRAFTON. He left wife and one daugh-
ter.
Jack London, whose Daughter of
the Shows was recently published, is
making a study of East End slum life
in the worlds metropolis, which serves
also as his surname Mr.. London is
a forceful writer of the under side of
things. but it is to be doubted if he
will be able to equal the present Dick
ems of that quarter-Mr Arthur Nor
rison.
An astonishing fact about the latter
is that he is at the same time so many
other things than the waiter of slum
stories. He is said to be the best au-
thority in England on japanese art
he is an ardent collector of china, an
tique furniture, and other rareties He
lived for six years in the East End,
attaining considerable local fame as a
pugilist and fighting. while studying,
some of the worst criminals in Eng
land.
When his last book, 1.-THE Hole in
the Wall" was issued not long ago, a
great many New Workers inquired CT
the publishers whether the English au-
thor had, by chance, copied the name
from that of a famous Sixth avenue
saloon run at one time by Carey
WEIGH. The inquiries were repeated
to Mr. Morrison, who writes that The
Hole in the Wall is a common name
for a pub" in London and occurs
generally when the public house is
surrounded by bigger buildings, which
overlap it's front AS a matter of fact,
Mr.. Morrison has never been in this
country, whereas the founder of the
first hole in the wall at New York so
named his saloon shortly after a visit
to England, where he had probably
seen the picturesque name.
1t is doubtful if any writer was ever
better prepared for his work than Miss
Ida NJ Tarbell was for her History
of the Standard Oil Company" which
is just beginning serial publication
and is to be brought out in book form
next fall. The task of writing an in
teresting history of this great trust
was difficult enough to keep most
writers from the attempt. Very little
at any rate, has been written abou
the matter; very little is known of tn,
struggle between competition anC
combination which brought this mos
perfectly organized business in tn,
world about Few remember now tn,
old South Improvement Company un.
der whose very liberal charter tn,
Standard worked-and yet there is
remarkable curiosity on the part o.
the public as to how the present row.
er of the Oil Monopoly was attained
Miss Tarbell was peculiarly fitted FOL
this task of revelation. She was borr
and brought up in Titusville, Pa, III,
very heart of the oil country Hel
father and brother have been engage,
in the industry for years. She ha:
made most painstaking search for al
sorts of hidden records, in and out o.
court room proceedings. Ever sine,
ITS organization, the Standard OF
Company has been under one or an
other form of legal investigation, anc
the newspapers for thirty years pas