The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-06-15

| soaring hour.
81 was nearly fifteen before was sent
| to Ayr Academy-to which l owe every
thing l am. That maynt be much, of
| course; l may be a bad debt as the
Irishman said to Sir Pompous Bletherby,
the M. p. You know the story? Yes,
gentlemen, said the orator with falter
in his voice, all that l am owe to my
wife Poor old woman said Pat from
the gallery. That's one bad debt on her
book
| From Ayr Academy / went to Glas-
| gov University, from Glasgow to Oxford.
from Oxford to London. And that's about
all can tell you
1t CHANGED to be the writer's good for
tune to be in Indianapolis few 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 ar. to re gotten together easily
| in any place, and the particular pride of
the inhabitants of the State was that
every one OF these famous people had
been born in Indiana. The range of their
| ACTIVITIES also extended over a longer
period of time than that of any similar
gathering, for among those present were
writer's from General Lew Wallace,
| seventy-five years old, to young men
scarcely thirty-an almost unbroken
period of fifty years of literary service.
1t was General Wallace who took occa-
! sion to express regret over the absence
of two of Indiana's favorite sons, Edward
Eggleston 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 writer's 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 inoffen-
! sive way of proclaiming Riley. Wallace,
AIDE, McCutcheon, Harrington and others
of lesser light as the greatest men of
the time.
On the other hand, probably the desire
of these same authors to retain the re-
spect 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 a little less of him than they do
now. AS matter of fact, 1t 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. His nervousness
during the day was pathetic to witness.
and when it was urged upon him to app
pear also on Saturday evening he re-
Piled
I'm afraid to do it. Wait until l see
how the thing goes tonight, and if the
people seem to like what read, perhaps
will go on again Saturday evening
The same fear of failure before their
own people seemed to be present with
most of the others who were to read. Mr..
Harrington read one of his short stories,
i during the entire course, of which :, he
trembleda like leaf. He made three
attempts to get handkerchief up to his
face, with very slight success only to-
ward the last George AIDE had
almost to be pushed upon the stage when
it came his turn to go on, and, during
the day previous to his appearance he
was most unhappy man. General Wal
lace alone seemed to retain his COM
posure and yet all of them made most
decided success and were greeted with
round after round of applause. 81 /.
With the purpose of the book in mind
Clara Morris hit upon a most applicable
title in "a Pasteboard Crown 1t seems
curious that those who make the great
est success on the stage advise others
to keep out of the profession. Clara
Norris state "reminiscences, recently
published, is a series of sermons on that
one theme, and in the introduction to the
English edition of that book, Mary An
derson takes occasion to remark upon
the dangers of the profession and the
fruitIess results which follow years oil
service on the stage. There are two
passages in "a Pasteboard Crown" which
characterize the entire story.
81 will place the crown upon your
head" said the actor manager. "only
promise not to reproach me when you
find out for yourself that it is only paste
board"
And, at the end of the story. when
the heroine cries out:
You told me that the crown was
pasteboard, but you did not tell me that
it was lined with thorns''