The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-04-13
THE LITERARY OUTLOOK.

7 CHANGED to be reading over, the
other day, some "reminiscences Of
Kipling in India which were writ
ten by z. Kay Robinson, at one time
kiplinsis chief on the Lahore Civil and
Military Gazette. Mr.. Robinson re-
iates many instances Of the ways Kip
ling acquired his local color with such
fidelity, and he casually mentions old
Mahbub ali. the horse trader in Kim
1t makes one feel the reality of kim
to read about old Mahbub Ali in an ar
ucle published long before Kim" was
written. 1t seems that Mahbub Ali
was very stately and very dirty Pa
man, lndescribably filthy, but with
magnificent mien and features says
Mr.. Robinson, who looked on Kipling
as man distinguished among all ''sa-
hibs"
After each of his wanderings across
the unexploTed fringes Of A1ghanistan,
where his restless spirit Of adventure
led him. Mr.. Robinson relates, Nah
puo Ali used to turn up, travel-Stained,
uiiuer and more majestic than ever,
Ior his confidential colloquy with
huppeleen Sahib, his friend" It is
said that kipling owes not only much
OF the local color of his short stories,
particularly of THE Man Who Would
BE King" to this strange companion
OF his Indian days. but also for many
Of the important facts Of detail in
Kim, probably the greatest Of all his
books.
Booth Harrington has most unique
way Of writing his stories. He does not
eff 81 Il.
makes drawings Of the different scenes
and situations. even going so far as to
put in little details Of costumes, fur
nlshlngs of the room or a complete pic
ture Of the landscape. At his home in
indianapolis it is said that ne has the
complete sets OF drawings for both
The Gentleman From Indiana and
Monsieur Beaucaire, and that each
set would make d very large portfolio
Of pictures. Once he has made the
drawings, Mr.. Harrington begins to
write, and his work Of recording what
ne has visuaHzed is fairly rapid
though he spends a great deal of time
IN verifying every item of description.
Inc fact that he visualizes his stories
IN TINS manner shows at once that Mr..
Harrington is a dramatist. He sees the
thing IN his minds eye first Of all It
~ tAAADt tAAAdAt LIfdL ne IDS litL tEdlllcu
himself so that he could make finished
drawings for, If he could We would
nave the remarkable case of an author
illustrating his own works of fiction.
such thing would be of great advan-
tage to the reader. for he could get at
once the exact idea of the author as to
/ now his characters looked and acted.
some of the most curious errors creep
INTO the Illustrations of oar novels
nowadays. In Richard Harding Da-
Wis last book, In the Fog the work
Of two different artists is shown, each
evidently taking Cne-half Of the book
/ for his illustrating share. One artist
pictures messenger as a short, thick
set, Dlack-baired individual who is car
rying a suit case; the second artist,
pleturing a scene five minutes later in
the course Of the story, represents the
messenger as tail. thin. bald and carry
ing small satchel Mr.. TarkingtOn's
method would be of decided advantage.
1t is too bad that his modesty prevents
him from allowing his own conceptions
| of the scenes TO be included in his pub
hshed volumes.
The recent proposal of some southern
gentlemen to establish an exclusive
southern book publishing house has
stirred up considerable comment,
among the northern papers particu-
: larly- The plan, so far as can be
learned is to found a $1,000, 900 publish
: ing house in Atlanta, and the promot-
| ers of tie plan argue as its need that
( southern writers not not get a fair
I chance under the present conditions.
/ They claim that there is a pitiable lack
| of appreciation OF men and women of
conspicuous talent, ability and genius
. in the south, and that they seek I'm vain
! for any considerable number included
. in the list of Americans in any line Of
achievement. If this were true, the
! northern comments argue, it is a hu-
initiating confession, but it is so far
! from the truth that it is a very gross
/ libel on the south. Indeed, Il seems
that, with such names as Joel Chand-
/ Ter Harris, Thomas Nelson Page, Mary
I Johnston, Ellen Glasgow, Grace King,
/ George W. cable and dozens Of others
/ IN or from the south high on the roll
/ Of honor for achievement in the field Of
letters. the south is not so bad off in
this regard. AS to other lines Of
} achievement, il is to be doubted i the
/ new and growing south is proportion
ately behind any other section Of the
country. There is no more intellectual
/ or north. and, with the rapid advance
ment that IS being made in commercial
I ways, il d Jes not seem fair on the part
! of these southern gentlemen to speak
/ i'll Of their own states. Let US have a
/ publishing house in Atlanta and an
other in New Orleans and in any other
cities in that section of the country, if
/ there should prove to be demand for
more publishing enterprises, but DO not
COnfine their output to works by south
ern writers. There should be no need
Of that.
Whether publishers are perfectly fair
or not in their treatment of authors IS
a question which will probably be ar
gued so long as there are publishing
houses, and one OF them returns u
manuscript Naturally enough, an au-
thor believes in himself and his work,
and that is right, but the mere fact
that a publisher does not agree with
him as to the advisability of publishing
his matter proves nothing OF course,
it would be physically impossible tor
any publisher to print much more than
I per cent Of the manuscripts Wnlcn
/ are submitted to him. l know OF sew
I eraI New York houses which receive
between 5000 and 10000 manuscripts
every year, and every one IS given
some attention. Tt is a most diScour-
aging task which the writer's them
selves set for the publishers out the