New-York tribune., 1902-12-17

o5 =, church and political work after
letting the 'varsity-though he does not Asp L;
TO write NJ P. after his nanlegou +t,ar tim
1,e,re he wooed literature. and rather III I'M
orousIv indeed SO little confident ol ui''.1r !.Ts
success was he that when Wills ss. hooL
Courtshfp of AIorrice Sucker n :, a. - nth hut
a Romance of Washable having met VIII 49,. Hu
Moderate reception-he was GLAD TO De IISt,s ss
oboye +he Emigration Office, for IN oesPoiio@ -
r,oments he used to find some conIotl IA i,,. So
i ~ bI,,snlf: well If this fails can always
s+e, into the Office downstairs ana Cleel Ia 1nn5
But fail it did not. and So ,t tcA ,oday
and NOT one of the colonies is ms iioLie oiaIi,, ~
H. is an omen air man. delightlng especIaiIy
IN mountaineering and boat salIins. IL ~ od
went on cruise on a 1arInouas n ~ ~ exnerfences
he has some amusing tales or MS eApeLre, +
-be Skinner was bluff old salt quite lgnoIanc an
of Mr. Mason's growing fame ,si anu ..ob
orI,ad him what he did for living; w on,
,ite answered Mr. Mason. Huinph saIu @
the skipper how many letters oay ,;ieS W
writer Il don't know, MI Mr.; 1no mr. three
hons. ..TIar' grunted the skipper TRIUMPH
sntlv you young men noWauass rrItes
LOU what work is. 1 know man whaI VIZ ,,s -
knoM ,.s ~. eortv letters every day of his life-
Mr. Mason bowed his diminished heaa peluL ,
such manifestation OF ,nS ens thst he wrote
bon[s the subject dropping at the time.
Hourever as they were nearing the Dosse5
r,nJr the -kinner took his guest aslde anu
Detih ;a .I oo,r ere when you get back to London
I want YOU to send me GOOD nice ooohmsoiale ,, m
thing different from your novels anu poiio s Sc
,attesr Mr. Mason sent him MIRANDA oi tne
Raiconv" but never heard what the sailor
man thought of it o,,r+s 70 ION
t,t seven wears he writes very slowly, and
onIv begins after he has his story ciear III l hs
head from the first chapter to the last-
p,ctIer,' took a wear in the actual Wrltlhg'
an6 ssTbe Four Feathers hfteen months 10
mention two Of his greatest successes f1e heSpS
no regular working hours, nor mas ne any iuio- %
svncrasies unless a desire for quiet pe one III d
1iterarv man though he once wrote snort
story which had to be dispatched by a parIcu-
S So .t1 a,,,;d tIe cIatter and din of steamer
coaIing at Port Said, which recalis the iact 'h0'
he has travelled much In Egypt e-,o,,a
Mr. Andrew Lang, a great persona riieLi9' ~ EN-
COLA borated with him in Parsoh ,3nStinI AgS, au,
so Mr.. Mason will tell YOU the coIiaporallon I.o
went very smoothly. Mr. Mason would write
a hit and send it to Mr.. Lang, who would ammo
tate and return it with some OF ms own oh
,,htc,, the Younger author would make his re-
marks and so on they went TIL one oay they
discovered that the book was nnlsnea, sa.u aul,
raIiv they had fully discussed the story and saw
aacb other almost daily during the writing of it,
hut even then their unison was remarkable.
Mr. Nason's latest book has been received so
entb,,eia sticaIly that probably the reader is ia
miliar with its story-still some unfortunates
NAV have missed it Harry FeVershan, the de-
scendant of long line OF Famous soldiers is a
coward and a peculiar kind of He is
afraid OF being afraid, nd, learning unoflcially
tbat b,s regiment is about to be ordered C.
tive service he resigns his commission. Three
op his brother officers discover the truth, and
send him, three white feathers. The fourth. torn
from her fan IS given him by the girl he is n
gagged to- who, bv chance. has opened the box
containing the plunes of dishonor in his pres
ence and learnt their terrible import from his
Inns A r,agniffcent scene. magnificently handled.
| How the coward redeerns his honor the reader
| mus. find out himself and assuredly he will
not lay down the book until he has done So
Indeed when it was appearing in The CornhiII''
| as serial Sir Thomas Martin, after the third
| instalment wrote to the editor asking him, for
| heavens sake tell him the end Space per-
| mits of but the bare mention the ver-- inter
| esting fact that Mr. Mason has already drama
Colonel Durrance becomes the principal char
| acter.