Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-06-21

dlanapolis some 10 years ago. We had
long chat. and he read some Of my
| stun, which had brought him TO see.
He said: That reads all right to me.
| Now what you need Is the necessary
! grit to make the world say just what
| I've said just now Since then, I've
tried, through everything, to have that
| kind OF grit. / have never asked any
body 10 help me, ] shall not ask him;
but intend to write him and say that
his words have been "a lamp TO my
| feet along the long way have gone;
/ that | wish to acknowledge my graft
tude to him, and that | trust he will
take no offense at the mention l have
made OF him In my book"
Up TO the present writing, Mr.. Riley
has not taken umbrage at the story
referred 20. and II is TO be presumed
that he enjoyed Il as much as the other
readers OF the book.
Mr.. Howells has been rashly accused
by courteous but mIsinfomed review
er Of his new novel, THE Kentons." OF
being no Celt. The gentleman says
SHOULD one trace the ancestry of Will
liam d. Iowells, II is very certain he
would find no Celtic blood--the one
thing lacking In Mr.. Howells, TO make
him powerful writer OF fiction" 1t
Is an agreeable task TO assure the re-
viewer that nothing Is lacking in Mr.
Howells TO make him a powerful writ
er, since his father was Welshman
and his mothers father an Irishman.
He is pure Celt, except for a strain OF
Germon blood through his mothers
mother. II would SEEM therefore. that
an authors power is not TO be gagged
by the internal evidence Of his writings
as that evidence is understood by his
various-minded readers
The telephone has a new terror for
authors. Mr.. Henry Edward Rood, au-
thor Of Hardwicke, which the Harpers
have just published, was called up"
the other day by an unknown feminine
reader OF his book, who inquired II he
was responsible for Hardwicke, to
which Mr.. Rood plead guilty. We'll,
when did you live in --?55 said the
voice over the wire. Never" replied
Mr.. Rood. promptly. What Never
lived In 10y" came the skeptical
answer. That's very strange, as you've
described our church row to II. and
even our minister. Why everybody
has recognized him! And you say you
never lived in -? .Humph Very
strange! don't believe you.....Good-
bye"
II Is rumored that it's sad ending Is
the cause Of the comparative slackness
OF sale OF a much doomed current
novel. Whether the bad ending is ar
tistic or otherwise, the public as a rule,
does not like II, and Is prone to steer
clear OF the author who cultivates the
habit. When william Black was writ
ing Madoap Violet, he was beset with
letters says Sir Wemyss Reid In his
biography OF the novelist tHarpers),
urging and begging him to end the now
ell happily. One letter read. "Oh,
surely, the last number OF Macmillan
was a mistake! $50. | do wish you
would write another ending-or let me
read the one you had originally written
so that / may be quite sure that my
persistent conviction is true one, that
James Drummond and Violet are still
alive and are living happily ever after.
or all characters In fiction none have
ever seemed 80 real 20 me as yours"
Then Black went 10 the pains Of pub
fishing a lengthy defence OF occasional
bad endings.
The great central figure OF Miss
Riyes new romance. Hearts Courag-
eous," is Patrick Henry; and she has
this 10 say OF him.
HE was the greatest Virginian that
ever lived. He married the daughter
OF a tavern keeper, wore buckskins.
failed In business. and could not make
a living as a lawyer. But he knew.
His brain looked even farther ahead