The Washington times., 1903-08-30
IS AND NOTES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS
LACK LONDONS EARLY LIFE

word, only printed slip. l put the
parcel in the mail and the machine sent
it back
All the time l chung TO my idea OF
SO per thousand words. Finally a story
was accepted by a California magazine.
l could hardly bear 20 open the sacred
letter containing the written words of an
editor. At last I broke the seal. and
only extreme ruggedness Of soul kept
me from expiring right there. The edi-
tor wrote coldly that my story was
available. and the: they would pay me
for it the sum of So
at was a blow. but soon after The
Black Cat" offered me $40 for 1000
words. which revived my belief In the $40
theory. After that things took turn,
and 1 shall probably not have to shovel
coal for living for some time to come.
although have done it and could do 1T
again"
Elsewhere he says of his situation Just
before success was won:
II had many liabilities and no assets.
no income and several mouths to feed.
I had tried everywhere for work without
finding any. So / buckled on the har-
ness and went up against the magazines.
for I had heard they paid SO per thou
sand words"
1t VIII be seen that Mr. London had
no theories Of art for arts sake when
he began his literary career. He want
ed money. At the same time he had, and
has. apparently. faith that only good
work would bring money, and from the
work that he has thus far done there is
no evidence that he knows how to
fake" Sociology Is his pet enthusiasm.
and he says that If money were plenty
azine. He has had tramp experiences
rivaling those of Josiah Flynt, and says
OF them:
ION rods and blind baggage I fought
my way from the open West, where men
| bucked big and the job hunted the man.
TO the congested labor centers of the
East. where men were small potatoes
and hunted the job for all they were
worth. And found myself looking upon
| life from a new and totally different
angle. I had dropped down from the
proletariat into what sociologists love
10 call the submerged tenth and I was
startled 10 discover the way in which
that submerged tenth was recruited
In another interview he says of the
same experience:
Before I took that tramp across the
| United States l loved hard work. loved
TO do it, wanted TO throw myself into it.
fairly gloried in manual labor. 1 &C
| compIished more than l was paid for or
expected TO do, from sheer love of 1t. In
Buffalo I was arrested and thrown into
! Jail as a tramp; my hair was clipped
| and l was subjected to the regular
| tramp routine. There I saw that the
workman was simply in the social pit;
was literally holding on to the sides
with his hands, and resolved then and
there never to work again manually, for
in that way man gets beneath the capt.
| talist."
Dir. London is at present in no danger
OF having to take TO manual labor. He
has a charming home near Oakland. and
in il a wife and two pretty children. He
says of himself:
81 have adaptability and can endure
! cities, but this suits me better. I like
| room"
| The interviews and sketches thus far
| published OF this young writer give the
impression of a singularly attractive
and vigorous personality. Those who do
not like a man TO believe in himself and
/ his own opinions will not like Jack Lon
don. for he does Whatever seems crude
in his views of life and humanity, how
ever. may become mellowed and modified
as he grows older; and a man who has. at
twenty-seven, been through experiences
so varied and so unusual, and won a lit
erary style so admirable, and written,
books so vigorous and refreshing, has a
right to be somewhat different from
other people who have not been
there" His theory of inspiration is
about as original and characteristic as
anything in his writings:
Light out after it with a club" he
says, land IL you don't get IL you will
| get something that looks remarkably
like it