The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-26
AT HOME WITH
Two ANTICIPATORS
H. G. Wells and jules Verne
Under Their Own Roof frees
Verne Criticises Rival.
Special Foreign Service.

an odd coincidence, it is possible to
give at the same time some new and
uncommonly interesting information
regarding the home side" of H. G.
Wells and Jules Verne, who might be
called the two great -anticipatars"
among modern novelists. Mr.. Wells,
of course, frankly called one of his
most recent works "Anticipations," and
no one who has read 1.-THE War Of
Words" when the Sleeper Wakes"
or THE First Man in the Moon needs
to be told with what readiness their
author forecasts probable developments
Of science. 1t is a truisn, TOO, that
half the epoch making achievements
of inventors during the last decade
were prophesied by the veteran writer
of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under
the Sea-
AS Wells new wonder story'-'"rhe
Food of the Gods"-is soon to appear
serially in the United States as well
as in this country, it may not be amiss
to begin by telling where it, as well as
the authors recent Mankind in the
Making" was written. Wells, whose
Indifferent health requires that he have
the best air that is to be found, has
deserted London altogether as a place
of residence, and has built him a cot
tage on a cliff close to the little sea-
side town of Sandgate. There is a
garden to Spade House." as Wells has
named his abode, and about this it is
the writer's chiefest delight to potter
when he thinks his imagination needs
rest. But perhaps one of the most
interesting things about the place is
what Mr. Wells calls his Outdoor
study" This is a little building, some
thing like summer house, except that
it is inclosed and both lighted and heat
ed by electricity, and to it the author
repairs when he feels 1t necessary to
work in entire solitude. Most of Wells
work, however, is done in his indoor
study, and this is an unusually fasci-
mating little room, entirely apart from
its associations. It's remarkable neat
ness is the first thing you notice about
it-Wells abominates anything like lit
ter. In fact, he uses an extremely
small writing table in order to avoid
having letters and manuscripts getting
piled up thereupon. His copy is al
most as clear as print. se-~frraT
Wells Study-library is remarkable
Of course, the great philosophers are
well represented therein, especially
Schopenhauer, whom Wells says he
considers "the master of masters in
thought" but there are many modern
novels as well, most of the volumes
being presentation copies. These lat
ter include works by Henry James,
Stephen Crane, w. w. Jacobs, PETIT
IIdSS wv CHS particular CnuIQ), ana
Agernon Gissing. Then there are the
writer's own works-both in English
and the foreign tongues into. which
they have been translated. The num-
Der of these is surprising, Wells hav-
ing been done" into French, Italian,
German, Czech, Polish, Russian, Nor
Wegian, Swedish, Danish and Spanish
The study, too, is interesting on ac-
count of the literary portraits" which
A6Orn walls 4 nd nh
ert Louis Stevenson beam down on the
author of "The Time Machine," and
there is also picture of Stephen Crane,
for whom Wells had a great admira-
ton, and one of the late w. E. Henley.
AS the result of his sojourn by the
sea, Mr.. Wells. who is now thirty
eight, is brown as the proverbial berry.
He says he never felt better in his life,
and made no great objection to discuss
Ing some points suggested by his re-
cent work. ApropoS of Mankind in
the Making for instance, he asserted
to an interviewer his strong faith in
progress.
constantly and in spite of temporary
lapses, been advancing toward higher
civilization in historic times
AN advance even on Athens at it's
best 2"
Frankly have my doubts about
Athens. There is a great glamor at
taching to the sayings and doings of
the ancient Greeks; but I do not my
self see in what respect they can be
considered superior to the best of the
moderns. Plato, for instance, is, to my
mind, at least not superior to Bacon
q mean Lord Verulam), or Newton. or
Darwin; and 1t would not be difficult
to find, in modern times, statesmen
and orators at least equal to, say,
Pericles."
AS usual, Mr.. Wells was somewhat
tart on the subject of the United
States. Asked if he thought that
America was likely to lead Great Brit
ain in the upward effort, he answered:
mo, / do not. I see nothing in the
present state of the American mind
that would induce me to believe that
America is likely suddenly to develop
in that direction. If social barriers are
the main hindrance to young men here
over there it is the hustling, the eager
ness for notoriety, and the sordfd
money view of life perpetualIy held on
high. Here, at any rate, talent other
than that of mere money making has
a chance of being respected, and that
without the necessity for persistent
Acknowledgement, as, indeed, a good
many American writer's who made, and
are making, England their home are
aware
And when the interviewer asked
which of his various literary roles he
preferred, Wells reply was:
Perhaps I need hardly say that I
write always for my own personal
qualification, whether my compositions
are short stories, or romances, or es-
says, or novels. But confess have
a special weakness for novels. would
like to write novels-many of them.
That is about as far as the discovery
of my future extends
Of course, the old-fashioned little
house in Amiens, where the bows
friend, Jules Verne lives and works.
has been described again and again.
but hardly anyone with a literary
quirk to his mind can visit it without
bringing away an impression or two
worth jotting down. The famous dom
BILE study, too. with its room for read
ing and its second room for writing.
where the authors hundred-odd books
have been planned and written, has
fascination that you can't get away
from. And Jules Verne invariably saws
something that is significant and to he
heard with interest by anyone who has
read his stories.
In the present case the visitors inn
mediate business was to learn inst
what were the facts regarding the ven.
cradle writer's much discussed 'blind-
ness. And Jules Verne etil1 ,1or+I,-