The Topeka state journal., 1903-04-25

or about $3.50 minute. The hotel
businesss pays me pretty we'll but pos
sibly not SO we'll as $3.50 a minute; at
least, there are some minutes when [
do not make as much as that. / feel
4 immensely hattered by the offer. and
l it viii be of financial benefit to me for
4 this reason. If / accept it shall have
| 81 500 more to give to the hungry and
thirsty, and if 1 do not accept it. can
certainly get raise in salary from my
partner
E. J. DilIon's Life and Works Of
Maxim Gorky'' is more than a biogra-
ply of a strange writer-it is a study
of a man who won success against most
appalling odds
Maxim Gorky's name" writes Mr..
Dillon. was filed on the bead-ron Of
fame long before his scattered writings
had been collected and given to the
world in the form of a book. People
paid high prices for the back numbers
of the obscure country papers and
voIuminous reviews in which they were
first brought out. Students zealously
| copied those which were difficult of ac-
cess had them Autographed, circulated
and read in private circles. The new
taient-many spoke devoutly of the inn
mortal genius-was the theme of eager
conversation from ST Petersburg to
4 Odessa His creations were warmly
discussed. his art classed with that OF
Tolstoy and Dostoieffslzy, his influence
welcomed as a purifying breath NOV
ing over the face of the stagnant Wa
/ ters and giving shape. color and beauty
to chaos. Ovations were offered to the
late tramp, and the public sembled 70
hear extracts read from his writings
critics covered scores Of pages with
aestheticaI rhapsodies and exegeticaA
comments in the style of Hemster-
| h1ysius and all Russia seethed with
excitement as feverish as that OF deVous
Thibetans when they have discovered
new Dalai Llama
"Seldom has reputation been mace
so rapidly in the world OF letters:
4 Writers like Gogol, Turghenien, Iolstoa
/ had indeed risen high in public esteem,
! but only by comparatively slow degrees
4 and after their claims had been repeat
| edly gone into with the most minute
scrutiny. Nor did their advent give rise
l to those cory ybantic exhibitions OF NOISY
! joy which marked the celebration OF
I Gorlxy's triumph. The scene when Vol
taire, at the close of a great and many
/ sided career, sat crowned with laurels
1 in his box at the theater, while the auol-
ence cheered themselves hoarse IN ms
honor, is probably the nearest parallel
one can find in the world OF letters 10
! the outburst of enthusiasm which Wei
coined the spokesman Of the BAREFOOT
Brigade to the temple Of Russian arr.
This warmth of public sentiment
however. was kept up by hopes ana as
uirations in which literature was but
I verv slightly interested, If at all II
,,-as the nr0phet who announced the de-
sf1-4cffon Of the old order of things and
( the establishment of a new who was
chiefly acclaimed. Political parties, or
/ the writer's who form the nucleus or
such ouarreled with each other for the
possession Of him The Natonalists
+ claimed him as their own. while the
Marxists quoted long passages from ms
sketches to prove that his arden syfnpa-
thies were with them. Even the CON
servatives, the cream Of the aristoc-
racy,s went out of their way 10 iaud the
Young parvenue to the skies as the IN
! fellectuaI leader of the new era And
one and all they proclaimed him warm
" nay Historically. to be the most
4 genial writer of the present generation
4 It is only fair to add that the ostenslpie
\ grounds of these exaggerated eulogles
4 were calculated to do credit TO Gorky
and his adrnireres. Whether, however.
the qualities which the latter fancled
they had discovered in their hero are
anywhere expressed or implied IN MS
/ writings is matter on which opinions
win differ. Hatred Of society. Of ths
moueyed cultured and honest working
/ classes. being the bond of union which
links all Gorlxy's heroes together, the
I western reader is surprised and amused
to note that the tender graces of hu-
manifv constitute the quality IN his lit
erarv creations which endears him to a
/ large section Of his followersl"
HERBERT BREWSTER.