The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-20

alter. TT is certainly alluring," said
Mr.. Ford, when seen by the newspaper
reporters. ct figures up $125 turn,
or about $3.50 a minute. The hotel
business pays me pretty well, but pos
sibly not SO well as $3.50 a minute;
at least, there are some minutes when
l do not make as much as that. / feel
immensely f1attered by the offer, and it
will be of financial benefit to me for
this reason; if 1 accept it shall have
$1,000 more to give to the hungry and
thirsty, and if 1 do not accept, I can
certainly get raise in salary from my
partner"
A Study of Success.
E. J. Dillon'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-roll 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 VOL
luminous 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
talent-many spoke devoutly of the i'm
mortal genius-was the theme of eager
conversation from ST Petersburg to
Odessa. His creations were warmly
discussed, his art claSSed with that of
Tolstoy and DoStoieffslly, his influence
welcomed as q purifying breath NOV
ing over the face of the stagnant waters
and giving shape, color, and beauty to
chaos. Oyations were offered to the
late tramp, and the public assemgled
to hear extracts read from his writings;
critics covered scores of pages with
aesthetical rhapsodies and eXegeticaI
comments in the style of Hemsterhuy-
sius, and all Russia seethed with ex-
element as feverish as that of devout
Thibetans when they have discovered
new Dalai Llama.
Seldom has a reputation been made
so rapidly in the world of letters. Writ
ers like Gogol Turghenieff, Tolstoy,
had indeed risen in public esteem, but
only by comparatively slow degrees
and after their claims had been repeat
edly gone into with the most minute
scrutiny Nor did their advent give
rise to those corybantic exhibitions of
noisy joy which marked the celebra-
ton of Gorky's triumph. Thescene when
Voltafre, at the close of a great and
many-sided career, sat crowned with
laurel in his box at the theatre, while
the audience cheered themselves hoarse
In his honor, is probably the nearest
parallel one can find in the world of
letters to the outburst of enthusiasm
which welcomed the spokesman of the
Barefoot Brigade to the temple of Rus
sian art.
This warmth of public sentiment
however, was kept up by hopes and as
pirations in which literature was but
very slightly interested, if at all. 1t
was the prophet, who announced the
destruction of the old order of things
and the establishment of a new who
was chiefly acclaimed. Political part
les, OF. the writers who form the nuclei
or such, auarrelede with each other for
the possession of him. The National
ISIS claimed him as their own, while
the Maf'Xists quoted o" long passages
from his sketches to prove that his
ardent sympathies were with them.
Even the Conservatives, the cream of
the arlStocracy, went out of their Way
to laud the young parvenu to the skies
as the intellectual leader of the new
era. And one and all they proclaimed
MIN warmly, nay, Historically. to be
the most genial writer of the present
generation. 1t is only fair to add tast
the ostens1ble grounds of these exag-
gerated eulogies were calculated to do
credit to Gorky and his admirers.
Whether, however, the qualities which
the latter fancied they had discovered
In their hero are anywhere expressed
or implied in his writings, is a matter
on which opinions will differ Hatred
OF society, of Cthe moneyed, cultured.
and honest working classes, being the
pond OF union which links all Gorky's
heroes together, the Western reader is
surprised and amused to note that the
tender sgraceso of humanity constitute
the quality in his literary creations
which endears" him to a large section
of his followers"