The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-12
The Autograph.

VI course IN tHe course OF WOTk one
gets many letters from people whose
names are world-renowned These it
has been my habit to destroy, unless
related to some piece of business then
unsettled. Just as 1 was tearing up
one a few days ago / bethought myself
of the autograph craze. So carefully
tore off Yours cordially" and the name
of the writer. My next caller was a
dear girl who is an enthusiast over
everything good and pleasing. l ask
ed her If she wanted So and Sos auto
graph. She was delighted. Telling the
story to the next caller. I was asked,
Did you give 1t to herr" YES" 1 said.
Just the name. you know" why
didn't you sell it?' Money value The
value of money. That is a term we
haven't begun to learn at the South.
May we never know IL to the degree of
selling the name of friend!
Mr.. Francis Lynde. the author of that
sterling story The Grafters. bears a
unique distinction among modern novel
lists; he does not claim to be a born
writer. After a slight education, he be-
gan life in earnest as railroad man;
and in the course of years worked
steadily, slowly up in his business. But
he says his heart was never in 1t. In
wrote short story. He sent II to an
editor 1t came back promptly with
out a word beside the printed slip
Many another suffered like fate. But
he had begun-he liked it and stuck
to 1t.
Entering upon the new vocation when
he was thirty-five years old. at the ad-
vice of a wise friend he spent the first
years in study. He wrote constantly Ia
learn how. He succeeded not through
brilliant moments, but by Stevenson
plant-by patient study OF men and
things and books. He found while ht
was succeeding that he longed for this
quiet of the country-away from the
city home in Chattanoogs-and so hS
| went.
He nves now at st. Elmo Station. fan
up on Lookout Mountain. The morning
finds him regularly in his study, read
! ing and writing; the afternoon finds
| him on his farm or in his workshop
as a carpenter or stonemason-any'
| thing, SO 1t is work and he is accom-.
plishing something.
Mr.. Lynde published several book,
but without attracting much popular
attention until The Master of Appleby
appeared in the fall OF 1902. This was
| a Revolutionary romance, so full oil
| spirited action that IL won enthusiast
| tic praise everywhere. Into The Graf
ters. his latest book and his best-sS
| far. Mr.. Lynde has worked his practi-
cal experience in the railroad shop:
and ofices. He knows more about 8
| locomotive than Mr. Kipling-which q
saving a good deal. And he knows
more about politics than a Tammany
| iudge-which is saying even more.
Her First.
small boy, aged 5, had a stepmoth-
or who was young and nervous. She
| had never had experience with chill
| dren, and the small boys slightest all
ment tortured her into panic
Group threatened one day and the
doctor was sent for in wild haste AS
the doctor entered the room the child
raised his head from his pillow and
croaked hoarsely. in apology for the
hasty summons:
"You must excuse her. doctor, this
is the first time she's ever been q
mother."-May Lippincott's Magazine.
The Curious Adventures of a New
Yorker.
In Robert w. Chamberss new novel
I'm Search of the Unknown" the hero
leaves New York for Florida to search
for the unknown in science. and finds
not only one love affair. but a group of
them, and each one more entangling
than the last Mr.. Chambers's WELL
known skill in the depletion of pretty
girls is at its best In the new story
The style of the book is more like that
Of his earlier one, The King in Vel
low" than later Maid Arms
and Maid He combines
with grea st