The Washington herald., 1906-10-12
soIsier and Litterateur.

Ambrose Biercc. the SatlriSE and one or
Washlngton's most distinguished authors,
has had a career which the ordinary run
Of people would call romantic. but which
TO his cynical philosophy is commonplace
He lived the humdrum Of a farmcrs son
in Ohio and Indiana up 70 the outbreak
of the civil war, and al the age Of nine
teen was Il captain In the Union army. lie
was on the staff OF the late Gen. Hlzen.
and participated IN most of the bloody
conflicts Of the great war. He had the
singular experience Of Witnessing al close
range that most sdngUiHdTy slaughter Of
the war, the battle of Franklin, Tenn, his
command having been held IN reserve on
a hill from which he could sec every
movement Of both sides as they madly
moved down each others lines. Mr.. Bierce
has at last prepared an account OF ,Aat
bloody affair and il goes without saying
that It viii add to his fame as a vivid por-
trayer Of the horrors OF war. He remained
IN the army for a short time after hos
tilitcs ceased, but garrison life on the
frontier proved so unattractive TO him
that he soon resigned from the army and
engaged in mining After accommodating a
competence as q mining engineer he abIn-
dOned all business pursuits and began his
literary career. first going 10 London
where he lived several years and won
wide distinction. HIS soldiers and Civ
ilians." the titIe Of which he has chang
ed to "In the Midst Of Life" was first
brought ont IN London. and was The liter
airy sensation of England. From this
series of maryclOuSly thrilling descriptions
of battles Stephen Crane drew the inspira-
Jion for his Red Badge Of Courage %
though he was careful not 20 give BieTce
any credit for it. The critics both in this
country and in England are agreed that
Ambrose Bierce writes perfect English.
Van Wyck Ont Of Politics.
The Hon. Augustus Van Wyck. who
quit the bench ia New York 10 accept
the Democratic nomination for governor
OF that State I'm 1885. was in Washington
a few days ago looking after business in
the Supreme Court To friends he declar-
ed that ne was out Of politics, and in view
OF the present trend OF popalar political
thought he iutimated that he was glad
he no longer was in the thick of he tight.
Judge Van WyCk epigrdmmatcally nd
alliteraiively described the political EitUa-
ton in New York as Hearst Hughes.
and Hades." but would not venture an
opinion Gs 20 which Of these forces would
win His presence in the Capital gave rise
+ to considerable philosophical observation
among veteran politicians Of bOJn parties
on the extremely narrow margin which
frequently separates great achievement
/ from failure in politics. Judge Van Wyck.
Il viii be remembered was defeated for
governor Of New York by the popular idol
who IS now President of The United states
! the difference in their vote being barely
NGe0. Ii is cOntended by persons IN q posi-
ton 20 know the facts that bad not John
/ T. Gaynor. who is now held in Georgia
jail awaiting the deciSiOd of jhc United
/ States Supreme Court on his appeal from
/ The lower court which sentenced him to
/ penal servitude for the gigantic frauds
against the government in the notorious
Savannah harbOr Improvements. made 81
/ deal with the Republican managers ~
/ Which the district Of which Gayuor was
/ the Democratic leader was turned over 20
/ the Republicans Judge Van Wyck would
/ have been erected governor, in spite of the
great popularity even at that time of
4 Theodore Roosevelt. Had he been elected
} governor OF the Empire State there S
/ scarcely any doubt that Judge Van Nyck
would have been the Democratic nominee
I for President against Mckinley in 1862
+ In this event Mr- Roosevelt probably
would not have been forced upon The
F ticket with President Nc EiuIey that year
and thus the whole current Of politics
/ for the past six or eight years would hay,
been changed.