Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1906-06-09
SHERLOCK HOLMES.

WHAT SnOuiu 90 III some sporting KIM
of publisher were suddenly to stride
in and make me a bid of forty shil-
lings or so for the lc'" When the
book at last fell into the hands of Mr..
Andrew Lang then acting for Messrs.
LOngmans, Green q Company, the
success Of Micah Clarke was assured,
and it's authors literary career placed
on firmer footing. The ."Sign of
the Four" followed in 1889, in which
story Sherlock Holmes, who had made
his bow to the public in "A Study in
Scarlet" reappeared and increased DIR.
Doyle's rising reputation. His heart,
however, was in the historical novel,
and in 1890 he followed up the success
of Micah with '"The White Company"
in the preparation of which he read
one hundred and fifteen volumes,
French and English, dealing with the
fourteenth century in England. His
delight in the work Is expressed in his
own words: $40 write such books"
he once said, speaking of Micah Clarke
and The White Company, zone must
have an enthusiasm for the age about
which he is writing. He must think il
great one, and then he must go de-
liberately to work and reconstruct It.
Then is his a splendid JOY"
STUDY IN SCARLET FOR S125.00
However Dr. Doyle may prefer to
write historical romances, and what
ever his personal estimate of his great
detective may be- the fact remains
that in Sherlock Holmes he has
created character whose exploits are
as familiar as household words, and
who has entered into the very fibre
of Anglo-SaXon life and literature. II
Is actually said that at times DR.
Doyle has expressed a wish that nr
Watson had never met Sherlock
Holmes. It is on record that he
thought so little of GA Study in Scar.
let" the story in which Sherlock
Holmes first. appeared, that he sold il
outright for S125. The value Of Sher.
lock Holmes has gone up since those
days, however.
DIR. Doyle acknowledges some IL
debtedness to Dupin, the detective in
Poe's short stories, "The Murders in
the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined
Letter" This is the more interesting
for the reason that in "a Study In
Scarlet" Sherlock Holmes is made to
speak rather contemptuously OF
Dupin's skill and acumen. TO quote
DR.. Doyle again: SIN work which con
sists in the drawing Of detectives
| there are only one or two quail. 5
| which one can use, and an author is
forced to bark back upon them con
stantly, so that every detective must
really resemble every other detec'
to greater or less extent. There Is
no great originality required In de
vising or constructing such q man
and the only possible originality which
one can get into a story about a detec
tive is in giving him original plots
and problems to solve, as in his equip
ment there must be of necessity al
alert acuteness of mind to grasp 4
and the relation which each of then
bears to the other"
CONSTRUCTION OF SHERLOCK.
DR.. Doyle went to work. therefore
to build up a scientific system in which
everything might be logically reasone,
out. Where Sherlock Holmes differed
I from his predecessors wGs that he hat
an immense fund of exact knowledg,
upon which to draw, in consequence,
| VI DISNlOuS
| He was practical, he was sy' ematic
he was logical, and his success il
the detection of crime was to q til,
result, not of chance or luck, but O
his characteristic qualities. "Witl
this idea," says DR.. Doyle, 81 wrot,
a book on the lines 1 have indicated
and produced "A Study in Scarlet.
That was the first appearance Of Sher
lock; but he did not arrest much at
tention, and no one recognized him a
being anything in particular. Abou
three years later. howe p, wa
asked to do small shilling book 70
| Lippincott's Magazine, which pub
fishes, as you know, a complete stor,
In each number. l didn't know wha
to write about, and the thought oc
CURED to me, why not try to rig III
the same chap again. 1 did it, and tn
result was The Sign of the Four
Although the criticisms We're f. vor
able, l don't think that even then Sher
lock attracted much attention to hi
individuality" But this shows MI