The Washington herald., 1907-01-20


/ struck a good vein, fortunately. in
my Stories Ee says and work IL. lust
as I'd work a prospect n I thought there
/ was money in it, Why. writing is lust ike
/ a prospect, you do the hard work and
/ sometimes the stunrs there and then
again it amt; you never can tell tn
/ atterWard. The public-the public are Ike
nsh some days y0uu get 10 a pool
where they Just jump at your bait and
you get all you want OF EN-: another day
I using the same tackle, the same bait. and
everything, and they went have a thing
/ TO say to YOU. Now a fshW come 10
I hook"
I striking thing about Alfred Henry
I Lewis Is the variety as well as the
quantity Of his output lie started writ
/ ing his "Wolfville" stories when ne was
a reporter on the Kansas City Times: he
/ had just come back from the plains then.
and found IN newspaper work d congeaiaI
change from cattle ranching IN Arizona
and New Mexico. or swearing at con-
/ Jrary mules along the Santa Fe trail.
Everybody knows the .'WoIfville"
stories; there are three volumes of them,
''Noifville" "Wolfvllle Days" and Wolf
/ vile Nights" and though that field has
lain faliow for a time. there IS another
/ Wolfville book on the stocks which will
/ be ready by this fall. The popular ele-
ment In these stories Of typical Western
characters and Western scenes, coming
/ as they did from a young man who had
/ eyes TO see them and the brains to
/ understand them. who was STEPPED to his
ears in the color of the places OF which
he wrote: who had been In fact. very
part Of the life he described. and who
numbered among his personal friends and
/ intimates Just such men as Col. Sterett,
Dave Tut, Old Man Enright. Tucson
1 Jennie, and Benson Annie, was bound 10
make itself felt: and the stories were
! quickly rescued from the columns Of the
newspaper in which they appeared, were
put in book form and attracted so much
attention that the author soon heard calls
for more.
The volume Of "wolfville Nights" was
dedicated 10 William Greene Sterett. A
colleague Of Lewis, who was acting as
the Washington correspondent Of the
Galveston News. This dedication gives one
a good idea Of the man Lewis and his
points of view
might speak Of those years in Washington when
| in the gallery worked shoulder to shoulder; I
might recall 60 You the wit Of Hannum. or remind
You Of the darking Barrett. the mighty Decker
the excellent Cohen. the vivid Brown the imasina-
tire Miller, the volatile Angus, the epigrammatic
MeTick. the quietly Satrical Splain. Rouzer tine
earnest. BoyuOn the energetic. Carson the eminent
and Bnneh famous for bitter. frank integrity
might remember that day when the gifted Fanci.
ul with no more delicate inspiration than crackers.
onions. and cheese. snd splendid conserTa-
tory that Sho0makers wrote played and couse-
Grated to you bis famous Lone Star March,
wheTewith he disluieted the public present at
the next concert in the White House grounds
And he goes on in this dedication to
give-uniHtentiOnally perhaps picture
OF the change that has come over him
self since the days when he rode the
plains and lived the happy, strenuous.
slightly bloodthirsty life of the wild
places.
For, leaving the plains for Kansas
City newspaper. it was an easy transition
to Washington as the correspondent for
the Chicago Times. and then TO take
charge of the Washington bureau of the
New York Journal. Then he started the
Verdict, humorous weekly, which soon
died, in New York, and there he has re-
manned
NO more plains for yours?" he was
asked
mo more, think" he said. New
1oTk-tnefe some tnlng ABOUT the place
that gets into your blood It's like whisky.
/ think, you get the habit. I've got it
and-I don't know that I want to lose II.
And so in this dedication you shall find
him discoursing of the Fifth Avenue
Hotel of the Hoffman House, or Of Shan
ley's, with the 'beaming ring Of walters.
It's a far cry from Shanleys with com
panionship with Bat MastersOn back to
the plains; a strange transformation from
the frock-coated, silk-hatted author who
takes a cab to a fashionable Washington