The San Francisco call., 1909-06-13

was just beginning TO learn that he
was great; we had known it long be-
fore. With special interest, then,
did ], his humble cub successor as sub
editor and sole staff writer, follow that
prentice work Of his from the period
of his first brief sketches, through the
period OF rough, brilliant short stories
hewed out Of our life in the Port of
Adventures to the period of that first
serial which brought him into his own
1T was a surprising study of the
novelist In the making. j. O'Hara Cos
grave. owner, editor and burden bearer
of the Wave, was, in his editing. more
an artist than man of business. He
loved good stuff; he could not bear
10 delete distinctive piece of work
just because the populace would not
understand Norris, then. had free
hand. Whatever his thought OF that
day, whatever he had seen with the
eye of his faith or the eye of his
Imagination. he might write and print
You began TO feel him in the files of
the year 1926, by certain distinctive
sketches and fragments. You traced
his writing week by week until the
sketches became Little Stories of the
Pavements Then longer stories, one
every week. even such stories as The
Third Circle Miracle Joyeux' and
The House With the Blinds then.
finally, a novel, written feuilleton
fashion week by week-'Moran of the
Lady Lefty \ curious circumstance
attended the publication of Moran
in the Wave. | discovered 1t myself
during those Tuesday night sessions
over the files; and 1t illustrates how
this work was done. He began It in
the last weeks of 1897, turning it out
and sending it straight to the printer
as part of his daily stint. The Maine
was blown up February H. 1898. In
the later chapters of Moran he intro
duced the destruction of the Maine as
an incident. 1t was this serial, brought
TO the attention of McClure's Magazine.
which finally drew Frank Norris east
The Studio Sketches of a great nov
elist Gelett Burgess has called these
ventures and fragments. Burgess and
]. when the Wave finally died of too
much merit, stole into the building by
night and took away one set of old
files. A harmless theft of sentiment,
we told ourselves; for. by moral right,
they belonged to us, the sole survivors
in San Francisco of those who had
helped TO make the Wave. And, indeed,
by this theft we saved them from the
great fire of 1906. When we had them
safe at home we spent a night running
over them, marveling again at those
rough creations OF blood and nerve
which Norris had made out of that
city which was the first love of his
awakened intelligence, and In which so
woefully soon afterward he died.
Il think that remember them all.
even now; not one but a name or
phrase would bring back to mind. Most
vividly, perhaps, remains little col
umn OF four sketches called 'Frag-
ments.' One was a scene behind the
barricades during the Commune-a gay
flaneur of a soldier playing looted
piano until a bullet caught him in the
midst OF a note. Another pictured
an empty hotel room after the guest
had left Only that; but / always re-
member it when 1 first enter my room
In hotel. a third was the nucleus
for the description OF the Dental Par
lors' in McTeague. A fourth, the most
daring OF all, showed a sodden work
man coming home from his place of
great machines A fresh violet lay on
the pavement. He, the primal brute in
harness, picked IL up. Difnly the
esthetic sense woke in him. 1t gave
him pleasure, a pleasure which called
for some tribute. He put it between
his great jaws and crushed 1.-THE
only way he knew.
Here collected are the longest and
most important OF his prentice products,
Even without these shorter sketches,
whose interest Is after all mainly
technical, they are an Incompatible
study In the way a genius takes to
find himself. 1t is as though we saw
a complete collection of Rembrandt's
early sketches, say, fun technique and
coordination not yet developed but all
the basic force and vision there Ad-
Inirable n themselves these rough
hewn tales are most interesting when
compared with the later work which
the world knows. and when taken as a
melancholy indication of that power OF
growth which was in him. and which
must have led, If the masters of fate
had only spared him, TO the highest
achievement in letters
Louise Forssiund tMrs. Charles Carey
Waddell), author of old Lady Number
3D. is said to have a spirit of sym
pathetic comradeship which enables her
to meet on equal terms the quaint
Long island seafaring people. about
whom she writes so entertainingly,
and thus to draw them out at their
best. She is fond OF them and they
of her. One old man near Sayvilie her
home. who had told her many sea
yarns, is a particular friend; and after
she had written down the Interesting
things he related she brought him her
work and asked him to point out any
mistakes she might have made. This
he did with pride and Importance
When the book was published she
gave him a copy and said captain.
here is the book you helped me write,
The old man Strengthened UP, and re-
plied- Wall. my light was dim. an
my glasses want of the best. or
could a improved on itD