Evening journal., 1910-02-05
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Years Work That James
G. Blaine Destroyed

BY "HoIIand.s

A housemaid. 'fn search of kindling
to light her fire withal,' burned to
ashes the original manuscript of Car
lyle's French Revolution" and its
author sat down to his desk once
more" What lover Of the creator OF
"Sartor Resartus" does not kl W the
story and has not marveled at Il? But
how many of the admirers of James
G. Blaine know that the original man
uscript of his first volume of his great
work, to which he gave the title
Twenty Years of Congress-" also was
destroyed before It could be put in
print?
The story was told recently by Sen
ator Chauncey M. Depew during the
course of q conversation with a few
friends, in which the point was made
by an ardent Blaine admirer that the
plumed Knight was a master in the
use Of the English language on the
printed page.
"That reminds me-" said the SEN
ator, "of very impressive experience
I had with Mr. Blaine a year or so
after he had retired from the Office
of Secretary of State in President Ar
thurs cabinet in December of the
same year that Garfield was shot
Shortly after his sudden retire
ment to civil life, had been told that
Blaine was to be seen in the congress
sional library every morning, search
ing among the archives, and that he
was contemplating some sort of lit
crary work. I had asked him II the
report was true, and he had replied
that for the first time in a quarter
of a century he was at leisure and was
inclined to set down in narrative form
his experiences in public life in Wash
ington. 1 became greatly interested
in the plan and from time TO time en-
couraged Mr.. Blaine to push it
through to completion.
"Well, a year or so after Mr. Blaine
had first told me that he thought of
writing a record of men and events
with which he was familiar as a men,
Der Of congress for twenty years, I
called upon him one morning. saw
that he was depressed, considerably
so, and asked him If he were ill.,
"'No,' he said no, ! am not i'll, but /
feel very blue this morning. I recent
ly completed the first volume of my
history 1t has taken me a year of hard
work. This morning have destroyed
It. It wouldn't do. l have learned that
If you want to obtain clearness of
statement to escape difiuseness of
style, 10 discover exactly the right
word, really TO express your thought,
to catch the Tilt and rhythm of nara
tive writing, you can't do it by dicta.
tion dictated nearly the whole Of
my first volume, and while I discov-
cred that there is a sort of spontanei-
ty, a rapid form of expression, as
though the thought we're recorded hot
from the mind, when dictation is en-
something that is peculiarly
appropriate for journalism also dis
covered that the calm, clear, concise
and perfect form and expression
which are necessary if literature is to
live. must come not from the tip OF
the tongue, but slowly, laboriously,
from the point Of the steel pen.
so I have been reading over the
completed manuscript Of my first vol
ume, nearly all dictated. found that
it was full Of the very defects and
lacking the high literary qualities
which characterize dictated manu-
script This morning I decided to
throw the manuscript aside-I de-
stroyed It, I am going.to begin To-
day TO write over the first volume
with my own hand, and I expect to
complete the entire work without the
assistance Of an amanuensis. except
ing in the way of transoribing notes
and copying records.
"AIr Blaine gave himself to this
great labor cheerfully," continued the
senator, "and you may remember that
he was engaged upon the final pages
Of the work at the time of the presl.
dental campaign Of 1884. His history
has now become a textbook or a valu-
able record for nerscps adnasti''- .
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