The San Francisco call., 1910-07-24

wv Smith a few weeks ago, this
brilliant young son of F. Hop
kinson Smith was sailing for France,
"homeward bound" for his land of
love, camaraderie, romance and sound
red wine" Yes, homeward bound, for
though born in America he is now
thoroughly Gallo, and in moments of
excitement and stress lapses involun-
tarily into rapid French. Berkeley
Smith loves, France as sincerely as any
American loves his native land
Due to his southern antecedents,- per-
haps. he loves the French people; their
politeness and leisure loving ways He
has lived among them now for eight
years. His wife is a French woman,
who has lectured successfully on
French literary subjects, both in this
country and abroad.
Although Mr.. Smith does not include
in his repertoire of accomplishments
that of civil engineer and lighthouse
builder. he is rapidly acquiring his
fathers skill in the use of words and
pigments. 1t must be remembered that
a comparison between the father and
son would be unfair without consider
ing the wide difference in their respec-
tive ages and experience. So while we
feel that the chivalric southern sire is
suffering from an overdose of modesty
novel he says, "the father takes off his
hat to the son." it may not always be
that the younger man will be publicly
known as the son of distinguished
father. He has many years yet in
which to finish his climb up the steep
pyramid to its fame me-crowned summit
F. Berkeley Smith writes subject
lively. To appreciate at all his
works we must understand his person
ality with which his books are sat-
urated. Ever since childhood things
quaint bizarre and fantastic have made
an appeal to him. He Is tempera-
mentally gipsy-a rover. At Prince
ton Buck" Smith was immensely pop
ular, partly on account of his strange
but winning personality, and partly be-
cause OF his rare story telling gift He
had an inexhaustible supply of weird
tales In which the extraordinary was
always uppermost, and all were infil-
trated with rich store of humor.
Booth Harrington was in college with
him and the two went on tour with the
Glee club more than once, entertaining
thousands.
After college the nomad in him as
serted itself. and for time Mr.. Smith
led an odd existence. Gadding about
hither and yon he stumbled on many
unusual scenes and made some strange
acquaintances. Sword swallowers, tight
rope walkers, living skeletons. tramps
came to know Smith and to value his
acquaintanceship. He had weakness
for cheap shows. A friend says that
the '1egit" has no attractions for Smith,
but that he will make gigantic efforts
to get intimate with the performers
and managers in a country one ring
circus or a dime museum. Such shows
as formerly lined the sides of Four
teenth street before the invasion Of
the moving picture show were the kind
he liked, and the old fashioned shows
of Coney island, now vanished. These
road by the score, and all the time he
was subconsciously absorbing a wealth
of unique literary material. say sub
consciously, for at this time Mr. Smith
was not a writer, but book-cover de-
signer. He still follows this trade in
termittently and with marked prof.
cheney. Indeed, he has taught book
cover designing.
1t was inevitable that sooner or later
his nature should lead him to Paris.
His embryonic talent as a painter hast
ened him thither. and he took an
atelier and became a student OF the
quarter. This settling in Paris was
very fortunate, for it developed his
powers as a painter and marks the
genesis of his career as writer. sup
plying the setting and motif of more
than one of his books and giving the
general tone color which tints all his
books with a soft and pleasing ra-