Evening journal., 1911-05-09
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Turning Point in the
Career of an American
BiOgrapher
BY "HOIland."


One Of the most popular Of American
biographers Of yesterday was James
Parton, a name that today means little
or nothing in literature to the average
American. But there was a time-in
the late ffties and through the six
ties of the last century-when James
Parton's Life of Horace Greeley" his
General Butler i'm New Orleans" his
life of Andrew Jackson and his life Of
Benjamin Franklin were read and dis
cussed in thousands Of American
households
"In the sense that his works have
had a larger popular sale than any
other American biographer, think
! am safe in saying that Parton is the
most popular of all his follow bio
graphers." said Henry B. Stanton, hus-
band of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the
woman's rights pioneer. and intimate
friends Of Parton's for years, and him
self we'll known as an anti-slavery adj
vocate and newspaper editor And do
you know continued Mr.. Stanton,
who was i'm tho habit of frequently re-
marking to his friends that 81 am
known as the husband OF Elizabeth
Cady Stanton. and 7 am very proud OF
that reputation" ut Is all due to one
little idea that Mr.. Parton enjoys the
reputation that is his todayg' The
year was 1877
Parton first engaged I'm journalistic
work, taking a position on the Home
Journal the paper which Nathaniel
p. Willis founded in 1876 Here he
worked for a number of years Then,
one day, as a matter of office routine
he read some quantity humorous stor-
les of Horace Greeleys life both as an
editor and as "A politician. He had oh
served that everything that was writ
ten about Greeley was eagerly read by
the people, and, instantly, on reading
these stories, the thought popped into
Parton's mind that if any one were toI
write "A life Of Greeley, telling all the
anecdotes possible about Greeley's
boyhood HIS carly struggles and of
those days when Greeley was a tramp
printer. the book ought to become very
popular.
THE more Parton thought about
this idea the more persuaded he be-
came that here lay a great opportunity
for some writer to make a reputation.
and, probably. a fortune. Finally, the
idea forcing him on. ne laid a plan for
an anecdOtal life of Greeley before his
employer. Nathaniel =. Willis Willis
at once saw the probabilities of the
idea. and. furthermore. told Parton
that he was just the man TO write the
life But Parton hesitated saying that
in order to write such a life as he had
In mind Il would he necessary for him
to visit New Hampshire. Greeley's la-
tive state. Vermont and Pennsylvania
and get the anecdotes at first hand
from old people who knew Greeley in
the days of his ohscurty. That. of
| course, would take some months, said
| Parton. adding that he. a hard work
ing newspaper man, had neither the
time nor the money for such work.
willis, however. had become very
enthusiastic over Par.on's idea, and at
ouce replied that he would advaSce
the money necessary to collect thN
material for the book, that the money
could be paid back out of the receipts
from the life Parton eagerly accepted
the proifer of help and spent weeks in
New Hampshire. searched all over
Vermont for old people who had
known the great editor in his youth,
and likewise hunted up Greeley ma
terial in Pennsylvania, so that when
he finally returned TO New York he was
filled to the brim with good anecdotI
stuff about Greeley, which he promlt-
ly put into book form awakng one
morning not so very long after N iind
! himself famous as the author Of The
! life Of Horace Groplpy
THAT life was published in 1855,
and before the year was out the bO1k
had brought i'm to its author nearly
seven thousand dollars, mighty good
royalty money in those days. But the
book did more than to ease its au-
thor's financial situation. The inn
mense popularity of the bOok-its sale
was helped by the prominent part
Greeley took in organizing the Repub-
lican party the year after IL was pub
llshed-made Parton feel convinced
that he could do good biographical
work indefinitely, so he gave up his
salaried position as a routine news.
paper man and became a biOgraphel
and historian-proba the most
popular of all our biographers to date
because he learned how to catch the
popular fancy with the anecdotal style
of biography"
Copyright, 1911. by e J Edwards. Al
rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr. Edwards will tell q
"The ROOk that Won a Bi0grapher I