The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-01-04

stoA iCo. 1nen the NOunSStCr told him
a story which has been haunting his
imagination. Doyle said, I'll take the
story and your name shall appear on
IN" title page and you'll get third
OF the profits" and Conan Doyle, SIM
ply utilized the idea and working it
all out in his own words, kept his
promise and the Young journalist
found himself the richer by several
thousands OF pounds for this simple
hlAt given at a round of golr.
The most interesting figure. how
,, ever, i'll this remarkable gathering Of
Irish Protestant Home Rulers, was,
of course. the inilnitHhle George Ber-
contact with Shaw some twcnty-fiv
years ago. | started at that time
daily newspaper in London called the
Star, which still exists. though | have
had nothing to do With it FOR many
years; and among my staff | found Il
, very readheaded man With curious
>>-''- law w llu llrtl uSSll
brought to me by Mir. MasSingl1am.
then my assistant editor, and now
. editor of Very powerful radical
weekly called The Nation, was told
his name was Shaw. The name con-
veyed nothing to me: he had. | was
further told, wrttcn several novels.
but thc, names were also unknown
to me. He was employed as a leader
writer at Il small salary; journalistic
salaries We're not then what they are
now. And what trouble that terrible
! leader writer gave tn me. lie was
then as he has remained since, a. So
, clalist, and Socialists as rule in
, England hate liberals more even than
they do tories, and Shaw siriled now
! and then ut liberals and especially at
the liberals who then led tho party.
All thcs" liberal leaders were personal
! friends: of mine, and they were en-
! gagged ut that moment with Gladstone
at their head, in fighting for the cause
, Of Ireland and the Star had been
brought into existence To assist them
in that work. was driven distracted,
and sometimes, having gone TO bed
at in the morning, after long night
! in the House of Commons, used to
have to drag myself out of bed again
Il little after 6 Il. H. SO that l might
read these articles. and see that they
did not go against tho party and the
leaders the paper was supporting.
The position became difficult: I did
not know what to do. for | have all
ways hated to deal harshly with a
member OF my staff, hut Shaw was
high-mindcd. and settled the difficult,
by resig7ing. His resignation hon
cstly was IA relief to me.
But that did not end our associa-
tion. was told by Massingham that
this strange man had, among his 9TH
er extraordinary gifts, a great knowl-
edge of music; that he could play
the piano skillfully; that he had de-
voured all the classical music of all
times; in short, that he would make
! an ideal musical critic So Shaw be-
came musical critic instead of leader
writer. He chose the pseudonyn,
"Corno di Bassetto," as his signature.
Never before or since was there such
musical criticism. Those strange
quips and cranks. which are now ia
nous the world over, then burst upon
it for the first time: as for example:
Shaw would say that he was listen
ing to beautiful passage in some
symphony and enjoying it thoroughly
when he suddenly caught the eye of
the man who played the trombone
and who at that particular moment
uttered deep and resonant note
from the instrument: and Shaw lost
the rest of the passage. In short,
everybody read and admired and
laughed at "Corno di Basseto:" and
almost for the first time in London
journalism, the musical critic became
something of a public character.
Meantime We became friends, and
he came now and then to take lunch
with me. On one occasion he and
Bret Harte came together: Bret ate
his meat like man and quaffed with
enjoyment pint of champagne-the
/. only beverage he ever took in his
| later years. That was easily pro.
vided for, but what could one do
with such guest as Shaw? | had
to make special preparations. He
drank nothing but water; that was
easy, but it was not so easy to supply
a man with food who refused to touch
anything but vegetables. think his
lunch was made out of dish OF
| tomatoes, turnips and potatoes.
A Church in Honor Of st. Paul,
A,,; toto