The Washington herald., 1914-08-16

"a gossip for the nonce to SOUND NJ!
ipraises. The bridge set forgot ever
the names of the cards for awhile il
singing the greatness of his. The young
ladies fairly beamed with Joy whenever
he appeared, and to most of the children
at the hotel he had become inside oi
forty-eight hours nothing more or les:
than Uncle Dickie." Even more re.
markable than this, the men also liked
him. He was a manly chap. His goli
and billiards were frankly rotten, but
he knew it and didn't for a moment
pretend that they were otherwise. But
together over our coffee and cigars in
the palm room, after dinner, Barlow
fairly scintillated. His fund of infor-
nation was broad and his knowledge
of the United States was most unusual
have seldom enjoyed such rare delight
as was mine as l sat listening to his
stories of what he called Ettle-known
America. Nor was Barlow at all loath,
as are some literary folk, to talk shop.
Shop" he said one night, when
some one apologized for talking shop
to him. why shouldn't l like to talk
shop, my dear fellow? When / hear a
literary man say that he doesn't like TO
talk shop, know either hs is promis-
ing candidate for the An3nias Club, or
that there is something radically wrong
with him. His whole life is, or ought
to be, shop. Every man, woman and
child he meets is shop to him if he is
on the job; and if he cares at all for
his work he just adores shop; and
when he talks it, he is talking from the
heart of what he knows most about
No, siri Don't you worry about asking
me to talk shop, old man. It's the best
thing do"
1t was upon this occasion that Billie
Rawson, who seemed to have fallen
completely under his spell, brought up a
question concerning a certain character
in one of Barlow's books that had
never heard of before, but which ap-
peared to have interested Rawson to
an absorbing degree.
my first introduction to you, Mr..
Barlow" he said, as we sat over our
coffee that night in the palm room, was
in that little book you wrote-oh, it
must have been as much as fifteen years
ago-'The Magic Cup All the promise
of your literary life was to be found
in that story, and l remember saying
to a friend of mine when | first read
it that some day you would be heard
| from"
"You are very good, Mr.. Rawson,"
said Barlow, tossing away the end of
his cigarette, and lighting another. ITO
tell the truth I-well-I never thought
much of the The Magic Cup myself,
but if you liked it"
Possibly you were disappointed by
the fact that it was not a popular sue
cess" suggested Rawson. Though why
it shouldn't have been, I'm sure l don't
know l fancy it was not much of
seller"
No" said Barlow, quietly pulling
away on the cigarette. Not fell
rather-rather fiat. l don't remember
just how it sold-but if the publishers
came out even on it they did we'll"
q have no sympathy for them"
smiled Rawson. 'If it didn't sell it was
their fault, not yours. They weren't
much of a concern anyhow-let's see
they went out of business later, didn't
they?"
yes" said Barlow. "Yes-the pace
the pace was rather too hot for them.
They had no organization, so they just
put up the shutters and quit"
Wise men," said Rawson, tapping
the ash off the end of his cigar and
gazing into the red glow of its Tip, as
Barlow lit up again. Since you don't
mind talking shop, Mr.. Barlow" he
went on, Il wonder if you would mind
settling a question that has always lin
gered with me in respect to your hero
in that story. Did you draw him from
Gen. Kitchener or was the likeness to
Kitchener that l seemed to detect in
Gen. Darlington purely in my inagina-
tion?"
Well" said Barlow, scratching the |
end of his chin, "I-er-I of course had
Kitchener somewhat in mind when I
wrote the-er-the-"
The Magic Cup prompted Rawson. !
Precisely" said Barlow. Il say that
of course had Kitchener in mind when
l wrote the story, but only as figure.
l shouldn't venture to claim that--er-i
that any of the episodes in the book
were based upon actual"
"Of course, l understand that" said
Rawson. "You were writing fiction
not history" -.-...
Exactly" said Barlow.
Its a wonder to me-" said Rawson,
now that you've got into the best
seller class, that you haven't revived
that story"