The Washington herald., 1918-02-04
PLAIN TALKS
BY JOHN ID. BARRY.

"Oh, yes" said the East Aurora bar
ber when 1 asked him il he knew
Elbert Hubbard. II knew him for
years. In fact, John and were good
friends"
why do you call him John?" 1
said.
That's what We all called him
round here. 1t was on account OF
something that happened on his
grounds up there. He liked to work
outdoors, as you probably know. Well,
one day, while he was in his overalls
raking up some leaves, a man came
along with a horse and buggy. When
he saw Hubbard he call out. oh, John,
come here
Hubbard went over to him and he
said, Hold my horse while l go talk
to Hubbard
Hubbard said. Certainly and he
held the horse and the man went into
the shop. When he asked for Hub
bard some one said. He was out in
the yard minute ago
"One of the boys looked through
the window and said, There he is
holding the horse
The man went back and l guess
he felt kind of cheap. But Hubbard
didn't mind one way or the other. He
liked a joke better thaan anything
else in the world.
Naturally the story got around. and
we called him John ever since"
When the barber saw that was
interested he talked freely. They had
all liked Hubbard in East Aurora.
Hadn't he done a lot for the town,
given work to several hundred per-
sons in the Roycroft shop and brought
thousands of tourists here every year?
Lots of folk never passed through Buff
falo without running out here. No,
the place hadn't changed much since
he went. He had often been away for
months at a time on lecture tours and
the work had gone on without him.
OF course. they were doing some
things different even if he had lived.
They'd just returned the Fra into a
small magazine, it was so expensive in
the old form, and they'd given it the
name of The Roycroft, which was
more suitable now the Fra himself
was gone.
When I went to the inn I found my
self in Hubbardland. There he was.
the familiar face, with the familiar
hair and flowing necktie, in photo
graph and in bronze, and there was
his spirit still working in a hotel that
managed TO express good taste, COM
fort, substantial living. and the ideas
of new thought, the last by way of
little reminders, printed on modest
signs, such as the one over the porch,
They'll talk anyway"
Even in his notices Hubbard was
something of humOrist.
When 1 met the young man now in
charge of the inn and of the work.
shops devoted to printing. binding and
other artistic endeavor 1 was struck
by the facial resemblance to those
portraits. Thirty years before the
tragedy of the Lusitania Hubbard
must have been singularly like his
successor. AS We talked I was re-
peatedly reminded of the Elbert Hub
bard of later years. The modesty and
the eager, affectionate reference to the
father also reminded me of the words
Bert Hubbard had written shortly
after the tragedy:-"I am Elbert Hub
bard's son, and I am entirely familiar
with the proposition that genius never
reproduces.'
At this moment in the workshops
they are putting a beautiful binding
on the twenty volumes of Hubbard's 8
writing. How did he accomplish so
much in career begun late, as the
literary career goes, and cut of in
maturity? The explanation is that he
worked Systematically. Even on his
lecture tours he would get his writing
done as he rode from town to town.
Like many another writer, reaching
out for abundance of experience, he
used to regret that he could not sit
down in one spot and concentrate on
writing. IF 1 can get down to busi-
ness here and cut OF all distractions,
/ can make a name equal to John
Ruskin's or Thomas Criyle's, he once
wrote to lecture manager. 81 can
do 1t, but I must keep out Of sight
in order to succeed. To merely talk
Is not to succeed, and the public is
only devil that takes a man to the
top of the mountain and then casts
him on the stones beneath. So make
no more lecture engagements for me. -
But he never could force himeslf into
the seclusion that might have given
him the chance to prove that he
was Ruskin or a Carlyle, both of
whom, by the way, were lecturers.
He apparently had to lead a life OF
wider adventure and it led him to his
death.
They say here in East Aurora that
when he knew the ship was going
down he drew his wife into a cabin on
fha tsx.x>or aarir snH oln.aS &t.~ A~1, :