The Washington herald., 1921-10-16
by .CosMo HAMILTON.

a
They knew each other by sight
Of course. They had each roared
with laughter at the caricatures
made Of the other by the inim-
liable and deadly Max Beer
bohm. They had even read each
others books and pronounced judg-
ment on each others character. hab-
its OF dress and methods of adver-
Using, but they had never. astonish-
ingly enough, spoken. Probably, be-
ing English, because they had never
been introduced.
But when, after having enjoyed
the various gradations OF a Turkish
bath and slept dreamlessly for an
hour or two. they woke at the
same mo -nent to find themselves side
by side. the ice broke in that hot
house temperature 1t is almost i'm
possible to be anything but intI-
mate in a Turkish bath, however
careful one may be.
Wells, 1 think?
Bennett, / believer"
There was a mutual laugh. a flash
Of indiscreet teeth. a wave of a
small spatulate hand and the Bridge
of Convention was crossed.
"How's the new book going?'
asked Bennett. ever practical.
which one? Tn blest II I car
remember how many of mine are GO
ing at this moment Pretty well.
suppose. / was just able to pay my
income tax without having a battery
| of guns trained on my house. so one
of 'em must be selling. How's your:
doing these odd times?' Well.
| couldn't for the life of him remem.
Der its title, although he had read il
| carefully to see how far Arnold Ben
| nett had been influenced by The
Outline Of History and whether hi
had dug up the FIVE towns to lool
for prehistoric pottery. Nearly al
living novelists obtained Inspiration
from him. of course.
"rve not written a new novel fol
ages" replied Bennett. AT leas
two months. I've been writing fol-
the stage. I've just finished m,
sixth play in six weeks Not SO bad
considering that between times rv,
dashed OF a treatise on ingrowinf
nails, a criticism Of criticism. a dis
section of contemporary novelists, 4,
series of articles on tree culture
and a paper called ''Everyman Hi
Own God"
Wells raised himself on one ell
bow. ''oh no." he cried. $50 you'v,
come to that business too. Ell? 4
bit behind the band wagon. aren'
you? Let me see. I think I settlet
the question of religion once for al
about a couple OF years ago. Tn,
new thing appears to be Main Street
the kodak picture Of provincialisn
with vitriolic comments"
Bennett scoffed. The new thing
Where were you about fifteen wear,
ago? Have you forgotten what
did for Main Street in 'Old wive,
Tales" and the rest? was the apos
tie of back parlors. the Messiah o
the darning needle. the Columbus O.
the corner pub. The new thing!
| like thatw
my dear chap" said Wells. witt
a touch Of bitterness, everything
is new that's only a few years old
The public has a short memory, ant
every young writer who Initiate,
you and me, especially me, is halle,
by the log-rolling gang as a realist
you know. Sinclair Lewis is tn,
latest to be boosted. but what 4
Main Street but an merican yer
sion of my early masterpieces with
out the WITT"
And mine. without the crockery
Now all the young-old men are ele
waiting cuspidors to a pedestal an,
placing their heroines in trolie,
cars. But the day Of Main Street
and High Streets and the back cha
of one-eyed towns is over already
Do you know what Think the pub
lie wants next?" -,
"Weil" he asked. hardly pro
nouncing the 8.
Melodrama, my boy. RAM
melodrama. Blood, villainy, thief,
burglary. bank robberies, muir
der. It's the movies that's don
1t. After a long dose OF movi
stun the public can't sit down Z,
quiet novels about sane domesti
troubles. and the dull quarreis be
tween the average married couple
They want life jaxzed. Wait unit
you see my new plays. Til show ZEN
what's what"
Wells threw q rather curiou
glance at his versatile and ubiquit
Gus fellow, author who had covere,
the whole held Of authorship almos
without turning a hair. I've neve
been able to take the stage serious
4 ly. he said. ''at least seriousl,
enough to WRITE n nv ou~,ase>~ rit