The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-03
M E N w o M E N
 A ND T H N C s


 only had the time they could write poems, novels or plays.
 do not know who said it, but have dim recollection that someone re- marked that there was at least one good book in every person if he or she only could find the mode of expression, but if no one ventured the idea, 1 am willing to father it.
 used to frequently get poems in let ters telling me that they were composed on the spur of the moment, and wert Jotted down without any trouble, and If l liked the sample I might have as many as I cared to publish without any charge whatsoever, as the poet or poetess was only desirous of seeing his or her name in print.
 l was then the editor of the Alabama Baptist, and the sole judge of what went in its editroial and news columns therefore had to either publish or reject the offering without hiding behind any one else, as l now fortunately can, for when poems are sent me l hand them over to the tender mercy of Paul Cook, for he knows the true from false metre. and it saves me much time and trouble.
 Until I owned a newspaper never who had written books and who wanted them read in manuscript. I have had so many poems. stories, novels and histories offered me for private perusal that used to dread the sight of sheets of white paper tied with blue ribbon, or held to- gether with clips, or stitched, for it's laborious work for me to read imprinted volumes. Now I have no time for such work, and have to firmly decline to un- dertake it even for those who have claims upon me.
 But I got the above out of my sys- tenn merely to test out those who read this column as to whether they have ever given any thought as to which is the more difficult to write play or a novel. I think the general idea pre- vails that it is much easier to write novel than it is to construct play. I myself had never given the matter any thounght until I happened across an ar ticle by Arnold Bennett, who has had experience in both lines. His novels are among the "best sellers and his plays are used to Tong runs''
 
 It's for this reason that I will pick out some of his conclusions and give my readers the benefit, as it will be hard to get the number of the magazine in which his confessions were made some years back. He says: There is an idea abroad assiduously fostered as a rule by critics who happen to have written neither novels nor plays, that it is more difficult to write a play than a novel. do not think so. I have written or collaborated in about 20 novels and about easier to write a play than novel;
 
 , I may have taken this with a grain of salt if I had not run across the me- moirs of Frenchman whose fame as a | Parisian literatteur was perhaps at it's zenith during the restoration and the early days of Louis Philippe, but which extended down several generations, even to the time of Victor Hugo, when he was the great man in French letters. I feel | sure that the mere mention of his name will cause laugh among those who have read his works, for in spite of his loose views of morality and his spicy and salicious stories, he was the apostle 1 of laughter
 1 Paul de Rock belongs to bygone day. and to own up to ever having read one of his novels or plays is to be read out of certain groups of society, and with cause. for his lbrettos. vaudeville sketches, songs, novels and plays shocked the Parisians themselves, and had their greatet vogue, even in his day, outside l of France. At present they are only of interest to the student of manners, for his portrature of low and middle-class life in the first half of the nineteenth century at Paris still has it's value, in spite of the fact that the disappearance of the grisette and of the cheap dissi- patton described by Henri Munger. and later somewhat glorified by DuMaurier in Trilby, have practically made Paul de Rock obsolete.
 l l said that he was the apostle of laugh ter. There is an interesting story about Charles Nodier, the author and friend of Victor Hugo, who, when introduced to Paul de Rock, told him that he had been attracted to him for score of years or more by sight. for he had often watched him as he stood before the famous zozo, certain clown. half jocose. half harlequin, whose tricks were the funniest things one could imagine. and performed in the Boulevard de Temple, then the most typical place in Paris, freaks and menageries. He confessed at the meeting that he knew he was good fellow. for you know how to laugh. Thackeray evidently knew either him or his words, for he puts saying into the read nothing of the novel kind for U years except Paul de Rock" who cer- tainly made him laugh
 1 But this is not talk on laughter, l for I started out with quotation of Arnold Bennett in which he claimed that lit was easier to write a play than a novel, and this was the opinion of Paul de Rock. who at his death had written more plays and novels than Bennett. It was however, Caigniez, who tipped off de Rock by asking .'Why don't you try your hand at writing for the stage?' "l am afraid would not be successful" he