The New York herald., 1922-07-02
IlI@Frederick O'Brien.


comber, Reporter, Editor,
) Sandwichman, Barkeeper,
Kitchen Helper, State Food Ad-
ministrator. Dreamer, Adventurer,
Man of Mystery" Such is the cata-
logue of Frederick o'Brien's differ
ent tincarnations as given by the pub
fishers Of his books. Certainly
no one will question his eligibility
as a member of the Literary Ven
turers OF the Day" Club. Yet since
the enumeration of these varied
activities Mr.. O'Brien has not been
giving himself up to idling in a hum
drum existence. Not content with
existing qualifications, he has been
adding to them. Recently he has
made an extended trip to the South
Seas, and his third book, to carry
on the spirit of White Shadows in
the South Seas and Mystic Isles
of the South Seas" is scheduled for
publication next autumn. At the
present time he is at the Jack Lon
don ranch in California working on
the book.
The story of the writing Of white
Shadows in the South Seas has been
told. but in view of the striking
popularity Of the book and its own
intrinsic interest is always worth
retelling. 1t was Mr.. O'Brien's
first book. During a year among
the South Sea Islands he wrote
the first draft, setting down at
night the things he had seen
and heard during the day. Re-
turning to one Of his homes in
California, he rewrote the book dur
ing a year of idleness except, as he
says, "for occasional industry among
my roses or in building arbors.
ponds and housings for my fowls"
During the time of Americas par
ticipation in the world war the
manuscript was lying forgotten in a
closet. After the armistice it found
its way to its publishers.
Born in Baltimore, the son Of a
judge who was also a member of
Congress, Frederick O'Brien was sent
to Jesuit school. His father de-
signed him for the law, but the boy
lad been reading such romances as
Coral Island" and 1.-TWO Years Be
fore the Mast" and the reading had
nodded his destiny. Romance called.
At eighteen he shipped out of Balti-
more before the mast on the Julia
Robbins. Leaving the vessel at Rio
de Janeiro. he tramped over Brazil
working as a day laborer Then he
went to Venezuela and the island of
Trinidad. where he worked at the
asphalt lake. AS sailor, laborer Or
sightseer he saw many of the West
India islands.
That was his first taste of life as
a venturer. The time came when he
returned home with the idea of set
Ting down. In his fathers office in
Baltimore he read law But it was
only for period. The call of the
beyond was too imperative. One day
he left the Office. That night he was
bedding down" cattle on a steam
ship bound for London. In London
be spent week as a sandwichman
advertising pills. Then he went to
Paris and found a position ON the
Paris edition OF THE New York
HERALD. With money earned there
he toured the Continent. His last
franc gone, he returned to New York
In the galley of a freighter, peeling
potatoes.
Then he turned to the West, be-
coming a hobo, travelling on trains
without the formality of buying a
railway ticket. raking hay, "babbit-
ting threshing machines, riding
horses and otherwise gaining his
livelihood. In a Mississippi levee
camp he tended bar: he drove mules
to scrapers and loafed down the river
to New Orleans. In California he
joined Coxey's army, and with it
travelled to Washington. and there
walked on the grass of the Capitol
lawn in an effort to present a "peti-
ton in boots" to Congress for the