The New York herald., 1922-09-17


turn into fortune making pictures per-
sonal life stories; and of course the usual
letters arrive telling him that he is the
greatest author that ever lived, and the
letters telling him that he is the worst.
DUT there was one short story that Mr..
ID Hughes wrote several years ago that
had an amazing response. 1t was called
"The Old Nest; it appeared first serially,
then in book form and then on the screen.
1t was tale describing the commonplace
experience of a mother who raised large
family of children who loved her, but VINO
went their way, and who returned home
,or wrote home infrequently or not at all.
She suffered from loneliness. but never
complained or expected her children TO
abandon their own careers in order 10
coddle her. She was just the type OF the
innumerable mothers who have endured
and must always endure an inevitable
heartache That story seemed to infuriate
certain type of critic, and one English
reviewer said that the mother was
monster of selfishness, and that the story
belonged rather in the field of psyche
pathic than literary or dramatic criticism.
That, however, was very far from being
the general verdict.
MIR. HUGHES was in Paris when the
1x1 story appeared serially and the first
response was a bundle of letters, the first
of which ran as follows: Dear Sir
am a woman so years old. | had not
heard from my son for two years. To-day
received a long love letter from him en-
closing your story The Old Nest and
pinned to it check for four figures" The
second letter opened read. 'You have
made a hard travelling man weep. | have
not seen my mother for six months.
have just telegraphed her. l am taking
the 5 o'clock train this afternoon" For
years Mr. Hughes continued to receive
similar letters. One came from SCOTCH
man in Manila, who said he had just
mailed his mother check for $3.50 and
a promise to spend his next vacation in
Scotland with her. Other letters came
from all over the world, written by
mothers who had received visits or tele-
grams or gifts from their children; from
children who had been moved to go home
or write home or send some token home.
i another shower of such curious let
ters. With the making of the moving
picture the shower became a deluge. In
the town of Los Angeles a woman told
Mr.. Hughes that she had investigated the
percentage of kilograms sent home by
people who had seen "The Old Nest"
Ninety-five per cent of them were sent
by men and 5 per cent. by women Says
Mr.. Hughes. "I asked her il many tele-
grams were sent and she said, Thousands
from Los Angeles In some of the the
aters where the picture was shown the
Western Union Company set up telegraph
booths. Exhibitors report strange agita-
tions among their audiences, a sample of
which was description an exhibitor gave
of talking to bank president. who told
him that he had not seen his mother for
five years and was hurrying home to pack
up for the midnight train. Mary Alden.
who played the part of the mother in THE
Old Nest, told me she received four thou
sand letters from England alone thanking
her for the awakening she had made in
the hearts of the writer's"
Asst week there was alusion to the
- story of a New York beggar who.
living after working hours In l,,x,,.