Palisadian., 1923-03-23
interviewing
John Nash
By JANE OSBORN


60. 1928. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.)
John Nash began work in his Sc
cluded study at eight, as was his wont.
AT nine he stopped long enough to go
to the kitchen to tell his housekeeper
that there would be guest for lunch
con.
THE young woman who will come
about half-past ten-can't recall her
name-anyway, have Sally show her
to my study. She'll be the reporter
from the Star. I've consented to give
them an interview and she'll stay to
lunch. There may be other callers,
other reporters, maybe, but I'm not at
nome to any one else. I'm under OBJ
legations of sort to the Star, or l
wouldn't bother with this girl.''
John Nash had suddenly come into
the limelight as the author of the two
most talked about plays of the season,
ana novel that had broken sales
records the season before. He was
only a trifie past thirty, but gruff-
ness of manner, added to degree of
deafness, made him seem older.
When Mary Fuller called an hour
and half later the housekeeper, who
was also tritle deaf hurried her into
her employers study. She was shrewd
enough to write the name on a slip Of
paper which she handed to Mr.. Nash
when she entered the room. Miss
Fuller Of the STAR" Is what she wrote,
so as to relieve Mr.. Nash of the en-
barrassment of having to admit that
he had forgotten the name given In
the letter from the editor of the Star
the day before.
Il had expected you, Miss Fuller"
John Nash began, trying to adjust this
rather demure but self-possessed and
very pretty young woman to his pre-
conceived notions about women report
ers.
"Oh, you had?" asked Mary little
surprised. well, perhaps that's
best-then you know what I've come
for, and l won't have to take so much
of your time"
I'VE can talk for an hour" Tom
Nash said. "Then you can look
through my library--Im something Of
a book collector, you know, and If
you're interested you can take a turn
to the kennels. They always like to
run in something about the collies, and
then at one We'll have lunch, and you
can leave for the 2:15 train"
But l don't know about staying to
luncheon Mary Fuller was very
much confused and blushing trifie.
"Quite all right. all right" insisted
John Nash, trifle annoyed. II told
them you were to stay-they won't eX-
pect you back" So far as John Nash
was concerned the matter was settled.
He arranged a substantial straight
chair at one side of his enormous work
table, laid out blotting tablet and pa
per, with supply of pencils. "Sit
down here opposite me-" he ordered.
81 can understand you better that
way" ks
Mary Fuller, with ill-concealed con-
fusion, did as she was told
''Brainless, but very pretty" was
what John Nash was thinking, feeling
annoyed to think the Star editors
would send a green reporter for so
important an errand.
Mary Fuller was saying something.
John Nash did not hear it. "If you
wish to make a special line of attack"
he interrupted, suppose we start out
with the question raised in my last
play; whether woman should or
should not take the initiative in Sc
lecting her husband. It's an old no.
tion that women should be passive
and that men should take the initia-
tive.
"You may have noticed that Shake
speare's hero has usually taken the ag-
gressve In courtship. And you might
make a point of my contention that
the old maid Is not the woman who
has been unsought, but the woman who
has not been aggressive, while the old
bachelor is what he is, not because he
has been Indifferent or Independent,
but because he has never been suffi-
ciently attractive to any woman to
make her determine to marry him.
That's putting 1t rather crudely, but
you may be able to work up some
thing that will make headliner from
that It's something of a rap at the
old bachelors, to be sure, but then I'm
one myself, and 1 daresay-although
I've persuaded myself that l prefer
living as / do-that the real reason is
because I've never been sought out"
Apparently much embarrassed, the
young woman at the other side of the
table was making laborious notes on
one of the sheets of paper before her.
"What l really wanted to ask you,"
she finally managed to make herself
understood, "was about your dogs"
"Oh, to be sure" said John Nash.
"But they said they wanted something
of personal sort first-something
bearing directly on one of my plays.
You know / hate this sort of thing
I seldom consent to being interviewed,
and I never accept invitations to din
ners to meet people who want to meet