The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-07-25
hear L.0AEERS
And LEARN LOT
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posed majestically on the corner.
The cement work surrounding the
cannon ground has been worn
smooth by the sitters and 1t is here
the village wag holds forth. He was
going good when 1 arrived, explain
ing Charlottesville points of interest
to an inquiring tourist. Unnoticed
I sat down well within hearing dis
lance of the two.
"Some Write Checks"
eyes; Charlottesville is a nice
town." he was saying. Its
literary town. Everyone in Craw-
louisville writes something. They
write checks or kilograms if they
can't write anything else. but once
you live in Charlottesville the
writing bug bites you and it seems
like you Just have to start writing
something. Some writes poems,
some plays, most everyone writes
pageants, others write short stories
or sermons and, those the bug bites
the hardest, seems like they have
to write books.
1--WE have had a heap of books
written here. Some books like Ben
Hur' seem to go good and the public
get to liking them and everybody
hears about them, but we have had
a sight of books written that no
one, but the publisher and the
author knows they came into
existance.
What becomes of the books that
the publishers don't accept? Oh I
guess the author gets them back
and changes them a bit and then
the movies get them.
Wallace Beaten
Now if every one could write
like Wallace" continued the wag,
Charlottesville would be a lot bet
ter known for its books than it is.
Gen. Lew Wallace wrote Ben Hur'
sitting right under a big tree on his
own place, right here in Crawfords-
Vile. Some say Wallace was in
spired. Bob Ingersoll had been in
town on one of his lecture tours,
and the things he said about relig-
ion riled the old general some, and
sort of put him in a fighting mood,
suspect. Wallace attempted that
night to answer Ingersoll, but the
general was a better fighter than
spokesman and, in fact, he WIS
poor at words when compared to
a great orator like Ingersoll, and
Wallace was worsted in the argu-
ment.
Then he went home and wrote
Ben Hur,' the greatest Christian
book ever written outside the Bible,
and that book is Wallace's answer
to Ingersoll; in fact, 1t is Crawfords-
ville's answer, and 1 guess every one
admits we won the argument, even
If it did take a little time for Wal
lace to write the book and have 1t
put in print.
Just to show you, young fellow,
that Charlottesville was back Of
Lew Wallace and every word in that
book, 1 want you to look at that
building over yonder, the white slab
building on Main st. That is the
Ben Hur Bldg. The fraternal order,
the Tribe of Ben Hur, was founded
in this town and that is their home
office. We wanted the character Of
Ben Hur to live forever, so we
founded the order. No, I amt a
member, but I was thinking Of join
ing.
The Kraut Girls
Now, speaking of folks being able
to think and to write but not to talk,
my wife is just the other way. She
is a good talker. Most women are,
but right over in that direction is
a big brown house with a fence
around it. 1t is right across from
the college, and is the home Of two
ladies who are writer's, not takers,
Mary Hannah and Miss Carrie. They
have written heaps of books. Had
'em published, too. Charlottesville
always calls them girls. They are
old women now, but seem like girls
to us, by their first names. The
world knows them as the Misses
Kraut, 1 suspect.
Miss Carrie writes stories, fiction
I guess they call it, but Mary Han
nah was a newspaper woman and
she deals in facts. For three years
she was in London as correspondent
for the old Chicago Inter-Ocean;
then she went all over the world, to
China and the South Sea islands
and all around for some New York
newspaper syndicate. That's the
way with Charlottesville people.
They are sent everywhere and by
big concerns that want a job well
done and they always do the old
home town credit"
The mention Of the Misses Kraut
interested me more than ANYTHING
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