Evening star., 1945-12-02
Among the Authors

they provide whatever she wishes, 1t
will be a house made with glass,
brick. steel and concrete out West
on the oregon cliffs.
Unbidden Guests
It is not with the idea of confus-
ing you, that I explain about DR..
William o. Stevens and his ghost
but we had lunch with them {. that
is with DR.. Stevens, his pub
Usher, and an empty chair placed
for any of those characters described
in his new book. "Unbidden Guests"
who might wish to join us. These
are not ghost stories, but accounts
of real ghosts, told by people whose
word was above reproach. Some OF
these genuine experience" tales are
taken from reports of psychical re-
search societies.
DR.. Stevens was instructor at An
napolis for many years, headmaster
for many more in boys schools, Is
an artist who enjoys working in oils,
water color and line drawings, be-
sides being a writer He was born in
Burma of missionary parents, who
expected him to die early Of piety
and malaria. Instead, he came to
the United States in 1887. Here his
life became that OF an educator, but
about eight years ago his talents ex-
pressed through his hobbies Of
writing and art began taking up all
his time. Before that he had writ
ten history of naval warfare, life
work In itself for one man. He then
did a series of books on historical
places like Annapolis, Nantucket, in
which he both wrote and illustrated
the books. His Beyond the Sunset
is regarded as a mastery support Of
immortality.
While searching old records In the
South he ran across many accounts
of duels fought to avenge Sighted
honor. He was shocked. Aided and
encouraged by the women, this prac-
tice had been a part of life in this
democracy longer than most people
would believe. Since most OF these
duels had entirely escaped the his
tory books, he collected the accounts
into a book called Pistols at Ten
PAGES" Whether or not any of the
gallants who met their death in
duels show up in his "Unforbidden
Guests" I still have to discover.
DR.. Stevens has a fine sense of
humor and a profound wonder at
the popularity of modern art. Just
to give each quality in his character
little exercise, he produced pic
ture. 1t was big piece of drawing
paper on which he plunked a dab of
yellow in the middle Then he dipped
his fingers into five different colors
on his paint palette, and holding his
hand as a claw, fiourished a letter
nine in all five colors at once around
this yellow center. The result was
horrible. In his own words, it look ed
like an illustration of Indigestion
but he asked his wife to sign it, with
Russian signature, and they named
the creation Vortex in the Alb
stract." From here on they turned
it loose as a proffered exhibit on
its own and withdrew.
Not without delight was Mr.
Stevens summoned later by friend.
Seems an artist from South America
stood in front of this picture prais-
ing it enthusiastically. He was sum-
moned to hear. 1t was difficult to
believe his own ears when these
words struck them: Such color.
Such movement Now there is pic
ture," said the gentleman
DR.. Stevens belligerently remarked
that he could not bear it. He thought
it terrible. This rebuke to his own
offspring only brought on another
p1lSh of praiSe