Chapter LXVII: A Napoleonic Conception--A Challenge to the (13)

I have worked hard, of course. He who would make a living with his pen must do that of necessity. But the work has been always a joy to me, and such weariness as it brings is only that which gives added pleasure to the rest that follows.

LXX

Every literary worker has his own methods, and I have never known any one of them to adopt the methods of another with success. Temperament has a good deal to do with it; habit, perhaps, a good deal more, and circumstance more than all.

I have always been an extemporaneous writer, if I may apply the adjective to writers as we do to speakers. I have never been able to sit down and "compose" anything before writing it. I have endeavored always to master the subjects of my writing by study and careful thought, but I have never known when I wrote a first sentence or a first chapter what the second was to be. I think from the point of my pen, so far at least as my thinking formulates itself in written words.

I suppose this to be a consequence of my thirty-odd years of newspaper experience. In the giddy, midnight whirl of making a great newspaper there is no time for "first drafts," "outline sketches," "final revisions," and all that sort of thing. When the telegraph brings news at midnight that requires a leader--perhaps in double leads--the editorial writer has an hour or less, with frequent interruptions, in which to write his article, get it into type, revise the proofs, and make up the page that contains it. He has no choice but to write extemporaneously. He must hurriedly set down on paper what his newspaper has to say on the subject, and send his sheets at once to the printers, sometimes keeping messenger boys at his elbow to take the pages from his hand one after another as fast as they are written. His only opportunity for revision is on the proof slips, and even in that he is limited by the necessity of avoiding every alteration that may involve the overrunning of a line.

In this and other ways born of necessity, the newspaper writer learns the art of extemporaneous writing, which is only another way of saying that he learns how to write at his best in the first instance, without lazily depending upon revision for smoothness, clearness, terseness, and force. He does not set down ill-informed or ill-considered judgments. Every hour of every day of his life is given to the close study of the subjects upon which he is at last called upon to write under stress of tremendous hurry. He knows all about his theme. He has all the facts at his fingers' ends. He is familiar with every argument that has been or can be made on the questions involved. He knows all his statistics, and his judgments have been carefully thought out in advance. His art consists in the ability to select on the instant what phases of the subject he will treat, and to write down his thought clearly, impressively, convincingly, and in the best rhetorical form he can give it.

[Sidenote: Extemporaneous Writing]

I think that one who has acquired that habit of extemporaneous writing about things already mastered in thought can never learn to write in any other way. Both experience and observation have convinced me that men of that intellectual habit do more harm than good to their work when they try to improve it by revision. Revision in every such case is apt to mean elaboration, and elaboration is nearly always a weakening dilution of thought.

I am disposed to think that whatever saves trouble to the writer is purchased at the expense of the reader. The classic dictum that "easy writing makes hard reading" is as true to-day as it was when Horace made laborious use of the flat end of his stylus. For myself, at any rate, I have never been able to "dictate," either "to the machine," or to a stenographer, with satisfactory results, nor have I ever known anybody else to do so without some sacrifice to laziness of that which it is worth a writer's while to toil for. The stenographer and the typewriter have their place as servants of commerce, but in literature they tend to diffusion, prolixity, inexactitude, and, above all, to carelessness in that choice of words that makes the difference between grace and clumsiness, lucidity and cloud, force and feebleness.

In the writing of novels, I have always been seriously embarrassed by the strange perversity of fictitious people. That is a matter that has puzzled and deeply interested me ever since I became a practising novelist.

The most ungrateful people in the world are the brain-children of the novelist, the male and female folk whose existence is due to the good will of the writer. Born of the travail of the novelist's brain, and endowed by him with whatever measure of wit, wisdom, or wealth they possess; personally conducted by him in their struggles toward the final happiness he has foreordained for them at the end of the story; cared for; coddled; listened to and reported even when they talk nonsense, and not infrequently when they only think it; laboriously brought to the attention of other people; pushed, if possible, into a fame they could never have achieved for themselves; they nevertheless obstinately persist in thwarting their creator's purpose and doing as they wickedly please to his sore annoyance and vexation of spirit.

In truth, the author of a story has very little control over its course after he has once laid its foundations. The novel is not made--it grows, and the novelist does little more than plant the seed and keep the growth unchoked by weeds. He is as powerless to make it other than what it tends to be as the gardener is to grow tomatoes on corn-stalks or cucumbers on pea-vines. He may create for the story what manner of people he pleases, just as the gardener may choose the seed he will plant; but once created these fictitious people will behave according to their individual natures without heed to the wishes of the author of their being.

In other words, the novelist is under bond to his conscience to represent his personages as talking and acting precisely as such personages would talk and act under the circumstances in which he has placed them. It often happens that their sentiments, their utterances, and their conduct do not fit into the author's preconceived arrangement of happenings, so that he must alter his entire story or important parts of it to make it true.

I have borrowed the last few paragraphs from a playful paper I wrote for an obscure magazine thirty-odd years ago, because they suggest a trouble that must come to every conscientious novelist many times during the writing of every story. There come times when the novelist doesn't know what happened, and must toilsomely explore his consciousness by way of finding out.

[Sidenote: Working Hours and Working Ways]

My working hours are determined by circumstances--morning, afternoon, evening, or late at night. When there is a "must" involved, I work when I must; when I am free I work when I choose or when I feel that I can.

I never carry my work to bed with me, and I never let it rob me of a moment's sleep. To avoid that I usually play a game or two of solitaire --perhaps the least intellectual of all possible occupations--between work and bedtime; and I usually take a walk in the open air just before going to bed, whatever the weather may be. But whatever else happens, I long ago acquired the art of absolutely dismissing the subject of my work from my mind, whenever I please, and the more difficult art of refusing to let any other subject of interest take its place. I do that when I go to bed, and when I do that nothing less than positive physical pain can keep me from going to sleep.

I have always been fond of fishing and boating. In summer, at my Lake George cottage, I have a little fleet of small boats moored within twenty paces of my porch-placed writing table. If my mind flags at my work I step into my fishing boat and give an hour or two to a sport that occupies the attention without fatiguing it. If I am seriously perplexed by any work-problem, I take a rowboat, with a pair of eight-foot oars, and go for a ten-mile spin. On my return I find that my problem has completely wrought itself out in my mind without conscious effort on my part.

I am fond of flower gardening and, without the least technical skill in it, I usually secure astonishingly good results. The plants seem to respond generously to my uninstructed but kindly attention.

In my infancy my mother taught me to begin every day with a plunge into water as cold as I could get, and I have kept up the habit with the greatest benefit. I find it a perfect tonic as well as a luxurious delight.

I have always enforced upon myself two rules with respect to literary style: First, to utter my thought simply and with entire sincerity, and, second, never consciously to write or leave a sentence in such form that even a blundering reader might mistake its meaning.

Here let me bring to an end these random recollections of a life which has involved hard work, distressing responsibility, and much of disappointment, but which has been filled from the beginning with that joy of success which is the chief reward of endeavor to every man who loves his work and puts conscience into it.

THE END

INDEX

=A=

Abbey, Edwin A., 274, 307

Accident, its part in literary work, 181-185

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 174, 191, 192

Alexander, Gen. E. P., 94

America. _See_ United States

American authors visiting England, 265, 269

"American Idea," 296, 297

American life, 1840-50, 18-20

American literature provincial, 269-271

Americanism, birthplace of, 27

Amour, 117

Anonymous literary criticism, 203-205

"Appleseed, Johnny," 141

_Appleton's Journal_, 153, 181

Armitage, Rev. Dr., 113-115

Armstrong, Henry, 291

Army of Northern Virginia, 87, 93, 94

Arnold, Matthew, 268

Arthur, T. S., novels of, 25

Ashland, Va., 77

Associated Press, 180, 188, 302, 303

Astor Library, books mutilated, 271

_Atlantic Monthly_, 148, 149, 181

Authors, and editors, 167-172;
Virginian, 66-70

Authors Club, organized, 272;
presidency, 273;
eligibility, 273;
meeting-places, 274, 275;
in Twenty-fourth Street, 277;
social in character, 277, 278;
women, 278-280;
plainness of quarters, 280;
Watch Night, 281, 284;
diplomats and statesmen, 284;
"Liber Scriptorum," 285, 286. Also 85, 176-178, 228, 232, 254, 258

Authorship, esteemed in Virginia, 66, 67

"Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," Holmes's, 219

=B=

"Bab Ballads," Gilbert's, 137

Bacon-Shakespeare controversy, 220

Bar Harbor, 295, 320-326

"Barnwell C. H.," 242

Bates House, Indianapolis, 28, 29

Bath, American habits as to, 30, 31

Beauregard, Gen., 87, 237-241

Beecher, Henry Ward, 108

"Ben Bolt," 255

Benjamin, Judah P., 237

Bernhardt, Sara, 229, 230

Berry, Earl D., 290

"Big Brother, The," 181-183

Bigelow, John, 188, 228, 289, 303

Bludso, Jim, 160-162

Blunders, compositors', 241-243;
literary, 222-227;
telegrapher's, 238, 239

Bohemianism, 177

Book-editing, 234-237

Book notices, 190

Book reviewers, 190

Book reviewing, newspaper, 217

Book sales, predicting, 252-254

Book titles, 154-157

Books, mutilation of, 271;
in Virginia, 66

Booth, Edwin, 275, 276

Booth, Postmaster of Brooklyn, 125

"Boots and Saddles," Mrs. Custer's, 252-254

Boston, literary center, 148

Boucicault, Dion, 153

Bound boys and girls, 14, 16

Bowen, Henry C., 100, 128

Boys' stories, 181-185

Bragg, Gen., 238

"Breadwinners, The," 165

Briars, The, 71

Briggs, Charles F., 100-107

British authors visiting America, 265, 268, 269

British condescension, 268

_Broadway Journal_, 100

Brooklyn. N. Y., 31, 99, 115, 117

Brooklyn _Daily Eagle_, 126

Brooklyn _Union_, 99, 100, 105, 107, 110, 113, 115, 116, 128

Brooks, Elbridge S., 185

"Browneyes, Lily," 256-258

Bryan, Wm. J., and the _World_ in 1896, 324-326. Also 335-337

Bryant, Wm. C., 68, 129, 143;
conduct of the N. Y. _Evening Post_, 187-189;
as a reviewer of books, 190;
appoints G. C. Eggleston literary editor of the _Evening Post_, 192-194;
character, 194-196;
relations with Washington Irving, 196-198;
consideration for poets, 199-202, 205, 206;
views of anonymous literary criticism, 203-205;
estimate of Poe, 207;
_Index Expurgatorius_, 209-213;
his democracy, 214;
opinion of English society, 215-217;
estimate of Tennyson and other modern poets, 219;
his judgment of English literature, 220, 221

Bull Run, 78

Byron, quoted, 83, 84

=C=

Cairo, Ills., 96, 99

"Campaign of Chancellorsville," Dodge's, 208

Campbell, Thomas, 254

Cannon, Capt. John, 161

"Captain Sam," 183

Cary, Alice and Phoebe, 137

Carlisle, John G., 330, 331

Catholicism, 26

Cavalry life, 77-81

Chamberlin, E. O., 329, 330

Champlin, John D., 285

Chance, its part in literary work, 181-185

Charleston, S. C., 86, 164, 241

Checks, bank, in Virginia, 50

Children's stories. _See_ Boys' stories

Church, Col. Wm. C., 204

Civil service system, 235

Civil War, changes wrought in Virginia, 73-76

Clay, Henry, 20

Clemens, Samuel L., 150, 160, 259, 265, 281

Cleveland, President, 214, 226, 330, 331

Coan, Dr. Titus Munson, quoted, 228

Cobham Station, 93

Cockerill, John A., 122, 308-312

Co-education, 57

Colman, Mr., 198

Collins, Tom, 89-93

_Commercial Advertiser._ _See under_ New York

Compositors, 314, 315

Condescension, British, 268

Congress, U. S., in Tilden-Hayes controversy, 331-333

Constitution, U. S., 226, 336

Conversion, religious, 92

Cooke, John Esten, 59, 67, 69-72, 151, 240

Copy, following, 241-243

Copyright, 153, 154, 231-234, 268

Corruption, political, 124-126, 334, 335

Courtesy in Boston, New York, Virginia, 55, 56

Court-martial, 88, 89

Coward, Edward Fales, 291

Cowley, Abraham, 192

Craig, George, 13, 17

Creek War, 183

Criticism. _See_ Literary criticism

"Culross," 338-344

Curtis, George William, 100

Curtis, Gen. Newton Martin, 85

Custer, Mrs., 252-254

Cuyler, Dr. Theo. L., quoted, 147

=D=

"Danger in the Dark," 26

Daniel, Senator, of Virginia, 85

Davis, James, 291

Davis, Jefferson, 164, 165, 237-241

Death-bed repentance, 93

Democracy, Bryant's, 214;
Cleveland's, 214

"Democracy," 269

Dictation, 341

Dictionaries, 210

Dime novel, 275, 276

Dodd, Mead, and Co., 244

Dodge, Mary Mapes, 131, 132

Dodge, Col. Theodore, 208

Dranesville, Va., 83

Dress, Joaquin Miller on, 175, 176;
men's evening, 175-178

Drinking habits. _See_ Temperance

Dumont, Mrs. Julia L., 9

Dupont, Ind., 21

Dutcher, Silas B., 125

"Dutchmen," 3

=E=

_Eagle_, Brooklyn. _See under_ Brooklyn

Early, Jubal A., 76

Editorial responsibility, 207-209

Editorial writing, 110, 313-315, 323, 340

Editors and authors, 167-172

Education, backwoods, 9, 10;
modern, 75, 76;
present and past in Virginia, 73-76;
western, in 1850, 32-34. _See also_ Schools and school-teaching

Eggleston, Edward, 21, 22;
origin of "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," 34-36;
connection with _Hearth and Home_, 132;
first to utilize in literature the Hoosier life, 145, 146;
resigns editorship of _Hearth and Home_, 146;
quoted on copyright, 232-234;
relations with his brother, 266, 267

Eggleston, George Cary,
early recollections, life in the West in the eighteen-forties, 1-20;
first railroad journey, 21;
free-thinking, 22;
early theological thought and reading, 22-26;
school-teaching, 34-45;
Virginia life, 46-59;
occultism, experience of, 60-66;
creed, 75;
army life, 77;
cavalry, 77-81;
two experiences, 81-85;
artillery, 86, 87;
Army of Northern Virginia, 87-96;
legal practice, 99;
Brooklyn _Union_, 99-129;
New York _Evening Post_, 129-131;
_Hearth and Home_, 131-135, 145, 146, 148, 151, 180;
first books, 146;
first novel, 151-155;
New Jersey home, 180, 186;
boys' stories, 181-185;
financial troubles, 186, 187;
connection with New York _Evening Post_, 187-231;
acquaintance with W. C. Bryant, 192-228;
adviser of Harper and Brothers, 231, 234, 236;
literary editor of the _Commercial Advertiser_, 287;
managing editor, 288;
editor-in-chief, 289;
health, 292, 306;
editorial writer for the _World_, 306-337;
retires from journalism, 337;
literary habits, 338-344

Eggleston, Guilford Dudley, 184

Eggleston, Joseph, 96, 98

Eggleston, Joseph Cary, 9, 14, 15

Eggleston, Mrs. Mary Jane, 11

Eggleston, Judge Miles Cary, 8

Eggleston family, home of, 46

Election results, predicting, 326

Eliot, George, 255

Elliot, Henry R., 291

"End of the World," E. Eggleston's, 146

English, Thomas Dunn, 172, 255

English authors. _See_ British authors

English language, N. Y. _Evening Post's_ standard, 210-214;
Virginia usage, 59;
Western usage, 8

English society, 215-217

_Evening Post, The._ _See under_ New York

Extemporaneous writing, 339-341

=F=

"Fable for Critics," 101, 106, 195

Familiarity, President Cleveland contrasted with W. C. Bryant, 214

Farragut, Admiral, quoted, 77

Fawcett, Edgar, 153

Fellows, Col. John R., 121, 122

Fiction, place in 1840-50, 25, 26;
writing of, 341, 342

"First of the Hoosiers," quoted, 145

First Regiment of Virginia Cavalry, 77, 78, 81

"Flat Creek," 37

Florida War, 243

Folsom, Dr. Francois, 291

Ford, Paul Leicester, 278, 279, 334

Foreigners, American attitude toward, 1840-50, 2, 3

Francis, Sir Philip, 223-225

"Franco, Harry," 100, 106

Franklin, Benj., 1, 139

Free-thinking, 22

Free-trade and protection, 20

French Revolution, 108, 109

Fulton, Rev. Dr., 113-115

=G=

G., Johnny, 43-45

_Galaxy_, 181, 204

Garfield, Gen., 119

George Eliot, 255

George, Lake, 335, 337. _See also_ "Culross"

Ghost story, 60-66

Gilbert, W. S., 137

Gilder, R. W., 172, 272, 273

Godkin, E. L., 230, 231

Godwin, Parke, 100, 188, 189, 227-230, 286-289, 295-300, 305

Gold coin in Plaquemine in 1886, 248-251

Gosse, Edmund, 177, 265-268

Gracie, Gen., 96

Grant, President, 93, 125, 126, 127, 244

_Graphic, The._ _See under_ New York

Grebe, Charley, 37, 39-45

Greeley, Horace, 139, 167

=H=

Halsted, Dr. Wm. S., 294

"Harold," Tennyson's, 218

Harper and Brothers, 153, 154, 155, 167, 168, 231, 236, 241, 252, 257,
287, 307

Harper, J. Henry, 259

Harper, Joseph W., Jr., 154, 168, 252, 253, 267, 285

_Harper's Magazine_, 141

Hay, John, 157-166, 275, 276

Hayden's "Dictionary of Dates," 234

Hayes-Tilden controversy, 332

_Hearth and Home_, 35, 36, 131-135, 145, 146, 148, 151, 157, 180

Hendrickses, the, 8

"Henry St. John, Gentleman," 69

_Herald, The._ _See under_ New York

"Heterophemy," 223-225

Hewitt, Mr., 291

Hill, A. P., 87

Hilton, Judge Henry, 121

Hirsh, Nelson, 291

Historical intuition, 47

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 177;
Bryant's estimate of, 219

_Home Journal_, 140

Hoosier dialect, 8, 14

Hoosier life, 145, 146

"Hoosier Schoolmaster, The," 34-36, 37, 41, 145;
in England, 233

Hospitality, 17, 320

Hotels in 1840-50, 28-31

"Houp-la," Mrs. Stannard's, 154

"How to Educate Yourself," 147

Howells, Wm. D., 1, 148-150, 204, 258

Humor, newspaper, 282-284

"Hundredth Man," Stockton's, 135, 136

Hurlbut, Wm. Hen., 177

Hutton, Laurence, 272, 274

=I=

Ideas, 297, 312

Ignorance in criticism, 226, 227

Illicit distilling in Brooklyn, 123-128

Illustration, newspaper, 179, 180

Imperialism, 336, 337

Independence, personal, 1840-50, 18-20

_Independent, The._ _See under_ New York

_Index Expurgatorius_, Bryant's, 209-213

Indian Territory, 183

Indiana, a model in education, 10, 11

Indiana Asbury University, 11

Indianapolis, Ind., 28

Intolerance, 26, 251

Introductions, 255-264

Intuition, historian's, 47

Irving, Washington, relations with Bryant, 196-198

=J=

Jackson, Mr., 314

James, G. P. R., 67, 68

Jeffersonianism, 296

John, a good name, 42, 43

"John Bull, Jr.," O'Rell's, 282

Johnson, Gen. Bushrod, 96

Johnson, Rossiter, 285

Johnson's Dictionary, 210

Jokes. _See_ Humor

Jones, J. B., 275

Journalism, 116, 292, 293. _See also_ Newspapers, Pulitzer

Judd, Orange, and Co., 132

Junius letters, authorship, 223

=K=

"Kate Bonnet," Stockton's, 135, 136

Kelly, John, 234

Kentuckians in the Northwest, 9-11

Khedive, 244

Kossuth, Louis, 297, 298

=L=

"Lady Gay," steamer, 96-98

Laffan, Wm. M., 304

Lakewood, 328-330

Language. _See_ English language

Lanier, Sidney, 262

"Last of the Flatboats, The," 185

"Late Mrs. Null," Stockton's, 135

Lathrop, George Parsons, 150

Latin, 33

Laziness, 17

Lecture system, 108

Lee, Fitzhugh, 81-84, 86

Lee, Gen. Robert E., 240

Lee family, 83

Letcher, John, 76, 91

Letters of introduction, 255-264

Lewis, Charlton T., 129, 130

Libel, 117-124, 272

"Liber Scriptorum," 285

Liberty, 296, 336

"Liffith Lank," 156

Lincoln, President, 84, 85, 334

Lindsay's Turnout, 88

Literary aspirants, 255-259

Literary criticism, anonymous, 203-205;
of the _Saturday Review_, 206;
ignorance displayed in, 226, 227

Literary work, 339. _See also_ Editorial writing

"Literati," Poe's, 172

Literature, place in 1840-50, 23-26

"Little Breeches," 157-159

Local independence, 1840-50, 18

Logan, Sidney Strother, 291

London, and Joaquin Miller, 173, 174

Longfellow, Henry W., 208

Longstreet, Gen., 87, 93, 94

Loomis, Charles Battell, 283

Loring, Gen. W. W., 243-247

Los Angeles, Cal., 31

Lothrop Publishing Company, 185, 263

Louisville and Cincinnati Mail Line, 30

Lowell, James Russell, 101, 106, 195

=M=

McCabe, Gordon, 267

McKane, John Y., 120

McKelway, Dr. St. Clair, 126

McKinley, President, 162

Madison, Ind., 15, 21, 36, 43, 44

Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, 13

Mallon, George B., 291

"Man of Honor, A," 151-155

"Man of Honor, A," Mrs. Stannard's, 154, 155

Manassas, 71, 78

Mann, Horace, 33

Manufactures, 1840-50, 18-20

Manuscripts for publication, 171, 172

"Manyest-sided man," 143

Marquand, Henry, 251, 290, 294

"Master of Warlock, The," 155-157

Matthews, Brander, 204, 269

Maynard, Judge, 323, 324

Mazeppa, quoted, 83, 84

Merrill, Wm. M., 312-314

Methodism and literature, 23-26

Mexican War, 243

"Military Operations of General Beauregard in the War between the
States," Roman's, 237

Military prisoners, 88

Miller, Joaquin, 172-176

Mims, Fort, 183

Mitchell, Donald G., 131

Model, artist's, 274

Money, its place in Virginia, 49-52

Munroe, Capt. Kirk, 257

Moody, Dwight, 168

Morey letter, 119

Morgan Syndicate, 1895-6, 327-329

Mortar service at Petersburg, 94, 95

Moses, ex-Governor, 262-264

Myths, 47

=N=

Nadeau House, Los Angeles, 31

Napoleon, Ind., 5

Nash, Thomas, 307

_Nation, The_, 231

New Orleans, 3, 4, 96, 98, 183

New York authors in 1882, 272

New York _Commercial Advertiser_, 251, 286-292

New York _Evening Sun_, 304

New York _Evening Post_, 68, 129, 131, 137, 140, 142, 143;
character under Bryant and Godwin, 187-189;
G. C. Eggleston literary editor, 192-194;
use of English, 209-213;
book reviews, 217, 218;
Godwin editor, 227;
writers, 228;
change of ownership, 230

New York _Graphic_, 180

New York _Herald_, 162

New York _Independent_, 100, 107, 110

New York _Sun_, 291, 301, 304

New York _Times_, 101

New York _Tribune_, 105, 129, 159, 164, 165

New York _World_, 120, 121, 122, 185, 291, 292, 303-331

Newspaper book reviews, 217

Newspaper correspondents, 245-247

Newspaper illustration, 179, 180

Newspaper libel suits, 117-124

Newspapers, character, 189;
earlier methods, 300-303;
revolution in conducting, 303;
emergency problems, 313-315;
power in politics, 327-332

Nicoll, De Lancy, 122

Nineteenth Century Club, 296

_North American Review_, 223

Novels _See_ Fiction, Scott. Dime novel

=O=

Occultism, 60-66, 299

"On March," Mrs. Stannard's, 155

O'Rell, Max, 287, 282

Osgood, James R., 306, 307

=P=

_Pall Mall Gazette_, 188

"Paul, John," 285

Personalities in newspapers, 189

Petersburg, 94-98

Philp, Kenward, 116-119

Piatt, Donn, 315-319

"Pike County Ballads," 157-159

Piracy, of American publishers, 231, 232;
of English publishers, 233

Plagiarism, 137-144;
Stockton on, 137, 138;
Franklin on, 139

Planter's life in Virginia, 50-53

Plaquemine, 248-251

Platt, Tom, 319

Pocotaligo, 87

Poe, Edgar Allan, 100-102, 172, 207

Poetic ambition, 44, 45

Poetry, bad, 199-202, 205, 206;
genuine, 221

Political corruption, 124-126, 334, 335

Political prescience, 326

"Poor Whites" in the Northwest, 11, 12

Potter, Bishop, 283, 284

Poverty in Indiana, 1840-50, 13

Preachers, stories of, 158, 162, 166, 167

Predicting election results, 326

Press. _See_ Newspapers, Journalism

"Prince Regent," 67, 68

_Princeton Review_, 296

Printers. _See_ Compositors, Copy

Prisoners, military, 88

Progress, 75, 76

Prohibition, 296

Proof-reading, 241-243

"Proverbial Philosophy," Tupper's, 208, 209

Provincialism of American literature, 269-271

Publishing, uncertainties, 254

Pulitzer, Joseph, 214, 303-305, 308, 311, 312, 314, 319-331

Punctuation, serious result of error, 238, 239

Putnam, George Haven, 147, 184

Putnam, George P., 146, 171

"Putnam's Handy Book Series," 136, 147

_Putnam's Monthly_, 101, 171

=R=

Radicalism after Civil War, 108

Railroad Iron Battery, 95, 96-98

Railroads, early, in the West, 20-22, 26, 27, 32-34

Randall, James R., 261, 262

Raymond, Henry J., 101

"Rebel's Recollections," 148-150, 240

Reid, Whitelaw, 143, 159, 164

"Reirritation," 213

Religious intolerance, 1840-50, 26

Restfulness of life in Virginia, 48, 49

Reviewing. _See under_ Book

Revision of manuscript, 341

Revivals, 168

_Revue des Deux Mondes_, publishes "Hoosier Schoolmaster," 145

Rhodes, James Ford, 334

Richmond, Arthur, 316, 317

Richmond, Va., 67, 68, 69, 84, 85

Riddel, John, 42, 43

Riker's Ridge, 35-45

Ripley, George, 167

"Rise and fall of the Confederate Government," Davis's, 164, 165

Ritchie, Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt, 67

"Robert E. Lee," steamer, 161

Roman, Col. Alfred, 237

Roman Catholicism. _See_ Catholicism

Roosevelt, Dr., 294

"Rudder Grange," Stockton's, 136

Russell, Charles E., 290

"Ruth," yacht, 295

=S=

St. Louis newspapers, 327

_St. Nicholas_, 132, 183

"St. Twelvemo," 156

Sanborn, Frank B., 150

_Saturday Review_, 206

Schools and school-teaching, 1850, 32-34, 45;
Western, 1840-50, 10, 11

Schurz, Carl, 208, 230, 332-337

Scotch-Irish, 9

Scott's novels, 275

Scott, Gen., 243, 244

Sexes, relations in Virginia, 53-59

Shakespeare, 220, 221

Shams of English society, 215-217

Sherman, Gen., his March to the Sea, 280;
quoted, on war, 80

Shiloh, battle, 238

"Shiveree," 14, 15

"Shocky," 41

Shooting, 14-16

Sidney, Sir Philip, 224, 225

Sieghortner's, 274

"Signal Boys, The," 183

"Skinning," 139, 144

Sloane, Dr. Wm. M., 296

Smith, Ballard, 309

Social conditions, 1840-50, 18-20

"Solitary Horseman," 67

"Son of Godwin, The," 220

"Song of Marion's Men," Bryant's, 196

_Southern Literary Messenger_, 68

Spanish-American War, 81

Sperry, Watson R., 191, 193, 208, 209

_Springfield Republican_, 208

Stannard, Mrs., 154, 155

Stapps, the, 8

Steamboats, 1850, 30

Stedman, E. C., 143, 144, 177, 178, 262

Stephens, Alexander H., 223

Stevens, Judge Algernon S., 8

Stewart, A. T., 121, 122

Stockton, Frank R., 133-139, 281, 283

Stoddard, Richard Henry, 202, 261, 262

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 131

"Stranded Goldbug," 251

Stuart, J. E. B., 70, 71, 77, 78, 81

Sullivan, Judge Algernon S., 8

Sumter, Fort, 164

_Sun, The._ _See under_ New York

Supernatural. _See_ Occultism

Surnames in fiction, 156

"Surrey of Eagle's Nest," 69

Swinton, William, 244

=T=

Tariff. _See_ Free trade and protection

Taylor, Judge, of Madison, 15

Temperance, 104, 112. _See also_ Prohibition

Tennyson, 143-145, 218

"Thanatopsis," Bryant's, 221, 222

Thompson, John R., 67, 68, 190

Thompson, Wm. Gilman, 294

Tilden, Samuel J., 228

Tilden-Hayes controversy, 332

Tile Club, 274, 275

Tilton, Theodore, 99, 100, 107-116, 125, 129, 259

_Times, The._ _See under_ New York

Titles, book, 154-157

Travel, 1840-50, 20, 21, 28-30

_Tribune, The._ _See under_ New York

"Tristram Shandy," saves life, 80

Tupper, Martin Farquhar, 208, 209

Tuttle, Dr., 294

Twain, Mark, 150, 160, 259, 265, 281

Tweed, Wm. M., 226

=U=

_Union_, Brooklyn. _See under_ Brooklyn

United States, lack of nationality, 1840-50, 6, 7

United States Government, bond issue, 1895-6,
and the N. Y. _World_, 327-331;
departments, 235, 236

United States Treasury, 327-331

=V=

Vevay, Ind., 2, 18

"Victorian Poets," Stedman's, on Tennyson's plagiarism, 143, 144

Virginia, home of the Egglestons, 46;
life in, 48, 49, 72;
present conditions, 73-76;
in the Civil War, 76, 77

"Virginia Comedians, The," 69

Virginian English, 59

"Virginians, The," society, 82

Voice, Virginia girls', 59

=W=

Walker, Gen. Lindsay, 87

Wappoo Cut, 86

War, 70, 71, 80, 81

War correspondents, 244, 245

Warlock, Mr., 155-157

Warner, Charles Dudley, 283

Washington executive departments, 235, 236

Wason, Rev. Hiram, 8

Wass, Jerome B., 127

Waste, saving, 52

Webb, Charles Henry, 156, 285

Wedding customs in Indiana, 1840-50, 14, 15

West, the, homogeneity in eighteen-forties, 7;
most representative of the country, 7, 27;
remoteness, 1840-50, 4, 5

White, Horace, 230

White, Richard Grant, 222-225, 274

Wickham, Williams C., 77

"Wild Western Scenes," Jones's, 275

Wilderness, 93

Will, story of a, 61, 62

Williams, Timothy Shaler, 290

Willis, N. P., 68

Winter, John Strange, 154, 155

Wise, Henry A., 77

Wister, Mrs., 142

Women, deference to, 56, 57;
in Virginia, 53-59

_World, The._ _See under_ New York

"Wreck of the Redbird, The," 184, 185

Wright, Henry, 291

=Y=

Yachting, 294

Yerger, E. M., of Jackson, Miss., 105

Yerger, Judge E. M., of Memphis, Tenn., 105

Youmans, Dr., 274

=Z=

Ziegenfust, Mr., 247, 248

* * * * *

JANE G. PERKINS'S

THE LIFE OF THE HONOURABLE MRS. NORTON

With portrait, 8vo. $3.50 net; by mail, $3.68.

Mrs. Norton was the great Sheridan's grand-daughter, beautiful and witty, the author of novels, poems and songs, contesting contemporary popularity with Mrs. Browning; her influence was potent in politics; Meredith undoubtedly had her in mind when he drew "Diana of the Crossways."

"Reads like a novel ... seems like the page from an old romance,
and Miss Perkins has preserved all its romantic charm.... Miss
Perkins has let letters, and letters unusually interesting, tell
much of the story.... Indeed her biography has all the sustained
interest of the novel, almost the irresistible march of fate of
the Greek drama. It is eminently reliable."--_Boston Transcript._

"Brilliant, beautiful, unhappy, vehement Caroline Norton....
Her story is told here with sympathy, but yet fairly enough
... interesting glimpses ... of the many men and women of note
with whom Mrs. Norton was brought into more or less intimate
association."--_Providence Journal._

"The generous space allowed her to tell her own story in the form
of intimate letters is a striking and admirable feature of the
book."--_The Dial._

"She was an uncommonly interesting personage and the memoir ...
has no dull spots and speedily wins its way to a welcome."--_New
York Tribune._

"So exceptional and vivid a personality ... of unusual quality
... very well written."--_The Outlook._

YUNG WING'S MY LIFE IN CHINA AND AMERICA

With portrait, 8vo. $2.50 net; by mail, $2.65.

The author's account of his early life in China, his education at Yale, where he graduated in 1854 (LL.D., 1876), his return to China and adventures during the Taiping rebellion, his intimate association with Tsang Kwoh Fan and Li Hung Chang, and finally his great work for the "Chinese Educational Movement" furnish highly interesting and good reading.

"It is his native land that is always the great heroic character
on the stage his mind surveys; and his mental grasp is as wide as
his domiciliation. A great life of action and reflection and the
experiences of two hemispheres. It is not so much a knowledge of
isolated facts that is to be got from the book as an understanding
of the character of the Chinese race."--_Hartford Courant._

"There is not a dull line in this simply told but fascinating
biography."--_Literary Digest._

"He has given Occidental readers an opportunity to behold the
machinery of Chinese custom and the substance of Chinese character
in action. No foreigner could possibly have written a work
so instructive, and no untravelled native could have made it
intelligible to the West ... a most interesting story both in
the telling and in the acting.... Mr. Yung presents each of his
readers with a fragment of China herself."--_Living Age._

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

* * * * *

By R. M. JOHNSTON

_Assistant Professor in Harvard University_

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

A Short History. 12mo, 278 pp., with special bibliographies following each chapter, and index. $1.25 net; by mail, $1.37.

"An almost ideal book of its kind and within its scope ... a
clear idea of the development and of the really significant men
of events of that cardinal epoch in the history of France and
Europe is conveyed to readers, many of whom will have been
bewildered by the anecdotal fulness or the rhetorical romancing of
Professor Johnston's most conspicuous predecessors."--_Churchman._

"Deserves to take rank as a little classic and as such to be given
a place in all libraries. Not only is this admirably written, but
it singles out the persons and events best worth understanding,
viewing the great social upheaval from a long perspective."--_San
Francisco Chronicle._

NAPOLEON

A Short Biography. 12mo. 248 pp., with special bibliographies following each chapter, and index. $1.25 net; by mail, $1.37.

"Scholarly, readable, and acute."--_Nation._

"It is difficult to speak with moderation of a work so pleasant
to read, so lucid, so skillful."--_Boston Transcript._

"A quite admirable book."--_London Spectator._

"The style is clear, concise and readable."--_London Athenaeum._

"In a small volume of less than 250 pages he gives us a valuable
key to the history of the European Continent from the Reign of
Terror to the present day."--_London Morning Post._

LEADING AMERICAN SOLDIERS

Biographies of Washington, Greene, Taylor, Scott, Andrew Jackson, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, McClellan, Meade, Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, Joseph E. Johnston. With portraits. 1 vol. $1.75 net; by mail $1.88.

In the "Leading Americans" series. Prospectus of the series on request.

"Performs a real service in preserving the essentials."--_Review
of Reviews._

"Very interesting.... Much sound originality of treatment, and
the style is clear."--_Springfield Republican._

[Asterism] If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

* * * * *

WILLIAM DE MORGAN'S IT NEVER CAN HAPPEN AGAIN

The story of the great love of "Blind Jim" and his little girl, and of the affairs of a successful novelist. Fourth printing. $1.75.

"William De Morgan at his very best."--_Independent._

"Another long delightful voyage with the best English company.
The story of a child certainly not less appealing to our generation
than Little Nell was to hers."--_New York Times Saturday Review._

WILLIAM DE MORGAN'S SOMEHOW GOOD

The dramatic story of some modern English people in a strange situation. Fourth printing. $1.75.

"A book as sound, as sweet, as wholesome, as wise, as any in the
range of fiction."--_The Nation._

"Our older novelists (Dickens and Thackeray) will have to look to
their laurels, for the new one is fast proving himself their equal.
A higher quality of enjoyment than is derivable from the work of
any other novelist now living and active in either England or
America."--_The Dial._

WILLIAM DE MORGAN'S ALICE-FOR-SHORT

The story of a London waif, a friendly artist, his friends and family. Seventh printing. $1.75.

"Really worth reading and praising ... will be hailed as a
masterpiece. If any writer of the present era is read a half
century hence, a quarter century, or even a decade, that writer
is William De Morgan."--_Boston Transcript._

"It is the Victorian age itself that speaks in those rich,
interesting, over-crowded books.... Will be remembered as
Dickens's novels are remembered."--_Springfield Republican._

WILLIAM DE MORGAN'S JOSEPH VANCE

A novel of life near London in the 50's. Tenth printing. $1.75.

"The book of the last decade; the best thing in fiction since
Mr. Meredith and Mr. Hardy; must take its place as the first
great English novel that has appeared in the twentieth
century."--Lewis Melville in _New York Times Saturday Review._

"If the reader likes both 'David Copperfield' and 'Peter
Ibbetson,' he can find the two books in this one."--_The
Independent._

[Asterism] A twenty-four page illustrated leaflet about Mr. De Morgan, with complete reviews of his books, sent on request.

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

* * * * *

"_The most important biographic contribution to musical
literature since the beginning of the century, with the
exception of Wagner's Letters to Frau Wesendonck._"

--H. T. FINCK, in the New York Evening Post.

(Circular with complete review and sample pages on application.)

Personal Recollections of Wagner

By ANGELO NEUMANN

Translated from the fourth German edition by EDITH LIVERMORE.
Large 12mo. 318 pp., with portraits and one of Wagner's letters
in facsimile. $2.50 net; by mail $2.65.

Probably no man ever did more to make Wagner's music dramas known than Angelo Neumann, who, with his famous "Wagner Travelling Theatre," carrying his artists, orchestra, scenery and elaborate mechanical devices, toured Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Russia, and with another organization gave "The Ring" in London. But the account of this tour, interesting as it is, is not the main feature of his book, which abounds in intimate glimpses of Wagner at rehearsals, at Wahnfried and elsewhere, and tells much of the great conductor, Anton Seidl, so beloved by Americans. Among other striking figures are Nikisch and Muck, both conductors of the Boston Symphony orchestra, Mottl, the Vogls, Von Bulow, Materna, Marianna Brandt, Klafsky, and Reicher-Kindermann.

It is doubtful if any book gives a more vivid and truthful picture of life and "politics" behind the scenes of various opera houses. Many of the episodes, such as those of a bearded Brynhild, the comedy writer and the horn player and the prince and the Rhinedaughter are decidedly humorous.

The earlier portions of the book tell of the Leipsic negotiations and performances, the great struggle with Von Huelsen, the royal intendant at Berlin, Bayreuth and "Parsifal." Many of Wagner's letters appear here for the first time.

_ILLUSTRATIONS._--RICHARD WAGNER: Bust by Anton zur Strassen in the foyer of the Leipsic Stadttheater.--ANGELO NEUMANN: From a picture in the Kuenstlerzimmer of the Leipsic Stadttheater.--ANTON SEIDL: Bas-relief by Winifred Holt of New York. Replica commissioned by Herr Direktor Neumann.--HEDWIG REICHER-KINDERMANN--Facsimile of letter from Wagner to Neumann, received after the news of Wagner's death.

If the reader will send his name and address the publishers will send information about their new books as issued.

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
34 WEST 33RD STREET NEW YORK

* * * * *

RICHARD BURTON'S
MASTERS OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL

A study of principles and personalities by the Professor of English Literature, University of Minnesota, author of "Literary Likings," "Forces in Fiction," "Rahab" (a Poetic Drama), etc. 12mo, 331 pp. and index. $1.25 net.

"Noteworthy American volume of literary criticism ... a
well-balanced, discerning and unhackneyed study ... delightfully
readable.... In his judgment of individual books and authors
Mr. Burton is refreshingly sane and trustworthy ... an inspiring
survey of the whole trend of fiction from Richardson to Howells,
with a valuable intermediary chapter on Stendhal and the French
realists, all presented in a style of genuine charm and rare
flexibility ... may be warranted to interest and inspire any
serious lover of fiction."--_Chicago Record-Herald._

"Rare sympathy and scholarly understanding ... book that should
be read and re-read by every lover of the English novel."--_Boston
Transcript._

RICHARD BURTON'S
RAHAB, A DRAMA OF THE FALL OF JERICHO

119 pp., 12mo. $1.25 net; by mail, $1.33. With cast of characters for the first performance and pictures of the scenes.

"A poetic drama of high quality. Plenty of dramatic action."--_New
York Times Review._

WILLIAM MORTON PAYNE'S
THE GREATER ENGLISH POETS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

383 pp., large 12mo. $2.00 net; by mail, $2.15. Studies of Keats, Shelley, Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Landor, Browning, Tennyson, Arnold, Rossetti, Morris, and Swinburne. Their outlook upon life rather than their strictly literary achievement is kept mainly in view.

"The sound and mellow fruits of his long career as a critic....
There is not a rash, trivial, or dull line in the whole book....
Its charming sanity has seduced me into reading it to the end,
and anyone who does the same will feel that he has had an
inspiring taste of everything that is finest in nineteenth-century
poetry. Ought to be read and reread by every student of literature,
and most of all by those who have neglected English poetry,
for here one finds its essence in brief compass."--_Chicago
Record-Herald._

If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

* * * * *

BEULAH MARIE DIX'S
ALLISON'S LAD AND OTHER MARTIAL INTERLUDES

$1.35 net; by mail, $1.44.

Allison's Lad, The Hundredth Trick, The Weakest Link, The Snare and the Fowler, The Captain of the Gate, The Dark of the Dawn.

These one-act plays, despite their impressiveness, are perfectly
practicable for performance by clever amateurs; at the same time
they make decidedly interesting reading.

Six stirring war episodes. Five of them occur at night, and most
of them in the dread pause before some mighty conflict. Three are
placed in Cromwellian days (two in Ireland and one in England),
one is at the close of the French Revolution, another at the time
of the Hundred Years' War, and the last during the Thirty Years'
War. The author has most ingeniously managed to give the feeling
of big events, though employing but few players. Courage,
vengeance, devotion and tenderness to the weak, are among the
emotions effectively displayed.

CONSTANCE D'ARCY MACKAY'S
THE HOUSE OF THE HEART

And Other Plays for Children

Ten well-written one-act plays to be acted by children. A satisfactory book to fill a real need. $1.10 net; by mail, $1.15.

"Each play contains a distinct lesson, whether of courage,
gentle manners, or contentment. The settings are simple and
the costumes within the compass of the schoolroom. Full
directions for costumes, scene setting, and dramatic action
are given with each play. All of them have stood the test of
actual production."--_Preface._

CONTENTS:

"The House of the Heart" (Morality Play)--"The Gooseherd and
the Goblin" (Comedy, suitable for June exercises)--"The Enchanted
Garden" (Flower Play, suitable for June exercises)--"Nimble Wit
and Fingerkin" (Industrial Play)--"A Little Pilgrim's Progress"
(Morality Play, suitable for Thanksgiving)--"A Pageant of Hours"
(To be given Out of Doors)--"On Christmas Eve"--"The Elf
Child"--"The Princess and the Pixies"--"The Christmas Guest"
(Miracle Play).

"An addition to child drama which has been sorely needed."--_Boston
Transcript._

[Asterism] If the reader will send his name and address the publishers will send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
34 WEST 33D STREET NEW YORK

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