The Mentor: Makers of American Fiction 2

The Mentor: Makers of American Fiction 2

Then, suddenly, success came. Almost simultaneously “The Gentleman from

Indiana” and “Monsieur Beaucaire” appeared, the first a full-length

novel of mid-western life, the second a charming little romance of

eighteenth-century manners at Bath when Beau Nash reigned and a Prince

of the Blood came over from France in the guise of a barber in the

French Minister’s train. The recognition won with those two books

has widened with the years. After the “Gentleman” and “Beaucaire”

came “The Two Van Revels,” the germ of which had been a short tale

of two thousand words written in the author’s undergraduate days. As

a result of a brief fling at political life Mr. Tarkington wrote the

stories collected under the title “In the Arena.” That was followed by

“The Conquest of Canaan,” the story of a discredited boy who leaves

his native town under a shadow, and returns to win its reluctant

admiration. The years spent about that time in Europe suggested “The

Guest of Quesnay,” and two shorter stories with scenes laid in Italy,

“The Beautiful Lady,” and “Mine Own People.” The chief distinction of

“The Flirt,” in which the author returned to the Indiana setting of the

earlier books, was the picture of the heroine’s impish brother, Hedrick

Madison. “The Turmoil,” dealing with the evolution of one of the great

mid-western cities, showed Mr. Tarkington in the full maturity of his

power. After that book he struck a new and rich vein in his sketches

delineating boy life, the stories dealing with Penrod Schofield and

William Sylvanus Baxter having found a response in every corner of the

land. Mr. Tarkington has also to his credit considerable achievement

as a playwright. “The Man From Home,” written in collaboration with

Harry Leon Wilson, was one of the most successful plays of the American

stage of recent years. Other plays from his pen are “Cameo Kirby,”

“Springtime,” “Mister Antonio,” “The Country Cousin,” and “Seventeen.”

Calling Indianapolis his home town, Mr. Tarkington spends much of his

time at Kennebunkport, Maine, and usually passes a month or two every

year in Princeton, New Jersey.

 

 

 

 

[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH BY PETER A. JULEY

 

ROBERT W. CHAMBERS]

 

_Robert W. Chambers_

 

TWO

 

 

What impresses one most about Mr. Robert W. Chambers is his amazing

versatility. In addition to being a popular novelist, he is an expert

on rare rugs; an artist, and so well qualified a judge of fine art

that he can talk intelligently to the curators and directors of

museums about the old masters on exhibition there; equipped with an

understanding of Chinese and Japanese antiques so that he can detect

forgeries in that art; an authority on mediæval armor; a lover of

outdoors, of horses, dogs, and an ardent collector of butterflies;

and, in addition, a thorough man of the world, who knows Paris and

Petrograd, and many of the out-of-the-way corners of the earth. These

are the qualities that come to mind readily, but the list is far from

complete. The longer one knows Mr. Chambers, the more varied the

knowledge he finds in him.

 

Out of such rich mental resources Mr. Chambers draws his material for

fiction. He writes two novels a year for a large public that eagerly

devours them. Mr. Chambers’ life is a full and active one.

 

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 26, 1865, and in his youth

he aspired to be a painter. He studied art in Paris at Julien’s

Studio from 1886 to 1893, then returned to New York, and for a while

contributed illustrations to the current publications. Then one day

a novel, “In the Quarter,” appeared with his name as author. From

that time on his life was given largely to writing fiction, and the

record of the years has been a brilliant one. In 1893 he published the

haunting, uncanny, but fascinating “The King in Yellow,” a collection

of stories of art life. He turned to France first as a background for

romance. At irregular intervals from 1894 to 1903 appeared “The Red

Republic,” “Lorraine,” “Ashes of Empire,” and “Maids of Paradise.” They

all had the France-Prussian War as their setting, and dashing young

Americans as their heroes. Then in 1901 with “Cardigan” and other books

he gave __EXPRESSION__ in fiction to the spirit of the American Revolution.

It has not been simply as an historical or a semi-historical novelist,

however, that Mr. Chambers has made his widest appeal. In the foibles,

extravagances, superficialities and eccentricities of contemporary

American society, he has found his richest vein. It does not matter

whether the background of a particular tale be New York, or Washington,

or Palm Beach. The underlying social and ethical problems are of real

importance. Marriage, the giving or selling in marriage, the reasons

of heredity that make for or against a certain marriage: these are

fundamentals common to all humanity. In “The Younger Set” and “The

Firing Line” hero and heroine have unwisely married, and the story

hinges largely on problems raised subsequently by divorce. In “The

Fighting Chance” (1906), and “The Danger Mark” (1909) the problem is

that of unfitness to marry. In the former it is the man who inherits

a craving for alcohol, and the woman for sentimental philandering; in

the latter the woman is given to intemperance and the man to excessive

gallantry. In one of his later books, “The Hidden Children” (1915), Mr.

Chambers returns to a favorite setting of the earlier years, upper New

York of the Colonial period.

 

On a basis of solid fact, it would seem impossible for one man to

do all this work. Where does he ever find time to do it? The answer

lies in the fact that Mr. Chambers keeps regular hours--office hours,

almost--for his writing, all of which is done in long hand. At that he

is not a rapid writer, frequent revision is essential, and a passion

for the verification of details consumes much time. Yet the bulk and

excellence of the accomplished performance remains an established fact;

and in many ways it is little less than marvelous.

 

 

 

 

[Illustration:

 

PHOTOGRAPH BY PACH BROS.

 

RICHARD HARDING DAVIS]

 

_Richard Harding Davis_

 

THREE

 

 

In 1890 there appeared in _Scribner’s Magazine_ a short story entitled

“Gallegher.” It gave an account of a smart young office boy employed on

one of the newspapers, who succeeded in “beating the town” by bringing

home a big, sporting story to his paper. It was held at once as one of

the best newspaper tales ever printed. When the name of the author,

Richard Harding Davis, was mentioned, the reading public recognized him

as the son of Rebecca Harding Davis, a fiction writer of established

reputation. Davis’ fifty-two years of life were full of color and manly

achievement. He was a novelist, short story writer, war correspondent,

editor and playwright. He began as newspaper reporter, a pursuit most

natural, for his father, L. Clarke Davis, was a brilliant journalist

and editor.

 

Richard Harding Davis was born in Philadelphia in 1864, and attended

the Episcopal Academy and afterwards Lehigh and Johns-Hopkins

Universities. In his college days he was weak in mathematics, but

strong in all that made life full, joyous and vital. He entered eagerly

into sports and wrote stories for the Lehigh magazines.

 

In 1887 he began newspaper work on the Philadelphia _Record_, also

occasionally contributing to the _Press_ and other Philadelphia papers.

His first big assignment was in connection with the Johnstown Flood in

1889. It was in the _Press_ office that Davis discovered the original

Gallegher--the office boy who was immortalized in Davis’ famous story,

just as the mongrel dog was vindicated in Davis’ later story “The Bar

Sinister.” In 1889 he made a trip to London as correspondent to the

Philadelphia _Telegraph_, and while there wrote of the Whitechapel

murders in a way that attracted attention. He got his first job in New

York in this way. In London he came to know Arthur Brisbane, who was

then English correspondent of the New York _Sun_, and afterward editor

of the _Evening Sun_. On his return to America he sought a newspaper

job in New York, and Brisbane took him on the _Evening Sun_. His

first experience was strikingly characteristic. A bunco man accosted

him near the ferry. Davis gave him some marked money, then had him

arrested and walked him boldly into the _Evening Sun_ office, showed

him up for the crook he was--and then wrote him up in the form of a

news story for the paper. Aside from his regular assignments as a

reporter, Davis busied himself with pictures of various types of New

York life. Among these the most famous were the Van Bibber stories, in

which Davis presented types of New York society. In 1891 Davis went

to _Harper’s Weekly_ and remained there for three years as managing

editor. Then he became a free lance. It was not necessary for him

to “hold down a job.” All magazines and book publishers were eager

for his work. His first engagement as war correspondent was on the

battlefields of the Greco-Turkish War. He was a prominent figure among

newspaper correspondents in all the great wars that followed. He made

a genuine sensation by his war letters written from Cuba during the

Spanish-American War of 1898. In that war Davis formed a friendship

with Theodore Roosevelt that remained firm through life.

 

In 1898, with the publication of “Soldiers of Fortune” in _Scribner’s

Magazine_, the reputation of Davis as a novelist became established,

and, thereafter, the fiction that flowed from his pen found an eager

and growing audience. His extensive travels enabled him to set his

stories in widely varied scenes. “Soldiers of Fortune” told of

revolution and political intrigue in a South American republic. That

also was the vein and atmosphere of “Captain Macklin” and later of “The

White Mice.” In “The Exiles” he invaded Morocco for his background

and characters. Later, in “The King’s Jackal,” he laid his scenes in

Tangier. “Ranson’s Folly” is a story of American army life--afterwards

dramatized, as was “Soldiers of Fortune.” “Princess Aline” is a

romantic story of the “Graustark” kind. Besides fiction, Davis wrote

many books of adventure and travel impression, such as “Rulers of the

Mediterranean,” “Three Gringos in Venezuela,” “The West from a Car

Window,” “A Year from a Reporter’s Note Book,” “The Congo and Coasts of

Africa.” His later books, based on war correspondence, include “With

the French,” “Somewhere in France,” and “With the Allies.”

 

We have named scarcely half the titles of Davis’ work. He was busy

always with his pen, and, as one of his fellow craftsmen in literature

observed, he “never penned a dull line.” In all his stories he left a

record of his sturdy Americanism and his passionate devotion to a just

cause, wherever he found it.

 

He died suddenly of heart disease on April 12, 1916. The loss to

literature was great and was keenly felt in a history-making time

like this that demands an eloquent chronicler. Davis will always be

remembered as one of the most buoyant, brave, heroic and industrious

workers in the field of American literature, a man who saw life fully

and clearly, and who reflected it truly, in healthy, ringing, inspiring tones.