Copyright, 1910
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Published March, 1910
TO
MARION MY WIFE
I DEDICATE THESE RECOLLECTIONS
OF A LIFE THAT SHE HAS LOYALLY
SHARED, ENCOURAGED, AND INSPIRED
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Introductory | [1] |
| II. | The Country as I First Knew It—Intensity of Its Americanism—The Lure of New Orleans | [2] |
| III. | Provincialism—A Travel Center—Road Conditions—Mails—The Estrangement of Communities and Other Isolating Conditions | [4] |
| IV. | The Composite West—Dialect—The Intellectual Class | [7] |
| V. | The Sturdy Kentuckians and Their Influence | [9] |
| VI. | A Poor Boy's Career | [13] |
| VII. | "Shooting Stock" | [14] |
| VIII. | A Limitless Hospitality | [16] |
| IX. | Industrial Independence and Thrift | [18] |
| X. | Early Railroads—A Precocious Skeptic—Religious Restriction of Culture | [20] |
| XI. | Culture by Stealth | [24] |
| XII. | Civilization on Wheels | [26] |
| XIII. | A Breakfast Revolution | [28] |
| XIV. | A Bathroom Episode | [30] |
| XV. | Western School Methods | [32] |
| XVI. | "The Hoosier Schoolmaster"—A Bit of Literary History | [34] |
| XVII. | The Biggest Boy—A Vigorous Volunteer Monitor—Charley Grebe | [38] |
| XVIII. | What's in a Name? | [42] |
| XIX. | A Buttermilk Poet | [43] |
| XX. | Removal to Virginia—Impressions of Life There—The Contradiction of the Critics in Their Creative Incredulity | [45] |
| XXI. | The Virginian Life | [48] |
| XXII. | The Virginian Attitude Toward Money—Parson J——'s Checks—The Charm of Leisureliness | [49] |
| XXIII. | The Courtesy of the Virginians—Sex and Education—Reading Habits—Virginia Women's Voices | [55] |
| XXIV. | The Story of the West Wing—A Challenge to the Ghosts—The Yellow-Gray Light—And Breakfast | [60] |
| XXV. | Authors in Richmond—G. P. R. James, John Esten Cooke, Mrs. Mowatt Ritchie, John R. Thompson, etc.—John Esten Cooke, Gentleman—How Jeb Stuart Made Him a Major | [66] |
| XXVI. | The Old Life in the Old Dominion and the New—An Old Fogy's Doubts and Questionings | [72] |
| XXVII. | Under Jeb Stuart's Command—The Legend of the Mamelukes—The Life of the Cavaliers—Tristram Shandy Does Bible Duty—The Delights of the War Game and the Inspiration of It | [76] |
| XXVIII. | Fitz Lee and an Adventure—A Friendly Old Foe | [81] |
| XXIX. | Pestilence | [86] |
| XXX. | Left Behind—A Gratuitous Law Practice Under Difficulties—The Story of Tom Collins—A Death-Bed Repentance and Its Prompt Recall | [87] |
| XXXI. | Sharp-Shooter Service—Mortar Service at Petersburg—The Outcome of a Strange Story | [93] |
| XXXII. | The Beginning of Newspaper Life—Theodore Tilton and Charles F. Briggs | [99] |
| XXXIII. | Theodore Tilton | [107] |
| XXXIV. | Further Reminiscences of Tilton | [111] |
| XXXV. | The Tilton-Beecher Controversy—A Story as Yet Untold | [115] |
| XXXVI. | My First Libel Suit | [116] |
| XXXVII. | Libel Suit Experiences—The Queerest of Libel Suits—John Y. McKane's Case | [119] |
| XXXVIII. | Early Newspaper Experiences—Two Interviews with President Grant—Grant's Method | [123] |
| XXXIX. | Charlton T. Lewis | [129] |
| XL. | Hearth and Home—Mary Mapes Dodge—Frank R. Stockton—A Whimsical View of Plagiary | [131] |
| XLI. | Some Plagiarists I Have Known—A Peculiar Case of Plagiary—A Borrower from Stedman | [139] |
| XLII. | The "Hoosier Schoolmaster's" Influence—Hearth and Home Friendships and Literary Acquaintance—My First Book—Mr. Howells and "A Rebel's Recollections"—My First After-Dinner Speech—Mr. Howells, Mark Twain, and Mr. Sanborn to the Rescue | [145] |
| XLIII. | A Novelist by Accident—"A Man of Honor" and the Plagiarists of Its Title—A "Warlock" on the Warpath and a Lot of Fun Lost | [151] |
| XLIV. | John Hay and the Pike County Ballads—His Own Story of Them and of Incidents Connected with Them | [157] |
| XLV. | A Disappointed Author—George Ripley's Collection of Applications for His Discharge—Joe Harper's Masterpiece—Manuscripts and Their Authors—Mr. George P. Putnam's Story | [166] |
| XLVI. | Joaquin Miller—Dress Reform à la Stedman | [172] |
| XLVII. | Beginnings of Newspaper Illustration—Accident's Part in the Literary Life—My First Boys' Book—How One Thing Leads to Another | [179] |
| XLVIII. | The First Time I Was Ever Robbed—The Evening Post Under Mr. Bryant—An Old-Fashioned Newspaper—Its Distinguished Outside Staff—Its Regard for Literature—Newspaper Literary Criticism and the Critics of That Time—Thomas Bailey Aldrich's Idea of New York as a Place of Residence—My Own Appointment and the Strange Manner of It | [186] |
| XLIX. | A Study of Mr. Bryant—The Irving Incident | [194] |
| L. | Mr. Bryant's Tenderness Towards Poets—A Cover Literary Criticism | [199] |
| LI. | A Thrifty Poet's Plan—Mr. Bryant and the Poe Article—The Longfellow Incident—The Tupper Embarrassment | [205] |
| LII. | Mr Bryant's Index Expurgatorius—An Effective Blunder in English—Mr. Bryant's Dignified Democracy—Mr. Cleveland's Coarser Method—Mr. Bryant and British Snobbery | [209] |
| LIII. | The Newspaper Critic's Function—A Literary News "Beat"—Mr. Bryant and Contemporary Poets—Concerning Genius—The True Story of "Thanatopsis" | [217] |
| LIV. | An Extraordinary Case of Heterophemy—The Demolition of a Critic | [222] |
| LV. | Parke Godwin—"A Lion in a Den of Daniels"—The Literary Shop Again—Literary Piracy—British and American | [227] |
| LVI. | The Way of Washington Officials—A Historical Discovery—A Period Out of Place—A Futile Effort to Make Peace—The "Intelligent Compositor" at His Worst—Loring Pacha—War Correspondents—The Tourist Correspondent—Loring's Story of Experience | [234] |
| LVII. | "A Stranded Gold Bug"—Results of a Bit of Humor | [247] |
| LVIII. | Mrs. Custer's "Boots and Saddles"—The Success and Failure of Books | [252] |
| LIX. | Letters of Introduction—The Disappointment of Lily Browneyes—Mark Twain's Method—Some Dangerous Letters of Introduction—Moses and My Green Spectacles | [255] |
| LX. | English Literary Visitors—Mr. Edmund Gosse's Visit—His Amusing Misconceptions—A Question of Provincialism—A Literary Vandal | [265] |
| LXI. | The Founding of the Authors' Club—Reminiscences of Early Club Life—John Hay and Edwin Booth on Dime Novels | [272] |
| LXII. | The Authors Club—Its Ways and Its Work—Watch-Night Frolics—Max O'Rell and Mark Twain—The Reckless Injustice of the Humorists—Bishop Potter's Opinion—The Club's Contribution of Statesmen and Diplomats—The Delight of the Authors Club "After the Authors Have Gone Home"—"Liber Scriptorum," the Club's Successful Publishing Venture | [277] |
| LXIII. | In Newspaper Life Again—Editing the Commercial Advertiser—John Bigelow's Discouraging Opinion—Henry Marquand and Some of My Brilliant "Cubs"—Men Who Have Made Place and Name for Themselves—The Dread Task of the Editor-in-Chief—Yachting with Marquand and the Men I Met on Deck—Parke Godwin—Recollections of a Great and Good Man—A Mystery of Forgetting | [286] |
| LXIV. | Newspapers Then and Now—The Pulitzer Revolution—The Lure of the World—A Little Dinner to James R. Osgood | [300] |
| LXV. | Service on the World—John A. Cockerill—An Editorial Perplexity—Editorial Emergencies—In Praise of the Printers—Donn Piatt—"A Syndicate of Blackguards"—An Unmeant Crime | [307] |
| LXVI. | First Acquaintance with Joseph Pulitzer—His Hospitality, Courtesy, Kindliness, and Generosity—His Intellectual Methods—The Maynard Case—Bryan's Message and Mr. Pulitzer's Answer—Extraordinary Political Foresight | [319] |
| LXVII. | A Napoleonic Conception—A Challenge to the Government—The Power of the Press | [327] |
| LXVIII. | Recollections of Carl Schurz | [333] |
| LXIX. | The End of Newspaper Life | [337] |
| LXX. | My Working Ways—Extemporary Writing—The Strange Perversity of the People in Fiction—The Novelist's Sorest Perplexity—Working Hours and Working Ways—My Two Rules as to Literary Style | [339] |