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A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.

VOL. VI.

BOSTON, JANUARY, 1892.

ENTERED AT THE BOSTON POST-OFFICE AS SECOND-CLASS MAIL MATTER.

CONTENTS:

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WILLIAM CADWALLADER HUDSON.

The number of men whose literary talent is
first trained and developed in newspaper work,
and who eventually enter the field of fiction and
the drama, is naturally large, but the instances
in which success in all of these lines of work is
as marked as in the case of Mr. Hudson are
doubtless somewhat rare.

Ten years ago, a political writer connected

with the editorial staff of the Brooklyn Eagle,

under the great Kinsella, published a vast

amount of political correspondance in leading

newspapers, over the pen name, "Seacoal." It

is doubtful if any writer at the time was more
quoted than he. Such were his prominence,
the trustworthiness of his judgment, and the
accuracy of his information, that nothing he
offered for publication regarding the political
affairs of the time was ever refused, no matter
what attitude he took on any question.

From 1867, when, as a novice fresh from an
incomplete course at college (from which he
was withdrawn by the untimely death of his
father), he entered upon a reporter's duties on
the staff of the Brooklyn Eagle, until 1883, when
he was appointed to his present position as sec-
retary of the New York State Board of Railroad
Commissioners, Mr. Hudson filled the most
important positions on that influential paper,
being rapidly promoted to the desk of city
editor, then to the post of dramatic and musical
critic, and finally to the position of managing
editor and leading editorial writer. A rapid.
advance, this, in ten years, on so important a
paper as the Eagle, and one surely bespeaking
exceptional ability. It was as a political writer
that Mr. Hudson won his chief honors at the
time, his services being frequently demanded
by his party leaders. In 1884, if I mistake not,
he was placed at the head of the Cleveland
national campaign literature bureau, and the
exceptional success of the work was due in a
very large measure to his skill and experience.

While his appearance in general literature, so

far as his present prominence is concerned, is

recent, it is true that nearly twenty years ago,

in 1873, he wrote his first novel, " Dragging the

Anchor," which appeared as a serial; and about

the same time he produced several plays, one, a

dramatization of Reade's "Griffith Gaunt," be-

ing produced at the Park Theatre, Brooklyn,

and a satire, "The Happy World," being origi-

nally played at Hooley's Theatre, Brooklyn, and,

after a successful run, sent on a tour through

the country.

Yet, his first real success as a novelist came

Copyright, 1892, by WILLIAM H. HILLS. All rights reserved.

with the production of "The Diamond Button," which came about by the merest accident. Having been advised in 1888 to spend the summer upon the water for the benefit of his wife's health, he chartered a small steam yacht, and went on an extended cruise among the picturesque islands and inlets of Lake Champlain. Falling in love with the yacht, and finding it could be bought at a comparatively low price, but not feeling justified in taking the necessary amount from his income, he determined to write a novel to obtain the money. The result was "The Diamond Button," ownership of the yacht, and the writer at last fairly launched on the career of a novelist. It is seldom that latent ability is revealed by so curious and, to be frank, so trivial a motive. It is more than possible, however, that the impulse toward authorship was active, and that it needed only some pretext, apart from the every-day experiences of a busy official, to develop it into action. Be that as it may, "The Diamond Button" was struck off at fever heat, finished in a period of about three weeks, and on being submitted to Mr. Dunham, of Cassell & Co., was at once discovered to be a money-making venture. True, it was light, ephemeral, such a story as people love to read on railway trains and at the sea-shore, and did scant justice to the talent and mental fibre of the brilliant journalist. Yet, its merits were such as might have been easily predicted: directness, lucidity, brevity, a racy detective story, well-told, with characters real, even if not noteworthy. The book sold amazingly, was "syndicated," the plates were disposed of in Canada, and eventually the story was republished in France and Germany.

Mr. Hudson was at once made an offer by Cassell & Co. to place himself under contract for a term of years. This offer he finally accepted, and he has produced in rapid succession "Jack Gordon, Knight Errant, of Gotham," a dramatic version of which was put on the stage, and for which the author refused an offer of $10.000; "Vivier, of Vivier, Longman, & Co., Bankers": "The Man With the Thumb "; "On the Rack"; and the “ Dugdale Millions";— the two latter in the press, but already "syndicated." With the exception of "Vivier, of Vivier, Longman, & Co., Bankers," believed by

critics to be his best, all these stories have been widely "syndicated " before being published in book form, and perhaps it is not too much to claim for them that, with the clever novels of Harry Harland ("Sidney Luska"), they have been a mainstay of Cassell's Sunshine Series, through the immense clientèle of readers won for anything that Mr. Hudson may write. All the books have been published and widely read in England, and such is the rank they have attained that Mr. Hudson has already been spoken of as the American Wilkie Collins.

Despite such high praise, it is perhaps no breach of confidence to say that, like many another capable and cultivated author who has begun writing books of a kind to fit the popular demand, Mr. Hudson would be unwilling that his reputation should rest wholly upon the work so far produced, although it will easily rank with that of Edgar Fawcett, Julian Hawthorne, Archibald Gunther, Harry Harland, and half a score of other conspicuous American authors whose names will readily occur to every one.

However, regarding the character of his work, Mr. Hudson claims that he has no other purpose to serve than that of telling a story. He is neither a reformer nor a preacher. Yet one can see that certain social wrongs are vigorously attacked, and that without pretence he exposes evil character and wrong-doing. That he believes circumstantial evidence is wrong and dangerous is constantly present in his books. The habit of his thought is clean; and while he does not avoid the sexual relations, yet his books show no trace of impropriety. There is nothing risqué in his work. The tone is, indeed, distinctly moral. It is only in the breadth and height of his literary undertakings that he may find opportunity in the future to rise to his greatest stature. When he does, he may not produce the great American novel, still it would not be surprising if he should develop something which might easily be mistaken for that much-hoped-for creation.

His great quality, as so far revealed, is that of a plot-maker, and in this his fecundity is something remarkable. With his plot well in hand, he goes straight ahead, with no especial plan of work except to create characters, develop incidents, and lead up to his climaxes in the

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