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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Adventures and Letters + +Author: Richard Harding Davis + +Release Date: January 25, 2008 [EBook #405] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURES AND LETTERS *** + + + + + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +ADVENTURES AND LETTERS +</H1> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OF +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +RICHARD HARDING DAVIS +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +EDITED BY +<BR> +CHARLES BELMONT DAVIS +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE EARLY DAYS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">COLLEGE DAYS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">FIRST NEWSPAPER EXPERIENCES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">NEW YORK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">FIRST TRAVEL ARTICLES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARIS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">FIRST PLAYS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">MOSCOW, BUDAPEST, LONDON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CAMPAIGNING IN CUBA, AND GREECE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE BOER WAR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH CORONATIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE JAPANESE-RUSSIAN WAR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">MOUNT KISCO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE CONGO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">A LONDON WINTER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">MILITARY MANOEUVRES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">VERA CRUZ AND THE GREAT WAR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">THE LAST DAYS</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EARLY DAYS +</H3> + +<P> +Richard Harding Davis was born in Philadelphia on April 18, 1864, but, +so far as memory serves me, his life and mine began together several +years later in the three-story brick house on South Twenty-first +Street, to which we had just moved. For more than forty years this was +our home in all that the word implies, and I do not believe that there +was ever a moment when it was not the predominating influence in +Richard's life and in his work. As I learned in later years, the house +had come into the possession of my father and mother after a period on +their part of hard endeavor and unusual sacrifice. It was their +ambition to add to this home not only the comforts and the beautiful +inanimate things of life, but to create an atmosphere which would prove +a constant help to those who lived under its roof—an inspiration to +their children that should endure so long as they lived. At the time +of my brother's death the fact was frequently commented upon that, +unlike most literary folk, he had never known what it was to be poor +and to suffer the pangs of hunger and failure. That he never suffered +from the lack of a home was certainly as true as that in his work he +knew but little of failure, for the first stories he wrote for the +magazines brought him into a prominence and popularity that lasted +until the end. But if Richard gained his success early in life and was +blessed with a very lovely home to which he could always return, he was +not brought up in a manner which in any way could be called lavish. +Lavish he may have been in later years, but if he was it was with the +money for which those who knew him best knew how very hard he had +worked. +</P> + +<P> +In a general way, I cannot remember that our life as boys differed in +any essential from that of other boys. My brother went to the +Episcopal Academy and his weekly report never failed to fill the whole +house with an impenetrable gloom and ever-increasing fears as to the +possibilities of his future. At school and at college Richard was, to +say the least, an indifferent student. And what made this undeniable +fact so annoying, particularly to his teachers, was that morally he +stood so very high. To "crib," to lie, or in any way to cheat or to do +any unworthy act was, I believe, quite beyond his understanding. +Therefore, while his constant lack of interest in his studies goaded +his teachers to despair, when it came to a question of stamping out +wrongdoing on the part of the student body he was invariably found +aligned on the side of the faculty. Not that Richard in any way +resembled a prig or was even, so far as I know, ever so considered by +the most reprehensible of his fellow students. He was altogether too +red-blooded for that, and I believe the students whom he antagonized +rather admired his chivalric point of honor even if they failed to +imitate it. As a schoolboy he was aggressive, radical, outspoken, +fearless, usually of the opposition and, indeed, often the sole member +of his own party. Among the students at the several schools he +attended he had but few intimate friends; but of the various little +groups of which he happened to be a member his aggressiveness and his +imagination usually made him the leader. As far back as I can +remember, Richard was always starting something—usually a new club or +a violent reform movement. And in school or college, as in all the +other walks of life, the reformer must, of necessity, lead a somewhat +tempestuous, if happy, existence. The following letter, written to his +father when Richard was a student at Swarthmore, and about fifteen, +will give an idea of his conception of the ethics in the case: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SWARTHMORE—1880. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR PAPA: +</P> + +<P> +I am quite on the Potomac. I with all the boys at our table were +called up, there is seven of us, before Prex. for stealing sugar-bowls +and things off the table. All the youths said, "O President, I didn't +do it." When it came my turn I merely smiled gravely, and he passed on +to the last. Then he said, "The only boy that doesn't deny it is +Davis. Davis, you are excused. I wish to talk to the rest of them." +That all goes to show he can be a gentleman if he would only try. I am +a natural born philosopher so I thought this idea is too idiotic for me +to converse about so I recommend silence and I also argued that to deny +you must necessarily be accused and to be accused of stealing would of +course cause me to bid Prex. good-by, so the only way was, taking these +two considerations with each other, to deny nothing but let the +good-natured old duffer see how silly it was by retaining a placid +silence and so crushing his base but thoughtless behavior and +machinations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the early days at home—that is, when the sun shone—we played +cricket and baseball and football in our very spacious back yard, and +the programme of our sports was always subject to Richard's change +without notice. When it rained we adjourned to the third-story front, +where we played melodrama of simple plot but many thrills, and it was +always Richard who wrote the plays, produced them, and played the +principal part. As I recall these dramas of my early youth, the action +was almost endless and, although the company comprised two charming +misses (at least I know that they eventually grew into two very lovely +women), there was no time wasted over anything so sentimental or futile +as love-scenes. But whatever else the play contained in the way of +great scenes, there was always a mountain pass—the mountains being +composed of a chair and two tables—and Richard was forever leading his +little band over the pass while the band, wholly indifferent as to +whether the road led to honor, glory, or total annihilation, meekly +followed its leader. For some reason, probably on account of my early +admiration for Richard and being only too willing to obey his command, +I was invariably cast for the villain in these early dramas, and the +end of the play always ended in a hand-to-hand conflict between the +hero and myself. As Richard, naturally, was the hero and incidentally +the stronger of the two, it can readily be imagined that the fight +always ended in my complete undoing. Strangulation was the method +usually employed to finish me, and, whatever else Richard was at that +tender age, I can testify to his extraordinary ability as a choker. +</P> + +<P> +But these early days in the city were not at all the happiest days of +that period in Richard's life. He took but little interest even in the +social or the athletic side of his school life, and his failures in his +studies troubled him sorely, only I fear, however, because it troubled +his mother and father. The great day of the year to us was the day our +schools closed and we started for our summer vacation. When Richard +was less than a year old my mother and father, who at the time was +convalescing from a long illness, had left Philadelphia on a search for +a complete rest in the country. Their travels, which it seems were +undertaken in the spirit of a voyage of discovery and adventure, +finally led them to the old Curtis House at Point Pleasant on the New +Jersey coast. But the Point Pleasant of that time had very little in +common with the present well-known summer resort. In those days the +place was reached after a long journey by rail followed by a three +hours' drive in a rickety stagecoach over deep sandy roads, albeit the +roads did lead through silent, sweet-smelling pine forests. Point +Pleasant itself was then a collection of half a dozen big farms which +stretched from the Manasquan River to the ocean half a mile distant. +Nothing could have been more primitive or as I remember it in its +pastoral loveliness much more beautiful. Just beyond our cottage the +river ran its silent, lazy course to the sea. With the exception of +several farmhouses, its banks were then unsullied by human habitation +of any sort, and on either side beyond the low green banks lay fields +of wheat and corn, and dense groves of pine and oak and chestnut trees. +Between us and the ocean were more waving fields of corn, broken by +little clumps of trees, and beyond these damp Nile-green pasture +meadows, and then salty marshes that led to the glistening, white +sand-dunes, and the great silver semi-circle of foaming breakers, and +the broad, blue sea. On all the land that lay between us and the +ocean, where the town of Point Pleasant now stands, I think there were +but four farmhouses, and these in no way interfered with the landscape +or the life of the primitive world in which we played. +</P> + +<P> +Whatever the mental stimulus my brother derived from his home in +Philadelphia, the foundation of the physical strength that stood him in +such good stead in the campaigns of his later years he derived from +those early days at Point Pleasant. The cottage we lived in was an old +two-story frame building, to which my father had added two small +sleeping-rooms. Outside there was a vine-covered porch and within a +great stone fireplace flanked by cupboards, from which during those +happy days I know Richard and I, openly and covertly, must have +extracted tons of hardtack and cake. The little house was called +"Vagabond's Rest," and a haven of rest and peace and content it +certainly proved for many years to the Davis family. From here it was +that my father started forth in the early mornings on his all-day +fishing excursions, while my mother sat on the sunlit porch and wrote +novels and mended the badly rent garments of her very active sons. +After a seven-o'clock breakfast at the Curtis House our energies never +ceased until night closed in on us and from sheer exhaustion we dropped +unconscious into our patch-quilted cots. All day long we swam or +rowed, or sailed, or played ball, or camped out, or ate enormous +meals—anything so long as our activities were ceaseless and our +breathing apparatus given no rest. About a mile up the river there was +an island—it's a very small, prettily wooded, sandy-beached little +place, but it seemed big enough in those days. Robert Louis Stevenson +made it famous by rechristening it Treasure Island, and writing the new +name and his own on a bulkhead that had been built to shore up one of +its fast disappearing sandy banks. But that is very modern history and +to us it has always been "The Island." In our day, long before +Stevenson had ever heard of the Manasquan, Richard and I had discovered +this tight little piece of land, found great treasures there, and, hand +in hand, had slept in a six-by-six tent while the lions and tigers +growled at us from the surrounding forests. +</P> + +<P> +As I recall these days of my boyhood I find the recollections of our +life at Point Pleasant much more distinct than those we spent in +Philadelphia. For Richard these days were especially welcome. They +meant a respite from the studies which were a constant menace to +himself and his parents; and the freedom of the open country, the +ocean, the many sports on land and on the river gave his body the +constant exercise his constitution seemed to demand, and a broad field +for an imagination which was even then very keen, certainly keen enough +to make the rest of us his followers. +</P> + +<P> +In an extremely sympathetic appreciation which Irvin S. Cobb wrote +about my brother at the time of his death, he says that he doubts if +there is such a thing as a born author. Personally it so happened that +I never grew up with any one, except my brother, who ever became an +author, certainly an author of fiction, and so I cannot speak on the +subject with authority. But in the case of Richard, if he was not born +an author, certainly no other career was ever considered. So far as I +know he never even wanted to go to sea or to be a bareback rider in a +circus. A boy, if he loves his father, usually wants to follow in his +professional footsteps, and in the case of Richard, he had the double +inspiration of following both in the footsteps of his father and in +those of his mother. For years before Richard's birth his father had +been a newspaper editor and a well-known writer of stories and his +mother a novelist and short-story writer of great distinction. Of +those times at Point Pleasant I fear I can remember but a few of our +elders. There were George Lambdin, Margaret Ruff, and Milne Ramsay, +all painters of some note; a strange couple, Colonel Olcott and the +afterward famous Madam Blavatsky, trying to start a Buddhist cult in +this country; Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, with her foot on the first +rung of the ladder of fame, who at the time loved much millinery +finery. One day my father took her out sailing and, much to the lady's +discomfiture and greatly to Richard's and my delight, upset the famous +authoress. At a later period the Joseph Jeffersons used to visit us; +Horace Howard Furness, one of my father's oldest friends, built a +summer home very near us on the river, and Mrs. John Drew and her +daughter Georgie Barrymore spent their summers in a near-by hostelry. +I can remember Mrs. Barrymore at that time very well—-wonderfully +handsome and a marvellously cheery manner. Richard and I both loved +her greatly, even though it were in secret. Her daughter Ethel I +remember best as she appeared on the beach, a sweet, long-legged child +in a scarlet bathing-suit running toward the breakers and then dashing +madly back to her mother's open arms. A pretty figure of a child, but +much too young for Richard to notice at that time. In after-years the +child in the scarlet bathing-suit and he became great pals. Indeed, +during the latter half of his life, through the good days and the bad, +there were very few friends who held so close a place in his sympathy +and his affections as Ethel Barrymore. +</P> + +<P> +Until the summer of 1880 my brother continued on at the Episcopal +Academy. For some reason I was sent to a different school, but outside +of our supposed hours of learning we were never apart. With less than +two years' difference in our ages our interests were much the same, and +I fear our interests of those days were largely limited to out-of-door +sports and the theatre. We must have been very young indeed when my +father first led us by the hand to see our first play. On Saturday +afternoons Richard and I, unattended but not wholly unalarmed, would +set forth from our home on this thrilling weekly adventure. Having +joined our father at his office, he would invariably take us to a +chop-house situated at the end of a blind alley which lay concealed +somewhere in the neighborhood of Walnut and Third Streets, and where we +ate a most wonderful luncheon of English chops and apple pie. As the +luncheon drew to its close I remember how Richard and I used to fret +and fume while my father in a most leisurely manner used to finish off +his mug of musty ale. But at last the three of us, hand in hand, my +father between us, were walking briskly toward our happy destination. +At that time there were only a few first-class theatres in +Philadelphia—the Arch Street Theatre, owned by Mrs. John Drew; the +Chestnut Street, and the Walnut Street—all of which had stock +companies, but which on the occasion of a visiting star acted as the +supporting company. These were the days of Booth, Jefferson, Adelaide +Neilson, Charles Fletcher, Lotta, John McCullough, John Sleeper Clark, +and the elder Sothern. And how Richard and I worshipped them all—not +only these but every small-bit actor in every stock company in town. +Indeed, so many favorites of the stage did my brother and I admire that +ordinary frames would not begin to hold them all, and to overcome this +defect we had our bedroom entirely redecorated. The new scheme called +for a gray wallpaper supported by a maroon dado. At the top of the +latter ran two parallel black picture mouldings between which we could +easily insert cabinet photographs of the actors and actresses which for +the moment we thought most worthy of a place in our collection. As the +room was fairly large and as the mouldings ran entirely around it, we +had plenty of space for even our very elastic love for the heroes and +heroines of the footlights. +</P> + +<P> +Edwin Forrest ended his stage career just before our time, but I know +that Richard at least saw him and heard that wonderful voice of +thunder. It seems that one day, while my mother and Richard were +returning home, they got on a street-car which already held the great +tragedian. At the moment Forrest was suffering severely from gout and +had his bad leg stretched well out before him. My brother, being very +young at the time and never very much of a respecter of persons, +promptly fell over the great man's gouty foot. Whereat (according to +my mother, who was always a most truthful narrator) Forrest broke forth +in a volcano of oaths and for blocks continued to hurl thunderous +broadsides at Richard, which my mother insisted included the curse of +Rome and every other famous tirade in the tragedian's repertory which +in any way fitted the occasion. Nearly forty years later my father +became the president of the Edwin Forrest Home, the greatest charity +ever founded by an actor for actors, and I am sure by his efforts of +years on behalf of the institution did much to atone for Richard's +early unhappy meeting with the greatest of all the famous +leather-lunged tragedians. +</P> + +<P> +From his youth my father had always been a close student of the classic +and modern drama, and throughout his life numbered among his friends +many of the celebrated actors and actresses of his time. In those +early days Booth used to come to rather formal luncheons, and at all +such functions Richard and I ate our luncheon in the pantry, and when +the great meal was nearly over in the dining-room we were allowed to +come in in time for the ice-cream and to sit, figuratively, at the feet +of the honored guest and generally, literally, on his or her knees. +Young as I was in those days I can readily recall one of those +lunch-parties when the contrast between Booth and Dion Boucicault +struck my youthful mind most forcibly. Booth, with his deep-set, big +black eyes, shaggy hair, and lank figure, his wonderfully modulated +voice, rolled out his theories of acting, while the bald-headed, rotund +Boucicault, his twinkling eyes snapping like a fox-terrier's, +interrupted the sonorous speeches of the tragedian with crisp, witty +criticisms or "asides" that made the rest of the company laugh and even +brought a smile to the heavy, tragic features of Booth himself. But +there was nothing formal about our relations with John Sleeper Clark +and the Jefferson family. They were real "home folks" and often +occupied our spare room, and when they were with us Richard and I were +allowed to come to all the meals, and, even if unsolicited, freely +express our views on the modern drama. +</P> + +<P> +In later years to our Philadelphia home came Henry Irving and his +fellow player Ellen Terry and Augustin Daly and that wonderful quartet, +Ada Rehan, Mrs. Gilbert, James Lewis, and our own John Drew. Sir Henry +I always recall by the first picture I had of him in our dining-room, +sitting far away from the table, his long legs stretched before him, +peering curiously at Richard and myself over black-rimmed glasses and +then, with equal interest, turning back to the ash of a long cigar and +talking drama with the famous jerky, nasal voice but always with a +marvellous poise and convincing authority. He took a great liking to +Richard in those days, sent him a church-warden's pipe that he had used +as Corporal Brewster, and made much of him later when my brother was in +London. Miss Terry was a much less formal and forbidding guest, +rushing into the house like a whirlwind and filling the place with the +sunshine and happiness that seemed to fairly exude from her beautiful +magnetic presence. Augustin Daly usually came with at least three of +the stars of his company which I have already mentioned, but even the +beautiful Rehan and the nice old Mrs. Gilbert seemed thoroughly awed in +the presence of "the Guv'nor." He was a most crusty, dictatorial +party, as I remember him with his searching eyes and raven locks, +always dressed in black and always failing to find virtue in any actor +or actress not a member of his own company. I remember one +particularly acrid discussion between him and my father in regard to +Julia Marlowe, who was then making her first bow to the public. Daly +contended that in a few years the lady would be absolutely unheard of +and backed his opinion by betting a dinner for those present with my +father that his judgment would prove correct. However, he was very +kind to Richard and myself and frequently allowed us to play about +behind the scenes, which was a privilege I imagine he granted to very +few of his friends' children. One night, long after this, when Richard +was a reporter in New York, he and Miss Rehan were burlesquing a scene +from a play on which the last curtain had just fallen. It was on the +stage of Daly's theatre at Thirtieth Street and Broadway, and from his +velvet box at the prompt-entrance Daly stood gloomily watching their +fooling. When they had finished the mock scene Richard went over to +Daly and said, "How bad do you think I am as an actor, Mr. Daly?" and +greatly to my brother's delight the greatest manager of them all of +those days grumbled back at him: "You're so bad, Richard, that I'll +give you a hundred dollars a week, and you can sign the contract +whenever you're ready." Although that was much more than my brother +was making in his chosen profession at the time, and in spite of the +intense interest he had in the theatre, he never considered the offer +seriously. As a matter of fact, Richard had many natural +qualifications that fitted him for the stage, and in after-years, when +he was rehearsing one of his own plays, he could and frequently would +go up on the stage and read almost any part better than the actor +employed to do it. Of course, he lacked the ease of gesture and the +art of timing which can only be attained after sound experience, but +his reading of lines and his knowledge of characterization was quite +unusual. In proof of this I know of at least two managers who, when +Richard wanted to sell them plays, refused to have him read them the +manuscript on the ground that his reading gave the dialogue a value it +did not really possess. +</P> + +<P> +In the spring of 1880 Richard left the Episcopal Academy, and the +following September went to Swarthmore College, situated just outside +of Philadelphia. I fear, however, the change was anything but a +success. The life of the big coeducational school did not appeal to +him at all and, in spite of two or three friendships he made among the +girls and boys, he depended for amusement almost wholly on his own +resources. In the afternoons and on holidays he took long walks over +the country roads and in search of adventure visited many farmhouses. +His excuse for these calls was that he was looking for old furniture +and china, and he frequently remained long enough to make sketches of +such objects as he pretended had struck his artistic fancy. Of these +adventures he wrote at great length to his mother and father, and the +letters were usually profusely decorated with illustrations of the most +striking incidents of the various escapades. Several of these +Swarthmore experiences he used afterward in short stories, and both the +letters and sketches he sent to his parents at the time he regarded in +the light of preparation for his future work. In his studies he was +perhaps less successful than he had been at the Episcopal Academy, and +although he played football and took part in the track sports he was +really but little interested in either. There were half-holidays on +Wednesdays and Saturdays, and when my brother did not come to town I +went to Swarthmore and we spent the afternoons in first cooking our +lunch in a hospitable woods and then playing some games in the open +that Richard had devised. But as I recall these outings they were not +very joyous occasions, as Richard was extremely unhappy over his +failures at school and greatly depressed about the prospects for the +future. +</P> + +<P> +He finished the college year at Swarthmore, but so unhappy had he been +there that there was no thought in his mind or in that of his parents +of his returning. At that time my uncle, H. Wilson Harding, was a +professor at Lehigh University, and it was arranged that Richard should +go to Bethlehem the following fall, live with his uncle, and continue +his studies at Ulrich's Preparatory School, which made a specialty of +preparing boys for Lehigh. My uncle lived in a charming old house on +Market Street in Bethlehem, quite near the Moravian settlement and +across the river from the university and the iron mills. He was a +bachelor, but of a most gregarious and hospitable disposition, and +Richard therefore found himself largely his own master, in a big, roomy +house which was almost constantly filled with the most charming and +cultivated people. There my uncle and Richard, practically of about +the same age so far as their viewpoint of life was concerned, kept open +house, and if it had not been for the occasional qualms his innate +hatred of mathematics caused him, I think my brother would have been +completely happy. Even studies no longer worried him particularly and +he at once started in to make friendships, many of which lasted +throughout his life. As is usual with young men of seventeen, most of +these men and women friends were several times Richard's age, but at +the period Richard was a particularly precocious and amusing youth and +a difference of a few decades made but little difference—certainly not +to Richard. Finley Peter Dunne once wrote of my brother that he +"probably knew more waiters, generals, actors, and princes than any man +who lived," and I think it was during the first year of his life at +Bethlehem that he began the foundation for the remarkable collection of +friends, both as to numbers and variety, of which he died possessed. +Although a "prep," he made many friends among the undergraduates of +Lehigh. He made friends with the friends of his uncle and many friends +in both of the Bethlehems of which his uncle had probably never heard. +Even at that early age he counted among his intimates William W. +Thurston, who was president of the Bethlehem Iron Company, and J. Davis +Brodhead, one of Pennsylvania's most conspicuous Democratic congressmen +and attorneys. Those who knew him at that time can easily understand +why Richard attracted men and women so much older than himself. He was +brimming over with physical health and animal spirits and took the +keenest interest in every one he met and in everything that was going +on about him. And in the broadest sense he saw to it then, as he did +throughout his life, that he always did his share. +</P> + +<P> +During those early days at Bethlehem his letters to his family were +full of his social activities, with occasional references to his work +at school. He was always going to dinners or dances, entertaining +members of visiting theatrical companies; and on Friday night my mother +usually received a telegram, saying that he would arrive the next day +with a party of friends whom he had inadvertently asked to lunch and a +matinee. It was after one of these weekly visits that my mother wrote +Richard the following: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Monday Night. MY DARLING Boy: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +You went off in such a hurry that it took my breath at the last. You +say coming down helps you. It certainly does me. It brings a real +sunshine to Papa and me. He was saying that to-day. I gave Nolly a +sort of holiday after her miseries last night. We went down street and +got Papa a present for our wedding day, a picture, after all, and then +I took Miss Baker some tickets for a concert. I saw her father who +said he "must speak about my noble looking boy." I always thought him +a genius but now I think him a man of penetration as well. Then Nolly +and I went over to see the Russians. But they are closely boxed up and +not allowed to-day to see visitors. So we came home cross and hungry. +All evening I have been writing business letters. +</P> + +<P> +Papa has gone to a reception and Charley is hard at work at his desk. +</P> + +<P> +I answered Mr. Allen's letter this morning, dear, and told him you +would talk to him. When you do, dear, talk freely to him as to me. +You will not perhaps agree with all he says. But your own thoughts +will be healthier for bringing them—as I might say, out of doors. You +saw how it was by coming down here. Love of Christ is not a melancholy +nor a morbid thing, dear love, but ought to make one more social and +cheerful and alive. +</P> + +<P> +I wish you could come home oftener. Try and get ahead with lessons so +that you can come oftener. And when you feel as if prayer was a +burden, stop praying and go out and try to put your Christianity into +real action by doing some kindness—even speaking in a friendly way to +somebody. Bring yourself into contact with new people—not John, Hugh, +Uncle and Grandma, and try to act to them as Christ would have you act, +and my word for it, you will go home with a new light on your own +relations to Him and a new meaning for your prayers. You remember the +prayer "give me a great thought to refresh me." I think you will find +some great thoughts in human beings—they will help you to understand +yourself and God, when you try to help them God makes you happy my +darling. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MAMA. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was in this year that Richard enjoyed the thrill of seeing in print +his first contribution to a periodical. The date of this important +event, important, at least, to my brother, was February 1, the +fortunate publication was Judge, and the effusion was entitled "The Hat +and Its Inmate." Its purport was an overheard conversation between two +young ladies at a matinee and the editors thought so well of it that +for the privilege of printing the article they gave Richard a year's +subscription to Judge. His scrap-book of that time shows that in 1884 +Life published a short burlesque on George W. Cable's novel, "Dr. +Sevier," and in the same year The Evening Post paid him $1.05 for an +article about "The New Year at Lehigh." It was also in the spring of +1884 that Richard published his first book, "The Adventures of My +Freshman," a neat little paper-covered volume including half a dozen of +the short stories that had already appeared in The Lehigh Burr. In +writing in a copy of this book in later years, Richard said: "This is +a copy of the first book of mine published. My family paid to have it +printed and finding no one else was buying it, bought up the entire +edition. Finding the first edition had gone so quickly, I urged them +to finance a second one, and when they were unenthusiastic I was hurt. +Several years later when I found the entire edition in our attic, I +understood their reluctance. The reason the book did not sell is, I +think, because some one must have read it." +</P> + +<P> +In the summer of 1882 Richard went to Boston, and in the following +letter unhesitatingly expressed his opinion of that city and its people. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +BOSTON, Wednesday. +<BR> +July 1882. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY:— +</P> + +<P> +I left Newport last night or rather this morning. I stopped at Beverly +and called on Dr. Holmes. He talked a great deal about mama and about +a great many other things equally lovely in a very easy, charming way. +All I had to do was to listen and I was only too willing to do that. +We got along splendidly. He asked me to stay to dinner but I refused +with thanks, as I had only come to pay my respects and put off to Dr. +Bartol's. Dr. Holmes accompanied me to the depot and saw me safely +off. Of all the lovely men I ever saw Dr. Bartol is the one. He lives +in a great, many roomed with as many gables, house. Elizabethan, of +course, with immense fireplaces, brass and dark woods, etchings and +engravings, with the sea and rocks immediately under the window and the +ocean stretching out for miles, lighthouses and more Elizabethan houses +half hid on the bank, and ships and small boats pushing by within a +hundred rods of the windows. I stayed to dinner there and we had a +very jolly time. There were two other young men and another maiden +besides Miss Bartol. They talked principally about the stage; that is, +the Boston Stock Company, which is their sole thought and knowledge of +the drama. The Dr. would strike off now and then to philosophizing and +moralizing but his daughter would immediately sit upon him, much to my +disgust but to the evident relief of the rest. His wife is as lovely +as he is but I can't give it to you all now. Wait until I get home. +</P> + +<P> +The young lady, the youths and myself came up to Boston together and +had as pleasant a ride, as the heat would allow. I left them at the +depot and went up to the Parker House and then to the Art Museum. The +statuary is plaster, the coins are copies, and by the way, I found one +exactly like mine, which, if it is genuine is worth, "well +considerable", as the personage in charge remarked. The pictures were +simply vile, only two or three that I recognized and principally Millet +and some charcoal sketches of Hunt's, who is the Apostle of Art here. +The china was very fine but they had a collection of old furniture and +armor which was better than anything else. Fresh from or rather musty +from these antiques, who should I meet but the cheerful Dixey and +Powers. We had a very jolly talk and I enjoyed it immensely, not only +myself but all the surrounding populace, as Dixey would persist in +showing the youthful some new "gag," and would break into a clog or +dialect much to the delectation of the admiring Bostonians. I am +stranded here for to night and will push on to Newport to-morrow. I'll +go see the "babes" to night, as there is nothing else in the city that +is worth seeing that I haven't investigated. I left the +Newburyportians in grief with regret. I met lots of nice people and +every one was so very kind to me, from the authoresses to the serving +maids. Good-bye. +</P> + +<P> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +COLLEGE DAYS +</H3> + +<P> +In the fall of 1882 Richard entered Lehigh, but the first year of his +college life varied very little from the one he had spent in the +preparatory school. During that year he had met most of the upper +classmen, and the only difference was that he could now take an active +instead of a friendly interest in the life and the sports of the +college. Also he had formed certain theories which he promptly +proceeded to put into practical effect. Perhaps the most conspicuous +of these was his belief that cane-rushes and hazing were wholly +unnecessary and barbarous customs, and should have no place in the +college of his day. Against the former he spoke at college meetings, +and wrote long letters to the local papers decrying the custom. His +stand against hazing was equally vehement, and he worked hand in hand +with the faculty to eradicate it entirely from the college life. That +his stand was purely for a principle and not from any fear of personal +injury, I think the following letter to his father will show: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +BETHLEHEM, February 1882. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DAD: +</P> + +<P> +You may remember a conversation we had at Squan about hazing in which +you said it was a very black-guardly thing and a cowardly thing. I +didn't agree with you, but when I saw how it really was and how silly +and undignified it was, besides being brutal, I thought it over and +changed my mind completely, agreeing with you in every respect. A +large number of our class have been hazed, taking it as a good joke, +and have been laughed at by the whole college. I talked to the boys +about it, and said what I would do and so on, without much effect. +Wednesday a junior came to me, and told me I was to be hazed as I left +the Opera House Friday night. After that a great many came to me and +advised and warned me as to what I should do. I decided to get about +fifty of our class outside and then fight it out; that was before I +changed my mind. As soon as I did I regretted it very much, but, as it +turned out, the class didn't come, so I was alone, as I wished to be. +You see, I'd not a very good place here; the fellows looked on me as a +sort of special object of ridicule, on account of the hat and cane, +walk, and so on, though I thought I'd got over that by this time. The +Opera House was partly filled with college men, a large number of +sophomores and a few upper class men. It was pretty generally known I +was going to have a row, and that brought them as much as the show. +Poor Ruff was in agony all day. He supposed I'd get into the fight, +and he knew he'd get in, too, sooner or later. If he did he'd be held +and not be able to do anything, and then the next day be blamed by the +whole college for interfering in a class matter. He hadn't any money +to get into the show, and so wandered around outside in the rain in a +great deal more excited state than I was. Howe went all over town +after putting on his old clothes, in case of personal damage, in search +of freshmen who were at home out of the wet. As I left the building a +man grabbed me by my arm, and the rest, with the seniors gathered +around; the only freshman present, who was half scared to death, clung +as near to me as possible. I withdrew my arm and faced them. "If this +means hazing," I said, "I'm not with you. There's not enough men here +to haze me, but there's enough to thrash me, and I'd rather be thrashed +than hazed." You see, I wanted them to understand exactly how I looked +at it, and they wouldn't think I was simply hotheaded and stubborn. I +was very cool about it all. They broke in with all sorts of +explanations; hazing was the last thing they had thought of. No, +indeed, Davis, old fellow, you're mistaken. I told them if that was +so, all right, I was going home. I saw several of my friends in the +crowd waiting for me, but as I didn't want them to interfere, I said +nothing, and they did not recognize me. When among the crowd of +sophomores, the poor freshman made a last effort, he pulled me by the +coat and begged me to come with him. I said no, I was going home. +When I reached the next corner I stopped. "I gave you fair warning, +keep off. I tell you I'll strike the first man, the first one, that +touches me." Then the four who had been appointed to seize me jumped +on me, and I only got one good blow in before they had me down in the +gutter and were beating me on the face and head. I put my hands across +my face, and so did not get any hard blows directly in the face. They +slipped back in a moment, and when I was ready I scrambled up pretty +wet and muddy, and with my face stinging where they had struck. It had +all been done so quickly, and there was such a large crowd coming from +the theatre, that, of course, no one saw it. When I got up there was a +circle all around me. They hadn't intended to go so far. The men, +except those four who had beaten me, were rather ashamed and wished +they were out of it. I turned to Emmerich, a postgraduate, and told +him to give me room. "Now," I said, "you're not able to haze me, and I +can't thrash twelve of you, but I'll fight any one man you bring out." +I asked for the man that struck me, and named another, but there was no +response. +</P> + +<P> +The upper classmen, who had just arrived, called out that was fair, and +they'd see it fair. Goodnough, Purnell and Douglas, who don't like me +much, either. Ruff was beside me by this time. +</P> + +<P> +He hadn't seen anything of it, and did not get there until he heard me +calling for a fair chance and challenging the class for a man. I +called out again, the second time, and still no one came, so I took +occasion to let them know why I had done as I did in a short speech to +the crowd. I said I was a peaceable fellow, thought hazing silly, and +as I never intended to haze myself, I didn't intend any one to haze me. +Then I said again, "This is the third time, will one of your men fight +this fair? I can't fight twelve of you." Just then two officers who +had called on some mill-hands, who are always dying for a fight, and a +citizen to help them, burst into the crowd of students, shouldering +them around like sheep until they got to me, when one of them put his +arm around me, and said, "I don't know anything about this crowd, but +I'll see you're protected, sir. I'll give 'em fair play." One officer +got hold of Ruff and pretty near shook him to pieces until I had to +interfere and explain. They were for forming a body-guard, and were +loud in their denunciations of the college, and declaring they'd see me +through if I was a stranger to 'em. +</P> + +<P> +Two or three of the sophomores, when they saw how things were going, +set up a yell, but Griffin struck out and sent one of them flying one +way and his hat another, so the yells ended. Howe and Murray Stuart +took me up to their rooms, and Ruff went off for beefsteak for my eye, +and treated the crowd who had come to the rescue, at Dixon's, to beer. +The next day was Saturday, and as there was to be a meeting of the +Athletic Association, of course, I wanted to show up. The fellows all +looked at my eye pretty hard and said nothing. I felt pretty sure that +the sympathy was all with me. +</P> + +<P> +Four men are elected from the college to be on the athletic committee. +They can be nominated by any one, though generally it is done by a man +in their own class. We had agreed the day before to vote for Tolman +for our class, so when the president announced nominations were in +order for the freshmen class, Tolman was instantly nominated. At the +same time one of the leading sophomores jumped up and nominated Mr. +Davis, and a number of men from the same class seconded it. I knew +every one in the college knew of what had happened, and especially the +sophomores, so I was, of course, very much surprised. I looked +unconscious, though, and waited. One of the seniors asked that the +nominees should stand up, as they didn't know their names only their +faces. As each man rose he was hissed and groaned down again. When I +stood up the sophomores burst into a yell and clapped and stamped, +yelling, "Davis! Davis! vote for D!" until I sat down. As I had +already decided to nominate Tolman, I withdrew my name from the +nominees, a movement which was received by loud cries of "No! No!" +from the sophs. So, you see, Dad, I did as you said, as I thought was +right, and came out well indeed. You see, I am now the hero of the +hour, every one in town knows it, and every one congratulates me, and, +"Well done, me boy," as Morrow '83 said, seems to be the idea, one gets +taken care of in this world if you do what's the right thing, if it is +only a street fight. In fact, as one of the seniors said, I've made +five friends where I had one before. The sophs are ashamed and sorry, +as their conduct in chapel, which was more marked, than I made it, +shows. I've nothing to show for it but a red mark under the eye, and +so it is the best thing that could possibly have happened. Poor Ruff +hugged me all the way home, and I've started out well in a good way, I +think, though not a very logical one. +</P> + +<P> +Uncle says to tell you that my conduct has his approval throughout. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To which letter my father promptly replied: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PHILADELPHIA. February 25th, 1882. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR OLD BOY: +</P> + +<P> +I'm glad the affair ended so well. I don't want you to fight, but if +you have to fight a cuss like that do it with all your might, and don't +insist that either party shall too strictly observe the Markis O' +Queensbury rules. Hit first and hardest so that thine adversary shall +beware of you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DAD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At that time the secret societies played a very important part in the +college life at Lehigh, and while I do not believe that Richard shared +the theory of some of the students that they were a serious menace to +the social fabric, he was quite firm in his belief that it was +inadvisable to be a member of any fraternity. In a general way he did +not like the idea of secrecy even in its mildest form, and then, as +throughout his life, he refused to join any body that would in any way +limit his complete independence of word or action. In connection with +this phase of his college life I quote from an appreciation which M. A. +De W. Howe, one of Richard's best friends both at college and in +after-life, wrote for The Lehigh Burr at the time of my brother's death: +</P> + +<P> +"To the credit of the perceptive faculty of undergraduates, it ought to +be said that the classmates and contemporaries of Richard Harding Davis +knew perfectly well, while he and they were young together, that in him +Lehigh had a son so marked in his individuality, so endowed with +talents and character that he stood quite apart from the other +collegians of his day. Prophets were as rare in the eighties as they +have always been, before and since, and nobody could have foreseen that +the name and work of Dick Davis would long before his untimely death, +indeed within a few years from leaving college, be better known +throughout the world than those of any other Lehigh man. We who knew +him in his college days could not feel the smallest surprise that he +won himself quickly a brilliant name, and kept a firm hold upon it to +the last. +</P> + +<P> +"What was it that made him so early a marked man? I think it was the +spirit of confidence and enthusiasm which turned every enterprise he +undertook into an adventure,—the brave and humorous playing of the +game of life, the true heart, the wholesome body and soul of my friend +and classmate. He did not excel in studies or greatly, in athletics. +But in his own field, that of writing, he was so much better than the +rest of us that no one of his fellow-editors of the Epitome or Burr +needed to be considered in comparison with him. No less, in spite of +his voluntary nonmembership in the fraternities of his day, was he a +leader in the social activities of the University. The 'Arcadian Club' +devoted in its beginnings to the 'pipes, books, beer and gingeralia' of +Davis's song about it and the 'Mustard and Cheese' were his creations. +In all his personal relationships he was the most amusing and +stimulating of companions. With garb and ways of unique +picturesqueness, rarer even in college communities a generation ago +than at present, it was inevitable that he sometimes got himself +laughed at as well as with. But what did it all matter, even then? +To-day it adds a glow of color to what would be in any case a vivid, +deeply valued memory. +</P> + +<P> +"It is hard to foresee in youth what will come most sharply and +permanently in the long run. After all these years it is good to find +that Davis and what his companionship gave one hold their place with +the strongest influences of Lehigh." +</P> + +<P> +But Richard was naturally gregarious and at heart had a great fondness +for clubs and social gatherings. Therefore, having refused the offer +of several fraternities that did him the honor to ask him to become a +member, it was necessary for him to form a few clubs that held +meetings, but no secrets. Perhaps the most successful of these were +"The Mustard and Cheese," a dramatic club devoted to the presentation +of farces and musical comedies, and The Arcadia Club, to the +fortnightly meetings of which he devoted much time and thought. The +following letter to his father will give some idea of the scope of the +club, which, as in the case of "The Mustard and Cheese," gained a +permanent and important place in the social life of Lehigh. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DAD: +</P> + +<P> +We have started the best sort of a club up here which I am anxious to +tell you of. It consists of a spread, net price of which will be about +30 cents each, every two or three weeks. Only six fellows belong and +those the best of the College. Purnell, Haines and myself founded it. +I chose Charley, Purnell, Reeves, Haines and Howe. We will meet +Saturday nights at 9 so as not to interfere with our work, and sing, +read, eat and box until midnight. It is called the "Pipe and Bowl," +and is meant to take the place that The Hasty Pudding, Hammer and Tongs +and Mermaid do at other colleges. Two of us are to invite two +outsiders in turn each meeting. We will hope to have Dad a member, +honorary, of course, when we can persuade him to give us a night off +with his company. We want to combine a literary feature and so will +have selected readings to provoke discussions after the pipes are lit. +The men are very enthusiastic about it and want to invite Mr. Allen and +you and every one that they can make an honorary member of immediately. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was first as an associate editor and afterward as editor-in-chief of +the college paper, The Lehigh Burr, that Richard found his greatest +pleasure and interest during his three years at Lehigh. In addition to +his editorial duties he wrote a very great part of every issue of the +paper, and his contributions included short stories, reports of news +events, editorials, and numerous poems. +</P> + +<P> +As, after his life at college, Richard dropped verse as a mode of +expression, I reprint two of the poems which show him in the lighter +vein of those early days. +</P> + +<H3> +A COMMENCEMENT IDYL +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">"I'm a Freshman who has ended his first year,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">But I'm new;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">And I do whate'er the Juniors, whom I fear,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Bid me do.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">Under sudden showers I thrive;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">To be bad and bold I strive,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">But they ask—'Is it alive?'</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">So they do.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">I'm a Sophomore who has passed off his exams,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Let me loose!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">With a mark as high as any other man's,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">As obtuse</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">I'm fraternal. I am Jolly.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">I am seldom melancholy</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">And to bone I think is folly,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">What's the use?</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I'm a Junior whom exams. have left forlorn, +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Flunked me dead;</SPAN><BR> +So I'll keep the town awake 'till early morn; +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Paint it red.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">At class-meetings I'm a kicker,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">Take no water with my liquor,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">And a dumb-bell's not thicker</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Than my head.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I'm a Senior whose diploma's within reach, +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Eighty-four.</SPAN><BR> +On Commencement Day you'll hear my maiden-speech; +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">I will soar!</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">I got through without condition;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">I'm a mass of erudition;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">Do you know of a position!"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3> +OUR STREET<BR> +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">"Our street is still and silent,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Grass grows from curb to curb,</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2.5em">No baker's bells</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">With jangling knells</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Our studious minds disturb.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">No organ grinders ever call,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">No hucksters mar our peace;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">For traffic shuns our neighborhood</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">And leaves us to our ease.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">But now it lives and brightens,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">Assumes a livelier hue;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">The pavements wide,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">On either side,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">Would seem to feel it too.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">You might not note the difference,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">The change from grave to gay,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">But I can tell, and know full well,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">Priscilla walks our way."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Shortly after his return to college Richard celebrated his nineteenth +birthday, and received these letters from his father and mother: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 17th, 1883. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR BOY: +</P> + +<P> +When I was thinking what I could give to you to-morrow, I remembered +the story of Herder, who when he was old and weak and they brought him +food and wine asked for "a great thought to quicken him." +</P> + +<P> +So I have written some old sayings for you that have helped me. Maybe, +this year, or some other year, when I am not with you, they may give +you, sometimes, comfort and strength. +</P> + +<P> +God bless you my son— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YOUR OLD MOTHER +</P> + +<P> +who loves you dearly—dearly. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER<BR> +PHILADELPHIA, April 17th, 1883.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR BOY: +</P> + +<P> +You are to be nineteen years old on Wednesday. After two years more +you will be a man. You are so manly and good a boy that I could not +wish you to change in any serious or great thing. You have made us +very happy through being what you have been, what you are. You fill us +with hope of your future virtue and usefulness. +</P> + +<P> +To be good is the best thing of all; it counts for more than anything +else in the world. We are very grateful that you have even in youth +been wise enough to choose the right road. You will find it not easy +to keep upon it always, but remember if you do get off struggle back to +it. I do not know but I think God loves the effort to do as well as +the act done. +</P> + +<P> +I congratulate you my dear son, on your new birthday. I wish you +health, happiness and God's loving care. May he bless you my son +forever. I enclose a trifle for your pleasure. My love to you always, +but God bless you dear Dick. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DAD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the fall of 1885, Richard decided to leave Lehigh and go to John +Hopkins University, where he took a special course in such studies as +would best benefit him in the career which he had now carefully +planned. During this year in Baltimore Richard's letters show that he +paid considerable attention to such important subjects as political +economy and our own labor problems, but they also show that he did not +neglect football or the lighter social diversions. In a short space of +time he had made many friends, was very busy going to dinners and +dances, and had fallen in love with an entirely new set of maids and +matrons. Richard had already begun to send contributions to the +magazines, and an occasional acceptance caused him the satisfaction +common to all beginners. It was in regard to one of these early +contributions that my mother wrote Richard the following letter: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PHILADELPHIA +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +January 1887. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR BOY: +</P> + +<P> +What has become of The Current? It has not come yet. If it has +suspended publication be sure and get your article back. You must not +destroy a single page you write. You will find every idea of use to +you hereafter. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes I am afraid you think I don't take interest enough in your +immediate success now with the articles you send. But I've had thirty +years experience and I know how much that sort of success depends on +the articles suiting the present needs of the magazine, and also on the +mood of the editor when he reads it. +</P> + +<P> +Besides—except for your own disappointment—I know it would be better +if you would not publish under your own name for a little while. Dr. +Holland—who had lots of literary shrewdness both as writer and +publisher—used to say for a young man or woman to rush into print was +sure ruin to their lasting fame. They either compromised their +reputations by inferior work or they made a great hit and never played +up to it, afterwards, in public opinion. +</P> + +<P> +Now my dear old man this sounds like awfully cold comfort. But it is +the wisest idea your mother has got. I confess I have GREAT faith in +you—and I try to judge you as if you were not my son. I think you are +going to take a high place among American authors, but I do not think +you are going to do it by articles like that you sent to The Current. +The qualities which I think will bring it to you, you don't seem to +value at all. They are your dramatic eye. I mean your quick +perception of character and of the way character shows itself in looks, +tones, dress, etc., and in your keen sympathy—with all kinds of +people—Now, these are the requisites for a novelist. Added to that +your humour. +</P> + +<P> +You ought to make a novelist of the first class. But you must not +expect to do it this week or next. A lasting, real success takes time, +and patient, steady work. Read Boz's first sketches of "London Life" +and compare them with "Sydney Carton" or "David Copperfield" and you +will see what time and hard work will do to develop genius. +</P> + +<P> +I suppose you will wonder why I am moved to say all this? It is, I +think, because of your saying "the article sent to St. Nicholas was +the best you would be able to do for years to come" and I saw you were +going to make it a crucial test of your ability. That is, forgive me, +nothing but nonsense. Whatever the article may be, you may write one +infinitely superior to it next week or month. Just in proportion as +you feel more deeply, or notice more keenly, and as you acquire the +faculty of expressing your feelings or observations more delicately and +powerfully which faculty must come into practice. It is not +inspiration—it never was that—without practice, with any writer from +Shakespeare down. +</P> + +<P> +me. I don't say, like Papa, stop writing. God forbid. I would almost +as soon say stop breathing, for it is pretty much the same thing. But +only to remember that you have not yet conquered your art. You are a +journeyman not a master workman, so if you don't succeed, it does not +count. The future is what I look to, for you. I had to stop my work +to say all this, so good-bye dear old chum. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Yours, +<BR> +MOTHER. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If anything worried Richard at all at this period, I think it was his +desire to get down to steady newspaper work, or indeed any kind of work +that would act as the first step of his career and by which he could +pay his own way in the world. It was with this idea uppermost in his +mind in the late spring of 1886, and without any particular regret for +the ending of his college career, that he left Baltimore and, returning +to his home in Philadelphia, determined to accept the first position +that presented itself. But instead of going to work at once, he once +more changed his plans and decided to sail for Santiago de Cuba with +his friend William W. Thurston, who as president of the Bethlehem Steel +Company, was deeply interested in the iron mines of that region. Here +and then it was that Richard first fell in love with Cuba—a love which +in later years became almost an obsession with him. Throughout his +life whenever it was possible, and sometimes when it seemed practically +impossible, my brother would listen to the call of his beloved tropics +and, casting aside all responsibilities, would set sail for Santiago. +After all it was quite natural that he should feel as he did about this +little Cuban coast town, for apart from its lazy life, spicy smells, +waving palms and Spanish cooking, it was here that he found the +material for his first novel and greatest monetary success, "Soldiers +of Fortune." Apart from the many purely pleasure trips he made to +Santiago, twice he returned there to work—once as a correspondent +during the Spanish-American War, and again when he went with Augustus +Thomas to assist in the latter's film version of the play which years +before Thomas had made from the novel. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FIRST NEWSPAPER EXPERIENCES +</H3> + +<P> +In the late summer of 1886 Richard returned from Cuba and settled down +in Philadelphia to write an article about his experiences at Santiago +and to look for regular newspaper work. Early in September he wrote +his mother: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +September, 1886. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I saw the Record people to-day. They said there was not an opening but +could give me "chance" work, that is, I was to report each day at one +and get what was left over. I said I would take it as I would have my +mornings free to write the article and what afternoons I did not have +newspaper work besides. This is satisfactory. They are either doing +all they can to oblige Dad or else giving me a trial trip before making +an opening. The article is progressing but slowly. To paraphrase +Talleyrand, what's done is but little and that little is not good. +However, since your last letter full of such excellent "tips" I have +rewritten it and think it is much improved. I will write to Thurston +concerning the artist to-morrow. He is away from B. at present. On +the whole the article is not bad. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your boy, DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Richard's stay on The Record, however, was short-lived. His excuse for +the brevity of the experience was given in an interview some years +later. "My City Editor didn't like me because on cold days I wore +gloves. But he was determined to make me work, and gave me about +eighteen assignments a day, and paid me $7. a week. At the end of +three months he discharged me as incompetent." +</P> + +<P> +From The Record Richard went to The Press, which was much more to his +liking, and, indeed it was here that he did his first real work and +showed his first promise. For nearly three years he did general +reporting and during this time gained a great deal more personal +success than comes to most members of that usually anonymous +profession. His big chance came with the Johnstown flood, and the news +stories he wired to his paper showed the first glimpse of his ability +as a correspondent. Later on, disguised as a crook, he joined a gang +of yeggmen, lived with them in the worst dives of the city, and +eventually gained their good opinion to the extent of being allowed to +assist in planning a burglary. But before the actual robbery took +place, Richard had obtained enough evidence against his crook +companions to turn them over to the police and eventually land them in +prison. It was during these days that he wrote his first story for a +magazine, and the following letter shows that it was something of a +milestone in his career. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PHILADELPHIA. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +August, 1888. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +The St. Nicholas people sent me a check for $50 for the "pirate" story. +It would be insupportable affectation to say that I was not delighted. +Jennings Crute and I were waiting for breakfast when I found the +letter. I opened it very slowly, for I feared they would bluff me with +some letter about illustrations or revision, or offering me a reduced +subscription to the magazine. There was a letter inside and a check. +I read the letter before I looked at the check, which I supposed would +be for $30, as the other story was valued at $20. The note said that a +perfect gentleman named Chichester would be pleased if I would find +enclosed a check for $50. I looked at Jenny helplessly, and said, +"It's for fifty, Jenny." Crute had an insane look in his eyes as he +murmured "half a hundred dollars, and on your day off, too." Then I +sat down suddenly and wondered what I would buy first, and Crute sat in +a dazed condition, and abstractedly took a handful of segars out of the +box dear old Dad gave me. As I didn't say anything, he took another +handful, and then sat down and gazed at the check for five minutes in +awe. After breakfast I calculated how much I would have after I paid +my debts. I still owe say $23, and I have some shoes to pay for and my +hair to cut. I had a wild idea of going over to New York and buying +some stocks, but I guess I'll go to Bond's and Baker's instead. +</P> + +<P> +I'm going down street now to see if Drexel wants to borrow any ready +money-on the way down I will make purchases and pay bills so that my +march will be a triumphal procession. +</P> + +<P> +I got a story on the front page this morning about an explosion at +Columbia Avenue Station—I went out on it with another man my senior in +years and experience, whom Watrous expected to write the story while I +hustled for facts. When we got back I had all the facts, and what +little he had was incorrect—so I said I would dispense with his +services and write the story myself. I did it very politely, but it +queered the man before the men, and Watrous grew very sarcastic at his +expense. Next time Andy will know better and let me get my own stories +alone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your Millionaire Son, +<BR> +DICK. +</P> + +<P> +I'm still the "same old Dick"; not proud a bit. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This was my mother's reply: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Thursday. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +August 1888. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DICK: +</P> + +<P> +Your letter has just come and we are all delighted. Well done for old +St. Nicholas! I thought they meant to wait till the story was +published. It took me back to the day when I got $50. for "Life in the +Iron Mills." I carried the letter half a day before opening it, being +so sure that it was a refusal. +</P> + +<P> +I had a great mind to read the letter to Davis and Cecile who were on +the porch but was afraid you would not like it. +</P> + +<P> +I did read them an extremely impertinent enclosure which was so like +the letter I sent yesterday. That I think you got it before writing +this. +</P> + +<P> +. . . Well I am glad about that cheque! Have you done anything on +Gallagher? That is by far the best work you've done—oh, by far—Send +that to Gilder. In old times The Century would not print the word +"brandy." But those days are over. +</P> + +<P> +Two more days—dear boy— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MOTHER. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In addition to his work on The Press, Richard also found time to assist +his friend, Morton McMichael, 3d, in the editing of a weekly +publication called The Stage. In fact with the exception of the +services of an office boy, McMichael and Richard were The Stage. +Between them they wrote the editorials, criticisms, the London and +Paris special correspondence, solicited the advertisements, and +frequently assisted in the wrapping and mailing of the copies sent to +their extremely limited list of subscribers. During this time, +however, Richard was establishing himself as a star reporter on The +Press, and was already known as a clever news-gatherer and interviewer. +It was in reply to a letter that Richard wrote to Robert Louis +Stevenson enclosing an interview he had had with Walt Whitman, that +Stevenson wrote the following letter—which my brother always regarded +as one of his greatest treasures: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Why, thank you so much for your frank, agreeable and natural letter. +It is certainly very pleasant that all you young fellows should enjoy +my work and get some good out of it and it was very kind in you to +write and tell me so. The tale of the suicide is excellently droll, +and your letter, you may be sure, will be preserved. If you are to +escape unhurt out of your present business you must be very careful, +and you must find in your heart much constancy. The swiftly done work +of the journalist and the cheap finish and ready made methods to which +it leads, you must try to counteract in private by writing with the +most considerate slowness and on the most ambitious models. And when I +say "writing"—O, believe me, it is rewriting that I have chiefly in +mind. If you will do this I hope to hear of you some day. +</P> + +<P> +Please excuse this sermon from +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your obliged +<BR> +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the spring of 1889 Richard as the correspondent of the Philadelphia +Telegraph, accompanied a team of Philadelphia cricketers on a tour of +Ireland and England, but as it was necessary for him to spend most of +his time reporting the matches played in small university towns, he saw +only enough of London to give him a great longing to return as soon as +the chance offered. Late that summer he resumed his work on The Press, +but Richard was not at all satisfied with his journalistic progress, +and for long his eyes had been turned toward New York. There he knew +that there was not only a broader field for such talent as he might +possess, but that the chance for adventure was much greater, and it was +this hope and love of adventure that kept Richard moving on all of his +life. +</P> + +<P> +On a morning late in September, 1889, he started for New York to look +for a position as reporter on one of the metropolitan newspapers. I do +not know whether he carried with him any letters or that he had any +acquaintances in the journalistic world on whose influence he counted, +but, in any case, he visited a number of offices without any success +whatever. Indeed, he had given up the day as wasted, and was on his +way to take the train back to Philadelphia. Tired and discouraged, he +sat down on a bench in City Hall Park, and mentally shook his fist at +the newspaper offices on Park Row that had given him so cold a +reception. At this all-important moment along came Arthur Brisbane, +whom Richard had met in London when the former was the English +correspondent of The Sun. Brisbane had recently been appointed editor +of The Evening Sun, and had already met with a rather spectacular +success. On hearing the object of Richard's visit to New York, he +promptly offered him a position on his staff and Richard as promptly +accepted. I remember that the joyous telegram he sent to my mother, +telling of his success, and demanding that the fatted calf be killed +for dinner that night was not received with unalloyed happiness. To my +mother and father it meant that their first-born was leaving home to +seek his fortune, and that without Richard's love and sympathy the home +could never be quite the same. But the fatted calf was killed, every +one pretended to be just as elated as Richard was over his good +fortune, and in two days he left us for his first adventure. +</P> + +<P> +The following note to his mother Richard scribbled off in pencil at the +railway-station on his way to New York: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I am not surprised that you were sad if you thought I was going away +for good. I could not think of it myself. I am only going to make a +little reputation and to learn enough of the business to enable me to +live at home in the centre of the universe with you. That is truth. +God bless you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +</H3> + +<P> +Of the many completely happy periods of Richard's life there were few +more joyous than the first years he spent as a reporter in New York. +For the first time he was completely his own master and paying his own +way—a condition which afforded him infinite satisfaction. He was +greatly attached to Brisbane and as devoted to the interests of The +Evening Sun as if he had been the editor and publisher. In return +Brisbane gave him a free rein and allowed him to write very much what +and as he chose. The two men were constantly together, in and out of +office hours, and planned many of the leading features of the paper +which on account of the brilliancy of its news stories and special +articles was at that time attracting an extraordinary amount of +attention. Richard divided his working hours between reporting +important news events, writing specials (principally about theatrical +people), and the Van Bibber stories, nearly all of which were published +for the first time in The Evening Sun. These short tales of New York +life soon made a distinct hit, and, while they appeared anonymously, it +was generally known that Richard was their author. In addition to his +newspaper work my brother was also working on short stories for the +magazines, and in 1890 scored his first real success in this field, +with "Gallegher," which appeared in Scribner's. This was shortly +followed by "The Other Woman," "Miss Catherwaite's Understudy," "A +Walk up the Avenue," "My Disreputable Friend, Mr. Raegen," "An +Unfinished Story," and other stories that soon gave him an established +reputation as a writer of fiction. But while Richard's success was +attained in a remarkably short space of time and at an extremely early +age, it was not accomplished without an enormous amount of hard work +and considerable privation. When he first went to New York his salary +was but thirty dollars a week, and while he remained on The Evening Sun +never over fifty dollars, and the prices he received for his first +short stories were extremely meagre. During the early days on The +Evening Sun he had a room in a little house at 108 Waverly Place, and +took his meals in the neighborhood where he happened to find himself +and where they were cheapest. He usually spent his week-ends in +Philadelphia, but his greatest pleasure was when he could induce some +member of his family to visit him in New York. I fear I was the one +who most often accepted his hospitality, and wonderful visits they +were, certainly to me, and I think to Richard as well. The great event +was our Saturday-night dinner, when we always went to a little +restaurant on Sixth Avenue. I do not imagine the fifty-cent table +d'hote (vin compris) the genial Mr. Jauss served us was any better than +most fifty-cent table-d'hote dinners, but the place was quaint and +redolent of strange smells of cooking as well as of a true bohemian +atmosphere. Those were the days when the Broadway Theatre was given +over to the comic operas in which Francis Wilson and De Wolfe Hopper +were the stars, and as both of the comedians were firm friends of +Richard, we invariably ended our evening at the Broadway. Sometimes we +occupied a box as the guests of the management, and at other times we +went behind the scenes and sat in the star's dressing-room. I think I +liked it best when Hopper was playing, because during Wilson's regime +the big dressing-room was a rather solemn sort of place, but when +Hopper ruled, the room was filled with pretty girls and he treated us +to fine cigars and champagne. +</P> + +<P> +Halcyon nights those, and then on Sunday morning we always breakfasted +at old Martin's on University Place eggs a la Martin and that wonderful +coffee and pain de menage. And what a wrench it was when I tore myself +away from the delights of the great city and scurried back to my desk +in sleepy Philadelphia. Had I been a prince royal Richard could not +have planned more carefully than he did for these visits, and to meet +the expense was no easy matter for him. Indeed, I know that to pay for +all our gayeties he usually had to carry his guitar to a neighboring +pawn-broker where the instrument was always good for an eight-dollar +loan. But from the time Richard first began to make his own living one +of the great pleasures of his life was to celebrate, or as he called +it, to "have a party." Whenever he had finished a short story he had a +party, and when the story had been accepted there was another party, +and, of course, the real party was when he received the check. And so +it was throughout his life, giving a party to some one whom a party +would help, buying a picture for which he had no use to help a +struggling artist, sending a few tons of coal to an old lady who was +not quite warm enough, always writing a letter or a check for some one +of his own craft who had been less fortunate than he—giving to every +beggar that he met, fearing that among all the thousand fakers he might +refuse one worthy case. I think this habit of giving Richard must have +inherited from his father, who gave out of all proportion to his means, +and with never too close a scrutiny to the worthiness of the cause. +Both men were too intensely human to do that, but if this great desire +on the part of my father and brother to help others gave the recipients +pleasure I'm sure that it caused in the hearts of the givers an even +greater happiness. The following letters were chosen from a great +number which Richard wrote to his family, telling of his first days on +The Evening Sun, and of his life in New York. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YORK Evening Sun—1890 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Today is as lovely and fresh as the morning, a real spring day, and I +feel good in consequence. I have just come from a couple of raids, +where we had a very lively time, and some of them had to pull their +guns. I found it necessary to punch a few sports myself. The old +sergeant from headquarters treats me like a son and takes the greatest +pride in whatever I do or write. He regularly assigns me now to +certain doors, and I always obey orders like the little gentleman that +I am. Instead of making me unpopular, I find it helps me with the +sports, though it hurts my chances professionally, as so many of them +know me now that I am no use in some districts. For instance, in Mott +and Pell streets, or in the Bowery, I am as safe as any precinct +detective. I tell you this to keep you from worrying. They won't +touch a man whom they think is an agent or an officer. Only it spoils +my chances of doing reportorial-detective work. For instance, the +captain of the Bowery district refused me a detective the other morning +to take the Shippens around the Chinese and the tougher quarters +because he said they were as safe with me as with any of the other men +whose faces are as well known. To-night I am going to take a party to +the headquarters of the fire department, where I have a cinch on the +captain, a very nice fellow, who is unusually grateful for something I +wrote about him and his men. They are going to do the Still Alarm act +for me. +</P> + +<P> +These clippings all came out in to-day's paper. The ladies in the +Tombs were the Shippens, of course; and Mamie Blake is a real girl, and +the story is true from start to finish. I think it is a pathetic +little history. +</P> + +<P> +Give my love to all. I will bring on the story I have finished and get +you to make some suggestions. It is quite short. Since Scribner's +have been so civil, I think I will give them a chance at the great +prize. I am writing a comic guide book and a history of the Haymarket +for the paper; both are rich in opportunities. This weather makes me +feel like another person. I will be so glad to get home. With lots of +love and kisses for you and Nora. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK-O. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK—1890. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +Brisbane has suggested to me that the Bradley story would lead anyone +to suppose that my evenings were spent in the boudoirs of the +horizontales of 34th Street and has scared me somewhat in consequence. +If it strikes you and Dad the same way don't show it to Mother. Dad +made one mistake by thinking I wrote a gambling story which has made me +nervous. It is hardly the fair thing to suppose that a man must have +an intimate acquaintance with whatever he writes of intimately. A lot +of hunting people, for instance, would not believe that I had written +the "Traver's Only Ride" story because they knew I did not hunt. Don't +either you or Dad make any mistake about this. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<P> +As a matter of fact they would not let me in the room, and I don't know +whether it abounded in signed etchings or Bougereau's nymphs. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK—1890. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +Today has been more or less feverish. In the morning's mail I received +a letter from Berlin asking permission to translate "Gallegher" into +German, and a proof of a paragraph from The Critic on my burlesque of +Rudyard Kipling, which was meant to please but which bored me. Then +the "Raegen" story came in, making nine pages of the Scribner's, which +at ten dollars a page ought to be $90. Pretty good pay for three +weeks' work, and it is a good story. Then at twelve a young man came +bustling into the office, stuck his card down on the desk and said, "I +am S. S. McClure. I have sent my London representative to Berlin and +my New York man to London. Will you take charge of my New York end?" +</P> + +<P> +If he thought to rattle me he was very much out of it, for I said in +his same tone and manner, "Bring your New York representative back and +send me to London, and I'll consider it. As long as I am in New York I +will not leave The Evening Sun." +</P> + +<P> +"Edmund Gosse is my London representative," he said; "you can have the +same work here. Come out and take lunch." I said, "Thank you, I can't; +I'll see you on Tuesday." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," he said. "I'll come for you. Think of what I say. I'll +make your fortune. Bradford Merrill told me to get you. You won't +have anything to do but ask people to write novels and edit them. I'll +send you abroad later if you don't like New York. Can you write any +children's stories for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," I said, "see you Tuesday." +</P> + +<P> +This is a verbal report of all and everything that was said. I +consider it a curious interview. It will raise my salary here or I go. +What do YOU think? DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK—1890. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +The more I thought of the McClure offer the less I thought of it. So I +told him last night I was satisfied where I was, and that the $75 he +offered me was no inducement. Brisbane says I will get $50 about the +first of October, which is plenty and enough for a young man who +intends to be good to his folks. I cannot do better than stay where I +am, for it is understood between Brisbane and Laffan that in the event +of the former's going into politics I shall take his place, which will +suit very well until something better turns up. Then there is the +chance of White's coming back and my going to Lunnon, which would +please me now more for what I think I could make of it than what I +think others have made of it. If I had gone to McClure I would have +been shelved and side-tracked, and I am still in the running, and +learning every day. Brisbane and I have had our first serious +difficulty over Mrs. R——, who is staying with Mrs. "Bill." There is +at present the most desperate rivalry, and we discuss each other's +chances with great anger. He counts on his transcontinental knowledge, +but my short stories hit very hard, and he is not in it when I sing +"Thy Face Will Lead Me On" and "When Kerrigan Struck High C." She has +a fatal fondness for Sullivan, which is most unfortunate, as Brisbane +can and does tell her about him by the half hour. Yesterday we both +tried to impress her by riding down in front of the porch and showing +off the horses and ourselves. Brisbane came off best, though I came +off quickest, for my horse put his foot in a hole and went down on his +knees, while I went over his head like the White Knight in "Alice." I +would think nothing of sliding off a roof now. But I made up for this +mishap by coming back in my grey suit and having it compared with the +picture in The Century. It is a very close fight, and, while Brisbane +is chasing over town for photographs of Sullivan, I am buying books of +verses of which she seems to be fond. As soon as she gets her divorce +one of us is going to marry her. We don't know which. She is about as +beautiful a woman as I ever saw, and very witty and well-informed, but +it would cost a good deal to keep her in diamonds. She wears some the +Queen gave her, but she wants more. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK—1890. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER (LATE MA): +</P> + +<P> +I am well and with lots to do. I went up to see Hopper the other +night, which was the first time in three months that I have been back +of a theater, and it was like going home. There is a smell about the +painty and gassy and dusty place that I love as much as fresh earth and +newly cut hay, and the girls look so pretty and bold lying around on +the sets, and the men so out of focus and with such startling cheeks +and lips. They were very glad to see me and made a great fuss. Then +I've been to see Carmencita dance, which I enjoyed remarkably, and I +have been reading Rudyard Kipling's short stories, and I think it is +disgusting that a boy like that should write such stories. He hasn't +left himself anything to do when he gets old. He reminds me of Bret +Harte and not a bit of Stevenson, to whom some of them compare him. +</P> + +<P> +I am very glad you liked the lady in mid-air story so much, but it +wasn't a bit necessary to add the MORAL from a MOTHER. I saw it coming +up before I had read two lines; and a very good moral it is, too, with +which I agree heartily. But, of course, you know it is not a new idea +to me. Anything as good and true as that moral cannot be new at this +late date. I went to the Brooklyn Handicap race yesterday. It is one +of the three biggest races of the year, and a man stood in front of me +in the paddock in a white hat. Another man asked him what he was +"playing." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said, "I fancy Fides myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Fides!" said his friend, "why, she ain't in it. She won't see home. +Raceland's the horse for your money; she's favorite, and there isn't +any second choice. But Fides! Why, she's simply impossible. Raceland +beat HER last Suburban." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I remember," said the man in the white hat, "but I fancy Fides." +</P> + +<P> +Then another chap said to him, "Fides is all good enough on a dust +track on a sunny, pleasant day, but she can't ran in the mud. She +hasn't got the staying powers. She's a pretty one to look at, but +she's just a 'grandstand' ladies' choice. She ain't in it with +Raceland or Erica. The horse YOU want is not a pretty, dainty flyer, +but a stayer, that is sure and that brings in good money, not big odds, +but good money. Why, I can name you a dozen better'n Fides." +</P> + +<P> +"Still, somehow, I like Fides best," said the obstinate man in the +white hat. +</P> + +<P> +"But Fides will take the bit in her mouth and run away, or throw the +jock or break into the fence. She isn't steady. She's all right to +have a little bet on, just enough for a flyer, but she's not the horse +to plunge on. If you're a millionaire with money to throw away, why, +you might put some of it up on her, but, as it is, you want to put your +money where it will be sure of a 'place,' anyway. Now, let me mark +your card for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the man, "what you all say is reasonable, I see that; but, +somehow, I rather fancy Fides best." +</P> + +<P> +I've forgotten now whether Fides won or not, and whether she landed the +man who just fancied her without knowing why a winner or sent him home +broke. But, in any event, that is quite immaterial, the story simply +shows how obstinate some men are as regards horses and—other uncertain +critters. I have no doubt but that the Methodist minister's daughter +would have made Hiram happy if he had loved her, but he didn't. No +doubt Anne ——, Nan ——, Katy —— and Maude —— would have made me +happy if they would have consented to have me and I had happened to +love them, but I fancied Fides. +</P> + +<P> +But now since I have scared you sufficiently, let me add for your peace +of mind that I've not enough money to back any horses just at present, +and before I put any money up on any one of them for the Matrimonial +stakes, I will ask you first to look over the card and give me a few +pointers. I mayn't follow them, you know, but I'll give you a fair +warning, at any rate. +</P> + +<P> +"You're my sweetheart, I'm your beau." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, May 29, 1890. +</P> + +<P> +This is just a little good night note to say how I wish I was with you +down at that dear old place and how much I love you and Nora who is +getting lovelier and sweeter and prettier everyday and I know a pretty +girl when I see 'em, Fides, for instance. But I won't tease you about +that any more. +</P> + +<P> +I finished a short silly story to night which I am in doubt whether to +send off or not. I think I will keep it until I read it to you and +learn what you think. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gilder has asked me to stay with them at Marion, and to go to +Cambridge with Mrs. Gilder and dear Mrs. Cleveland and Grover +Cleveland, when he reads the poem before D. K. E. +</P> + +<P> +I have bought a book on decorations, colored, and I am choosing what I +want, like a boy with a new pair of boots. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Good-night, my dearest Mama. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In addition to his regular work on The Evening Sun, my brother, as I +have already said, was devoting a great part, of his leisure moments to +the writing of short stories, and had made a tentative agreement with a +well-known magazine to do a series of short sketches of New York types. +Evidently fearful that Richard was writing too much and with a view to +pecuniary gain, my mother wrote the following note of warning: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PHILADELPHIA, 1890. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DICK: +</P> + +<P> +I wouldn't undertake the "types." For one thing, you will lose +prestige writing for ——'s paper. For another, I dread beyond +everything your beginning to do hack work for money. It is the +beginning of decadence both in work and reputation for you. I know by +my own and a thousand other people. Begin to write because it "is a +lot of money" and you stop doing your best work. You make your work +common and your prices will soon go down. George Lewes managed George +Eliot wisely. +</P> + +<P> +He stopped her hack work. Kept her at writing novels and soon one each +year brought her $40,000. I am taking a purely mercenary view of the +thing. There is another which you understand better than I— Mind your +Mother's advice to you—now and all the time is "do only your best +work—even if you starve doing it." But you won't starve. You'll get +your dinner at Martin's instead of Delmonico's, which won't hurt you in +the long run. Anyhow, $1000. for 12,500 words is not a great price. +</P> + +<P> +That was a fine tea you gave. I should like to have heard the good +talk. It was like the regiment of brigadier generals with no privates. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MOTHER. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This is a letter written by my father after the publication of +Richard's story "A Walk up the Avenue." Richard frequently spoke of +his father as his "kindest and severest critic." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PHILADELPHIA, July 22nd, 1890. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +10.30 P. M. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR Boy: +</P> + +<P> +You can do it; you have done it; it is all right. I have read A Walk +up the Avenue. It is far and away the best thing you have ever +done—Full of fine subtle thought, of rare, manly feeling. +</P> + +<P> +I am not afraid of Dick the author. He's all right. I shall only be +afraid—when I am afraid—that Dick the man will not live up to the +other fellow, that he may forget how much the good Lord has given him, +and how responsible to the good Lord and to himself he is and will be +for it. A man entrusted with such talent should carry himself +straighter than others to whom it is denied. He has great duties to +do; he owes tribute to the giver. +</P> + +<P> +Don't let the world's temptations in any of its forms come between you +and your work. Make your life worthy of your talent, and humbly by day +and by night ask God to help you to do it. +</P> + +<P> +I am very proud of this work. It is good work, with brain, bone, +nerve, muscle in it. It is human, with healthy pulse and heartsome +glow in it. Remember, hereafter, you have by it put on the bars +against yourself preventing you doing any work less good. You have +yourself made your record, you can't lower it. You can only beat it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lovingly, DAD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the latter part of December, 1890, Richard left The Evening Sun to +become the managing editor of Harper's Weekly. George William Curtis +was then its editor, and at this time no periodical had a broader or +greater influence for the welfare of the country. As Richard was then +but twenty-six, his appointment to his new editorial duties came as a +distinct honor. The two years that Richard had spent on The Evening +Sun had been probably the happiest he had ever known. He really loved +New York, and at this time Paris and London held no such place in his +affections as they did in later years. And indeed there was small +reason why these should not have been happy years for any young man. +At twenty-six Richard had already accomplished much, and his name had +become a familiar one not only to New Yorkers but throughout the +country. Youth and health he had, and many friends, and a talent that +promised to carry him far in the profession he loved. His new position +paid him a salary considerably larger than he had received heretofore, +and he now demanded and received much higher terms for his stories. +All of which was well for Richard because as his income grew so grew +his tastes. I have known few men who cared less for money than did my +brother, and I have known few who cared more for what it could buy for +his friends and for himself. Money to him, and, during his life he +made very large sums of it, he always chose to regard as income but +never capital. A bond or a share of stock meant to him what it would +bring that day on the Stock Exchange. The rainy day which is the +bugaboo for the most of us, never seemed to show on his horizon. For a +man whose livelihood depended on the lasting quality of his creative +faculties he had an infinite faith in the future, and indeed his own +experience seemed to show that he was justified in this belief. It +could not have been very long after his start as a fiction writer that +he received as high a price for his work as any of his contemporaries; +and just previous to his death, more than twenty years later, he signed +a contract to write six stories at a figure which, so far as I know, +was the highest ever offered an American author. In any case, money or +the lack of it certainly never caused Richard any worriment during the +early days of which I write. For what he made he worked extremely +hard, but the reputation and the spending of the money that this same +hard work brought him caused him infinite happiness. He enjoyed the +reputation he had won and the friends that such a reputation helped him +to make; he enjoyed entertaining and being entertained, and he enjoyed +pretty much all of the good things of life. And all of this he enjoyed +with the naive, almost boyish enthusiasm that only one could to whom it +had all been made possible at twenty-six. Of these happy days Booth +Tarkington wrote at the time of my brother's death: +</P> + +<P> +"To the college boy of the early nineties Richard Harding Davis was the +'beau ideal of jeunesse doree,' a sophisticated heart of gold. He was +of that college boy's own age, but already an editor—already +publishing books! His stalwart good looks were as familiar to us as +were those of our own football captain; we knew his face as we knew the +face of the President of the United States, but we infinitely preferred +Davis's. When the Waldorf was wondrously completed, and we cut an +exam. in Cuneiform Inscriptions for an excursion to see the world at +lunch in its new magnificence, and Richard Harding Davis came into the +Palm Room—then, oh, then, our day was radiant! That was the top of +our fortune; we could never have hoped for so much. Of all the great +people of every continent, this was the one we most desired to see." +</P> + +<P> +Richard's intimate friends of these days were Charles Dana Gibson, who +illustrated a number of my brother's stories, Robert Howard Russell, +Albert La Montagne, Helen Benedict, now Mrs. Thomas Hastings, Ethel +Barrymore, Maude Adams, E. H. Sothern, his brother, Sam, and Arthur +Brisbane. None of this little circle was married at the time, its +various members were seldom apart, and they extracted an enormous +amount of fun out of life. I had recently settled in New York, and we +had rooms at 10 East Twenty-eighth Street, where we lived very +comfortably for many years. Indeed Richard did not leave them until +his marriage in the summer of 1899. They were very pleasant, sunny +rooms, and in the sitting-room, which Richard had made quite +attractive, we gave many teas and supper-parties. But of all the happy +incidents I can recall at the Twenty-eighth Street house, the one I +remember most distinctly took place in the hallway the night that +Richard received the first statement and check for his first book of +short stories, and before the money had begun to come in as fast as it +did afterward. We were on our way to dinner at some modest resort when +we saw and at once recognized the long envelope on the mantel. Richard +guessed it would be for one hundred and ninety dollars, but with a +rather doubting heart I raised my guess to three hundred. And when, +with trembling fingers, Richard had finally torn open the envelope and +found a check for nine hundred and odd dollars, what a wild dance we +did about the hall-table, and what a dinner we had that night! Not at +the modest restaurant as originally intended, but at Delmonico's! It +was during these days that Seymour Hicks and his lovely wife Ellaline +Terriss first visited America, and they and Richard formed a mutual +attachment that lasted until his death. +</P> + +<P> +Richard had always taken an intense interest in the drama, and at the +time he was managing editor of Harper's Weekly had made his first +efforts as a playwright. Robert Hilliard did a one-act version of +Richard's short story, "Her First Appearance," which under the title of +"The Littlest Girl" he played in vaudeville for many years. E. H. +Sothern and Richard had many schemes for writing a play together, but +the only actual result they ever attained was a one-act version Sothern +did at the old Lyceum of my brother's story, "The Disreputable Mr. +Raegen." It was an extremely tense and absorbing drama, and Sothern +was very fine in the part of Raegen, but for the forty-five minutes the +playlet lasted Sothern had to hold the stage continuously alone, and as +it preceded a play of the regulation length, the effort proved too much +for the actor's strength, and after a few performances it was taken +off. Although it was several years after this that my brother's first +long play was produced he never lost interest in the craft of +playwriting, and only waited for the time and means to really devote +himself to it. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +BOSTON, January 22nd, 1891. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY:— +</P> + +<P> +This is just to say that I am alive and sleepy, and that my head is +still its normal size, although I have at last found one man in Boston +who has read one of my stories, and that was Barrymore from New York. +The Fairchilds' dinner was a tremendous affair, and I was conquered +absolutely by Mr. Howells, who went far, far out of his way to be as +kind and charming as an old man could be. Yesterday Mrs. Whitman gave +a tea in her studio. I thought she meant to have a half dozen young +people to drink a cup with her, and I sauntered in in the most +nonchalant manner to find that about everybody had been asked to meet +me. And everybody came, principally owing to the "Harding Davis" part +of the name for they all spoke of mother and so very dearly that it +made me pretty near weep. Everybody came from old Dr. Holmes who never +goes any place, to Mrs. "Jack" Gardner and all the debutantes. "I was +on in that scene." In the evening I went with the Fairchilds to Mrs. +Julia Ward Howe's to meet the S——s but made a point not to as he was +talking like a cad when I heard him and Mrs. Fairchild and I agreed to +be the only people in Boston who had not clasped his hand. There were +only a few people present and Mrs. Howe recited the Battle Hymn of the +Republic, which I thought very characteristic of the city. To-day I +posed again and Cumnock took me over Cambridge and into all of the +Clubs where I met some very nice boys and felt very old. Then we went +to a tea Cushing gave in his rooms and to night I go to Mrs. Deland's. +But the mornings with the Fairchilds are the best. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the spring of 1891 my mother and sister, Nora, went abroad for the +summer, and the following note was written to Richard just before my +mother sailed: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DICK: +</P> + +<P> +This is just to give my dearest love to you my darling. Some day at +sea when I cannot hear you nor see you, whenever it is that you get +it—night or morning—-you may be sure that we are all loving and +thinking of you. +</P> + +<P> +Keep close to the Lord. Your Lord who never has refused to hear a +prayer of yours. +</P> + +<P> +Just think that I have kissed you a thousand times. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MOTHER. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +FRANKLIN SQUARE, NEW YORK. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June, 1891. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Your letters are a great delight to me but I think you are going +entirely too quickly. You do not feel it now but you are simply +hurrying through the courses of your long dinner so rapidly that when +dessert comes you will not be up to it. A day or two's rest and less +greed to see many things would be much more fun I should think, and you +will enjoy those days more to look back to when you wandered around +some little town by yourselves and made discoveries than those you +spent doing what you feel you ought to do. Excuse this lecture but I +know that when I got to Paris I wanted to do nothing but sit still and +read and let "sights" go— You will soon learn not to duplicate and +that one cathedral will answer for a dozen. And I am disappointed in +your mad desire to get to Edinboro to get letters from home, as though +you couldn't get letters from me every day of your life and as if there +were not enough of you together to keep from getting homesick. I am +ashamed of you. But that is all the scolding I have to do for I do not +know what has given me more pleasure than your letters and Nora's +especially. They tell me the best news in the world and that is, that +you are all getting as much happiness out of it as I have prayed you +would. I may go over in September myself. But I would only go to +London. Now, then for Home news. I have sold the "Reporter Who Made +Himself King" to McClure's for $300. to be published in the syndicate +in August. I have finished "Her First Appearance" and Gibson is doing +the illustrations, three. I got $175. for it. +</P> + +<P> +I am now at work on a story about Arthur Cumnock, Harvard's football +captain who was the hero of Class Day. It will come out this week and +will match Lieut. Grant's chance. In July I begin a story called the +"Traveller's Tale" which will be used in the November Harper. That is +all <I>I</I> am doing. +</P> + +<P> +So far the notices of "Gallegher" have been very good, I mean the +English ones. +</P> + +<P> +I went up to Class Day on Friday and spent the day with Miss Fairchild +and Miss Howells and with Mr. H. for chaperone. He is getting old and +says he never deserved the fuss they made over him. We had a pretty +perfect day although it threatened rain most of the time. We wandered +around from one spread to another meeting beautifully dressed girls +everywhere and "lions" and celebrities. Then the fight for the roses +around the tree was very interesting and picturesque and arena like and +the best of all was sitting in the broad window seats of the +dormitories with a Girl or two, generally "a" girl and listening to the +glee club sing and watching the lanterns and the crowds of people as +beautiful as Redfern could make them. +</P> + +<P> +Half of Seabright was burnt down last week but not my half, although +the fire destroyed all the stores and fishermen's houses and stopped +only one house away from Pannachi's, where I will put up. I am very +well and content and look forward to much pleasure this summer at +Seabright and much work. I find I have seldom been so happy as when +working hard and fast as I have been forced to do these last two weeks +and so I will keep it up. Not in such a way as to hurt me but just +enough to keep me happy. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, August 1891. From The Pall Mall Budget Gazette. +</P> + +<P> +"The Americans are saying, by the way, that they have discovered a +Rudyard Kipling of their own. This is Mr. Richard Harding Davis, a +volume of whose stories has been published this week by Mr. Osgood. +Mr. Davis is only twenty-six, was for sometime on the staff of the New +York Evening Sun. He is now the editor of Harper's Weekly." +</P> + +<P> +That is me. I have also a mother and sister who once went to London +and what do you think they first went to see, in London, mind you. +They got into a four wheeler and they said "cabby drive as fast as you +can," not knowing that four wheelers never go faster than a dead +march—" to— "where do you think? St. Paul's, the Temple, the Abbey, +their lodgings, the Houses of Parliament—the Pavilion Music Hall—the +Tower—no to none of these—"To the Post Office." That is what my +mother and sister did! After this when they hint that they would like +to go again and say "these muffins are not English muffins" and "do you +remember the little Inn at Chester, ah, those were happy days," I will +say, "And do you remember the Post Office in Edinburgh and London. We +have none such in America." And as they only go abroad to get letters +they will hereafter go to Rittenhouse Square and I will write letters +to them from London. All this shows that a simple hurriedly written +letter from Richard Harding Davis is of more value than all the show +places of London. It makes me quite PROUD. And so does this: +</P> + +<P> +"'Gallegher' is as good as anything of Bret Harte's, although it is in +Mr. Davis's own vein, not in the borrowed vein of Bret Harte or anybody +else. 'The Cynical Miss Catherwaight' is very good, too, and 'Mr. +Raegen' is still better." +</P> + +<P> +But on the other hand, it makes me tired, and so does this: +</P> + +<P> +"'The Other Woman' is a story which offends good taste in more than one +way. It is a blunder to have written it, a greater blunder to have +published it, and a greater blunder STILL to have republished it." +</P> + +<P> +I suppose now that Dad has crossed with Prince George and Nora has seen +the Emperor, that you will be proud too. But you will be prouder of +your darling boy Charles, even though he does get wiped out at +Seabright next week and you will be even prouder when he writes great +stories for The Evening Sun. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Players, +16 Gramercy Park. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +24th, 1891. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I had a great day at the game and going there and coming back. I met a +great many old football men and almost all of them spoke of the "Out of +the Game" story. Cumnock, Camp, Poe, Terry and lots more whose names +mean nothing to you, so ignorant are you, were there and we had long +talks. I went to see Cleveland yesterday about a thing of which I have +thought much and talked less and that was going into politics in this +country. To say he discouraged me in so doing would be saying the rain +is wet. He seemed to think breaking stones as a means of getting fame +and fortune was quicker and more genteel. I also saw her and the BABY. +She explained why she had not written you and also incidentally why she +HAD written Childs. I do not know as what Cleveland said made much +impression upon me—although I found out what I could expect from +him—that is nothing here but apparently a place abroad if I wanted it. +But he thought Congress was perfectly feasible but the greatest folly +to go there. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FIRST TRAVEL ARTICLES +</H3> + +<P> +For Richard these first years in New York were filled to overflowing +with many varied interests, quite enough to satisfy most young men of +twenty-seven. He had come and seen and to a degree, so far as the +limitation of his work would permit, had conquered New York, but +Richard thoroughly realized that New York was not only a very small +part of the world but of his own country, and that to write about his +own people and his own country and other people and other lands he must +start his travels at an early age, and go on travelling until the end. +And for the twenty-five years that followed that was what Richard did. +Even when he was not on his travels but working on a novel or a play at +Marion or later on at Mount Kisco, so far as it was possible he kept in +touch with events that were happening and the friends that he had made +all over the globe. He subscribed to most of the English and French +illustrated periodicals and to one London daily newspaper which every +day he read with the same interest that he read half a dozen New York +newspapers and the interest was always that of the trained editor at +work. Richard was not only physically restless but his mind +practically never relaxed. When others, tired after a hard day's work +or play, would devote the evening to cards or billiards or chatter, +Richard would write letters or pore over some strange foreign magazine, +consult maps, make notes, or read the stories of his contemporaries. +He practically read every American magazine from cover to +cover—advertisements were a delight to him, and the finding of a new +writer gave him as much pleasure as if he had been the fiction editor +who had accepted the first story by the embryo genius. The official +organs of our army and navy he found of particular interest. Not only +did he thus follow the movements of his friends in these branches of +the service but if he read of a case wherein he thought a sailor or a +soldier had been done an injustice he would promptly take the matter up +with the authorities at Washington, and the results he obtained were +often not only extremely gratifying to the wronged party but caused +Richard no end of pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +According to my brother's arrangement with the Harpers, he was to +devote a certain number of months of every year to the editing of The +Weekly, and the remainder to travel and the writing of his experiences +for Harper's Monthly. He started on the first of these trips in +January, 1892, and the result was a series of articles which afterward +appeared under the title of "The West from a Car Window." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +January, 1892. (Some place in Texas) +</P> + +<P> +I left St. Louis last night, Wednesday, and went to bed and slept for +twelve hours. To-day has been most trying and I shall be very glad to +get on dry land again. The snow has ceased although the papers say +this is the coldest snap they have had in San Antonio in ten years. It +might have waited a month for me I think. It has been a most dreary +trip from a car window point of view. Now that the snow has gone, +there is mud and ice and pine trees and colored people, but no cowboys +as yet. They talk nothing but Chili and war and they make such funny +mistakes. We have a G. A. R. excursion on the train, consisting of one +fat and prosperous G. A. R., the rest of the excursion having backed +out on account of Garza who the salient warriors imagine as a roaring +lion seeking whom he may devour. One old chap with white hair came on +board at a desolate station and asked for "the boys in blue" and was +very much disgusted when he found that "that grasshopper Garza" had +scared them away— He had tramped five miles through the mud to greet a +possible comrade and was much chagrined. The excursion shook hands +with him and they took a drink together. The excursion tells me he is +a glass manufacturer, an owner of a slate quarry and the best embalmer +of bodies in the country. He says he can keep them four years and does +so "for specimens" those that are left on his hands and others he +purchases from the morgue. He has a son who is an actor and he fills +me full of the most harrowing tales of Indian warfare and the details +of the undertaking business. He is SO funny about the latter that I +weep with laughter and he cannot see why— Joe Jefferson and I went to +a matinee on Wednesday and saw Robson in "She stoops to Conquer." The +house was absolutely packed and when Joe came in the box they yelled +and applauded and he nodded to them in the most fatherly, friendly way +as though to say "How are you, I don't just remember your name but I'm +glad to see you—" It was so much sweeter than if he had got up and +bowed as I would have done. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SAN ANTONIO +</P> + +<P> +I knew more about Texas than the Texans and when they told me I would +find summer here I smiled knowingly— That is all the smiling I have +done—-Did you ever see a stage set for a garden or wood scene by +daylight or Coney Island in March—that is what the glorious, beautiful +baking city of San Antonio is like. There is mud and mud and mud—in +cans, in the gardens of the Mexicans and snow around the palms and +palmettos— Does the sun shine anywhere? Are people ever warm— It is +raw, ugly and muddy, the Mexicans are merely dirty and not picturesque. +I am greatly disappointed. But I have set my teeth hard and I will go +on and see it through to the bitter end— But I will not write anything +for publication until I can take a more cheerful view of it. I already +have reached the stage where I admit the laugh is on me— But there is +still London to look forward to and this may get better when the sun +comes out—-I went to the fort to-day and was most courteously +received. But they told me I should go on to Laredo, if I expected to +see any campaigning— There is no fighting nor is any expected but they +say they will give me a horse and I can ride around the chaparral as +long as I want. I will write you from Laredo, where I go to-morrow, +Saturday— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At Laredo Richard left the beaten track of the traveller, and with +Trooper Tyler, who acted as his guide, joined Captain Hardie in his +search for Garza. The famous revolutionist was supposed to be in +hiding this side of the border, and the Mexican Government had asked +the United States to find him and return him to the officials of his +own country. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In Camp, February 2nd. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +We have stopped by the side of a trail for a while and I will take the +chance it gives me to tell you what I have been doing. After Tyler and +I returned to camp, we had a day of rest before Captain Hardie arrived. +He is a young, red-moustached, pointed-bearded chap with light blue +eyes, rough with living in the West but most kind hearted and +enthusiastic. He treats me as though I were his son which is rather +absurd as he is only up to my shoulder. It is so hot I cannot make the +words go straight and you must not mind if I wander. We are hugging a +fence for all the shade there is and the horses and men have all +crawled to the dark side of it and are sleeping or swearing at the sun. +It is about two o'clock and we have been riding since half-past seven. +I have had a first rate time but I do not see that there has been much +in it to interest any one but myself and where Harper Brothers or the +"gentle reader" comes in, I am afraid I cannot see, and if I cannot see +it I fear he will be in a bad way. It has pleased and interested me to +see how I could get along under difficult circumstances and with so +much discomfort but as I say I was not sent out here to improve my +temper or my health or to make me more content with my good things in +the East. If we could have a fight or something that would excuse and +make a climax for all this marching and reconnoitering and discomfort +the story would have a suitable finale and a raison d'etre. However, I +may get something out of it if only to abuse the Government for their +stupidity in chasing a jack rabbit with a brass band or by praising the +men for doing their duty when they know there is no duty to be done. +This country is more like the ocean than anything else and drives one +crazy with its monotony and desolation. And to think we went to war +with Mexico for it— To-day is my tenth day with the troops in the camp +and in the field and I will leave them as soon as this scout is over +which will be in three days at the most. Then I will go to Corpus +Christi and from there to the ranches but I will wait until I get +baths, hair cuts and a dinner and cool things to drink— One thing has +pleased me very much and that is that I, with Tyler and the Mexican +Scout made the second best riding record of the troop since they have +been in the field this winter. The others rode 115 miles in 32 hours, +four of them under the first Sergeant, after revolutionists, and we +made 110 miles in 33 hours. The rest of the detachment made 90 miles +and our having the extra thirty to our credit was an accident. On the +31st Hardie sent out the scout and two troopers, of which Tyler was +one, to get a trail and as I had been resting and loafing for three +days, I went out with them. We left at eight after breakfast and +returned at seven, having made thirty miles. When we got in we found +that a detachment was going out on information sent in while we were +out. Tyler was in it and so we got fresh horses and put out at nine +o'clock by moonlight. That was to keep the people in the ranch from +knowing we were going out. We rode until half-past three in the +morning and then camped at the side of the road until half—past six, +when we rode on until five in the afternoon. The men who were watching +to see me give up grew more and more interested as the miles rolled out +and the First Sergeant was very fearful for his record for which he has +been recommended for the certificate of merit. The Captain was very +much pleased and all the men came and spoke to me. It must have been a +good ride for Tyler who is a fifth year man was so tired that he paid a +man to do his sentry duty. We slept at Captain Hunter's camp that last +night and we both came on this morning, riding thirty miles up to two +o'clock to-day. From here we go on into the brush again. I am very +proud of that riding record and of my beard which is fine. I will +finish this when we get near a post-office. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +February 4th— We rode forty miles through the brush but saw nothing of +Garza, who was supposed to be in it. But we captured 3 revolutionists, +one of whom ran away but the scout got him. Hardie, Tyler, who is his +orderly, and the scout and I took them in because the rest of the +column was lagging in the rear and the Lieutenant got bally hooly for +it. Tyler disarmed one and I took away the other chaps things. Then +we took a fourth in and let them all go for want of evidence and after +some of the ranch men had identified them. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CORPUS CHRISTI, February 6. +</P> + +<P> +We ended our scout yesterday, and camped at Captain Hunter's last +night— Mother can now rest her soul in peace as I have done with +scoutings and have replaced the free and easy belt and revolver for the +black silk suspenders and the fire badge of civilization. I am still +covered with 11 days dirt but will get lots of good things to eat and +drink and smoke at Corpus Christi to night, where I will stay for two +days. I am writing this on the car and a ranger is shooting splinters +out of the telegraph poles from the window in front and has a New York +drummer in a state of absolute nervous prostration. I met the Rangers +last night as we came into camp and find them quite the most +interesting things yet. They are just what I expected to find here and +have not disappointed me. Everything else is either what we know it to +be and know all about or else is disappointingly commonplace. I mean +we know certain things are picturesque and I find them so but they have +been "done" to death and new material seems so scarce. I am sometimes +very fearful of the success of the letters— However, the Rangers I +simply loved. They were gentle voiced and did not swear as the +soldiers do and some of them were as handsome men as I ever saw and SO +BIG. And such children. They showed me all their tricks at the +request of the Adjutant General, who looks upon them as his special +property. They shot four shots into a tree with a revolver, going at +full gallop, hit a mark with both hands at once, shot with the pistol +upside down and the Captain put eight shots into a board with a +Winchester, while I was putting two into the field around it. We got +along very well indeed and they were quite keen for me to go back and +chase Garza. They are sure they have him now. I gave the Captain +permission to put four shots into my white helmet. He only put two and +the rest of the company thinking their reputations were at stake +whipped out their guns and snatched up their rifles and blazed away +until they danced the hat all over the ranch. Then remorse overcame +them and they proposed taking up a collection to get me a sombrero, +which I stopped. So Nora's hat is gone but I am going to get another +and save myself from sunstroke again. The last part of the ride was +enlivened by the presence of three Mexican murderers handcuffed and +chained with iron bands around the neck, that is Texas civilization +isn't it— +</P> + +<P> +I have had my dinner and a fine dinner it was with fresh fish and duck +and oysters and segars which I have not had for a week. I am finishing +this at Constantine's and will be here for two days to write things and +will then go on to King's ranch and from there to San Antonio, where I +will also rest a week. I will just about get through my schedule in +the ten weeks at this rate. I had a good time in the bush and am +enjoying it very much though it is lonely now and then— Still, it is +very interesting and if the stories amount to anything I will be +pleased but I am constantly wondering how on earth Chas stood it as he +did. He is a hero to me for I have some hope of getting back and he +had not— He is a sport— How I will sleep to night—a real bed and +sheets and pajamas, after the ground and the same clothes for eleven +days. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +While Richard was travelling in the West, his second volume of short +stories, "Van Bibber and Others," was published. The volume was +dedicated to my father, who wrote Richard the following letter: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR OWN DICK: +</P> + +<P> +I have not been the complete letter writer I should have been, as I +told you on Saturday, but I know you will understand. Your two good +letters came this evening, one to Mamma and one to Nora. They were a +good deal to us all, most, of course, to your dear mother and sister, +who have a fond, foolish fancy or love for you—strange—isn't it? +Yes, dear boy, I liked the new story very, very much. It was in your +best book and in fine spirit, and I liked, too, the dedication of the +book—its meaning and its manner. I am glad to be associated with my +dear boy and with his work even in that brief way. You may not yet +thought about it after this fashion, but I have thought a good deal +about it. Reports come to me of you from many sources, and they are +all good, and they all reflect honor upon me— Upon me as I'm getting +ready to salute the world, as our French friends say. It is very +pleasant to me as I think it over to feel and to know that my boy has +honored my name, that he has done something good and useful in the +world and for the world. I have something more than pride in you. I +am grateful to you. If this is a little prosie, dear old fellow, +forgive it. It is late at night and I am a little tired, and being +tired stupid. You saw The Atlantic notice of your work. I wish you +could have heard Nora on the author of it, who would not have been +happy in his mind if he had unhappily heard her. She went for that +Heathen Chinee like a wild cat. No disrespect to her, but, all the +same, like a wild cat. To me it was interesting. I did not agree with +it, but here and there I saw the flash of truth even in the adverse +praise. I should have had more respect for the author's opinion if he +had liked that vital speck, Raegen. If he could not see the divine, +human spark in that—a flash from Calvary, what is the use of +considering him? My greatest pride in you, that which has added some +sweetness and joy to my life, has been the recognition that something +of the divine element was given you, and that your voice rang out sweet +and pure at a time when other voices were sounding the fascinations of +impurity. That, like Christ, you taught humanity. Don't be afraid of +being thought "fresh," fear to be thought "knowing." Life isn't much +worth at best,—it is worth nothing at all unless some good be done in +it—-the more, the better. Don't make it too serious either. Enjoy it +as you go, but after a fashion that will bring no reproach to your +manhood. Don't be afraid to preach the truth and above all the +religion of humanity. Good night, dear boy. I'm a little tired to +night. With great love, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DAD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ANADARKO—February 26th, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY:— +</P> + +<P> +I could not write you before as I have been traveling from pillars to +posts, (a joke), in a stage, night and day. I went to Fort Reno from +Oklahoma City where they drove me crazy almost with town lots and lot +sites and homestead holdings. It was all raw and mean, and greedy for +money and a man is much better off in every way in a tenement on Second +Avenue than the "owner of his own home" in one of these mushroom +cities— So I think. I went to Fort Reno by stage and it seemed to me +that I was really in the West for the first time— The rest has been as +much like the oil towns around Pittsburgh as anything else. But here +there are rolling prairie lands with millions of prairie dogs and deep +canons and bluffs of red clay that stand out as clear as a razor +hollowed and carved away by the water long ago. And the grass is as +high as a stirrup and the trees very plentiful after the plains of +Texas. The men at Fort Reno were the best I have met, indeed I am just +a little tired of trying to talk of things of interest to the Second +Lieutenant's intellect. But I had to leave there because I had missed +the beef issue and had to see it and as it was due here I pushed on. +This post is very beautiful but the men are very young and civil +appointments mainly, which means that they have not been to West Point +but had fathers and have friends with influence and they are fresh. +But the scenery around the post is delightfully wild and big and there +is an Indian camp at the foot of the hill on which the fort is stuck. +Mother, instead of going to Europe, should come here and see her +Indians. Only if she did she would bring a dozen or more of the +children back with her. They are the brightest spot in my trip and I +spend the mornings and afternoons trying to get them to play with me. +They are very shy and pretty and beautifully barbaric and wear the most +gorgeous trappings. The women, the older ones, are the ugliest women I +ever saw. But the men are fine. I never saw such color as they give +to the landscape and one always thinks they have dressed up just to +please you. I have spent most of my time and money in buying things +from them but they are very dear because the Indians take long to make +them and do not like to part with them. I have had rough times lately +but I think I would be content to remain in the west six months if I +could. It is the necessity of leaving places I like and pushing on to +places I don't, I dislike. Reno was fine with a band and lots of fine +fellows. This post is not so queer but they are so young— It makes a +great bit of color though with the yellow capes of the cavalry and the +soldiers wig—waging red and white flags at other soldiers eight miles +away on other mountains and the Indians in yellow buckskin and blankets +and their faces painted too. I went to the beef issue to-day—it was +not a pretty sight and most barbarous and cruel. I also went to a +council at which the chiefs were protesting against the cutting down of +their rations which is Commissioner Morgan's doing and which it is +expected will lead to war— We went in out of curiosity and without +knowing it was a Council and were very much ashamed when one of the +Chiefs rose and said he was glad to see the officers present as they +were the best friends the Indians had and the only men they could +respect in times of peace as a friend, or in times of war as an enemy. +At which we took off our hats and sat it through. Mother's blood would +rise if she could hear the stories they tell, and they are so dignified +and polite. They have an Indian troop here, like the one described in +The Weekly, which you should read and the Captain told them I was a +great Chief from the East, whereat all the soldiers who were of noble +lineage claimed their privilege of shaking hands with me, which had a +demoralizing effect upon the formation and the white privates were +either convulsed with mirth or red with indignation. But you cannot +treat them like white men who do not know their ancestors— Dad's +letter was the best I have ever got from him and he had always better +write when he is tired. I will always keep it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DENVER—March 7, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I arrived in Denver Friday night and realized that I was in a city +again where the more you order people about the more they do for you, +being civilized and so understanding that you mean to tip them. I +found my first letter on the newsstand and was very much pleased with +it, and with the way they put it out. The proof was perfect and if +there had been more pictures I would have been entirely satisfied, as +it was I was very much pleased. My baggage had not come, so covered +with mud and dust and straw from the stages and generally disreputable +I went to see a burlesque, and said "Front row, end seat," just as +naturally as though I was in evening dress and high hat—and then I +sank into a beautiful deep velvet chair and saw Amazon marches and +ladies in tights and heard the old old jokes and the old old songs we +know so well and sing so badly. The next morning I went for my mail +and the entire post office came out to see me get it. It took me until +seven in the evening to finish it, and I do not know that it will ever +be answered. The best of it was that you were all pleased with my +letters. That put my mind at rest. Then there was news of deaths and +marriages and engagements and the same people doing the same things +they did when I went away. I did not intend to present any letters as +I was going away that night to Creede, but I found I could not get any +money unless some one identified me so I presented one to a Mr. Jerome +who all the bankers said they would be only too happy to oblige. After +one has been variously taken for a drummer, photographer and has been +offered so much a line to "write up" booming towns, it is a relief to +get back to a place where people know you.—I told Mr. Jerome I had a +letter of introduction and that I was Mr. Davis and he shook hands and +then looked at the letter and said "Good Heavens are you that Mr. +Davis" and then rushed off and brought back the entire establishment +brokers, bankers and mine owners and they all sat around and told me +funny stories and planned more things for me to do and eat than I could +dispose of in a month. +</P> + +<P> +I am now en route to Creede. Creede when you first see it in print +looks like creede but after you have been in Denver or Colorado even +for one day it reads like C R E E D E. All the men on this car think +they are going to make their fortunes, and toward that end they have on +new boots and flannel shirts, and some of them seeing my beautiful +clothing and careful array came over and confided to me that they were +really not so tough as they looked and had never worn a flannel shirt +before. This car is typical of what they told me I would find at +Creede. There are rich mine owners who are pointed out by the +conductor as the fifth part owner of the "Pot Luck" mine, and dudes in +astrakan fur coats over top boots and new flannel shirts, and hardened +old timers with their bedding and tin pans, who have prospected all +over the state and women who are smoking and drinking. +</P> + +<P> +I feel awfully selfish whenever I look out of the car window. +Switzerland which I have never seen is a spot on the map compared to +this. The mountains go up with snow on one side and black rows of +trees and rocks on the other, and the clouds seem packed down between +them. The sun on the snow and the peaks peering above the clouds is +all new to me and so very beautiful that I would like to buy a mountain +and call it after my best girl. I will finish this when I get to +Creede. I expect to make my fortune there. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CREEDE, March 7. +</P> + +<P> +A young man in a sweater and top boots met me at the depot and said +that I was Mr. Davis and that he was a young man whose life I had +written in "There was 90 and 9." He was from Buffalo and was editing a +paper in Creede. He said I was to stop with him— Creede is built of +new pine boards and lies between two immense mountains covered with +pines and snow. The town is built in the gulley and when the spring +freshets come will be a second Johnstown. Faber, the young man, took +me to the Grub State Cabin where I found two most amusing dudes and +thoroughbred sports from Boston, Harvard men living in a cabin ten by +eight with four bunks and a stove, two banjos and H O P E. They own +numerous silver mines, lots, and shares, but I do not believe they have +five dollars in cash amongst them. They have a large picture of myself +for one of the ORNAMENTS and are great good fellows. We sat up in our +bunks until two this morning talking and are planning to go to Africa +and Mexico and Asia Minor together.—Lots of love. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Very happy indeed to be back in his beloved town, Richard returned to +New York late in March, 1892, and resumed his editorial duties. But on +this occasion his stay was of particularly short duration, and in May, +he started for his long-wished-for visit to London. The season there +was not yet in full swing, and after spending a few days in town, +journeyed to Oxford, where he settled down to amuse himself and collect +material for his first articles on English life as he found it. In +writing of this visit to Oxford, H. J. Whigham, one of Richard's +oldest friends, and who afterward served with him in several campaigns, +said: +</P> + +<P> +"When we first met Richard Harding Davis he was living, to all +practical purposes, the life of an undergraduate at Balliol College, +Oxford. Anyone at all conversant with the customs of universities, +especially with the idiosyncrasies of Oxford, knows that for a person +who is not an undergraduate to share the life of undergraduates on +equal terms, to take part in their adventures, to be admitted to their +confidence is more difficult than it is for the camel to pass through +the eye of a needle or for the rich man to enter heaven. It was +characteristic of Davis that although he was a few years older than the +average university "man" and came from a strange country and, moreover, +had no official reason for being at Oxford at all, he was accepted as +one of themselves by the Balliol undergraduates, in fact, lived in +Balliol for at least a college term, and happening to fall in with a +somewhat enterprising generation of Balliol men he took the lead in +several escapades which have been written into Oxford history. There +is in the makeup of the best type of college undergraduate a wonderful +spirit of adventure, an unprejudiced view of life, an almost Quixotic +feeling for romance, a disdain of sordid or materialistic motives, +which together make the years spent at a great university the most +golden of the average man's career. These characteristics Davis was +fortunate enough to retain through all the years of his life. The same +spirit that took him out with a band of Oxford youths to break down an +iron barrier set by an insolent landowner across the navigable waters +of Shakespeare's Avon carried him, in after years, to the battlefields +where Greece fought against the yoke of Turkey, to the insurrecto camps +of Cuba, to the dark horrors of the Congo, to Manchuria, where gallant +Japan beat back the overwhelming power of Russia, to Belgium, where he +saw the legions of Germany trampling over the prostrate bodies of a +small people. Romance was never dead while Davis was alive." +</P> + +<P> +That Richard lost no time in making friends at Oxford as, indeed, he +never failed to do wherever he went, the following letters to his +mother would seem to show: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +OXFORD—May, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I came down here on Saturday morning with the Peels, who gave an +enormous boating party and luncheon on a tiny little island. The day +was beautiful with a warm brilliant sun, and the river was just as +narrow and pretty as the head of the Squan river, and with old walls +and college buildings added. We had the prettiest Mrs. Peel in our +boat and Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain, who was Miss Endicott and who is very +sweet and pretty. We raced the other punts and rowboats and soon, +after much splashing and exertion, reached the head of the river. Then +we went to, tea in New College and to see the sights of the different +colleges now on the Thames. The barges of the colleges, painted +different colors and gilded like circus band-wagons and decorated with +coats of arms and flying great flags, lined the one shore for a quarter +of a mile and were covered by girls in pretty frocks and under-grads in +blazers. Then the boats came into sight one after another with the men +running alongside on the towpath. This was one of the most remarkable +sights of the country so far. There were over six hundred men coming +six abreast, falling and stumbling and pushing, shouting and firing +pistols. It sounded like a cavalry charge and the line seemed endless. +The whole thing was most theatrical and effective. Then we went to the +annual dinner of the Palmerston Club, where I made a speech which was, +as there is no one else to tell you, well received, "being frequently +interrupted with applause," from both the diners and the ladies in the +gallery. It was about Free Trade and the way America was +misrepresented in the English papers, and composed of funny stories +which had nothing to do with the speech. I did not know I was going to +speak until I got there, and considering the fact, as Wilson says, that +your uncle was playing on a strange table with a crooked cue he did +very well. The next morning we breakfasted with the Bursar of Trinity +and had luncheon with the Viscount St. Cyres to meet Lord and Lady +Coleridge. St. Cyres is very shy and well-bred, and we would have had +a good time had not the M. P.'s present been filled with awe of the +Lord Chief Justice and failed to draw him out. As it was he told some +very funny stories; then we went to tea with Hubert Howard, in whose +rooms I live and am now writing, and met some stupid English women and +shy girls. Then we dined with the dons at New College, so—called +because it is eight hundred years old. We sat at a high table in a big +hall hung with pictures and lit by candles. The under-grads sat +beneath in gowns and rattled pewter mugs. We all wore evening dress +and those that had them red and white fur collars. After dinner we +left the room according to some process of selection, carrying our +napkins with us. We entered a room called the Commons, where we drank +wines and ate nuts and raisins. It was all very solemn and dull and +very dignified. Outside it was quite light although nine o'clock. +Then we marched to another room where there were cigars and brandy and +soda, but Arthur Pollen and I had to go and take coffee with the Master +of Balliol, the only individual of whom Pollen stands in the least awe. +He was a dear old man who said, "O yes, you're from India," and on my +saying "No, from America"; he said, "O yes, it's the other one." I +found the other one was an Indian princess in a cashmere cloak and +diamonds, who looked so proud and lovely and beautiful that I wanted to +take her out to one of the seats in the quadrangle and let her weep on +my shoulder. How she lives among these cold people I cannot +understand. We were all to go to a concert in the chapel, and half of +the party started off, but the Master's wife said, "Oh, I am sure the +Master expects them to wait for him in the hall. It is always done." +At which all the women made fluttering remarks of sympathy and the men +raced off to bring the others back. Only the Indian girl and I +remained undisturbed and puzzled. The party came back, but the Master +saw them and said, "Well, it does not matter, but it is generally +done." At which we all felt guilty. When we got to the chapel +everybody stood up until the Master's party sat down, but as it was +broken in the middle of the procession, they sat down, and then, seeing +we had not all passed, got up again, so that I felt like saying, "As +you were, men," as they do out West in the barracks. Then Lord +Coleridge in taking off his overcoat took off his undercoat, too, and +stood unconscious of the fact before the whole of Oxford. The faces of +the audience which packed the place were something wonderful to see; +their desire to laugh at a tall, red-faced man who looks like a bucolic +Bill Nye struggling into his coat, and then horror at seeing the Chief +Justice in his shirt-sleeves, was a terrible effort—and no one would +help him, on the principle, I suppose, that the Queen of Spain has no +legs. He would have been struggling yet if I had not, after watching +him and Lady Coleridge struggling with him, for a full minute, taken +his coat and firmly pulled the old gentleman into it, at which he +turned his head and winked. +</P> + +<P> +I will go back to town by the first to see the Derby and will get into +lodgings there. I AM HAVING A VERY GOOD TIME AND AM VERY WELL. The +place is as beautiful as one expects and yet all the time startling one +with its beauty. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When the season at Oxford was over Richard returned to London and took +a big sunny suite of rooms in the Albany. Here he settled down to +learn all he could of London, its ways and its people. In New York he +had already met a number of English men and women distinguished in +various walks of life, and with these as a nucleus he soon extended his +circle of friends until it became as large as it was varied. In his +youth, and indeed throughout his life, Richard had the greatest +affection for England and the English. No truer American ever lived, +but he thought the United States and Great Britain were bound by ties +that must endure always. He admired British habits, their +cosmopolitanism and the very simplicity of their mode of living. He +loved their country life, and the swirl of London never failed to +thrill him. During the last half of his life Richard had perhaps as +many intimate friends in London as in New York. His fresh point of +view, his very eagerness to understand theirs, made them welcome him +more as one of their own people than as a stranger. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, June 3, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I went out to the Derby on Wednesday and think it is the most +interesting thing I ever saw over here. It is SO like these people +never to have seen it. It seems to be chiefly composed of +costermongers and Americans. I got a box-seat on a public coach and +went out at ten. We rode for three hours in a procession of donkey +shays, omnibuses, coaches, carriages, vans, advertising wagons; every +sort of conveyance stretching for sixteen miles, and with people lining +the sides to look on. I spent my time when I got there wandering +around over the grounds, which were like Barnum's circus multiplied by +thousands. It was a beautiful day and quite the most remarkable sight +of my life. Much more wonderful than Johnstown, so you see it must +have impressed me. We were five hours getting back, the people singing +all the way and pelting one another and saying funny impudent things. +</P> + +<P> +My rooms are something gorgeous. They are on the first floor, looking +into Piccadilly from a court, and they are filled with Hogarth's +prints, old silver, blue and white china, Zulu weapons and fur rugs, +and easy chairs of India silk. You never saw such rooms! And a very +good servant, who cooks and valets me and runs errands and takes such +good care of me that last night Cust and Balfour called at one to get +some supper and he would not let them in. Think of having the Leader +of the House of Commons come to ask you for food and having him sent +away. Burdett-Coutts heard of my being here in the papers and wrote me +to dine with him tonight. I lunched with the Tennants today; no +relation to Mrs. Stanley, and it was informal and funny rather. The +Earl of Spender was there and Lord Pembroke and a lot of women. They +got up and walked about and changed places and seemed to know one +another better than we do at home. I think I will go down to Oxford +for Whitsuntide, which is a heathen institution here which sends +everyone away just as I want to meet them. +</P> + +<P> +I haven't written anything yet. I find it hard to do so. I think I +would rather wait until I get home for the most of it. Chas. will be +here in less than a week now and we will have a good time. I have +planned it out for days. He must go to Oxford and meet those boys, and +then, if he wishes, on to Eastnor, which I learn since my return is one +of the show places of England. I am enjoying myself, it is needless to +say, very much, and am well and happy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +During these first days in England Richard spent much of his time at +Eastnor, Lady Brownlow's place in Lincolnshire, and one of the most +beautiful estates in England. Harry Cust, to whom my brother +frequently refers in his letters, was the nephew of Lady Brownlow, and +a great friend of Richard's. At that time Cust was the Conservative +nominee for Parliament from Lincolnshire, and Richard took a most +active part in the campaign. Happily, we were both at Lady Brownlow's +during its last few tense days, as well as on the day the votes were +counted, and Cust was elected by a narrow margin. Of our thrilling +adventures Richard afterward wrote at great length in "Our English +Cousins." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, July 6, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +On the Fourth of July, Lady Brownlow sent into town and had a big +American flag brought out and placed over the house, which was a great +compliment, as it was seen and commented on for miles around. Cushing +of Boston, a very nice chap and awfully handsome, is there, too. The +same morning I went out to photograph the soldiers, and Lord William +Frederick, who is their colonel, charged them after me whenever I +appeared. It seems he has a sense of humor and liked the idea of +making an American run on the Fourth of July from Red-coats. I doubt +if the five hundred men who were not on horseback thought it as funny. +They chased me till I thought I would die. The Conservative member for +the county got in last night and we rejoiced greatly, as the moral +effect will help Harry Cust greatly. His election takes place next +Monday. The men went in to hear the vote declared after dinner, and so +did two of the girls, who got Lady Brownlow's consent at dinner, and +then dashed off to change their gowns before she could change her mind. +As we were intent on seeing the fun and didn't want them, we took them +just where we would have gone anyway, which was where the fighting was. +And they showed real sporting blood and saw the other real sort. There +were three of us to each girl, and it was most exciting, with stones +flying and windows crashing and cheers and groans. A political meeting +or election at home is an afternoon tea to the English ones. When we +came back the soldiers were leaving the Park to stop the row, and as we +flew past, the tenants ran to the gate and cheered for the Tory victory +in "good old lopes." When we got to the house the servants ran +cheering all over the shop and rang the alarm bell and built fires, and +we had a supper at one-fifteen. What they will do on the night of +Cust's election, I cannot imagine— burn the house down probably. +Cushing and I enjoy it immensely. We know them well enough now to be +as funny as we like without having them stare. They are nice when you +know them, but you've GOT to know them first. I had a great dinner at +Farrar's. All the ecclesiastical lights of England in knee-breeches +were there, and the American Minister and Phillips Brooks. It was +quite novel and fun. Lots of love. I have all the money I want. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +With Cust properly elected, Richard and I returned to the Albany and +settled down to enjoy London from many angles. Although my brother had +been there but a few weeks, his acquaintances among the statesmen, +artists, social celebrities, and the prominent actors of the day was +quite as extraordinary as his geographical and historical knowledge of +the city. We gave many jolly parties, and on account of Richard's +quickly acquired popularity were constantly being invited to dinners, +dances, and less formal but most amusing Bohemian supper-parties. +During these days there was little opportunity for my brother to do +much writing, but he was very busy making mental notes not only for his +coming book on the English people, but for a number of short stories +which he wrote afterward in less strenuous times. We returned to New +York in August, and Richard went to Marion to rest from his social +activities, and to work on his English articles. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARIS +</H3> + +<P> +It was, I think, the year previous to this that my mother and father +had deserted Point Pleasant as a place to spend their summer vacations +in favor of Marion, on Cape Cod, and Richard and I, as a matter of +course, followed them there. At that time Marion was a simple little +fishing village where a few very charming people came every summer and +where the fishing was of the best. In all ways the life was most +primitive, and happily continued so for many years. In, these early +days Grover Cleveland and his bride had a cottage there, and he and +Joseph Jefferson, who lived at Buzzard's Bay, and my father went on +daily fishing excursions. Richard Watson Gilder was one of the +earliest settlers of the summer colony, and many distinguished members +of the literary and kindred professions came there to visit him. It +was a rather drowsy life for those who didn't fish—a great deal of +sitting about on one's neighbor's porch and discussion of the latest +novel or the newest art, or of one's soul, and speculating as to what +would probably become of it. From the first Richard formed a great +affection for the place, and after his marriage adopted it as his +winter as well as his summer home. As a workshop he had two rooms in +one of the natives' cottages, and two more charming rooms it would be +hard to imagine. The little shingled cottage was literally covered +with honeysuckle, and inside there were the old wall-papers, the open +hearths, the mahogany furniture, and the many charming things that had +been there for generations, and all of which helped to contribute to +the quaint peaceful atmosphere of the place. Dana Gibson had a cottage +just across the road, and around the corner Gouverneur Morris lived +with his family. At this time neither of these friends of Richard, nor +Richard himself, allied themselves very closely to the literary colony +and its high thoughts, but devoted most of their time to sailing about +Sippican Harbor, playing tennis and contributing an occasional short +story or an illustration to a popular magazine. But after the colony +had taken flight, Richard often remained long into the fall, doing +really serious work and a great deal of it. At such times he had to +depend on a few friends who came to visit him, but principally on the +natives to many of whom he was greatly attached. It was during these +days that he first met his future wife, Cecil Clark, whose father, John +M. Clark of Chicago, was one of the earliest of the summer colonists to +build his own home at Marion. A most charming and hospitable home it +was, and it was in this same house where we had all spent so many happy +hours that Richard was married and spent his honeymoon, and for several +years made his permanent home. Of the life of Marion during this later +period, he became an integral part, and performed his duties as one of +its leading citizens with much credit to the town and its people. For +Marion Richard always retained a great affection, for there he had +played and worked many of his best years. He had learned to love +everything of which the quaint old town was possessed, animate and +inanimate, and had I needed any further proof of how deeply the good +people of Marion loved Richard, the letters I received from many of +them at the time of his death would show. +</P> + +<P> +In the early fall of 1892 Richard returned to his editorial work on +Harper's Weekly, and one of the first assignments he gave was to +despatch himself to Chicago to report the Dedication Exercises of the +World's Fair. That the trip at least started out little to my +brother's liking the following seems to show. However, Richard's moods +frequently changed with the hour, and it is more than possible that +before the letter was sent he was enjoying himself hugely and regarding +Chicago with his usual kindly eyes. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chicago Club, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +October 2, 1892. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +Though lost to sight I am still thinking of you sadly. It seems that I +took a coupe after leaving you and after living in it for a few years I +grew tired and got out on the prairie and walked along drinking in the +pure air from the lakes and reading Liebig's and Cooper's advs. After +a brisk ten mile walk I reentered my coupe and we in time drew up +before a large hotel inhabited by a clerk and a regular boarder. I am +on the seventh floor without a bathroom or electric button—I merely +made remarks and then returned to town in a railroad train which runs +conveniently near. After gaining civilization I made my way through +several parades or it may have been the same one to the reviewing +stand. My progress was marked by mocking remarks by the police who +asked of each other to get on to my coat and on several occasions I was +mistaken by a crowd of some thousand people for the P——e of W——s, +and tumultuously cheered. At last I found an inspector of police on +horseback, who agreed to get me to the stand if it took a leg. He +accordingly charged about 300 women and clubbed eight men—I counted +them—and finally got me in. He was very drunk but he was very good to +me. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +Once back from Chicago Richard divided his time between his desk at +Franklin Square, his rooms on Twenty-eighth Street, and in quickly +picking up the friendships and the social activities his trip to +England had temporarily broken off. Much as he now loved London, he +was still an enthusiastic New Yorker, and the amount of work and play +he accomplished was quite extraordinary. Indeed it is difficult to +understand where he found the time to do so much. In addition to his +work on Harper's he wrote many short stories and special articles, not +only because he loved the mere writing of them, but because he had come +to so greatly enjoy the things he could buy with the money his labors +now brought him. His pleasures had increased as steadily as the prices +he could now command for his stories, and in looking back on those days +it is rather remarkable when one considers his age, the temptations +that surrounded him, and his extraordinary capacity for enjoyment, that +he never seems to have forgotten the balance between work and play, and +stuck to both with an unswerving and unceasing enthusiasm. However, +after four months of New York, he decided it was high time for him to +be off again, and he arranged with the Harpers to spend the late winter +and the spring in collecting material for the two sets of articles +which afterward appeared in book form under the titles of "The Rulers +of the Mediterranean" and "About Paris." He set sail for Gibraltar the +early part of February, 1893, and the following letters describe his +leisurely progress about the Mediterranean ports. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, February 3, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +This is a little present for you and a goodby. Your packing-case is +what I need and what I shall want, and I love it because you made it. +But as YOU say, we understand and do not have to write love letters; +you have given me all that is worth while in me, and I love you so that +I look forward already over miles and miles and days and months, and +just see us sitting together at Marion and telling each other how good +it is to be together again and holding each other's hands. I don't +believe you really know how HAPPY I am in loving you, dear, and in +having you say nice things about me. God bless you, dearest, and may I +never do anything to make you feel less proud of your wicked son. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Off Gibraltar,<BR> +February 12, 1893.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Today is Sunday. We arrive at Gibraltar at five tomorrow morning and +the boat lies there until nine o'clock. Unless war and pestilence have +broken out in other places, I shall go over to Tangiers in a day or +two, and from there continue on my journey as mapped out when I left. +I have had a most delightful trip and the most enjoyable I have ever +taken by sea. These small boats are as different from the big +twin-screw steamers as a flat from a Broadway hotel. +</P> + +<P> +Everyone gets to know everything about everyone else, and it has been +more like a yacht than a passenger steamer. When I first came on board +I thought I would not find in any new old country I was about to visit +anything more foreign than the people, and I was right, but they are +most amusing and I have learned a great deal. They are different from +any people I know, and are the Americans we were talking about. The +ones of whom I used to read in The Atlantic and Blackwood's, as +traveling always and sinking out of sight whenever they reached home. +They, with the exception of a Boston couple, know none of my friends or +my haunts, and I have learned a great deal in meeting them. It has +been most BROADENING and the change has been SUCH a rest. I had no +idea of how tired I was of talking about the theater of Arts and +Letters and Miss Whitney's debut and my Soul. These people are simple +and unimaginative and bourgeois to a degree and as kind-hearted and +apparent as animal alphabets. I do not think I have had such a +complete change or rest in years, and I am sure I have not laughed so +much for as long. Of course, the idea of a six months' holiday is +enough to make anyone laugh at anything, but I find that besides that I +was a good deal harassed and run down, and I am glad to cut off from +everything and start fresh. I feel miserably selfish about it all the +time. +</P> + +<P> +These Germans run everything as though you were the owner of the line. +The discipline is like that of the German Army or of a man-of-war, +everything moves by the stroke of a bell, and they have had dances and +speeches and concerts and religious services and lectures every other +minute. Into all of these I have gone with much enthusiasm. We have +at the captain's table Dr. Field, the editor of The Evangelist, John +Russell, a Boston Democrat, who was in Congress and who has been in +public life for over forty years. A Tammany sachem, who looks like and +worships Tweed, and who says what I never heard an American off the +stage say: "That's me. That's what I do," he says. "When I have +insomnia, I don't believe in your sleeping draughts. I get up and go +round to Jake Stewart's on Fourteenth Street and eat a fry or a +porterhouse steak and then I sleep good—-that's me." There is also a +lively lady from Albany next to me and her husband, who tells anecdotes +of the war just as though it had happened yesterday. Indeed, they are +all so much older than I that all their talk is about things I never +understood the truth about, and it is most interesting. I really do +not know when I have enjoyed my meal time so much. The food is very +good, although queer and German, and we generally take two hours to +each sitting. Dr. Field is my especial prey and he makes me laugh +until I cry. He is just like James Lewis in "A Night Off," and is +always rubbing his hands and smacking his lips over his own daring +exploits. I twist everything he says into meaning something dreadful, +and he is instantly explaining he did not really see a bullfight, but +that he walked around the outside of the building. I have promised to +show him life with a capital L, and he is afraid as death of me. But +he got back at me grandly last night when he presented a testimonial to +the captain, and referred to the captain's wife and boy whom he is +going to see after a two years' absence, at which the captain wept and +everybody else wept. And Field, seeing he had made a point, waved his +arms and cried, "I have never known a man who amounted to anything who +had not a good wife to care for—except YOU—" he shouted, pointing at +me, "and no woman will ever save YOU." At which the passengers, who +fully appreciated how I had been worrying him, applauded loudly, and +the Doctor in his delight at having scored on me forgot to give the +captain his testimonial. +</P> + +<P> +There are two nice girls on board from Chicago and a queer Southern +girl who paints pictures and sings and writes poetry, and who is +traveling with an odd married woman who is an invalid and who like +everyone else on board has apparently spent all her life away from +home. I have spent my odd time in writing the story I told Dad the +night before I sailed and I think it in some ways the best, quite the +best, I have written. I read it to the queer girl and her queer +chaperon and they weep whenever they speak of it, which they do every +half hour. All the passengers apparently laid in a stock of +"Gallegher" and "The West" before starting, and young women in yachting +caps are constantly holding me up for autographs and favorite +quotations. Yesterday we passed the Azores near enough to see the +windows in the houses, and we have seen other islands at different +times, which is quite refreshing. Tomorrow I shall post this and the +trip will be over. It has been a most happy start. I am not going to +write letters often, but am going head over ears into this new life and +let the old one wait awhile. You cannot handle Africa and keep up your +fences in New York at the same time. I am now going out to talk to the +Boston couple, or to propose a lion hunt to Dr. Field. +</P> + +<P> +Since I wrote that last I have seen Portugal. It made me seem suddenly +very far away from New York. Portugal is a high hill with a white watch +tower on it flying signal flags. It is apparently inhabited by one man +who lives in a long row of yellow houses with red roofs, and populated +by sheep who do grand acts of balancing on the side of the hill. There +is also a Navy of a brown boat with a leg-of-mutton sail and a crew of +three men in the boat—not to speak of the dog. It is a great thing to +have a traveled son. None of you ever saw Portugal, yah! +</P> + +<P> +I am now in Gibraltar. It is a large place and there does not seem to +be room in this letter, in which to express my feelings about Moors in +bare legs and six thousand Red-coats and to hear Englishmen speak +again. When I woke up Gibraltar was a black silhouette against the +sky, but toward the south there was a low line of mountains with a red +sky behind them, dim and mysterious and old, and that was Africa. Then +Spain turned up all amethyst and green, and the Mediterranean as blue +as they tell you it is. They wouldn't let me take my gun into +Gibraltar. They know my reputation for war. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +GIBRALTAR. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 14th, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +The luck of the British Army which I am modestly fond of comparing with +my own took a vacation yesterday as soon as I had set foot on land. In +the first place Egypt had settled down to her sluggish Nile like calm +and cholera had quarantined the ship I wanted to take to Algiers, +shutting off Algiers and what was more important Tunis. The Governor +was ill shutting off things I wanted and his adjutant was boorish and +proud and haughty. Then I determined to go to Spain but found I had +arrived just one day too late for the last of the three days of the +Mardi Gras and too early for bull fights. Had I taken Saavedra's +letters I should have gone to Madrid and met the Queen and other proud +folks. So on the whole I was blue. But I have now determined to take +a boat for Tangier at once where I have letters to the Duke de Tnas who +is the Master of the Hounds there and a great sport and they say it is +very amusing and exciting. In a fortnight I shall go to Malta. I +called on Harry Cust's brother and told him who I was and he took me in +and put me at the head of the table of young subalterns in grand +uniforms and we had marmalade and cold beef and beer and I was happy to +the verge of tears to hear English as she is spoke. Then we went to a +picnic and took tea in a smuggler's cave and all the foxterriers ran +over the table cloth and the Captain spilt hot water over his white +flannels and jumped around on one leg. After which we played a +handkerchief game sitting in a row and pelting the girls with a knotted +handkerchief and then fighting for it— During one of these scrimmages +Mulvaney, two others and Learoyd came by and with eyes front and hands +at their caps marched on with stolid countenances, but their officers +were embarrassed. It is hard to return a salute with your face in the +sand and a stout American sitting on your neck and pulling your first +lieutenant's leg. I am now deeply engaged for dinners and dances and +teas and rides and am feeling very cheerful again. I am also very well +thank you and have no illnesses of any sort. You told me to be sure +and put that in— As you see, I have cut out half of my trip to avoid +the cholera, so you need not worry about THAT. To-day I am going over +the ramparts as much as they will allow and to-morrow I go to Tangier +where I expect to have some boar hunting. I would suggest your getting +The Evangelist in a week or two as Dr. Field's letters cover all I have +seen. I do not tell you anything about the place because you will read +that in the paper to the H. W. but I can assure you the girls are very +pretty and being garrison girls are not as shy as those at home in +England. I am the first American they ever met they assure me every +hour and we get on very well notwithstanding. +</P> + +<P> +You can imagine what it is like when Spaniards, Moors and English +Soldiers are all crowded into one long street with donkeys and geese +and priests and smugglers and men in polo clothes and soldiers in +football suits and sailors from the man-of-war. Of course, the Rock is +the best story of it all. It is a fair green smiling hill not a +fortress at all. No more a fortress to look at than Fairmont Park +water works, but the joke of it is that under every bush there is a gun +and every gun is painted green and covered with hanging curtains of +moss and every promenade is undermined and the bleakest face of the +rock is tunnelled with rooms and halls. Every night we are locked in +and the soldiers carry the big iron keys clanking through the streets. +It is going to make interesting reading. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +GIBRALTAR. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 23rd, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Aeneas who "ran the round of so many chances" in this neighborhood was +a stationary stay at home to what I have to do. If I ever get away +from the Rock I shall be a traveller of the greatest possible +experience. +</P> + +<P> +I came here intending to stay a week and to write my letter on Gib. and +on Tangier quietly and peacefully like a gentleman and then to go on to +Malta. I love this place and there is something to do and see every +minute of the time but what happened was this: All the boats that ever +left here stopped running, broke shafts, or went into quarantine or +just sailed by, and unless I want to spend two weeks on the sea in +order to have one at Malta, which is only a military station like this, +I must go off to-morrow with my articles unwritten, my photos +undeveloped and my dinner calls unpaid. I am now waiting to hear if I +can get to Algiers by changing twice from one steamer to another along +the coast of Spain. It will be a great nuisance but I shall be able to +see Algiers and Tunis and Malta in the three weeks which would have +otherwise been given to Malta alone. And Tunis I am particularly keen +to see. While waiting for a telegram from Spain about the boats, I +shall tell you what I have been doing. Everybody was glad to see me +after my return from Tangier. I dined with the Governor on Monday, in +a fine large room lined with portraits of all the old commanders and +their coats-of-arms like a little forest of flags and the Governor's +daughter danced a Spanish dance for us after it was over. Miss Buckle, +Cust's fiancee, dances almost as well as Carmencita, all the girls here +learn it as other girls do the piano. On Tuesday Cust and Miss B. and +another girl and I went over into Spain to see the meet and we had a +short run after a fox who went to earth, much to my relief, in about +three minutes and before I had been thrown off. There are no fences +but the ground is one mass of rocks and cactus and ravines down which +these English go with an ease that makes me tremble with admiration. +We had not come out to follow, so we, being quite soaked through and +very hungry, went to an inn and it was such an inn as Don Quixote used +to stop at, with the dining-room over the stable and a lot of drunken +muleteers in the court and beautiful young women to wait on us. It is +a beautiful country Spain, with every sort of green you ever dreamed +of. We had omelettes and native wine and black bread and got warm +again and then trotted home in the rain and got wet again, so we +stopped at the guard house on the outside of the rock and took tea with +the officer in charge and we all got down on our knees around his fire +and he hobbled around dropping his eyeglasses in his hot water and very +much honored and exceedingly embarrassed. I amused myself by putting +on all the uniforms he did not happen to have on and the young ladies +drank tea and thawed. This is the most various place I ever came +across. You have mountains and seashore and allamandas like Monte +Carlo in their tropical beauty and soldiers day and night marching and +drilling and banging brass bands and tennis and guns firing so as to +rattle all the windows, and picnics and teas. I am engaged way ahead +now but I must get off tomorrow. On Washington's birthday I gave a +luncheon because it struck me as the most inappropriate place in which +one could celebrate the good man's memory and the Governor would not +think of coming at first, but I told him I was not a British subject +and that if I could go to his dinner he could come to my lunch, so +that, or the fact that the beautiful Miss Buckle was coming decided him +to waive etiquette and he came with his A. D. C. and his daughter and +officers and girls came and I had American flags and English flags and +a portrait of Washington and of the Queen and I ransacked the markets +for violets and banked them all up in the middle. It was fine. I +turned the hotel upside down and all the servants wore their best +livery and everybody stood up in a row and saluted His Excellency and I +made a speech and so did his Excellency and the chef did himself proud. +I got it up in one morning. Helen Benedict could not have done it +better. +</P> + +<P> +I had a funny adventure the morning I left Tangier— There was a good +deal of talk about Field (confound him) and my getting into the prison +and The Herald and Times correspondents were rather blue about it and +some of the English residents said that I had not been shown the whole +of the prison, that the worst had been kept from us. Field who only +got into the prison because I had worked at it two days, said there was +an additional ward I had not seen. I went back into this while he and +the guard were getting the door open to go out and saw nothing, but to +make sure that the prison was as I believed an absolute square, I went +back on the morning of my departure and climbed a wall and crawled over +a house top and photographed the top of the prison. Then a horrible +doubt came to me that this house upon which I was standing and which +adjoined the prison might be the addition of which the English +residents hinted. There was an old woman in the garden below jumping +up and down and to whom I had been shying money to keep her quiet. I +sent the guide around to ask her what was the nature of the building +upon which I had trespassed and which seemed to worry her so much— He +came back to tell me that I was on the top of a harem and the old woman +thought I was getting up a flirtation with the gentleman's wives. So I +dropped back again. +</P> + +<P> +It will be a couple of months at least before my first story comes out +in The Weekly. I cannot judge of them but I think they are up to the +average of the Western stories, the material is much richer I know, but +I am so much beset by the new sights that I have not the patience or +the leisure I had in the West— Then there were days in which writing +was a relief, now there is so much to see that it seems almost a shame +to waste it. +</P> + +<P> +By the grace of Providence I cannot leave here until the 28th, much to +my joy and I have found out that I can do better by going direct to +Malta and then to Tunis, leaving Algiers which I did not want to see +out of it-Hurrah. I shall now return to the calm continuation of my +story and to writing notes which Chas will enjoy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +GIBRALTAR—February 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Morocco as it is is a very fine place spoiled by civilization. Not +nice civilization but the dregs of it, the broken down noblemen of +Spain and cashiered captains of England and the R—— L——'s of +America. They hunt and play cricket and gamble and do nothing to +maintain what is best in the place or to help what is worst. I love +the Moors and the way they hate the Christian and the scorn and pride +they show. They seem to carry all the mystery and dignity of Africa +and of foreign conquests about them, and they are wonderfully well made +and fine looking and self-respecting. The color is very beautiful, but +the foreign element spoils it at every turn. One should really go +inland but I shall not because I mean to do that when I reach Cairo. +Everybody goes inland from here and Bonsal has covered it already. He +is a great man here among all classes. +</P> + +<P> +I have bought two long guns and three pistols three feet long and a +Moorish costume for afternoon teas. I shall look fine. My guide's +idea of pleasing me is to kick everybody out of the way which always +brings down curses on me so I have to go back and give them money and +am so gradually becoming popular and much sought after by blind +beggars. You can get three pounds of copper for a franc and it lasts +all day throwing it right and left all the time. I made a great tear +in Bonsal's record today by refusing to pay a snake charmer all he +wanted and then when he protested I took one of the snakes out of his +hands and swung it around my head to the delight of the people. I +wanted to show him he was a fakir to want me to pay for what I would do +myself. It was a large snake about four feet long. Then my horse and +another horse got fighting in the principal street in the city standing +up on their hind legs and boxing like men and biting and squealing. It +was awful and I got mine out of the way and was trod on and had my arm +nearly pulled off and the crowd applauded and asked my guide whether I +was American or English. They do not like the English. So with the +lower classes I may say that I am having a social success. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Off Malta—March 1, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I have been having a delightful voyage with moonlight all night and +sunlight all day. Africa kept in sight most of the time and before +that we saw beautiful mountains in Spain covered with snow and red in +the sunset. There were a lot of nice English people going out to India +to meet their husbands and we have "tiffin" and "choota" and "curry," +so it really seemed oriental. The third night out we saw Algiers +sparkling like Coney Island. I play games with myself and pretend I am +at my rooms reading a story which is very hard to pretend as I never +read in my rooms and then I look up and exclaim "Hello, I'm not in New +York, that's Algiers." The thing that has impressed me most is how +absolutely small the world is and how childishly easy it is to go +around it. You and Nora MUST take this trip; as for me I think Willie +Chanler is the most sensible individual I have yet met. +</P> + +<P> +All the fascination of King Solomon's Mines seems to be behind those +great mountains and this I may add is a bit of advance work for mother, +an entering wedge to my disappearing from sight for years and years in +the Congo. Which, seriously, I will not do; only it is disappointing +to find the earth so small and so easily encompassed that you want to +go on where it is older, and new. The worst of it is that it is hard +leaving all the nice people you meet and then must say good-bye to. +The young ladies and Capt. Buckle and Cust came down to see me off and +Buckle brought me a photo four feet long of Gib, an official one which +I had to smuggle out with a great show of secrecy and now I shall be +sorry to leave these people. Just as I wrote that one of the officers +going out to join his regiment came to the door and blushing said the +passengers were getting up a round robin asking me to stop on and go to +Cairo. +</P> + +<P> +Since writing the above lots of things have happened. I bid farewell +to everyone at Malta and yet in four hours I was back again bag and +baggage and am now on my way to Cairo. Tunis and the Bey are +impossible. As soon as I landed at Malta I found that though I could +go to Tunis I could not go away without being quarantined for ten days +and if I remained in Malta I must stay a week. On balancing a week of +Egypt against a week of Malta I could not do it so I put back to this +steamer again and here I am. Tomorrow we reach Brindisi and we have +already passed Sicily and had a glimpse of the toe of Italy and it is +the coldest sunny Italy that I ever imagined. I am bitterly +disappointed about Tunis. I have no letters to big people in Cairo +only subalterns but I shall probably get along. I always manage +somehow with my "artful little Ikey ways." It was most gratifying to +mark my return to this boat. One young woman danced a Kangaroo dance +and the Captain wept and all the stewards stood in a line and grinned. +I sing Chevalier's songs and they all sit in the dining room below and +forget to lay out the plates and last night some of the Royal Berkshire +with whom I dined at Malta came on board and after hearing the Old Kent +Road were on the point of Mutiny and refused to return to barracks. +Great is the Power of Chevalier and great is his power for taking you +back to London with three opening bars. Malta was the queerest place I +ever got into. It was like a city, country and island made of cheese, +mouldy cheese, and fresh limburger cheese with holes in it. You sailed +right up to the front door as it were and people were hanging out of +the windows smoking pipes and looking down on the deck as complacently +as though having an ocean steamer in the yard was as much a matter of +course as a perambulator. There were also women with black hoods which +they wear as a penance because long ago the ladies of Malta got +themselves talked about. I was on shore about five hours and saw some +interesting things and with that and Brindisi and the voyage I can make +a third letter but Tunis is writ on my heart like Calais. +</P> + +<P> +Today Cleveland is inaugurated and I took all the passengers down at +the proper time and explained to them that at that moment a great man +was being made president and gave them each an American cocktail to +remember it by and in which to toast him I am getting to be a great +speech maker and if there are any more anniversaries in America I shall +be a second Depew. +</P> + +<P> +It is late but it is still the season here and it will be gay, but what +I want to do now is to go off on a little trip inland although Cairo is +the worst of all for it is surrounded by deserts and nothing to shoot +but antelope and foxes and those I SCORN. I want Zulus and lions. I +shall be greatly disappointed if I do not have something to do outside +of Cairo for I have had no adventures at all. It is just as civilized +as Camden only more exciting and beautiful although Camden is exciting +when you have to get there and back in time for the last edition. From +what I have already seen I am ready to spend a month in Cairo and then +confess to knowing nothing of it. But we shall see. There may be a W +A R or a lion hunt or something yet if there is not I shall come back +here again. I must fire that Winchester off at least once just for all +the trouble it has given me at custom houses. Something exciting must +happen or I shall lose faith in the luck of the British army which +marches shoulder to shoulder with mine. If I don't have any adventures +I shall write essays on art after this like Mrs. Van. Love and lots of +it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CAIRO, March 11, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +In a famous book this line occurs, "He determined to go to that hotel +in Cairo where they were to have spent their honeymoon," or words like +that. He is now at that hotel and you can buy the famous book across +the street. It is called "Gallegher." So—in this way everything +comes to him who waits and he comes to it. "Gallegher" is not the only +thing you buy in Egypt. You ride to the Pyramids on a brake with a man +in a white felt hat blowing a horn, and the bugler of the Army of +Occupation is as much in evidence as the priest who calls them to +prayer from the minaret. I left the people I liked on the Sultey last +Thursday in the Suez Canal and came on here in a special train. It is +very cold here, and it is not a place where the cold is in keeping with +the surroundings. You see people in white helmets and astrakan +overcoats. It is an immense city and intensely interesting, especially +the bazaars, but you feel so ignorant about it all that it rather +angers you. I wish I was not such a very bad hand at languages. That +is ONE THING I cannot do, that and ride. I need it very much, +traveling so much, and I shall study very hard while I am in Paris. +Our consul-general here is a very young man, and he showed me a Kansas +paper when I called on him, which said that I was in the East and would +probably call on "Ed" L. He is very civil to me and gives me his +carriages and outriders with gold clothes and swords whenever I will +take them. +</P> + +<P> +It is so beastly cold here that it spoils a lot of things, and there +are a lot of Americans who say, "I had no idea you were so young a +man," and that, after being five years old for a month and playing +children's games with English people who didn't know or care anything +about you except that you made them laugh, is rather trying. I am +disappointed so far in the trip because it has developed nothing new +beyond the fact that going around the world is of no more importance +than going to breakfast, and I am selfish in my sightseeing and want to +see things others do not. And if you even do see more than those who +are not so fortunate and who have to remain at home, still you are so +ignorant in comparison with those who have lived here for years and to +whom the whole of Africa is a speculation in land or railroads, it +makes you feel like such a faker and as if it were better to turn +correspondent for the N. Y. Herald, Paris edition, and send back the +names of those who are staying at the hotels. That is really all you +can speak with authority about. When you have Gordon and Stanley +dishes on the bill-of-fare, you feel ashamed to say you've been in +Egypt. Anyway, I am a faker and I don't care, and I proved it today by +being photographed on a camel in front of the Pyramids, and if that +wasn't impertinence I do not know its name. I accordingly went and +bought a lot of gold dresses for Nora as a penance. +</P> + +<P> +As a matter of fact, unless I get into the interior for a month and see +something new, I shall consider the trip a failure, except as a most +amusing holiday for one, and that was not exactly what I wanted or all +I wanted. After this I shall go to big cities only and stay there. +Everybody travels and everybody sees as much as you do and says nothing +of it, certainly does not presume to write a book about it. Anyway, it +has been great fun, so I shall put it down to that and do some serious +work to make up for it. I'd rather have written a good story about the +Inauguration than about Cairo. +</P> + +<P> +I am well, as usual, and having a fine loaf, only I don't think much of +what I have written—that's all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CAIRO, March 19th, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I went up the Pyramids yesterday and I am very sore today. It sounds +easy because so many people do it, but they do it because they don't +know. I have been putting it off, and putting it off, until I felt +ashamed to such a degree that I had to go. Little had never been +either, so we went out together and met Stanford White and the Emmetts +there, and we all went up. I would rather go into Central Africa than +do it again. I am getting fat and that's about it—and I had to half +pull a much fatter man than myself who pretended to help me. I finally +told them I'd go alone unless the fat man went away, so the other two +drove him off. Going down is worse. It's like looking over a +precipice all the time. I was so glad when I got down that I sang with +glee. I hate work like that, and to make it worse I took everybody's +picture on top of the Pyramid, and forgot to have one of them take me, +so there is no way to prove I ever went up. Little and I hired two +donkeys and called them "Gallegher" and "Van Bibber" and raced them. +My donkey was so little that they couldn't see him—only his ears. +Gallegher won. The donkey-boys called it Von Bebey, so I don't think +it will help the sale of the book. +</P> + +<P> +Today we went to call on the Khedive. It was very informal and too +democratic to suit my tastes. We went through a line of his bodyguard +in the hall, and the master of ceremonies took us up several low but +wide stairways to a hall. In the hall was a little fat young man in a +frock coat and a fez, and he shook hands with us, and walked into +another room and we all sat down on chairs covered with white muslin. +I talked and Little talked about me and the Khedive pretended to be +very much honored, and said the American who had come over after our +rebellion had done more for the officers in his army than had anyone +else, meaning the English. He did not say that because we were +Americans, but because he hates the English. He struck me as being +stubborn, which is one side of stupidness and yet not stupid, and I +occasionally woke him to bursts of enthusiasm over the Soudanese. His +bursts were chiefly "Ali." Little seemed to amuse him very much, and +Little treated him exactly like a little boy who needed to be cheered +up. I think in one way it was the most curious contrast I ever saw. +"Ed" Little of Abilene, Kansas, telling the ruler of Egypt not to +worry, that he had plenty of years in which to live and that he would +get ahead of them all yet. Those were not his words, but that was the +tone, he was perfectly friendly and sincere about it. +</P> + +<P> +This place appeals to me as about the best place with which to get +mixed up with that I know, and I've gone over a great many maps since I +left home and know just how small the world is. So, I sent the Khedive +my books after having asked his permission, and received the most +abject thanks. And as Cromer called on me, I am going to drop around +on him with a few of them. Some day there will be fine things going on +here, and there is only one God, and Lord Cromer is his Prophet in this +country. They think that Mohammed is but they are wrong. He is a very +big man. The day he sent his ultimatum to the Khedive telling him to +dismiss Facta Pasha and put back Riaz Pasha, he went out in full view +of the Gezerik drive and played lawn tennis. Any man who can cable for +three thousand more troops to Malta and stop a transport full of two +thousand more at Aden with one hand, and bang tennis balls about with +the other, is going in the long run to get ahead of a stout little boy +in a red fez. It is getting awfully hot here, almost hot enough for +me, and I can lay aside my overcoat by ten o'clock in the morning. +Everyone else has been in flannels and pith helmets, but as they had to +wear overcoats at night I could not see the advantage of the costume. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I open this to say that ALL of your letters have just come, so I have +intoxicated myself with them for the last hour and can go over them +again tomorrow. I cannot tell you, dearest, what a delight your +letters are and how I enjoy the clippings. I think of you all the time +and how you would love this Bible land and seeing the places where +Pharaoh's daughter found Moses, and hearing people talk of St. Paul and +the plagues of Egypt and Joseph and Mary just as though they had lived +yesterday. I have seen two St. Johns already, with long hair and +melancholy wild eyes and bare breasts and legs, with sheepskin +covering, eating figs and preaching their gospel. Yesterday two men +came running into town and told one of the priests that they had seen +the new moon in a certain well, and the priest proclaimed a month of +fasting, and the men who pulled us up the Pyramid had to rest because +they had not eaten or drunk all day. At six a sheik called from the +village and all the donkey—boys and guides around the Sphinx ran to +get water and coffee and food. Think of that—of two men running +through the street to say that they had seen the new moon in a well, +when every shop sells Waterbury watches and the people who passed them +were driving dogcarts with English coachmen in top-boots behind. Is +there any other place as incongruous as this, as old and as new? +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ATHENS, March 30, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I am now in Athens, how I got here is immaterial. Suffice it to say +that never in all my life was I so ill as I was in the two days +crossing from Alexandria to Piraeus, which I did with two other men in +the same cabin more ill than I and praying and swearing and groaning +all the time. "It was awful." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">"I have crossed in many ships upon the seas</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">And some of them were good and some were not;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">In German, P & O's and Genoese,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">But the Khedive's was the worst one of the lot.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">We never got a moment's peace in her</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">For everybody'd howl or pray or bellow;</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">She threw us on our heads or on our knees,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">And turned us all an unbecoming yellow."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Athens is a small town but fine. It is chiefly yellow houses with red +roofs, and mountains around it, which remind you of pictures you have +seen when a youth. Also olive trees and straight black pines and the +Acropolis. There is not much of it left as far as I can see from the +city, but what there is is enough to make you wish you had brushed up +your Greek history. I have now reached the place where Pan has a cave, +where the man voted against Aristides because he was humanly tired of +hearing him called the Just and where the Minotaur ate young women. +</P> + +<P> +What was in the Isle of Crete but the rock from which the father of +Theseus threw himself—is still here! Also the hill upon which Paul +stood and told the Athenians they were too superstitious. You can +imagine my feelings at finding all of these things are true. After +this I am going to the North Pole to find Santa Claus and so renew my +youth. +</P> + +<P> +I regret to say that it is raining very hard and Athens is not set for +a rainstorm. It is also cold but as I have not been warm since I +crossed the North River with Chas. amid cakes of ice that is of no +consequence. When I come here again I come in the summer. The good +old rule that it is cold in winter and warm in summer is a good enough +rule to follow. You have only to travel to find out how universally +cold winter is. last night I was in Cairo, I got in a carriage and +drove out alone to the Pyramids. It was beautiful moonlight. I got a +donkey and rode up around them and then walked over to the Sphinx. I +had never understood or seen it before. It was the creepiest and most +impressive thing I ever had happen to me, I do believe. There was no +one except the two donkey-boys and myself and the Sphinx. All about +was the desert and above it the purple sky and the white stars and the +great negro's head in front of you with its paws stretched out, and the +moonlight turning it into shadows and white lines. I think I stood +there so long that I got sort of dizzy. It was just as if I had been +the first man to stumble across it, and I felt that I was way back +thousands of years and that the ghosts of Caesar and Napoleon and +Cleopatra and the rest were in the air. That was worth the entire trip +to me. This place promises to be most exciting, the New York artists +are all here, they are the most jauntily dull people I ever met. Do +you know what I mean? They are very nice but so stupid. I don't let +them bother me. Who was the chap who wrote about the bottle of +Malvoisie? because I got a bottle of it for BREAKFAST and it is NO +GOOD. It is like sweet port. But on account of the poem and its being +vin du pays I got it. +</P> + +<P> +Dear Mother, I wish you were here now and enjoying all these beautiful +things. I got you a present in Cairo that will amuse you. Had I +stayed on in Cairo I should have had much and many marks of distinction +from the English. Lady Gower-Browne, who found out from them that I +had called and that they had done nothing except to be rude, raised a +great hue and cry and everything changed. What she said of me I don't +know but it made a most amusing difference. General Walker galloped a +half mile across the desert to give me his own copy of the directions +for the sham battle, and I was to have met Cromer at dinner +tete-a-tete, and General Kitchener sent apologies by two other generals +and all the subalterns called on me in a body. That was the day before +I left. I don't know what Lady Gower-Browne said, but it made a change +which I am sorry I could not avail myself of as I want politics as well +as memories. +</P> + +<P> +The next time I come I shall go to even fewer places and see more +people. +</P> + +<P> +If the Harpers don't look out our interests will clash. I look at it +like this. I can always see the old historical things and take my +children up the Nile, but I want now to make friends with the Mammon of +unrighteousness and the men of the hour. I may want to occupy an hour +or two myself some day and they can help me. If America starts in +annexing islands she will need people to tell her how it is generally +done and it is generally done, I find, by the English. I may give up +literature and start annexing things like Alexander and Caesar and +Napoleon. They say there will be another crisis in Cairo in a month or +so. If that be true I am all right and solid with both parties. But +it has got to be worth while of course or I won't go back. There is a +king living in a fine palace across the square from my window, one of +his officers is now changing the guard in the rain. I hope to call on +the king because I like his guard. They wear petticoats and toes +turned up in front. Don't you mind what I say about liking politics +and don't think I am not enjoying the show things. I have a capacity +for both that is so far unsatisfied, and I am now going out in the rain +to try and find the post-office. Lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 21.5em">DICK.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I am well and have been well (except sea sick) since February +</P> + +<P> +P. S.—A funeral is just passing the window with the corpse exposed to +view as is the quaint custom here, to add to its horror they rouge the +face of the corpse and everybody kisses it. In the Greek church they +burn candles for people and the number of candles I have burnt for you +would light St. Paul's, and you ought to be good with so much war being +expended all over Athens for you. You buy candles instead of tipping +the verger or putting it in the poor box, or because you are +superstitious and think it will do some good, as I do. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Orient Express. Somewhere in Bulgaria on the way to London. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 14th, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Tuesday I wrote you a letter in the club at Constantinople telling you +how glad I would be to get out of that City on April 17th on the Orient +Express which only leaves twice a week on Thursdays and Mondays. So +any one who travels by the Orient is looked upon first as a millionaire +and second, if he does not break the journey at Vienna, as a greater +traveller than Col. Burnaby on his way to Khiva. Imagine a Kansas City +man breaking the journey to New York. After I wrote you that letter I +went in the next room and read of the Nile Expedition in search of +Gordon—this went through three volumes of The Graphic and took some +time, so that when I had reached the picture which announced the death +of Gordon it was half past five and I had nothing more to do for four +days— It was raining and cold and muddy and so I just made up my mind +I would get up and get out and I jumped about for one hour like a +kangaroo and by seven I was on the Orient with two Cook men to help me +and had shaken my fist at the last minaret light of that awful city. +So, now it is all over and it is done— I have learned a great deal in +an imperfect way of the juxtaposition of certain countries and of the +ease with which one can travel without speaking any known languages and +of the absolute necessity for speaking one, French. I am still +disappointed about the articles but selfishly I have made a lot out of +the trip. You have no idea how hard it is not to tell about strange +things and yet you know people do not care half as much for them as +things they know all about— No matter, it is done and with the +exception of the last week it was F I N E. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"I'm going back to London, to 'tea' and long frock coats +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">I'm done with Cook and seeing sights</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">I'm done with table d'hotes</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">So clear the track you signal man</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">From Sofia to Pless, I'm going straight for London</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">On the Orient Express.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +I'm going straight for London O'er Bulgaria's heavy sands To Rotten Row +and muffins, soles, Chevalier and Brass Bands Ho' get away you bullock +man You've heard the whistle blowed a locomotive coming down the Grand +Trunk Road." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This is a great country and I want to ask all the natives if they know +"Stenie" Bonsal. They are all his friends and so are the "Balkans," +and all the little Balkans. Nobody wears European clothes here. They +are all as foreign and native and picturesque as they can be, the women +with big silver plates over their stomachs and the men in sheepskin and +tights and the soldiers are grand. We have been passing all day +between snow covered mountains and between herds of cattle and red +roofed, mud villages and long lakes of ice and snow— It is a beautiful +day and I am very happy. (Second day out) 15th—-We are now in Hungary +and just outside of Buda Pesth "the wickedest city in the world," still +in spite of that fact I am going on. I am very glad I came this way— +The peasants and soldiers are most amusing and like German +picture-papers with black letter type— I shall stop a day in Paris now +that I have four extra days. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In sight of Paris—April 16, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +has been the most beautiful day since February 4th. It is the first +day in which I have been warm. All through I have had a varnish of +warmth every now and again but no real actual internal warmth—I am now +in sight of Paris and it is the 16th of April, in the eleven weeks +which have elapsed since the 4th of February I have been in Spain, +France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, +Greece, Egypt and Morocco. I have sat on the Rock of Gibraltar, sailed +on the Nile and the Suez Canal and crossed through the Dardanelles, +over the Balkans, the steppes of Hungary and the Danube and Rhine. I +have seen the sphinx by moonlight, the Parthenon and the Eiffel Tower +and in two days more I shall have seen St. Paul's. What do you think I +should like to see best now? YOU. I have been worrying of late as to +whether or not I should not come home now and leave Paris for another +time because it seems so rough on you to leave you without either of +your younger sons for so long. But I have thought it over a great deal +and I think it better that I should do Paris now and leave myself clear +for the rest of the year. I promise you one thing however that I shall +not undertake to stay away so long again; it is too long and one grows +out of things. But nothing I feel, will be so easy or so amusing as +Paris and I intend to get through with it soon and trot home to you by +the middle of August AT THE VERY LATEST. So, please write me a +deceitful letter and say you do not miss me at all and that my being so +near as Paris makes a great difference and that I am better out of the +way and if Chas goes to London I shall be near him in case he forgets +to put on his overshoes or involves us in a war with G. B. Now, mother +dear, do write me a cheerful letter and say that you do not mind +waiting until the middle of August for me and when I come back this +time I shall make a long stay with you at Marion and tell you lots of +things I have not written you and I shall not go away again for ever so +long and if I do go I shall only stay a little while. You have no idea +how interesting this rush across the continent has been. I started in +snow and through marshes covered with ice and long horned cattle and +now we are in such a beautiful clean green land with green fields and +green trees and flowering bushes which you can smell as the train goes +by. I now think that instead of being a cafe-chantant singer I should +rather be an Austrian baron and own a castle on a hill with a red +roofed village around it. I have spent almost all of the trip sitting +on the platform and enjoying the sight of the queer peasants and the +soldiers and old villages. Tonight I shall be in "Paris, France" as +Morton used to say and I shall get clean and put on my dress clothes +but whether I shall go see Yvette Guilbert or Rusticana again I do not +know. Perhaps I shall just paddle around the fountain in the Place de +la Concorde and make myself thoroughly at home. With a great deal of +love to Dad and Nora and Chas and all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At the time that Richard's first travel articles appeared some of his +critics took umbrage at the fact that he was evidently under the +delusion that he had discovered London, Gibraltar, Athens, Paris, and +the other cities he had visited, and that no one else had ever written +about them. As a matter of fact no one could have been more keenly +conscious of what an oft-told tale were the places that he had chosen +to describe. If Richard took it for granted that the reader was +totally unacquainted with the peoples of these cities and their ways, +it was because he believed that that was the best way to write a +descriptive article, always had believed it, and believed it so long as +he wrote. And whatever difference of opinion may have existed among +the critics and the public as to Richard's fiction, I think it is safe +to say that as a reporter his work of nearly thirty years stood at +least as high as that of any of his contemporaries or perhaps as that +of the reporters of all time. As an editor, when he gave out an +assignment to a reporter to write an article on some well-worn subject +and the reporter protested, Richard's answer was the same: "You must +always remember that that story hasn't been written until YOU write +it." And when he suggested to an editor that he would like to write an +article on Broadway, or the Panama Canal, or the ruins of Rome and the +editor disapproved, Richard's argument was: "It hasn't been done until +<I>I</I> do it." And it was not because he believed for a moment that he +could do it better or as well as it had been done. It was simply +because he knew the old story was always a good story, that is, if it +was seen with new eyes and from a new standpoint. At twenty-eight he +had written a book about England and her people, and the book had met +with much success both in America and England. At twenty-nine, equally +unafraid, he had "covered" the ancient cities that border the +Mediterranean, and now Paris lay before him! This thought—indeed few +thoughts—troubled Richard very much in those days of his early +successes. He had youth, friends, a marvellous spirit of adventure, +and besides there are many worse fates than being consigned to spending +a few months in Paris, having a thoroughly joyous time, taking a few +mental notes, and a little later on transferring them to paper in the +quiet of a peaceful summer home at Marion. +</P> + +<P> +Chief among his friends in Paris at this time was Charles Dana Gibson, +who was living in a charming old house in the Latin Quarter, and where +the artist did some of his best work and made himself extremely popular +with both the Parisians and the American colony. In addition to Gibson +there were Kenneth Frazier, the portrait-painter, and Tina, Newton, and +James Eustis, the daughter and sons of James B. Eustis, who at that +time was our ambassador to France, a most genial and kindly host, who +made much of Richard and his young friends. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, May 5, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +It is a narrow street with apartment houses of gray stone and iron +balconies along either side of it. The sun sets at one end of the +street at different times during the day and we all lean out on the +balconies to look. On the house, one below mine, on the other side of +our street, is a square sign that says: +</P> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ALFRED DE MUSSET +<BR> +EST MORT DANS CETTE MAISON +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P> +A great many beautiful ladies with the fashionable red shade of hair +still call there, as they used to do when the proper color was black +and it was worn in a chignon and the Second Empire had but just begun. +While they wait they stretch out in their carriages and gaze up at the +balconies until they see me, and as I wear a gold and pink silk wrapper +and not much else, they concentrate all their attention on the wrapper +and forget to drop a sigh for the poet. There are two young people on +the sixth floor opposite, who come out on the balcony after dinner and +hold on to each other and he tells her all about the work of the day. +Below there is a woman who sews nothing but black dresses, and who does +that all day and all night by the light of a lamp. And below the +concierge stands all day in a lace cap and black gown and blue, and +looks up the street and down the street like the woman in front of +Hockley's. BUT on the floor opposite mine there is a beautiful lady in +a pink and white wrapper with long black hair and sleepy black eyes. +She does not take any interest in my pink wrapper, but contents herself +with passing cabs and stray dogs and women with loaves of bread and +bottles in their hands who occasionally stray into our street. At six +she appears in another gown and little slippers and a butterfly for a +hat and says "Good-by" to the old concierge and trips off to dinner. +Lots of love to all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, May 11th, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I am still somewhat tentative as regards my opinion of the place, what +it will bring me in the way of material I cannot tell. So far, "Paris +Decadent" would be a good title for anything I should write of it. It +is not that I have seen only the worst side of it but that that seems +to be so much the most prominent. They worship the hideous Eiffel +Tower and they are a useless, flippant people who never sleep and yet +do nothing while awake. To-morrow I am going to a pretty inn +surrounded by vines and trees to see a prize fight with all the silly +young French men and their young friends in black and white who ape the +English manners and customs even to "la box." To night at the +Ambassadeurs the rejected lover of some actress took a gang of bullies +from Montmartre there and hissed and stoned her. I turned up most +innocently and greatly bored in the midst of it but I was too far away +to pound anybody— I collected two Englishmen and we went in front to +await her re-appearance but she had hysterics and went off in a cab and +so we were not given a second opportunity of showing them they should +play fair. It is a typical incident of the Frenchman and has made me +wrathy. The women watching the prize fight will make a good story and +so will the arms of the red mill, "The Moulin Rouge" they keep turning +and turning and grinding out health and virtue and souls. +</P> + +<P> +I dined to night with the C——-s and P——s, the Ex-Minister and +disagreed with everybody and found them all very middle class as to +intellect. An old English lady next to me said apropos of something +"that is because you are not clever like Mr. —— and do not have to +work with your brains." To which I said, I did not mind not being +clever as my father was a many times millionaire," at which she became +abjectly polite. Young Rothenstein is going to do a picture of me +to-morrow morning. There is nothing much more to tell except that a +horse stood on his fore legs in the Bois the other day and chucked me +into space. I was very sore but I went on going about as it was the +Varnishing day at the new salon and I wished to see it. I am over my +stiffness now and if "anybody wants to buy a blooming bus" I have one +for sale and five pairs of riding breeches and two of ditto boots. No +more riding for me—- The boxing bag is in good order now and I do not +need for exercise. The lady across the street has a new wrapper in +which she is even more cold and haughty than before. "I sing Tarrara +boom deay and she keeps from liking me." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, May 14th, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR NORA: +</P> + +<P> +Things are getting more interesting here and I shall probably have +something to write about after all, although I shall not know the place +as I did London. Will Rothenstein has drawn a picture of me that I +like very much and if mother likes it VERY, VERY much she may have it +as a loan but she may not like it. I did not like to take it so I +bought another picture of him, one of Coquelin cadet and now I have +two. Coquelin gave him his first commission when he was nineteen, two +years ago, and then asked him to do two sketches. After these were +done Coquelin told him by letter that he would give him half what they +had agreed upon for the big picture for the two sketches and begged the +big picture as a gift. So Rothenstein cut the head and shoulders out +of the big one and sent him the arms and legs. It is the head he cut +out that I have. When Rothenstein and I and Coquelin become famous, +that will make a good story. I have also indulged myself in the +purchase of several of Cherets works of art. They cost three francs +apiece. We have had some delightful lunches at the Ambassadeurs with +Cushing and other artists and last night I went out into the Grande +Monde to a bal masque for charity at the palace of the Comtesse de la +Ferrondeux. It was very stupid and the men outnumbered the women 30 to +1, which are interesting odds. To-day we went to Whistler's and sat +out in a garden with high walls about it and drank tea and laughed at +Rothenstein. The last thing he said was at the Ambassadeurs when one +of the students picking up a fork said, "These are the same sort of +forks I have." Rothenstein said "yes, I did not know you dined here +that often." Some one asked him why he wore his hair long, "To test +your manners" he answered. He is a disciple of Whistler's and Wilde's +and said "yes, I defend them at the risk of their lives." Did I tell +you of his saying "It is much easier to love one's family than to like +them." And when some one said "Did you hear how Mrs. B. treated Mr. +C., (a man he dislikes) he said, "no, but I'm glad she did." It was +lovely at Whistler's and such a contrast to the other American salon I +went to last Sunday. It was so quiet, and green and pretty and +everybody was so unobtrusively polite. +</P> + +<P> +Rothenstein wore my rosette and made a great sensation and I was +congratulated by Whistler and Abbey and Pennell. Rothenstein said he +was going to have a doublebreasted waistcoat made with rosettes of +decorations for buttons. Tomorrow Lord Dufferin has asked me to +breakfast at the Embassy. He was at the masked ball last night and was +very nice. He reminds me exactly of Disraeli in appearance. It is +awfully hot here and a Fair for charity has asked me to put my name in +"Gallegher" to have it raffled for. "Dear" Bonsal arrives here next +Sunday, so I am in great anticipation. I am very well, tell mother, +and amused. Lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, June 13, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +There is nothing much to say except that things still go on. I feel +like one of those little India rubber balls in the jet of a fountain +being turned and twisted and not allowed to rest. Today I have been to +hear Yvette Guilbert rehearse and thought her all Chas thinks her only +her songs this season are beneath the morals of a medical student. It +is very hot and it is getting hotter. I had an amusing time at the +Grand Prix where Tina won a lot of money on a tip I gave her which I +did not back myself. In the evening Newton took me to dinner and to +the Jardin de Paris where they had 10 franc admittance and where every +thing went that wasn't nailed. The dudes put candles on their high +hats and the girls snuffed them out with kicks and at one time the +crowd mobbed the band stand and then the stage and played on all the +instruments. The men were all swells in evening dress and the women in +beautiful ball dresses and it was a wonderful sight. It only happens +once a year like the Yale-Princeton night at Koster and Bials except +that the women are all very fine indeed. They rode pig-a-back races +and sang all the songs. I had dinner with John Drew last night. I +occasionally sleep and if Nora doesn't come on time I shall be a +skeleton and have no money left. As a matter of fact I am fatter than +ever and can eat all sorts of impossible things here that I could never +eat at home. I lunch every day with the Eustises and we dine out +almost every night. I consort entirely with the poorest of art +students or the noblest of princesses and so far have kept out of +mischief, but you can never tell for this is a wicked city they say, or +it strikes me as most amusing at present only I cannot see what Harper +and Bros. are going to get out of it. I said that of London so I +suppose it will all straighten out by the time I get back. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FIRST PLAYS +</H3> + +<P> +When the season in Paris had reached its end, Richard returned to +London and later on to Marion, where he spent the late summer and early +fall, working on his Mediterranean and Paris articles, and completing +his novel "Soldiers of Fortune." In October he returned to New York +and once more assumed his editorial duties and took his usual active +interest in the winter's gayeties. +</P> + +<P> +The first of these letters refers to a dinner of welcome given to Sir +Henry Irving. The last two to books by my mother and Richard, and +which were published simultaneously. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, November 27, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +The dinner was very fine. I was very glad I went. Whitelaw Reid sat +on one side of Sir Henry Irving and Horace Porter on the other. +Howells and Warner came next. John Russell Young and Mark Twain, +Millet, Palmer, Hutton, Gilder and a lot more were there. There were +no newspaper men, not even critics nor actors there, which struck me as +interesting. The men were very nice to me. Especially Young, Reid, +Irving and Howells. Everybody said when I came in, "I used to know you +when you were a little boy," so that some one said finally, "What a +disagreeable little boy you MUST have been." I sat next a chap from +Brazil who told me lots of amusing things. One story if it is good +saves a whole day for me. One he told was of a German explorer to whom +Don Pedro gave an audience. The Emperor asked him, with some touch of +patronage, if he had ever met a king before. "Yes," the German said +thoughtfully; "five, three wild and two tame." +</P> + +<P> +Mark Twain told some very funny stories, and captured me because I +never thought him funny before, and Irving told some about Stanley, and +everybody talked interestingly. Irving said he was looking forward to +seeing Dad when he reached Philadelphia. "It is nice to have seen +you," he said, "but I have still to see your father," as though I was +not enough. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I cannot tell you how touched and moved I was by the three initials in +the book. It was a genuine and complete surprise and when I came +across it while I was examining the letterpress with critical +approbation and with no idea of what was to come, it left me quite +breathless— It was so sweet of you— You understand me and I +understand you and you know how much that counts to me— I think the +book is awfully pretty and in such good taste— It is quite a delight +to the eye and I am much more keen about it than over any of my own— I +have sent it to some of my friends but I have not read it yet myself, +as I am waiting until I get on the boat where I shall not be +disturbed— Then I shall write you again— It was awfully good of you, +and I am so pleased to have it to give away. I never had anything to +show people when they asked for one of your other books and this comes +in such an unquestionable form— With lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, 1893. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I got your nice letter and one from Dad. Both calling me many +adjectives pleasing to hear although they do not happen to fit. So you +are in a third edition are you? These YOUNG writers are crowding me to +the wall. I feel thrills of pride when I see us sitting cheek by jowl +on the news-stands. Lots of love. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +In February, 1894, Richard was forced by a severe attack of sciatica to +give up temporarily the gayeties of New York and for a cure he +naturally chose our home in Philadelphia, where he remained for many +weeks. Although unable to leave his bed, he continued to do a +considerable amount of work, including the novelette "The Princess +Aline," in the writing of which I believe my brother took more pleasure +than in that of any story or novel he ever wrote. The future Empress +of Russia was the heroine of the tale, and that she eventually read the +story and was apparently delighted with it caused Richard much human +happiness. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PHILADELPHIA. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March 5th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +I am getting rapidly better owing to regular hours and light literature +and home comforts. I am not blue as I was and my morbidness has gone +and I only get depressed at times. I am still however feeling tired +and I think I will take quite a rest before I venture across the seas. +But across them I will come no matter if all the nerves on earth jump +and pull. Still, I think it wiser for all concerned that I get +thoroughly well so that when I do come I won't have to be cutting back +home again as I did last time. We are young yet and the world's wide +and there's a new farce comedy written every minute and I have a great +many things to do myself so I intend to get strong and then do them. I +enclose two poems. I am going to have them printed for my particular +pals later. I am writing one to all of you folks over there. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TAKE ME BACK TO BROADWAY, WHERE THE ORCHIDS GROW +<BR> +WITH APOLOGIES TO THE WESTERN DIALECT POETS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"I have wandered up and down somewhat in many different lands <BR> +I have been to Fort Worth, Texas, and I've tramped through Jersey sands, <BR> +I have seen Pike's Peak by Moonlight, and I've visited the Fair <BR> +And to save enumeration I've been nearly everywhere. But no matter where <BR> +I rested and no matter where I'd go, I have longed to be on Broadway<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">Where</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 11.5em">the</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 14em">Orchids</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 16.5em">Grow.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Some people love the lilies fair that hide in mossy dells <BR> +Some folks are fond of new mown hay, before the rainy spells <BR> +But give to me the orchids rare that hang in Thorley's store, <BR> +And in Fleischman's at the Hoffman, and in half a dozen more <BR> +And when I see them far from home they make my heart's blood glow<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 0.5em">For they take me back to Broadway</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">Where</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 11.5em">the</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 14em">Orchids</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 16.5em">Grow.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Let Paris boast of boulevards where one can sit and drink <BR> +There is no such chance on Broadway, at the Brower House,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">'I don't think.'</SPAN><BR> +And where else are there fair soubrettes in pipe clayed tennis shoes,<BR> +And boys in silken sashes promenading by in twos <BR> +Oh you can boast of any street of which you're proud to know <BR> +But give me sleepy Broadway<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">Where</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 11.5em">the</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 14em">Orchids</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 16.5em">Grow.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Let poets sing of chiming bells and gently lowing kine <BR> +I like the clanging cable cars like fire engines in line <BR> +And I never miss the sunset and for moonlight never sigh <BR> +When 'Swept by Ocean Breezes.' flashes out against the sky. <BR> +And when the Tenderloin awakes, and open theatres glow <BR> +I want to be on Broadway +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 6.5em">Where</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 9em">the</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 11.5em">Orchids</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 14em">Grow."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3> +A VOUS, JOHN DREW +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"John Drew, I am your debtor <BR> +For a very pleasant letter <BR> +And a lot of cabinet photos <BR> +Of the 'Butterflies' and you <BR> +And I think it very kind<BR> +That you kept me so in mind <BR> +And pitied me in exile <BR> +So I do, John Drew.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +2 +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +John Drew, 'twixt you and me <BR> +Precious little I can see <BR> +Of that good there is in Solitude <BR> +That poets say they view. <BR> +For <I>I</I> hate to be in bed <BR> +With a candle at my head <BR> +Sitting vis a vis with Conscience. <BR> +So would you, John Drew.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +3 +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +John Drew, then promise me <BR> +That as soon as I am free <BR> +I may sit in the first entrance<BR> +As Lamb always lets me do. <BR> +And watch you fume and fret <BR> +While the innocent soubrette <BR> +Takes the centre of the stage a— <BR> +Way from you, John Drew."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +R. H. D. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the summer of 1894 Richard went to London for a purely social visit, +but while he was there President Carnot was assassinated, and he went +to Paris to write the "story" of the funeral and of the election of the +new President. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VERSAILLES, June 24, 1894. +</P> + +<P> +I am out here to see the election of the new President. I jumped on +the mail coach and came off in a hurry without any breakfast, but I had +a pretty drive out, and the guard and I talked of London. The palace +is closed and no one is admitted except by card, so I have seen only +the outside of it. It is most interesting. There is not a ribbon or a +badge; not a banner or a band. The town is as quiet as always, and +there are not 200 people gathered at the gate through which the +deputies pass. Compared to an election convention in Chicago, it is +most interesting. How lively it is inside of the chamber where the +thing is going on I cannot say. I shall not wait to hear the result, +but will return on the coach. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing could be more curious than the apparent indifference of the +people of Paris to the assassination of the President. Two days after +he died there was not a single flag at half mast among the private +residences. The Government buildings, the hotels and the stores were +all that advertised their grief. I shall have an interesting story to +write of it for the Parisian series. Dana Gibson and I will wait until +after the funeral and then go to Andorra. If he does not go, I may go +alone, but perhaps I shall go back to London at once. This has been an +interesting time here, but only because it is so different from what +one would expect. It reads like a burlesque to note the expressions of +condolence from all over the world, and to mark the self-satisfaction +of the French at attracting so much sympathy, and their absolute +indifference to the death of Carnot. It is most curious. We have an +ideal time. Never before have I had such jolly dinners, with such good +talk and such amusing companions. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, July 15, 1894. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Irving gave a supper last night to Mme. Bernhardt and Mme. Rejane. +There were about twenty people, and we ate in the Beefsteak Room of the +Lyceum Theater, which is so called after the old Beefsteak Club which +formerly met there. I had a most delightful time, and talked to all +the French women and to Miss Terry, who sent her love to Dad. She +said, "I did not SEE him this last visit; that is, I saw him but I did +not see him." Her daughter is a very sweet girl, and the picture Miss +Terry made on her knees looking up at Bernhardt and Rejane when they +chattered in French was wonderful. Neither she nor Irving could speak +a word of French, and whenever any one else tried, the crowd all stood +in a circle and applauded and guyed them. After it was over, at about +three in the morning, Miss Terry offered me a lift home in her open +carriage, so she and her daughter and I rode through the empty streets +in the gray light for miles and miles, as, of course, I did not get out +of such company any sooner than I had to do. They had taken Irving's +robe of cardinal red and made it into cloaks, and they looked very odd +and eerie with their yellow hair and red capes, and talking as fast as +they could. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA +</H3> + +<P> +About January 1, 1895, Richard accompanied by his friends Somers +Somerset and Lloyd C. Griscom, afterward our minister to Tokio and +ambassador to Brazil and Italy, started out on a leisurely trip of +South and Central America. With no very definite itinerary, they +sailed from New Orleans, bent on having a good time, and as many +adventures as possible, which Richard was to describe in a series of +articles. These appeared later on in a volume entitled "Three Gringos +in Venezuela." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +January, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAM: +</P> + +<P> +On board Breakwater at anchor. You will be pleased to hear that I am +writing this in a fine state of perspiration in spite of the fact that +I have light weight flannels, no underclothes and all the windows open. +It is going to storm and then it will be cooler. We have had a bully +time so far although the tough time is still to come, that will be +going from Puerto Cortez to Tegucigalpa. At Belize the Governor +treated us charmingly and gave us orderlies and launches and lunches +and advice and me a fine subject for a short story. For nothing has +struck me as so sad lately as did Sir Anthony Moloney K. C. M. G. +watching us go off laughing and joking in his gilded barge to wherever +we pleased and leaving him standing alone on his lawn with some papers +to sign and then a dinner tete-a-tete with his Secretary and so on to +the end of his life. It was pathetic to hear him listen to all the +gossip from the outside world and to see how we pleased him when we +told him we were getting more bald than he was and that he would make a +fine appearance in the Row at his present weight. He had not heard of +Trilby!! +</P> + +<P> +We struck a beautiful place today called Livingston where we went +ashore and photographed the army in which there was no boy older than +eighteen and most of them under ten. It was quite like Africa, the +homes were all thatched and the children all naked and the women mostly +so. We took lots of photographs and got on most excellently with the +natives who thought we were as funny as we thought them. Almost every +place we go word has been sent ahead and agents and consuls and custom +house chaps come out to meet me and ask what they can do. This is very +good and keeps Griscom and Somerset in a proper frame of awe. But +seriously I could not ask for better companions, they are both +enormously well informed and polite and full of fun. The night the +Governor asked Somers to dinner and did not ask us we waited up for him +and then hung him out over the side of the boat above the sharks until +he swore he would never go away from us again. Griscom is more +aggravatingly leisurely but he has a most audacious humor and talks to +the natives in a way that fills them with pleasure but which nearly +makes Somers and I expose the whole party by laughing. Today we lie +here taking in banannas and tomorrow I will see Conrad, Conrad, +Conrad!! Send this to the Consul. Lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SAN PEDRO—SULA—February, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon of the day we were in Puerto Cortez the man of war +Atlanta steamed into the little harbor and we all cheered and the +lottery people ran up the American flag. Then I and the others went +out to her as fast as we could be rowed and I went over the side and +the surprise of the officers was very great. They called Somers and +Griscom to come up and we spent the day there. They were a much +younger and more amusing lot of fellows than those on the Minneapolis +and treated us most kindly. It was a beautiful boat and each of us +confessed to feeling quite tempted to go back again to civilization +after one day on her. Their boat had touched at Tangier and so they +claimed that she was the one meant in the Exiles. They told me that +the guide Isaac Cohen whom I mentioned in Harper's Weekly carries it +around as an advertisement and wanted to ship with them as cabin boy. +We left the next day on the railroad and the boys finding that two +negroes sat on the cowcatcher to throw sand on the rails in slippery +places bribed them for their places and I sat on the sand box. I never +took a more beautiful drive. We did not go faster than an ordinary +horse car but still it was exciting and the views and vistas wonderful. +Sometimes we went for a half mile under arches of cocoanut palms and a +straight broad leafed palm called the manaca that rises in separate +leaves sixty feet from the ground. Imagine a palm such as we put in +pots at weddings and teas as high as Holy Trinity Church and hundreds +and hundreds of them. The country is very like Cuba but more luxuriant +in every way. There are some trees with marble like trunks and great +branches covered with oriole nests and a hundred orioles flying in and +out of them or else plastered with orchids. If Billy Furness were to +see in what abundance they grew he would be quite mad. It is a great +pity he did not come with us. This little town is the terminus of the +railroad and we have been here four days while Jeffs the American +Colonel in the Hondurean Army is getting our outfit. It has been very +pleasant and we are in no hurry which is a good thing for us. It is a +most exciting country and as despotic as all uncivilized and unstable +governments must be. But we have called on the Governor of the +district with Jeffs and he gave us a very fine letter to all civil and +unmilitary authorities in the district calling on them to aid and +protect us in every way. I am getting awfully good material for my +novel and for half a dozen stories to boot only I am surprised to find +how true my novel was to what really exists here. About ten years ago +—— disappeared, having as I thought drunk himself to death. He came +up to me here on my arrival with a lot of waybills in his hand and I +learned that he had been employed in this hole in the ground by a +railroad for two years. I remembered meeting him at Newport when I was +still at Lehigh, and last night he asked me to dinner and told me what +he had been doing which included everything from acting in South +America to blacking boots in Australia. His boss was a Pittsburgh +engineer who is apparently licking him into shape and who told me to +tell his father that he had stopped drinking absolutely. His colored +"missus" sat with us at the table and played with a beetle during the +three hours I stayed there during which time he asked me about —— who +he said had ruined him. He told me of how —— had done and said this, +and the contrast to the thatched roof and the mud floor and the Scotch +American engineer and the mulatto girl was rather striking. I never +had more luck in any trip than I have had on this one and the luck of +R. H. D. of which I was fond of boasting seems to hold good. That man +of war, for instance, was the only American one that had touched at +Puerto Cortez in TEN years and it came the day we did and left the day +we did. We saw a big lithograph of Eddie Sothern in a palm hut here so +we went before a notary and swore to it and had three seals put on the +paper and sent it him as a joke. We start tomorrow the 22nd so you see +we are behind our schedule and I suppose you people are all worried to +death about us. We will be much longer than six days on our way to +Tegucigalpa as we are going shooting and also to pay our respects to +Bogran the ex-president and the man who is getting up the next +revolution. But we take care to tell everyone we are travelling for +pleasure and are great admirers of Bonilla the present president. +Somers and I are getting on famously. He is a very fine boy with a +great sense of humor and apparently very fond of me. We had five men +counting Jeffs who we call our military attache and Charwood and four +drivers and eleven mules so it is quite an outfit. In Ecuador with one +more man it would constitute a revolution. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SANTA BARBARA—January 25, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAM: +</P> + +<P> +We are not at Tegucigalpa as you observe but travelling in this +country. "As you see it on Broadway " and as you see it here are two +different things. We have had five days of it so far and rested here +today in order to pay our respects to General Bogran the ex-president +of the Republic. It is still six days to Tegucigalpa. The trip across +Central America will certainly be one of the most interesting +experiences of my life. It is the most beautiful country I have seen +and the most barbarous. It is also the hottest and the most +insect-ious and the dirtiest. This latter seems a little view to take +of it but it means a great deal as the insects prevent your doing +anything in a natural way; as for instance sitting on the grass or +sleeping on the ground or hunting through the bushes. It is pretty +much as you imagine it is from what you have read, that covers it, and +I have discovered nothing new by coming to see it. I only verify what +others have seen. The people are most uninteresting chiefly because +they are surly to Americans and do not make you feel welcome. I do not +mean that I did not do well to come for I am more glad that I did than +I can say only I have not, as I have been able to do before, found +something that others have not seen. I never expect to see such a +country again unless in Africa. If you leave the path for ten yards +you would never get back to it except by accident and you could not get +that far away unless you cut yourself a trail. In some places the mail +route which we follow and over which the mail is carried on the backs +of runners is cut in the rock and we go down steps as even as those of +the City Hall and for hours we travel over rough rocks and stones and a +path so narrow that your knees catch in the vines at the side. The +mules are wonderfully sure footed and never slip although they are very +little, and I am pretty heavy. The heat is something awful. It bakes +you and will dry your pith helmet in ten minutes after you have soaked +it in water. But the scenery is magnificent, sometimes we ride above +the clouds and look down into valleys stretching fifty miles away and +see the buzzards half a mile below us. Then we go through forests of +manaca palms that spread out on a single stem sideways and form arches +over our heads with the leaves hanging in front of us like portiers or +we cross great plains of grass and cactus and rock. The best fun is +the baths we take in the mountain streams. They are almost as cool as +one could wish and we shoot the rapids and lie under the waterfalls and +come out with all the soreness rubbed out of us as though we had been +massaged. We went shooting for two days but as they had no dogs we did +not do much. I got the best shot of the trip and missed it. It was a +large wild cat and he turned his side full on but I fired over him. +Somers and I spent most of the time firing chance shots at alligators, +but they never gave us a good chance as the birds warn them when they +are in danger. One old fellow fifteen feet long beat us for some time +and then Somers and I started across the river to catch him asleep. It +was like the taking of Lungtepen. We had our money belts around our +necks and our shoes in one hand and rifles in the other. The rapids +ran very fast and the last I saw of Somerset he was sitting on the bank +he had started from counting out wet bank notes and blowing the water +out of his gun barrel. I got across all right by sticking my feet +between rocks and put on my shoes and crawled up on the old Johnnie. +He smelt of musk so strong that you could have found him in the dark. +I had, a beautiful shot at him at fifty yards but I was too greedy and +ran around some rocks to get nearer and he heard me and dived. I shot +a macaw, one of those overgrown parrots with tail feathers three feet +from tip to tip. I got him with a rifle and as Griscom had got his +with a shotgun I came out all right as a marksman although I was very +sore at missing the wild cat. We sleep in hats and we sleep precious +little for the dogs and pigs and insects all help to keep us awake and +I cannot get used to a hammock. The native beds are made of matting +such as they put over tea chests, or bull's hide stretched. Last night +I slept in a hut with a woman and her three daughters all over fifteen +and they sat up and watched me prepare for bed with great interest. I +would not have missed this trip for any other I know. I wanted to +rough it and we've roughed it and we will have another week of it too. +We have some remarkable photographs and the article ought to be most +interesting. Bogran proved to be a very handsome and remarkable man +and we had a very interesting talk with him. From Tegucigalpa we will +probably go directly to Venezuela across the Isthmus of Panama and not +visit another Republic. We have all travelled too much to care to +duplicate, and that is what we would be doing by remaining longer in +Central America. A month of it will be enough of it and we will not +get away from Amapala before the first of February. We are all well +and happy and dirty and sing and laugh and tell stories and listen to +Griscom's anecdotes of the aristocracy as we pick our way along. So +goodbye and God bless you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TEGUCIGALPA, CENTRAL AMERICA. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 1st, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +4th, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY— +</P> + +<P> +Here we are at last, the trip from Santa Barbara where I last wrote you +was made in six days. It was not so interesting as the first part +because it was very high up and the tropical scenery gave way to +immensely tall pines and other trees that might have been in +California, or the Rockies. The Corderillas which is the name of the +mountains we crossed are a continuation, by the way, of the Rockies, +and the Andes but are not more than 4,000 feet high. We had two very +hot days of it in the plains of Comgaqua where there was once a city of +60,000 founded by Cortez but where there are not now more than 6,000. +The heat was awful. We peeled all over our faces and hands and dodged +and ducked our heads as though some one were biting at us. My saddle +and clothes were so hot that I could not place my hand on them. At one +village we heard that a bull fight was to be given at the next fifteen +miles away, so we rode on there and arrived in time to take part. They +had enclosed the plaza with a barricade of logs seven feet high, bound +together with vines. They roped a big bull and lassoed him all over +and then a man got on his back with spurs on his bare feet and held on +by the ropes around the bull's body and by his toes and threw a cloak +over the bull's eyes when ever it got too near any one— They stuck it +with spears until it was mad and then let the lassoes slip and the bull +started off to tear out the torreadors. I thought it would be a great +sporting act to kodak a bull while it was charging you and so we all +volunteered to act as torreadors and it was most exciting and funny. +It was rather late to get good results but I got some pretty good +pictures of the bull coming at me with his head down and then I'd skip +into a hole in the wall. The best pictures I got were of Somers and +Griscom scrambling over the seven foot barriers with the bull in hot +chase. We all looked so funny in our high boots and helmets and so +much alike that the savages yelled with delight and thought we had been +engaged especially for their pleasure. Our "mosers," or mule drivers +treated us most insolently but we could not do anything because Jeffs. +had engaged them and we did not want to interfere with his authority +but at a place the last day out one of them told Jeffs. he lied and +that we all lied. He had lost or stolen a canteen of Griscom's and +they had said we had not given it to him. Jeffs. went at him right and +left and knocked him all over the shop. There were half a dozen +drunken mule drivers at the place and we thought they would take a hand +but they did not. That night Jeffs. thought to try us to see what we +would have done and left us bathing in a mountain stream and rode on +ahead and hid himself behind a rock in a canon and lay in ambush for +us. We were jogging along in the moonlight and Somerset was reciting +the "Walrus and the Carpenter," when suddenly Jeffs. let out a series +of yells in Spanish and opened fire on us over our heads. Somerset was +riding my mule and I had no weapons, so I yelled at him to shoot and he +fell off his mule and ran to mine and let go at the rock behind which +Jeffs. was with the carbines. So that in about five seconds Jeffs.' +curiosity was perfectly satisfied as to what we would do, and he +shouted for mercy. We thought it was a sentry or brigands and were +greatly disappointed when it turned out to be Jeffs. We got here last +night and a dirtier or more dismal place you never saw. We had +telegraphed ahead for rooms but nothing was in order and we were lodged +much worse than we had been several times in the interior where there +was occasionally a clean floor. This morning we wrote direct to the +President, asking for an interview or audience and did not ask our +Consul to help us because Jeffs. had asked him in our presence to come +meet us and he said he would after he had done talking to some other +men, but he never came. Before we heard from Bonilla however, we +learned that the Vice-president who has the same name was to be sworn +in so we went to the palace along with the populace in their bare feet. +We sat out of sight but the English Consul who was the finest looking +person in the chamber—all over gold lace—saw us and asked that we be +given places in front, which the minister of something asked us to take +but we objected on account of our clothes. Somers had on a flannel +suit that looked exactly like pajamas and lawn tennis shoes. But as +soon as the ceremony was over they insisted on our going in to the +banquet hall and in spite of our objections we were there conveyed and +presented to Bonilla who behaved very well and after saying he had +received our letters but had not had time to read them left us and +avoided us, which was what we wanted for we looked like the devil. We +met everybody else though and took the English and Guatemalian Consuls +back to our rooms and gave them drinks and then we went to their rooms, +so the day went very pleasantly. The President sent us a funny printed +card appointing an audience at eleven to-morrow. It is exactly what +you would imagine it would be, the soldiers are barefooted except about +fifty and the President leaned out of the window in his shirt sleeves +after the review and they have not plastered up the holes in his palace +that his cannon made in it just a year ago to-day, when he was fighting +Vasquez, and Vasquez was then on the inside and Bonilla on the hills. +I forgot to tell you that this morning a boy about sixteen years old, +with a policeman's badge and club came to our window and talked +pleasantly with us or at us rather, while we shaved and guyed him in +English. Finally we found that he had come to arrest Jeffs. so we told +him where Jeffs. was but he preferred to watch us shave and we finished +it under his custody. Then we went to the Commandante and found that +the mosers had had Jeffs. arrested for not paying them on their arrival +at Tegucigalpa, as we had distinctly told them we would not do but at +San Pedro from where we took them, on their return. It was only a +spite case suggested by Jeffs. thrashing their leader. The Commandante +gave them a scolding and we went out in triumph. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 4th— +</P> + +<P> +Your cable received all right. We were very glad to hear. We have +decided to go on by mules to Manaqua, the Capital of Nicaragua, and +from there either to Corinto or to Lemon on the Atlantic side. We had +to do this or wait here ten days for the boat going south at Amapala. +It is moonlight now so that we can avoid the heat of the day. +Yesterday we went out riding with the President, who put a gold +revolver in his hip pocket before he started and made us feel that +uneasy lies the head that rules in this country. He had two horses +that had never been ridden before, as a compliment to our powers, the +result was that the Vice-president's horse almost killed him, which I +guess the President intended it should and the horse Griscom rode +backed all over the town. He was a stallion and had never been ridden +before that day. Mine was a gentle old gee-gee and yet I felt good +when we were all on the ground again. The British consul gave Somers a +fine reception and raised the flag for him and had the band there to +play "God Save the Queen," which he had spent the whole morning in +teaching them. Griscom and I called on our Consul and played his +guitar. We bought one for ourselves for the rest of the trip. +</P> + +<P> +I want you to do something for me: keep all the unfavorable notices you +get. I know Mother won't do it, so I shall expect Nora to make a point +of saving them from the waste-paper basket. If there is not a lot of +them when I get back, I will raise a row. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MANAQUA—NICARAGUA—February 13, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAM: +</P> + +<P> +I had a great deal to tell you, but we have just received copies of the +Panama Star and have read of the trolley riots in Brooklyn, a crisis in +France, War in the Balkans, a revolution in Honolulu and another in +Colombia. The result is that we feel we are not in it and we are all +kicking and growling and abusing our luck. How Claiborne and Russell +will delight over us and in telling how the militia fired on the +strikers and how Troop A fought nobly. Never mind our turn will come +someday and we may see something yet. We have had the deuce of a time +since we left Tegucigalpa. Now we are in a land where there are bull +hide beds and canvas cots instead of hammocks and ice and railroads and +direct communication with steamship lines. Hereafter all will be +merely a matter of waiting until the boat sails or the train starts and +the uncertainties of mules and cat boats are at an end. It is hard to +explain about our difficulties after we left Tegucigalpa but they were +many. We gave up our idea of riding here direct because they assured +us we could get a steam launch from Amapala to Corinto so we rode three +days to San Lorenzo on the Pacific side and took an open boat from +there to Amapala. It was rowed by four men who walked up a notched log +and then fell back dragging the sweeps back, with the weight of their +bodies. +</P> + +<P> +It was a moonlight night and they looked very picturesque rising and +sinking back and outlined against the sky. They were naked to the +waist and rowed all night and I had a good chance to see them as I had +to lie on the bottom of the boat on three mahogany logs. By ten the +next day we were too cramped to stand it, so we put ashore on a +deserted island and played Robinson Crusoe. We had two biscuits and a +box of sardines among five of us but we found oysters on the rocks and +knocked a lot off with clubs and stones and the butts of our guns. +They were very good. We also had a bath until a fish ran into me about +three feet long and cut two gashes in my leg. We reached Amapala about +four in the afternoon. It was an awful place; dirt and filth and no +room to move about, so we chartered an open boat to sail or row to +Corinto sixty miles distant. You see, we could not go back to +Tegucigalpa until the steamer arrived which is to take us South of +Panama and we could not go to Manaqua either and for the same reason +that we had sent back our mule train and we would not wait in Amapala +partly because of fever which had been there and partly because we +wanted to get to Corinto where they have ice and to see Manaqua. The +boat was about as long as the Vagabond and twice as deep and a foot or +two more across her beam. There were four of us, five of the crew and +two natives who wanted to make the trip and who we took with us. It +was pretty awful. The old tub rocked like a milk shake and I was never +so ill in my life, we all lay packed together on the ribs of the boat +and could not move and the waves splashed over us but we were too ill +to care. The next day the sun beat in on us and roasted us like an +open furnace. The boat was a pit of heat and outside the swell of the +Pacific rose and fell and reflected the sun like copper. We reached +Corinto in about twenty four hours and I was never so glad to get any +place before. The town turned out to greet us and some Englishmen ran +to ask from what boat we had been ship wrecked. They would not believe +we had taken the trip for any other reason. They helped us very kindly +and would not let us drink all the iced water we wanted and sent us in +to bathe in a place surrounded by piles to keep out the sharks and by a +roof to shelter one from the sun. Corinto proved to be all that +Amapala was not; clean, cool with very excellent food and broad beds of +matting. I liked it better than any place at which we have been, we +came on here the next day to see the President and found the city hot, +dusty and of no interest. There is an excellent hotel however and we +had a talk with the President who was a much better chap than Bonilla +being older and more civilized. Of course there is absolutely no +reason or excuse for us if we do not get control of this canal. If +only that it would allow our ships of war to pass from Ocean to Ocean +instead of going around the horn. The women are really beautiful but +that has nothing to do with the canal. Tomorrow morning we return to +Corinto as Somers and I like it best. Griscom would like to go on +across by the route of the canal which would be a good thing were we +certain of meeting a steamer at Simon or Greytown, but the Minister who +went last month that way had to wait there sixteen days. So, we will +probably leave Corinto on the 17th or 20th, there are two steamers, one +that stops at ports and one that does not. They both arrive together. +I do not know which we will take but—this letter will go with me. Up +to date I think the trip will make a good story but it will have to be +a personal one about the three of us for the country as it stands is +uninteresting to the general reader for the reason that it DUPLICATES +itself in everything. But with our photographs and a humorous story, +it ought to be worth reading and I have picked enough curious things to +make it of some value. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 15,—Corinto. +</P> + +<P> +We are back here now and rid of that dusty, dirty city. You would be +amused if you saw this place and tried to understand why we prefer it +to any place we have seen. There is surf bathing at a half mile +distant and a good hotel with a great bar where a Frenchman gives us +ice and the sea captains and agents for mines and plantations in the +interior gather to play billiards. Outside there are rows of handsome +women with decollete gowns and shining black hair and colored silk +scarfs selling fruit and down the one street which faces the bay are a +double row of palms and the store where two American boys have a +phonograph. They are the only Americans I have met who have or are +taking a dollar out of this country. They play the guitar and banjo +very well. One of them was on the Princeton glee club and their +stories of how they have toured Central America are very amusing. Lots +of Love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +S. S. Barracouta—Off San Juan +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 21, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Today I believe is the 21st. We are out two days from Corinto off San +Juan on the boundary of Costa Rica and lie here some hours. Then we go +on without stopping to Panama arriving there about the 25th. On the +28th we take the steamer to Caracas. We will be at Caracas a week and +then go straight home. But in the meanwhile we will have got one mail +at Colon when we go there to take the boat for Caracas and glad I will +be to get it. We have had a summary of the news in the Panama Star and +a bundle of Worlds telling all about the trolley strike and that is all +except Dad's cable at Tegucigalpa that we have heard in nearly two +months. I am very sorry that the distances have turned out so much +longer than we expected and that we had that unfortunate ten days wait +for the steamer. I know you want me home and I would like to be there +but I do not think I ought to go without seeing Caracas. It helps the +book so much too if one runs it into South America for no one in the +States thinks much of Central and does not want to read about it. At +least I know I never did. We have had a most amusing time with the two +phonograph chaps. One of them has been an advertising agent and a +deputy sheriff and chased stage coach robbers and kept a hard-ware +store and is only twenty-five and the other has not had quite as much +experience but has been to Princeton, he is 23. The mixture of +narratives which change from tricks of the hard-ware trade to dances at +Buckingham Palace and anecdotes of Cliff House supper parties at San +Francisco are very interesting. I am going to write a book for them +and call it "Through Central America with a Phonograph" or "Who We Did, +and How We Done Them." We sing the most beautiful medleys and +contribute to the phonograph. I had to protest against them announcing +"Her Golden Hair was Hanging Down her Back" by Richard Harding Davis +and Somerset kicked at their introducing "God Save the Queen" as sung +by "His Grace the Duke of Bedford" which they insist in thinking his +real title and his name; if he would only confess the truth. You +cannot have any idea of how glad I am that I took this trip, just this +particular trip, not for any interest it will be to the gentle reader +but for the benefit it has been to me. All the things I was nervous +about have been done and should I get nerves again as I suppose I +always will in one form or another I can get rid of them by remembering +how I got rid of them before during this most peculiar excursion. For +though I and we all told the truth about being well, we were in a most +trying place at times and the ride we took and the sail to get away +from possible fever was very much of a strain. I do not see how +Griscom kept up as he did for he was an invalid and very nervous when +he started. But he showed great sporting blood. It was much better +having three than two and he furnished us with much amusement at which +he never complains. His artlessness and his bad breaks which keep us +filled with terror make the most entertaining narratives and he tells +them on himself and then keeps on making new ones. One night Jeffs +came down with fever through bathing in the mountain streams, a +practice which did not hurt us but which natives of the country cannot +do in safety, and I confess I was scared. Jeffs pulled through in a +few days. It was odd that the man who had lived here eleven years +should have been the only one to give up throughout the whole trip and +he was a good sport, too. +</P> + +<P> +I will have the Central American stories all done or nearly so by the +time we reach New York which is one of the comforts of this over +abundance of sea voyages. I have the lottery story nearly written and +am wondering now if Bissell will let me publish it. Would it not be a +good idea to have Dad, if he knows him, explain about how I went South +to write it and just what it is and get his official sanction or shall +I write or get the Harper's to write when I get back. The lottery +people in joke offered $10,000 if they could write the story +themselves. And sometimes I wish they would for it is the hardest kind +of work. I do not want to advertise their old game and yet I cannot +help doing it, in a way. We put in at Punta Arenas and I found a woman +looking at us with an opera glass and shortly after she sent out to say +she knew me and that she wanted me to come up. It seemed I met her in +Elizabeth, New Jersey with Eddie Coward where she was playing in +private theatricals. Since then as a punishment no doubt she has lived +here and her husband is Minister of the Navy with one gun boat. This +trip is very hot and I sleep on deck and look up at the stars and the +light on the jib and the smoke spoiling the firmament. It makes you +feel terribly far away from the centre of civilization in front of the +fire and you all trying to make out where we are at. I hope you know +more about it than we do. +</P> + +<P> +It is the worst country for getting about that I ever heard of. It has +revived my interest and belief in all such beautiful things as buried +treasures and hidden cities and shooting men against stone walls and +filibusters. There are not many of these stories but every man tells +them differently so they have all the freshness of a new tale. There +is no ice on this boat or lemons or segars. It is the first time so +they say that it has happened in twelve months, but after this it must +be better. At Panama they fine the ice man $1000 every day his machine +breaks and so we have hopes. I feel so very, very selfish off down +here and leaving you all alone and it makes me lose my temper more than +usual when all these delays occur but I promise to be good hereafter +and we will be together soon now by the end of March sure and I hope +you will not miss me too much, as much as I miss all of you. Sometimes +I wish you could see some of these islands and the long shadowy sharks +and the turtles, there are thousands of turtles as big as tubs just +floating around like empty bottles, but I have never on the whole taken +a trip when I so seldom wished that the family were around to enjoy it. +It used to hurt me during the Mediterranean trip but there is not much +that would please you in this outfit. I like it because I am satisfied +to go dirty for weeks at a time and to talk to the engineer or the +queer passengers and to pick up stories and improve my geography but I +do not think the scenery would compensate either Nora or you or Dad for +the lack of necessities and CLEANTH. When we were crossing the +continent I don't believe I had a spot on me as big as a nickel without +three bites on it, all sorts of bites, they just swarmed over you all +sizes, colors and varieties. They came from dogs, from the sand, from +trees, from the grass, from the air. The worst were little red bugs +that lay under the leaves called carrapati's and that came off on you +in a hundred at a time. And there were also "jiggers" that get under +your nails and leave eggs there. Some times we could not sleep at all +for the bites and you had to carry a brush to brush the carripats off +every time you passed through bushes. It's the damnedest country I was +ever in now that I have time to think of it. The other day I was going +in to bathe and the sand was so hot that I could not get to the +breakers and so I went yelling and jumping back to the grass and the +grass was just one mass of burrs, so I gave another yell and leaped on +to a big log and the log was full of thorns. That's the sort of +country it is. And then after you do make a dash for the surf a shark +makes a dash for you and you don't know what you are here for anyway. +It had its humorous side and it was very funny, especially as it never +turned out otherwise, to see the men scamper when the sharks came in. +They never scented us for ten minutes or so and then they would swim up +and we would give a yell and all make for the shore head over heels and +splashing and shrieking and scared and excited. There would always be +one man who was further out than the rest and he could not hear on +account of the waves and we would all line up on the beach and yell and +dance up and down and try to attract his attention. But you would see +him go on diving and playing along in horrible loneliness until he +turned to speak to some one and found the man gone and then he would +look for the others and when he saw us all on the shore he would give +one wild whoop out of him and go falling over himself with his hair on +end and his eyes and mouth wide open. I saw one shark ten feet long +but we would have died of the heat if we had not bathed so we thought +it was worth it. That's over now because we cannot get any more sea +bathing. Just around Panama. Finest place seen yet. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PANAMA, February 28th, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Griscom has awakened to the fact that he is a Press correspondent and +is interviewing rebels who come stealthily by night followed by spies +of the government and sit in Griscom's room with the son of the Consul +General, as interpreter. Somerset and I refuse to be implicated and +sit in the plaza waiting for a file of soldiers to carry Griscom off +which is our cue for action. There is a man-of-war, the Atlanta, the +one we made friends with at Puerto Cortez, lying at Colon and so we +feel safe. We may now be said to be absorbing local color. That is +about all we have done since we left Amapala. And if it were not that +you are all alone up there, I would not mind it. I would probably +continue on. We know it now as we do London or Paris. We can +distinguish sea captains, lawyers in politics, commandantes, oldest +residents, gentlemenly good for nothings, shipping agents and +commission dealers, coffee planters and men who are "on the beach" with +unerring eye. We know the story of each before he tells it, or it is +told by some one else. The Commandante shot a lot of men by the side +of a road during the last revolution, first allowing them to dig their +own graves and is here now so that he can pay himself by stealing the +custom dues, the lawyer politician has been to Cornell and taken a +medical degree in Paris and aspires to be a deputy and only remembers +New York as the home of Lillian Russell. The commission merchants are +all Germans and the coffee planters are all French. They point with +pride to little bare-foot boys selling sea shells and cocoanuts as +their offspring, although they cannot remember their names. The sea +captains you can tell by their ready made clothes of a material that +would be warm in Alaska and by them wearing Spanish dollars for watch +guards and by the walk which is rolling easily when sober and pitching +heavily toward the night. The oldest resident always sits in front of +the hotel and in the same seat, with a tortoise shell cane and +remembers when Vasquez or Mendoza or Barrios, or Bonilla occupied the +Cathedral and fired hot shot into the Palace and everybody took refuge +in the English Consulate and he helped guard the bank all night with a +Springfield rifle. The men who are on the beach have just come out of +the hospital where they have had yellow fever and they want food. This +story is intended to induce you to get rid of them hurriedly by a small +token. Sometimes out of this queer combination you will get a good +story but generally they want to show you a ruined abbey or a document +as old as the Spanish occupation or to make you acquainted with a man +who has pearls to sell, or a coffee plantation or a collection of +unused stamps which he stole while a post-office employee. Our chief +sport now is to go throw money at the prisoners who are locked up in a +row of dungeons underneath the sea wall. The people walk and flirt and +enjoy the sea breeze above them and the convicts by holding a mirror +between the bars of the dungeons can see who is leaning over the +parapet above them. Then they hold out their hands and you drop +nickels and they fail to catch them and the sentry comes up and teases +them by holding the money a few inches beyond their reach. They climb +all over the crossbars in their anxiety to get the money and look like +great monkeys. At night it is perfectly tremendous for their is only a +light over their heads and they crawl all over the bars beneath this, +standing on each other's shoulders and pushing and fighting and yelling +half naked and wholey black and covered with sweat. As a matter of +fact they are better content to stay in jail than out and when the +British Consul offered to send eight of them back to Jamaica they +refused to go and said they would rather serve out their sentence of +eight years. This is the way the place looks and I am going to +introduce it in a melodrama and have some one lower files down to the +prisoners. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +After some not very eventful or pleasant days at Caracas, Richard +sailed for home and from the steamer wrote the following letter: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March 26th—On board S. S. Caracas. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +Off the coast of God's country. Hurrah! H—— did not come near us +until the morning of our departure when he arrived at the Station +trembling all over and in need of a shave. But in the meanwhile the +consul at Caracas picked Griscom and myself up in the street and took +us in to see Crespo who received us with much dignity and politeness. +So we met him after all and helped the story out that much. +</P> + +<P> +There is not much more to tell except that I was never so glad to set +my face home as I am now and even the roughness of this trip cannot +squelch my joy. It seems to me as if years had passed since we left +and to think we are only three days off from Sandy Hook seems much too +wonderfully good to be possible. Some day when we have dined alone +together at Laurent's I will tell you the long story of how Somers and +Gris came to be decorated with the Order of the Bust of Bolivar the +Liberator of Venezuela of the 4th class but at present I will only say +that there is a third class of the order still coming to me in Caracas, +as there is 20 minutes still coming to Kelly in Brooklyn. It was a +matter of either my getting the third class, which I ought to have had +anyway having the third class of another order already, and THEIR +GETTING NOTHING, or our all getting the 4th or 5th class and of course +I choose that they should get something and so they did and for my +aimable unselfishness in the matter they have frequently drunken my +health. I was delighted when Somers got his for he was happier over it +than I have ever seen him over anything and kept me awake nights +talking about it. I consider it the handsomest order there is after +the Legion of Honor and I have become so crazy about Bolivar who was a +second Washington and Napoleon that I am very glad to have it, although +I still sigh for the third class with its star and collar. +</P> + +<P> +The boys are especially glad because we have organized a Traveller's +Club of New York of which we expect great things and they consider that +it starts off well in having three of the members possessors of a +foreign order. We formed the club while crossing Honduras in sight of +the Pacific Ocean and its object is to give each other dinners and to +present a club medal to people who have been nice to and who have +helped members of the club while they were in foreign parts. It is my +idea and I think a good one as there are lots of things one wants to do +for people who help you and this will be as good as any. Members of +the club are the only persons not eligible to any medal bestowed by the +club and the eligibility for membership is determined by certain +distances which a man must have travelled. Although the idea really is +to keep it right down to our own crowd and make each man justify the +smallness of the club's membership by doing something worth while. I +am President. Bonsal is vice president. Russell treasurer and Griscom +Secretary. Somerset is the solitary member. You and Sam and Helen and +Elizabeth Bisland are at present the only honorary members. We are +also giving gold medals to the two chaps who crossed Asia on bicycles, +to Willie Chanler and James Creelman, but that does not make them +members. It only shows we as a club think they have done a sporting +act. I hope you like the idea. We have gone over it for a month and +considered it in every way and I think we are all well enough known to +make anybody pleased to have us recognize what they did whether it was +for any of us personally or for the public as explorers. On this trip +for instance we would probably send the club medals in silver to +Admiral Meade, to Kelly, to Royas the Venezuelan Minister for the +orders to the Governor of Belize, to the consul at La Guayra and to one +of the phonograph chaps. In the same way if you would want to send a +medal to any man or woman prince or doctor who had been kind, +courteous, hospitable or of official service to you you would just send +in a request to the committee. Write me soon and with lots of love +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In April, 1895, Richard was back in New York, at work on his South and +Central American articles, and according to the following letters, +having a good time with his old friends. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, April 27, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +I read in the paper the other morning that John Drew was in Harlem, so +I sent him a telegram saying that I was organizing a relief expedition, +and would bring him out of the wilderness in safety. At twelve I sent +another reading, "Natives from interior of Harlem report having seen +Davis Relief Expeditionary Force crossing Central Park, all well. +Robert Howard Russell." At two I got hold of Russell, and we +telegraphed "Relief reached Eighty-fifth street; natives peacefully +inclined, awaiting rear column, led by Griscom; save your ammunition +and provisions." Just before the curtain fell we sent another, +reading: "If you can hold the audience at bay for another hour, we +guarantee to rescue yourself and company and bring you all back to the +coast in safety. Do not become disheartened." Then we started for +Harlem in a cab with George and another colored man dressed as African +warriors, with assegai daggers and robes of gold and high turbans and +sashes stuck full of swords. I wore my sombrero and riding breeches, +gauntlets and riding boots, with cartridge belts full of bum cartridges +over my shoulder and around the waist. Russell had my pith helmet and +a suit of khaki and leggins. Griscom was in one of my coats of many +pockets, a helmet and boots. We all carried revolvers, canteens and +rifles. We sent George in with a note saying we were outside the +zareba and could not rescue him because the man on watch objected to +our guns. As soon as they saw George they rushed out and brought us +all in. Drew was on the stage, so we tramped into the first entrance, +followed by all the grips, stage hands and members of the company. The +old man heard his cue just as I embraced him, and was so rattled that +when he got on the stage he could not say anything, and the curtain +went down without any one knowing what the plot was about. When John +came off, I walked up to him, followed by the other four and the entire +company, and said: "Mr. Drew, I presume," and he said: "Mr. Davis, I +believe. I am saved!" Helen Benedict happened to be in Maude Adams' +dressing-room, and went off into a fit, and the company was delighted +as John would have been had he been quite sure we were not going on the +stage or into a box. We left them after we had had a drink, although +the company besought us to stay and protect them, and got a supper +ready in Russell's rooms, at which Helen, Ethel Barrymore, John and +Mrs. Drew, Maude Adams and Griscom were present. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, November, 1895. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +The china cups have arrived all right and are a beautiful addition to +my collection and to my room, in which Daphne still holds first place. +</P> + +<P> +What do you think Sir Henry sent me? The medal and his little black +pipe in a green velvet box about as big as two bricks laid side by side +with a heavy glass top with bevelled edges and the medal and pipe lying +on a white satin bed, bound down with silver—and a large gold plate +with the inscription "To Richard Harding Davis with the warmest +greetings from Gregory Brewster—1895"— You have no idea how pretty it +is, Bailey, Banks and Biddle made it— It is just like him to do +anything so sweet and thoughtful and it has attracted so many people +that I have had it locked up— No Burden jewel robbers here— My +friend, the Russian O—— lady still pursues me and as she has no sense +of humor and takes everything seriously, she frightens me— I am afraid +she will move in at any moment— She has asked me to spend the summer +with her at Paris and Monte Carlo, and at her country place in Norfolk +and bombards me with invitations to suppers and things in the meantime. +She has just sent me a picture of herself two feet by three, with +writing all over it and at any moment, I expect her to ring the bell +and order her trunks taken up stairs— I am too attractive— Last night +I dined with Helen and Maude Adams, who is staying with her. I want +them to board me too. Maude sang for us after dinner and then went off +to see Yvette Guilbert at a "sacred concert" to study her methods. I +went to N——'s box to hear Melba and we chatted to the accompaniment +of Melba, Nordica and Plancon in a trio—the Ogre, wore fur, pearls, +white satin and violets. It was a pink silk box. Then I went down to +a reception at Mrs. De Koven's and found it was a play. Everybody was +seated already so I squatted down on the floor in front of Mrs. De +Koven and a tall woman in a brocade gown cut like a Japanese woman's— +It was very dark where the audience was, so I could not see her face +but when the pantomime was over I looked up and saw it was Yvette +Guilbert. So I grabbed Mrs. De Koven and told her to present me and +Guilbert said in English— "It is not comfortable on the floor is it?" +and I said, "I have been at your feet for three years now, so I am +quite used to it"—for which I was much applauded— Afterwards I told +some one to tell her in French that I had written a book about Paris +and about her and that I was going to mark it and send it and before +the woman could translate, Guilbert said, "No, send me the Van Bippere +book"— So we asked her what she meant and she said, " M. Bourget told +me to meet you and to read your Van Bippere Book, you are Mr. Davis, +are you not?"— So after that I owned the place and refused to meet +Mrs. Vanderbilt. +</P> + +<P> +Yvette has offered to teach me French, so I guess I won't go to +Somerset's wedding, unless O—— scares me out of the country. I got +my $2,000 check and have paid all my debts. They were not a third as +much as I thought they were, so that's all right. +</P> + +<P> +Do come over mother, as soon as you can and we will meet at Jersey +City, and have a nice lunch and a good talk. Give my bestest love to +Dad and Nora. How would she like Yvette for a sister-in-law? John +Hare has sent me seats for to night— He is very nice— I have begun +the story of the "Servants' Ball" and got well into it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +and lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +The following letter was written to me at Florence. The novel referred +to was "Soldiers of Fortune," which eventually proved the most +successful book, commercially, my brother ever wrote. Mrs. Hicks, to +whom Richard frequently refers, is the well-known English actress +Ellaline Terriss, the wife of Seymour Hicks. Somerset is Somers +Somerset, the son of Lady Henry Somerset, and the Frohman referred to +is Daniel Frohman, who was the manager of the old Lyceum Theatre. +</P> + +<P> +Early in November, William R. Hearst asked my brother to write a +description of the Yale-Princeton football game for The Journal. +Richard did not want to write the "story" and by way of a polite +refusal said he could not undertake it for less than $500.00. Greatly +to his surprise Hearst promptly accepted the offer. At the time, I +imagine this was by far the largest sum ever paid a writer for +reporting a single event. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +December 31st, 1895.<BR> +New York.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">The Players.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +New Year's Eve. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +I am not much of a letter writer these days, but I have finished the +novel and that must make up for it. It goes to the Scribners for +$5,000 which is not as much as I think I should have got for it. I am +now lying around here until the first of February, when I expect to +sail to Somerset's wedding, reaching you in little old Firenzi in +March. We will then paint it. After that I do not know what I shall +do. The Journal is after me to do almost anything I want at my own +figure, as a correspondent. They have made Ralph London correspondent +and their paper is the only one now to stick to. They are trying to +get all the well known men at big prices. +</P> + +<P> +I have had such a good time helping Mrs. Hicks in Seymour's absence. +She had about everything happen to her that is possible and she is just +the sort of little person you love to do things for. She finally +sailed and I am now able to attend to my own family. +</P> + +<P> +The Central American and Venezuelan book comes out on February lst. +Several of the papers here jokingly alluded to the fact that my article +on the Venezuelan boundary had inspired the President's message. Of +course you get garbled ideas of things over there and exaggerated ones, +as for instance, on the Coxey army. But you never saw anything like +the country after that war message. It was like living with a British +fleet off Sandy Hook. Everybody talked of it and of nothing else. I +went to a dinner of 300 men all of different callings and I do not +believe one of them spoke of anything else. Cabmen, car conductors, +barkeepers, beggars and policemen. All talked war and Venezuela and +the Doctrine of Mr. Monroe. In three days the country lost one +thousand of millions of dollars in values, which gives you an idea how +expensive war is. It is worse than running a newspaper. Now, almost +everyone is for peace, peace at any price. I do not know of but one +jingo paper, The Sun, and war talk is greeted with jeers. It was as if +the people had suddenly had their eyes opened to what it really meant +and having seen were wiser and wanted no more of it. Your brother, +personally, looks at it like this. Salisbury was to blame in the first +place for being rude and not offering to arbitrate as he had been asked +to do. When he said to Cleveland, "It's none of your business" the +only answer was "Well, I'll make it my business" but instead of +stopping there, Cleveland uttered a cast iron ultimatum instead of +leaving a loophole for diplomacy and a chance for either or both to +back out. That's where I blame him as does every one else. +</P> + +<P> +Sam Sothern is in Chicago and we all wrote him guying letters about the +war. Helen said she was going to engage "The Heart of Maryland" +company to protect her front yard, while Russell and I have engaged +"The Girl I Left Behind Me" company with Blanch Walsh and the original +cast. +</P> + +<P> +We sent Somerset a picture of himself riddled with bullets. And Mrs. +Hicks made herself famous by asking if it was that odious Dunraven they +were going to war about. +</P> + +<P> +My article was a very lucky thing and is greatly quoted and in social +gatherings I am appealed to as a final authority. +</P> + +<P> +The football story, by the way, did me a heap of good with the +newspapers and the price was quoted as the highest ever paid for a +piece of reporting. People sent for it so that the edition was +exhausted. The Journal people were greatly pleased. +</P> + +<P> +Yvette Guilbert is at Hammerstein's and crowds the new music hall +nightly, at two dollars a seat. Irving and Miss Terry have been most +friendly to me and to the family. Frohman is going to put "Zenda" on +in New York because he has played a failure, which will of course kill +it for next year for Eddie, when he comes out as a star. I have never +seen such general indignation over a private affair. Barrymore called +it a case of Ollaga Zenda. They even went to Brooklyn when Eddie was +playing there and asked him to stage the play for them and how he made +his changes and put on his whiskers. Poor Eddie, he lacks a business +head and a business manager—and Sam talks and shakes his head but is +little better. Lots of love and best wishes for the New Year. +</P> + +<P> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MOSCOW, BUDAPEST, LONDON +</H3> + +<P> +The years 1896—1897 were probably the most active of Richard's very +active life. In the space of twelve months he reported the Coronation +at Moscow, the Millennial Celebration at Budapest, the Spanish-Cuban +War, the McKinley Inauguration, the Greek-Turkish War and the Queen's +Jubilee. Although this required a great deal of time spent in +travelling, Richard still found opportunity to do considerable work on +his novel "Captain Macklin," to which he refers in one of his letters +from London. +</P> + +<P> +As correspondent of the New York American, then The Journal, Richard +went from Florence, where he was visiting me, to Moscow. He was +accompanied by Augustus Trowbridge, an old friend of my brother's and a +rarely good linguist. The latter qualification proved of the greatest +possible assistance to Richard in his efforts to witness the actual +coronation ceremony. To have finally been admitted to the Kremlin my +brother always regarded as one of his greatest successes as a +correspondent. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +En route—May 1896. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +The night is passed and with the day comes "a hope" but during the +blackness I had "a suffer"— I read until two—five hours—and then +slept until five when the middle man who had slept on my shoulder all +night left the train and the second one to whom Bernardi was so polite +left me alone and had the porter fit me up a bed so that I slept until +seven again— Then the Guardian Angel returned for his traps and I bade +him a sleepy adieu and was startled to see two soldiers standing +shading their eyes in salute in the doorway and two gentlemen bowing to +my kind protector with the obsequiousness of servants— He sort of +smiled back at me and walked away with the soldiers and 13 porters +carrying his traps. So I rung up the conductor and he said it was the +King's Minister with his eyes sticking out of his head—the conductor's +eyes—not the Minister's. I don't know what a King's Minister is but +he liked your whiskey— I am now passing through the Austrian Tyrol +which pleases me so much that I am chortling with joy— None of the +places for which my ticket call are on any map—but don't you care, I +don't care— I wish I could adequately describe last night with nothing +but tunnels hours in length so that you had to have all the windows +down and the room looked like a safe and full of tobacco smoke and damp +spongey smoke from the engine, and bad air. That first compartment I +went in was filled later with German women who took off their skirts +and the men took off their shoes. Everybody in the rear of the car is +filthy dirty but I had a wash at the Custom house and now I am almost +clean and quite happy. The day is beautiful and the compartment is all +my own— I am absolutely enchanted with the Tyrol— I have never seen +such quaint picture book houses and mills with wheels like that in the +Good for Nothing and crucifixes wonderfully carved and snow mountains +and dark green forests— The sky is perfect and the air is filled with +the sun and the train moves so smoothly that I can see little blue +flowers, baby blue, Bavarian blue flowers, in the Spring grass. Such +dear old castles like birds nests and such homelike old mills and +red-faced millers with feathers in their caps you never saw out of a +comic opera— The man in here with me now is a Russian, of course, and +saw the last Coronation and knows that my suite is on the principal +Street and attends to my changing money and getting an omelette— I can +survive another night now having had an omelette not so good as Madam +Masi's but still an omelette— I have now left Munich and the Russian +and a conductor whom I mistook for a hereditary prince of Bavaria, with +tassels down his back, has assured me he is going to Berlin, and that I +am going to Berlin and much else to which I smile knowingly and say +mucho gracia, wee wee, ya ya, ich ich limmer and other long speeches +ending with "an er—" +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +May 15th, 1896. Moscow. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +We left Berlin Monday night at eleven and slept well in a wagon-lit. +That was the only night out of the five that I spent in the cars that I +had my clothes off, although I was able to stretch out on the seats, so +I am cramped and tired now. At seven Monday morning the guard woke us +and told us to get ready for the Custom House and I looked out and saw +a melancholy country of green hills and black pines and with no sign of +human life. It was raining and dreary looking and then I saw as we +passed them a line of posts painted in black and white stripes a half +mile apart on each side of the train and I knew we had crossed the +boundary and that the line of posts stretched from the Arctic Ocean to +the Black Sea and from the Pacific to the Caucasus Mountains and the +Pamirs. It gave me a great thrill but I have had so many to-day, that +I had almost forgotten that one. For two days we jogged along through +a level country with meanthatched huts and black crows flying +continually and peasants in sheepskin coats, full in the skirt and +tight at the waist, with boots or thongs of leather around their feet. +The women wore boots too and all the men who were not soldiers had +their hair cropped short like mops. We could not find any one who +understood any language, so as we never knew when we would stop for +food, we ate at every station and I am of the opinion that for months I +have been living on hot tea and caviar and hash sandwiches. The snow +fell an inch deep on Wednesday and dried up again in an hour and the +sun shone through it all. So on the whole it was a good trip and most +interesting. But here we are now in a perfect pandemonium and the Czar +has not yet come nor one-fifth even of the notables. It is a great +city, immense and overpowering in its extent. The houses are ugly low +storied and in hideous colors except the churches which are like +mosques and painted every color. I confess I feel beaten to night by +the noise and rush and roar and by so many strange figures and +marvellous costumes. Our rooms are perfect that is one thing and the +situation is the very best. If the main street were Fifth Avenue and +Madison Square the Governor's Square, his palace would be Delmonico's +and our rooms would be the corner rooms of the Brunswick, so you can +see how well we are placed. We can sit in our windows and look down +and up the main street and see every one who leaves or calls upon the +Governor. We are now going out for a dinner and to one of many +cafe-chantants and I will tell you the rest to-morrow, when I get +sleep, for after five nights of it I feel done up, but I feel equally +sure it is going to be a great experience and I cannot tell you how +glad 1 am that I came. Love to you all and to dear Florence in which +Trowbridge, who is a brick, joins me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Moscow—May 1896. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +There was a great deal to tell when I shut down last night, but I +thought I would have had things settled by this time and waited, but it +looks now as though there was to be no rest for the weary until the +Czar has put his crown on his head. The situation is this: there are +ninety correspondents, and twelve are to get into the coronation, two +of these will be Americans. There are five trying for it. +</P> + +<P> +Count Daschoff, the Minister of the Court, has the say as to who gets +in of those five. T. and I called on him with my credentials just as +he was going out. Never have I seen such a swell. He made us feel +like dudes from Paterson, New Jersey. He had three diamond eagles in +an astrakan cap, a white cloak, a gray uniform, top boots and three +rows of medals. He spoke English perfectly, with the most politely +insolent manner that I have ever had to listen to; and eight servants, +each of whom we had, in turn, mistaken for a prince royal, bowed at him +all the brief time he talked over our heads. He sent us to the bureau +for correspondents, where they gave me a badge and a pocketbook, with +my photo in it. They are good for nothing, except to get through the +police lines. No one at the bureau gave us the least encouragement as +to my getting in at the coronation. We were frantic, and I went back +to Breckenridge, our Minister, and wrote him a long letter explaining +what had happened, and that what I wrote would "live," that I was +advertised and had been advertised to write this story for months. I +dropped The Journal altogether, and begged him to represent me as a +literary light of the finest color. This he did in a very strong +letter to Daschoff, and I presented it this morning, but the Minister, +like Edison, said he would let me know when he could see me. Then I +wrote Breck a letter of thanks so elegant and complimentary that he +answered with another, saying if his first failed he would try again. +That means he is for me, and at the bureau they say whichever one he +insists on will get in, but they also say he is so good-natured that he +helps every one who comes. I told him this, and he has promised to +continue in my behalf as soon as we hear from Daschoff. +</P> + +<P> +The second thing of importance is the getting the story, IF WE GET IT, +on the wire. That, I am happy to say, we are as assured of as I could +hope to be. I own the head of the Telegraph Bureau soul, body and +mind. He loves the ground T. and I spurn, and he sent out my first +cable today, one of interrogation merely, ahead of twelve others; he +has also given us the entree to a private door to his office, all the +other correspondents having to go to the press-rooms and undergo a sort +of press censorship, which entails on each man the cutting up of his +story into three parts, so as to give all a chance. I gave T. three +dictums to guide him; the first was that we did not want a fair +chance—we wanted an unfair advantage over every one else. Second, to +never accept a "No" or a "Yes" from a subordinate, but to take +everything from head-quarters. Third, to use every mouse, and not to +trust to the lions. He had practise on the train. When he told me we +would be in Moscow in ten hours, I would say, "Who told you that," and +back he would go to the Herr Station Director in a red gown, and return +to say that we would get there in twenty hours. By this time I will +match him against any newspaper correspondent on earth. He flatters, +lies, threatens and bribes with a skill and assurance that is simply +beautiful, and his languages and his manners pull me out of holes from +which I could never have risen. With it all he is as modest as can be, +and says I am the greatest diplomat out of office, which I really think +he believes, but I am only using old reporters' ways and applying the +things other men did first. +</P> + +<P> +My best stroke was to add to my cable to The Journal, "Recommend ample +recognition of special facilities afforded by telegraph official"—and +then get him to read it himself under the pretext of wishing to learn +if my writing was legible. He grinned all over himself, and said it +was. After my first story is gone I will give him 200 roubles for +himself in an envelope and say Journal wired me to do it. That will +fix him for the coronation story, as it amounts to six months' wages +about. But, my dear brother, in your sweet and lovely home, where the +sun shines on the Cascine and the workmen sleep on the bridges, and +dear old ladies knit in the streets, that is only one of the thousand +things we have had to do. It would take years to give you an account +of what we have done and why we do it. It is like a game of whist and +poker combined and we bluff on two flimsy fours, and crawl the next +minute to a man that holds a measly two-spot. There is not a wire we +have not pulled, or a leg, either, and we go dashing about all day in a +bath-chair, with a driver in a bell hat and a blue nightgown, leaving +cards and writing notes and giving drinks and having secretaries to +lunch and buying flowers for wives and cigar boxes for husbands, and +threatening the Minister with Cleveland's name. +</P> + +<P> +John A. Logan, Jr., is coming dressed in a Russian Uniform, and he wore +it on the steamer, and says he is the special guest of the Czar and the +Secretary of the visiting mission. Mrs. P. P. is paying $10,000 for a +hotel for one week. That is all the gossip there is. We lunched with +the McCooks today and enjoyed hearing American spoken, and they were +apparently very glad to have us, and made much of T. and of me. We only +hope they can help us; and I am telling the General the only man to +meet is Daschoff, and when he does I will tell him to tell Daschoff I +am the only man to be allowed in the coronation. I wish I could tell +you about the city, but we see it only out of the corner of our eyes as +we dash to bureau after bureau and "excellency" and "royal highness" +people, and then dash off to strengthen other bridges and make new +friends. It is great fun, and I am very happy and T. is having the +time of his life. He told me he would rather be with me on this trip +than travel with the German Emperor, and you will enjoy to hear that he +wrote Sarah I was the most "good-natured" man he ever met. God bless +you all, and dear, dear Florence. Lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Moscow—May, 1896. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +I have just sent off my coronation story, and the strain of this thing, +which has really been on me for six months, is off. You can imagine +what a relief it is, or, rather, you cannot, for no one who has not +been with us these last ten days can know what we have had to do. The +story I sent is not a good one. It was impossible to tell it by cable, +and the first one on the entry was a much better one. I do not care +much, though; of course, I do care, as I ought to have made a great hit +with it, but there was no time, and there was so much detail and +minutia that I could not treat it right. However, after the awful +possibility, or rather certainty, that we have had to face of not +getting any story at all, I am only too thankful. I would not do it +again for ten thousand dollars. Edwin Arnold, who did it for The +Telegraph, had $25,000, and if I told you of the way Hearst acted and +Ralph interfered with impertinent cables, you would wonder I am sane. +They never sent me a cent for the cables until it was so late that I +could not get it out of the bank, and we have spent and borrowed every +penny we have. Imagine having to write a story and to fight to be +allowed a chance to write it, and at the same time to be pressed for +money for expenses and tolls so that you were worn out by that alone. +The brightest side of the whole thing was the way everybody in this +town was fighting for me. The entire town took sides, and even men who +disliked me, and who I certainly dislike, like C. W. and R—— of the +Paris Embassy, turned in and fought for my getting in like relations. +And the women—I had grand dukes and ambassadors and princes, whom I do +not know by sight, moving every lever, and as Stanhope of The Herald, +testified "every man, woman and child in the visiting and resident +legation is crazy on the subject of getting Davis into the coronation." +They made it a personal matter, and when I got my little blue badge, +the women kissed me and each other, and cheered, and the men came to +congratulate me, and acted exactly as though they had got it themselves. +</P> + +<P> +It was a beautiful sight; the Czarina much more beautiful and more +sad-looking than ever before. But it was not solemn enough, and the +priests groaned and wailed and chanted and sang, and every one stood +still and listened. All that the Czar and Czarina did was over ten +minutes after they entered the chapel, and then for three hours the +priests took the center of the stage and groaned. I was there from +seven until one. Six solid hours standing and writing on my hat. It +was a fine hat, for we were in court costume, I being a distinguished +visitor, as well as a correspondent. That was another thing that +annoyed me, because Breckinridge, who has acted like a brick, did not +think he could put me on both lists, so I chose the correspondents' +list, of course, in hopes of seeing the ceremony, but knowing all the +time that that meant no balls or functions, so that had I lost the +ceremony I would have had nothing; but he arranged it so that I am on +both lists. Not that I care now. For I am tired to death; and +Trowbridge did not get on either list, thanks to the damned Journal and +to his using all his friends to help me, so that I guess I will get out +and go to Buda Pest and meet you in Paris. Do not consider this too +seriously, for I am writing it just after finishing my cable and having +spent the morning on my toes in the chapel. I will feel better +tomorrow. Anyway, it is done and I am glad, as it was the sight of the +century, and I was in it, and now I can spend my good time and money in +gay Paree. Love to all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +From Moscow Richard went direct to Buda Pest, where he wrote an article +on the Hungarian Millennial. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +BUDA PEST +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +May 8th, 1896. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +I have just returned from the procession of the Hungarian Nobles. It +was even more beautiful and more interesting than the Czar's entry than +which I would not have believed anything could have been more +impressive— But the first was military, except for the carriages, +which were like something out of fairyland—to-day, the costumes were +all different and mediaeval, some nine hundred years old and none +nearer than the 15th Century. The mis en scene was also much better. +Buda is a clean, old burgh, with yellow houses rising on a steep green +hill, red roofs and towers and domes, showing out of the trees— It is +very high but very steep and the procession wound in and out like a +fairy picture— I sat on the top of the hill, looking down it to the +Danube, which separates Buda from Pest— The Emperor sat across the +square about 75 yards from our tribune in the balcony of his palace. +We sat in the Palace yard and the procession passed and turned in front +of us— There were about 1,500 nobles, each dressed to suit himself, in +costumes that had descended for generations—of brocade, silk, fur, and +gold and silver cloth— Each costume averaged, with the trappings of +the horse, 5,000 dollars. Some cost $1,000, some $15,000. Some wore +complete suits of chain armor, with bearskins and great black eagle +feathers on their spears just as they were when they invaded Rome— +Others wore gold chain armor and leopard or wolf skins and their horses +were studded with turquoises and trappings of gold and silver and +smothered in silver coins— It would have been ridiculous if they had +not been the real thing in every detail and if you had not known how +terribly in earnest the men were. There is no other country in the +world where men change from the most blase and correct of beings, to +fairy princes in tights and feathers and jewelled belts and satin +coats— They were an hour in passing and each one seemed more beautiful +than the others— I am very glad I came although I was disappointed at +missing the accident at Moscow. It must have been more terrible than +Johnstown. I found the ——s quite converted into the most awful snobs +but the people they worship are as simple and well bred as all gentle +people are and I have had the most delightful time with them. It is so +small and quiet after Moscow, and instead of being lost in an avalanche +of embassies and suites and missions, I have a distinct personality, as +"the American," which I share with "the" Frenchman and four Englishmen. +We are the only six strangers and they give us the run of all that is +going on— At night we dine at the most remarkable club in the world, +on the border of the Park, where the best of all the Gypsey musicians +plays for us— The music is alone worth having come to hear, and the +dear souls who play it, having been told that I like it follow me all +around the terrace and sit down three feet away and fix their eyes on +you, and then proceed to pull your nerves and heart out of you for an +hour at a time— One night a man here dipped a ten thousand franc note +in his champagne and pasted it on the leader's violin and bowed his +thanks, and the leader bowed in return and the next morning sent him +the note back in an envelope, saying that the compliment was worth more +than the money— The leader's name is Berchey and the Hungarians have +never allowed him to leave the country for fear he would not be allowed +to come back— He is a fat, half drunken looking man, with his eyes +full of tears half the time he plays. He looks just like a setter dog +and he is so terribly in earnest that when he fixes me with his eyes +and plays at me, the court ladies all get up and move their chairs out +of his way just as though he were a somnambulist— +</P> + +<P> +I leave here Wednesday and reach Paris Friday MORNING the eleventh— +You must try to meet me at the Cafe de la Paix at half past nine— Wait +in the corner room if you don't wish to sit outside and as soon as I +get washed I will join you for coffee. It will be fine to see you +again and to be done with jumping about from hotel to hotel and to be +able to read the signs and to know how to ask for food. Russian, +German and Hungarian have made French seem like my mother tongue— +</P> + +<P> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CAMPAIGNING IN CUBA AND GREECE +</H3> + +<P> +In December, 1896, Richard and Frederic Remington, the artist, were +commissioned by the New York Journal to visit Cuba which was then at +war with Spain. It was their intention to go from Key West in the +Vamoose, a very fast but frail steam-launch, and to make a landing at +some uninhabited point on the Cuban coast. After this their plans seem +to have been to trust to luck and the kindliness of the revolutionists. +After waiting for some time at Key West for favorable weather, they at +last started out on a dark night to make the crossing. A few hours +after the Vamoose had left Key West a heavy storm arose—apparently +much too violent for the slightly built launch. The crew struck and +the captain finally refused to go on to Cuba and put back to Key West. +Shortly after this Remington and my brother reached Havana by a more +simple and ostentatious route. This was my brother's first effort as a +war correspondent, and I presume it was this fact and the very +indefiniteness of the original plan that caused his mother and father +so much uneasiness. And, indeed, it did prove eventually a hazardous +exploit. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +way to Key West. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +December 19, 1896. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I hope you won't be cross with me for going off and not letting you +know, but I thought it was better to do it that way as there was such +delay in our getting started. I am going to Cuba by way of Key West +with Frederic Remington and Michaelson, a correspondent who has been +there for six months. We are to be taken by the Vamoose the fastest +steam yacht made to Santa Clara province where the Cubans will meet us +and take us to Gomez. We will stay a month with him, the yacht calling +for copy and sketches once a week, and finally for us in a month. I +get all my expenses and The Journal pays me $3,000 for the month's +work. The Harper's Magazine also takes a story at six hundred dollars +and Russell will reprint Remington's sketches and my story in book +form, so I shall probably clear $4,000 in the next month or six weeks. +I was a week in getting information on the subject so I know all about +it from the men who have just been there and I want you to pay +attention to what I tell you they told me and not to listen to any +stray visitor who comes in for tea and talks without any tact or +knowledge. There is no danger in the trip except the problem of +getting there and getting away again, and that is now removed by The +Journal's yacht. I would have gone earlier had any of the periodicals +that asked me to go shown me any way to get there— THERE IS NO FEVER +THIS TIME OF YEAR and as you know fever never touches me. It got all +the others in Central America and never worried me at all. There is no +danger of getting shot, as the province into which we go, the Santa +Clara province, is owned and populated and patrolled by the Cubans. It +is no more Spanish than New Jersey and the Spaniards cannot get in +there. We have the strongest possible letters from the Junta, and I +have from Lamont, Bayard and Olney and credentials in every language. +We will sit around the Gomez camp and send messengers back to the +coast. It is a three days trip and as Gomez may be moving from place +to place you may not hear from us for a month and we may not hear from +you but remember it was a much longer time than that before you heard +from me when I went to Honduras. Also keep in mind that I am going as +a correspondent only and must keep out of the way of fighting and that +I mean to do so, as Chamberlain says we want descriptive stories not +brave deeds— Major Flint who has arranged the trip for us was down +there with Maceo as a correspondent. He saw six fights and never shot +off his gun once because as he said it was not his business to kill +people and he has persuaded me that he is right, so I won't do anything +but look on— I have bought at The Journal's expense a fifty dollar +field glass which is a new invention and the best made. I have marked +it so that you can see a man five miles off and as soon as I see him I +mean to begin to ride or run the other way—no one loves himself more +than I do so you leave me to take care of myself. I wish I could give +you any idea of the contempt the four returned correspondents who +talked to me, have for the Spaniards. They have seen them shoot 2,500 +rounds without hitting men at 200 yards and they run away if the enemy +begins on them first. However, you trust to Richard— We have a fine +escort arranged for us and Michaelson speaks Spanish perfectly and has +been six months scouting over the country. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +KEY West, December 26, 1896. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I got your letters late last night and they made me pretty solemn. It +is an awfully solemn thing to have people care for you like that and to +care for them as I do. I can't tell you how much I love you. You +don't know how much the pain of worrying you for a month has meant to +me, but I have talked it all out with myself, and left it to God and I +am sure I am doing right. As Mrs. Crown said, "There's a whole +churchful up here praying for you," and I guess that will pull me +through. Of course, dear, dear Mother thought she was cross with me. +She could not be cross with me, and her letter told me how much she +cared, that was all, and made me be extra careful. But I need not +promise you to be careful. You have an idea I am a wild, +filibustering, hot-headed young man. I am not. I gave the guides to +understand their duty was to keep us out of danger if we had to walk +miles to avoid it. We are men of peace, going in, as real estate +agents and coffee-planters and drummers are going in on every steamer, +to attend to our especial work and get out again quick. I have just as +strong a prejudice against killing a man as I have against his killing +me. +</P> + +<P> +Lots and lots of love. Don't get scared if you don't hear for a month, +although we will try to get our stories back once a week, but you know +we are at the convenience of the Cubans who will pocket our despatches +and money and not take the long trip back. Thank dear Dad for his +letter full of good advice. It was excellent. Remington and Michelson +are good men and I like them immensely. Already we are firm friends. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Love, +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +KEY WEST—January 1, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +As you will know by my telegram we are either off on a safe sea going +boat or waiting for one. There is no turning back from here and the +only reason I thought of doing so was the knowledge of the way you +would suffer and worry. I argued it out that it was selfish in me to +weigh my getting laughed at and paragraphed as the war correspondent +that always Turned Back against a month of uneasiness for you, but +later I saw I could not do it much as I love you for the element of +danger to me is non-existent; it is merely an exciting adventure and +you will have to believe me and not worry but be a Spartan mother. I +would not count being laughed at and the loss of my own self respect if +I really thought there was great danger, but I do not. You will not +lose me and if I go now I can sit still next time and say "I have done +better things than that." If I had not gone it would have meant that I +would have had to have done just that much harder a stunt next time to +make people forget that I had failed in this one. Now do cheer up and +believe in the luck of Richard Harding Davis and the British Army. We +have carte blanche from The Journal to buy or lease any boat on the +coast and I rocked them for $1000 in advance payment because of the +delay over the Vamoose. +</P> + +<P> +I am so happy at thinking I am going, I could not have faced anyone had +I not, although we had nothing to do with the failure, we tried to +cross fairly in the damn tub and it was her captain who put back. I +lay out on the deck and cried when he refused to go ahead, we had +waited so long. The Cubans and Remington and Michelson had put on all +their riding things but fortunately I had not and so was spared that +humiliation. What I don't know about the Fine Art of Filibustering now +is unnecessary. I find many friends of my Captain Boynton or "Capt. +Burke." Tonight the officers of the Raleigh give me a grand dinner at +which I wear a dress suit and make speeches—they are the best chaps I +ever met in the Navy. Lots of love and best wishes to Dad and to Nora +for a happy, happy New Year. You know me and you know my conscience +but it would not let me go back in order to save you anxiety so you +won't think me selfish. God bless you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +KEY WEST, January 2nd, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I have learned here that the first quality needed to make a great +filibuster is Patience, it is not courage, or resources or a knowledge +of the Cuban Coast line, it is patience. Anybody can run a boat into a +dark bayou and dump rifles on the beach and scurry away to sea again +but only heroes can sit for a month on a hotel porch or at the end of a +wharf, and wait. That is all we do and that is my life at Key West. I +get up and half dress and take a plunge in the bay and then dress fully +and have a greasy breakfast and then light a huge Key West cigar, price +three cents and sit on the hotel porch with my feet on a rail— Nothing +happens after that except getting one's boots polished as the two +industries of this place are blacking boots and driving cabs. I have +two boys to black mine at the same time every morning and pay the one +who does his the better of the two— It generally ends in a fight so +that affords diversion— Then a man comes along, any man, and says, +"Remmington's looking for you" and I get up and look for Remington. +There is only a triangle of streets where one can find him and I call +at "Josh" Curry's first and then at Pendleton's News Store and read all +the back numbers of the Police Gazette for the hundredth time and then +call here at the Custom House and then look in at the Cable office, +where Michaelson lives sending telegrams about anything or nothing and +that brings me back to the hotel porch again, where I have my boots +shined once more and then go into mid-day dinner. In the meanwhile +Remington is looking for me a hundred yards in the rear. He generally +gets to "Josh's" as I leave the Custom House— In the afternoon I study +Spanish out of a text book and at three take a bicycle ride, at five I +call at the garrison to take tea with the doctor and his wife, who is +sweeter than angel's ever get to be with a miniature angel of a baby +called Martha. I wait until retreat is sounded and the gun is fired at +sunset and having commented unfavorably on the way the soldiers let the +flag drop on the grass instead of catching it on the arms as a +bluejacket does, I ride off to the bay for another bath— Then I take +the launch to the Raleigh and dine with the officers and rejoice in the +clean fresh paint and brass and decks and the lights and black places +of a great ship of war, than which nothing is more splendid. We sit on +the quarter-deck and smoke and play the guitar and I go home again, in +time for bed. I vary this programme occasionally by spending the +morning on the end of a wharf watching another man fish and reading old +novels and the "Lives of Captain Walker" and "Captain Fry of the +Virginius," two great books from each of which I am going to write a +short story like the one of the Alamo or of the Jameson Raid— The life +of Walker I found on the Raleigh and the life of Captain Fry with all +the old wood cuts and the newspaper comments of the time at a book +store here. I don't know when we shall get away but it is no use +kicking about it, Michaelson is doing all he can and the new tug will +be along in a week anyway. I shall be so glad to get to Cuba that I +will dance with glee. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MATANZAS, January 15th, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I sent you a note by Remington which he will mail in the States— From +here I go to Sagua La Grande. It is on the northern coast. I think +from there I shall cross over to Cienfuegos on the Southern coast and +then if I can catch a steamer go to Santiago to see my old friends, at +the Juraqua mines and MacWilliams' ore road and "the Palms"— +Everywhere I am treated well on account of Weyler's order and I am +learning a great deal and talking very little, my Spanish being bad. +There is war here and no mistake and all the people in the fields have +been ordered in to the fortified towns where they are starving and +dying of disease. Yesterday I saw the houses of these people burning +on both sides of the track— They gave shelter to the insurgents and so +very soon they found their houses gone. I am so relieved at getting +old Remington to go as though I had won $5000. He was a splendid +fellow but a perfect kid and had to be humored and petted all the time. +I shall if I have luck be through with this in a few weeks but it has +had such a set back at the start that I am afraid it can never make a +book and I doubt if I can write a decent article even. I am so anxious +not to keep you worrying any longer than is necessary and so I am +hurrying along taking only a car window view of things. Address me +care of Consul General Lee, Havana and confine your remarks to what is +going on at home. I know what is going on here. I don't believe half +I hear but I am being slowly converted. Remington is more excitable +than I am, so don't misunderstand if he starts in violently. I am +getting details and verifying things. He is right on a big scale but +every one has lied so about this island that I do not want to say +anything I do not believe is true. This is a beautiful little city and +after Jaruco, where we slept two days ago, it is Paris. There we slept +off the barnyard and cows and chickens walked all over the floor and +fleas all over us. It was like Honduras only filthier. Speaking of +Paris, tell the Kid I expect to go over to him soon after I return to +New York. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CARDENAS—North Coast of Cuba. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +January 16th, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +It is very funny not knowing what sort of a place you are to sleep in +next and taking things out of a grab bag, as it were— In Europe you +can always guess what the well known towns will give you for you have a +guide book, but here it is all luck. Matanzas was a pretty city but +the people were awful, the hotel was Spanish and the proprietor +insolent, though I was spending more of Willie Hearst's money than all +of the officers spend in a week, the Consul could not talk English or +Spanish, he said he hadn't come there "to go to school to no Spaniard" +and he gloried in the fact he had been there three years without +knowing a word of the language. His vice-Consul was worse and +everything went wrong generally. Every one I met was an Alarmist and +that is polite for liar. They asked Remington if he was the man who +manufactured the rifles and gave us the Iowa Democrat to read. To +night I reached here after a six hours ride through blazing fields of +sugar cane and stopped on my way to the hotel to ask the Consul when +the next boat went to Saqua la Grande— I had no letter of introduction +to him as I had to the Matanzas consul, but as soon as he saw my card +he got out of his chair and shook hands again and was as hearty and +well bred and delightful as Charley himself and unlike Chas he did not +ask me 14 francs for looking on him. He is out now chasing around to +get me a train for to-morrow. But I won't go to-morrow. My hotel +looks on the plaza and the proprietor and the whole suite of attendants +are my slaves. It is just as different as can be. My interpreter does +it, he calls himself MY VALET, although I point out to him that two +shirts and twelve collars do not constitute a wardrobe even with a +rubber coat thrown in. But he likes to play at my being a +distinguished stranger and I can't say I object. Only when you +remember the way I was invited to see Cuba and expected to see it, and +now the way I am seeing it from car windows with A VALET. What would +the new school of yellow kid journalists say if they knew that. For +the first time on this trip I have wished you were both with me, that +was to night. I never see anything really beautiful but that it +instantly makes me feel selfish and wish you could see it too. It has +happened again and again and to night I wish you could be here with me +on this balcony. The town runs down a slope to the bay and in the +middle of it is the Plaza with me on the balcony which lets out of my +sleeping room— "the room" so the proprietor tells me, "reserved only +for the Capitain General." It is just like the description in that +remarkable novel of mine where Clay and Alice sit on the balcony of the +restaurant. I have the moonlight and the Cathedral with the open doors +and the bronze statue in the middle and the royal palms moving in the +breeze straight from the sea and the people walking around the plaza +below. If it was in any way as beautiful as this Clay and Alice would +have ended the novel that night. +</P> + +<P> +I got a grand lot of letters to-day which Otto, my interpreter brought +back from Havana after having conducted Remington there in safety. I +must say you are writing very cheerfully now, but I don't wonder you +worried at first but now that I am a commercial traveller with an order +from Weyler which does everything when I find it necessary, you really +must not worry any more but just let me continue on my uneventful +journey and then come home. I shall have been gone so long and my +friends, judging from Russell and Dana and Irene's letters, will be so +glad to see me, that they will have forgotten I went out to do other +things than coast around in trains. As a matter of fact this is a +terribly big problem and most difficult to get the truth of, I find +myself growing to be the opposite of the alarmist, whatever that is, +although you would think the picturesque and dramatic and exciting +thing would be the one I would rather believe because I want to believe +it, but I find that that is not so, I see a great deal on both sides +and I do not believe half I am told. As we used to say at college, "it +is against history," and it is against history for men to act as I am +told they are acting here— They show me the pueblo huddled together +around the fortified towns, living in palm huts but I know that they +have always lived in palm huts, the yellow kid reporters don't know +that or consider it, but send off word that the condition of the people +is terrible, that they have only leaves to cover them, and it sounds +very badly. That is an instance of what I mean. In a big way there is +no doubt that the process going on here is one of extermination and +ruin. Two years ago the amount of sugar shipped from the port of +Matanzas to the U. S. was valued at 11 millions a year. This last year +just over shows that sugar to the amount of $800,000 was sent out. In +'94, 154 vessels touched at Matanzas on their way to America. In '95 +there were 80 and in '96 there are 16. I always imagined that houses +were destroyed during a war because they got in the way of cannon balls +or they were burned because they might offer shelter to the enemy, but +here they are destroyed, with the purpose of making the war horrible +and hurrying up the end. The insurgents began first by destroying the +sugar mills, some of which were worth millions of dollars in machinery, +and now the Spaniards are burning the homes of the people and herding +them in around the towns to starve out the insurgents and to leave them +without shelter or places to go for food or to hide the wounded. So +all day long where ever you look you see great heavy columns of smoke +rising into this beautiful sky above the magnificent palms the most +noble of all palms, almost of all trees— It is the most beautiful +country I have ever visited. I had no recollection of how beautiful it +was or else I had not the knowledge of other places with which to +compare it. Nothing out of the imagination can approach it in its +great waterfalls and mossy rocks and grand plains and forests of white +pillars with plumes waving above them. Only man is vile here and it is +cruel to see the walls of the houses with blind eyes, with roofs gone +and gardens burned, every church but one that I have seen was a +fortress with hammocks swung from the altars and rude barricades thrown +up around the doorways— If this is war I am of the opinion that it is +a senseless wicked institution made for soldiers, lovers and +correspondents for different reasons, and for no one else in the world +and it is too expensive for the others to keep it going to entertain +these few gentlemen— I have seen very little of it yet and I probably +won't see much more, but I have seen all I want. Remington had his +mind satisfied even sooner—but then he is an alarmist and exaggerates +things— The men who wear the red badge of courage, I don't feel sorry +for, they have their reward in their bloody bandages and the little +cross on their tunic but those you meet coming back sick and dying with +fever are the ones that make fighting contemptible—poor little +farmers, poor little children with no interest in Cuba or Spain's right +to hold it, who have been sent out to die like ants before they have +learned to hold a mauser, and who are going back again with the beards +that have grown in the field hospitals on their cheeks and their eyes +hollow, and too weak to move or speak. Six of them died while I was in +Jaroco, a town as big as Marion and that had been the average for two +months, think of that, six people dying in Marion every day through +July and August— I didn't stay in that town any longer than the train +did— Well I have been writing editorials here instead of cheering you +up but I guess I'm about right and when I see a little more I'll tell +it over again to The Journal— It is not as exciting reading as deeds +of daring by our special correspondent and I haven't changed my name or +shaved my eyebrows or done anything the other men have done but I +believe I am getting near the truth. They have shut off provisions +going or coming from the towns, they have huddled hundreds of people +who do not know what a bath means around these towns, and this is going +to happen— As soon as the rains begin the yellow fever and smallpox +will set in and all vessels leaving Cuban ports will be quarantined and +the island will be one great plague spot. The insurgents who are in +the open fields will live and the soldiers will die for their officers +know nothing of sanitation or care nothing. The little Consul has just +been here to see me and we have had a long talk and I got back at him. +He told me he had seen the Franco-German war as a correspondent of The +Tribune and I asked him if he had ever met another correspondent of The +Tribune at that time a German student named Hans who cabled the story +of the battle of Gravellote and who Archibald Forbes says was the first +correspondent to use the cable. The Consul who looks like William D. +Howells wriggled around in his chair and said "I guess you mean me but +I was not a German student, I was born and raised in Philadelphia and +Forbes got my name wrong, it is Hance." So then I got up and shook +hands with him in my turn and told him I had always wanted to meet that +correspondent and did not expect to do so in Cardenas, on the coast of +Cuba. +</P> + +<P> +Thank you all for your letters. I am glad you liked the Jameson book. +I thought you knew I was a F. R. G. S. It was George Curzon proposed +me and as he is a gold medallist of the Society it was easy getting in. +Lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Richard returned to New York from Cuba in February, 1897, but the +following month started for Florence to pay me a long-promised visit. +On his way he stopped for a few days in London and Paris. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +ABASSADE DES ETATS-UNIS<BR> +59 Rue Galilee,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Paris, April 1st, 1897.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I got over here to-day after the heaviest weather I ever tackled on +this channel. Stephen Crane came with me. I gave him a lunch on +Wednesday. Anthony Hope, McCarthy, Harold Frederic and Barrie came. +Sir Evelyn Wood instead of coming was detained at the war office and +sent instead a lance Sergeant on horseback with a huge envelope marked +"On Her Majesty's Service," which was to be delivered into my hands— +The entire Savoy was upset and it was generally supposed that war had +been declared and that I was being ordered to the front— The whole +hotel hung over us until I had receipted for the package and the +soldier had saluted and clanked away. I gave Crane the letter as a +souvenir. I also saw Seymour Hicks' first night and recognized 15 +American songs in it. +</P> + +<P> +The London Times offered me the position of correspondent on the Greek +frontier. Every one in London thought it an enormous compliment and +Harold Frederic, Ralph, Ballard Smith and the rest were very envious. +I told them I could not go, but I was glad to have had the compliment +paid me. Barrie has made out a scenario of the "Soldiers" for dramatic +purposes and has asked the Haymarket management to consider it. So, +that I guess that it must be good— +</P> + +<P> +So, I also guess I had better finish it— I leave for Florence to +night. I am having a fine, fine time and I am so glad you are all well. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lots of love, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Of the many happy days we have spent together, I do not believe there +were any much more happy than the three weeks Richard remained with me. +It was his first long visit to Italy and from the day of his arrival he +loved the old town and its people who gave him a most friendly welcome. +He had come at a time when Florence was at its best, its narrow quaint +streets filled with sunshine and thronged with idling natives and the +scurrying tourists that always came with the first days of spring. The +Cascine and the pink-walled roads of the environs were ablaze with wild +roses and here, after his rather strenuous experience in Cuba, Richard +gave himself up to long days of happy idleness. Together we took +voyages of discovery to many of the little walled and forgotten towns +where the tourists seldom set foot. Once we even wandered so far as +Monte Carlo, where my brother tried very hard to break the bank and did +not succeed. But the Richard Harding Davis luck did not fail him +completely and I remember I greatly envied him the huge pile of gold +and notes that represented his winnings and which we did our very best +to spend before we left the land of the Prince of Monaco. However, +having had his first taste of war, Richard felt that he must leave the +peace and content of Florence to see how the Greeks, with whom he had +much sympathy, were faring with their enemies the Turks. As it +happened, this expedition proved but a short interruption, and in less +than a month he was once more back with his new-found friends in +Florence. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 28, 1897 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +On the Way to Patras on a Steamer. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +It has been a week since I wrote you last, when I sent you the +Inauguration article. Since then I have been having the best time I +ever had any place ALONE. I have had more fun with a crowd, but never +have been so happy by myself. What I would have been had I taken some +other chap with me I cannot imagine. But the people of this part of +Greece have been so kind that I cannot say I have been alone. I never +met with strangers anywhere who were so hospitable, so confiding and +polite. After that slaughter-yard and pest place of Cuba, which is +much more terrible to me now than it was when I was there, or before I +had seen that war can be conducted like any other evil of civilization, +this opera bouffe warfare is like a duel between two gentlemen in the +Bois. Cuba is like a slave-holder beating a slave's head in with a +whip. I am a war correspondent only by a great stretch of the +imagination; I am a peace correspondent really, and all the fighting I +have seen was by cannon at long range. (I was at long range, not the +cannon.) I am doing this campaign in a personally conducted sense with +no regard to the Powers or to the London Times. I did send them an +article called "The Piping Times of War." If they do not use it I +shall illustrate it with the photos I have taken and sell it, for five +times the sum they would give, to the Harpers who are ever with us. As +I once said in a noted work, "Greece, Mrs. Morris, restores all your +lost illusions." For the last week I have been back in the days of +Conrad, the Corsair, and "Oh, Maid of Athens, ere We Part." I have +been riding over wind-swept hills and mountains topped with snow, and +with sheep and goats and wild flowers of every color spreading for +acres, and in a land where every man dresses by choice like a grand +opera brigand, and not only for photographic purposes. I have been on +the move all the time, chasing in the rear of armies that turn back as +soon as I approach and apologize for disappointing me of a battle, or +riding to the scene of a battle that never comes off, or hastening to a +bombardment that turns out to be an attack on an empty fort. +</P> + +<P> +I live on brown bread and cheese and goat's milk and sleep like a log +in shepherds' huts. It is so beautiful that I almost grudge the night. +Nora and Mother could take this trip as safely as a regiment and would +see things out of fairyland. And such adventures! Late in life I am +at last having adventures and honors heaped upon me. I was elected a +captain of a band of brigands who had been watching a mountain pass for +a month, and as it showed no signs of running away had taken to dancing +on the green. I caught them at this innocent pastime and they allowed +me to photograph them and give them wine at eight cents a quart which +we drank out of a tin stovepipe. They drank about four feet of +stovepipe or thirty-six cents' worth, then they danced and sang for me +in a circle, old men and boys, then drilled with their carbines, and I +showed them my revolver and field-glasses and themselves in the finder +of the camera; and when I had to go they took me on their shoulders and +marched me around waving their rifles. Then the old men kissed me on +the cheek and we all embraced and they wept, and I felt as badly as +though I were parting from fifty friends. They told my guide that if I +would come back they would get fifty more "as brave as they" and I +could be captain. I could not begin to tell you all the amusing things +that have happened in this one week. I did not want to come at all, +only a stern sense of duty made me. For I wanted to write the play in +Charley's gilded halls and get to Paris and London. But I can never +cease rejoicing that I took this trip. And it will make the book, "A +Year from a Reporter's Diary," as complete as it can be. That was why +I came. Now I have the Coronation of the Czar, the Millennial at +Hungary, the Inauguration at Washington, the Queen's Jubilee, the War +in Cuba, and the Greco-Turkish War. That is a good year's work and I +mean to loaf after it. You will laugh and say that that is what I +always say, but if you knew how I had to kick myself out of Florence +and the Cascine to come here you would believe me. I want a rest and I +am cutting this very short. +</P> + +<P> +Don't fail to cut anything Dad and Mother don't like out of the +Inauguration article. You will have me with you this winter on my +little bicycle and going to dances and not paying board to anyone. +Remember how I used to threaten to go to Greece when the coffee was not +good. It seems too funny now, for I never was in a better place, or +had more fun or saw less of war or the signs of war. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +May 7, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +10 East Twenty-Eighth Street-NIT<BR> +Sponitza.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS. +</P> + +<P> +This is one of the places out of Phroso, but as you never read Phroso I +will cut all that— I hate to say it so soon again but this is the most +beautiful country to travel over I have seen— It is a fairy theatrical +grand opera country where everybody dresses in petticoats and gold +braided vests and carry carbines to tend sheep with— I rode from Santa +Maura (see map) to a spot opposite Prevesa where they said there was +going to be bombarding— There was not of course but I had I think the +most beautiful ride of my life. I was absolutely happy—little lambs +bleated and kids butted each other and peasants in fur cloaks without +sleeves and in tights like princes sat on rocks and played pipes and +the sky was blue, the mountains covered with snow and the fields and +hills full of purple bushes and yellow and blue flowers and sheep— +There was a cable station of yellow adobe. It was the only building +and it looked across at Prevesa but nobody bombarded. The general gave +me cognac and the cable operator played a guitar for me and the preyor +sang a fine bass, the corporal not to be out done gave me chocolate and +the army stood around in the sun and joined in the conversation +correcting the general and each other and taking off their hats to all +the noble sentiments we toasted. It was just like a comic opera. +After a while when I had finished a fine hunck of cheese and hard eggs +and brown bread I took a photograph of the General and the cable +operator and the officer with the bass voice and half of the army— The +other half was then sent to escort me to this place. It walked and I +rode and there were many halts for drinks and cigarettes. They all ran +after a stray colt and were lost for some time but we re-mobilized and +advanced with great effect into this town. I was here taken in charge +by at least fifty sailors and as many soldiers and comic opera brigands +in drawers and white petticoats, who conducted me to a house on the +hill where the innkeeper brought me a live chicken to approve of for +dinner. Then the mayor of the town turned up in gold clothes and +Barrison Sister skirts and said the General had telegraphed about me +and that I was his— The innkeeper wept and said he had seen me first +and the chorus of soldiers, sailors and brigands all joined in. I kept +out of it but I knew the Mayor would win and he did. Then we went out +to a man-of-war the size of the Vagabond and were solemnly assured +there would be bombarding of Prevesa to-morrow— I go to sleep in that +hope. We leave here at seven crossing the river and ride after the +Greeks who are approaching Prevesa from the land side while the +men-of-war bombard it from the river. At least that is what they say. +I think it is the mildest war on both sides I ever heard of and I +certainly mean to be a Times correspondent next time I play at going to +war— After being insulted and frightened to death all over Cuba, this +is the pleasantest picnic I was ever on— They seriously apologized for +not bombarding while I was there and I said not to mention it— With +lots of love, old man, and to the family +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +FLORENCE +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +May 16, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +Here I am safe and sound again in the old rooms in Florence. I was +gone twenty-three days and was traveling nineteen of them, walking, +riding; in sailboats, in the cars, and on steamers. I have had more +experiences and adventures than I ever had before in three months and +quite enough to last me for years. +</P> + +<P> +After my happy ride through Turkey and the retreat of the Greek army in +Arta, of which I wrote you last, I have been in Thessaly where I saw +the two days' battle of Velestinos from the beginning up to the end. +It was the one real battle of the war and the Greeks fought well from +the first to the last. I left Athens on the 29th of April with John +Bass, a Harvard graduate, and a most charming and attractive youth who +is, or was, in charge of the Journal men; Stephen Crane being among the +number. He seems a genius with no responsibilities of any sort to +anyone, and I and Bass left him at Velestinos after traveling with him +for four days. Crane went to Volo, as did every other correspondent, +leaving Bass and myself in Velestinos. As the villagers had run away, +we burglarized the house of the mayor and made it our habitation while +the courier hunted for food. It was like "The Swiss Family Robinson," +and we rejoiced over the discovery of soap and tablecloths and stray +knives and forks, just as though we had been cast on a desert island. +Bass did the cooking and I laid the table and washed up and made the +beds, which were full of fleas. But we had been sleeping on chairs and +on the floor for a week so we did not mind much. +</P> + +<P> +The second day we were awakened by cannon and you can imagine our joy +and excitement. We had it all to ourselves for eight hours, as it took +the other correspondents that long to arrive. It was an artillery and +infantry battle and about 20,000 men were engaged on both sides. The +Greeks fought from little trenches on the hills back of the town and +the Turks advanced across a great green prairie. It was very long +range and only twice did they get to within a quarter of a mile of our +trenches. Bass and I went all over the Greek lines, for you were just +as safe in one place as in another, which means that it wasn't safe +anywhere, so we gave up considering that and followed the fight as best +we could from the first trench, which was the only one that gave an +uninterrupted view of the Turkish forces. It was a brilliantly clear +day but opened with a hail storm, which enabled the Turks to crawl up +half a mile in the sudden darkness. It also gave me the worst attack +of sciatica I ever had. Fortunately, it did not come on badly until I +reached Volo, when it suddenly took hold of me so that I could not +walk. The trenches were wet with the rain and we had no clothes to +change to, and two more showers kept us more or less wet all day. We +had a fine view of everything and I learned a lot. +</P> + +<P> +We were under a heavy fire for thirteen hours and certainly had some +very close escapes. At times the firing was so fierce that if you had +raised your arm above your head, the hand would have been instantly +torn off. We had to lie on our stomachs with our chins in the dirt and +not so much as budge. This was when the Turkish fire happened to be +directed on our trench. At such times all the other trenches would +fire so as to draw the attack away, and we would have to wait until it +was over. The shells sounded like the jarring sound of telegraph wires +when one hits the pole they hang from with a stone; and when the shells +were close they sounded like the noise made by two trains passing in +opposite directions when the wind is driven between the cars. The +bullets were much worse than the shells as you could always hear them +coming, and the bullets slipped up and passed you in a sneaking way +with a noise like rustling silk, or if some one had torn a silk +handkerchief with a sharp pull. One shell struck three feet from me +and knocked me over with the dirt and stones and filled my nose and +mouth with pebbles. I went back and dug it out of the ground while it +was still hot and have it as a souvenir. I swore terribly at the +bullets and Bass used to grin in a sickly way. It made your hair creep +when they came very close. One man next me got a shot through the +breast while he was ramming his cleaner down the barrel, and there were +three killed within the limits of our fifty yards. We could not get +back because there was a cross fire that swept a place we had to pass +through, just about the way the wind comes around the City Hall in the +times of a blizzard. We called it Dead Man's Curve, after that at +Fourteenth Street and Union Square, because it was sprinkled with dead +ammunition, mules and soldiers. We came through it the first time +without knowing what we were getting into and we had no desire to go +back again. So we waited until the sun set. I took some of the finest +photographs and probably the only ones ever taken of a battle at such +close range. Whenever the men fired, I would shoot off the camera and +I expect I have some pretty great pictures. Bass took some of me so if +there is any question as to whether I was at the Coronation, there will +be none as to whether I was at Velestinos. +</P> + +<P> +Our house was hit with two shells and bullets fell like the gentle rain +from heaven all over the courtyard, so we would have been no safer +there than behind the trenches. We sent off the first account of the +battle written by anybody by midday, and stayed on until the next day +at four when the place was evacuated in good order because, as usual, +the Crown Prince was running away—from Pharsalia this time. +</P> + +<P> +They say in Greece "Lewes, the peasant, won the race from Marathon, but +Constantine the prince, won the race from Larissa." +</P> + +<P> +I was all right until I got to Volo when my right leg refused +absolutely to do its act and I had to be carried on a donkey. A Greek +thought I looked funny sitting groaning on the little donkey; which I +did—I looked ridiculous. So he laughed, and Bass and a French +journalist batted him over the face and left me clinging to the +donkey's neck and howling to them to come back and hold me up. But +they preferred to fight, and a policeman came along and arrested the +unhappy Greek and beat him over the head, just for luck, and marched +him off to jail, just for laughing. +</P> + +<P> +They took me to the hospital ship which was starting, and I came to +Athens that way with one hundred and sixteen wounded; the man on my +right had his ankles gone and the man on the left had a bullet in his +side. They groaned all night and so did I. Then when the sun rose +they sang, which was worse. I never saw anything more beautiful than +the red-cross nurses, and I guess that is the most beautiful picture I +shall ever see—those sweet-faced girls in blue and white bending over +the dirty frightened little peasant boys and taking care of their +wounds. I made love to all of them and asked three to marry me. I was +in bed for two days after I got to Athens but had a fine time, as all +the officers from the San Francisco, from the admiral down, came to see +me, and the minister, consul and the rest did all that could have been +done. I am now all right and was bicycling in the dear old Cascine +this morning. On the whole it was a most successful trip. Sylvester +Scovel and Phillips of The World arrived just as it was all over, and +so Bass and I are about the only two Americans who were in it. +</P> + +<P> +The train from Brindisi stopped at Rome on the way back and I went to +see the Pages. They took me out and showed me Rome by moonlight in one +hour. It was like a cinematograph. They are here now and coming to +dinner tonight. Last night the consul had all our friends to dinner to +welcome me back, and maybe I was not glad. I had been living on cheese +and brown bread and cold lamb for two weeks, with no tobacco, and +sleeping five hours a night on floors and sofas. Sometimes the +officers and men fought for food, and we never got anything warm to eat +except occasionally tinned things which we cooked in my kit. It was +the most satisfactory trip all round I ever had. I have been twenty +years trying to be in a battle and it will be twenty years more before +I will want to be in another. +</P> + +<P> +On the eighteenth I start for London, stopping one day in Paris to see +the Clarks and Eustises. It is going to be bigger than the Coronation +for crowds, and Mother need not worry, I shall keep out of it. The +Minister to Russia sent me word that the Czar's prime minister has +given him my article and that the Czar said thank him very much. So +that is all right. Also Hay is to present me to the Prince at the +levee on the 31st of May, and I shall send him a copy, too. I am +looking forward to London with such joy. Tell Mother to send me the +Bookbuyer with her article in it. I have only read the reviews of it, +and they are so enthusiastic that I must have the whole thing quick. +It was such a fine thing to do about Poe, and to give those other two +fetishes the coup de grace. It reads splendidly and I want it all. +What did Dad think of the Inauguration article? I send you all my +dearest love and will have lots to tell you when I get back this time. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +God bless you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Richard left Florence the latter part of May, and went to London where +he had made arrangements to report the Queen's Jubilee. He began his +round of gayeties by being presented at Court. The Miss Groves and +Miss Wather to whom he refers in the following letter were the clerks +at Cox's hotel. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, June 2nd, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I was a beautiful sight at the Levee. I wore a velvet suit made +especially for me but no dearer for that and steel buttons and a +beautiful steel sword and a court hat with silver on the side and silk +stockings that I wore at Moscow and pumps with great buckles. I was +too magnificent for words and so you would have said. I waited a long +time in a long hall crowded with generals and sea captains and +highlanders and volunteers and cavalry men and judges and finally was +admitted past a rope and then past another rope and then rushed along +into the throne room where I saw beefeaters and life guardsmen and +chamberlains with white wands and I gave one my card and he read out +"R. H. D. of the United States by the American Ambassador" and then I +bowed to the Prince and Duke of York, Connaught and Edinburgh and to +the American Ambassador and then Henry White and Spencer Eddy, the two +Secretaries and the naval attache all shook hands with me and I went +around in a hansom in the bright sunshine in hopes of finding some one +who would know me. But no one did so I went to Cox's Hotel and showed +myself to Miss Groves and Miss Wather. I went on the Terrace yesterday +with the Leiters and at O'Connor's invitation brought them to tea. +Labouchere was there and Dillon just out of jail and it was most +interesting. I am very, very busy doing nothing and having a fine +time— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, June 21, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Words cannot tell at least not unless I am well paid for it what London +is like to-day. In the first place it is so jammed that no one can +move and it is hung with decorations so that no one can see. Royal +carriages get stuck just as do the humble drayman or Pickford's Van and +royalties are lodging in cheap hotels with nothing but a couple of +Grenadier's in sentry boxes to show they are any better blooded than +the rest of the lodgers. I also added to the confusion by giving a +lunch to the Ambassador and Miss Hay in return for the presentation. +Lady Henry and Mrs. Asquith sat on either side of him and Mrs. Clark +had Asquith and Lord Basil Blackwood to talk to— There was also +Anthony Hope, the beautiful Julia Neilson and her husband Fred Terry +and Lady Edward Cecil and Lord Lester— It went off fine and the Savoy +people sent in an American Eagle of ice, decorated with American flags +and dripping icy tears from its beak. It cost me five shillings a head +and looked as though it cost that in pounds— To night I dine with the +Goulds and then go to a musical where Melba sings, Padewreski plays and +then walk the streets if I can until daybreak as I think of making the +night before the procession the greater part of the story. I send you +a plan showing my seat which cost me twenty-five dollars, the +advertised price being $125. but there has been a terrible slump in +seats. Love to dear Dad and Nora. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON.<BR> +89 Jermyn Street,<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June 25th, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +The Jubilee turned out to be the easiest spectacle to get at and to get +away from that I ever witnessed. Experience in choosing a place and +police regulations made it so simple that we went straight to our seats +and got away again without as much trouble as it would have taken to +have gone to a matinee. The stage management of the thing almost +impressed me more than anything else. For grandeur and show it about +equalled the procession of the Czar and in many ways it was more +interesting because it was concerned with our own people and with our +own part of the world. Next to the Queen, Lord Roberts got all of the +applause. He rode a little white pony that had been with him in six +campaigns and had carried him on his march to Candahar. It had all the +campaign medals presented to it by the War Department and wore them in +a line on its forehead, and walked just as though he knew what a great +occasion it was. After Roberts came in popularity a Col. Maurice +Clifford with the Rhodesian Horse in sombrero's and cartridge belts and +khaki suits. He had lost his arm and was easily recognized. Wilfred +Laurier the French Premier of Canada and the Lord Mayor were the other +favourites. The scene in front of St. Paul's was absolutely +magnificent with the sooty pillars behind the groups of diplomats, +bishops and choir boys in white, University men in pink silk gowns, and +soldiers, beef eaters, gentlemen at arms and the two Archbishops. The +best moment was when the collected troops; negroes, Chinamen, East +Indians, West Indians, African troopers, Canadian Mounted Police, +Australians, Borneo police and English Grenadiers all sang the doxology +together in the beautiful sunshine and under the shadow of that great +facade of black and white marble. Also when the Archbishop of +Canterbury without any warning suddenly after kissing the Queen's hand +threw up his arm and cried out so that you could have heard him a +hundred yards off "Three Cheers for Her Majesty" and the diplomats, and +foreign rajahs and bishops and Salvation Army captains waved their hats +and mortar boards and the soldiers ran their bearskins and helmets on +their bayonets and spun them around in the air. The weather was +absolutely perfect and there were no accidents. Last night the +carriages were allowed to parade the streets and for hours the route +was blocked with omnibuses hired by private parties, coster carts, +private carriages, court carriages and the hansoms. The procession +formed by these was two hours in going one mile. They passed my +windows in Jermyn Street for three hours and a party of us sat inside +and guyed the life out of them until one in the morning. We got very +clever at it finally and very impudent and as the people were only two +yards from us my windows being on a level with the tops of the buses +and as we had a flaring illumination that lit up the street completely +we had lots of fun with them especially with the busses, as we +pretended to believe that the advertisements referred to the people on +the top, and we would ask anxiously which lady was "Lottie Collins" and +which gentleman had been brought up on " Mellin's Food"— We had even +more fun with the swells coming home from the Gala night at the opera +and hemmed in between costers and Pickford's vans loaded down with +women and children. +</P> + +<P> +They called on us for speeches and matches and segars and we kept the +procession supplied with food and drink. Nobody got mad and they +answered back but we were prepared with numerous repartees and they +were apparently so surprised by finding a party of ladies and gentlemen +engaged in chaffing court officials that they would forget to reply +until they had moved on. One bus driver said "Oh, you can larff, cause +your at 'ome. We are 'unting for Jensen on a North Pole Expedition. +We won't be home for three years yet—" Charley seems very happy and he +got a most hearty welcome. I shall follow him over. I do not think I +shall go when he does as that would mean seeing people and getting +settled and I must get the Greek war done by the 12th of July and the +Jubilee by the 15th of August. I know you will not mind, but I have +been terribly interrupted by the Jubilee and by so many visitors. They +are running in all the time, so I shall try to get the Greek war +article done before I sail and also have a little peaceful view of +London. I have seen nothing of it really yet. It has been like living +in a circus, and moving about on an election night. I am well as can +be except for occasional twinges of sciatica but I have not had to go +to bed with it and some times it disappears for a week. A little less +rain and more sun will stop it. I hope you do not mind my not +returning but we will all be together for many months this Fall and I +really feel that I have not had a quiet moment here for pleasure and +work. It has been such a rush. I do wish to see dear Dad. I am so +very sorry about his being ill, and I hope he is having lots of +fishing. Love to all at Marion—and God bless you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +July 13, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Today Barrie gave a copyright performance of "The Little Minister" +which Maude Adams is to play in the States. It was advertised by a +single bill in front of the Haymarket Theater and the price of +admission was five guineas. We took in fifteen guineas, the audience +being Charley Frohman, Lady Craig and a man. Cyril Maude played the +hero and Brandon Thomas and Barrie the two low comedy parts—two +Scotchmen of Thrums. I started to play one of them, but as I insisted +on making it an aged negro with songs, Barrie and Frohman got +discouraged and let me play the villain, Lord Rintoul, in which +character I was great. Maude played his part in five different ways +and dialects so as to see which he liked best, he said. It was a bit +confusing. Then one of the actors went up in the gallery and pretended +to be a journalist critic who had sneaked in, and he abused the play +and the actors with the exception of the man who played Whamond +(himself) whom he said he thought showed great promise. Maude +pretended not to know who he was and it fooled everybody. Mrs. Barrie +played the gipsy and danced most of the time, which she said was her +conception of the part as it was in the book. Her husband explained +that this was a play, not a book, but she did not care and danced on +and off. She played my daughter, and I had a great scene in which I +cursed her, which got rounds of applause. Lady Lewis's daughters in +beautiful Paquin dresses played Scotch lassies, and giggled in all the +sad parts, and one actress who had made a great success as one of the +"Two Vagabonds" made everybody weep by really trying to act. At one +time there were five men on the stage all talking Scotch dialect and +imitating Irving at the same time. It was a truly remarkable +performance. Ethel Barrymore goes back on Saturday with Drew to play a +French maid in "A Marriage of Convenience." She is announced to be +engaged to Hope, I see by the papers. They are not engaged, of course, +but the papers love to make matches. Look for me as sailing either on +the 31st on the St. Louis or a week later. With lots and lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the late summer Richard returned to Marion and from there went to +New York. However, at this time, the lure of England was very strong +with my brother, and early December found him back in London. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, December 29th, 1897. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +I had a most exciting Christmas, most of which I spent in Whitechapel +in the London Hospital. I lunched with the Spenders and then went down +with them carrying large packages for distribution to the sick. I +expected to be terribly bored, but thought I would feel so virtuous +that I would the better enjoy my dinner which I had promised to take +with the McCarthys— On the contrary, I had the most amusing time and +much more fun than I had later. The patients seemed only to be playing +sick, and some of them were very humorous and others very pathetic and +I played tin soldiers with some, and distributed rich gifts, other +people had paid for, with a lavish hand. I also sat on a little girl's +cot and played dolls for an hour. She had something wrong with her +spine and I wept most of the time, chiefly because she smiled all the +time. She went asleep holding on to my middle finger like the baby in +"The Luck of Roaring Camp." There were eighty babies in red flannel +nightgowns buttoned up the back who had pillow fights in honor of the +day and took turns in playing on a barrel organ, those that were strong +and tall enough. In the next ward another baby in white was dying— +Its mother was a coster girl, seventeen years old, with a big hat and +plumes like those the flower girls wear at Piccadilly Circus. The baby +was yellow like old ivory and its teeth and gums were blue and it died +while we were watching it. The mother girl was drinking tea and crying +into it out of red swollen eyes, and twenty feet off one of the red +nightgowned kids was playing "Louisiana Lou" on the barrel organ. The +nurse put the baby's arms under the sheets and then pulled one up over +its face and took the teacup away from the mother who didn't see what +had happened and I came away while three young nurses were comforting +the girl. Most of the nurses were very beautiful, and I neglected my +duties as Santa Claus to talk to them. They would stop talking to get +down on their knees and dust up the floor, which was most embarrassing, +you couldn't very well ask to be let to help. There was one coster who +had his broken leg in a cage which moved with the leg no matter how +much he tossed. He was like the man "who sat in jail without his +boots, admiring how the world was made," he spent all his waking hours +in wrapt admiration of the cage— He said to me "I've been here a +fortnight now, come Monday, and I can't break my leg no how. Yer can't +do it, that's all— Yer can twist, and kick, and toss, and it don't do +no good. Yer jest can't do it— Now you take notice." Then he would +kick violently and the cage would run around on trolleys and keep the +broken limb straight. "See!" he would exclaim, "Wot did I tell you— +Its no use of trying, yer just can't do it. 'ere I've been ten days a +trying and it can't be done." +</P> + +<P> +We had a very fine Christmas dinner just Ethel, the McCarthy's and I. +Fanny, tell Charles, brought in the plum pudding with a sprig of holly +in it and blazing, and after dinner I read them the Jackall— About +eleven I started to take Ethel to Miss Terry's, who lives miles beyond +Kensington. There was a light fog. I said that all sorts of things +ought to happen in a fog but that no one ever did have adventures +nowadays. At that we rode straight into a bank of fog that makes those +on the fishing banks look like Spring sunshine. You could not see the +houses, nor the street, nor the horse, not even his tail. All you +could see were gas jets, but not the iron that supported them. The +cabman discovered the fact that he was lost and turned around in +circles and the horse slipped on the asphalt which was thick with +frost, and then we backed into lamp-posts and curbs until Ethel got so +scared she bit her under lip until it bled. You could not tell whether +you were going into a house or over a precipice or into a sea. The +horse finally backed up a flight of steps, and rubbed the cabby against +a front door, and jabbed the wheels into an area railing and fell down. +That, I thought, was our cue to get out, so we slipped into a well of +yellow mist and felt around for each 'other until a square block of +light suddenly opened in mid air and four terrified women appeared in +the doorway of the house through which the cabman was endeavoring to +butt himself. They begged us to come in, and we did— Being Christmas +and because the McCarthy's always call me "King" I had put on all my +decorations and the tin star and I also wore my beautiful fur coat, to +which I have treated myself, and a grand good thing it is, too— I took +this off because the room was very hot, forgetting about the +decorations and remarked in the same time to Ethel that it would be +folly to try and get to Barkston Gardens, and that we must go back to +the "Duchess's" for the night. At this Ethel answered calmly "yes, +Duke," and I became conscious of the fact that the eyes of the four +women were riveted on my fur coat and decorations. At the word "Duke" +delivered by a very pretty girl in an evening frock and with nothing on +her hair the four women disappeared and brought back the children, the +servants, and the men, who were so overcome with awe and excitement and +Christmas cheer that they all but got down on their knees in a circle. +So, we fled out into the night followed by minute directions as to +where "Your Grace" and "Your Ladyship" should turn. For years, no +doubt, on a Christmas Day the story will be told in that house, +wherever it may be in the millions of other houses of London, how a +beautiful Countess and a wicked Duke were pitched into their front door +out of a hansom cab, and after having partaken of their Christmas +supper, disappeared again into a sea of fog. The only direction Ethel +and I could remember was that we were to go to the right when we came +to a Church, so when by feeling our way by the walls we finally reached +a church we continued going on around it until we had encircled it five +times or it had encircled us, we were not sure which. After the fifth +lap we gave up and sat down on the steps. Ethel had on low slippers +and was shivering and coughing but intensely amused and only scared for +fear she would lose her voice for the first night of "Peter"— We could +hear voices sometimes, like people talking in a dream, and sometimes +the sound of dance music, and a man's voice calling "Perlice" in a +discouraged way as if he didn't much care whether the police came or +not, but regularly like a fog siren— I don't know how long we sat +there or how long we might have sat there had not a man with a bicycle +lamp loomed up out of the mist and rescued us. He had his mother with +him and she said with great pride that her boy could find his way +anywhere. So, we clung to her boy and followed. A cabman passed +leading his horse with one of his lamps in his other hand and I turned +for an instant to speak to him and Ethel and her friends disappeared +exactly as though the earth had opened. So, I yelled after them, and +Ethel said "Here, I am," at my elbow. It was like the chesire cat that +kept appearing and disappearing until he made Alice dizzy. We finally +found a link-boy and he finally found the McCarthy's house, and I left +them giving Ethel quinine and whiskey. They wanted me to stay, but I +could not face dressing, in the morning. So I felt my way home and +only got lost twice. The Arch on Constitution Hill gave me much +trouble. I thought it was the Marble Arch, and hence— In Jermyn +Street I saw two lamps burning dimly and a voice said, hearing my +footsteps "where am I? I don't know where I am no more than nothing—" +I told him he was in Jermyn Street with his horse's head about twenty +feet from St. James— There was a long dramatic silence and then the +voice said— "Well, I be blowed I thought I was in Pimlico!!!" +</P> + +<P> +This has been such a long letter that I shall have to skip any more. I +have NO sciatica chiefly because of the fur coat, I think, and I got +two Christmas presents, one from Margaret Fraser and one from the +Duchess of Sutherland— Boxing Day I took Margaret to the matinee of +the Pantomine and it lasted five hours, until six twenty, then I +dressed and dined with the Hay's and went with them to the Barnum +circus which began at eight and lasted until twelve. It was a busy day. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, March 20, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +The Nellie Farren benefit was the finest thing I have seen this year +past. It was more remarkable than the Coronation, or the Jubilee. It +began at twelve o'clock on Thursday, but at ten o'clock Wednesday +night, the crowd began to gather around Drury Lane, and spent the night +on the sidewalk playing cards and reading and sleeping. Ten hours +later they were admitted, or a few of them were, as many as the +galleries would hold. Arthur Collins, the manager of the Drury Lane +and the man who organized the benefit, could not get a stall for his +mother the day before the benefit. They were then not to be had, the +last having sold for twelve guineas. I got TWO the morning of the +benefit for three pounds each, and now people believe that I did get +into the Coronation! The people who had stalls got there at ten +o'clock, and the streets were blocked for "blocks" up to Covent Garden +with hansoms and royal carriages and holders of tickets at fifty +dollars apiece. It lasted six hours and brought in thirty thousand +dollars. Kate Vaughan came back and danced after an absence from the +stage of twelve years. Irving recited The Dream of Eugene Aram, Terry +played Ophelia, Chevalier sang Mrs. Hawkins, Dan Leno gave Hamlet, +Marie Tempest sang The Jewel of Asia and Hayden Coffin sang Tommy +Atkins, the audience of three thousand people joining in the chorus, +and for an encore singing "Oh, Nellie, Nellie Farren, may your love be +ever faithful, may your pals be ever true, so God bless you Nellie +Farren, here's the best of luck to you." In Trial by Jury, Gilbert +played an associate judge; the barristers were all playwrights, the +jury the principal comedians, the chorus girls were real chorus girls +from the Gaiety mixed in with leading ladies like Miss Jeffries and +Miss Hanbury, who could not keep in step. But the best part of it was +the pantomime. Ellaline came up a trap with a diamond dress and her +hair down her back and electric lights all over her, and said, "I am +the Fairy Queen," and waved her wand, at which the "First Boy" in the +pantomime said, "Go long, now, do, we know your tricks, you're Ellaline +Terriss"; and the clown said, "You're wrong, she's not, she's Mrs. +Seymour Hicks." Then Letty Lind came on as Columbine in black tulle, +and Arthur Roberts as the policeman, and Eddy Payne as the clown and +Storey as Pantaloon. +</P> + +<P> +The rest of it brought on everybody. Sam Sothern played a "swell" and +stole a fish. Louis Freear, a housemaid, and all the leading men +appeared as policemen. No one had more than a line to speak which just +gave the audience time to recognize him or her. The composers and +orchestra leaders came on as a German band, each playing an instrument, +and they got half through the Washington Post before the policemen beat +them off. Then Marie Lloyd and all the Music Hall stars appeared as +street girls and danced to the music of a hand-organ. Hayden Coffin, +Plunkett Greene and Ben Davies sang as street musicians and the clown +beat them with stuffed bricks. After that there was a revue of all the +burlesques and comic operas, then the curtain was raised from the +middle of the stage, and Nellie Farren was discovered seated at a table +on a high stage with all the "legitimates" in frock-coats and walking +dresses rising on benches around her. +</P> + +<P> +The set was a beautiful wood scene well lighted. Wyndham stood on one +side of her, and he said the yell that went up when the curtain rose +was worse than the rebel yell he had heard in battles. In front of +her, below the stage, were all the people who had taken part in the +revue, forming a most interesting picture. There was no one in the +group who had not been known for a year by posters or photographs: +Letty Lind as the Geisha, Arthur Roberts as Dandy Dan. The French Girl +and all the officers from The Geisha, the ballet girls from the +pantomime, the bareback-riders from The Circus Girl; the Empire +costumes and the monks from La Poupee, and all the Chinese and Japanese +costumes from The Geisha. Everybody on the stage cried and all the old +rounders in the boxes cried. +</P> + +<P> +It was really a wonderfully dramatic spectacle to see the clown and +officers and Geisha girls weeping down their grease paint. Nellie +Farren's great song was one about a street Arab with the words: "Let +me hold your, nag, sir, carry your little bag, sir, anything you please +to give—thank'ee, sir!" She used to close her hand, then open it and +look at the palm, then touch her cap with a very wonderful smile, and +laugh when she said, "Thank'ee, sir!" This song was reproduced for +weeks before the benefit, and played all over London, and when the +curtain rose on her, the orchestra struck into it and the people +shouted as though it was the national anthem. Wyndham made a very good +address and so did Terry, then Wyndham said he would try to get her to +speak. She has lost the use of her hands and legs and can only walk +with crutches, so he put his arm around her and her son lifted her from +the other side and then brought her to her feet, both crying like +children. You could hear the people sobbing, it was so still. She +said, "Ladies and Gentleman," looking at the stalls and boxes, then she +turned her head to the people on the stage below her and said, +"Brothers and Sisters," then she stood looking for a long time at the +gallery gods who had been waiting there twenty hours. You could hear a +long "Ah" from the gallery when she looked up there, and then a "hush" +from all over it and there was absolute silence. Then she smiled and +raised her finger to her bonnet and said, "Thank'ee, sir," and sank +back in her chair. It was the most dramatic thing I ever saw on a +stage. The orchestra struck up "Auld Lang Syne" and they gave three +cheers on the stage and in the house. The papers got out special +editions, and said it was the greatest theatrical event there had ever +been in London. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR +</H3> + +<P> +When the news reached Richard that the Spanish-American War seemed +inevitable he returned at once to New York. Here he spent a few days +in arranging to act as correspondent for the New York Herald, the +London Times, and Scribner's Magazine, and then started for Key West. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Off Key West—April 24th, 1898.<BR> +On Board Smith, Herald Yacht.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I wrote you such a cross gloomy letter that I must drop you another to +make up for it. Since I wrote that an hour ago we have received word +that war is declared and I am now on board the Smith. She is a really +fine vessel as big as Benedict's yacht with plenty of deck room and big +bunks. I have everything I want on board and The Herald men are two +old Press men so we are good friends. If I had had another hour I +believe I could have got a berth on the flag ship for Roosevelt +telegraphed me the longest and strongest letter on the subject a man +could write instructing the Admiral to take me on as I was writing +history. Chadwick seemed willing but then the signal to set sail came +and we had to stampede. All the ships have their sailing pennants up. +It is as calm as a mirror thank goodness but as hot as hell. We expect +to be off Havana tomorrow at sunset. Then what we do no one knows. +The crew is on strike above and the mate is wrestling with them but as +it seems to be only a question of a few dollars it will come out all +right. We expect to be back here on Sunday but may stay out later. +Don't worry if you don't hear. It is grand to see the line of +battleships five miles out like dogs in a leash puffing and straining. +Thank God they'll let them slip any minute now. I don't know where +"Stenie" is. I am now going to take a nap while the smooth water lasts. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +—Flagship New York— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Off Havana, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 26, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +I left Key West on the morning of the 24th in the Dolphin with the idea +of trying to get on board the flagship on the strength of Roosevelt's +letter. Stenie Bonsal got on just before she sailed, not as a +correspondent, but as a magazine-writer for McClure's, who have given +him a commission, and because he could act as interpreter. I left the +flagship the morning of the day I arrived. The captain of the Dolphin +apologized to his officers while we were at anchor in the harbor of Key +West, because his was a "cabin" and not a "gun" ship, and because he +had to deliver the mails at once on board the flagship and not turn out +of his course for anything, no matter how tempting a prize it might +appear to be. He then proceeded to chase every sail and column of +smoke on the horizon, so that the course was like a cat's cradle. We +first headed for a big steamer and sounded "general quarters." It was +fine to see the faces of the apprentices as they ran to get their +cutlasses and revolvers, their eyes open and their hair on end, with +the hope that they were to board a Spanish battleship. But at the +first gun she ran up an American flag, and on getting nearer we saw she +was a Mallory steamer. An hour later we chased another steamer, but +she was already a prize, with a prize crew on board. Then we had a +chase for three hours at night; after what we believed was the Panama, +but she ran away from us. We fired three shells after her, and she +still ran and got away. The next morning I went on board the New York +with Zogbaum, the artist. Admiral Sampson is a fine man; he impressed +me very much. He was very much bothered at the order forbidding +correspondents on the ship, but I talked like a father to him, and he +finally gave in, and was very nice about the way he did it. Since then +I have had the most interesting time and the most novel experience of +my life. We have been lying from three to ten miles off shore. We can +see Morro Castle and houses and palms plainly without a glass, and with +one we can distinguish men and women in the villages. It is, or was, +frightfully hot, and you had to keep moving all the time to get out of +the sun. I mess with the officers, but the other correspondents, the +Associated Press and Ralph Paine of The World and Press of +Philadelphia, with the middies. Paine got on because Scovel of The +World has done so much secret service work for the admiral, running in +at night and taking soundings, and by day making photographs of the +coast, also carrying messages to the insurgents. +</P> + +<P> +It is a wonderful ship, like a village, and as big as the Paris. We +drift around in the sun or the moonlight, and when we see a light, +chase after it. There is a band on board that plays twice a day. It +is like a luxurious yacht, with none of the ennui of a yacht. The +other night, when we were heading off a steamer and firing six-pounders +across her bows, the band was playing the "star" song from the +Meistersinger. Wagner and War struck me as the most fin de siecle idea +of war that I had ever heard of. The nights have been perfectly +beautiful, full of moonlight, when we sit on deck and smoke. It is +like looking down from the roof of a high building. Yesterday they +brought a Spanish officer on board, he had been picked up in a schooner +with his orderly. I was in Captain Chadwick's cabin when he was +brought in, and Scovel interpreted for the captain, who was more +courteous than any Spanish Don that breathes. The officer said he had +been on his way to see his wife and newly born baby at Matanzas, and +had no knowledge that war had been declared. I must say it did me good +to see him. I remembered the way the Spanish officers used to insult +me in a language which I, fortunately for me, could not understand, and +how I hated the sight of them, and I enjoyed seeing his red and yellow +cockade on the table before me, while I sat in a big armchair and +smoked and was in hearing of the marines drilling on the upper deck. +He was invited to go to breakfast with the officers, and I sat next to +him, and as it happened to be my turn to treat, I had the satisfaction +of pouring drinks down his throat. I told stories about Spanish +officers all the time to the rest of the mess, pretending I was telling +them something else by making drawings on the tablecloth, so that the +unhappy officer on his other side, who was talking Spanish to him, had +a hard time not to laugh. I told Zogbaum he ought to draw a picture of +him at the mess to show how we treated prisoners, and a companion one +of the captain of the Compeliton, who came over with us on the Dolphin, +and who showed us the marks of the ropes on his wrists and arms the +Spaniards had bound him with when he was in Cabanas for nine months. +The orderly messed with the bluejackets, who treated him in the most +hospitable manner. He was a poor little peasant boy, half starved and +hollow-eyed, and so scared that he could hardly stand, but they took +great pride in the fact that they had made him eat three times of +everything. They are, without prejudice, the finest body of men and +boys you would care to see, and as humorous and polite and keen as any +class of men I ever met. +</P> + +<P> +The war could be ended in a month so far as the island of Cuba is +concerned, if the troops were ready and brought over here. The coast +to Havana for ten miles is broad enough for them to march along it, and +the heights above could be covered the entire time by the fleet, so +that it would be absolutely impossible for any force to withstand the +awful hailstorm they would play on it. Transports carrying the +provisions would be protected by the ships on the gulf side, and the +guns at Morro could be shut up in twenty-four hours. This is not a +dream, but the most obvious and feasible plan, and it is a disgrace if +the Washington politicians delay. As to health, this is the healthiest +part of the coast. The trade winds blow every day of the year, and the +fever talk is all nonsense. The army certainly has delayed most +scandalously in mobilizing. This talk of waiting a month is suicide. +It is a terrible expense. It keeps the people on a strain, destroys +business, and the health of the troops at Tampa is, to my mind, in much +greater danger than it would be on the hills around Havana, where, as +Scovel says, there is as much yellow fever as there is snow. Tell Dad +to urge them to act promptly. In the meanwhile I am having a +magnificent time. I am burned and hungry and losing about a ton of fat +a day, and I sleep finely. The other night the Porter held us up, but +it was a story that never got into the papers. I haven't missed a +trick so far except not getting on the flagship from the first, but +that does not count now since I am on board. +</P> + +<P> +I haven't written anything yet, but I am going to begin soon. I expect +to make myself rich on this campaign. I get ten cents a word from +Scribner's for everything I send them, if it is only a thousand words, +and I get four hundred dollars a week salary from The Times, and all my +expenses. I haven't had any yet, but when I go back and join the army, +I am going to travel en suite with an assistant and the best and +gentlest ponies; a courier and a servant, a tent and a secretary and a +typewriter, so that Miles will look like a second lieutenant. +</P> + +<P> +When I came out here on the Dolphin I said I was going to Tampa, lying +just on the principle that it is no other newspaper-man's business +where you are going. So, The Herald man at Key West, hearing this, and +not knowing I WAS GOING TO THE FLAGSHIP, called Long, making a strong +kick about the correspondents, Bonsal, Remington and Paine, who are, or +were, with the squadron. Stenie left two days ago, hoping to get a +commission on the staff of General Lee. So yesterday Scovel told me +Long had cabled in answer to The Herald's protests to the admiral as +follows: "Complaints have been received that correspondents Paine, +Remington and Bonsal are with the squadron. Send them ashore at once. +There must be no favoritism." +</P> + +<P> +Scovel got the admiral at once to cable Long on his behalf because of +his services as a spy, but as Roosevelt had done so much for me, I +would not appeal over him, and this morning I sent in word to the +admiral that I was leaving the ship and would like to pay my respects. +Sampson is a thin man with a gray beard. He looks like a college +professor and has very fine, gentle eyes. He asked me why I meant to +leave the ship, and I said I had heard one of the torpedo boats was +going to Key West, and I thought I would go with her if he would allow +it. He asked if I had seen the cable from Long, and I said I had heard +of it, and that I was really going so as not to embarrass him with my +presence. He said, "I have received three different orders from the +Secretary, one of them telling me I could have such correspondents on +board as were agreeable to me. He now tells me that they must all go. +You can do as you wish. You are perfectly welcome to remain until the +conflict of orders is cleared up." I saw he was mad and that he wanted +me to stay, or at least not to go of my own wish, so that he could have +a grievance out of it—if he had to send me away after having been told +he could have those with him who were agreeable to him. Captain +Chadwick was in the cabin, and said, "Perhaps Mr. Davis had better +remain another twenty-four hours." The admiral added, "Ships are going +to Key West daily." Then Chadwick repeated that he thought I had +better stay another day, and made a motion to me to do so. So I said I +would, and now I am waiting to see what is going to happen. Outside, +Chadwick told me that something in the way of an experience would +probably come off, so I have hopes. By this time, of course, you know +all about it. I shall finish this later. +</P> + +<P> +We began bombarding Matanzas twenty minutes after I wrote the above. +It was great. I guess I got a beat, as The Herald tug is the only one +in sight. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Flagship—Off Havana +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 30th, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +You must not mind if I don't write often, but I feel that you see The +Herald every day and that tells you of what I am seeing and doing, and +I am writing so much, and what with keeping notes and all, I haven't +much time— What you probably want to know is that I am well and that +my sciatica is not troubling me at all—Mother always wants to know +that. On the other hand I am on the best ship from which to see things +and on the safest, as she can move quicker and is more heavily armored +than any save the battleships— The fact that the admiral is on board +and that she is the flagship is also a guarantee that she will not be +allowed to expose herself. I was very badly scared when I first came +to Key West for fear I should be left especially when I didn't make the +flagship— But I have not missed a single trick so far— Bonsal missed +the bombardment and so did Stephen Crane— All the press boats were +away except The Herald's. I had to write the story in fifteen minutes, +so it was no good except that we had it exclusively— +</P> + +<P> +I am sending a short story of the first shot fired to the Scribner's +and am arranging with them to bring out a book on the Campaign. I have +asked them to announce it as it will help me immensely here for it is +as an historian and not as a correspondent that I get on over those men +who are correspondents for papers only. I have made I think my +position here very strong and the admiral is very much my friend as are +also his staff. Crane on the other hand took the place of Paine who +was exceedingly popular with every one and it has made it hard for +Crane to get into things— I am having a really royal time, it is so +beautiful by both night and day and there is always color and movement +and the most rigid discipline with the most hearty good feeling— I get +on very well with the crew too, one of them got shot by a revolver's +going off and I asked the surgeon if I might not help at the operation +so that I might learn to be useful, and to get accustomed to the sight +of wounds and surgery— It was a wonderful thing to see, and I was +confused as to whether I admired the human body more or the way the +surgeon's understood and mastered it— The sailor would not give way to +the ether and I had to hold him for an hour while they took out his +whole insides and laid them on the table and felt around inside of him +as though he were a hollow watermelon. Then they put his stomach back +and sewed it in and then sewed up his skin and he was just as good as +new. We carried him over to a cot and he came to, and looked up at us. +We were all bare-armed and covered with his blood, and then over at the +operating table, which was also covered with his blood. He was gray +under his tan and his lips were purple and his eyes were still drunk +with the ether— But he looked at our sanguinary hands and shook his +head sideways on the pillow and smiled— "You'se can't kill me," he +said, "I'm a New Yorker, by God—you'se can't kill me." The Herald +cabled for a story as to how the crew of the New York behaved in +action. I think I shall send them that although there are a few things +the people had better take for granted— Of course, we haven't been "in +action" yet but the first bombardment made me nervous until it got well +started. I think every one was rather nervous and it was chiefly to +show them there was nothing to worry about that we fired off the U. S. +guns. They talk like veterans now— It was much less of a strain than +I had expected, there was no standing on your toes nor keeping your +mouth open or putting wadding in your ears. I took photographs most of +the time, and they ought to be excellent—what happened was that you +were thrown up off the deck just as you are when an elevator starts +with a sharp jerk and there was an awful noise like the worst clap of +thunder you ever heard close to your ears, then the smoke covered +everything and you could hear the shot going through the air like a +giant rocket— The shots they fired at us did not cut any ice except a +shrapnel that broke just over the main mast and which reminded me of +Greece— The other shots fell short— The best thing was to see the +Captains of the Puritan and Cincinnati frantically signalling to be +allowed to fire too— A little fort had opened on us from the left so +they plugged at that, it was a wonderful sight, the Monitor was swept +with waves and the guns seemed to come out of the water. The +Cincinnati did the best of all. Her guns were as fast as the reports +of a revolver, a self-cocking revolver, when one holds the trigger for +the whole six. We got some copies of The Lucha on the Panama and their +accounts of what was going on in Havana were the best reading I ever +saw— They probably reported the Matanzas bombardment as a Spanish +victory— The firing yesterday was very tame. We all sat about on deck +and the band played all the time— We didn't even send the men to +quarters— I do not believe the army intends to move for two weeks yet, +so I shall stay here. They seem to want me to do so, and I certainly +want to— But that army is too slow for words, and we love the "Notes +from the Front" in The Tribune, telling about the troops at +Chickamauga— I believe what will happen is that a chance shot will +kill some of our men, and the Admiral won't do a thing but knock hell +out of whatever fort does it and land a party of marines and +bluejackets— Even if they only occupy the place for 24 hours, it will +beat that army out and that's what I want. They'll get second money in +the Campaign if they get any, unless they brace up and come over— I +have the very luck of the British Army, I walked into an open hatch +today and didn't stop until I caught by my arms and the back of my +neck. It was very dark and they had opened it while I was in a cabin. +The Jackie whose business it was to watch it was worse scared than I +was, and I looked up at him while still hanging to the edges with my +neck and arms and said "why didn't you tell me?" He shook his head and +said, "that's so, Sir, I certainly should have told you, I certainly +should"— They're exactly like children and the reason is, I think, +because they are so shut off from the contamination of the world. One +of these ships is like living in a monastery, and they are as +disciplined and gentle as monks, and as reckless as cowboys. When I go +forward and speak to one of them they all gather round and sit on the +deck in circles and we talk and they listen and make the most +interesting comments— The middy who fired the first gun at Matanzas is +a modest alert boy about 18 years old and crazy about his work— So, +the Captain selected him for the honor and also because there is such +jealousy between the bow and stern guns that he decided not to risk +feelings being hurt by giving it to either— So, Boone who was at +Annapolis a month ago was told to fire the shot— We all took his name +and he has grown about three inches. We told him all of the United +States and England would be ringing with his name— When I was alone he +came and sat down on a gull beside me and told me he was very glad they +had let him fire that first gun because his mother was an invalid and +he had gone into the navy against her wish and he hoped now that she +would be satisfied when she saw his name in the papers. He was too +sweet and boyish about it for words and I am going to take a snapshot +at him and put his picture in Scribner's—"he only stands about so +high—" +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<P> +I enclose a souvenir of the bombardment. Please keep it carefully for +me— It was the first shot "in anger" in thirty years. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TAMPA, May 3rd, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR NORA: +</P> + +<P> +We are still here and probably will be. It is a merry war, if there +were only some girls here the place would be perfect. I don't know +what's the matter with the American girl—here am I—and Stenie and +Willie Chanler and Frederick Remington and all the boy officers of the +army and not one solitary, ugly, plain, pretty, or beautiful girl. I +bought a fine pony to-day, her name was Ellaline but I thought that was +too much glory for Ellaline so I diffused it over the whole company by +re-christening her Gaiety Girl, because she is so quiet, all the Gaiety +Girls I know are quiet. +</P> + +<P> +She never does what I tell her anyway, so it doesn't matter what I call +her. But when this cruel war is over ($6 a day with bath room +adjoining) I am going to have an oil painting of her labelled "Gaiety +Girl the Kentucky Mare that carried the news of the fall of Havana to +Matanzas, fifty miles under fire and Richard Harding Davis." To-morrow +I am going to buy a saddle and a servant. War is a cruel thing +especially to army officers. They have to wear uniforms and are not +allowed to take off their trousers to keep cool— They take off +everything else except their hats and sit in the dining room without +their coats or collars— That's because it is war time. They are +terrible brave—you can see it by the way they wear bouquets on their +tunics and cigarette badges and Cuban flags and by not saluting their +officers. One General counted today and forty enlisted men passed him +without saluting. The army will have to do a lot of fighting to make +itself solid with me. They are mounted police. We have a sentry here, +he sits in a rocking chair. Imagine one of Sampson's or Dewey's +bluejackets sitting down even on a gun carriage. Wait till I write my +book. I wouldn't say a word now but when I write that book I'll give +them large space rates. I am writing it now, the first batch comes out +in Scribner's in July. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +to you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +During the early days of the war, Richard received the appointment of a +captaincy, but on the advice of his friends that his services were more +valuable as a correspondent, he refused the commission. The following +letter shows that at least at the time my brother regretted the +decision, but as events turned out he succeeded in rendering splendid +service not only as a correspondent but in the field. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TAMPA—May 14, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS. +</P> + +<P> +On reflection I am greatly troubled that I declined the captaincy. It +is unfortunate that I had not time to consider it. We shall not have +another war and I can always be a war correspondent in other countries +but never again have a chance to serve in my own. The people here +think it was the right thing to do but the outside people won't. Not +that I care about that, but I think I was weak not to chance it. I +don't know exactly what I ought to do. When I see all these kid +militia men enlisted it makes me feel like the devil. I've no doubt +many of them look upon it as a sort of a holiday and an outing and like +it for the excitement, but it would bore me to death. The whole thing +would bore me if I thought I had to keep at it for a year or more. +That is the fault of my having had too much excitement and freedom. It +spoils me to make sacrifices that other men can make. Whichever way it +comes out I shall be sorry and feel I did not do the right thing. +Lying around this hotel is enough to demoralize anybody. We are much +more out of it than you are, and one gets cynical and loses interest. +On the other hand I would be miserable to go back and have done +nothing. It is a question of character entirely and I don't feel I've +played the part at all. It's all very well to say you are doing more +by writing, but are you? It's an easy game to look on and pat the +other chaps on the back with a few paragraphs, that is cheap +patriotism. They're taking chances and you're not and when the war's +over they'll be happy and I won't. The man that enlists or volunteers +even if he doesn't get further than Chickamauga or Gretna Green and the +man who doesn't enlist at all but minds his own business is much better +off than I will be writing about what other men do and not doing it +myself, especially as I had a chance of a life time, and declined it. +I'll always feel I lost in character by not sticking to it whether I +had to go to Arizona or Governor's Island. I was unfortunate in having +Lee and Remington to advise me. We talked for two hours in Fred's +bedroom and they were both dead against it and Lee composed my telegram +to the president. Now, I feel sure I did wrong. Shafter did not care +and the other officers were delighted and said it was very honorable +and manly giving me credit for motives I didn't have. I just didn't +think it was good enough although I wanted it too and I missed +something I can never get again. I am very sad about it. I know all +the arguments for not taking it but as a matter of fact I should have +done so. I would have made a good aide, and had I got a chance I +certainly would have won out and been promoted. That there are fools +appointed with me is no answer. I wouldn't have stayed in their class +long. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TAMPA, May 29, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS.: +</P> + +<P> +The cigars came; they are O. K. and a great treat after Tampa products. +Captain Lee and I went out to the volunteer camps today: Florida, +Alabama, Ohio and Michigan, General Lee's push, and it has depressed me +very much. I have been so right about so many things these last five +years, and was laughed at for making much of them. Now all I urged is +proved to be correct; nothing our men wear is right. The shoes, the +hats, the coats, all are dangerous to health and comfort; one-third of +the men cannot wear the regulation shoe because it cuts the instep, and +buy their own, and the volunteers are like the Cuban army in +appearance. The Greek army, at which I made such sport, is a fine +organization in comparison as far as outfit goes; of course, there is +no comparison in the spirit of the men. One colonel of the Florida +regiment told us that one-third of his men had never fired a gun. They +live on the ground; there are no rain trenches around the tents, or +gutters along the company streets; the latrines are dug to windward of +the camp, and all the refuse is burned to WINDWARD. +</P> + +<P> +Half of the men have no uniforms nor shoes. I pointed out some of the +unnecessary discomforts the men were undergoing through ignorance, and +one colonel, a Michigan politician, said, "Oh, well, they'll learn. It +will be a good lesson for them." Instead of telling them, or telling +their captains, he thinks it best that they should find things out by +suffering. I cannot decide whether to write anything about it or not. +I cannot see where it could do any good, for it is the system that is +wrong—the whole volunteer system, I mean. Captain Lee happened to be +in Washington when the first Manila outfit was starting from San +Francisco, and it was on his representations that they gave the men +hammocks, and took a store of Mexican dollars. They did not know that +Mexican dollars are the only currency of the East, and were expecting +to pay the men in drafts on New York. +</P> + +<P> +Isn't that a pitiable situation when a captain of an English company +happens to stray into the war office, and happens to have a good heart +and busies himself to see that our own men are supplied with hammocks +and spending money. None of our officers had ever seen khaki until +they saw Lee's, nor a cork helmet until they saw mine and his; now, +naturally, they won't have anything else, and there is not another one +in the country. The helmets our troops wear would be smashed in one +tropical storm, and they are so light that the sun beats through them. +They are also a glaring white, and are cheap and nasty and made of +pasteboard. The felt hats are just as bad; the brim is not broad +enough to protect them from the sun or to keep the rain off their +necks, and they are made of such cheap cotton stuff that they grow hard +when they are wet and heavy, instead of shedding the rain as good felt +would do. They have always urged that our uniforms, though not smart +nor "for show," were for use. The truth is, as they all admit, that +for the tropics they are worse than useless, and that in any climate +they are cheap and poor. +</P> + +<P> +I could go on for pages, but it has to be written later; now they would +only think it was an attack on the army. But it is sickening to see +men being sacrificed as these men will be. This is the worst season of +all in the Philippines. The season of typhoons and rainstorms and +hurricanes, and they would have sent the men off without anything to +sleep on but the wet ground and a wet blanket. It has been a great +lesson for me, and I have rubber tents, rubber blankets, rubber coats +and hammocks enough for an army corps. I have written nothing for the +paper, because, if I started to tell the truth at all, it would do no +good, and it would open up a hell of an outcry from all the families of +the boys who have volunteered. Of course, the only answer is a +standing army of a hundred thousand, and no more calling on the +patriotism of men unfitted and untrained. It is the sacrifice of the +innocents. The incompetence and, unreadiness of the French in 1870 was +no worse than our own is now. It is a terrible and pathetic spectacle, +and the readiness of the volunteers to be sacrificed is all the more +pathetic. It seems almost providential that we had this false-alarm +call with Spain to show the people how utterly helpless they are. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +love, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TAMPA, June 9th, 1898. +</P> + +<P> +Well, here we are again. Talk of the "Retreat from Ottawa" I've +retreated more in this war than the Greeks did. If they don't brace up +soon, I'll go North and refuse to "recognize" the war. I feel I +deserve a pension and a medal as it is. We had everything on board and +our cabins assigned us and our "war kits" in which we set forth taken +off, and were in yachting flannels ready for the five days cruise. I +had the devil of a time getting out to the flagship, as they call the +headquarters boat. I went out early in the morning of the night when I +last wrote you. I stayed up all that night watching troops arrive and +lending a helping hand and a word of cheer to dispirited mules and men, +also segars and cool drinks, none of them had had food for twenty-four +hours and the yellow Florida people having robbed them all day had shut +up and wouldn't open their miserable shops. They even put sentries +over the drinking water of the express company which is only making +about a million a day out of the soldiers. So their soldiers slept +along the platform and trucks rolled by them all night, shaking the +boards on which they lay by an inch or two. About four we heard that +Shafter was coming and an officer arrived to have his luggage placed on +the Seguranca. I left them all on the pier carrying their own baggage +and sweating and dripping and no one having slept. Their special train +had been three hours in coming nine miles. I hired a small boat and +went off to the flagship alone but the small boat began to leak and I +bailed and the colored boy pulled and the men on the transports cheered +us on. Just at the sinking point I hailed a catboat and we transferred +the Admiral's flag to her and also my luggage. The rest of the day we +spent on the transport. We left it this morning. Some are still on it +but as they are unloading all the horses and mules from the other +transports fifteen having died from the heat below deck and as they +cannot put them on again under a day, I am up here to get cool and to +stretch my legs. The transport is all right if it were not so awfully +crowded. I am glad I held out to go with the Headquarter staff. I +would have died on the regular press boat, as it is the men are +interesting on our boat. We have all the military attaches and Lee, +Remington, Whitney and Bonsal. The reason we did not go was because +last night the Eagle and Resolute saw two Spanish cruisers and two +torpedo boats laying for us outside, only five miles away. What they +need with fourteen ships of war to guard a bottled up fleet and by +leaving twenty-six transports some of them with 1,400 men on them +without any protection but a small cruiser and one gun boat is beyond +me. The whole thing is beyond me. It is the most awful picnic that +ever happened, you wouldn't credit the mistakes that are made. It is +worse than the French at Sedan a million times. We are just amateurs +at war and about like the Indians Columbus discovered. I am +exceedingly pleased with myself at taking it so good naturedly. I +would have thought I would have gone mad or gone home long ago. Bonsal +and Remington threaten to go every minute. Miles tells me we shall +have to wait until those cruisers are located or bottled up. I'm tired +of bottling up fleets. I like the way Dewey bottles them. What a +story that would have made. Twenty-six transports with as many +thousand men sunk five miles out and two-thirds of them drowned. +Remember the Maine indeed! they'd better remember the Main and brace +up. If we wait until they catch those boats I may be here for another +month as we cannot dare go away for long or far. If we decide to go +with a convoy which is what we ought to do, we may start in a day or +two. Nothing you read in the papers is correct. Did I tell you that +Miles sent Dorst after me the other night and made me a long speech, +saying he thought I had done so well in refusing the commission. I was +glad he felt that way about it. Well, lots of love. I'm now going to +take a bath. God bless you, this is a "merry war." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In sight of Santiago— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June 26th, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS.: +</P> + +<P> +We have come to a halt here in a camp along the trail to Santiago. You +can see it by climbing a hill. Instead of which I am now sitting by a +fine stream on a cool rock. I have discovered that you really enjoy +things more when you are not getting many comforts than you do when you +have all you want. That sounds dull but it is most consoling. I had a +bath this morning in these rocks that I would not have given up for all +the good dinners I ever had at the Waldorf, or the Savoy. It just went +up and down my spine and sent thrills all over me. It is most +interesting now and all the troubles of the dull days of waiting at +Tampa and that awful time on the troopship are over. The army is +stretched out along the trail from the coast for six miles. Santiago +lies about five miles ahead of us. I am very happy and content and the +book for Scribners ought to be an interesting one. It is really very +hard that my despatches are limited to 100 words for there are lots of +chances. The fault lies with the army people at Washington, who give +credentials to any one who asks. To The Independent and other +periodicals—in no sense newspapers, and they give seven to one paper, +consequently we as a class are a pest to the officers and to each +other. Fortunately, the survival of the fittest is the test and only +the best men in every sense get to the front. There are fifty others +at the base who keep the wire loaded with rumors, so when after great +difficulty we get the correct news back to Daiquire a Siboney there is +no room for it. Some of the "war correspondents" have absolutely +nothing but the clothes they stand in, and the others had to take up +subscriptions for them. They gambled all the time on the transports +and are ensconced now at the base with cards and counters and nothing +else. Whitney has turned out great at the work and I am glad he is not +on a daily paper or he would share everything with me. John Fox, +Whitney and I are living on Wood's rough riders. We are very welcome +and Roosevelt has us at Headquarters but, of course, we see the men we +know all the time. You get more news with the other regiments but the +officers, even the Generals, are such narrow minded slipshod men that +we only visit them to pick up information. Whitney and I were the only +correspondents that saw the fight at Guasimas. He was with the +regulars but I had the luck to be with Roosevelt. He is sore but still +he saw more than any one else and is proportionally happy. Still he +naturally would have liked to have been with our push. We were within +thirty yards of the Spaniards and his crowd were not nearer than a +quarter of a mile which was near enough as they had nearly as many +killed. Gen. Chaffee told me to-day that it was Wood's charge that won +the day, without it the tenth could not have driven the Spaniards +back— Wood is a great young man, he has only one idea or rather all +his ideas run in one direction, his regiment, he eats and talks nothing +else. He never sleeps more than four hours and all the rest of the +time he is moving about among the tents— Between you and me and the +policeman, it was a very hot time— Maybe if I drew you a map you would +understand why. +</P> + +<P> +Wood and Gen. Young, by agreement the night before and without orders +from anybody decided to advance at daybreak and dislodge the Spaniards +from Las Guasimas. They went by two narrow trails single file, the two +trails were along the crests of a line of hills with a valley between. +The dotted line is the trail we should have taken had the Cubans told +us it existed, if we had done so we would have had the Spaniards in the +frontband rear as General Young would have caught them where they +expected him to come, and we would have caught them where they were not +looking for us. Of course, the Cubans who are worthless in every way +never told us of this trail until we had had the meeting. No one knew +we were near Spaniards until both columns were on the place where the +two trails meet. Then our scouts came back and reported them and the +companies were scattered out as you see them in the little dots. The +Spaniards were absolutely hidden not over 25 per cent of the men saw +one of them for two hours— I ran out with the company on the right of +the dotted line, marked "our position." I thought it was a false alarm +and none of us believed there were any Spaniards this side of Santiago. +The ground was covered with high grass and cactus and vines so that you +could not see twenty feet ahead, the men had to beat the vines with +their carbines to get through them. We had not run fifty yards through +the jungle before they opened on us with a quick firing gun at a +hundred yards. I saw the enemy on the hill across the valley and got +six sharp shooters and began on them, then the fire got so hot that we +had to lie on our faces and crawl back to the rear. I had a wounded +man to carry and was in a very bad way because I had sciatica, Two of +his men took him off while I stopped to help a worse wounded trooper, +but I found he was dead. When I had come back for him in an hour, the +vultures had eaten out his eyes and lips. In the meanwhile a trooper +stood up on the crest with a guidon and waved it at the opposite trail +to find out if the firing there was from Spaniards or Len Young's +negroes. He was hit in three places but established the fact that +Young was up on the trail on our right across the valley for they +cheered. He was a man who had run on the Gold Ticket for Congress in +Arizona, and consequently, as some one said, naturally should have led +a forlorn hope. A blackguard had just run past telling them that Wood +was killed and that he had been ordered to Siboney for reinforcements. +That was how the report spread that we were cut to pieces— A reporter +who ran away from Young's column was responsible for the story that I +was killed. He meant Marshall who was on the left of the line and who +was shot through the spine— There was a lot of wounded at the base and +the fighting in front was fearful to hear. It was as fast as a hard +football match and you must remember it lasted two full hours; during +that time the men were on their feet all the time or crawling on their +hands— Not one of them, with the exception of ——, and a Sergeant who +threw away his gun and ran, went a step back. It was like playing +blindman's buff and you were it. I got separated once and was scared +until I saw the line again, as my leg was very bad and I could not get +about over the rough ground. I went down the trail and I found Capron +dying and the whole place littered with discarded blankets and +haversacks. I also found Fish and pulled him under cover—he was quite +dead— Then I borrowed a carbine and joined Capron's troop, a second +lieutenant and his Sergeant were in command. The man next me in line +got a bullet through his sleeve and one through his shirt and you could +see where it went in and came out without touching the skin. The +firing was very high and we were in no danger so I told the lieutenant +to let us charge across an open place and take a tin shack which was +held by the Spaniards' rear guard, for they were open in retreat. +Roosevelt ordered his men to do the same thing and we ran forward +cheering across the open and then dropped in the grass and fired. I +guess I fired about twenty rounds and then formed into a strategy board +and went off down the trail to scout. I got lonely and was coming back +when I met another trooper who sat down and said he was too hot to run +in any direction Spaniard or no Spaniard. So we sat down and panted. +At last he asked me if I was R. H. D. and I said I was and he said "I'm +Dean, I met you in Harvard in the racquet court." Then we embraced—the +tenth came up then and it was all over. My leg, thank goodness, is all +right again and has been so for three days. It was only the running +about that caused it. I won't have to run again as I have a horse now +and there will be no more ambushes and moreover we have 12,000 men +around us— Being together that way in a tight place has made us all +friends and I guess I'll stick to the regiment. Send this to dear +Mother and tell her I was not born to be killed. I ought to tell you +more of the charming side of the life—we are all dirty and hungry and +sleep on the ground and have grand talks on every subject around the +headquarters tent. I was never more happy and content and never so +well. It is hot but at night it is quite cool and there has been no +rain only a few showers. 'No one is ill and there have been no cases of +fever. I have not heard from you or any one since the 14th, which is +not really long but so much goes on that it seems so. Lots of love to +you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +After reading this over I ought perhaps to say that the position of the +real correspondents is absolutely the very best. No one confounds us +with the men at the base, and nothing they have they deny us. We are +treated immeasurably better than the poor attaches who are still on the +ship and who if they were spies could not be treated worse. But for +Whitney, Remington and myself nothing is too good. Generals fight to +have us on their staffs and all that sort of thing, so I really cannot +complain, except about the fact that our real news is crowded out by +the faker in the rear. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SANTIAGO. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Headquarters<BR> +Cavalry Division, U. S. Army.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Headqrs. Wood's Rough Riders.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June 29th, 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DAD: +</P> + +<P> +I suppose you are back from Marion now and I have missed you. I can't +tell you how sorry I am. I wanted to see you coming up the street this +summer in your knickerbockers and with no fish, but still happy. Never +mind, we shall do the theatres this Fall, and have good walks downtown. +I hope Mother will come up and visit me this September, at Marion and +sit on Allen's and on the Clarks' porch and we can have Chas. too. I +suppose he will have had his holiday but he can come up for a Sunday. +We expect to move up on Santiago the day after to-morrow, and it's +about time, for the trail will not be passable much longer. It rains +every day at three o'clock for an hour and such rain you never guessed. +It is three inches high for an hour. Then we all go out naked and dig +trenches to get it out of the way. It is very rough living. I have to +confess that I never knew how well off I was until I got to smoking +Durham tobacco and I've only half a bag of that left. The enlisted men +are smoking dried horse droppings, grass, roots and tea. Some of them +can't sleep they are so nervous for the want of it, but to-day a lot +came up and all will be well for them. I've had a steady ration of +coffee, bacon and hard tack for a week and one mango, to night we had +beans. Of course, what they ought to serve is rice and beans as fried +bacon is impossible in this heat. Still, every one is well. This is +the best crowd to be with—they are so well educated and so +interesting. The regular army men are very dull and narrow and would +bore one to death. We have Wood, Roosevelt, Lee, the British Attache, +Whitney and a Doctor Church, a friend of mine from Princeton, who is +quite the most cheerful soul and the funniest I ever met. He carried +four men from the firing line the other day back half a mile to the +hospital tent. He spends most of his time coming around headquarters +in an undershirt of mine and a gold bracelet fighting tarantulas. I +woke up the other morning with one seven inches long and as hairy as +your head reposing on my pillow. My sciatica bothers me but has not +prevented me seeing everything and I can dig rain gutters and cut wood +with any of them. It is very funny to see Larned, the tennis champion, +whose every movement at Newport was applauded by hundreds of young +women, marching up and down in the wet grass. Whitney and I guy him. +To-day a sentry on post was reading "As You Like It" and whenever I go +down the line half the men want to know who won the boat race— To-day +Wood sent me out with a detail on a pretense of scouting but really to +give them a chance to see the country. They were all college boys, +with Willie Tiffany as sergeant and we had a fine time and could see +the Spanish sentries quite plainly without a glass. I hope you will +not worry over this long separation. I don't know of any experience I +have had which has done me so much good, and being with such a fine lot +of fellows is a great pleasure. The scenery is very beautiful when it +is not raining. I have a cot raised off the ground in the Colonel's +tent and am very well off. If Chaffee or Lawton, who are the finest +type of officers I ever saw, were in command, we would have been +fighting every day and would probably have been in by this time. This +weather shows that Havana must be put off after Porto Rico. They +cannot campaign in this mud. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SANTIAGO, July 1898. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +This is just to reassure you that I am all right. I and Marshall were +the only correspondents with Roosevelt. We were caught in a clear case +of ambush. Every precaution had been taken, but the natives knew the +ground and our men did not. It was the hottest, nastiest fight I ever +imagined. We never saw the enemy except glimpses. Our men fell all +over the place, shouting to the others not to mind them, but to go on. +I got excited and took a carbine and charged the sugar house, which was +what is called the key to the position. If the men had been regulars I +would have sat in the rear as B—— did, but I knew every other one of +them, had played football, and all that sort of thing, with them, so I +thought as an American I ought to help. The officers were falling all +over the shop, and after it was all over Roosevelt made me a long +speech before some of the men, and offered me a captaincy in the +regiment any time I wanted it. He told the Associated Press man that +there was no officer in his regiment who had "been of more help or +shown more courage" than your humble servant, so that's all right. +After this I keep quiet. I promise I keep quiet. Love to you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +From Cuba Richard sailed with our forces to Porto Rico, where his +experiences in the Spanish-American war came to an end, and he returned +to Marion. He spent the fall in New York, and early in 1899 went to +London. +</P> + +<P> +One of the most interesting, certainly the most widely talked of, +"sporting events" for which Richard was responsible was the sending of +an English district-messenger boy from London to Chicago. The idea was +inspired by my brother's general admiration of the London messenger +service and his particular belief in one William Thomas Jaggers, a +fourteen-year-old lad whom Richard had frequently employed to carry +notes and run errands. One day, during a casual luncheon conversation +at the Savoy with his friend Somers Somerset, Richard said that he +believed that if Jaggers were asked to carry a message to New York that +he could not only do it but would express no surprise at the +commission. This conversation resulted in the bet described in the +following letters. The boy slipped quietly away from London, but a few +days later the bet became public and the newspapers were filled with +speculation as to whether Jaggers could beat the mails. The messenger +carried three letters, one to my sister, one to Miss Cecil Clark of +Chicago, whom Richard married a few months later, and one to myself. +As a matter of fact, Jaggers delivered his notes several hours before +letters travelling by the same boat reached the same destinations. The +newspapers not only printed long accounts of Jaggers's triumphal +progress from New York to Chicago and back again, but used the success +of his undertaking as a text for many editorials against the dilatory +methods of our foreign-mail service. Jaggers left London on March 11, +1899, and was back again on the 29th, having travelled nearly +eighty-four hundred miles in eighteen days. On his return he was +received literally by a crowd of thousands, and his feat was given +official recognition by a gold medal pinned on his youthful chest by +the Duchess of Rutland. Also, later on, at a garden fete he was +presented to the Queen, and incidentally, still later, returned to the +United States as "buttons" to my brother's household. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Bachelors' Club,<BR> +Piccadilly, W.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March 15th, 1899. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS. +</P> + +<P> +I hope you are not annoyed about Jaggers. When he started no one knew +of it but three people and I had no idea anyone else would, but the +company sent it to The Mail without my name but describing me as "an +American gentleman"— Instantly the foreign correspondents went to them +to find out who I was and to whom I was sending the letter— I told the +company it was none of their damned business—that I employed the boy +by the week and that I could send him where-ever I chose. Then the +boy's father got proud and wrote to The Mail about his age and so they +got the boy's name. Mine, however, is still out of it, but in America +they are sure to know as the people on the steamer are crazy about him +and Kinsey the Purser knows he is sent by me. After he gets back from +Chicago and Philadelphia, you can do with him as you like until the +steamer sails. If the thing is taken up as it is here and the fat is +in the fire, then you can do as you please— I mean you can tell the +papers about it or not— Somerset holds one end of the bets and I the +other. There are two bets: one that he will beat the mail to Chicago, +Somerset agreeing to consider the letter you give him to Bruce, as +equivalent to one coming from here. The other bet is that he will +deliver and get receipts from you, Nora and Bruce, and return here by +the 5th of April— You and Bobby ought to be able to do well by him if +it becomes, as I say, so far public that there is no possibility of +further concealment— You have my permission to do what you please— He +is coming into my employ as soon as he gets back and as soon as the +company give him a medal. +</P> + +<P> +Over here there is the greatest possible interest in the matter— At +the Clubs I go to, the waiters all wait on me in order to have the +latest developments and when it was cabled over here that the Customs' +people intended stopping him, indignation raged at the Foreign office. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +of love, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +89 Jermyn Street, S. W. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March—1899 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR NORA: +</P> + +<P> +This is to be handed to you by my special messenger, who is to assure +you that I am in the best of health and spirits— Keep him for a few +hours and then send him on to Chicago— As he is doing this on a bet, +do not give him any written instructions only verbal ones. I am very +well and happy and send you all my love— Jaggers has been running +errands for me ever since I came here, and a most loyal servitor when I +was ill— On his return I want to keep him on as a buttons. See that +he gets plenty to eat— If he comes back alive he will have broken the +messenger boy service record by three thousand miles. Personally, it +does not cost me anything to speak of. The dramatization of the +Soldiers continues briskly, and Maude is sending Grundy back the +Jackal, to have a second go at it. Maude insists on its being done—so +I stand to win a lot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Beefsteak Club, 9, Green Street,<BR> +Leicester Square, W. C. Tuesday.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March—1899. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +The faithful Jaggers should have arrived to-day, or will do so this +evening— I am sure you will make the poor little chap comfortable— I +do regret having sent him on such a journey especially since the papers +here made such an infernal row over it— However, neither of us will +lose by it in the end— +</P> + +<P> +I dined with Lady Clarke last night and met Lord Castleton there and he +invited me up to Dublin for the Punchtown Races— I have a great mind +to go and write a story on them— Castleton is a great sport and very +popular at home and in England and it would be a pleasant experience. +Kuhne Beveridge is doing a bust of me in khaki outfit for the Academy +and also for a private exhibition of her own works, which includes the +Prince of Wales, and the Little Queen of Holland. +</P> + +<P> +Hays Hammond has invited me down to South Africa again, with a promise +of making my fortune, but I am not going as it takes too long. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOER WAR +</H3> + +<P> +On May 4, 1899, at Marion, Massachusetts, Richard was married to Cecil +Clark, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Clark of Chicago. After +the marriage Richard and his wife spent a few weeks in Marion and the +remainder of the summer in London and Aix-les-Bains. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MARION, May 28th, 1899. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +You sent me such a good letter about the visit of the three selected +chorus girls. But what was best, was about your wishing to see me. Of +course, you know that I feel that too. I would have it so that we all +lived here, so that Dad could fish, and Nora and Cecil could discuss +life, and you and I could just take walks and chat. But because that +cannot be, we are no further away than we ever were and when the pain +to see you comes, I don't let it hurt and I don't kill it either for it +is the sweetest pain I can feel. If sons will go off and marry, or be +war-correspondents, or managers, it does not mean that Home is any the +less Home. You can't wipe out history by changing the name of a +boulevard, as somebody said of the French, and if I were able to be in +two places at once, I know in which two places I would be here with +Cecil at Marion, and at Home in the Library with you and Dad and The +Evening Telegraph, and Nora and Van Bibber. You will never know how +much I love you all and you must never give up trying to comprehend it. +God bless you and keep you, and my love to you every minute and always. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Late in January, 1900, Richard and his wife started on their first +great adventure together to the Boer War. Arriving at Cape Town, +Richard left his wife there and, acting as correspondent with the +British forces for the New York Herald and London Mail, saw the relief +of Ladysmith. After this he returned to Cape Town, with the intention +of joining Lord Roberts in his advance on Pretoria. But on arriving at +Cape Town he learned that Lord Roberts did not intend to move for three +weeks, and so decided to say farewell to the British army and to return +to London in a leisurely and sightseeing fashion along the east coast. +It was after they were well started on this return voyage that Richard +conceived the idea of leaving the ship at Durban, going to Pretoria, +and, as he expressed it, "watch the Boers fighting the same men I had +just seen fighting them." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +R. M. S. Scot +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 4th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +A great change has come since I wrote you from Madeira. We are now on +Summer seas and have regulated the days so that they pass very +pleasantly—not that we do not want to be on land— I never so much +wanted it— Somers is with us and is such a comfort. He is even +younger than he used to be and so quick and courteous and good +tempered. He is like a boy off on a holiday— I think he is very much +in love with his wife, but in spite of himself he is glad to get a +holiday, and like all of us he will be so much more glad when he is +homeward bound. They threatened to shut us out of our only chance of +putting foot on land at Madeira— In the first place, we were so +delayed by the storm that we arrived at eight o'clock at night, so that +we missed seeing it in its beauty of flowers and palms. And then it +was so rough that they said it was most unsafe for us to attempt to go +ashore. It was a great disappointment but I urged that every one loved +his own life, and if the natives were willing to risk theirs to sell us +photographs and wicker baskets it was probably safer than it looked— +So we agreed to die together, and with Somers got our rain coats, and +the three of us leaped into a row boat pulled by two Portugese pirates +and started off toward a row of lamps on a quay that seemed much lower +than the waves. The remainder on the ship watched us disappear with +ominus warnings— We really had a most adventurous passage—towards +shore the waves tossed us about like a lobster pot and we just missed +being run down by a coal barge and escaped an upset over the bow anchor +chain of a ship. It was so close that both Somers and I had our coats +off and I told Cecil to grab the chain— But we weathered it and landed +at a high gangway cut in the solid rock the first three steps of which +were swamped by the waves. A rope and chain hung from the top of the +wharf and a man swung his weight on this and yanked us out to the steps +as the boat was on the wave. The rain beat and the wind roared and +beautiful palms lashed the air with their fronds— It was grand to get +on shore once again— At the end of the wharf we were hustled into a +sled on steel runners, like a hearse with curtains around it and drawn +by bullocks— The streets were all of mosaic, thousands of little +stones being packed together like corn on a cob. Over this the heavy +sledge was drawn by the bullocks while a small boy ran ahead through +the narrow streets to clear the way— He had a feather duster made of +horse's tail as a badge of authority and he yelled some strange cry at +the empty streets and closed houses. Another little boy in a striped +jersey ran beside and assured us he was a guide. It was like a page +out of a fairy story. The strange cart sliding and slipping over the +stones which were as smooth as ice, and the colored house fronts and +the palms and strange plants. The darkness made it all the more +unreal— There was a governor's palace buttressed and guarded by +sentinels in a strange uniform and queer little cafe's under vines—and +terraces of cannon, and at last a funny, pathetic little casino. It +was such a queer imitation of Aix and Monte Carlo— There were +chasseurs and footmen in magnificent livery and stucco white walls +ornamented with silk SHAWLS. Also a very good band and a new roulette +table— Coming in out of the night and the rain it was like a theatre +after the "dark scene" has just passed— There were some most dignified +croupiers and three English women and a few sad English men and some +very wicked looking natives in diamonds and white waistcoats. We had +only fifteen minutes to spare so we began playing briskly with two +shilling pieces Cecil with indifferent fortune and Somers losing— But +I won every time and the croupiers gave me strange notes of the Bonco +de Portugal which I put back on the board only to get more of a larger +number— I felt greatly embarrassed as I was not a real member of the +club and I hated to blow in out of a hurricane and take their money and +sail away again— So I appealed to one of the sad eyed Englishmen and +he assured me it was all right, that they welcomed the people from the +passing steamers who generally left a few pounds each with the bank. +But the more I spread the money the more I won until finally the whole +room gathered around. Then I sent out and ordered champagne for +everybody and spare gold to all the waiters and still cashed in +seventy-five dollars in English money. It was pretty good for fifteen +minutes and we went out leaving the people open-eyed, and hitting the +champagne bottles— It was all a part of the fun especially as with all +our gold we could get nothing for supper but "huevos frite" which was +all the Spanish I could remember and which meant fried eggs— But we +were very wet and hungry and we got the eggs and some fruit and real +Madeira wine and then rowed out again rejoicing. The pirates demanded +their pay half way to the boat while we were on the high seas but they +had struck the very wrong men, and I never saw a mutiny quelled so +abruptly— Somers and I told them we'd throw them overboard and row +ourselves and they understood remarkably well— The next day we were +the admired and envied of those who had not had the nerve "to dare to +attempt." It was one of the best experiences altogether we ever had +and I shall certainly put Madeira on my silver cup. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +After their arrival at Cape Town, where Richard arranged for his wife +to stay during his absence at the British front, he started for +Ladysmith, sailing on the same vessel on which he had left England. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 18th, 1900 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +board Scot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I got off yesterday and am hoping to get to Buller before Ladysmith is +relieved. I could not get to go with Roberts because Ralph has been +here four months and has borne the heat and burden of the day, so +although I only came in order to be with Roberts and Kitchener I could +not ask to have Ralph recalled— They wanted me with Roberts and I +wanted it but none of us could make up our minds to turn down Ralph. +So I am going up on this side track on the chance of seeing Ladysmith +relieved and of joining Roberts with Buller later. I shall be +satisfied if I see Ladysmith fall. Fortunately I am to do a great deal +of cabling for The Mail every day and that counts much more with the +reading public than letters— +</P> + +<P> +Cape Town is a dusty, wind ridden western town with a mountain back of +it which one man said was a badly painted back drop— The only +attractive thing about the town is this mountain and a hotel situated +at its base in perfectly beautiful gardens. Here Cecil is settled. I +got her a sitting room and a big bedroom and The Mail agent or Pryor +pays her $150 a week and will take good care of her. It really is a +beautiful and comfortable hotel and grounds and she has made many +friends, and also I forced a pitch battle with a woman who was rude to +her when we visited the hospital— So, as the hospital people were very +keen to have me see and praise their hospital they have taken up arms +against the unfortunate little bounder and championed Cecil and me. +Cecil had really nothing to do with it as you can imagine— She only +laughed but I gave the lady lots to remember. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand every one is as kind and interested in Cecil as can +be. Mrs. Waldron whose son is Secretary to Milner and his secretary +were more than polite to each of us. Milner spent the whole evening we +were there talking to Cecil and not to the lady we had had the row +with, which was a pleasing triumph. He sent me unsolicited a most +flattering personal letter to the Governor of Natal, saying that I had +come to him with my strong letters but that he had so enjoyed meeting +me that he wished to pass me on on his own account. Cecil asked me +what it was I had talked so much to him about and I asked her if it +were possible she couldn't guess that of course I would be telling him +how to run the colony. My advice was to bombard Cape Town and make +martial law, for the Cape Towners are the most rotten, cowardly lot of +rebels I ever imagined as being possible. He seemed so glad to find +any one who appreciated that it was a queen's colony in name only and +said, "Mr. Davis, it is as bad as this—I can take a stroll with you +from these gardens (we were at the back of the Government House) and at +the end of our stroll we will be in hostile territory." +</P> + +<P> +We spent the last day after I had got my orders to join Buller (who +seemed very pleased to have me) calling on the officials for passes +together and they were in a great state falling into their coats and +dressing guard for her and were all so friendly and hearty. The Censor +seems to think I am a sort of Matthew Arnold and should be wrapped in +cotton, so does Pryor The Mail agent who apologizes for asking me to +cable, which is just what I want to do. They are very generous and are +spending money like fresh air. I am to cable letters to Cape Town, +only to save three days. So, now all that is needed is for something +to happen. Everything else is arranged. All I want is to see three or +four good fights and a big story like the relief of Ladysmith and I am +ready and anxious to get home. I shall observe them from behind an ant +hill—I don't say this to please you but because I mean it. This is +not my war and all I want is to earn the very generous sums I have been +offered and get home. We are just off Port Elizabeth. I will go on +shore and post this there. With all love. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Deal's Central Hotel, East London. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February 20th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We are stopping at every port now, as though the Scot were a ferry +boat. We came over the side to get here in baskets with a neat door in +the side and were bumped to the deck of the tender in all untenderness. +This is more like Africa than any place I have seen. The cactus and +palms abound and the Kaffirs wear brass anklets and bracelets. A man +at lunch at this hotel asked me if I was R. H. D. and said he was an +American who had got a commission in Brabants horse— He gave me the +grandest sort of a segar and apparently on his representation the hotel +brought me two books to sign, marked "Autographs of Celebrities of the +Boer War." It seemed in my case at least to be premature and hopeful. +</P> + +<P> +Good luck and God bless you. This will be the last letter you will get +for ten days or two weeks, as I am now going directly away from +steamers. This one reaches you by a spy gentleman who is to give it to +Rene Bull of The Graphic and who will post it in Cape Town— He and all +the other correspondents are abandoning Buller for Roberts. Let 'em +all go. The fewer the better, I say. My luck will keep I hope. DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Imperial Hotel,<BR> +Maritzburg, Natal.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Feb. 23rd, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +I reached Durban yesterday. They paraded the band in my honour and +played Yankee Doodle indefinitely— I had corrupted them by giving them +drinks to play the "Belle of New York" nightly. The English officers +thought Yankee Doodle was our national anthem and stood with their hats +off in a hurricane balancing on the deck of the tender on one foot— +The city of Durban is the best I have seen. It was as picturesque as +the Midway at the Fair— There were Persians, Malay, Hindoo, Babu's +Kaffirs, Zulu's and soldiers and sailors. I went on board the Maine to +see the American doctors—one of them said he had met me on Walnut +Street, when he had nearly run me down with his ambulance from the +Penna Hospital. Lady Randolph took me over the ship and was very much +puzzled when all the hospital stewards called me by name and made +complimentary remarks. It impressed her so much apparently that she +and the American nurses I hadn't met on board came to see me off at the +station, which was very friendly. I have had a horrible day here and +got up against the British officer in uniform and on duty bent— The +chief trouble was that none of them knew what authority he had to do +anything—and I had to sit down and tell them. I wonder with +intelligence like theirs that their Intelligence Department did not +tell them the Boers fought with war clubs and spears. I bought a +ripping pony and my plan is to cut away from all my magnificent +equipment and try to overtake Buller before he reaches Ladysmith and +send back for the heavy things later. It is just a question of minutes +really and it seems hard to have come 1500 miles and then to miss it by +an hour— I arrive at Chievely tomorrow at five—that is only ten miles +from where Buller is to night, so were it not for their d——d +regulations I could ride across country and join them by midday but I +bet they won't let me and I also bet I'll get there in time. Of course +you'll, know before you see this. Marelsburg is the capital and its +chief industry is rickshaw's pulled by wild Kaffi's, with beads and +snake skins around them and holes in their ears into which they stick +segars and horn spoons for dipping snuff. The women wear less than the +men and have their hair done up in red fungus. +</P> + +<P> +Well, love to you all, to Nora and Dad and Chas, and God bless you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +I am here at last and counting the days when I shall get away. War +does not soothe my savage breast. I find I want Cecil, and Jaggers, +and Macklin to write, and plays to rehearse. Without Cecil bored to +death at Cape Town, I would not mind it at all. I know how to be +comfortable and on my second day I beat all these men who have been +here three months in getting my news on the wire. For I am a news man +now, and have to collect horrid facts and hosts of casualties and to +find out whether it was the Dubblins or the Durbans that did it and +what it was they did. I was in terrible fear that I would be too late +to see the relief of Ladysmith but I was well in time and saw a fight +the first few hours I arrived. It is terribly big and overwhelming +like eighty of Barnum circuses all going at once in eighty rings and +very hard to understand the geography. The Tugela is like a snake and +crosses itself every three feet so that you never know whether you have +crossed it yourself or not. Every one is most kind and I am as +comfortable as can be. Indeed I like my tent so much that I am going +to take it to Marion. It has windows in it and the most amusing trap +doors and pockets in the walls and clothes lines and hooks and +ventilators— It is colored a lovely green— I have also two chairs +that fold up and a table that does nothing else and a bed and two +lanterns, 3 ponies, one a Boer pony I bought for $12. from a Tommy who +had stolen it. I had to pay $125 each for the other two and one had a +sore back and the other gets lost in my saddle. But war as these +people do it bores one to destruction. They are terribly dull souls. +They cannot give an order intelligently. The real test of a soldier is +the way he gives an order. I heard a Colonel with eight ribbons for +eight campaigns scold a private for five minutes because he could not +see a signal flag, and no one else could. It is not becoming that a +Colonel should scold for five minutes. Friday they charged a hill with +one of their "frontal" attacks and lost three Colonels and 500 men. In +the morning—it was a night attack—when the roll was called only five +officers answered. The proper number is 24. A Captain now commands +the regiment. It is sheer straight waste of life through dogged +stupidity. I haven't seen a Boer yet except some poor devils of +prisoners but you can see every English who is on a hill. They walk +along the skyline like ships on the horizon. It must be said for them +that it is the most awful country to attack in the world. It is +impossible to give any idea of its difficulties. However I can tell +you that when I get back to the center of civilization. Do you know I +haven't heard from you since I left New York on the St. Louis. All +your letters to London went astray. What lots you will have to tell me +but don't let Charley worry. I won't talk about the war this time. I +never want to hear of it again. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LADYSMITH. March 1st, 1899. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +This is just a line to say I got in here with the first after a gallop +of twelve miles. Keep this for me and the envelope. With my love and +best wishes— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LADYSMITH, March 3, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +The column came into town today, 2200 men, guns, cavalry, ambulances, +lancers, navy guns and oxen. It was a most cruel assault upon one's +feelings. The garrison lined the streets as a saluting guard of honor +but only one regiment could stand it and the others all sat down on the +curb only rising to cheer the head of each new regiment. They are +yellow with fever, their teeth protruding and the skin drawn tight over +their skeletons. The incoming army had had fourteen days hard fighting +at the end of three months campaigning but were robust and tanned +ragged and caked with mud. As they came in they cheered and the +garrison tried to cheer back but it was like a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +Winston Churchill and I stood in front of Gen. White and cried for an +hour. For the time you forgot Boers and the cause, or the lack of +cause of it all, and saw only the side of it that was before you, the +starving garrison relieved by men who had lost almost one out of every +three in trying to help them. I was rather too previous in getting in +and like every-one else who came from outside gave away everything I +had so that now I'm as badly off as the rest of them. Yesterday my +rations for the day were four biscuits and an ounce of coffee and of +tea, with corn which they call mealies which I could not eat but which +saved my horse's life. He is a Boer pony I bought from a Tommy for two +pounds ten and he's worth both of the other two for which I paid $125 a +piece. Tomorrow the wagon carrying my supplies will be in and I can +get millions of things. It almost apalls me to think how many. +Especially clean clothes. I've slept in these for four days. I got +off some stories which I hope will read well. I can't complain now +that I saw the raising of this siege. But I hope we don't stay still. +I want to see a lot quickly and get out. This is very safe warfare. +You sit on a hill and the army does the rest. My sciatica is not +troubling me at all. Love to you all and God bless you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LADYSMITH, March 4th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR, DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Today I got the first letter I have had from you since we left home. +It was such happiness to see your dear sweet handwriting again. It was +just like seeing you for a glimpse, or hearing you speak. I am so +hungry for news of Nora and Chas and you all. I know you've written, +but the letters have missed somehow. I sent yours right back to Cecil +who is very lonely at present. Somerset has gone to the front and +Jim—home—Blessed word! A little middy rode up to me today and began +by saying "I'm going home. I'm ORDERED there. Home— To England!" He +seemed to think I would not understand. He prattled on like a child +saying what luck he had had, that he had been besieged in Ladysmith and +seen lots of fighting and would get a medal and all the while he was +"just a middy." "But isn't it awful to think of our chaps that were +left on the ship" he said quite miserably. It is a beastly dull war. +The whole thing is so "class" and full of "form" and tradition and +worrying over "putties" and etiquette and rank. It is the most +wonderful organization I ever imagined but it is like a beautiful +locomotive without an engineer. +</P> + +<P> +The Boers outplay them in intelligence every day. The whole army is +officered by one class and that the dull one. It is like the House of +Peers. You would not believe the mistakes they make, the awful way in +which they sacrifice the lives of officers and men. And they let the +Boers escape. I watched the Boers for four hours the other day +escaping after the battle of Pieters and I asked, not because I wanted +them captured but just as a military proposition "Why don't you send +out your cavalry and light artillery and take those wagons?" The staff +officer giggled and said "They might kill us." I don't know what he +meant; neither did he. However, I'm sick of it but there's nothing +else to talk of. I hate all the people about me and this dirty town +and I wish I was back. And I'm going too. I'll have started by the +time you get this. +</P> + +<P> +I mean to cut out of this soon but don't imagine I'm in any danger. +I'm taking d—-d good care to keep out of danger. No one is more +determined on that than I am. Dear Mother, this is such a dull letter +but you must forgive me. I was never so homesick and bored in my life. +It will be better when I go out tomorrow in my green tent and leave +this beastly hole. I like the tent life, and the horses and being +clean. I've really starved here for four days and haven't had a clean +thing on me. God bless you all and dear Nora God bless her and Chas +and the Lone Fisherman. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Outside Ladysmith. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +5th March, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I was a brute to write as I did last night. But I was so blue in that +miserable town!!! It was so foul and dirty. The town smelt as bad as +Johnstown. My room in the so called hotel stunk, the dirt was all over +the floor and the servants had to be paid to do everything even to +bring you a towel—and then I had no place to write or be alone, and +nothing to eat— The poor souls at my table who had been in the siege, +when they got a little bit of sugar or a can of condensed milk would +carry it off from the table as though it were a diamond diadem— I did +the same thing myself for I couldn't eat what they gave me and so I +corrupted the canteen dealer and bought tin things— I've really never +wanted tobacco so much and food as I have here—to give away I mean, +for it was something wonderful to see what it meant to them. Three +troopers came into the dining room yesterday and asked if they could +buy some tea and were turned out so rudely that it seemed to hurt them +much more than the fact that they were hungry: I followed them out and +begged them to come back to my verandah and have tea with me but they +at first would not because they knew I had witnessed what had happened +in the hotel. They belonged to a very good regiment and they had been +starved for four months. But in spite of their independence I got them +to my porch. I had just purchased at awful prices a few delicacies +like sugar and tobacco, marmalade and a bottle of whiskey. So I gave +them to them and I never enjoyed anything so much— The poor yellow +faced skeletons ate in absolute silence still fighting with their pride +until I told them I was an American and was a canteen contractor's +friend— Then I gave them segars and it was too pitiful— In our +column, if you give a man something extra he says a lot and swears it's +the best drink or the best segar or that you're the best chap he ever +met— Just as I say it to them when they give me things. But these +starved bodies tried to be very polite and conversational on every +subject except food—when I offered them the segars which could only be +got then at a dollar twenty-five a piece (they had not cost me that as +I had bought them in Cape Town for two cents apiece!) What has Dad to +say to that for economy? They accepted them quite as though it was in +Havana—and then leaned back and went off into opium dreams— Imagine +the first segar after three months. I am out here now on a bluff, with +two trees in front and great hills with names historical of the siege +of Ladysmith—names which I refuse to learn or remember—I am perfectly +comfortable and were it not for Cecil perfectly content— If she were +only here it would be perfectly magnificent— I have a retinue that +would do credit to the Warringtons in the Virginians— Three Kaffir +boys who refuse to yield to my sense of the picturesque and go naked +like their less effete brothers, two oxen and three ponies, a little +puppy I found starved in Ladysmith and fed on compressed beef tablets. +I call her Ladysmith and she sleeps beside my cot and in my lap when I +am reading—I have also a beautiful tent with tape window panes, +ventilators, pockets inside, doors that loop up and red knobs; also, it +is green so that the ants won't eat it. Also two tables, two chairs, a +bath tub, two lanterns, and a cape cart—and a folding bed— In Cuba I +had two saddle bags and was just as clean and just as happy. One boy +does nothing but polish my boots and gaiters and harness, so that I +look as well as the officers who are not much good at anything but +that. I must tell you what I think is the saddest story of the siege— +They could not feed the horses, so they kept part of them for scouting, +part to eat and drove 3,000 of them towards the Boers. Being, well +trained cavalry horses, they did not know how to eat grass, so at bugle +call the whole 3,000 came trotting back again and sentries were placed +at every street to stampede them back into the veldt— One horse from +one battery met out in the prairie another horse that had been its gun +mate in an artillery regiment five years before in India and the two +poor things came galloping back side by side and passed the sentries +and into the lines and drew up beside their battery. Another horse +found its rider acting as sentry and when the man tried to drive it +away it thought he was playing with it and kept coming back and finally +the man brought it in to the colonel and cried and asked if it might +have half of his rations of corn. Good night and God bless you all +with all my love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March 15th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I am on my way back to Cape Town. This seemed better than staying with +Buller who will not move for two or three weeks. I shall either go +straight up to Roberts, or we will return to London. I have seen the +relief of Ladysmith and got a very good idea of it all, and I do not +know but what I shall quit now. I started in too late to do much with +it and as it is I have seen a great deal. It is neither an interesting +country nor an interesting war. But I don't have to stay here to +oblige anybody. If I do go up to Roberts it will only be to stay for +three weeks at the most and only then if there is fighting. I won't go +if he is resting as Buller is. So this will explain why we start home +so soon. I am very glad I came. I would have been very sorry always +if I had not, but my heart is not in it as, of course, it was in our +war. Sometimes they fight all day using seven or eight regiments and +kill a terrible lot of fine soldiers and capture forty Boer farmers and +two women. It is not the kind of war I care to report. "Nor mean to!" +I cannot make a book out of what little I've seen but I will come out +about even. It has been very rough on Cecil. Today I went to the +Maine and asked Lady Randolph to give me a lift down to Cape Town as +the ship gets there two days ahead of the Castle Steamer. So, they +were apparently very glad to have me and I am going on Saturday. I +like it on the ship where I have been spending the day as it is fun +taking care of the wounded and listening to their stories. I am to +write an article for her next Anglo Saxon magazine on the Passing of +the War Correspondent. The idea is that he must either disappear +altogether like the Vivandiere or be allowed to do his work. As it is +now the Government forces him upon the Generals against their will and +so they get back by taking it out of him. Either they should persuade +the Government that their objections to him are weighty and suppress +him altogether, or recognize him as a part of the outfit. I don't much +care which as I certainly would never again go with an English army. I +am sorry the letters home have been so dull but I have had rather hard +luck straight through, and the distances are so very great and the time +spent in covering them seems very wasteful. I shall be glad I saw it +because it is the biggest thing as to scale that I ever saw of the +sort, and I could not have afforded to have missed being in it. It is +the first big modern war and all the conditions and weapons are new. I +don't think the English have learned anything by it, because the fault +lies entirely with their officers who are all or nearly all of one +class. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March 25th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Cape Town. +</P> + +<P> +This is just to explain our plans and as they take a bit of explaining +this is meant for the Houses of Clark and of Davis. So, pass it on— +After Ladysmith was relieved Buller decided he would not move for a +month, so I came back to join Roberts. I could not do that on first +arriving because there was a Mail man with him. I meant to do it later +as a Herald man, and to let The Mail go. But on arriving here, having +spent a week in coming and having sold all my outfit at a loss, I found +that Roberts did not intend to move for three weeks either. So I +decided I had seen enough to justify my returning. There were other +reasons, the chief one being that the English irritated me and I had so +little sympathy with them that I could not write with any pleasure of +their work. My sporting blood refused to boil at the spectacle of such +a monster Empire getting the worst of it from an untrained band of +farmers— I found I admired the farmers. So we decided to chuck it and +go to London. I would not have missed it for anything. I would never +have been satisfied, if we had not come. I have seen much of the +country and the people, and of the army and its wonderful organization +and discipline. I enjoyed two battles—and the relief of Ladysmith is +one of the things to have seen, almost the best, if not the best. +Every officer and correspondent agrees that I got the pick of the +fighting and the "best story." By the way, I beat all the London +papers in getting out the news by one day. At least, so Pryor, The +Mail manager tells me. The paper was very much pleased. We have now +decided to come home by the East Coast. It was Cecil's idea and wish +and I was only too glad to do it. She says we certainly will never +come to this country again. God help us if we do—and that it would be +criminal to spend seventeen blank days on the West coast when we could +fill in the entire trip North on the East Coast at many ports. It is a +rather complicated trip as one has to change frequently but it will be +a great thing to have seen. Cecil has really seen nothing at Cape Town +and on this trip she will be paid for all the boredom that has gone +before. I have been over part of it and am sure. Durban alone is one +of the most curious cities I ever saw. It is like the Midway at the +Fair. I want her to have some fun out of this. She has been so +unselfish and fine all through and I hope I can make the rest of the +adventure to her liking— It is sure to be for after Delagoa Bay it is +all real Africa not the shoddy "colonial" shopkeepers' paradise that we +have here. And we are going to stop off at Zanzibar for some time +where we have letters to everybody and where Cecil is to draw the +Sultan and I am to play him the "Typical Tune of Zanzibar." You will +see by our route that we spend two days or a day at many places and so +shall get a good idea of the country. The Konig is a 5,000 ton ship +and we have two cabins— From Port Said we will run up to Cairo to get +a dinner and then over to Constantinople to see Lloyd Griscom and the +city which Cecil has never visited. Then to Paris by way of the Orient +Express. Then London and back with Charley to Aix. I feel sure that +one more course there will cure my leg for always. As it is it has not +touched me once even during the campaign when I was wet and had to +climb hills, and at Ladysmith, where I had no food for a week. Of +course, if we get tired on the way up we may go straight on from Port +Said to Marseilles and so to London. It seems funny to look upon Port +Said as being at home, but from this distance it seems as near New York +as Boston— You will get this when we reach Zanzibar or later and we +will cable when we can. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was said at the time that Richard left the British forces because +the censors would not permit him to send out the truth about Buller's +advance, and that the English officials resented his going to report +the war from the Boer side. The first statement my brother flatly +denied, and the fact that it was through the direct intervention of Sir +Alfred Milner, assisted by the efforts of our consul Adelbert S. Hay at +Pretoria, that Richard was enabled to reach the Boer capital seems to +prove the latter charge equally false. Although throughout the war my +brother's sympathies were with the Boers, and in spite of the fact that +the papers he represented wanted him to report the war from the Boer +side, he persisted in going at first with the British forces. His +reasons were that he wished to see a great army, with all modern +equipment in action, and that practically all of his English friends +were with the British army. "My only reason for leaving it", he wrote, +"was the fact that I found myself facing a month of idleness. Had +General Buller continued his advance immediately after his relief of +Ladysmith I would have gone with his column and would probably have +never seen a Boer, except a Boer prisoner." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Royal Hotel,<BR> +Durban, Natal.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 5th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We arrived here to-day and got off in a special tug together. We did +the basket trick all right, although the next time it came down a swell +raised the tug and fractured every one in the basket except Sangree and +Rogers, the two New York correspondents who were hanging on by the +upper edges. Cecil loved the place which is the Midway Plaisance of +cities and we had a good lunch and managed to get into the hotel where +there are over twenty cots in the reading room, and hall. The +Commandant objected to our going to Praetoria and seemed inclined to +refuse us passes to leave Durban for Delagoa Bay. He also was rather +fresh to Cecil, so I called him down very hard, and told him if he +couldn't make up his mind whether we would go or not, I'd wire to some +others who would help him to make up his mind quickly. He said I was +at liberty to do that, so I went out and burned wires over all of South +Africa. As he reads all the telegrams he naturally read mine and the +next morning he was as humble and white as a head waiter. But by ten +o'clock my wires began to bear fruit and he began to catch it. Milner +wired him to send us on at once and apologized to us by another wire so +all is well and we go vouched for by the High Commissioner. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PRETORIA, May 18th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR DAD—AND OTHERS OF THE CLARK AND DAVIS FAMILIES: +</P> + +<P> +I have not had time to write such a long letter as this one must be, as +I have been working on my Ledger and Scribner stories. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil and I started to the "front," which was then May 4th, at +Brandfort with Captain Von Loosberg, a German baron who married in New +Orleans and became an American citizen and who is now in command of +Loosberg's Artillery in the Free State. The night we left, the English +took Brandfort, so we decided to go only as far as Winburg. The next +morning the train despatcher informed us Winburg was taken, so we +decided to go to Smalldeel, but that went during the afternoon, so we +stopped at Kronstad. From there, after a day's rest, we went to +Ventersberg station, and rode across to Ventersberg town, about two +hours away, and put up in Jones's Hotel. The next day we went down to +the Boer laagers on the Sand river and met President Steyn on the way. +He got out of his Cape Cart and gave Cecil a rose and Loosberg his +field glasses, which Cecil took from Loosberg in exchange for her own +Zeiss glass, and he gave me a drink and an interview. He also gave us +a letter to St. Reid, who had established an ambulance base on Cronje's +farm, telling him to give Cecil something to sleep upon. The, Boers +were very polite to Cecil and as she rode through the different camps +every man took off his hat. We went back to Ventersberg that night and +about two o'clock Cecil came to my room and woke me up with the +intelligence that the British were only two hours away. She had heard +the commandant informing the landlady, a grand low comedy character +from Brooklyn, who had the room next to Cecil's. I interviewed the +landlady who was sitting up in bed in curl papers, and with a Webley +revolver. She was quite hysterical so I aroused Loosberg who was too +sleepy to understand. The commandant could be heard in the distance +offering his kingdom for a horse and a Cape cart. Cecil and I decided +our horses were done up and that we were too ignorant of the trail to +know where to run. So we decided to go to sleep. In the morning we +confessed that each had been afraid the other would want to escape, and +each wanted only to be allowed to go to sleep again. Loosberg's Cape +Cart and five mules having arrived we packed our things on it and +started again for the Sand River where we spent the night on Cronje's +farm. Mrs. Cronje had taken away all the bedding but Dr. Reid gave +Cecil his field mattress and I made one out of rugs and piano covers. +In the morning I found that the iron straps of the mattress had marked +me for life like a grilled beefsteak. There were only Reid and his +assistant surgeon in the farmhouse and they were greatly excited at +having a woman to look after. +</P> + +<P> +We bade farewell to Loosberg who had found his artillery push, and +started off in his Cape Cart which he wished us to use and take back +for him for safety to Del Hay at Pretoria. Our objective point was the +railroad bridge over the sand. The Boers were on one bank, the British +about seven miles back on the other, the trail ran along the British +side of the river which was sad of it. However, we drove on, I riding +and Cecil and Christian, the Kaffir, in the Cart. We saw no one for +several hours except some Kaffir Kraals and we almost ran into two +herds of deer. I counted twenty-six in one herd, they were about a +quarter of a mile away. We came to a cross road and I decided to put +back as we had lost track of the river and were bearing straight into +the English lines. Just as we found the river again and had got across +a drift cannon opened on our right. We then knew we were in between +the Boers and the English but we had no other knowledge of our +geographical position. Such being the case we decided to outspan and +lunch. Out-spanning is setting the mules and horses at liberty, +in-spanning trying to catch them again. It takes five minutes to +out-span, and three hours to in-span. We had Armour's corned beef and +Libby's canned bacon. Cecil cooked the bacon on a stick and we ate it +with biscuits captured by our Boer friends at Cronje's farm from the +English Tommies. About three o'clock we started off again, and were +captured by three Boers. I was riding behind the cart and threw up my +hands "that quick," but Cecil could not hear me yelling at her to stop +on account of the noise of the cart. I knew if I rode after her they +would shoot at me, and that if she didn't stop, as they were shouting +at her to do, they would shoot her. Under these trying circumstances I +sat still. It caused quite a coolness on Cecil's part. However the +Boers could see I was trying to get her to halt so they only rode +around and headed her off. We were so glad to see them that they could +not be suspicious. Still, as we had come directly from the English +lines they had doubts. We told them we had lost ourselves and the more +they threatened to take us to the commandant the more satisfied we +were. I insisted on taking photos of them reading Cecil's passport. +It annoyed them that we refused to be serious, we assured them we had +never met anyone we were so glad to see. They finally believed us, and +our passports which describe Cecil as my "frau," and artist of Harper's +Weekly, an idea of Loosberg's. We all smoked and then shook hands and +they went back to their positions. We next met Christian De Vet one of +the two big generals who is a grand character. Nothing could match the +wonderful picturesqueness of his camp spread out over the side of a +hill with the bearded fine featured old Van Dyck and Hugonot heads +under great sombreros. De Vet made us a long speech saying it was only +to be expected that the Great Republic would send men to help the +little Republics, but he had not hoped that the women would show their +sympathy by coming too. All this with the most simple earnest +courtesy. He said "No English woman would dare do what you are doing." +He showed us a farin house on a kopje about five miles off where he +said we could get shelter and where we would be near the fighting on +the morrow. We rode in the moonlight for some time but when we reached +the house it was filthy and the people were in such terror that we +decided to camp out in the veldt. We found a grove of trees near by +and a stream of water running beside it so we made a fire there. We +had only one biscuit left but several cans of bacon and tea. It was +great fun and we sat up as late as we could around the fire on account +of the cold. We could see the Boer fires in the moonlight on the hills +and across the Sand, the English flashlights signalling all night. We +put a rubber blanket on the grass and wrapped up in steamer rugs but +both of us died several times of cold and even sitting on the fire +failed to warm me. We were awakened out of a cold storage sort of +sleep by pom-poms going off right over our They sounded just as +disturbing I found from the rear as when you are in front of them. +They are the most effective of all the small guns for causing your +nerves to riot. We climbed up the hill and saw the English coming in +their usual solid formation stretching out for three miles. We went +back and got the cart and drove to a nearer kopje, but just as we +reached it the Boers abandoned it. Roberts's column was now much +nearer. We then drove on still further in the direction of the bridge. +I kept telling Cecil that the firing was all from the Boers as I did +not want Christian to bolt and run away with the cart and mules. But +Cecil remembered the pictures in Harper's Weekly showing the shrapnel +smoke making rings in the air and as she saw these floating over our +head, she knew the English were firing on us, but said nothing for fear +of scaring Christian. I had promised to get her under fire which was +her one wish so I said that she was now well under fire for the first +and the last time. To which she replied "Pshaw!" I never saw any one +show such self possession. We halted the cart behind a deserted farm +house, and saddled her pony. The shells were now falling all over the +shop, and I was scared to distraction. But she took about five minutes +to see that her saddle was properly tightened and then we rode up to +the hill. Again the Boers were leaving and only a few remained. They +warned her to keep back but we dismounted and walked up to the hill. +It was a very hot place but Cecil was quite unmoved. We showed her the +shells striking back of her and around her but she refused to be +impressed with the danger. She went among the Boers begging them to +make a stand very quietly and like one man to another and they took it +just in that way and said "But we are very tired. We have been driven +back for three days. We are only a thousand, they are twenty +thousand." Some of them only sat still too proud to run, too sick to +fight! When the British got within five hundred yards of the artillery +I told her she must run. At the same moment Botha's men a mile on our +right broke away in a mad gallop, as though the lancers were after +them. I finally got her on her pony and we raced for Ventersberg with +Christian a good first. He had lost all desire to out-span. +</P> + +<P> +At Ventersberg we found every one harnessing up in the street and +abandoning everything. We again felt this untimely desire for food, +and had lunch at Jones's hotel on scraps and Cecil went off to see if +she could loot the cook, as everyone but her had left the hotel and as +we needed one in Pretoria. A despatch-rider came running to me as I +was smoking in the garden and shouted that the "Roinekes" were coming +in force over the hill. I ran out in the street and saw their shells +falling all over the edge of the village. They were only a quarter of +an hour behind us. I yelled for Cecil who was helping the looted cook +pack up her own things and anyone else's she could find in a sheet. I +gathered up a dog and a kitten Cecil wanted and left a note for the +next English officer who occupied my room with the inscription "I'd +leave my happy home for you." We then put the cook, the kitten, the +dog and Cecil in the cart and I got on the horse and we let out for +Kronstad at a gallop. We raced the thirty miles in five hours without +one halt. That was not our cruelty to animals but Christian's who +whenever I ordered him to halt and let us rest, yelled that the +Englesses were after us and galloped on. The retreat was a terribly +pathetic spectacle; for hours we passed through group after group of +the broken and dispirited Boers. At Kronstad President Steyn whom I +went to see on arriving ordered a special car for me, and sent us off +at once. We reached here the next morning, Christian arriving a day +later having killed one mule and one pony in his eagerness to escape. +We are going back again as soon as Roberts reaches the Vaal. There +there must be a stand. Love and best wishes to you all—— +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June 8th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +On board the Kausler. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We engaged our passage on this ship some weeks ago not thinking we +would have the English near Pretoria until August. But as it happened +they came so near that we did not know whether or not to wait over and +see them enter the capital. I decided not, first, because after that +one event, there would be nothing for us to see or do. We could not +leave until the 2nd of July and a month under British martial law was +very distasteful to me. Besides I did not care much to see them enter, +or to be forced to witness their rejoicing. As soon as we got under +way and about half the distance to the coast, it is a two days' trip. +We heard so many rumors of Roberts's communication having been cut off +and that the war was not over, that we thought perhaps we ought to go +back— As we have no news since except that the British are in Pretoria +we still do not know what to think. Personally I am glad I came away +as I can do just as much for the Boers at home now as there where the +British censor would have shut me off from cabling and mails are so +slow. With the local knowledge I have, I hope to keep at it until it +is over. But when I consider the magnitude of the misrepresentation +about the burghers I feel appalled at the idea of going up against it. +One is really afraid to tell all the truth about the Boer because no +one would believe you— It is almost better to go mildly and then you +may have some chance. But personally I know no class of men I admire +as much or who to-day preserve the best and oldest ideas of charity, +fairness and good-will to men. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June 29th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We are now just off Crete, and our next sight of the blue land will be +Europe. It means so many things; being alone with Cecil again, instead +of on a raft touching elbows with so many strangers, and it means a +shop where you can buy collars, and where they put starch in your +linen. Also many beautiful ladies one does not know and men in evening +dress one does not know and green tables covered with gold and little +green and red bits of ivory where one passes among the tables and +wonders what they would think if they knew we two had found our +greatest friends in the Boer farmers, in Dutch Station Masters who gave +us a corner under the telegraph table in which to sleep, with Nelson +who kept the Transvaal Steam Laundry, Col. Lynch of the steerage who +comes to the dividing line to beg French books from Cecil, and that we +had cooked our food on sticks, drunk out of the same cups with Kaffir +servants and slept on the ground when there was frost on it. It will +be so strange to find that there are millions of people who do not know +Komali poort, who have thought of anything else except burghers and +roor-i-neks— It seems almost disloyal to the Boers to be glad to see +newspapers only an hour old instead of six weeks old, and to welcome +all the tyranny of collar buttons, scarf pins, watch chains, walking +sticks and gloves even. I love them both and I can hardly believe it +is true that we are to go to a real hotel with a lift and a chasseur, +where you cannot smoke in the dining-room. As for Aix, that I cannot +believe will ever happen— It was just a part of one's honeymoon and I +refuse to cheat myself into thinking that within a week I will be +riding through the lanes of the little villages, drinking red wine at +Burget, watching Chas spread cheese over great hunks of bread and +listening to three bands at one time. And then the joy to follow of +Home and America and all that is American. Even the Custom House holds +nothing but joy for me—and then "mine own people!" It has been six +weeks since we have heard from you or longer, nearly two months and how +I miss you and want you. It will be a happy day when Dad meets me at +the wharf and I can see his blue and white tie again and his dear face +under the white hat—where you and Nora will be I cannot tell, but I +will seek you out. We will be happy together—so happy— It has been +the longest separation we have known and such a lot of things have +happened. It will be such peace to see you and hold you once again. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +AIX-LES-BAINS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +July 6th, 1900. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR FAMILY: +</P> + +<P> +Cecil and I arrived last night tired and about worn out—we had had a +month on board ship and two days in the cars and when we got out at Aix +and found our rooms ready and Francois waiting, we shouted and cheered. +It was never so beautiful as it looked in the moonlight and we walked +all over it, through the silent streets chortling with glee. They +could not give us our same rooms but we got the suite just above them, +which is just as good. They were so extremely friendly and glad to see +us and had flowers in all the rooms. We have not heard a word about +Chas yet, as our mail has not arrived from Paris, but I will cable in a +minute and hear. We cannot wait any longer for news of him. I got up +at seven this morning so excited that I could not sleep and have been +to the baths, where I was received like the President of the Republic. +In fact everybody seems to have only the kindest recollections of us +and to be glad to have us back. +</P> + +<P> +Such a rest as it is and so clean and bright and good—Only I have +absolutely nothing to wear except a two pound flannel suit I bought at +Lorenzo Marquez until I get some built by a French tailor. I must wear +a bath robe or a bicycle suit until evening. We have not been to the +haunts of evil yet but we are dining there to night and all will be +well. Cecil sends her love to you all— Goodbye and God bless you. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +Richard and his wife returned to America in the early fall of 1900 and, +after a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Clark at Marion, settled for the winter +in New York. They took a house in East Fifty-eighth Street where they +did much entertaining and lived a very social existence, but I do not +imagine that either of them regarded the winter as a success. Richard +was unable to do his usual amount of work, and both he and his wife +were too fond of the country to enjoy an entire winter in town. In the +spring they went back to Marion. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MARION,<BR> +MASSACHUSETTS. May, 1901.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +We arrived here last night in a glowing sunset which was followed by a +grand moon. The house was warm and clean and bright, with red curtains +and open fires and everything was just as we had left it, so that it +seemed as though we had just come out of a tortuous bad dream of +asphalt and L. roads and bad air. I was never so glad to get away from +New York. +</P> + +<P> +Outside it is brisk and fine and smells of earth and melting snow and +there is a grand breeze from the bay. We took a long walk to-day, with +the three dogs, and it was pitiful to see how glad they were to be free +of the cellar and a back yard and at large among grass and rocks and +roots of trees. I wanted to bottle up some of the air and send it to +all of my friends in New York. It is so much better to smell than +hot-house violets. Seaton came on with us to handle the dogs and to +unpack and so to-day we are nearly settled already with silver, +pictures, clothes and easels and writing things all in place. The +gramophone is whirling madly and all is well— Lots and lots of love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The following was written by Richard to his mother on her birthday: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June 27th, 1901. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +In those wonderful years of yours you never thought of the blessing you +were to us, only of what good you could find in us. All that time, you +were helping us and others, and making us better, happier, even nobler +people. From the day you struck the first blow for labor, in The Iron +Mills on to the editorials in The Tribune, The Youth's Companion and +The Independent, with all the good the novels, the stories brought to +people, you were always year after year making the ways straighter, +lifting up people, making them happier and better. No woman ever did +better for her time than you and no shrieking suffragette will ever +understand the influence you wielded, greater than hundreds of +thousands of women's votes. +</P> + +<P> +We love you dear, dear mother, and we KNOW you and may your coming +years be many and as full of happiness for yourself as they are for us. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH CORONATIONS +</H3> + +<P> +Interrupted by frequent brief visits to New York Philadelphia, and +Boston, Richard and his wife remained in Marion from May, 1901, until +the early spring of 1902. During this year Richard accomplished a +great deal of work and lived an ideal existence. In the summer months +there were golf and tennis and an army of visitors, and during the +winter many of their friends came from New York to enjoy a most +charming hospitality and the best of duck shooting and all kinds of +winter sports. +</P> + +<P> +Late in April, they sailed for Gibraltar on their way to Madrid, where +Richard was to report the coronation ceremonies, and from Madrid they +went to Paris and then to London to see the coronation of King Edward. +It was while on a visit to the Rudyard Kiplings that they heard the +news that Edward had been suddenly stricken with a serious illness and +that the ceremony had been postponed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +11, St. James's Place,<BR> +St. James's Street, S. W.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">London.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +June, 1902. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +This is only to say that at the Kipling's we heard the news, and being +two newspaper men, refused to believe it and went to the postoffice of +the little village to call up Brighton on the 'phone. It was very +dramatic, the real laureate of the British Empire asking if the King +were really in such danger that he could not be crowned, while the +small boy in charge of the grocery shop, where the postoffice was, wept +with his elbows on the counter. They sent me my ticket—unasked—for +the Abbey, early this morning, and while I was undecided whether to +keep it—or send it back, this came. So, now, I shall frame it as a +souvenir of one of the most unhappy occasions I ever witnessed. You +can form no idea of what a change it has made. It really seems to have +stunned every one—that is the usual and accepted word, but this time +it describes it perfectly. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Goodbye,<BR> +DICK.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +During the summer of 1903 my mother and father occupied a cottage at +Marion, and every morning Richard started the day by a visit to them. +My brother had already bought his Crossroads Farm at Mount Kisco, and +the new house was one of the favorite topics of their talk. The +following letter was written by my mother to Richard, after her return +to Philadelphia. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +September, 1903. +</P> + +<P> +Here we are in the old library and breakfast over. There seemed an +awful blank in the world as I sat down just now, and I said to Dad "Its +Dick—he must come THIS morning." +</P> + +<P> +You don't know how my heart used to give a thump when you and Bob came +in that old door. It has been such a good month—everybody was so +friendly—and Dad was so well and happy—but your visits were the core +of it all. And our good drives! Well we'll have lots of drives at the +Crossroads. You'll call at our cottage every morning and I'm going to +train the peacocks to run before the trap and I'll be just like Juno. +</P> + +<P> +There isn't a scrap of news. It is delightfully cool here. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +M. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE JAPANESE-RUSSIAN WAR +</H3> + +<P> +During the fall and early winter of 1903 Richard and his wife lingered +on in Marion, but came to New York after the Christmas holidays. The +success of his farce "The Dictator" had been a source of the greatest +pleasure to Richard, and he settled down to playwriting with the same +intense zeal he put into all of his work. However, for several years +Robert J. Collier and my brother had been very close friends, and +Richard had written many articles and stories for Collier's Weekly, so +that when Collier urged my brother to go to the Japanese-Russian War as +correspondent with the Japanese forces, Richard promptly gave up his +playwriting and returned to his old love—the role of reporter. +Accompanied by his wife, Richard left New York for San Francisco in +February. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +February, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We are really off on the "long trail" bound for the boundless East. We +have a charming drawing-room, a sympathetic porter and a courtly +conductor descended from one of the first Spanish conquerors of +California. We arranged the being late for lunch problem by having +dinner at five and cutting the lunch out. Bruce and Nan came over for +dinner and we had a very jolly time. They all asked after you all, and +drank to our re-union at Marion in July. Later they all tried to come +with us on the train. It looked so attractive with electric lights in +each seat, and observation car and library. A reporter interviewed us +and Mr. Clark gave us a box of segars and a bottle of whiskey. But +they will not last, as will Dad's razors and your housewife. I've used +Dad's razors twice a day, and they still are perfect. It's snowing +again, but we don't care. They all came to the station to see us off +but no one cried this time as they did when we went to South Africa. +Somehow we cannot take this trip seriously. It is such a holiday trip +all through not grim and human like the Boer war. Just quaint and +queer. A trip of cherry blossoms and Geisha girls. I send all my love +to you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SAN FRANCISCO, February 26th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We got in here last night at midnight just as easily as though we were +coming into Jersey City. Before we knew it we had seen the Golden +Gate, and were snug in this hotel. Today as soon as we learned we +could not sail we started in to see sights and we made a record and +hung it up high. We went to the Cliff House and saw the seals on the +rocks below, to the Park, the military reservation, Chinatown, and the +Poodle Dog Restaurant. We also saw the Lotta monument, the Stevenson +monument, the Spreckles band stand, the place where the Vigilance +Committee hung the unruly, and tonight I went to a dinner the Bohemian +Club gave to the War correspondents. I made a darned good speech. +Think of ME making a speech of any sort, but I did, and I had sense +enough not to talk about the war but the "glorious climate of +California" instead and of all the wonders of Frisco. So, I made a +great hit. It certainly is one of the few cities that lives up to it's +reputation in every way. I should call it the most interesting city, +with more character back of it than any city on this continent. There +are only four deck rooms and we each have one. The boat is small, but +in spite of the crowd that is going on her, will I think be +comfortable. I know it will be that, and it may be luxurious. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +On way to Japan. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March 13th, 1904. +</P> + +<P> +About four this afternoon we saw an irregular line of purple mountains +against a yellow sky, and it was Japan. In spite of the Sunday papers, +and the interminable talk on board, the guide books and maps which had +made Japan nauseous to me, I saw the land of the Rising Sun with just +as much of a shock and thrill as I first saw the coast of Africa. We +forgot entirely we had been twenty days at sea and remembered only that +we were ten miles from Japan, only as far as New Bedford is from +Marion. We are at anchor now, waiting to go in in the morning. Were +it not for war we could go in now but we must wait to be piloted over +the sunken mines. That and the flashlights moving from the cruisers +ten miles away gave us our first idea of war. To-morrow early we will +be off for Tokio, as it is only forty miles from Yokohama. Of course, +I may get all sorts of news before we land, but that is what we expect +to do. It will be good to feel solid earth, and to see the kimonos and +temples and geishas and cherry blossoms. I am almost hoping the +Government won't let us go to the front and that for a week at least +Cecil and I can sit in tea houses with our shoes off while the nesans +bring us tea and the geishas rub their knees and make bows to us. I am +sending you through Harper's, a book on Hawaii and one of Japan that I +have read and like and which I think will help you to keep in touch +with the wanderers. With all my love to all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TOKYO, March 22nd, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +The "situation" here continues to remain in such doubt that I cannot +tell of it, as it changes hourly. There are three "columns," so far +existing only in imagination. That is, so far as they concern the +correspondents. The first lot have chosen themselves, and so have the +second lot. But the first lot are no nearer starting than they were +two weeks ago. I may be kept waiting here for weeks and weeks. I do +not like to turn out Palmer, although I very much want to go with the +first bunch. On the other hand I am paid pretty well to get to the +front, and I am uncertain as to what I ought to do. If the second +column were to start immediately after the first, we then would have +two men in the field, but if it does not, then Collier will be paying +$1000. a week for stories of tea houses and "festivals." Palmer +threatens to resign if I take his place in the first column and that +would be a loss to the paper that I do not feel I could make up. If it +gets any more complicated I'll wire Collier to decide. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, we are going out to dinners and festivals and we ride. I +have a good pony the paper paid for Cecil has hired another and we find +it delightful to scamper out into the country. We have three rooms in +a row. One we use for a sitting room. They look very welland as it is +still cold we keep them cheerful with open fires. We have a table in +the dining-room to ourselves and to which we can ask our friends. The +food is extremely good. Griscom and the Secretaries have all called +and sent pots of flowers, and we are dining out every other night. In +the day we shop and ride. But all day and all night we the +correspondents plot and slave and intrigue over the places on the +columns. I got mine on the second column all right but no one knows if +it ever will move. So, naturally, I want to be on the first. The rows +are so engrossing that I have not enjoyed the country as I expected. +Still, I am everlastingly glad we came. It is an entirely new life and +aspect. It completes so much that we have read and seen. In spite of +the bother over the war passes I learn things daily and we see +beautiful and curious things, and are educated as to the East, as no +books could have done it for us. John Bass who was my comrade in arms +in Greece and his wife are here. They are the very best. Also we see +Lloyd daily, and the hotel is full of amusing men, who are trying to +get to the front. Of course, we know less of the war than you do. +None of the news from Cheefoo, none of the "unauthorized" news reaches +us. Were it not for our own squabbles we would not know not only that +the country was at war but not even that war existed ANYWHERE in the +world. We are here entirely en tourist and it cannot be helped. The +men who tried to go with the Russians are equally unfortunate. Think +of us as wandering around each with a copy of Murray seeing sights. +That is all we really do, All my love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YOKOHAMA—April 2, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I just got your letter dated the 28th of February and the days +following in which you worried over me in the ice coated trenches of +Korea. I read it in a rickshaw in a warm sun on my way to buy favors +for a dinner to Griscom. We have had three warm days and no doubt the +sun will be out soon. The loss of the sun, though, is no great one. +We have lots of pleasures and lots of troubles in spite of the Sun. +Yesterday the first batch of correspondents were sent on their way. I +doubt if they will get any further than Chemulpo but their going +cheered the atmosphere like a storm in summer. The diplomats and +Japanese were glad to get rid of them, they were delighted to be off. +Some had been here 58 days, and we all looked at it as a good sign as +it now puts us "next." But after they had gone it was pretty blue for +some of them were as good friends as I want. I know few men I like as +well as I do John Bass. Many of them were intensely interesting. It +was, by all odds, the crowd one would have wished to go with. As it +is, I suspect we all will meet again and that the two columns will be +merged on the Yalu. None of the attaches have been allowed to go, so +it really is great luck for the correspondents. Tell Chas I still am +buying my Kit. It's pretty nearly ready now. I began in New York and +kept on in Boston, San Francisco, and here. It always was my boast +that I had the most complete kit in the world, and in spite of +Charley's jeers at my lack of preparedness everybody here voted it the +greatest ever seen. For the last ten days all the Jap saddlers, tent +makers and tinsmiths have been copying it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TOKIO—May 2, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +Today, we walked into our new house and tomorrow we will settle down +there. We rented the furniture for the two unfurnished rooms; knives, +forks, spoons, china for the table and extras for 35 dollars gold for +two months. It took six men to bring the things in carts. They got +nothing. Yesterday, I took two rickshaw men from half past twelve to +half past five. Out of that time they ran and pushed me for two solid +hours. Their price for the five hours was eighty cents gold. What you +would pay a cabman to drive you from the Waldorf to Martin's. I wish +you could see our menage. Such beautiful persons in grey silk kimonos +who bow, and bow and slip and slide in spotless torn white stockings +with one big toe. They make you ashamed of yourself for walking on +your own carpet in your own shoes. Today we got the first news of the +battle on the Yalu, the battle of April 26-30th. I suppose Palmer and +Bass saw it; and I try to be glad I did what was right by Collier's +instead of for myself. But I don't want to love another paper. I +suppose there will be other fights but that one was the first, and it +must have been wonderful. On the 4th we expect to be on our way to +Kioto with Lloyd and his wife and John Fox. By that time we expect to +be settled in the new house. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TOKIO, May 22nd, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +You will be glad to hear that the correspondents at the front are not +allowed within two and a half miles of the firing line. This I am sure +you will approve. Their tales of woe have just been received here, and +they certainly are having a hard time. The one thing they all hope for +is that the Japs will order them home. My temper is vile to-day, as I +cannot enjoy the gentle pleasures of this town any longer and with this +long trip to Port Arthur before I can turn towards home. I am as cross +as a sick bear. We were at Yokohama when your last letters came and +they were a great pleasure. I got splendid news of The Dictator. +Yesterday we all went to Yokohama. There are four wild American boys +here just out of Harvard who started the cry of "Ping Yang" for the +"Ping Yannigans" they being the "Yannigans." They help to make things +very lively and are affectionately regarded by all classes. Yesterday, +they and Fox and Cecil and I went to the races, with five ricksha boys +each, and everybody lost his money except myself. But it was great +fun. It rained like a seive, and all the gentlemen riders fell off, +and every time we won money our thirty ricksha men who would tell when +we won by watching at which window we had bet, would cheer us and +salaam until to save our faces we had to scatter largesses. Egan +turned up in the evening and dined with John and Cecil and me in the +Grand Hotel and told us first of all the story the correspondents had +brought back to Kobbe for which every one from the Government down has +been waiting. It would make lively reading if any of us dared to write +it. To-day he made his protests to Fukushima as we mapped them out +last night and the second lot will I expect be treated better. But, as +the first lot were the important men representing the important +syndicates the harm, for the Japs, has been done. Of course, much they +do is through not knowing our points of view. To them none of us is of +any consequence except that he is a nuisance, and while they are +conversationally perfect in politeness, the regulations they inflict +are too insulting. However, you don't care about that, and neither do +I. I am going to earn my money if I possibly can, and come home. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TOKIO, June 13th, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We gave a farewell dinner last night to the Ping Yannigans two of whom +left on the Navy expedition and another one to-morrow for God's +country. There were eight men and we had new lanterns painted with the +arms of Corea and the motto of the Ping Yannigans. Also many flags. +All but the Japanese flag. One of them with a side glance at the +servants said, "Gentleman and Lady: I propose a toast, Japan for the +Japanese and the Japanese for Japan." We all knew what he meant but +the servants were greatly pleased. Jack London turned up to-day on his +way home. I liked him very much. He is very simple and modest and +gave you a tremendous impression of vitality and power. He is very +bitter against the wonderful little people and says he carries away +with him only a feeling of irritation. But I told him that probably +would soon wear off and he would remember only the pleasant things. I +did envy him so, going home after having seen a fight and I not yet +started. Still THIS TIME we may get off. Yokoyama the contractor +takes our stuff on the 16th, and so we feel it is encouraging to have +our luggage at the front even if we are here. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YOKOHAMA, July 26th, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We gave in our passes to-day, and sail to-morrow at five. They say we +are not to see Port Arthur fall but are to be taken up to Oku's army. +That means we miss the "popular" story, and may have to wait around +several weeks before we see the other big fight. They promised us Port +Arthur but that is reason enough for believing they do not intend we +shall see it at all. John and I are here at a Japanese hotel, the one +Li Hung Chang occupied when he came over to arrange the treaty between +China and Japan. It is a very beautiful house, the best I have seen of +real Japanese and the garden and view of the harbor is magnificent. I +wish Cecil could see it too, but I know she would not care for a room +which is as free to the public view as the porch at Marion. It has 48 +mats and as a mat is 3 x 5 you can work it out. We eat, sleep and +dress in this room and it is like trying to be at home on top of a +Chickering Grand. But it is very beautiful and the moonlight is fine +and saddening. No one of us has the least interest in the war or in +what we may see or be kept from seeing. We have been "over trained" +and not even a siege of London could hold our thoughts from home. I +have just missed the mail which would have told me you were at Marion. +I should so love to have heard from you from there. I do not think you +will find the Church house uncomfortable; and you can always run across +the road when the traffic is not too great, and chat with Benjamin. I +do hope that Dad will have got such good health from Marion and such +lashers of fish. I got a good letter from Charles and I certainly feel +guilty at putting extra work on a man as busy as he. Had I known he +was the real judge of those prize stories I would have sent him one +myself and given him the name of it. Well, goodbye for a little time. +We go on board in a few hours, and after that everything I write you is +read by the Censor so I shall not say anything that would gratify their +curiosity. They think it is unmanly to write from the field to one's +family and the young princes forbade their imperial spouses from +writing them until the war is over. However, not being an imperial +Samaari but a home loving, family loving American, I shall miss not +hearing very much, and not being able to tell you all how I love you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DALNY, July 27th, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We left Shimonoseki three days ago and have had very pleasant going on +the Heijo Maru a small but well run ship of 1,500 tons. Fox and I got +one of the two best rooms and I have been very comfortable. We are at +anchor now at a place of no interest except for its sunsets. +</P> + +<P> +We have just been told as the anchor is being lowered that we can send +letters back by the Island, so I can just dash this off before leaving. +We have reached Dalny and I have just heard the first shot fired which +was to send me home. All the others came and bid John and me a +farewell as soon as we were sure it was the sound of cannon. However, +as it is 20 miles away I'll have to hang on until I get a little +nearer. We have had a very pleasant trip even though we were delayed +two days by fog and a slow convoy. Now we are here at Dalny. It looks +not at all like its pictures, which, as I remember them were all taken +in winter. It is a perfectly new, good brick barracks-like town. I am +landing now. The two servants seem very satisfactory and I am in +excellent health. Today Cecil has been four days at Hong Kong. Please +send the gist of this letter dull as it is to Mrs. Clark. When I began +it I thought I would have plenty of time to finish it on shore. Of +course, after this all I write and this too, I suppose will be +censored. So, there will not be much liveliness. I have no taste to +expose my affections to the Japanese staff. So, goodbye. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +R. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +July 31st, 1904. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We have been met here with a bitter disappointment. We are all to be +sent north, although only 18 hours away. We can hear the guns at Port +Arthur the fall of which they promised us we would see. To night we +are camping out in one of the Russian barracks. To-morrow we go, +partly by horse and partly by train. A week must elapse before we can +get near headquarters. And then we have no guarantee that we will see +any fighting. This means for me a long delay. It is very +disappointing and the worst of the many we have suffered in the last +four months. I have written Cecil asking her to seriously think of +going home but I am afraid she will not. Were it not for that and the +disappointment one feels in travelling a week's journey away from the +sound of guns I would be content. My horse is well and so am I. It is +good to get back to drawing water, and carrying baggage and skirmishing +about for yourself. The contractor gave us a good meal and the +servants are efficient but I like doing things myself and skirmishing +for them. We make a short ride this morning of six miles to Kin Chow +and then 30 miles by rail. "Headquarters" is about a five days ride +distant. Tell Chas my outfit seems nearly complete. Maybe I can buy a +few things I forgot in Boston at Kin Chow. Fox and I will get out just +as soon as we see fighting but before you get this you will probably +hear by cable from me. If not, it will mean we still are waiting for a +fight. The only mistake I made was in not going home the first time +they deceived us instead of waiting for this and worst of all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +to you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MANCHURIA, August 14, 1904. +</P> + +<P> +We have been riding through Manchuria for eleven days. Nine days we +rode then two days we rested. By losing the trail we managed to +average about 20 miles a day. I kept well and enjoyed it very much. +As I had to leave my servant behind with a sick horse, I had to take +care of my mule and pony myself and hunt fodder for them, so I was +pretty busy. Saiki did all he could, but he is not a servant and +sooner than ask him I did things myself. We passed through a very +beautiful country, sleeping at railway stations and saw two battle +fields of recent fights. Now we are in a Chinese City and waiting to +see what should be the biggest fight since Sedan. The Russians are +about ten miles from us, so we are not allowed outside the gates of the +city without a guide. Of course, we have none of that freedom we have +enjoyed in other wars, but apart from that they treat us very well +indeed. And in a day or two they promise us much fighting, which we +will be allowed to witness from a hill. This is a very queer old city +but the towns and country are all very primitive and we depend upon +ourselves for our entertainment. I expect soon to see you at home. In +three more days I shall have been out here five months and that is too +long. Good luck to you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +R. H. D. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MANCHURIA, August 18th, 1904. +</P> + +<P> +We still are inside this old Chinese town. It has rained for five +days, and this one is the first in which we could go abroad. Unless +you swim very well it is not safe to cross one of these streets. We +have found an old temple and some of us are in it now. It is such a +relief to escape from that compound and the rain. This place is full +of weeds and pine trees, cooing doves and butterflies. The temples are +closed and no one is in charge but an aged Chinaman. We did not come +here to sit in temples, so John and I will leave in a week, battle or +no battle. The argument that having waited so long one might as well +wait a little longer does not touch us. It was that argument that kept +us in Tokio when we knew we were being deceived weekly, and the same +man who deceived us there, is in charge here. It is impossible to +believe anything he tells his subordinates to tell us, so, we will be +on our way back when you get this. I am well, and only disappointed. +Had they not broken faith with us about Port Arthur we would by now +have seen fighting. As it is we will have wasted six months. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Love to Dad, and Chas and Nora and you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In writing of his decision to leave the Japanese army, Richard, after +his return to the United States, said: +</P> + +<P> +"On the receipt of Oku's answer to the Correspondents we left the army. +Other correspondents would have quit then, as most of them did ten days +later, but that their work and Kuroki, so far from being fifty miles +north toward Mukden, as Okabe said he was, was twenty miles to the east +on our right preparing for the, closing-in movement which was just +about to begin. Three days after we had left the army, the greatest +battle since Sedan was waged for six days. +</P> + +<P> +"So, our half-year of time and money, of dreary waiting, of daily +humiliations at the hands of officers with minds diseased by suspicion, +all of which would have been made up to us by the sight of this one +great spectacle, was to the end absolutely lost to us. Perhaps we made +a mistake in judgment. As the cards fell we certainly did. +</P> + +<P> +"The only proposition before us was this: There was small chance of +any immediate fighting. If there were fighting we would not see it. +Confronted with the same conditions again, I would decide in exactly +the same manner. Our misfortune lay in the fact that our experience +with other armies had led us to believe that officers and gentlemen +speak the truth, that men with titles of nobility, and with the higher +titles of General and Major-General, do not lie. In that we were +mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +Greatly disappointed at his failure to see really anything of the war, +much embittered at the Japanese over their treatment of the +correspondents, Richard reached Vancouver in October. As my father was +seriously ill he came to Philadelphia at once and divided the next two +months between our old home and Marion. +</P> + +<P> +On December 14, 1904, my father died, and it was the first tragedy that +had come into Richard's life, as it was in that of my sister or myself. +As an editorial writer, most of my father's work had been anonymous, +but his influence had been as far-reaching as it had been ever for all +that was just and fine. All of his life he had worked unremittingly +for good causes and, in spite of the heavy burdens which of his own +will he had taken upon his none too strong shoulders, I have never met +with a nature so calm , so simple, so sympathetic with those who were +weak—weak in body or soul. As all newspaper men must, he had been +brought in constant contact with the worst elements of machine +politics, as indeed he had with the lowest strata of the life common to +any great city. But in his own life he was as unsophisticated; his +ideals of high living, his belief in the possibilities of good in all +men and in all women, remained as unruffled as if he had never left his +father's farm where he had spent his childhood. When my father died +Richard lost his "kindest and severest critic" as he also lost one of +his very closest friends and companions. +</P> + +<P> +During the short illness that preceded my brother's death, although +quite unconscious that the end was so near, his thoughts constantly +turned back to the days of his home in Philadelphia, and he got out the +letters which as a boy and as a young man he had written to his family. +After reading a number of them he said: "I know now why we were such a +happy It was because we were always, all of us, of the same age." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MOUNT KISCO +</H3> + +<P> +During my brother's life there were four centres from which he set +forth on his travels and to which he returned to finish the articles +for which he had collected the material, or perhaps to write a novel, a +few short stories, or occasionally a play, but unlike most of the +followers of his craft, never to rest. Indeed during the last +twenty-five years of his life I do not recall two consecutive days when +Richard did not devote a number of hours to literary work. The centres +of which I speak were first Philadelphia, then New York, then Marion, +and lastly Mount Kisco. Happy as Richard had been at Marion, the +quaint little village, especially in winter, was rather inaccessible, +and he realized that to be in touch with the numerous affairs in which +he was interested that his headquarters should be in or near New York. +In addition to this he had for long wanted a home of his very own, and +so located that he could have his family and his friends constantly +about him. Some years, however, elapsed between this dream and its +realization. In 1903 he took the first step by purchasing a farm +situated in the Westchester Hills, five miles from Mount Kisco, New +York. He began by building a lake at the foot of the hill on which the +home was to stand, then a water-tower, and finally the house itself. +The plans to the minutest detail had been laid out on the lawn at +Marion and, as the architect himself said, there was nothing left for +him to do but to design the cellar. +</P> + +<P> +Richard and his wife moved into their new home in July, 1905, and +called it Crossroads Farm, keeping the original name of the place. In +later years Richard added various adjoining parcels of land to his +first purchase, and the property eventually included nearly three +hundred acres. The house itself was very large, very comfortable, and +there were many guest-rooms which every week-end for long were filled +by the jolliest of house-parties. In his novel "The Blind Spot," +Justus Miles Forman gives the following very charming picture of the +place: +</P> + +<P> +"It was a broad terrace paved with red brick that was stained and a +little mossy, so that it looked much older than it had any right to, +and along its outer border there were bay-trees set in big Italian +terracotta jars; but the bay-trees were placed far apart so that they +should not mask the view, and that was wise, for it was a fine view. +It is rugged country in that part of Westchester County—like a choppy +sea: all broken, twisted ridges, and abrupt little hills, and piled-up +boulders, and hollow, cup-like depressions among them. The Grey house +sat, as it were, upon the lip of a cup, and from the southward terrace +you looked across a mile or two of hollow bottom, with a little lake at +your feet, to sloping pastures where there were cattle browsing, and to +the far, high hills beyond. +</P> + +<P> +"There was no magnificence about the outlook—nothing to make you catch +your breath; but it was a good view with plenty of elbow room and no +sign of a neighbor—no huddling—only the water of the little lake, the +brown November hillsides, and the clean blue sky above. The distant +cattle looked like scenic cattle painted on their green-bronze pasture +to give an aspect of husbandry to the scene." +</P> + +<P> +Although Richard was now comfortably settled, he had of late years +acquired a great dread of cold weather. As soon as winter set in his +mind turned to the tropics, and whenever it was possible he went to +Cuba or some other land where he was sure of plenty of heat and +sunshine. The early part of 1906 found him at Havana, this time on a +visit to the Hon. E. V. Morgan, who was then our minister to Cuba. +From Havana he went to the Isle of Pines. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ISLE OF PINES, March 26th, 1906. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER:— +</P> + +<P> +We are just returning from the Isle of Pines. We reached there after a +day on the water at about six on Wednesday, 22nd. They dropped us at a +woodshed in a mangrove swamp, where a Mr. Mason met us with two mules. +I must have said I was going to the island because every one was +expecting me. Until the night before we had really no idea when we +would go, so, to be welcomed wherever we went, was confusing. For four +days we were cut off from the world, and in that time, five days in +all, we covered the entire island pretty thoroughly— It was one of the +most interesting trips I ever took and Cecil enjoyed it as much as I +did. The island is a curious mixture of palm and pines, one minute it +looks like Venezuela and the next like Florida and Lakewood. It is +divided into two parties of Americans, the "moderates" and the +"revolutionists." The Cubans are very few and are all employed by the +Americans, who own nine-tenths of the Island. Of course, they all want +the U. S. to take it, they differ only as to how to persuade the +senators to do it. I had to change all my opinions about the +situation. I thought it was owned by land speculators who did not live +there, nor wish to live there, but instead I found every one I met had +built a home and was cultivating the land. We gave each land company a +turn at me, and we had to admire orange groves and pineapples, +grapefruit and coffee until we cried for help. With all this was the +most romantic history of the island before the "gringos" came. It was +a famous place for pirates and buried treasures and slave pens. It was +a sort of clearing house for slaves where they were fattened. I do not +believe people take much interest in or know anything about it, but I +am going to try and make an interesting story of it for Collier. It +was queer to be so completely cut off from the world. There was a +wireless but they would not let me use it. It is not yet opened to the +public. I talked to every one I met and saw much that was pathetic and +human. It was the first pioneer settlement Cecil had ever seen and the +American making the ways straight is very curious. He certainly does +not adorn whatever he touches. But never have I met so many +enthusiastics and such pride in locality. To-night we reach the Hotel +Louvre, thank heaven! where I can get Spanish food again, and not +American ginger bread, and, "the pie like mother used to make." We now +are on a wretched Spanish tug boat with every one, myself included, +very seasick and babies howling and roosters crowing. But soon that +will be over, and, after a short ride of thirty miles through a +beautiful part of the island, we will be in Havana in time for a fine +dinner, with ice. What next we will do I am not sure. After living in +that beautiful palace of Morgan's, it just needed five days of the +"Pinero's" to make us enjoy life at a hotel— If we can make +connections, I think I will go over to Santo Domingo, and study up that +subject, too. But, even if we go no where else the trip to the I. of +P. was alone well worth our long journey. I don't know when I have +seen anything as curious, and as complicated a political existence. +Love to all of you dear ones. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +HAVANA—April 9, 1906. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE, ESQ. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR MAURICE: +</P> + +<P> +I have just read about myself, in the April Bookman, which I would be +very ungrateful if I did not write and tell you how much it pleased me. +That sounds as though what pleased me was, obviously, that what you +said was so kind. But what I really mean, and that for which I thank +you, was your picking out things that I myself liked, and that I would +like to think others liked. I know that the men make "breaks," and am +sorry for it, but, I forget to be sorry when you please me by pointing +out the good qualities in "Laquerre," and the bull terrier. Nothing +ever hurt me so much as the line used by many reviewers of "Macklin" +that "Mr. Davis' hero is a cad, and Mr. Davis cannot see it." Macklin +I always thought was the best thing I ever did, and it was the one over +which I took the most time and care. Its failure was what as Maggie +Cline used to say, "drove me into this business" of play writing. All +that ever was said of it was that it was "A book to read on railroad +trains and in a hammock." That was the verdict as delivered to me by +Romeike from 300 reviewers, and it drove me to farces. So, I was +especially glad when you liked "Royal Macklin." I tried to make a +"hero" who was vain, theatrical, boasting and selfconscious, but, still +likable. But, I did not succeed in making him of interest, and it +always has hurt me. Also, your liking the "Derelict" and the "Fever +Ship" gave me much pleasure. You see what I mean, it was your +selecting the things upon which I had worked, and with which I had made +every effort, that has both encouraged and delighted me. Being +entirely unprejudiced, I think it is a fine article, and as soon as I +stamp this, I will read it over again. So, thank you very much, +indeed, for to say what you did seriously, over your own name, took a +lot of courage, and for that daring, and for liking the same things I +do, I thank you many times. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sincerely yours, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In reading this over, I find all I seem to have done in it is to +complain because no one, but yourself and myself liked "Macklin." What +I wanted to say is, that I am very grateful for the article, for the +appreciation, although I don't deserve it, and for your temerity in +saying so many kind things. Nothing that has been written about what I +have written has ever pleased me so much. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +R. H. D. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the spring of 1906 while Richard was on a visit to Providence, R. +I., Henry W. Savage produced a play by Jesse Lynch Williams and my +brother was asked to assist at rehearsals, a pastime in which he found +an enormous amount of pleasure. The "McCloy" mentioned in the +following letter was the city editor of The Evening Sun when my brother +first joined the staff of that paper as a reporter. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NEW YORK, May 4, 1906. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR NORA: +</P> + +<P> +I left Providence Tuesday night and came on to New York yesterday. +Savage and Williams and all were very nice about the help they said I +had given them, and I had as much fun as though it had been a success I +had made myself, and I didn't have to make a speech, either. +</P> + +<P> +Yesterday I spent in the newspaper offices gathering material from +their envelopes on Winston Churchill, M. P. who is to be one of my real +Soldiers of Fortune. He will make a splendid one, in four wars, twice +made a question; before he was 21 years old, in Parliament, and a +leader in BOTH parties before he was 36. In the newspaper offices they +had a lot of fun with me. When I came into the city room of The Eve. +Sun, McCloy was at his desk in his shirt spiking copy. He just raised +his eyes and went on with his blue pencil. I said "There's nothing in +that story, sir, the man will get well, and the woman is his wife." +</P> + +<P> +"Make two sticks of it," said McCloy, "and then go back to the +Jefferson police court." +</P> + +<P> +When I sat down at my old desk, and began to write the copy boy came +and stood beside me and when I had finished the first page, snatched +it. I had to explain I was only taking notes. +</P> + +<P> +At The Journal, Sam Chamberlain who used to pay me $500 a story, +touched me on the shoulder as I was scribbling down notes, and said +"Hearst says to take you back at $17 a week." I said "I'm worth $18 and +I can't come for less." So he brought up the business manager and had a +long wrangle with him as to whether I should get $18. The business +manager, a Jew gentleman, didn't know me from Adam, and seriously tried +to save the paper a dollar a week. When the reporters and typewriter +girls began to laugh, he got very mad. It was very funny how soothing +was the noise of the presses, and the bells and typewriters and men +yelling "Copy!" and "Damn the boy!" I could write better than if I had +been in the silence of the farm. It was like being able to sleep as +soon as the screw starts. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CONGO +</H3> + +<P> +During the winter of 1907 the world rang with the reports of the +atrocities in the Congo, and Robert J. Collier, of Collier's Weekly, +asked Richard to go to the Congo and make an investigation. I do not +believe that my brother was ever in much sympathy with the commission, +as he did not feel that he could afford the time that a thorough +investigation demanded. However, with his wife he sailed for Liverpool +on January 5, 1907, and three weeks later started for Africa. +Regarding this trip, in addition to the letters he wrote to his family, +I also quote from a diary which he had just started and which he +conscientiously continued until his death. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +From diary of January 24th, 1907. Last day in London. Margaret Frazer +offered me gun from a Captain Jenkins of Nigeria. Instead bought +Winchester repeating, hoping, if need it, get one coast. Lunched +Savoy-Lynch, Mrs. Lynch, her sister—very beautiful girl. In afternoon +Sam Sothern and Margaret came in to say "Good bye." Dined at Anthony +Hope's—Barrie and Mrs. Barrie and Jim Whigham. Mrs. Barrie looking +very well, Barrie not so well. As silent as ever, only talked once +during dinner when he told us about the first of his series of cricket +matches between authors and artists. Did not have eleven authors, so +going along road picked up utter strangers one a soldier in front of +embracing two girls. Said he would come if girls came too—all put in +brake. Mrs. Barrie said the Llewellen Davis' were the originals for +the Darlings and their children in Peter Pan. They played a strange +game of billiards suggested by Barrie who won as no one else knew the +rules and they claimed he invented them to suit his case. Sat up until +three writing and packing. The dinner was best have had this trip in +London. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +S. S. February 11th, 1907. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To-morrow, we will be in Banana, which is the first port in the Congo. +When I remember how far away the Congo seemed from New York and London, +it is impossible to believe we are less than a day from it. I am so +very glad I came. The people who have lived here for years agree about +it in no one fact, so, it is a go-as-you-please for any one so far as +accurate information is concerned, and I am as likely to be right as +any one else. It has been a pleasant trip and for us will not be over +until some days, for at Matadi, which is up the river, we will probably +live on the steamer as the shore does not sound attractive. Then I +shall probably go on up the river and after a month or six weeks come +back again. At Boma I am to see the Governor, one of the inspectors on +board is to introduce me, and I have an idea they will make me as +comfortable as possible, so that I may not see anything. Not that I +would be likely to see anything hidden under a year. Yesterday was the +crossing of the Equator. The night before Neptune, one of the crew, +and his wife, the ship's butcher, and a kroo boy, as black as coal for +the heir apparent came over the side and proclaimed that those who +never before had crossed the Equator must be baptized. We had crossed +but I was perfectly willing to go through it for the fun. The Belgians +went at it as seriously as children, and worked up a grand succession +of events. First we had gymkana races among the kroo boys. The most +remarkable was their placing franc pieces in tubs of white and red +flour, for which the boys dived, they then dug for more money into a +big basket fitted with feathers and when they came out they were the +most awful sights imaginable. You can picture their naked black bodies +and faces spotted with white and pink and stuck like chickens with +feathers. Then the next day we were all hauled before a court and +judged, and having all been found guilty were condemned to be shaved +and bathed publicly at four. Meantime the Italians, is it not the +picture of them, had organized a revolution against the Tribunal, with +the object of ducking them. They went into this as though it were a +real conspiracy and had signs and passwords. At four o'clock, in turn +they sat us on the edge of the great tank on the well deck and splashed +us over with paste and then tilted us in. I tried to carry the +Frenchman who was acting as barber, with me but only got him half in. +But Milani, one of the Italians, swung him over his head plumb into the +water. The Frenchman is a rich elephant hunter who is not very +popular. When the revolution broke loose we all yelled "A bas le +Tribunal" "Vive la Revolution!" and there was awful rough house. I +made for the Frenchman and went in with him and nearly drowned him, and +everybody was being thrown into the tank or held in front of a fire +cross. After dinner there was a grand ceremony, the fourth, in which +certificates were presented by an Inspecteur d'Etat who is on board, +and is a Deputy Governor of a district. Then there was much champagne +and a concert and Cecil and I sat with the Captain, the Bishop, in his +robes and berretta and the two inspectors and they were very charming +to both of us. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +S. S. February 13th, 1907. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We reached Banana yesterday morning, and the mouth of the Congo, and as +the soldier said when he reached the top of San Juan Hill, "Hell! well +here we are!" Banana looks like one of the dozen little islands in the +West Indies, where we would stop to take on some "brands of bananas," +instead of the port to a country as big as Europe. We went ashore and +wandered around under the palm trees, and took photos, and watched some +men fishing in the lagoons, and we saw a strange fish that leaps on the +top of the water just as a frog jumps on land. It is certainly hot. +Milani and I went in swimming in the ocean, and got finely cool. Then +we paddled the canoe back to the ship to show the blacks how good we +were, and got very hot, and the blacks charged us a franc for the +voyage. To-morrow we will be in Boma, the capital, which is much of a +place with shops and a lawn tennis court. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +BOMA, February 15th. +</P> + +<P> +Boma is more or less laid out and contains the official residences of +the Government. I walked all over it in an hour, and here you walk +very slow. There are three or four big trading stores AND a tennis +court. It is, however, a dreary place. We called on the missionary +and his wife, but she does not speak English and their point of view of +everything was not cheerful or instructive. Cecil plans to remain on +board while at Matadi and return with this same boat to Boma. I want +her to go home in this boat or in some other, as I believe Boma most +unhealthy and I know it to be most uncomfortable. She would have to go +to a hotel which is very hot and rough, although it is clean and well +run. I am undecided whether to go up the river for ten days, to where +it crosses the equator, or to leave the upper Congo and go up the Kasai +river. This is off the beaten track, and one may see something of +interest. I will know better what I will do in an hour, when I get to +Matadi. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MATADI—Feby. 21. +</P> + +<P> +We are now at Matadi. The Captain invited us to stop on board and it +is well he did. We dine on deck where the wind blows but the rest of +the ship is being cleaned and painted for the trip North. Four hatches +are discharging cargo all at once, from four in the morning until +midnight. Officers and kroo boys get four hours sleep out of the +twenty-four, but I sleep right through it, so does Cecil. Sometimes +they take out iron rails and then zinc roofs and steel boats, 6000 +cases of gin and 1000 tons of coal. Still, it is much better than in +the Hotel Africa on shore. Matadi is a hill of red iron and the heat +is grand. Everything in this country is grand. The river is, in +places, seven miles wide, the sunsets are like nothing earthly, and the +black people are like brooding shadows of lost souls, that is, if souls +have shadows. Most of the blacks in this town are "prisoners" with a +steel ring around the neck, and chained in long lines. I leave on the +23d to go up the Kasai River, because that is where the atrocities come +from and up there there are many missionaries. I don't want you to +think I say this to "calm your fears," but I say it because it is as +true of this place as of every other one in the world, and that is, +that it is as easy to get about here as it is in Rhode Island. It is +not half as dangerous as automobiling. I have not even felt feverish, +neither has Cecil. I never felt better. Cecil stays on board and goes +back to Boma. There she stops a week and then takes another ship back +to London. She will not wait at Boma for me, at least, I hope not and +cannot imagine her doing so. In any event, after I start, there will +be no way for us to communicate, and I will act on the understanding +that she has started North. +</P> + +<P> +I have two very good boys and both speak English, and are from Sierra +Leone. I take a two-day trip of 200 miles by rail, then four days by +boat up the Kasai and then I may come back by boat or walk. It depends +on how I like it, how long I stay, for I can hope to see very little, +as under a year it would be impossible to write with authority of this +country. But I'll see more of it than some at home, and I'll hear what +those who have lived here for years have to say. It is awfully +interesting, absolutely different and more uncivilized than anything I +ever saw. But all the time you are depressed with how little you know +and can know of it. I will be here six weeks or two months and then +should get up the coast to London about the middle of May or sooner. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +From diary of February 22nd, 1907. +</P> + +<P> +Spent about the worst night of my life. No mattress, no pillow. Not +space enough for my own cot. Every insect in the world ate me. After +a bath and coffee felt better. It rained heavily until three P. M. +Read Pendennis, and loved it. The picture of life at Clavering and +Fairoaks, and Dr. Portman and Foker are wonderful. I do not know when +I have enjoyed and admired a work so much. For some reason it is all +entirely new again. I will read them all now in turn. After rain +cleared took my slaves and went after "supplies." Met a King. I +thought he was a witch doctor, and the boys said he was a dancing man. +All his suite, wives and subjects followed, singing a song that made +your flesh creep. At Hatton and Cookson's bought "plenty chop" for +"boys" who were much pleased. Also a sparklet bottle, some whiskey and +two pints of champagne at 7 francs the pint. Blush to own it was demi +Sec. Also bacon, jam, milk, envelopes, a pillow. Saw some ivory State +had seized and returned. 15 Kilo's. Some taken from Gomez across +street not returned until he gave up half. No reason given Taylor +agent H. & C. why returned Apparently when called will come down on the +ivory question. Cuthbert Malet, coffee planter, came call on me. Only +Englishman still in Service State. Had much to say which did not want +printed until he out of country which will be in month or two. +Anstrossi has given me side of cabin where there is room for my cot, so +expect to sleep. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +STANLEY POOL, Feb. 22nd, 1907. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +When you get this, I will be on my way to London. The rest of my stay +here will be on board two boats, touching at the banks of the Kasai +river. One I now am on takes me up and another takes me down. I will +see a great deal that is strange and it is very interesting. +Yesterday, for example, only an hour before our train reached Gongolo +Station, there were three elephants that wandered across the track. We +were very disappointed not to have seen them. At the mission house on +the way up, I brought the first ice the mission boys had seen and when +I put a piece in the hand of one, he yelled and danced about as though +it were a coal. The higher up you go the tougher it gets. Back in the +jungle, one can only imagine what it is like. Here all the white men +have black wives, and the way the whip is used on the men is very +different from the lower congo. The boat is about as large as a +touring car, with all the machinery exposed. I am very comfortable +though, with my bed and camp chair, and, books to read, when one gets +tired of this great, dirty river. I, expect to see hippopotamuses and +many crocodiles and to learn something of the "atrocities" by hearsay. +To see for oneself, would take months. I return from the Kasai +district by a boat like this one, burning wood and with a stern wheel, +reaching Leopoldville, this place, about the 12th of March, and sailing +on the Albertville for Southampton on the 19th of March. So I should +be in London and so very near you by the 8th of April. Of course, if I +take a later boat from here, I will be just that much later. I am +perfectly well, never better. No fever, no "tired feeling" good +appetite, in spite of awful tough food. From this place money cannot +be used and I carry a bag of salt and rolls of cloth. For a bottle of +salt you get a fowl or a turkey, for a tablespoonful an egg, or a bunch +of fruit. When you write be sure and tell me ALL your plans for the +summer; that is, after you have been to see us. My dearest love to you +all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +From diary of February 27th, 1907. +</P> + +<P> +Saw two hippos. Thought Anstrossi said they were buffalo. So was glad +when I found out what they were. I did not want to go home without +having seen only two dead ones. In a few minutes I saw two more. +Anstrossi fired at them but I did not, as thought it not the game when +one could not recover them. Before noon saw six in a bunch—and then +what I thought was a spit of rock with a hippo lying on the end of it, +turned out to be fifteen hippos in a line! Burnham has told he had +seen eleven in the Volta in one day. Before one o'clock, I had seen +twenty-six, and, later in the day Anstrossi fired at another, and shot +a hole in the awning. That made twenty-seven in one day. Also some +monkeys. The hippos were delightful. They seemed so aristocratic, +like gouty old gentlemen, puffing and blowing and yawning, as though +everything bored them. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +From diary of February 28th, 1907. +</P> + +<P> +When just going up for coffee, saw what was so big, looking at it +against horizon, thought it must be an elephant. Was a young hippo. +Captain Jensen brought boat within eighty yards of him, and both +Anstrossi and I fired, apparently knocking him off his legs, for he +rolled on his side as though his back was broken. I missed him the +second shot, which struck the water just in front of him. The other +three shots caught him in the head, in the mouth and ear. He lay quite +still, and the boys rushed out a gang plank and surrounded him singing +and shouting and cutting his tail to make him bleed and weaken him. +They don't die for an hour but he seemed dead enough, so I went to my +cabin to re-load my gun and my camera. In three minutes I came out, +and found the hippo still quiet. Then he began to toss his head and I +shot him again, to put him out of pain. In return for which he rolled +over into the water and got away. I was mad. Later saw four more. +Just at sunset while taking bath another was seen on shore. We got +within sixty yards of him and all of us missed him or at least did not +hurt him. He then trotted for the river with his head up and again I +must have missed, although at one place he was but fifty yards away, +when he entered the water, a hundred. I stepped it off later in the +sand. I followed him up and hit him or some one of us hit him and he +stood up on his hind legs. But he put back to land for the third time. +Captain said wait until moon came out. But though we hunted up to our +waists saw none. One came quite close at dinner. Seven on the day. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CONGO RIVER—March 1, 1907. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I have been up the Congo as far as the Kasai river, and up that to a +place called Dima. There I found myself in a sort of cul de sac. I +found that the rubber plantations I had come to see, were nine days +journey distant. In this land where time and distance are so +differently regarded than with us, a man tells you to go to Dima to see +rubber. He means after getting to Dima, you must catch a steamer that +leaves every two weeks and travel for five days. But he forgets that +that fact is important to visitors. As he is under contract to stay +here three years, it does not much matter to him how he spends a month, +or so. Dima was two hundred yards square, and then the jungle. In +half an hour, I saw it all, and met every one in it. They gave me a +grand reception, but I could not spend ten days in Dima. The only +other thing I could do was to take a canoe to the Jesuit Mission where +the Fathers promised me shooting, or, try to catch the boat back to +England that stops at interesting ports. Sooner than stop in Boma, I +urged Cecil to take that boat. So, if I catch it, we will return +together. It is a five weeks journey, and rather long to spend alone. +In any event my letters will go by a faster boat. I have had a most +wonderfully interesting visit, at least, to me. I hope I can make it +readable. But, much of its pleasure was personal. +</P> + +<P> +I have just had to stop writing this, for what when I get back to New +York will seem a perfectly good reason for interrupting a letter to +even you. A large hippopotamus has just pushed past us with five baby +hippos in front of her. She is shoving them up stream, and the papa +hippo is in the wake puffing and blowing. They are very plenty here +and on the way up stream, I saw a great many, and every morning and +evening went hunting for them on shore. I wanted the head of a +hippopotamus awfully keenly for the farm. But of the only two I saw on +land, both got away from me. I did not shoot at any I saw in the +water, although the other idiot on board did, because if you kill them, +you cannot recover them, and it seems most unsportsmanlike. Besides, I +was so grateful to them for being so proud and pompous, and real +aristocrats dating back from the flood. But I was terribly +disappointed at losing both of those I saw on land. One I dropped at +the first shot, and the other I missed, as he was running, to get back +into the water. The one I shot, and that everyone thought was dead, +AFTER THE "BOYS" BEGAN TO CUT HIM UP, decided he was not going to stand +for that, and to our helpless dismay suddenly rolled himself into the +water. If that is not hard luck, I don't know it. All I got was a bad +photograph of him, and I had already decided where I would hang his +head, and how much I would tip the crew for cutting him up. It was a +really wonderful journey. I loved every minute of it and never was I +in better health. +</P> + +<P> +If I only could have known that you knew that I was all right, but +instead you were worrying. The nights were bright moonlight, and the +days were beautiful; full of strange people and animals, birds and +views. We three sat in the little bridge of the tinpot boat, and +smoked pipes and watched the great muddy river rushing between +wonderful banks. There was the Danish Captain, an Italian officer and +the engineer was from Finland. The Italian spoke French and the two +others English, and I acted as interpreter!! Can you imagine it? I am +now really a daring French linguist. People who understand me, get +quick promotion. If I only could have been able to tell you all was +well and not to be worried. At Kwarmouth I have just received a wire +from Cecil saying she expects to leave by the slow boat but will stay +if I wish it. So, now we can both go by the slow boat if I can catch +it. I hope so. must have found Boma as bad as it looked. God bless +you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +On April 13, Richard was back in London and in his diary of that date +he writes, "Never so glad to get anywhere. Went to sleep to the music +of motorcars. Nothing ever made me feel so content and comfortable and +secure as their 'honk, honk.'" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +From diary of April 22nd, 1907. +</P> + +<P> +A blackmailer named H—— called, with photos of atrocities and letters +and films. He wanted 30 Pounds for the lot. I gave him 3 Pounds for +three photos. One letter he showed me signed Bullinger, an Englishman, +said he had put the fear of God in their hearts by sticking up the +chief's head on a pole, and saying, "Now, make rubber, or you will look +like that." Went to lunch with Pearson but it was the wrong day, and so +missed getting a free feed. Thinking he would turn up, I ordered a +most expensive lunch. I paid for it. Evening went Patience, which +liked immensely and then Duchess of Sutherland's party to Premiers. +Saw Churchill and each explained his share of the Real Soldiers row. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +From diary of April 28th, 1907. +</P> + +<P> +We went down by train to Cliveden going by Taplow to Maidenhead where +Astor had sent his car to meet us. It is a wonderful place and the +view of the Thames is a beautiful one. They had been making +alterations, bathrooms, and putting white enamel tiles throughout the +dungeons. If Dukes lived no more comfortably than those who owned +Cliveden, I am glad I was not a Duke. What was most amusing was the +servant's room which was quite as smart as any library or study, with +fine paintings, arm chairs and writing material. Nannie and Astor were +exceedingly friendly and we walked all over the place. It was good to +get one's feet on turf again. They sent us back by motor, so we +arrived most comfortably. I gave a dinner to the Hopes, Wyndham, Miss +Mary Moore, Ashmead-Bartlett and Margaret. Websters could not come. +Later, came on here, and had a chat, the Websters coming too. I read +Thaw trial. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Early in May Richard and his wife returned to Mount Kisco and my +brother at once started in to change his farce "The Galloper" into a +musical comedy. It was produced on August 12, at the Astor Theatre, +under the title of the "Yankee Tourist," with Raymond Hitchcock as the +star. The following I quote from Richard's diary of that date: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Monday, August 12th, 1907. +</P> + +<P> +Was to have lunched with Ned Stone but he was in court. Met Whigham in +street. Impulsively asked him to lunch. Ethel and Jack turned up at +Martin's; asked them to lunch. Ethel and I drove around town doing +errands, mine being the purchase of tickets for numerous friends. +Called on Miss Trusdale to inquire about Harden-Hickey. She wants her +to go to the country. Cecil arrived at six. We had a suite of +eighty-nine rooms. We dined at Sherry's with Ethel and Jack, Ethel +being host. Taft was there. Hottest night ever. I sat with Jack. In +spite of weather, play went well. Bonsals, Ethel, Arthur Brisbane were +in Cecil's box. Booth Tarkington in Irwin's. Surprise of performance +was "Hello, Bill" which Raymond had learned only that morning. Helen +Hale helped him greatly with dance. People came to supper at Waldorf, +and things went all wrong. Next time I have a first Night I want no +friends during or after. Missed the executive ability of Charles +Belmont greatly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A LONDON WINTER +</H3> + +<P> +From the fall of 1907 to that of 1908 Richard divided his time between +Mount Kisco, Marion, and Cuba. In December of 1908 he sailed for +London where he took Turner the artist's old house in Chelsea for the +winter. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +December 25. Christmas Day. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We are settled here in Darkest Chelsea as though we had been born here. +I am thinking of putting in my time of exile by running for Mayor. +Meanwhile, it is a wonderful place in which to write the last chapters +of "Once Upon a Time." The house is quite wonderful. In Spring and +Summer it must be rarely beautiful. It has trees in front and a yard +and a garden and a squash court: a sort of tennis you play against the +angles of walls covered smooth with cement. Also a studio as large as +a theatre. Outside the trees beat on the windows and birds chirp +there. The river flows only forty feet away, with great brown barges +on it, and gulls whimper and cry, and aeroplane all day. I have a fine +room, and about the only one you can keep as warm as toast SHOULD be, +and in England never is. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil has engaged a teacher, and a model and he is coming here to work. +He is twenty years old, and called the "boy Sargent." So, as soon as +the British public gets sober, we will begin life in earnest, and both +work hard. I need not tell you how glad I am to be at it. I was with +you all in heart last night and recited as much as I could remember of +"Twas the Night Before Christmas," which always means Dad to me, as he +used to read it to us. How much he made the day mean to us. I wish I +could just slip in for a kiss, and a hug. But tonight we will all +drink to you, and a few hours later you will drink to us. God bless +you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +December 29th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +A blizzard has swept over London. The last one cost the City +Corporation $25,000!! The last man who contracted to clean New York +of snow was cleaned out by two days of it, to the tune of $200,000. +Still, in spite of our alleged superiority in all things, one inch of +snow in Chelsea can do more to drive one to drink and suicide than a +foot of it "on the farm." At the farm we threw a ton of coal against +it, and lit log fires and oil lamps, and were warm. Here, they try to +fight it with two buckets of soft chocolate cake called Welch coal, and +the result is you freeze. Cecil's studio is like one vast summer hotel +at Portland Maine in January. You cannot go near it except in rubber +boots, fur coats and woolen gloves. My room still is the only one that +is livable. It is four feet square, heavily panelled in oak and the +coal fire makes it as warm as a stoke hole. So, I am all right and can +work nicely. Janet Sothern came to lunch today and Cecil and she in +furs went picture gazing. Tomorrow we have Capt. Chule to dinner. He +came up the West coast with us and is accustomed to a temperature of +120 degrees. +</P> + +<P> +New Year's eve we spend with Lady Lewis where we dine and keep it up +until four in the morning. We will easily be able to get back here but +how we can get a hansom from here to the great city, I can't imagine. +I have seen none in five days. It is fine to be surrounded by busts of +Carlyle, Whistler, Rosetti and Turner's own, but occasionally you wish +for a taxicab. Tomorrow I am going on a spree to the great city of +London. The novel goes on smoothly, and all is well. I am still +running for Mayor of Chelsea. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Love to you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON—January 1, 1909. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I drank your health and Noll's and Charley's last night and so we all +came into the New Year together. I hope it will be as good for me as +the last. Certainly Chas. is coming on well with another book. It is +splendid. I am so very, very glad. Some of the very best stories +anybody has written will be in his next book. +</P> + +<P> +We dined at the Lewis's. There were 150 at dinner and as we live in +Chelsea now—one might as well be in Brooklyn—we were a half hour +late. Fancy feeling you were keeping 150 people hungry. I sat at Lady +Lewis's table with some interesting men and one beautiful woman all +dressed in glass over pink silk, and pearls, and pearls and then, +pearls. She said "Who am I" and I said "You look like a girl in +America, who used to stand under a green paper lamp shade up in a farm +house in New Hampshire and play a violin." Whereat there was much +applause, because it seemed she was that girl, the daughter of a Mrs. +Van S——, who wrote short stories. Her daughter was L—— Van S—— +now the wife of a baronet and worth five million dollars. The board we +paid then was eight dollars a week. Now, we are dining with her next +Monday and as I insisted on gold plate she said "Very well, I'll get +out the gold plate." But wasn't it dramatic of me to remember her +after twenty two years? +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON-February 23, 1909. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +George Washington's health was celebrated by drinking it at dinner. I +had been asked to speak at a banquet but for some strange reason could +not see myself in the part. The great Frohman arrived last night and +we are all agitated until he speaks. If he would only like my plays as +some of the actors do, I would be passing rich. Barrie asked himself +to lunch yesterday and was very entertaining. He told us of a letter +he received from Guy DuMaurier who wrote "An Englishman's Home" which +has made a sensation second to nothing in ten years. He is an officer +stationed at a small post in South Africa. He wrote Barrie he was at +home, very blue and homesick, and outside it was raining. Then came +Barrie's long cable, at 75 cents a word, saying his play was the +success of the year. He did not know even it had been ACCEPTED. He +shouted to his wife, and they tried to dance but the hut was too small, +so they ran out into the compound and danced in the rain. Then he sent +the Kaffir boys to the mess to bring all the officers and all the +champagne and they did not go to bed at all. The next day cables, +still at three shillings a word came from papers and magazines and +publishers, managers, syndicates. And, in his letter he says, still +not appreciating what a fuss it has made, "I suppose all it needs now +is to be made a question in the House," when already it has been the +text of half a dozen speeches by Cabinet Ministers, and three companies +are playing it in the provinces. What fun to have a success come in +such a way, not even to know it was being rehearsed. Today Sargent is +here to see what is wrong with Cecil's picture of Janet. He came early +and said he couldn't tell until he saw Janet, so now he is back again, +and both Janet and Cecil are shaking with excitement. He is the most +simple, kindly genius I ever met. He says the head is very fine and I +guess Cecil suspected that, before she called him in. He says she must +send it to the Royal Academy. I am now going out to hear more words +fall from the great man, and so farewell. Seymour and I began work +yesterday on the Dictator. It went very smooth. All my love to Noll +and to you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Read the other letter first and then, let me tell you that when I went +out to see Sargent, I found Cecil complaining that she could not +understand just how it was he wanted Janet to pose. Whereat she handed +him a piece of chalk and he made a sketch of Janet as exquisite as the +morning and rubbed his hands of the charcoal and left it there! It's +only worth a hundred pounds! Can you imagine the nerve of Cecil. I +was so shocked I could only gasp. But, he was quite charming and +begged her to call him next time she got in a scrape, and gave her his +private telephone number. +</P> + +<P> +Fancy having Sargent waiting to be called up to make sketches for you. +I left Janet and Cecil giggling with happiness. Janet because she had +been sketched by him and Cecil because she has the sketch. It's a +three fourths length three feet high, and he did it in ten minutes. I +am now going to ask her to invite the chef of the Ritz in, to give us a +sketch of cooking a dinner. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MILITARY MANOEUVRES +</H3> + +<P> +In August, 1909, Richard and his wife left Mount Kisco for a visit to +Mr. and Mrs. Clark at Marion. While there my brother attended and +later on wrote an article on the war manoeuvres held at Middleboro, +Massachusetts. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +August 16th, 1909. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +We had a splendid day to day. I arranged to have Cecil meet me at +eleven at Headquarters in the woods below Middleboro, and I spent the +morning locating different regiments. Then, after I "met up" with her, +I took her in my car. Both she and Hiller were awfully keen over it, +so, we got on splendidly. And, of course, Hiller's knowledge of the +country was wonderfully convenient. We had great luck in seeing the +only fight of the day, the first one of the war. Indeed, I think we +caused it. There was a troop of cavalry with a Captain who was afraid +to advance. I chided him into doing something, the umpire having +confided to me, he would mark him, if he did not. But, he did it +wrong. Anyway, he charged a barn with 36 troopers and lost every +fourth man. In real warfare he would have lost all his men and all his +horses. Cecil and Hiller pursued in the car at the very heels of the +cavalry, and I ran ahead with the bicycle scouts. It was most +exciting. I am going out again to-morrow. Lots of Love to you all. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +August 19th, 1909. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MOTHER: +</P> + +<P> +I got in last night too late to write and I am sorry. To-day, the war +came to an end with our army, the Red one, with the road to Boston open +before it. Indeed, when the end came, they were fighting with their +backs to that City, and could have entered it to-night. I begged both +Bliss and Wood to send in the cavalry just for the moral effect, but +they were afraid of the feeling, that was quite strong. I had much +fun, never more, and saw all that was worth seeing. I was glad to see +I am in such good shape physically, but with the tramping I do over the +farm, it is no wonder. I could take all the stone walls at a jump, +while the others were tearing them down. I also met hundreds of men I +knew and every one was most friendly, especially the correspondents. +Just as I liked to be on a story with a "star" man when I was a +reporter, they liked having a real "war" correspondent, take it +seriously. They were always wanting to know if it were like the Real +Thing, and as I assured them it was, they were satisfied. Some +incidents were very funny. I met a troop of cavalry this morning, +riding away from the battle, down a crossroad, and thinking it was a +flanking manoeuvre, started to follow them with the car. "Where are +you going?" I asked the Captain. "Nowhere," he said, "We are dead." +An Umpire was charging in advance of two troops of the 10th down a +state road, when one trooper of the enemy who were flying, turned back +and alone charged the two troops. "You idiot"! yelled the Umpire, +"don't you know you and your horse are shot to pieces?" "Sure, I know +it," yelled the trooper "but, this —— horse don't know it." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Early in the fall of 1909 Richard returned from Marion to New York and +went to Crossroads, where for the next three years he remained a +greater part of the time. They were years of great and serious changes +for him. An estrangement of long standing between him and his wife had +ended in their separation early in 1910, to be followed later by their +divorce. In September of that year my mother died while on a visit to +Crossroads. +</P> + +<P> +After my father's death life to her became only a period of waiting +until the moment came when she would rejoin him—because her faith was +implicit and infinite. She could not well set about preparing herself +because all of her life she had done that and, so, smiling and with a +splendid bravery and patience she lived on, finding her happiness in +bringing cheer and hope and happiness to all who came into the presence +of her wonderful personality. The old home in Philadelphia was just +the same as it had been through her long married life—that is with one +great difference, but on account of this difference I knew that she was +glad to spend her last days with Richard at Crossroads. And surely +nothing that could be done for a mother by a son had been left undone +by him. Through these last long summer days she sat on the terrace +surrounded by the flowers and the sunshine that she so loved. Little +children came to play at her knee, and old friends travelled from afar +to pay her court. +</P> + +<P> +In the winter of 1910-11 my brother visited Aiken, where he spent +several months. The following June he went to London at the time of +King George's coronation, but did not write about it. Again, in +November, 1911, he visited my sister in London, but returned to New +York in January, 1912, and spent a part of the winter in Aiken and +Cuba. At Aiken he found at least peace and the devotion of loving +friends that he so craved, but in London and Cuba, which once had meant +so much to him, he seemed to have lost interest entirely. But not once +during these years did he cease working, and working hard. On almost +every page of his diary at this period I find such expressions as +"wrote 500 words for discipline." And again "Satisfaction in work of +last years when writing for existence, has been up to any I ever wrote." +</P> + +<P> +And in spite of all of the trouble of these days, he not only wrote +incessantly but did some of his very finest work. Personally I have +never seen a man make a more courageous fight. To quote again from his +diary of this time: "Early going to my room saw red sunrise and gold +moon. I seemed to stop worrying about money. With such free pleasures +I found I could not worry. Every day God gives me greater delight in +good things, in beauty, and in every simple exercise and amusement." +</P> + +<P> +Twice during these difficult days he went to visit Gouverneur Morris +and his wife at Aiken, and after Richard's death his old friend wrote +of the first of these visits: +</P> + +<P> +"It was in our little house at Aiken, in South Carolina, that he was +with us most and we learned to know him best, and that he and I became +dependent upon each other in many ways. "Events, into which I shall +not go, had made his life very difficult and complicated. And he who +had given so much friendship to so many people needed a little +friendship in return, and perhaps, too, he needed for a time to live in +a house whose master and mistress loved each other, and where there +were children. Before he came that first year our house had no name. +Now it is called 'Let's Pretend.' +</P> + +<P> +"Now the chimney in the living-room draws, but in those first days of +the built-over house it didn't. At least, it didn't draw all the time, +but we pretended that it did, and with much pretense came faith. From +the fireplace that smoked to the serious things of life we extended our +pretendings, until real troubles went down before them—down and out. +</P> + +<P> +"It was one of Aiken's very best winters, and the earliest spring I +ever lived anywhere. R. H. D. came shortly after Christmas. The +spiraeas were in bloom, and the monthly roses; you could always find a +sweet violet or two somewhere in the yard; here and there splotches of +deep pink against gray cabin walls proved that precocious peach-trees +were in bloom. It never rained. At night it was cold enough for +fires. In the middle of the day it was hot. The wind never blew, and +every morning we had a four for tennis and every afternoon we rode in +the woods. And every night we sat in front of the fire (that didn't +smoke because of pretending) and talked until the next morning. +</P> + +<P> +"He was one of those rarely gifted men who find their chiefest pleasure +not in looking backward or forward, but in what is going on at the +moment. Weeks did not have to pass before it was forced upon his +knowledge that Tuesday, the fourteenth (let us say), had been a good +Tuesday. He knew it the moment he waked at 7 A. M., and perceived the +Tuesday sunshine making patterns of bright light upon the floor. The +sunshine rejoiced him and the knowledge that even before breakfast +there was vouchsafed to him a whole hour of life. That day began with +attentions to his physical well-being. There were exercises conducted +with great vigor and rejoicing, followed by a tub, artesian cold, and a +loud and joyous singing of ballads. +</P> + +<P> +"The singing over, silence reigned. But if you had listened at his +door you must have heard a pen going, swiftly and boldly. He was hard +at work, doing unto others what others had done unto him. You were a +stranger to him; some magazine had accepted a story that you had +written and published it. R. H. D. had found something to like and +admire in that story (very little perhaps), and it was his duty and +pleasure to tell you so. If he had liked the story very much he would +send you instead of a note a telegram. Or it might be that you had +drawn a picture, or, as a cub reporter, had shown golden promise in a +half column of unsigned print, R. H. D. would find you out, and find +time to praise you and help you. So it was that when he emerged from +his room at sharp eight o'clock, he was wide-awake and happy and +hungry, and whistled and double-shuffled with his feet, out of +excessive energy, and carried in his hands a whole sheaf of notes and +letters and telegrams. +</P> + +<P> +"Breakfast with him was not the usual American breakfast, a sullen, +dyspeptic gathering of persons who only the night before had rejoiced +in each other's society. With him it was the time when the mind is, or +ought to be, at its best, the body at its freshest and hungriest. +Discussions of the latest plays and novels, the doings and undoings of +statesmen, laughter and sentiment—to him, at breakfast, these things +were as important as sausages and thick cream. +</P> + +<P> +"Breakfast over, there was no dawdling and putting off of the day's +work (else how, at eleven sharp, could tennis be played with a free +conscience?). Loving, as he did, everything connected with a +newspaper, he would now pass by those on the hall-table with never so +much as a wistful glance, and hurry to his workroom. +</P> + +<P> +"He wrote sitting down. He wrote standing up. And, almost you may +say, he wrote walking up and down. Some people, accustomed to the +delicious ease and clarity of his style, imagine that he wrote very +easily. He did and he didn't. Letters, easy, clear, to the point, and +gorgeously human, flowed from him without let or hindrance. That +masterpiece of corresponding, the German March through Brussels, was +probably written almost as fast as he could talk (next to Phillips +Brooks, he was the fastest talker I ever heard), but when it came to +fiction he had no facility at all. Perhaps I should say that he held +in contempt any facility that he may have had. It was owing to his +incomparable energy and Joblike patience that he ever gave us any +fiction at all. Every phrase in his fiction was, of all the myriad +phrases he could think of, the fittest in his relentless judgment to +survive. Phrases, paragraphs, pages, whole stories even, were written +over and over again. He worked upon a principle of elimination. If he +wished to describe an automobile turning in at a gate, he made first a +long and elaborate description from which there was omitted no detail, +which the most observant pair of eyes in Christendom had ever noted +with reference to just such a turning. Thereupon he would begin a +process of omitting one by one those details which he had been at such +pains to recall; and after each omission he would ask himself, 'Does +the picture remain?' If it did not, he restored the detail which he +had just omitted, and experimented with the sacrifice of some other, +and so on, and so on, until after Herculean labor there remained for +the reader one of those swiftly flashed ice-clear pictures (complete in +every detail) with which his tales and romances are so delightfully and +continuously adorned. +</P> + +<P> +"But it is quarter to eleven, and this being a time of holiday, R. H. +D. emerges from his workroom happy to think that he has placed one +hundred and seven words between himself and the wolf who hangs about +every writer's door. He isn't satisfied with those hundred and seven +words. He never was in the least satisfied with anything that he +wrote, but he has searched his mind and his conscience and he believes +that under the circumstances they are the very best that he can do. +Anyway, they can stand in their present order until—after lunch. +</P> + +<P> +"A sign of his youth was the fact that to the day of his death he had +denied himself the luxury and slothfulness of habits. I have never +seen him smoke automatically as most men do. He had too much respect +for his own powers of enjoyment and for the sensibilities, perhaps, of +the best Havana tobacco. At a time of his own deliberate choosing, +often after many hours of hankering and renunciation, he smoked his +cigar. He smoked it with delight, with a sense of being rewarded, and +he used all the smoke there was in it. +</P> + +<P> +"He dearly loved the best food, the best champagne, and the best Scotch +whiskey. But these things were friends to him, and not enemies. He +had toward food and drink the continental attitude; namely, that +quality is far more important than quantity; and he got his +exhilaration from the fact that he was drinking champagne and not from +the champagne. Perhaps I shall do well to say that on questions of +right and wrong he had a will of iron. All his life he moved +resolutely in whichever direction his conscience pointed; and although +that ever present and never obtrusive conscience of his made mistakes +of judgment now and then, as must all consciences, I think it can never +once have tricked him into any action that was impure or unclean. Some +critics maintain that the heroes and heroines of his books are +impossibly pure and innocent young people. R. H. D. never called upon +his characters for any trait of virtue, or renunciation, or +self-mastery of which his own life could not furnish examples." +</P> + +<P> +In June of 1912 Richard reported the Republican convention at Chicago. +Shortly after this, on July 8, he married at Greenwich, Connecticut, +Miss Elizabeth Genevieve McEvoy, known on the stage as Bessie McCoy, +with whom he had first become acquainted in 1908 after the estrangement +from his wife. +</P> + +<P> +Richard and his wife made their home at Crossroads, where he devoted +most of his working hours to the writing of short stories. In August +of that year my brother, accompanied by his wife, returned to Chicago +to report the Progressive convention. During the year 1913 he wrote +and produced the farce "Who's Who," of which William Collier was the +star, and in the fall of the same year spent a month in Cuba, with +Augustus Thomas, where they produced a film version of "Soldiers of +Fortune." In referring to this trip, Thomas wrote at the time of +Richard's death: +</P> + +<P> +"In 1914 a motion-picture company arranged to make a feature film of +the play, and Dick and I went with their outfit to Santiago de Cuba, +where, twenty years earlier, he had found the inspiration for his story +and out of which city and its environs he had fashioned his +supposititious republic of Olancho. On that trip he was the idol of +the company. With the men in the smoking-room of the steamer there +were the numberless playful stories, in the rough, of the experiences +on all five continents and seven seas that were the backgrounds of his +published tales. +</P> + +<P> +"At Santiago, if an official was to be persuaded to consent to some +unprecedented seizure of the streets, or a diplomat invoked for the +assistance of the Army or the Navy, it was the experience and good +judgment of Dick Davis that controlled the task. In the field there +were his helpful suggestions of work and make up to the actors, and on +the boat and train and in hotel and camp the lady members met in him an +easy courtesy and understanding at once fraternal and impersonal. +</P> + +<P> +"The element that he could not put into the account and which is +particularly pertinent to this page, is the author of 'Soldiers of +Fortune' as he revealed himself to me both with intention and +unconsciously in the presence of the familiar scenes. +</P> + +<P> +"For three weeks, with the exception of one or two occasions when some +local dignitary captured the revisiting lion, he and I spent our +evenings together at a cafe table overlooking 'The Great Square,' which +he sketches so deftly in its atmosphere when Clay and the Langhams and +Stuart dine there. At one end of the plaza the President's band was +playing native waltzes that came throbbing through the trees and +beating softly above the rustling skirts and clinking spurs of the +senoritas and officers sweeping by in two opposite circles around the +edges of the tessellated pavements. Above the palms around the square +arose the dim, white facade of the Cathedral, with the bronze statue of +Anduella the liberator of Olancho, who answered with his upraised arm +and cocked hat the cheers of an imaginary populace. +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty years had gone by since Dick had received the impression that +wrote those lines, and now sometimes after dinner half a long cigar +would burn out as he mused over the picture and the dreams that had +gone between. From one long silence he said: 'I think I'll come back +here this winter and bring Mrs. Davis with me—stay a couple of +months.' What a fine compliment to a wife to have the thought of her +and that plan emerge from that deep and romantic background. +</P> + +<P> +"The picture people began their film with a showing of the 'mountains +which jutted out into the ocean and suggested roughly the five knuckles +of a giant's hand clenched and lying flat upon the surface of the +water.' That formation of the sea wall is just outside of Santiago. +'The waves tunnelled their way easily enough until they ran up against +those five mountains and then they had to fall back.' How natural for +one of us to be unimpressed by such a feature of the landscape and yet +how characteristic of Dick Davis to see the elemental fight that it +recorded and get the hint for the whole of the engineering struggle +that is so much of his book. +</P> + +<P> +"We went over those mountains together, where two decades before he had +planted his banner of romance. We visited the mines and the railroads +and everywhere found some superintendent or foreman or engineer who +remembered Davis. He had guessed at nothing. Everywhere he had +overlaid the facts with adventure and with beauty, but he had been on +sure footing all the time. His prototype of MacWilliams was dead. +Together we visited the wooden cross with which the miners had marked +his grave. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VERA CRUZ AND THE GREAT WAR +</H3> + +<P> +Late in April, 1914, when war between the United States and Mexico +seemed inevitable Richard once more left the peace and content of +Crossroads and started for Vera Cruz, arriving there on April 29. He +had arranged to act as correspondent for a syndicate of newspapers, and +as he had for long been opposed to the administration's policy of +"watchful waiting" was greatly disappointed on his arrival at the +border to learn of the President's plan of mediation. He wrote to his +wife: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CRUZ, April 24, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +We left today at 5.30. It was a splendid scene, except for the +children crying, and the wives of the officers and enlisted men trying +not to cry. I got a stateroom to myself. With the electric fan on and +the airport open, it is about as cool as a blast furnace. But I was +given a seat on the left of General Funston, who is commanding this +brigade, and the other officers at the table are all good fellows. As +long as I was going, I certainly had luck in getting away as sharply as +I did. One day's delay would have made me miss this transport, which +will be the first to land troops. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 25th. +</P> + +<P> +A dreadnaught joined us today, the Louisiana. I wirelessed the Admiral +asking permission to send a press despatch via his battleship, and he +was polite in reply, but firm. He said "No." There are four transports +and three torpedo boats and the battleship. We go very slowly, because +we must keep up with one of the troop ships with broken engines. At +night it is very pretty seeing the ships in line, and the torpedo boats +winking their signals at each other. I am writing all the time or +reading up things about the army I forget and getting the new dope. +Also I am brushing up my Spanish. Jack London is on board, and three +other correspondents, two of whom I have met on other trips, and one +"cub" correspondent. He was sitting beside London and me busily +turning out copy, and I asked him what he found to write about. He +said, "Well, maybe I see things you fellows don't see." What he meant +was that what was old to us was new to him, but he got guyed +unmercifully. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +April 27, 1914. +</P> + +<P> +The censor reads all I write, and so do some half-dozen Mexican cable +clerks and 60 (sixty) correspondents. So when I cable "love," it MEANS +devotion, adoration, and worship; loyalty, fidelity and truth, wanting +you, needing you, unhappy for you. It means ALL that. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VERA CRUZ, April 30, 1914. +</P> + +<P> +This heat—humid and moist—would sweat water out of a chilled steel +safe; so imagine what it does to me with all the awful winter's +accumulation of fat. I hate to say it, but I LIKE these Mexicans—much +better than Cubans, or Central Americans. They are human, kindly; it +is only the politicians and bandits like Villa who give them a bad +name. But, though they ought to hate us, whenever I stop to ask my way +they invite me to come in and have "coffee" and say, "My house is +yours, senor," which certainly is kind after people have taken your +town away from you and given you another flag and knocked your head off +if you did not salute it. I now have a fine room. The Navy moved out +today and I got the room of the paymaster. It faces the plaza and the +cathedral. I burned a candle there today for our soon meeting. The +priests all had run away, so I had to hunt up the candle, and pay the +money into the box marked for that purpose, but the Lord does not run +away, and He will see we soon meet. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +May 2nd. +</P> + +<P> +Yesterday I went out on the train that brings in refugees and saw the +Mexicans. They had on three thousand cartridges, much hair, hats as +high as church steeples, and lots of dirt. The Selig Moving Picture +folks took many pictures of us and several "stills," in which the war +correspondent was shown giving cigarettes to the brigands. Also, I had +a wonderful bath in the ocean off the aviation camp. I borrowed a suit +from one of the aviators, and splashed and swam around for an hour. +My! it was good. It reminded me of my dear Bessie, because the last +time I was in the ocean was with her. +</P> + +<P> +Maybe you know what is going on, but we do not. So I just hustle +around all day trying to find news as I did when I was a reporter. It +is hot enough here even for me, and I have lost about eight pounds of +that fat I laid in during our North Pole winter! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VERA CRUZ—May 8, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS.: +</P> + +<P> +Today, when Wilson ordered Huerta not to blockade Tampico which was an +insult to Mediators and the act of a bully and a coward, AND a +declaration of war, we all got on our ponies to "advance." Then came +word Huerta would not blockade. It is like living in a mad house. We +all are hoping mediators refuse to continue negotiations. If they have +self respect that is what they will do. Tonight if Wilson and Huerta +ran for President, Huerta would get all our votes. He may be an +uneducated Indian, but at least he is a man. However, that makes no +never mind so far as to my getting back. The reason I cannot return is +because I have "credentials." It is not that they want ME here, but +they want my credentials here. The administration is using, as I see +it, the privilege of having a correspondent at the front as a club. It +says until war is declared it won't issue any more. So those +syndicates who have no correspondent and the papers forming them, are +afraid to attack or to criticise the administration for fear they will +be blacklisted. And those who have a correspondent with his three +thousand dollar signed and sealed pass in his pocket aren't taking any +chance on losing him. So, I see before me an endless existence in Vera +Cruz. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On May 7 Richard started for Mexico City where, if possible, he +intended to interview Huerta. At Pasco de Macho he was arrested, but +afterward was allowed to proceed to Mexico City. Here he was again +arrested, and without being allowed to interview Huerta was sent back +the day after his arrival to Vera Cruz. +</P> + +<P> +Of this Vera Cruz experience John N. Wheeler, a friend of Richard's and +the manager of the syndicate which sent him to Mexico, wrote the +following after my brother's death: +</P> + +<P> +"Richard Harding Davis went to Vera Cruz for a newspaper syndicate, and +after the first sharp engagement in the Mexican seaport there was +nothing for the correspondent to do but kill time on that barren, low +lying strip of Gulf coast, hemmed in on all sides by Mexicans and the +sea, and time is hard to kill there. Yet there was a story to be got, +but it required nerve to go after it. +</P> + +<P> +"In Mexico City was Gen. Huerta, the dictator of Mexico. If a +newspaper could get an interview with him it would be a 'scoop,' but +the work was inclined to be dangerous for the interviewer, since +Americans were being murdered rather profusely in Mexico at the time in +spite of the astute assurances of Mr. Bryan, and no matter how +substantial his references the correspondent was likely to meet some +temperamental and touchy soldier with a loaded rifle who would shoot +first and afterward carry his papers to some one who could read them. +</P> + +<P> +"One of the newspapers taking the stories by Mr. Davis from the +syndicate had a staff man at Vera Cruz as well, and thought to 'scoop' +the country by sending this representative to see Huerta, in this way +'beating' even the other subscribers to the Davis service. An +interview in Mexico City was consequently arranged and the staff man +was cabled and asked to make the trip. He promptly cabled his refusal, +this young man preferring to take no such chances. It was then +suggested that Mr. Davis should attempt it. By pulling some wires at +Washington it was arranged, through the Brazilian and English +Ambassadors at the Mexican capital, for Mr. Davis to interview +President Huerta, with safe conduct (this being about as safe as +nonskid tires) to Mexico City. Mr. Davis was asked if he would make +the trip. In less than two hours back came this laconic cable: +</P> + +<P> +"'Leaving Mexico City to-morrow afternoon at 3 o'clock.' +</P> + +<P> +"That was Richard Harding Davis—no hesitancy, no vacillation. He was +always willing to go, to take any chance, to endure discomfort and all +if he had a fighting opportunity to get the news. The public now knows +that Davis was arrested on this trip, that Huerta refused to make good +on the interview, and that it was only through the good efforts of the +British Ambassador at the Mexican capital he was released. But Davis +went. +</P> + +<P> +"There was an echo of this journey to the Mexican capital several +months later after the conflict in Europe had been raging for a few +weeks. Lord Kitchener announced at one stage of the proceedings he +would permit a single correspondent, selected and indorsed by the +United States Government, to accompany the British army to the front. +Of course, all the swarm of American correspondents in London at the +time were eager for the desirable indorsement. Mr. Davis cabled back +the conditions of his acceptance. Immediately Secretary of State Bryan +was called in Washington on the long-distance telephone. +</P> + +<P> +"'Lord Kitchener has announced,' the Secretary of State was told, 'that +he will accept one correspondent with the British troops in the field, +if he is indorsed by the United States Government. Richard Harding +Davis, who is in London, represents a string of the strongest +newspapers in the United States for this syndicate, and we desire the +indorsement of the State Department so he can obtain this appointment.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Mr. Davis made us some trouble when he was in Mexico,' answered Mr. +Bryan. 'He proceeded to the Mexican capital without our consent and I +will have to consider the matter very carefully before indorsing him. +His Mexican escapade caused us some diplomatic efforts and +embarrassment.' (What the Secretary of State did to bring about Mr. +Davis's release on the occasion of his Mexican arrest is still a secret +of the Department.) +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Bryan did not indorse Mr. Davis finally, which was well, since +Lord Kitchener of Khartum kept the selected list of correspondents +loafing around London on one pretext or another so long they all became +disgusted and went without an official pass from 'K. of K.' As soon as +Mr. Davis was told he would not be appointed he proceeded to Belgium +and returned some of the most thrilling stories written on this +conflict at great personal risk." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +May 13, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +DO NOT BLAME me for this long delay in writing. God knows I wanted +every day to "talk" to you. But we were on the "suspect" list, and to +make even a note was risky. The way I did it was to exclaim over the +beauty of some flower or tree, and then ask the Mexican nearest me to +write the name of it HIMSELF in MY notebook. Then I would say, "In +English that would be——" and I would pretend to write beside it the +English equivalent, but really would write the word that was the key to +what I wished to remember. So, you see, a letter at that rate of +progress was impossible. It was a case of "Can't get away to cable you +today; police won't let me!" However, we are all safe at home again. +As a matter of fact, I had a most exciting time, and am dying to tell +you the "insie" story. But the one I sent the papers must serve. I +promised myself I would give the FIRST soldier, marine and sailor I met +on returning a cigar, and the first sailor was the CHAPLAIN OF THE +FLEET, Father Reany. But he took the cigar and gave me his blessing. +I am now burning candles to St. Rita. What worried me the MOST was how +worried YOU would be; and I begged Palmer not to send the story of our +first arrest. But other people told of it, and he had to forward it. +You certainly made the wires BURN! and had the army guessing. One +officer said to me, "I'm awfully sorry to see you back. If you'd only +have stayed in jail another day your wife would have had us all on our +way to Mexico." And the censor said, "My God! I'm glad you're safe! +Your wife has MADE OUR LIVES HELL!" And quite right, too, bless you! +None of us knows anything, but it looks to me that NOTHING will induce +Wilson to go to war. But the Mexicans think we ARE at war, and act +accordingly. They may bring on a conflict. That is why I am making +ready in case we advance and that is why I cabled today for the rest of +my kit. I have a fine little pony, and a little messenger boy who +speaks Spanish, to look after the horse, and me. +</P> + +<P> +And now, as to your LETTERS, they came to-day, five of them, COUNT 'EM, +and the pictures did make me laugh. I showed those of the soldier +commandeering the vegetables to Funston and he laughed. And, I did +love the flowers you sent no matter HOW homesick they made me! (Oh). +I do not want a camera. +</P> + +<P> +I have one, and those fancy cameras I don't understand. +</P> + +<P> +The letters you forwarded were wonderfully well selected. I mean, +those from other people. One of them was from Senator Root telling me +Bryan is going to reward our three heroic officers who jumped into the +ocean. I know you will be glad. There are NO mosquitoes! Haven't met +up with but three and THEY are not COMING BACK. +</P> + +<P> +I send you a picture of my room from the outside. From the inside the +view is so "pretty." Across the square is the cathedral and the trees +are filled with birds that sing all night, and statues, and pretty +globes. The band plays every night and when it plays "Hello, Winter +Time," I CRY for you. I paid the band-master $20 to play it, and it is +WORTH IT. I sit on the balcony and think of you and know just what you +are doing, for there is only an hour and a half difference. That is, +when with you it is ten o'clock with me it is eight-thirty. So when +you and Louise are at dinner you can know I am just coming in from my +horseback ride to bathe and "nap." And when at eight-thirty you are +playing the Victor, I am drinking a cocktail to you, and shooing away +the Colonels and Admirals who interfere with my ceremony of drinking to +my dear wife. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VERA CRUZ, May 20th, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST WIFE: +</P> + +<P> +I got SUCH a bully letter yesterday from you, written long ago from the +Webster. It said you missed me, and it said you loved me, and there +were funny pictures of you reading the war and peace news each with a +different expression, and you told me about Padrigh and how he runs +down the road. It made me very sad and homesick, but very glad to feel +I was so missed. Also you told me cheerful falsehoods about my Tribune +stories. I know they are no good, and as they are no good, the shorter +the better, but I like to be told they are good. Anyway, I sat down at +once and wrote a long screed on Vera Cruz and the sleepy people that +five here. +</P> + +<P> +We all live on the sidewalk under the stone porch. Every night a table +is reserved and by my orders ALL chairs, except mine, are removed. So +no one can sit down and bore me while I am dining. Another trick I +have to be left alone is to carry a big roll of cable blanks, and I +pretend to write out cables if anyone tries to talk. Then I beckon the +messenger (he always sits in the plaza) and say "File that!" and he +goes once around the block and reports back that it is "filed." If the +bore renews the attack I write another cable, and the unhappy messenger +makes another tour. The band plays from seven to eight every night. +There are five bands, and I saw no reason why there should not be music +every evening. After a day in this dirty hotel or dirty city a lively +band helps. Funston agreed, but forgot, until after three nights with +no band, I wrote him a letter. It was signed by fake names, asking if +he couldn't get nineteen German musicians into a bandstand how could he +hope to get ten thousand soldiers into Mexico City. So now we have a +band each night. That is all my day. After dinner I sit at table and +the men bring up chairs, or else I go to some other table. There are +some damn fool women here who are a nuisance, and they now have dancing +in the hotel adjoining, but I don't know them, except to bow, and I +approve of the tango parties because it keeps them away from the +sidewalk. They ire "refugees," the sort of folks you meet at Ocean +Grove, or rather DON'T meet! All love to you, and give Patrigh a pat +from his Uncle Richard for looking after you and looking for me, and +remember me to Louise and Shu and everything at home. I love you so. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VERA CRUZ, May 28, 1914. +</P> + +<P> +I want to be home to see the daisy field with you. That knee you +nearly busted tobogganing when the daisy field was an iceberg is now +recovered. +</P> + +<P> +The one and all came this morning and as I expected it was all full of +love from you. I DID get happiness out of the thought you put in it. +And all done in an hour. The underclothes made me weep. I could get +none here. Not because Mexicans are not as large as I am, but because +no Mexican of any size would wear 'em. So I've had to wash the few +that the washer-woman didn't destroy myself. And when I saw the lot +you sent! It was like a white sale! Also the quinine which I tasted +just for luck, and the soap in the little violet wrapper made me quite +homesick. Especially was I glad to get socks and pongee suits, and +shirts. I really was getting desperate. God knows what I would have +done without them. +</P> + +<P> +I want to see you so much, and I want to see you in the same setting of +other days, I want to walk with you in the daisy field, and in the +laurel blossoms, and clip roses. But to be with you I'd be willing to +walk on broken glass. Not you, too. Just me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VERA CRUZ—June 4, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR OLD MAN: +</P> + +<P> +I am awfully sorry for your sake, you could not get away. Of course +for myself I am glad that I am to see you and Dai. At least, I hope I +am. God alone knows when we will get out of here. I am sick of it. +Next time I go to war both armies must fight for two months before I +will believe they mean it, and BEFORE I WILL BUDGE. +</P> + +<P> +It is true I am getting good money, but also there is absolutely +NOTHING to write about. Bryan doesn't know that unless he talks by +code every radio on sixteen ships can read every message he sends to +these waters. And the State Department saying it could not understand +the Hyranga giving up her cargo is a damn silly lie. No one is so +foolish as to think the Chester and Tacomah let her land those arms +under their guns unless they had been told to submit to it. And yet +today, we get papers of the 29th in which Bryan says he has twice +cabled Badger for information, when for a week Badger has been reading +Bryan's orders to consuls to let the arms be landed. Can you beat +that? This is an awful place, and if I don't write it is because I +hate to harrow your feelings. It is a town of flies, filth and heat. +John McCutcheon is the only friend I have seen, and he sensibly lives +on a warship. I can't do that, as cables come all the time suggesting +specials, and I am not paid to loaf. John is here on a vacation, and +can do as he pleases. But I ride around like any cub reporter. And +there is no news. Since I left home I have not talked five minutes to +a woman "or mean to!" The Mexican women are a cross between apes and +squaws. Of all I have seen here nothing has impressed me so as the +hideousness of the women, girls, children, widows, grandmothers. And +the refugees, as Collier would say it, are "terrible!" I live a very +lonely existence. I find it works out that way best. And at the same +time all the correspondents are good friends, and I don't find that +there is one of them who does not go out of his way to SHOW he is +friendly. What I CAN'T understand is why no one at home never guesses +I might like to read some of my own stories.… +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Of these days in Vera Cruz John T. McCutcheon wrote the following +shortly after Richard's death: +</P> + +<P> +"Davis was a conspicuous figure in Vera Cruz, as he inevitably had been +in all such situations. Wherever he went, he was pointed out. His +distinction of appearance, together with a distinction in dress, which, +whether from habit or policy, was a valuable asset in his work, made +him a marked man. He dressed and looked the 'war correspondent,' such +a one as he would describe in one of his stories. He fulfilled the +popular ideal of what a member of that fascinating profession should +look like. His code of life and habits was as fixed as that of the +Briton who takes his habits and customs and games and tea wherever he +goes, no matter how benighted or remote the spot may be. +</P> + +<P> +"He was just as loyal to his code as is the Briton. He carried his +bath-tub, his immaculate linen, his evening clothes, his war +equipment—in which he had the pride of a connoisseur—wherever he +went, and, what is more, he had the courage to use the evening clothes +at times when their use was conspicuous. He was the only man who wore +a dinner coat in Vera Cruz, and each night, at his particular table in +the crowded 'Portales,' at the Hotel Diligencia, he was to be seen, as +fresh and clean as though he were in a New York or London restaurant. +</P> + +<P> +Each day he was up early to take the train out to the 'gap,' across +which came arrivals from Mexico City. Sometimes a good 'story' would +come down, as when the long-heralded and long-expected arrival of +Consul Silliman gave a first-page 'feature' to all the American papers. +</P> + +<P> +"In the afternoon he would play water polo over at the navy aviation +camp, and always at a certain time of the day his 'striker' would bring +him his horse and for an hour or more he would ride out along the beach +roads within the American lines." +</P> + +<BR> +<HR WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center"> +<BR> + +<P> +On June 15 Richard sailed on the Utah for New York, arriving there on +the 22d. For a few weeks after his return he remained at Mount Kisco +completing his articles on the Mexican situation but at the outbreak of +the Great War he at once started for Europe, sailing with his wife on +August 4, the day war was declared between England and Germany. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +On Lusitania—August 8, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS: +</P> + +<P> +We got off in a great rush, as the Cunard people received orders to +sail so soon after the Government had told them to cancel all +passengers, that no one expected to leave by her, and had secured +passage on the Lorraine and St. Paul. +</P> + +<P> +They gave me a "regal" suite which at other times costs $1,000 and it +is so darned regal that I hate to leave it. I get sleepy walking from +one end of it to the other; and we have open fires in each of the three +rooms. Generally when one goes to war it is in a transport or a troop +train and the person of the least importance is the correspondent. So, +this way of going to war I like. We now are a cruiser and are slowly +being painted grey, and as soon as they got word England was at war all +lights were put out and to find your way you light matches. You can +imagine the effect of this Ritz Carlton idea of a ship wrapped in +darkness. Gerald Morgan is on board, he is also accredited to The +Tribune, and Frederick Palmer. I do not expect to be allowed to see +anything but will try to join a French army. I will leave Bessie near +London with Louise at some quiet place like Oxford or a village on the +Thames. We can "take" wireless, but not send it, so as no one is +sending and as we don't care to expose our position, we get no news. +We are running far North and it is bitterly cold. I think Peary will +sue us for infringing his copyrights. +</P> + +<P> +I will try to get in touch with Nora. I am worried lest she cannot get +at her money. As British subjects no other thing should upset them. +Address me American Embassy, London. I send such love to you both. +God bless you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Richard arrived in Liverpool August 13, and made arrangements for his +wife to remain in London. Unable to obtain credentials from the +English authorities, he started for Brussels and arrived there in time +to see the entry of the German troops, which he afterward described so +graphically. Indeed this article is considered by many to be one of +the finest pieces of descriptive writing the Great War has produced. +</P> + +<P> +For several days after Brussels had come under the control of the +Germans Richard remained there and then decided to go to Paris as the +siege of the French capital at the time seemed imminent. He and his +friend Gerald Morgan, who was acting as the correspondent of the London +Daily Telegraph, decided to drive to Hal and from there to continue on +foot until they had reached the English or French armies where they +knew they would be among friends. At Hal they were stopped by the +German officials and Morgan wisely returned to Brussels. However, +Richard having decided to continue on his way, was promptly seized by +the Germans and held as an English spy. For a few days he had a most +exciting series of adventures with the German military authorities and +his life was frequently in danger. It was finally due to my brother's +own strategy and the prompt action of our Ambassador to Belgium, Brand +Whitlock, that he was returned to Brussels and received his official +release. +</P> + +<P> +On August 27, Richard left Brussels for Paris on a train carrying +English prisoners and German wounded, and en route saw much of the +burning and destruction of Louvain. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +BRUSSELS, August 17, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST: +</P> + +<P> +Write me soon and often! All is well here so long as I know you are +all right, so do not fail to tell me all, and keep me in touch. If <I>I</I> +do not write much it is because letters do not get through always, and +are read. But you know I love you, and you know twice each day I pray +for you and wish for you all the time. I feel as though I had been +gone a month. Gerald Morgan and I got in last night; this is a +splendid new hotel; for $2.50 I get a room and bath like yours on the +"royal suite," only bigger. This morning the minister did everything +he could for us. There are about twenty Americans who want +credentials. They say they will take no Americans, but to our minister +they said they would make exception in favor of three, so I guess the +three will be John McCutcheon, Palmer and myself. John and I, if +anyone gets a pass, are sure. With the passes we had, Gerald and I +started out in a yellow motor, covered with flags of the Allies, and +saw a great deal. How I wished you were with me, you would so have +loved it. The country is absolutely beautiful. We were stopped every +quarter mile to show our passes and we got a working idea of how it +will be. Tonight I dined with Mr. Whitlock, the minister, and John +McCutcheon came in and Irving Cobb. John and I will get together and +go out. All you need is a motor car and you can go pretty much +everywhere, EXCEPT near where there is fighting. So what I am to do to +earn my wages I don't know. I am now going to bed and I send my +darlin' all love. Today I sent you a wire. If it got to you let me +know. Take such good care of yourself. Remember me to Louise, and, +WRITE ME. All love, DEAR, DEAR one. My wife and my sweetheart. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your husband, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The following is the last letter that got through. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +BRUSSELS, August 21, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +I cannot say much, as I doubt if this will be opened by you. The +German army came in and there was no fighting and I am very well. I am +only distressed at not being able to get letters from you, and not +being able to send them. I will write a long one, and hold it until I +am sure of some way by which it can reach you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD SAY. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +Mrs. Davis had waited in London to meet Richard on his return from the +war, but a misunderstanding as to the date of his return, coupled with +her strong sense of duty to his interests at home, gave occasion for +the letter which follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, August 31, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +Not since the Herald Square days have I had such a blow as when I drove +up to 10 Clarges, and found you gone! IT WAS NOBODY'S FAULT! YOU WERE +SO RIGHT to go; and I COULD NOT COME. I am so distressed lest it was +my cable saying I could not get back that decided you to go before the +fifth. But Ashford says it was not. He tells me the cable came at +THREE in the morning and that you had arranged to be called at +six-thirty in order to leave for Scotland. So, for sending that cable +I need not blame myself too much. I sent you so many messages I do not +know which got through. But I think it must have been one saying I +could not return in time to see you before the fifth. THEN, no trains +were running. The very NEXT DAY the Germans started a troop train, and +I took it. The reason I could not come by automobile was because I had +a falling out with the "mad dogs" and they would not give me a pass. +So Evans, with whom I was to motor to Holland, got through Friday +afternoon and sent the cable. As soon as I reached Holland, I cabled I +was coming and kept on telegraphing every step of the journey, which +lasted three days. +</P> + +<P> +I telegraphed last from Folkestone; even telling you what to have for +my supper. As you directed, Ashford opened the cables, and when I +drove up, he was at the door in tears. He had made a light in your +rooms and, of course, as I looked up I thought you still were in them. +When they told me I was a day late, I cried, too. It was the bitterest +disappointment I ever knew. I had taken the very first train out of +Brussels, the one with the wounded, and for three days had been having +one hell of a time. But I kept thinking of seeing you, and hearing +your dear voice. So the trip did not matter. I was only thinking of +SEEING YOU, and thanking God I was shut of the dirty Germans. We had +nothing to eat, and we slept on the floor of the train, the Germans +kept us locked in, and, all through even Holland, we were under arrest. +But nothing mattered, because I was so happy at thought of meeting you. +As I said neither of us was at fault. You just HAD to go, and I could +NOT COME. But, you can feel how I felt to learn you were at sea. +</P> + +<P> +I was so glad I could use your old rooms. I went to the table where +you used to write and was so glad I could at least be as near to you as +that. No other place in London could have held me that night. Not +Buckingham Palace. I found little things you had left. I loved even +the funny pictures on the wall because we had talked of them together. +It was ROTTEN, ROTTEN luck. But only the Germans and their hellish war +were to blame. I drove straight to the cable office, and tried to +wireless you, knowing you would feel glad to know I was well, and safe +and sound. But the cable people could not send my message. You were +then out of reach of wireless, on the Irish coast. And for nine days +there was no way to tell you I had come back as fast as trains and +boats and the dirty Germans would let me. Oh, my dear, dear one, HOW I +LOVE you. If only I could have seen you for just five minutes. As it +was, I thought for five days more we would be together. What I shall +do now, I don't know. I must go back with either the French or the +English until my contract expires, and then, I can join you. Tomorrow +I am trying to see Asquith and Churchill to get with the army. And I +will at once return across the channel. But, do not worry! I will +never again let a German come within ONE MILE of me! After this, +between me and the Germans, there will be some hundreds of thousands of +English or French. So after this reaches you I will soon be on my way +HOME. Don't worry. Get James back and Amelia and everyone else who +can make you comfortable, and trust in the good Lord. I have your +cross and St. Rita around my neck, and in spite of what the Kaiser +says, God is looking after other people than Germans. Certainly he has +taken good care of me. And he will guard you, and our "blessed" one. +And in a little time, dear, DEAR heart, I will be back, and I will +become a grocer. God love you and keep you, as he does. And you will +never know HOW I LOVE YOU! Good night, dearest, sweetheart and wife! +I am writing this at your table, and, thanking God you are going to the +farm, and to peace and happiness. I SEND YOU ALL THE LOVE IN ALL THE +WORLD. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, September 3rd. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +It was a full moon again tonight and I think you were on deck and saw +it, because by now, you have passed the four days at sea and should be +in the St. Lawrence. So I knew you saw the moon, too, and I sent you a +kiss, via it. It was just over St. James Palace but also it was just +over you. +</P> + +<P> +Today has been a day of worries. Wheeler cabled that the papers wanted +me to be "neutral" and not write against the Germans. As I am not +interested in the German vote, or in advertising of German breweries +(such a hard word to SAY) I thought, considering the EXCLUSIVE stories +I had sent them, instead of kicking, they ought to be sending me a few +bouquets. Especially, as I got cables from Gouvey, Whigham, Scribner's +and others congratulating me on the anti-German stories. So I cabled +Wheeler to tell papers of his syndicate, dictation from them as to what +I should write was "unexpected," that they could go to name-of-place +censored and that if he wished I would release him from his contract +tonight. Considering that without credentials I was with French, +Belgian and German armies and saw entry of Germans into Brussels and +sacking of Louvain and got arrested as a spy, they were a bit +ungrateful. I am now wondering WHAT I would have seen HAD I HAD +credentials. +</P> + +<P> +I saw Anthony Hope at the club last night. He had to go back to the +country, so I dined alone on English oysters. Fancy anyone being +NEUTRAL in this war! Germany dropping bombs in Paris and Antwerp on +women and churches and scattering mines in the channel where they blow +up fishermen and burning the cathedrals! A man who now would be +neutral would be a coward. Good night, NEAR, DEAR, DEAR one. It has +been several weeks since I had sleep, so if I rave and wander in my +letters forgive me. You know how I am thinking of you. God bless you. +God keep you for me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your husband who loves you SO! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LONDON, September 7th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST: +</P> + +<P> +I just got your cable saying you were at the farm, and well! HOW HAPPY +IT MADE ME! I cabled you to Quebec, and to Mt. Kisco, and when two +days passed and I heard nothing, today I was scared, so I cabled Gouvey +to look after you, and also to Wheeler. I went to the Brompton Oratory +today, which is the second most important church here (the cardinal +lives at Westminster) and burned the BIGGEST CANDLE they had for you +and the "blessing." A big woman all in black was kneeling in the +little chapel and when I could not get the candle to stand up, she +beckoned to one of the priests, and he ran and fixed it. Then she went +on praying. And WHO do you think she was? Queen Amelie of Portugal, +you see her pictures in the Tattler and Sphere opening bazaars. So she +must be very good or she would not be saying her prayers all alone with +the poor people and seeing that my Bessie's candle was burning. I have +been waiting here hoping to get some sort of credentials from +Kitchener. But though Winston Churchill has urged him, and tomorrow is +going to urge him again, they give me no hope. So I'll just go over +"on my own" and I bet I'll see more than anyone else. I have fine +papers, anyhow. I am now writing Scribner article, so THAT is off my +mind. And now that you are home, I have no "worries." I wish I had got +your cable earlier. I would have had oysters and champagne in BATH +TUBS. Give my love to all the flowers, and to Shea and Paedrig, and +Tom, and Louise, and Gouvey and the lake. And take SUCH good care of +yourself, and love me, and be happy for I do so love you dear one. I +DO SO LOVE YOU. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YOUR HUSBAND. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +September 15th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST: +</P> + +<P> +Tonight I got your cable in answer to mine asking if you were well. +All things considered twenty-four hours was not so long for them to get +the answer to me. You BET I will be careful. I don't want to get +nearer to a German than twenty miles. At the battlefield I collected +five German spiked helmets but at the Paris gate they took ALL of them +from me. I WAS mad! I wanted to keep them in my "gym," and pound them +with Indian clubs. I wrote all day yesterday, so today I did not work. +There is nothing more here to do. And as soon as my contract is up +October 1st, I will make towards YOU! Seeing the big battle was great +luck. So far I have seen more than anyone. I have had no credentials; +and yet have been with ALL the armies. Now I am just beating time, +until I can get home. The fighting is too far away even if I could go +to it. But I can't without being arrested. And I am fed up on being +arrested. Today all the little children came out of doors. They have +been locked up for fear of airships. It was fine to see them playing +in the Champs Elysees and making forts out of pebbles, and rolling +hoops. +</P> + +<P> +God loves you, dear one, and I trust in Him. But I am awful sick for a +sight of you. What a lot we will have to tell each other. One thing I +never have to tell you, but it makes me happy when I can. It is this: +I LOVE YOU! And every minute I think of you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +With all my love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, September 15th, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CHAS.: +</P> + +<P> +I got this morning your letter of August 25th. In it you say kind +things about my account of the Germans entering Brussels. Nothing so +much pleases me as to get praise from you or to know my work pleases +you. Since the Germans were pushed in every one here is breathing +again. But for me it was bad as now the armies are too far to reach by +taxicab, and if you are caught anywhere outside the city you are +arrested and as a punishment sent to Tours. Eight correspondents, +among them two Times men and John Reed and Bobby Dunn, were sent to +Tours Sunday. I had another piece of luck that day with Gerald Morgan. +I taxicabed out to Soissons and saw a wonderful battle. So, now I can +go home in peace. Had I been forced to return without seeing any +fighting I never would have lived it down. I am in my old rooms of +years ago. I got the whole imperial suite for eight francs a day. It +used to be 49 francs a day. Of course, Paris that closes tight at nine +is hardly Paris, but the beauty of the city never so much impressed me. +There is no fool running about to take your mind off the gardens and +buildings. What MOST makes me know I am in Paris, though, are the +packages of segars lying on the dressing table. Give my love to Dai, +and tell her I hope soon to see you. The war correspondent is dead. +My only chance was to get with the English who will take one American +and asked Bryan to choose, he passed it to the Press Association and +they chose Palmer. But I don't believe the official correspondents +will be allowed to see much. I saw the Germans enter Brussels, the +burning of Louvain and the Battle of Soissons and had a very serious +run in with the Germans and nearly got shot. But now if you go out, +every man is after you, and even the gendarmes try to arrest you. It +is sickening. For never, of course, was there such a chance to +describe things that everyone wants to read about. Again my love to +Dai and you. I will see you soon. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In October Richard returned to the United States and settled down to +complete his first book on the war. During this period and indeed +until the hour of his death my brother devoted the greater part of his +time to the cause of the Allies. He had always believed that the +United States should have entered the war when the Germans first +outraged Belgium, and to this effect he wrote many letters to the +newspapers. In addition to this he was most active in various of the +charities devoted to the causes of the Allies, wrote a number of +appeals, and contributed money out of all proportion to his means. The +following appeal he wrote for the Secours National: +</P> + +<P> +"You are invited to help women, children and old people in Paris and in +France, wherever the war has brought desolation and distress. To +France you owe a debt. It is not alone the debt you incurred when your +great grandfathers fought for liberty, and to help them, France sent +soldiers, ships and two great generals, Rochambeau and La Fayette. You +owe France for that, but since then you have incurred other debts. +</P> + +<P> +"Though you may never have visited France, her art, literature, her +discoveries in Science, her sense of what is beautiful, whether in a +bonnet, a boulevard or a triumphal arch, have visited you. For them +you are the happier; and for them also, to France you are in debt. +</P> + +<P> +"If you have visited Paris, then your debt is increased a hundred fold. +For to whatever part of France you journeyed, there you found courtesy, +kindness, your visit became a holiday, you departed with a sense of +renunciation; you were determined to return. And when after the war, +you do revisit France, if your debt is unpaid, can you without +embarrassment sink into debt still deeper? What you sought Paris gave +you freely. Was it to study art or to learn history, for the history +of France is the history of the world; was it to dine under the trees +or to rob the Rue de la Paix of a new model; was it for weeks to motor +on the white roads or at a cafe table watch the world pass? Whatever +you sought, you found. Now, as in 1776 we fought, to-day France fights +for freedom, and in behalf of all the world, against militarism that is +'made in Germany.' +</P> + +<P> +"Her men are in the trenches; her women are working in the fields, +sweeping the Paris boulevards, lighting the street lamps. They are +undaunted, independent, magnificently capable. They ask no charity. +But from those districts the war has wrecked, there are hundreds of +thousands of women and little children without work, shelter or food. +To them throughout the war zone the Secours National gives instant +relief. In one day in Paris alone it provides 80,000 free meals. Six +cents pays for one of these meals. One dollar from you will for a week +keep a woman or child alive. +</P> + +<P> +"The story is that one man said, 'In this war the women and children +suffer most. I'm awfully sorry for them!' and the other man said, 'Yes +I'm five dollars sorry. How sorry are you?' +</P> + +<P> +"If ever you intend paying that debt you owe to France do not wait +until the war is ended. Now, while you still owe it, do not again +impose yourself upon her hospitality, her courtesy, her friendship. +</P> + +<P> +"But, pay the debt now. +</P> + +<P> +"And then, when next in Paris you sit at your favorite table and your +favorite waiter hands you the menu, will you not the more enjoy your +dinner if you know that while he was fighting on the Aisne, it was your +privilege to help a little in keeping his wife and child alive." +</P> + +<P> +The winter of 1914-15 Richard and his wife spent in New York, and on +January 4, 1915, their baby, Hope, was born. No event in my brother's +life had ever brought him such infinite happiness, and during the short +fifteen months that remained to him she was seldom, if ever, from his +thoughts, and no father ever planned more carefully for a child's +future than Richard did for his little daughter. +</P> + +<P> +On April 11 my brother and his wife took Hope to Crossroads for the +first time. In his diary of this time he writes, "Only home in the +world is the one I own. Everything belongs. It is so comfortable and +the lake and the streams in the woods where you can get your feet wet. +The thrill of thinking a stump is a trespasser! You can't do that on +ten acres." +</P> + +<P> +A cause in which Richard was enormously interested at this time was +that of the preparedness of his own country, and for it he worked +unremittingly. In August, 1915, he went to Plattsburg, where he took a +month of military training. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PLATTSBTTRG, N. Y. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +August, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR OLD MAN: +</P> + +<P> +This is a very real thing, and STRENUOUS. I know now why God invented +Sunday. The first two days were mighty hard, and I had to work extra +to catch up. I don't know a darned thing, and after watching soldiers +for years, find that I have picked up nothing that they have to learn. +The only things I have learned don't count here, as they might under +marching conditions. My riding I find is quite good, and so is my +rifle shooting. As you could always beat me at that you can see the +conditions are not high. But being used to the army saddle helps me a +lot. I have a steeple chaser on one side and a M. F. H. on the other, +and they can't keep in the saddle, and hate it with bitter oaths. The +camp commander told me that was a curious development; that the best +gentlemen jockeys and polo players on account of the saddle, were sore, +in every sense. Yesterday I rose at 5-30, assembled for breakfast at +six, took down tent to ventilate it, when a cloud meanly appeared, and +I had to put it up again. Then in heavy marching order we drilled two +hours as skirmishers, running and hurling ourselves at the earth, like +falling on the ball, and I always seemed to fall where the cinder path +crossed the parade ground. We got back in time to clean ourselves for +dinner at noon. And then practised firing at targets. At two we were +drilled as cavalry in extended order. We galloped to a point, advanced +on foot, were driven back by an imaginary enemy, and remounted. We +galloped as a squadron, and the sight was really remarkable when you +think the men had been together only four days. But the horses had +been doing it for years. All I had to do to mine was to keep on. He +knew what was wanted as well as did the Captain. After that we put on +our packs and paraded at retreat to the band. Then had supper and +listened to a lecture. I ache in every bone, muscle, and joint. But +the riding has not bothered me. It is only hurling the damned rifle at +myself. At nine I am sound asleep. It certainly is a great +experience, and, all the men are helping each other and the spirit is +splendid. The most curious meetings come off and all kinds of men are +at it from college kids to several who are great grand fathers. +Russell Colt turned up and was very funny over his experiences. He +said he saluted everybody and one man he thought was a general and +stood at attention to salute was a Pullman car conductor. The food is +all you want, and very good. I've had nothing to drink, but +sarsaparilla, but with the thirst we get it is the best drink I know. +I have asked to have no letters forwarded and if I don't write I hope +you will understand as during the day there is not a minute you are +your own boss and at night I am too stiff and sleepy to write. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +All love to you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST: +</P> + +<P> +It is now seven-thirty, and I have had twelve busy hours. They made me +pass an examination as though for Sing Sing, then a man gave me a gun +that at first weighed eight pounds and then twenty. He made me do all +sorts of things with it, such as sentries used to do to me. Then I was +given the gun to keep, and packs, beds, blankets, and I made myself at +home in a tent; then I was moved to another tent with five other men. +Then I got a horse and they galloped us up and down a field for two +hours. I lost ten pounds. Then we were marched around to a band. I +had a sergeant on either side of me, so I did not go wrong, OFTEN. +Then, aching in every bone and with my head filled with orders and +commands, I got into the lake and escaped. You can believe I enjoyed +that bath. It certainly is a fine thing, and I am glad I enrolled (for +every one has been as nice as could be), but I miss you and Hope +terribly. It seems years since I saw you. I am going to my cot quick. +It is now eight o'clock, and I feel like I had been beaten in a stone +crusher. Kiss Hope's foot for me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your loving husband, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Monday. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +I got such a beautiful letter from you! With pictures of Hope +playing with the Bunny. It is the best picture yet. I carry it next +to my heart because you made it, because it is of her. And she sits up +now? Well, I will miss the big clothes-basket. I loved to see her in +it. Years ago, when I left home, she was trying to crawl out of it. +What you tell me of her—knowing what you mean when you say "Kitty" and +"Bunny"—is wonderful. How good it will be! You must come close under +my arm, and tell me every little thing. I feel so much better now that +we have broken into the last week, and are on the home stretch. We +have broken the backbone of the long absence, and, the first thing you +know, I'll be telephoning to have you meet me at White Plains. +</P> + +<P> +This is me sewing up a hole in my breeches. The socks are drying on +the line, my rubber bath is on the right. I am now going to Canada. +But I'll be back in half an hour; it's only 200 yards distant. All the +folks here are French, and the signs are in French. Last place we +halted I bought lumberman's socks to wear at night. I sleep very well, +for I buy my raincoat full of hay from the nearest farmer, and sleep on +that. Today we had another "battle." It began at 7.30 and ended at +one o'clock. We were kept going all that time, taking "cover" behind +railroad embankments and stone walls and in plowed fields, finally +ending with a bayonet charge. I killed so many I stopped counting. +</P> + +<P> +Don't let Hope forget her father. Better put on a wrist-watch and my +horn spectacles, and hold her the wrong way, so she will be reminded of +her Dad. +</P> + +<P> +Good-night, my dearest one. You will never know how terribly I miss +you and love you, and want you in my arms, and you holding Hope so that +I can have all my happiness in one big armful of all that is good. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YOUR LOVING HUSBAND. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Wednesday. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +The Vitagraph people came today. They have a great film to stir people +to preparedness called "The Battle Cry of Peace." It shows New York +destroyed by Germans. They took pictures of several of the +better-known men showing "them" preparing. I was taken cleaning my +rifle, and, as the captain was passing, I asked him to get in the +picture with me and be shown instructing me. He was delighted, but +right in the middle of the picture he "inspected" my barrel. I had not +cleaned it, and he forgot the camera, and gave me the devil. You can +imagine how the crowd roared, and the camera director man was +delighted. I wanted it retaken showing the captain patting me on the +back. +</P> + +<P> +Roosevelt turned up today, and was very nice. Martin Egan came with +him and the British Naval Attache, and they have asked me to dine at a +real table at Hotel Champlain with two other men. It will be fine to +eat off china. The "hike" begins Friday, and we sleep each night on +the ground, but the country we march through is beautiful. All that +counts is getting the days behind me and getting you in my arms. Doing +one's "bit" for one's country is right, but as the man said, "God knows +I love my country and want to fight for her, but I hope to God I never +love another country." Good-night, dear, dear one! How wonderful it +will be to see and hear you again. Kiss Hope for her Dad. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Saturday. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST: +</P> + +<P> +This is writing with all the love, but with difficulties. I am sitting +on a log and the light is a candle. Today we had our first fight. It +happened the squad of eight men I am in was sent in advance, and I was +100 yards in front, so I was the first to come in touch with the scouts +of the Red Army, and I killed a lot. My squad was so brave that we all +got killed THREE TIMES. But as soon as the umpire rode away we would +come to life, and go on fighting. Finally, he took us prisoners, and +made us sit down and look on at the battle. As we had been running +around and each carrying a forty-pound pack, we were glad to remain +dead. But we have declared that nothing can kill us tomorrow but +asphyxiating gas. I have terrible nightmares for fear something has +happened to one of you, and then I trust in the good Lord, and pray him +to make the time pass swiftly. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Good-night, and all the love and kisses for you both. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On October 19, 1915, Richard sailed on the Chicago for France and his +second visit to the Great War. He arrived at Paris on October 30, and +shortly afterward visited the Western front at Amiens and Artois. He +also interviewed Poincare, and through him the French President sent a +message to the American people. At this time my brother had received +permission from the authorities to visit all of the twelve sectors of +the French front under particularly advantageous conditions, and was +naturally most anxious to do so. However, through a misunderstanding +between the syndicate he represented and certain of the newspapers +using its service, he found it advisable, even although against his own +judgment, to go to Greece, and to postpone his visit to the sectors of +the French front he had not already seen. On November 13 he left Paris +bound for Salonica. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +On Way to France, Oct. 18, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +You are much more brave than I am. Anyway, you are much better +behaved. For all the time you were talking I was crying, not with my +eyes only, but with ALL of me. I am so sad. I love you so, and I will +miss you so. I want you to keep saying to yourself all the time, "This +is the most serious effort he ever made, because the chances of seeing +anything are so SMALL, and because never had he such a chance to HELP. +But, all the time, every minute he thinks of me. He wants me. He +misses my voice, my eyes, my presence at his side when he walks or +sleeps. He never loved me so greatly, or at leaving me was so unhappy +as he is now." +</P> + +<P> +Goodby, dear heart. My God-given one! Would it not be wonderful, if +tonight when I am up among the boats on the top deck that girl in the +Pierrot suit, and in her arms Hope, came, and I took them and held them +both? You will walk with her at five, and I will walk and think of you +and love you and long for you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +God keep you, dearest of wives, and mothers. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +October 24. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR DAUGHTER: +</P> + +<P> +So many weeks have passed since I saw you that by now you are able to +read this without your mother looking over your shoulder and helping +you with the big words. I have six sets of pictures of you. Every day +I take them down and change them. Those your dear mother put in glass +frames I do not change. Also, I have all the sweet fruits and +chocolates and red bananas. How good of you to think of just the +things your father likes. Some of them I gave to a little boy and +girl. I play with them because soon my daughter will be as big. They +have no mother like you, OF COURSE; they have no mother like YOURS—for +except my mother there never was a mother like yours; so loving, so +tender, so unselfish and thoughtful. If she is reading this, kiss her +for me. These little children have a little father. He dresses them +and bathes them himself. He is afraid of the cold; and sits in the +sun; and coughs and shivers. His children and I play hide-and-seek, +and, as you will know some day, for that game there is no such place as +a steamer, with boats and ventilators and masts and alleyways. Some +day we will play that game hiding behind the rocks and trees and rose +bushes. Every day I watch the sun set, and know that you and your +pretty mother are watching it, too. And all day I think of you both. +</P> + +<P> +Be very good. Do not bump yourself. Do not eat matches. Do not play +with scissors or cats. Do not forget your dad. Sleep when your mother +wishes it. Love us both. Try to know how we love you. THAT you will +never learn. Good-night and God keep you, and bless you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +YOUR DAD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, November 1. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +Today is "moving" day, and I feel like —— censored word, at the +thought of your having the moving to direct and manage by yourself. I +can picture Barney and Burke loading, and unloading, and coal and wood +being stored, and provisions and ice, and finally Hope brought down to +take her third—no—fourth motor ride. And God will see she makes it +all safely, and that in her new house you are comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +Last night I dreamed about Hope and you, a long dream, and it made me +so happy. Something happened today that you will like to hear. When +the war came the French students at the Beaux Arts had to go to fight. +The wives and children had nothing to live on. So, the American +students, about a dozen of them, organized a relief league. The Beaux +Arts is in a most wonderful palace built by Cardinal Richelieu and +decorated later by Napoleon. In this they were gathering socks, +asphyxiating masks, warm clothes. They were hand painting postcards +for fifty cents apiece. The "masters" as they call their teachers, +also were painting them. I gave them some money which was received +politely, but, as it would not go far, without much enthusiasm. As I +was going, I said, "I'll be back tomorrow to get some facts and I'll +write a story about what you're doing." This is the part that is +embarrassing to write, but you will understand. They gave a cheer and +a yell just as though I had said, "Peace is declared" or "I will give +you Carnegie's fortune." And they danced around, and shook hands, and +Whitney Warren, who is at the head of it, all but cried. Later, he +told me the letter I had written for his wife's fund for orphans by the +war had brought in $5000, that was why they were so pleased. So we, +you and I, will try to look at it that way, and try to believe that +from this separation, which is cruel for us, others may get some +benefit. Tomorrow, I am to be received at the Elysee by the President, +and I am going to try to make him say something that will draw money +from America for the French hospitals. If he will only ask, I know our +people will give. In a day or two, I think I will be allowed to see +something, but, that you will know best by reading The Times. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your loving husband is lonely for you, and so it will be always. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +November 17th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR SWEETHEART: +</P> + +<P> +My last letter was such a complaining one that I am ashamed. But, not +leaving me to decide what was best for the papers, made me mad. Since +I wrote, I ought to be madder, for I have been to the trenches outside +of Rheims in Champagne; and, had they not deviled the spirit out of me +with cables, I believe I could have written such a lot of stories of +France that no one else has had the opportunity to write. Believe me +no one has yet told the story of the trench war. Anyway, in spite of +all the photographs and articles, to me it was all new. I was allowed +to go alone, and given carte blanche to see whatever I wished. I saw +everything, but it would not be possible to write of it yet. It was +wonderful. I was in the three lines, reaching the FIRST line by +moonlight. No one spoke above a whisper. The Germans were only 300 to +400 yards distant. But worst of all were the rats. They ran over my +feet and I was a darned sight more afraid of them than the Germans. I +saw the Cathedral, and the only hotel open (from which I sent you and +Hope a postal) was the same one in which we stopped a year ago. I had +sent the hotel my book in which I said complimentary things, and I got +a great welcome. They even gave me a room with a fire in it, and so I +was warm for the first time since I left the Crossroads. And this +morning it SNOWED. On my way back to Paris, I stopped to tell the +General what I had seen and to thank him. He said, "Oh, that is +nothing. When you return, I will take you out myself, and I will show +you something worth while." I am going to carry a rat-trap, and two +terriers on a leash. Tonight, when I got back, there was a letter from +you, but no writing, but there was a photo of Her, and me holding her. +How is it possible that any living thing is so beautiful as my child? +How fat, and wonderful, and dear, and lovable, and how terribly I want +to hold her as I am holding her in the picture, and how much better as +I really don't need my left arm to hold such a mite), if I had you +close to me in it. I miss you so, and love you so! I told Wheeler +before I left as I was not going to waste time traveling I would not go +to Servia. So, as soon as I arrived, I was fretted with cables to go. +I cabled to stop giving me advice, that I had a much better chance in +France than anyone could have anywhere else. Maybe, before I arrive, +the Greeks will have joined the Germans, in which case, I WON'T LEAVE +THE SHIP. I'll come straight back on her to the Allies. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +November 20th. +</P> + +<P> +This is the way Hope's cat looks, "My whiskers!" she says, "I never +knew I was to be let in for anything like this!" When I told her about +the big rats in the trenches she wanted to go with me next time, but, +today when I told her that the Crown Prince of Servia made his servants +eat live mice (he is no longer Crown Prince), she looked just as she +does in the picture. "Then, what do <I>I</I> eat in Servia?" she said, and +I told her both of us would live on goat's milk. +</P> + +<P> +You will be glad when I tell you I have been, warm. We came pretty far +south in two days, and, the damp chill of Paris is gone. On the train +a funny thing happened. An English officer and I got talking and he +was press censor at Salonica where I am going after Athens. I asked +him to look over the many letters I had and tell me if any of them +would be likely to get me in bad, being addressed to pro-Germans, for +example. He said, "Well, THIS chap is all right anyway. I'll vouch +for him, because this letter is addressed to me." +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +SEE THE CAT!<BR> +HOPE GAVE THE CAT TO HER DAD.<BR> +IS THE CAT SAD?<BR> +YES<BR> +IS THE DAD SAD?<BR> +VERY!!<BR> +WHY IS THE CAT AND THE DAD SAD?<BR> +THEY WANT HOME AND HOPE.<BR> +DO THEY LOVE HOPE?<BR> +DON'T MAKE THEM LAUGH!<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We leave, the Basses, the English officer and I, in a small tub of a +boat for Patras, and train to Athens. I will try to go at once to +Servia. Harjes, who are the Paris house of J. P. Morgan, gave me a +"mission" to try and organize for the Servians the same form of relief +as has been arranged for the Belgians. He gave me permission if I saw +the need for help was imminent (and it will be) to cable him for +whatever I thought the Serbs most needed. So, it is a chance to do +much. To get out news will be impossible. However, here I am and +tomorrow I'll be good and seasick. +</P> + +<P> +I have your charm around my neck, and all the pictures, and the +luck-bringing cat, and the scapular, and the love you give me to keep +me well and bring us soon together. That is the one thing I want. God +bless you both, Hope's dad and your husband. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ATHENS, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +November 26th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR HEART: +</P> + +<P> +I am off tonight for Salonica. I am not very cheerful for I miss you +very, very terribly, and the further I go, the worse I feel. But now I +am nearly as far as I can get, and when you receive this I will—thank +God—be turned back to Paris, and London, and HOME! I thought so often +of you this morning when I took a holiday and climbed the Acropolis. +On the top of it I picked a dandelion for you. It was growing between +the blocks of marble that have been there since 400 years before our +Lord: before St. Paul preached to the Athenians. I was all alone on +the rock, and could see over the AEgean Sea, Corinth, Mount Olympus, +where the Gods used to sit, and the Sphinx lay in wait for travelers +with her famous riddle. It takes two days and one night to go to +Salonica, and the boats are so awful no one undresses but sleeps in his +clothes on top of the bed. +</P> + +<P> +Goodby, sweetheart, and give SUCH a kiss to my precious daughter. How +beautiful she is. Even the waiter who brought me a card stopped to +exclaim about her picture. So, of course, being not at all proud I +showed him her in my arms. I want you both so and I love you both SO. +And, I wanted you so this morning as I always do when there is a +beautiful landscape, or flowers, or palms. I know how you love them. +The dandelion is very modest and I hope the censor won't lose it out, +for she has a long way to go and carries a burden of love. I wish I +was bringing them in the door of the Scribner cottage at this very +minute. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +VOLO, November 27. +</P> + +<P> +I got here today, after the darnedest voyage of two days in a small +steamer. We ran through a snow storm and there was no way to warm the +boat. So, I DIED. You know how cold affects me—well—this was the +coldest cold I ever died of. I poured alcohol in me, and it was like +drinking iced tea. Now, I am on shore in a cafe near a stove. We +continue on to Salonica at midnight. There are 24 men and one woman, +Mrs. Bass, on board. I am much too homesick to write more than to say +I love you, and I miss you and Hope so, that I don't look at the +photos. Did you get the cable I sent Thanksgiving—from Athens, it +read: "Am giving thanks for Hope and you." I hope the censor let that +get by him. The boat I was on was a refrigerator ship; it was also +peculiar in that the captain dealt baccarat all day with the +passengers. It was a sort of floating gambling house. This is +certainly a strange land. Snow and roses and oranges, all at once. I +must stop. I'm froze. Give the kiss I want to give to Her, and know, +oh! how I love and love and love her mother—NEVER SO MUCH AS NOW. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SALONICA November 30th, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR OLD MAN: +</P> + +<P> +I got here to night and found it the most picturesque spot I ever +visited. I am glad I came. It was impossible to get a room but I +found John McCutcheon and two other men occupying a grand suite and +they have had a cot put in for me. To-morrow I hope to get a room. +The place is filled with every nation except Germans and even they are +here out of uniforms. We had a strange time coming. The trip from +Athens should have taken two nights and a day but we took four. The +Captain of the boat anchored and played baccarat whenever he thought +there were enough passengers not seasick to make it worth his while. +He played from eleven in the morning until four in the morning. I +don't know now who ran the ship. It is so cold when you bathe, the +steam runs off you. I never have suffered so. But, it looked as +though every one else was singing "Its going to be a hard, hard winter" +from the way they, dress. Tomorrow I am going to buy fur pants. You +can't believe what a picture it is. Servians, French, Greeks, Scots in +kilts, London motor cars, Turks, wounded and bandaged Tommies and +millions of them fighting for food, for drink, for a place at the +"movies," and more "rumors" than there are words in the directory. +To-morrow, I present my letters and hope to get to the "front." I only +hope the front doesn't come to us. But, it ought to be a place for +great stories. All love to you old man, and bless you both. How I +look forward to our first lunch in your wonderful home! And to sit in +front of your fire, and hear all the news. All love to you both. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +December 6, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +I have been away so could not write. They took us to the French and +English "front" and away from Greece; we were in Bulgaria and Servia. +It was at a place where the three boundaries met. We saw remarkable +mountain ranges and deep snow, and some fine artillery. But throwing +shells into that bleak, white jumble of snow and rocks—there was fifty +miles of it—was like throwing a baseball at the Rocky Mountains. +Still, it was seeing something. Now, I have a room, and a very +wonderful one. I had to bribe everyone in the hotel to get it; and I +have something to write and, no more moving about I hope, for at least +a week. I am able to see the ships at anchor for miles, and the +landing stage for all the warships is just under my window. As near as +McCoy Rock from the terrace. It is like a moving picture all the time. +I bought myself an oil stove and a can of Standard oil, and, instead of +trying to warm the hotel with my body, I let George do it. But it is a +very small stove, and to really get the good of it, I have to sit with +it between my legs. Still, it is such a relief to be alone, and not to +pack all the time. McCutcheon and Bass, Hare and Shepherd are fine, +but I felt like the devil, imposing on them, and working four in a room +is no joke. We dine together each night. Except them, I see no one, +but have been writing. Also, I have been collecting facts about +Servian relief. Harjes, Morgan's representative in Paris, gave me +carte blanche to call on him for money or supplies; but I waited until +today to cable, so as to be sure where help was most needed. It is +still cold, but that AWFUL cold spell was quite unprecedented and is +not likely to come again. I NEVER suffered so from cold, and, as you +know, I suffer considerable. All the English officers who had hunted +in cold places, said neither had they ever felt such cold. Seven +hundred Tommies were frost bitten and toes and fingers fell off. I do +not say anything about how awful it is not to hear. But, if I had had +your letters forwarded to this dump of the Levant, I never would have +got them. Now, I have to wait for them until I get to Paris, but there +I will surely get them. Cables, of course, can reach me, but no cables +mean to me that you are all right. Nor do I want to "talk" about +Christmas. +</P> + +<P> +You know how I feel about that, and about missing the first one SHE has +had. But it will be the LAST one we will know apart. Never again! +</P> + +<P> +I want you in my arms and to hear you laugh and see your eyes. I am in +need of you to make a fuss over me. McCutcheon and Co. don't care +whether I have cold hands or not. You do. Your ointment and gloves +saved my fingers from falling off like the soldiers' did. And your +"housewife" I use to put on buttons, and, your scapular and medal keep +me well. But your love is what really lifts me up and consoles me. +When I think how you and I care for each other, then, I am scared, for +it is very beautiful. And we must not ever be away from each other +again. God keep you my beloved, and both my blessings. I cannot bear +it—when I think of all I am missing of her, and, all that she is +doing. God guard you both. My darling and dear wife and mother of +Hope. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your husband, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SALONICA, December 18th. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST WIFE AND SWEETHEART: +</P> + +<P> +I am very blue tonight, and NEVER was so homesick. Yesterday just to +feel I was in touch with you I sent a cable through the fog, it said, +"Well, homesick, all love to you both." I did not ask if you and Hope +were well, because I KNOW the good Lord will not let any harm come to +you. I am certainly caught by the heels this time. And it will be the +last time. As you know, I meant only to go to France where no time +would be wasted in travel, and I would be able to get back soon. But +the blockade held up the ship and on the other one the captain stayed +at anchor, and, then when I got here, the Allies retreated, and I had +to stay on to cover what is to come next. What that is, or whether +nothing happens, you will know by the time this reaches you. So, here +I am. For TEN days until this morning we have never seen the sun. In +sixty years nothing like it has happened. The Salonicans said the +English transports brought the fog with them. Anyway, I got it. My +room is right on the harbor. I never thought I would LOVE an oil +stove. I always thought they were ill-smelling, air-destroying. But +this one saved my life. I wrote with it between my knees, I dry my +laundry on it, and use the tin pan on top of it to take the dampness +out of the bed. The fog kept everything like a sponge. Coal is thirty +dollars a ton. To get wood for firewood the boatmen row miles out, and +wait below the transports to get the boxes they throw overboard. I go +around asking EVERYBODY if this place is not now a dead duck for news. +But they all give me no encouragement. They say it is the news center +of the world. I hope it chokes. I try to comfort myself by thinking +you are happy, because you have Hope, and I have nobody, except John +McCutcheon and Bass and Jimmie Hare, and they are as blue as I am, and +no one can get any money. I cabled today to Wheeler for some via the +State Department. I went to the Servian camp for the little orphans +whose fathers have been killed, and they all knelt and kissed my hands. +It was awful. I thought of Hope, and hugged a few and carried them +around in my arms and felt much better. Today for the first time, I +quit work and went to see an American film at the cinema to cheer me. +But when I saw the streetcars, and "ready to wear" clothes, and the +policemen I got suicidal. I went back and told the others and they all +rushed off to see "home" things, and are there now. This is a yell of +a letter, but it's the only kind I can write. My stories and cables +are rotten, too. I have seen nothing—just traveled and waited for +something to happen. Goodnight, dearest one. I love you so. You will +never know how much I love you. Kiss my darling for me, and, think +only of the good days when we will be together again. Such good days. +Goodnight again—all love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +HARBOR SALONICA, December 19th. +</P> + +<P> +I am a happy man tonight! And that is the first time I have been able +to say so since I left you. The backbone of the trip is broken! and my +face is turned West—toward you and Hope. John McCutcheon gave me a +farewell dinner tonight of which I got one half, as the police made me +go on board at nine, although we do not sail until five in the morning. +So there was time for only one toast, as I was making for the door. +Was it to your husband? It was not. It was to Hope Davis, two weeks +yet of being one year old, and being toasted by the war correspondents +in Salonica. They knew it would please me. And I went away very +choken and happy. SUCH a boat as this is! I have a sofa in the +dining-room, and at present it is jammed with refugees and all smoking +and not an air port open. What a relief it will be to once more get +among clean people. We must help the Servians, and God knows they need +help. But, if they would help each other, or themselves, I would like +them better. I am now on deck under the cargo light and, on the top +floor of the Olympus Hotel, can see John's dinner growing gayer and +gayer. It is like the man who went on a honeymoon alone. I am so +happy tonight. You seem so near now that I am coming West. +</P> + +<P> +How terribly I have missed you, and wanted you, and longed for your +voice and LAUGH, and to have you open the door of my writing room, and +say, "A lady is coming to call on you," and then enter the dearest wife +and dearest baby in the world! +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +God bless you, and all my love. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ROME, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Christmas Eve, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAREST, DEAREST, DEAREST: +</P> + +<P> +I planned to get to Paris late Christmas night. I cabled Frazier at the +Embassy, to have all my letters at the Hotel de l'Empire. I MEANT to +spend the night reading of you and Hope. I made a record trip from +Salonica. By leaving the second steamer at Messina and taking an +eighteen-hour trip across Italy I saved ten hours. But when I got here +I found the French Consul had taken a holiday, AND WAS OUT BUYING +CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! So, I could not get permission to enter France. +With some Red Cross Americans, I raged around the French Consulate, but +it was no use. So I am here, and cannot leave UNTIL MIDNIGHT +CHRISTMAS. When I found I could not get away, I told Cook's to give me +their rapid-fire guide, and I set out to SEE ROME. The Manager of +Cook's was the same man who, 19 years ago, sold me tickets to the Greek +war in Florence, when the American Consulate was in the same building +with Cook's, and Charley was Consul. So he gave me a great guide. We +began at ten this morning and we stopped at six. They say it takes +five years to see Rome, but when I let the rapid-fire guide escape, he +said he had to compliment me; we climbed more stairways and hills than +there are in all New York and Westchester County; and there is just one +idea in my mind, and that is that you and I must see this sacred place +together. On all this trip I have wanted YOU, but NEVER so as today. +And I particularly inquired about the milk. It is said to be +excellent. So we will come here, and you, with all your love of what +is fine and beautiful, will be very happy, and Hope will learn Italian, +and to know what is best in art, and statues and churches. I have seen +2900 churches, and all of them built by Michael Angelo and decorated by +Raphael; and it was so wonderful I cried. I bought candles and +prayers, and I am afraid Christian Science had a dull day. Tomorrow we +start at nine, and go to high mass at St. Peter's, and then into the +country to the catacombs, where the early Christians hid from the +Romans. It is not what you would call an English Christmas, but it is +so beautiful and wonderful that you BOTH ARE VERY NEAR. +</P> + +<P> +I sent you a cable, the second one, because it is not sure they are +forwarded, and I hung up a stocking for Hope. One of the peasant women +made in Salonica. I am bringing it with me. And the cat is on my +window—still looking out on the Romans. The green leaf I got in the +forum, where Mark Antony made his speech over Caesar's body. It is the +plant that gave Pericles the idea of the Corinthian column. You +remember. It was growing under a tile some one had laid over it—and +the yellow flower was on my table at dinner, so I send it, that we may +know on Christmas Eve we dined together. +</P> + +<P> +Good-night, now, and God bless you. I am off to bed now, in a bed with +sheets. The first in six days. How I LOVE you, and LOVE you. Such +good wishes I send you, and such love to you both. May the good Lord +bless you as he has blessed me—with the best of women, with the best +of daughters. I am a proud husband and a proud father; and soon I will +be a HAPPY husband and a HAPPY father. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Good-night, dear heart. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, December 28th, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR OLD MAN: +</P> + +<P> +Hurrah for the Dictator! He has been a great good friend to me. I +will know to-day about whether I can go back to the French front. If +not I will try the Belgians and then London, and home. I spent +Christmas day in Rome in the catacombs. I could not wear my heart upon +my sleeve for duchesses to peck at. It is just as you say, Dad and +Mother made the day so dear and beautiful. I did not know how glad I +would be to be back here for while the trip East led to no news value, +to me personally it was interesting. But I am terribly tired after the +last nine days, sleeping on sofas, decks, a different deck each night +and writing all the time and such poor stuff. But, oh! when I saw +Paris I knew how glad I was! WHAT a beautiful place, what a kind +courteous people. We will all be here some day. Tell Dai she must be +my interpreter. All love to her, and you, and good luck to the +syndicate. YOUR syndicate. I have not heard from mine for six weeks. +They have not sent me a single clipping of anything, so I don't know +whether anything got through or not, and I have nothing to show these +people here that might encourage them to send me out again. They +certainly have made it hard hoeing. Tell Guvey his letter about the +toys was a great success here, and copied into several papers. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Goodbye, and God bless you, and good luck to you. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, December 31st, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR OLD MAN: +</P> + +<P> +To wish you and Dai a Happy New Year. It will mean a lot to us when we +can get together, and take it together, good and bad. I am awfully +pleased over the novel coming out by the Harper's and, in landing so +much for me out of The Dictator. You have started the New Year for me +splendidly. I expect I will be back around the first of February. I +am now trying to "get back," but, I need more time. I can only put the +trip down to the wrong side of the ledger. Personally, I got a lot out +of it, but I am not sent over here to improve my knowledge of Europe, +but to furnish news and stories and that has not happened. +</P> + +<P> +I am constantly running against folks who knew you in Florence, and I +regret to say most of them are in business at the Chatham bar. What a +story they make; the M——'s and the like, who know Paris only from the +cocktail side. One of our attaches told me to-day he had been lunching +for the last 18 months at the grill room of the Chatham, where the +"mixed grill" was as good as in New York. He had no knowledge of any +other place to eat. The Hotel de l'Empire is a terrible tragedy. They +are so poor, that I believe it is my eight francs a day keeps them +going; nothing else is in sight. But, it is the exception. Never did +a people take a war as the French take this worst of all wars. They +really are the most splendid of people. I only wish I could have had +one of them for a grandfather or grandmother. Bessie writes that Hope +is growing wonderfully and beautifully, and I am sick for a sight of +her, and for you. Good night and God bless you and the happiest of New +Years to you both. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your loving brother, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +These postcards are "originals" painted by students of the Beaux-Arts +to keep alive, and to keep those students in the trenches. They are +for Dai. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +PARIS, December 31, 1915. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +The old year, the dear, old year that brought us Hope, is very near the +end. I am not going to watch him go. I have drunk to the New Year and +to my wife and daughter, and before there is "a new step on the floor, +and a new face at the door," I will be asleep. Of all my many years, +the old year, that is so soon to pass away, has been the best, for it +has brought you to me with a closer tie, has added to the love I have +for every breath you breathe, for your laugh and your smile, and deep +concern, that comes if you think your worthless husband is worried, or +cross, or dismayed. Each year I love you more; for I know you more, +and to know more of the lovely soul you are, is to love more. Just now +we are in a hard place. I am sure you cannot comprehend how her +father, her "Dad" and your husband can keep away. Neither do I +understand. +</P> + +<P> +But, for both your sakes, I want, before I own up that this adventure +has been a failure, to try and pull something out of the wreck. If the +government says I CAN, then I still may be able to do something. If it +says, "NO," then it's Home, boys, Home, and that's where I want to be. +It's home, boys, home, in the old countree. 'Neath the ash, and the +oak, and the spreading maple tree, it's home, boys, home, to mine own +countree! This is Hope and you. So know, that in getting to you I +have not thrown away a minute. I have been a slave-driver, to others +as well as to myself. But you cannot get favors with a whip; and, the +French war office has other matters to occupy it, that it considers of +more importance than an impatient war correspondent. So long as you +understand, it will not matter. Nothing hurts, except that you may not +understand. The moment I see you, and you see me, you will understand. +So, goodnight, and God bless you, you, my two blessings. Here is to +our own year of 1915, your year and Hope's year, and, because I have +you both, my year. I send you all the love in all the world. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +January 5, 1916. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAREST ONE: +</P> + +<P> +WHAT PICTURES! WHAT HAPPINESS! What a proud Richard! On top of my +writing yesterday that I had had no sketches of yours, and no kodaks of +Hope, eight came to-night, and oh! I am so proud, so homesick. What a +wonderful nurse and mother you are! Was ever there anything so +lovable? And that she should be ours, to hold and to love, and to make +happy. These last eight days in Paris, in and out, have made me so +homesick for those I love, that you will never know what the delays +meant. I felt just the way poor women feel who kidnap babies. In the +parks I know the nurse-maids are afraid of me. I stick my head under +the hoods of the baby carriages, and stop and stand watching them at +play. And tonight when all these beautiful pictures came, I was the +happiest father anywhere. +</P> + +<P> +The delay was no one's fault, not mine anyway, nor can I blame anyone. +These people are splendid. They are willing to do anything for one, +but it takes time. When they are fighting for their lives and have not +seen their own babies in a year, that you want to see yours is only +natural and to oblige you they can't see why they should upset the +whole war. But now it looks less as though I would have to call it a +failure. And Hope may be proud of me, and you may be proud of me, and +I will have enough ammunition to draw on for many articles and letters, +and another book. +</P> + +<P> +It has been a cruel time; and when I tell you how I worked to get it +over, and to be back with you, you will understand many things. The +most important of all will be how I love you. Only wait until I can +lay eyes on you, you will just take one look and know that it couldn't +be helped, that the delay was the work of others, that, all I wanted +was my Bessie and my Hope. +</P> + +<P> +How heavy she will be, if she is anything like the picture of her on +the coverlet, she is a prize baby. And if she is anything like as +beautiful as in the baby carriage she is an angel straight from God. I +want to sit in the green chair and have you on one knee and her majesty +on the other, and have her climb over me, and pull my hair and bang my +nose, and in time to know how I love you both. +</P> + +<P> +Goodnight, dear heart, I wish you had had yourself in the picture. I +have three in the summer time with you holding her and that is the way +I like to see you, that is the way I think of you. I love you, and I +love her for making you so happy, and I love her for her sake, and +because she is OURS: and has tied us tighter and closer even than it +has ever been. I love you so that I can't write about it, and I am +going to do nothing all spring but just sit around, and be in +everybody's way, watching you together. +</P> + +<P> +How jealous I am of you, and homesick for you. Of course, she knows +"mamma" is YOU; and to look at you when they ask, "Where's mother?" +Who else could be her mother BUT THE DEAREST WOMAN IN THE WORLD, and +the one who loves her so, and in so wonderful a way. She is beautiful +beyond all things human I know. If ever a woman deserved a beautiful +daughter, YOU DO, for you are the best of mothers, and you know how "to +care greatly." +</P> + +<P> +Good-night, my precious, dear one, and God keep you, as He will, and +help me to keep you both happy. What you give me you never will know. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RICHARD. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LAST DAYS +</H3> + +<P> +After a short visit to London, Richard returned to New York in +February, 1916. During his absence his wife and Hope had occupied the +Scribner cottage at Mount Kisco, about two miles from Crossroads. Here +my brother finished his second book on the war, and wrote numerous +articles and letters urging the immediate necessity for preparedness in +this country. As to Richard's usefulness to his country at this time, +I quote in part from two appreciations written after my brother's death +by the two most prominent exponents of preparedness. +</P> + +<P> +Theodore Roosevelt said: +</P> + +<P> +"He was as good an American as ever lived, and his heart flamed against +cruelty and injustice. His writings form a text-book of Americanism +which all our people would do well to read at the present time." +</P> + +<P> +Major-General Leonard Wood said: +</P> + +<P> +"The death of Richard Harding Davis was a real loss to the movement for +preparedness. Mr. Davis had an extensive experience as a military +observer, and thoroughly appreciated the need of a general training +system like that of Australia or Switzerland and of thorough +organization of our industrial resources in, order to establish a +condition of reasonable preparedness in this country. A few days +before his death he came to Governors Island for the purpose of +ascertaining in what line of work he could be most useful in building +up sound public opinion in favor of such preparedness as would give us +a real peace insurance. His mind was bent on devoting his energies and +abilities to the work of public education on this vitally important +subject, and few men were better qualified to do so, for he had served +as a military observer in many campaigns. +</P> + +<P> +"Throughout the Cuban campaign he was attached to the headquarters of +my regiment in Cuba as a military observer. He was with the advanced +party at the opening of the fight at Las Guasiinas, and was +distinguished throughout the fight by coolness and good conduct. He +also participated in the battle of San Juan and the siege of Santiago, +and as an observer was always where duty called him. He was a +delightful companion, cheerful, resourceful, and thoughtful of the +interests and wishes of others. His reports of the game were valuable +and among the best and most accurate. +</P> + +<P> +"The Plattsburg movement took a very strong hold of him. He saw in +this a great instrument for building up a sound knowledge concerning +our military history and policy, also a very practical way of training +men for the duties of junior officers. He realized fully that we +should need in case of war tens of thousands of officers with our newly +raised troops, and that it would be utterly impossible to prepare them +in the hurry and confusion of the onrush of modern war. His heart was +filled with a desire to serve his country to the best of his ability. +His recent experience in Europe pointed out to him the absolute madness +of longer disregarding the need of doing those things which reasonable +preparedness dictates, the things which cannot be accomplished after +trouble is upon us. He had in mind at the time of his death a series +of articles to be written especially to build up interest in universal +military training through conveying to our people an understanding of +what organization as it exists to-day means, and how vitally important +it is for our people to do in time of peace those things which modern +war does not permit done once it is under way. +</P> + +<P> +"Davis was a loyal friend, a thoroughgoing American devoted to the best +interests of his country, courageous, sympathetic, and true. His loss +has been a very real one to all of us who knew and appreciated him, and +in his death the cause of preparedness has lost an able worker and the +country a devoted and loyal citizen." +</P> + +<P> +Although suffering from his strenuous experiences in France, and more +particularly from those in Greece, Richard continued to accomplish his +usual enormous amount of work, and during these weeks wrote his last +short story, "The Deserter." +</P> + +<P> +The following letter was written to me while I was in the Bahamas and +was in reference to a novel which I had dedicated to Hope: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MOUNT KISCO—February 28, 1916. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR OLD MAN: +</P> + +<P> +No word yet of the book, except the advts. I enclose. I will send you +the notices as soon as they begin to appear. I am so happy over the +dedication, and, very proud. So, Hope will be when she knows. As I +have not read the novel it all will come as a splendid and pleasant +surprise. I am looking forward to sitting down to it with all the +pleasure in the world. +</P> + +<P> +You chose the right moment to elope. Never was weather so cold, cruel +and bitter. Hope is the only one who goes out of doors. +</P> + +<P> +I start the fires in the Big House tomorrow and the plumbers and paper +hangers, painters enter the day after. +</P> + +<P> +The attack on Verdun makes me sick. I was there six weeks ago in one +of the forts but of course could not then nor can I now write of it. I +don't believe the drive ever can get through. For two reasons, and the +unmilitary one is that I believe in a just God. Give my love to Dai, +and for you always +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DICK. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +P. S. I am happy you are both so happy, but those post cards with the +palms were cruelty to animals. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On the 21st of March, 1916, Richard and his wife and daughter moved +from the Scribner cottage to Crossroads, and a few days later he was +attacked by the illness that ended in his death on April 11. He had +dined with his wife and afterward had worked on an article on +preparedness, written some letters and telegrams concerning the same +subject and, while repeating one of the latter over the telephone, was +stricken. Within a week of his fifty-third year, just one year from +the day he had first brought his baby daughter to her real home, doing +the best and finest work of his career in the cause of the Allies and +preparedness, quite unconscious that the end was near, he left us. In +those fifty-two years he had crowded the work, the pleasures, the kind, +chivalrous deeds of many men, and he died just as I am sure he would +have wished to die, working into the night for a great cause, and +although ill and tired, still fretful for the morning that he might +again take up the fight. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adventures and Letters, by Richard Harding Davis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURES AND LETTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 405-h.htm or 405-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/405/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Adventures and Letters + +Author: Richard Harding Davis + +Release Date: January 25, 2008 [EBook #405] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURES AND LETTERS *** + + + + + + + + + +ADVENTURES AND LETTERS + +OF + +RICHARD HARDING DAVIS + + + +EDITED BY + +CHARLES BELMONT DAVIS + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE EARLY DAYS + II. COLLEGE DAYS + III. FIRST NEWSPAPER EXPERIENCES + IV. NEW YORK + V. FIRST TRAVEL ARTICLES + VI. THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARIS + VII. FIRST PLAYS + VIII. CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA + IX. MOSCOW, BUDAPEST, LONDON + X. CAMPAIGNING IN CUBA, AND GREECE + XI. THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR + XII. THE BOER WAR + XIII. THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH CORONATIONS + XIV. THE JAPANESE-RUSSIAN WAR + XV. MOUNT KISCO + XVI. THE CONGO + XVII. A LONDON WINTER + XVIII. MILITARY MANOEUVRES + XIX. VERA CRUZ AND THE GREAT WAR + XX. THE LAST DAYS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE EARLY DAYS + +Richard Harding Davis was born in Philadelphia on April 18, 1864, but, +so far as memory serves me, his life and mine began together several +years later in the three-story brick house on South Twenty-first +Street, to which we had just moved. For more than forty years this was +our home in all that the word implies, and I do not believe that there +was ever a moment when it was not the predominating influence in +Richard's life and in his work. As I learned in later years, the house +had come into the possession of my father and mother after a period on +their part of hard endeavor and unusual sacrifice. It was their +ambition to add to this home not only the comforts and the beautiful +inanimate things of life, but to create an atmosphere which would prove +a constant help to those who lived under its roof--an inspiration to +their children that should endure so long as they lived. At the time +of my brother's death the fact was frequently commented upon that, +unlike most literary folk, he had never known what it was to be poor +and to suffer the pangs of hunger and failure. That he never suffered +from the lack of a home was certainly as true as that in his work he +knew but little of failure, for the first stories he wrote for the +magazines brought him into a prominence and popularity that lasted +until the end. But if Richard gained his success early in life and was +blessed with a very lovely home to which he could always return, he was +not brought up in a manner which in any way could be called lavish. +Lavish he may have been in later years, but if he was it was with the +money for which those who knew him best knew how very hard he had +worked. + +In a general way, I cannot remember that our life as boys differed in +any essential from that of other boys. My brother went to the +Episcopal Academy and his weekly report never failed to fill the whole +house with an impenetrable gloom and ever-increasing fears as to the +possibilities of his future. At school and at college Richard was, to +say the least, an indifferent student. And what made this undeniable +fact so annoying, particularly to his teachers, was that morally he +stood so very high. To "crib," to lie, or in any way to cheat or to do +any unworthy act was, I believe, quite beyond his understanding. +Therefore, while his constant lack of interest in his studies goaded +his teachers to despair, when it came to a question of stamping out +wrongdoing on the part of the student body he was invariably found +aligned on the side of the faculty. Not that Richard in any way +resembled a prig or was even, so far as I know, ever so considered by +the most reprehensible of his fellow students. He was altogether too +red-blooded for that, and I believe the students whom he antagonized +rather admired his chivalric point of honor even if they failed to +imitate it. As a schoolboy he was aggressive, radical, outspoken, +fearless, usually of the opposition and, indeed, often the sole member +of his own party. Among the students at the several schools he +attended he had but few intimate friends; but of the various little +groups of which he happened to be a member his aggressiveness and his +imagination usually made him the leader. As far back as I can +remember, Richard was always starting something--usually a new club or +a violent reform movement. And in school or college, as in all the +other walks of life, the reformer must, of necessity, lead a somewhat +tempestuous, if happy, existence. The following letter, written to his +father when Richard was a student at Swarthmore, and about fifteen, +will give an idea of his conception of the ethics in the case: + + +SWARTHMORE--1880. + +DEAR PAPA: + +I am quite on the Potomac. I with all the boys at our table were +called up, there is seven of us, before Prex. for stealing sugar-bowls +and things off the table. All the youths said, "O President, I didn't +do it." When it came my turn I merely smiled gravely, and he passed on +to the last. Then he said, "The only boy that doesn't deny it is +Davis. Davis, you are excused. I wish to talk to the rest of them." +That all goes to show he can be a gentleman if he would only try. I am +a natural born philosopher so I thought this idea is too idiotic for me +to converse about so I recommend silence and I also argued that to deny +you must necessarily be accused and to be accused of stealing would of +course cause me to bid Prex. good-by, so the only way was, taking these +two considerations with each other, to deny nothing but let the +good-natured old duffer see how silly it was by retaining a placid +silence and so crushing his base but thoughtless behavior and +machinations. + +DICK. + + +In the early days at home--that is, when the sun shone--we played +cricket and baseball and football in our very spacious back yard, and +the programme of our sports was always subject to Richard's change +without notice. When it rained we adjourned to the third-story front, +where we played melodrama of simple plot but many thrills, and it was +always Richard who wrote the plays, produced them, and played the +principal part. As I recall these dramas of my early youth, the action +was almost endless and, although the company comprised two charming +misses (at least I know that they eventually grew into two very lovely +women), there was no time wasted over anything so sentimental or futile +as love-scenes. But whatever else the play contained in the way of +great scenes, there was always a mountain pass--the mountains being +composed of a chair and two tables--and Richard was forever leading his +little band over the pass while the band, wholly indifferent as to +whether the road led to honor, glory, or total annihilation, meekly +followed its leader. For some reason, probably on account of my early +admiration for Richard and being only too willing to obey his command, +I was invariably cast for the villain in these early dramas, and the +end of the play always ended in a hand-to-hand conflict between the +hero and myself. As Richard, naturally, was the hero and incidentally +the stronger of the two, it can readily be imagined that the fight +always ended in my complete undoing. Strangulation was the method +usually employed to finish me, and, whatever else Richard was at that +tender age, I can testify to his extraordinary ability as a choker. + +But these early days in the city were not at all the happiest days of +that period in Richard's life. He took but little interest even in the +social or the athletic side of his school life, and his failures in his +studies troubled him sorely, only I fear, however, because it troubled +his mother and father. The great day of the year to us was the day our +schools closed and we started for our summer vacation. When Richard +was less than a year old my mother and father, who at the time was +convalescing from a long illness, had left Philadelphia on a search for +a complete rest in the country. Their travels, which it seems were +undertaken in the spirit of a voyage of discovery and adventure, +finally led them to the old Curtis House at Point Pleasant on the New +Jersey coast. But the Point Pleasant of that time had very little in +common with the present well-known summer resort. In those days the +place was reached after a long journey by rail followed by a three +hours' drive in a rickety stagecoach over deep sandy roads, albeit the +roads did lead through silent, sweet-smelling pine forests. Point +Pleasant itself was then a collection of half a dozen big farms which +stretched from the Manasquan River to the ocean half a mile distant. +Nothing could have been more primitive or as I remember it in its +pastoral loveliness much more beautiful. Just beyond our cottage the +river ran its silent, lazy course to the sea. With the exception of +several farmhouses, its banks were then unsullied by human habitation +of any sort, and on either side beyond the low green banks lay fields +of wheat and corn, and dense groves of pine and oak and chestnut trees. +Between us and the ocean were more waving fields of corn, broken by +little clumps of trees, and beyond these damp Nile-green pasture +meadows, and then salty marshes that led to the glistening, white +sand-dunes, and the great silver semi-circle of foaming breakers, and +the broad, blue sea. On all the land that lay between us and the +ocean, where the town of Point Pleasant now stands, I think there were +but four farmhouses, and these in no way interfered with the landscape +or the life of the primitive world in which we played. + +Whatever the mental stimulus my brother derived from his home in +Philadelphia, the foundation of the physical strength that stood him in +such good stead in the campaigns of his later years he derived from +those early days at Point Pleasant. The cottage we lived in was an old +two-story frame building, to which my father had added two small +sleeping-rooms. Outside there was a vine-covered porch and within a +great stone fireplace flanked by cupboards, from which during those +happy days I know Richard and I, openly and covertly, must have +extracted tons of hardtack and cake. The little house was called +"Vagabond's Rest," and a haven of rest and peace and content it +certainly proved for many years to the Davis family. From here it was +that my father started forth in the early mornings on his all-day +fishing excursions, while my mother sat on the sunlit porch and wrote +novels and mended the badly rent garments of her very active sons. +After a seven-o'clock breakfast at the Curtis House our energies never +ceased until night closed in on us and from sheer exhaustion we dropped +unconscious into our patch-quilted cots. All day long we swam or +rowed, or sailed, or played ball, or camped out, or ate enormous +meals--anything so long as our activities were ceaseless and our +breathing apparatus given no rest. About a mile up the river there was +an island--it's a very small, prettily wooded, sandy-beached little +place, but it seemed big enough in those days. Robert Louis Stevenson +made it famous by rechristening it Treasure Island, and writing the new +name and his own on a bulkhead that had been built to shore up one of +its fast disappearing sandy banks. But that is very modern history and +to us it has always been "The Island." In our day, long before +Stevenson had ever heard of the Manasquan, Richard and I had discovered +this tight little piece of land, found great treasures there, and, hand +in hand, had slept in a six-by-six tent while the lions and tigers +growled at us from the surrounding forests. + +As I recall these days of my boyhood I find the recollections of our +life at Point Pleasant much more distinct than those we spent in +Philadelphia. For Richard these days were especially welcome. They +meant a respite from the studies which were a constant menace to +himself and his parents; and the freedom of the open country, the +ocean, the many sports on land and on the river gave his body the +constant exercise his constitution seemed to demand, and a broad field +for an imagination which was even then very keen, certainly keen enough +to make the rest of us his followers. + +In an extremely sympathetic appreciation which Irvin S. Cobb wrote +about my brother at the time of his death, he says that he doubts if +there is such a thing as a born author. Personally it so happened that +I never grew up with any one, except my brother, who ever became an +author, certainly an author of fiction, and so I cannot speak on the +subject with authority. But in the case of Richard, if he was not born +an author, certainly no other career was ever considered. So far as I +know he never even wanted to go to sea or to be a bareback rider in a +circus. A boy, if he loves his father, usually wants to follow in his +professional footsteps, and in the case of Richard, he had the double +inspiration of following both in the footsteps of his father and in +those of his mother. For years before Richard's birth his father had +been a newspaper editor and a well-known writer of stories and his +mother a novelist and short-story writer of great distinction. Of +those times at Point Pleasant I fear I can remember but a few of our +elders. There were George Lambdin, Margaret Ruff, and Milne Ramsay, +all painters of some note; a strange couple, Colonel Olcott and the +afterward famous Madam Blavatsky, trying to start a Buddhist cult in +this country; Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, with her foot on the first +rung of the ladder of fame, who at the time loved much millinery +finery. One day my father took her out sailing and, much to the lady's +discomfiture and greatly to Richard's and my delight, upset the famous +authoress. At a later period the Joseph Jeffersons used to visit us; +Horace Howard Furness, one of my father's oldest friends, built a +summer home very near us on the river, and Mrs. John Drew and her +daughter Georgie Barrymore spent their summers in a near-by hostelry. +I can remember Mrs. Barrymore at that time very well---wonderfully +handsome and a marvellously cheery manner. Richard and I both loved +her greatly, even though it were in secret. Her daughter Ethel I +remember best as she appeared on the beach, a sweet, long-legged child +in a scarlet bathing-suit running toward the breakers and then dashing +madly back to her mother's open arms. A pretty figure of a child, but +much too young for Richard to notice at that time. In after-years the +child in the scarlet bathing-suit and he became great pals. Indeed, +during the latter half of his life, through the good days and the bad, +there were very few friends who held so close a place in his sympathy +and his affections as Ethel Barrymore. + +Until the summer of 1880 my brother continued on at the Episcopal +Academy. For some reason I was sent to a different school, but outside +of our supposed hours of learning we were never apart. With less than +two years' difference in our ages our interests were much the same, and +I fear our interests of those days were largely limited to out-of-door +sports and the theatre. We must have been very young indeed when my +father first led us by the hand to see our first play. On Saturday +afternoons Richard and I, unattended but not wholly unalarmed, would +set forth from our home on this thrilling weekly adventure. Having +joined our father at his office, he would invariably take us to a +chop-house situated at the end of a blind alley which lay concealed +somewhere in the neighborhood of Walnut and Third Streets, and where we +ate a most wonderful luncheon of English chops and apple pie. As the +luncheon drew to its close I remember how Richard and I used to fret +and fume while my father in a most leisurely manner used to finish off +his mug of musty ale. But at last the three of us, hand in hand, my +father between us, were walking briskly toward our happy destination. +At that time there were only a few first-class theatres in +Philadelphia--the Arch Street Theatre, owned by Mrs. John Drew; the +Chestnut Street, and the Walnut Street--all of which had stock +companies, but which on the occasion of a visiting star acted as the +supporting company. These were the days of Booth, Jefferson, Adelaide +Neilson, Charles Fletcher, Lotta, John McCullough, John Sleeper Clark, +and the elder Sothern. And how Richard and I worshipped them all--not +only these but every small-bit actor in every stock company in town. +Indeed, so many favorites of the stage did my brother and I admire that +ordinary frames would not begin to hold them all, and to overcome this +defect we had our bedroom entirely redecorated. The new scheme called +for a gray wallpaper supported by a maroon dado. At the top of the +latter ran two parallel black picture mouldings between which we could +easily insert cabinet photographs of the actors and actresses which for +the moment we thought most worthy of a place in our collection. As the +room was fairly large and as the mouldings ran entirely around it, we +had plenty of space for even our very elastic love for the heroes and +heroines of the footlights. + +Edwin Forrest ended his stage career just before our time, but I know +that Richard at least saw him and heard that wonderful voice of +thunder. It seems that one day, while my mother and Richard were +returning home, they got on a street-car which already held the great +tragedian. At the moment Forrest was suffering severely from gout and +had his bad leg stretched well out before him. My brother, being very +young at the time and never very much of a respecter of persons, +promptly fell over the great man's gouty foot. Whereat (according to +my mother, who was always a most truthful narrator) Forrest broke forth +in a volcano of oaths and for blocks continued to hurl thunderous +broadsides at Richard, which my mother insisted included the curse of +Rome and every other famous tirade in the tragedian's repertory which +in any way fitted the occasion. Nearly forty years later my father +became the president of the Edwin Forrest Home, the greatest charity +ever founded by an actor for actors, and I am sure by his efforts of +years on behalf of the institution did much to atone for Richard's +early unhappy meeting with the greatest of all the famous +leather-lunged tragedians. + +From his youth my father had always been a close student of the classic +and modern drama, and throughout his life numbered among his friends +many of the celebrated actors and actresses of his time. In those +early days Booth used to come to rather formal luncheons, and at all +such functions Richard and I ate our luncheon in the pantry, and when +the great meal was nearly over in the dining-room we were allowed to +come in in time for the ice-cream and to sit, figuratively, at the feet +of the honored guest and generally, literally, on his or her knees. +Young as I was in those days I can readily recall one of those +lunch-parties when the contrast between Booth and Dion Boucicault +struck my youthful mind most forcibly. Booth, with his deep-set, big +black eyes, shaggy hair, and lank figure, his wonderfully modulated +voice, rolled out his theories of acting, while the bald-headed, rotund +Boucicault, his twinkling eyes snapping like a fox-terrier's, +interrupted the sonorous speeches of the tragedian with crisp, witty +criticisms or "asides" that made the rest of the company laugh and even +brought a smile to the heavy, tragic features of Booth himself. But +there was nothing formal about our relations with John Sleeper Clark +and the Jefferson family. They were real "home folks" and often +occupied our spare room, and when they were with us Richard and I were +allowed to come to all the meals, and, even if unsolicited, freely +express our views on the modern drama. + +In later years to our Philadelphia home came Henry Irving and his +fellow player Ellen Terry and Augustin Daly and that wonderful quartet, +Ada Rehan, Mrs. Gilbert, James Lewis, and our own John Drew. Sir Henry +I always recall by the first picture I had of him in our dining-room, +sitting far away from the table, his long legs stretched before him, +peering curiously at Richard and myself over black-rimmed glasses and +then, with equal interest, turning back to the ash of a long cigar and +talking drama with the famous jerky, nasal voice but always with a +marvellous poise and convincing authority. He took a great liking to +Richard in those days, sent him a church-warden's pipe that he had used +as Corporal Brewster, and made much of him later when my brother was in +London. Miss Terry was a much less formal and forbidding guest, +rushing into the house like a whirlwind and filling the place with the +sunshine and happiness that seemed to fairly exude from her beautiful +magnetic presence. Augustin Daly usually came with at least three of +the stars of his company which I have already mentioned, but even the +beautiful Rehan and the nice old Mrs. Gilbert seemed thoroughly awed in +the presence of "the Guv'nor." He was a most crusty, dictatorial +party, as I remember him with his searching eyes and raven locks, +always dressed in black and always failing to find virtue in any actor +or actress not a member of his own company. I remember one +particularly acrid discussion between him and my father in regard to +Julia Marlowe, who was then making her first bow to the public. Daly +contended that in a few years the lady would be absolutely unheard of +and backed his opinion by betting a dinner for those present with my +father that his judgment would prove correct. However, he was very +kind to Richard and myself and frequently allowed us to play about +behind the scenes, which was a privilege I imagine he granted to very +few of his friends' children. One night, long after this, when Richard +was a reporter in New York, he and Miss Rehan were burlesquing a scene +from a play on which the last curtain had just fallen. It was on the +stage of Daly's theatre at Thirtieth Street and Broadway, and from his +velvet box at the prompt-entrance Daly stood gloomily watching their +fooling. When they had finished the mock scene Richard went over to +Daly and said, "How bad do you think I am as an actor, Mr. Daly?" and +greatly to my brother's delight the greatest manager of them all of +those days grumbled back at him: "You're so bad, Richard, that I'll +give you a hundred dollars a week, and you can sign the contract +whenever you're ready." Although that was much more than my brother +was making in his chosen profession at the time, and in spite of the +intense interest he had in the theatre, he never considered the offer +seriously. As a matter of fact, Richard had many natural +qualifications that fitted him for the stage, and in after-years, when +he was rehearsing one of his own plays, he could and frequently would +go up on the stage and read almost any part better than the actor +employed to do it. Of course, he lacked the ease of gesture and the +art of timing which can only be attained after sound experience, but +his reading of lines and his knowledge of characterization was quite +unusual. In proof of this I know of at least two managers who, when +Richard wanted to sell them plays, refused to have him read them the +manuscript on the ground that his reading gave the dialogue a value it +did not really possess. + +In the spring of 1880 Richard left the Episcopal Academy, and the +following September went to Swarthmore College, situated just outside +of Philadelphia. I fear, however, the change was anything but a +success. The life of the big coeducational school did not appeal to +him at all and, in spite of two or three friendships he made among the +girls and boys, he depended for amusement almost wholly on his own +resources. In the afternoons and on holidays he took long walks over +the country roads and in search of adventure visited many farmhouses. +His excuse for these calls was that he was looking for old furniture +and china, and he frequently remained long enough to make sketches of +such objects as he pretended had struck his artistic fancy. Of these +adventures he wrote at great length to his mother and father, and the +letters were usually profusely decorated with illustrations of the most +striking incidents of the various escapades. Several of these +Swarthmore experiences he used afterward in short stories, and both the +letters and sketches he sent to his parents at the time he regarded in +the light of preparation for his future work. In his studies he was +perhaps less successful than he had been at the Episcopal Academy, and +although he played football and took part in the track sports he was +really but little interested in either. There were half-holidays on +Wednesdays and Saturdays, and when my brother did not come to town I +went to Swarthmore and we spent the afternoons in first cooking our +lunch in a hospitable woods and then playing some games in the open +that Richard had devised. But as I recall these outings they were not +very joyous occasions, as Richard was extremely unhappy over his +failures at school and greatly depressed about the prospects for the +future. + +He finished the college year at Swarthmore, but so unhappy had he been +there that there was no thought in his mind or in that of his parents +of his returning. At that time my uncle, H. Wilson Harding, was a +professor at Lehigh University, and it was arranged that Richard should +go to Bethlehem the following fall, live with his uncle, and continue +his studies at Ulrich's Preparatory School, which made a specialty of +preparing boys for Lehigh. My uncle lived in a charming old house on +Market Street in Bethlehem, quite near the Moravian settlement and +across the river from the university and the iron mills. He was a +bachelor, but of a most gregarious and hospitable disposition, and +Richard therefore found himself largely his own master, in a big, roomy +house which was almost constantly filled with the most charming and +cultivated people. There my uncle and Richard, practically of about +the same age so far as their viewpoint of life was concerned, kept open +house, and if it had not been for the occasional qualms his innate +hatred of mathematics caused him, I think my brother would have been +completely happy. Even studies no longer worried him particularly and +he at once started in to make friendships, many of which lasted +throughout his life. As is usual with young men of seventeen, most of +these men and women friends were several times Richard's age, but at +the period Richard was a particularly precocious and amusing youth and +a difference of a few decades made but little difference--certainly not +to Richard. Finley Peter Dunne once wrote of my brother that he +"probably knew more waiters, generals, actors, and princes than any man +who lived," and I think it was during the first year of his life at +Bethlehem that he began the foundation for the remarkable collection of +friends, both as to numbers and variety, of which he died possessed. +Although a "prep," he made many friends among the undergraduates of +Lehigh. He made friends with the friends of his uncle and many friends +in both of the Bethlehems of which his uncle had probably never heard. +Even at that early age he counted among his intimates William W. +Thurston, who was president of the Bethlehem Iron Company, and J. Davis +Brodhead, one of Pennsylvania's most conspicuous Democratic congressmen +and attorneys. Those who knew him at that time can easily understand +why Richard attracted men and women so much older than himself. He was +brimming over with physical health and animal spirits and took the +keenest interest in every one he met and in everything that was going +on about him. And in the broadest sense he saw to it then, as he did +throughout his life, that he always did his share. + +During those early days at Bethlehem his letters to his family were +full of his social activities, with occasional references to his work +at school. He was always going to dinners or dances, entertaining +members of visiting theatrical companies; and on Friday night my mother +usually received a telegram, saying that he would arrive the next day +with a party of friends whom he had inadvertently asked to lunch and a +matinee. It was after one of these weekly visits that my mother wrote +Richard the following: + + +Monday Night. MY DARLING Boy: + + +You went off in such a hurry that it took my breath at the last. You +say coming down helps you. It certainly does me. It brings a real +sunshine to Papa and me. He was saying that to-day. I gave Nolly a +sort of holiday after her miseries last night. We went down street and +got Papa a present for our wedding day, a picture, after all, and then +I took Miss Baker some tickets for a concert. I saw her father who +said he "must speak about my noble looking boy." I always thought him +a genius but now I think him a man of penetration as well. Then Nolly +and I went over to see the Russians. But they are closely boxed up and +not allowed to-day to see visitors. So we came home cross and hungry. +All evening I have been writing business letters. + +Papa has gone to a reception and Charley is hard at work at his desk. + +I answered Mr. Allen's letter this morning, dear, and told him you +would talk to him. When you do, dear, talk freely to him as to me. +You will not perhaps agree with all he says. But your own thoughts +will be healthier for bringing them--as I might say, out of doors. You +saw how it was by coming down here. Love of Christ is not a melancholy +nor a morbid thing, dear love, but ought to make one more social and +cheerful and alive. + +I wish you could come home oftener. Try and get ahead with lessons so +that you can come oftener. And when you feel as if prayer was a +burden, stop praying and go out and try to put your Christianity into +real action by doing some kindness--even speaking in a friendly way to +somebody. Bring yourself into contact with new people--not John, Hugh, +Uncle and Grandma, and try to act to them as Christ would have you act, +and my word for it, you will go home with a new light on your own +relations to Him and a new meaning for your prayers. You remember the +prayer "give me a great thought to refresh me." I think you will find +some great thoughts in human beings--they will help you to understand +yourself and God, when you try to help them God makes you happy my +darling. + +MAMA. + + +It was in this year that Richard enjoyed the thrill of seeing in print +his first contribution to a periodical. The date of this important +event, important, at least, to my brother, was February 1, the +fortunate publication was Judge, and the effusion was entitled "The Hat +and Its Inmate." Its purport was an overheard conversation between two +young ladies at a matinee and the editors thought so well of it that +for the privilege of printing the article they gave Richard a year's +subscription to Judge. His scrap-book of that time shows that in 1884 +Life published a short burlesque on George W. Cable's novel, "Dr. +Sevier," and in the same year The Evening Post paid him $1.05 for an +article about "The New Year at Lehigh." It was also in the spring of +1884 that Richard published his first book, "The Adventures of My +Freshman," a neat little paper-covered volume including half a dozen of +the short stories that had already appeared in The Lehigh Burr. In +writing in a copy of this book in later years, Richard said: "This is +a copy of the first book of mine published. My family paid to have it +printed and finding no one else was buying it, bought up the entire +edition. Finding the first edition had gone so quickly, I urged them +to finance a second one, and when they were unenthusiastic I was hurt. +Several years later when I found the entire edition in our attic, I +understood their reluctance. The reason the book did not sell is, I +think, because some one must have read it." + +In the summer of 1882 Richard went to Boston, and in the following +letter unhesitatingly expressed his opinion of that city and its people. + + +BOSTON, Wednesday. + +July 1882. + +DEAR FAMILY:-- + +I left Newport last night or rather this morning. I stopped at Beverly +and called on Dr. Holmes. He talked a great deal about mama and about +a great many other things equally lovely in a very easy, charming way. +All I had to do was to listen and I was only too willing to do that. +We got along splendidly. He asked me to stay to dinner but I refused +with thanks, as I had only come to pay my respects and put off to Dr. +Bartol's. Dr. Holmes accompanied me to the depot and saw me safely +off. Of all the lovely men I ever saw Dr. Bartol is the one. He lives +in a great, many roomed with as many gables, house. Elizabethan, of +course, with immense fireplaces, brass and dark woods, etchings and +engravings, with the sea and rocks immediately under the window and the +ocean stretching out for miles, lighthouses and more Elizabethan houses +half hid on the bank, and ships and small boats pushing by within a +hundred rods of the windows. I stayed to dinner there and we had a +very jolly time. There were two other young men and another maiden +besides Miss Bartol. They talked principally about the stage; that is, +the Boston Stock Company, which is their sole thought and knowledge of +the drama. The Dr. would strike off now and then to philosophizing and +moralizing but his daughter would immediately sit upon him, much to my +disgust but to the evident relief of the rest. His wife is as lovely +as he is but I can't give it to you all now. Wait until I get home. + +The young lady, the youths and myself came up to Boston together and +had as pleasant a ride, as the heat would allow. I left them at the +depot and went up to the Parker House and then to the Art Museum. The +statuary is plaster, the coins are copies, and by the way, I found one +exactly like mine, which, if it is genuine is worth, "well +considerable", as the personage in charge remarked. The pictures were +simply vile, only two or three that I recognized and principally Millet +and some charcoal sketches of Hunt's, who is the Apostle of Art here. +The china was very fine but they had a collection of old furniture and +armor which was better than anything else. Fresh from or rather musty +from these antiques, who should I meet but the cheerful Dixey and +Powers. We had a very jolly talk and I enjoyed it immensely, not only +myself but all the surrounding populace, as Dixey would persist in +showing the youthful some new "gag," and would break into a clog or +dialect much to the delectation of the admiring Bostonians. I am +stranded here for to night and will push on to Newport to-morrow. I'll +go see the "babes" to night, as there is nothing else in the city that +is worth seeing that I haven't investigated. I left the +Newburyportians in grief with regret. I met lots of nice people and +every one was so very kind to me, from the authoresses to the serving +maids. Good-bye. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +COLLEGE DAYS + +In the fall of 1882 Richard entered Lehigh, but the first year of his +college life varied very little from the one he had spent in the +preparatory school. During that year he had met most of the upper +classmen, and the only difference was that he could now take an active +instead of a friendly interest in the life and the sports of the +college. Also he had formed certain theories which he promptly +proceeded to put into practical effect. Perhaps the most conspicuous +of these was his belief that cane-rushes and hazing were wholly +unnecessary and barbarous customs, and should have no place in the +college of his day. Against the former he spoke at college meetings, +and wrote long letters to the local papers decrying the custom. His +stand against hazing was equally vehement, and he worked hand in hand +with the faculty to eradicate it entirely from the college life. That +his stand was purely for a principle and not from any fear of personal +injury, I think the following letter to his father will show: + + +BETHLEHEM, February 1882. + +DEAR DAD: + +You may remember a conversation we had at Squan about hazing in which +you said it was a very black-guardly thing and a cowardly thing. I +didn't agree with you, but when I saw how it really was and how silly +and undignified it was, besides being brutal, I thought it over and +changed my mind completely, agreeing with you in every respect. A +large number of our class have been hazed, taking it as a good joke, +and have been laughed at by the whole college. I talked to the boys +about it, and said what I would do and so on, without much effect. +Wednesday a junior came to me, and told me I was to be hazed as I left +the Opera House Friday night. After that a great many came to me and +advised and warned me as to what I should do. I decided to get about +fifty of our class outside and then fight it out; that was before I +changed my mind. As soon as I did I regretted it very much, but, as it +turned out, the class didn't come, so I was alone, as I wished to be. +You see, I'd not a very good place here; the fellows looked on me as a +sort of special object of ridicule, on account of the hat and cane, +walk, and so on, though I thought I'd got over that by this time. The +Opera House was partly filled with college men, a large number of +sophomores and a few upper class men. It was pretty generally known I +was going to have a row, and that brought them as much as the show. +Poor Ruff was in agony all day. He supposed I'd get into the fight, +and he knew he'd get in, too, sooner or later. If he did he'd be held +and not be able to do anything, and then the next day be blamed by the +whole college for interfering in a class matter. He hadn't any money +to get into the show, and so wandered around outside in the rain in a +great deal more excited state than I was. Howe went all over town +after putting on his old clothes, in case of personal damage, in search +of freshmen who were at home out of the wet. As I left the building a +man grabbed me by my arm, and the rest, with the seniors gathered +around; the only freshman present, who was half scared to death, clung +as near to me as possible. I withdrew my arm and faced them. "If this +means hazing," I said, "I'm not with you. There's not enough men here +to haze me, but there's enough to thrash me, and I'd rather be thrashed +than hazed." You see, I wanted them to understand exactly how I looked +at it, and they wouldn't think I was simply hotheaded and stubborn. I +was very cool about it all. They broke in with all sorts of +explanations; hazing was the last thing they had thought of. No, +indeed, Davis, old fellow, you're mistaken. I told them if that was +so, all right, I was going home. I saw several of my friends in the +crowd waiting for me, but as I didn't want them to interfere, I said +nothing, and they did not recognize me. When among the crowd of +sophomores, the poor freshman made a last effort, he pulled me by the +coat and begged me to come with him. I said no, I was going home. +When I reached the next corner I stopped. "I gave you fair warning, +keep off. I tell you I'll strike the first man, the first one, that +touches me." Then the four who had been appointed to seize me jumped +on me, and I only got one good blow in before they had me down in the +gutter and were beating me on the face and head. I put my hands across +my face, and so did not get any hard blows directly in the face. They +slipped back in a moment, and when I was ready I scrambled up pretty +wet and muddy, and with my face stinging where they had struck. It had +all been done so quickly, and there was such a large crowd coming from +the theatre, that, of course, no one saw it. When I got up there was a +circle all around me. They hadn't intended to go so far. The men, +except those four who had beaten me, were rather ashamed and wished +they were out of it. I turned to Emmerich, a postgraduate, and told +him to give me room. "Now," I said, "you're not able to haze me, and I +can't thrash twelve of you, but I'll fight any one man you bring out." +I asked for the man that struck me, and named another, but there was no +response. + +The upper classmen, who had just arrived, called out that was fair, and +they'd see it fair. Goodnough, Purnell and Douglas, who don't like me +much, either. Ruff was beside me by this time. + +He hadn't seen anything of it, and did not get there until he heard me +calling for a fair chance and challenging the class for a man. I +called out again, the second time, and still no one came, so I took +occasion to let them know why I had done as I did in a short speech to +the crowd. I said I was a peaceable fellow, thought hazing silly, and +as I never intended to haze myself, I didn't intend any one to haze me. +Then I said again, "This is the third time, will one of your men fight +this fair? I can't fight twelve of you." Just then two officers who +had called on some mill-hands, who are always dying for a fight, and a +citizen to help them, burst into the crowd of students, shouldering +them around like sheep until they got to me, when one of them put his +arm around me, and said, "I don't know anything about this crowd, but +I'll see you're protected, sir. I'll give 'em fair play." One officer +got hold of Ruff and pretty near shook him to pieces until I had to +interfere and explain. They were for forming a body-guard, and were +loud in their denunciations of the college, and declaring they'd see me +through if I was a stranger to 'em. + +Two or three of the sophomores, when they saw how things were going, +set up a yell, but Griffin struck out and sent one of them flying one +way and his hat another, so the yells ended. Howe and Murray Stuart +took me up to their rooms, and Ruff went off for beefsteak for my eye, +and treated the crowd who had come to the rescue, at Dixon's, to beer. +The next day was Saturday, and as there was to be a meeting of the +Athletic Association, of course, I wanted to show up. The fellows all +looked at my eye pretty hard and said nothing. I felt pretty sure that +the sympathy was all with me. + +Four men are elected from the college to be on the athletic committee. +They can be nominated by any one, though generally it is done by a man +in their own class. We had agreed the day before to vote for Tolman +for our class, so when the president announced nominations were in +order for the freshmen class, Tolman was instantly nominated. At the +same time one of the leading sophomores jumped up and nominated Mr. +Davis, and a number of men from the same class seconded it. I knew +every one in the college knew of what had happened, and especially the +sophomores, so I was, of course, very much surprised. I looked +unconscious, though, and waited. One of the seniors asked that the +nominees should stand up, as they didn't know their names only their +faces. As each man rose he was hissed and groaned down again. When I +stood up the sophomores burst into a yell and clapped and stamped, +yelling, "Davis! Davis! vote for D!" until I sat down. As I had +already decided to nominate Tolman, I withdrew my name from the +nominees, a movement which was received by loud cries of "No! No!" +from the sophs. So, you see, Dad, I did as you said, as I thought was +right, and came out well indeed. You see, I am now the hero of the +hour, every one in town knows it, and every one congratulates me, and, +"Well done, me boy," as Morrow '83 said, seems to be the idea, one gets +taken care of in this world if you do what's the right thing, if it is +only a street fight. In fact, as one of the seniors said, I've made +five friends where I had one before. The sophs are ashamed and sorry, +as their conduct in chapel, which was more marked, than I made it, +shows. I've nothing to show for it but a red mark under the eye, and +so it is the best thing that could possibly have happened. Poor Ruff +hugged me all the way home, and I've started out well in a good way, I +think, though not a very logical one. + +Uncle says to tell you that my conduct has his approval throughout. + +DICK. + + +To which letter my father promptly replied: + + +PHILADELPHIA. February 25th, 1882. + +DEAR OLD BOY: + +I'm glad the affair ended so well. I don't want you to fight, but if +you have to fight a cuss like that do it with all your might, and don't +insist that either party shall too strictly observe the Markis O' +Queensbury rules. Hit first and hardest so that thine adversary shall +beware of you. + +DAD. + + +At that time the secret societies played a very important part in the +college life at Lehigh, and while I do not believe that Richard shared +the theory of some of the students that they were a serious menace to +the social fabric, he was quite firm in his belief that it was +inadvisable to be a member of any fraternity. In a general way he did +not like the idea of secrecy even in its mildest form, and then, as +throughout his life, he refused to join any body that would in any way +limit his complete independence of word or action. In connection with +this phase of his college life I quote from an appreciation which M. A. +De W. Howe, one of Richard's best friends both at college and in +after-life, wrote for The Lehigh Burr at the time of my brother's death: + +"To the credit of the perceptive faculty of undergraduates, it ought to +be said that the classmates and contemporaries of Richard Harding Davis +knew perfectly well, while he and they were young together, that in him +Lehigh had a son so marked in his individuality, so endowed with +talents and character that he stood quite apart from the other +collegians of his day. Prophets were as rare in the eighties as they +have always been, before and since, and nobody could have foreseen that +the name and work of Dick Davis would long before his untimely death, +indeed within a few years from leaving college, be better known +throughout the world than those of any other Lehigh man. We who knew +him in his college days could not feel the smallest surprise that he +won himself quickly a brilliant name, and kept a firm hold upon it to +the last. + +"What was it that made him so early a marked man? I think it was the +spirit of confidence and enthusiasm which turned every enterprise he +undertook into an adventure,--the brave and humorous playing of the +game of life, the true heart, the wholesome body and soul of my friend +and classmate. He did not excel in studies or greatly, in athletics. +But in his own field, that of writing, he was so much better than the +rest of us that no one of his fellow-editors of the Epitome or Burr +needed to be considered in comparison with him. No less, in spite of +his voluntary nonmembership in the fraternities of his day, was he a +leader in the social activities of the University. The 'Arcadian Club' +devoted in its beginnings to the 'pipes, books, beer and gingeralia' of +Davis's song about it and the 'Mustard and Cheese' were his creations. +In all his personal relationships he was the most amusing and +stimulating of companions. With garb and ways of unique +picturesqueness, rarer even in college communities a generation ago +than at present, it was inevitable that he sometimes got himself +laughed at as well as with. But what did it all matter, even then? +To-day it adds a glow of color to what would be in any case a vivid, +deeply valued memory. + +"It is hard to foresee in youth what will come most sharply and +permanently in the long run. After all these years it is good to find +that Davis and what his companionship gave one hold their place with +the strongest influences of Lehigh." + +But Richard was naturally gregarious and at heart had a great fondness +for clubs and social gatherings. Therefore, having refused the offer +of several fraternities that did him the honor to ask him to become a +member, it was necessary for him to form a few clubs that held +meetings, but no secrets. Perhaps the most successful of these were +"The Mustard and Cheese," a dramatic club devoted to the presentation +of farces and musical comedies, and The Arcadia Club, to the +fortnightly meetings of which he devoted much time and thought. The +following letter to his father will give some idea of the scope of the +club, which, as in the case of "The Mustard and Cheese," gained a +permanent and important place in the social life of Lehigh. + + +DEAR DAD: + +We have started the best sort of a club up here which I am anxious to +tell you of. It consists of a spread, net price of which will be about +30 cents each, every two or three weeks. Only six fellows belong and +those the best of the College. Purnell, Haines and myself founded it. +I chose Charley, Purnell, Reeves, Haines and Howe. We will meet +Saturday nights at 9 so as not to interfere with our work, and sing, +read, eat and box until midnight. It is called the "Pipe and Bowl," +and is meant to take the place that The Hasty Pudding, Hammer and Tongs +and Mermaid do at other colleges. Two of us are to invite two +outsiders in turn each meeting. We will hope to have Dad a member, +honorary, of course, when we can persuade him to give us a night off +with his company. We want to combine a literary feature and so will +have selected readings to provoke discussions after the pipes are lit. +The men are very enthusiastic about it and want to invite Mr. Allen and +you and every one that they can make an honorary member of immediately. + + +It was first as an associate editor and afterward as editor-in-chief of +the college paper, The Lehigh Burr, that Richard found his greatest +pleasure and interest during his three years at Lehigh. In addition to +his editorial duties he wrote a very great part of every issue of the +paper, and his contributions included short stories, reports of news +events, editorials, and numerous poems. + +As, after his life at college, Richard dropped verse as a mode of +expression, I reprint two of the poems which show him in the lighter +vein of those early days. + +A COMMENCEMENT IDYL + + "I'm a Freshman who has ended his first year, + But I'm new; + And I do whate'er the Juniors, whom I fear, + Bid me do. + Under sudden showers I thrive; + To be bad and bold I strive, + But they ask--'Is it alive?' + So they do. + + I'm a Sophomore who has passed off his exams, + Let me loose! + With a mark as high as any other man's, + As obtuse + I'm fraternal. I am Jolly. + I am seldom melancholy + And to bone I think is folly, + What's the use? + + +I'm a Junior whom exams. have left forlorn, + Flunked me dead; +So I'll keep the town awake 'till early morn; + Paint it red. + At class-meetings I'm a kicker, + Take no water with my liquor, + And a dumb-bell's not thicker + Than my head. + +I'm a Senior whose diploma's within reach, + Eighty-four. +On Commencement Day you'll hear my maiden-speech; + I will soar! + I got through without condition; + I'm a mass of erudition; + Do you know of a position!" + + + + OUR STREET + + + "Our street is still and silent, + Grass grows from curb to curb, + + No baker's bells + With jangling knells + Our studious minds disturb. + No organ grinders ever call, + No hucksters mar our peace; + For traffic shuns our neighborhood + And leaves us to our ease. + + + But now it lives and brightens, + Assumes a livelier hue; + The pavements wide, + On either side, + Would seem to feel it too. + You might not note the difference, + The change from grave to gay, + But I can tell, and know full well, + Priscilla walks our way." + + + +Shortly after his return to college Richard celebrated his nineteenth +birthday, and received these letters from his father and mother: + +April 17th, 1883. + +MY DEAR BOY: + +When I was thinking what I could give to you to-morrow, I remembered +the story of Herder, who when he was old and weak and they brought him +food and wine asked for "a great thought to quicken him." + +So I have written some old sayings for you that have helped me. Maybe, +this year, or some other year, when I am not with you, they may give +you, sometimes, comfort and strength. + +God bless you my son-- + +YOUR OLD MOTHER + +who loves you dearly--dearly. + + +THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER + PHILADELPHIA, April 17th, 1883. + +MY DEAR BOY: + +You are to be nineteen years old on Wednesday. After two years more +you will be a man. You are so manly and good a boy that I could not +wish you to change in any serious or great thing. You have made us +very happy through being what you have been, what you are. You fill us +with hope of your future virtue and usefulness. + +To be good is the best thing of all; it counts for more than anything +else in the world. We are very grateful that you have even in youth +been wise enough to choose the right road. You will find it not easy +to keep upon it always, but remember if you do get off struggle back to +it. I do not know but I think God loves the effort to do as well as +the act done. + +I congratulate you my dear son, on your new birthday. I wish you +health, happiness and God's loving care. May he bless you my son +forever. I enclose a trifle for your pleasure. My love to you always, +but God bless you dear Dick. + +DAD. + + +In the fall of 1885, Richard decided to leave Lehigh and go to John +Hopkins University, where he took a special course in such studies as +would best benefit him in the career which he had now carefully +planned. During this year in Baltimore Richard's letters show that he +paid considerable attention to such important subjects as political +economy and our own labor problems, but they also show that he did not +neglect football or the lighter social diversions. In a short space of +time he had made many friends, was very busy going to dinners and +dances, and had fallen in love with an entirely new set of maids and +matrons. Richard had already begun to send contributions to the +magazines, and an occasional acceptance caused him the satisfaction +common to all beginners. It was in regard to one of these early +contributions that my mother wrote Richard the following letter: + + +PHILADELPHIA + +January 1887. + +DEAR BOY: + +What has become of The Current? It has not come yet. If it has +suspended publication be sure and get your article back. You must not +destroy a single page you write. You will find every idea of use to +you hereafter. + +Sometimes I am afraid you think I don't take interest enough in your +immediate success now with the articles you send. But I've had thirty +years experience and I know how much that sort of success depends on +the articles suiting the present needs of the magazine, and also on the +mood of the editor when he reads it. + +Besides--except for your own disappointment--I know it would be better +if you would not publish under your own name for a little while. Dr. +Holland--who had lots of literary shrewdness both as writer and +publisher--used to say for a young man or woman to rush into print was +sure ruin to their lasting fame. They either compromised their +reputations by inferior work or they made a great hit and never played +up to it, afterwards, in public opinion. + +Now my dear old man this sounds like awfully cold comfort. But it is +the wisest idea your mother has got. I confess I have GREAT faith in +you--and I try to judge you as if you were not my son. I think you are +going to take a high place among American authors, but I do not think +you are going to do it by articles like that you sent to The Current. +The qualities which I think will bring it to you, you don't seem to +value at all. They are your dramatic eye. I mean your quick +perception of character and of the way character shows itself in looks, +tones, dress, etc., and in your keen sympathy--with all kinds of +people--Now, these are the requisites for a novelist. Added to that +your humour. + +You ought to make a novelist of the first class. But you must not +expect to do it this week or next. A lasting, real success takes time, +and patient, steady work. Read Boz's first sketches of "London Life" +and compare them with "Sydney Carton" or "David Copperfield" and you +will see what time and hard work will do to develop genius. + +I suppose you will wonder why I am moved to say all this? It is, I +think, because of your saying "the article sent to St. Nicholas was +the best you would be able to do for years to come" and I saw you were +going to make it a crucial test of your ability. That is, forgive me, +nothing but nonsense. Whatever the article may be, you may write one +infinitely superior to it next week or month. Just in proportion as +you feel more deeply, or notice more keenly, and as you acquire the +faculty of expressing your feelings or observations more delicately and +powerfully which faculty must come into practice. It is not +inspiration--it never was that--without practice, with any writer from +Shakespeare down. + +me. I don't say, like Papa, stop writing. God forbid. I would almost +as soon say stop breathing, for it is pretty much the same thing. But +only to remember that you have not yet conquered your art. You are a +journeyman not a master workman, so if you don't succeed, it does not +count. The future is what I look to, for you. I had to stop my work +to say all this, so good-bye dear old chum. + +Yours, + +MOTHER. + + +If anything worried Richard at all at this period, I think it was his +desire to get down to steady newspaper work, or indeed any kind of work +that would act as the first step of his career and by which he could +pay his own way in the world. It was with this idea uppermost in his +mind in the late spring of 1886, and without any particular regret for +the ending of his college career, that he left Baltimore and, returning +to his home in Philadelphia, determined to accept the first position +that presented itself. But instead of going to work at once, he once +more changed his plans and decided to sail for Santiago de Cuba with +his friend William W. Thurston, who as president of the Bethlehem Steel +Company, was deeply interested in the iron mines of that region. Here +and then it was that Richard first fell in love with Cuba--a love which +in later years became almost an obsession with him. Throughout his +life whenever it was possible, and sometimes when it seemed practically +impossible, my brother would listen to the call of his beloved tropics +and, casting aside all responsibilities, would set sail for Santiago. +After all it was quite natural that he should feel as he did about this +little Cuban coast town, for apart from its lazy life, spicy smells, +waving palms and Spanish cooking, it was here that he found the +material for his first novel and greatest monetary success, "Soldiers +of Fortune." Apart from the many purely pleasure trips he made to +Santiago, twice he returned there to work--once as a correspondent +during the Spanish-American War, and again when he went with Augustus +Thomas to assist in the latter's film version of the play which years +before Thomas had made from the novel. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FIRST NEWSPAPER EXPERIENCES + +In the late summer of 1886 Richard returned from Cuba and settled down +in Philadelphia to write an article about his experiences at Santiago +and to look for regular newspaper work. Early in September he wrote +his mother: + + +September, 1886. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I saw the Record people to-day. They said there was not an opening but +could give me "chance" work, that is, I was to report each day at one +and get what was left over. I said I would take it as I would have my +mornings free to write the article and what afternoons I did not have +newspaper work besides. This is satisfactory. They are either doing +all they can to oblige Dad or else giving me a trial trip before making +an opening. The article is progressing but slowly. To paraphrase +Talleyrand, what's done is but little and that little is not good. +However, since your last letter full of such excellent "tips" I have +rewritten it and think it is much improved. I will write to Thurston +concerning the artist to-morrow. He is away from B. at present. On +the whole the article is not bad. + + +Your boy, DICK. + + +Richard's stay on The Record, however, was short-lived. His excuse for +the brevity of the experience was given in an interview some years +later. "My City Editor didn't like me because on cold days I wore +gloves. But he was determined to make me work, and gave me about +eighteen assignments a day, and paid me $7. a week. At the end of +three months he discharged me as incompetent." + +From The Record Richard went to The Press, which was much more to his +liking, and, indeed it was here that he did his first real work and +showed his first promise. For nearly three years he did general +reporting and during this time gained a great deal more personal +success than comes to most members of that usually anonymous +profession. His big chance came with the Johnstown flood, and the news +stories he wired to his paper showed the first glimpse of his ability +as a correspondent. Later on, disguised as a crook, he joined a gang +of yeggmen, lived with them in the worst dives of the city, and +eventually gained their good opinion to the extent of being allowed to +assist in planning a burglary. But before the actual robbery took +place, Richard had obtained enough evidence against his crook +companions to turn them over to the police and eventually land them in +prison. It was during these days that he wrote his first story for a +magazine, and the following letter shows that it was something of a +milestone in his career. + +PHILADELPHIA. + +August, 1888. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +The St. Nicholas people sent me a check for $50 for the "pirate" story. +It would be insupportable affectation to say that I was not delighted. +Jennings Crute and I were waiting for breakfast when I found the +letter. I opened it very slowly, for I feared they would bluff me with +some letter about illustrations or revision, or offering me a reduced +subscription to the magazine. There was a letter inside and a check. +I read the letter before I looked at the check, which I supposed would +be for $30, as the other story was valued at $20. The note said that a +perfect gentleman named Chichester would be pleased if I would find +enclosed a check for $50. I looked at Jenny helplessly, and said, +"It's for fifty, Jenny." Crute had an insane look in his eyes as he +murmured "half a hundred dollars, and on your day off, too." Then I +sat down suddenly and wondered what I would buy first, and Crute sat in +a dazed condition, and abstractedly took a handful of segars out of the +box dear old Dad gave me. As I didn't say anything, he took another +handful, and then sat down and gazed at the check for five minutes in +awe. After breakfast I calculated how much I would have after I paid +my debts. I still owe say $23, and I have some shoes to pay for and my +hair to cut. I had a wild idea of going over to New York and buying +some stocks, but I guess I'll go to Bond's and Baker's instead. + +I'm going down street now to see if Drexel wants to borrow any ready +money-on the way down I will make purchases and pay bills so that my +march will be a triumphal procession. + +I got a story on the front page this morning about an explosion at +Columbia Avenue Station--I went out on it with another man my senior in +years and experience, whom Watrous expected to write the story while I +hustled for facts. When we got back I had all the facts, and what +little he had was incorrect--so I said I would dispense with his +services and write the story myself. I did it very politely, but it +queered the man before the men, and Watrous grew very sarcastic at his +expense. Next time Andy will know better and let me get my own stories +alone. + +Your Millionaire Son, + +DICK. + +I'm still the "same old Dick"; not proud a bit. + + +This was my mother's reply: + + +Thursday. + +August 1888. + +DEAR DICK: + +Your letter has just come and we are all delighted. Well done for old +St. Nicholas! I thought they meant to wait till the story was +published. It took me back to the day when I got $50. for "Life in the +Iron Mills." I carried the letter half a day before opening it, being +so sure that it was a refusal. + +I had a great mind to read the letter to Davis and Cecile who were on +the porch but was afraid you would not like it. + +I did read them an extremely impertinent enclosure which was so like +the letter I sent yesterday. That I think you got it before writing +this. + +. . . Well I am glad about that cheque! Have you done anything on +Gallagher? That is by far the best work you've done--oh, by far--Send +that to Gilder. In old times The Century would not print the word +"brandy." But those days are over. + +Two more days--dear boy-- + +MOTHER. + + +In addition to his work on The Press, Richard also found time to assist +his friend, Morton McMichael, 3d, in the editing of a weekly +publication called The Stage. In fact with the exception of the +services of an office boy, McMichael and Richard were The Stage. +Between them they wrote the editorials, criticisms, the London and +Paris special correspondence, solicited the advertisements, and +frequently assisted in the wrapping and mailing of the copies sent to +their extremely limited list of subscribers. During this time, +however, Richard was establishing himself as a star reporter on The +Press, and was already known as a clever news-gatherer and interviewer. +It was in reply to a letter that Richard wrote to Robert Louis +Stevenson enclosing an interview he had had with Walt Whitman, that +Stevenson wrote the following letter--which my brother always regarded +as one of his greatest treasures: + + +Why, thank you so much for your frank, agreeable and natural letter. +It is certainly very pleasant that all you young fellows should enjoy +my work and get some good out of it and it was very kind in you to +write and tell me so. The tale of the suicide is excellently droll, +and your letter, you may be sure, will be preserved. If you are to +escape unhurt out of your present business you must be very careful, +and you must find in your heart much constancy. The swiftly done work +of the journalist and the cheap finish and ready made methods to which +it leads, you must try to counteract in private by writing with the +most considerate slowness and on the most ambitious models. And when I +say "writing"--O, believe me, it is rewriting that I have chiefly in +mind. If you will do this I hope to hear of you some day. + +Please excuse this sermon from + +Your obliged + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +In the spring of 1889 Richard as the correspondent of the Philadelphia +Telegraph, accompanied a team of Philadelphia cricketers on a tour of +Ireland and England, but as it was necessary for him to spend most of +his time reporting the matches played in small university towns, he saw +only enough of London to give him a great longing to return as soon as +the chance offered. Late that summer he resumed his work on The Press, +but Richard was not at all satisfied with his journalistic progress, +and for long his eyes had been turned toward New York. There he knew +that there was not only a broader field for such talent as he might +possess, but that the chance for adventure was much greater, and it was +this hope and love of adventure that kept Richard moving on all of his +life. + +On a morning late in September, 1889, he started for New York to look +for a position as reporter on one of the metropolitan newspapers. I do +not know whether he carried with him any letters or that he had any +acquaintances in the journalistic world on whose influence he counted, +but, in any case, he visited a number of offices without any success +whatever. Indeed, he had given up the day as wasted, and was on his +way to take the train back to Philadelphia. Tired and discouraged, he +sat down on a bench in City Hall Park, and mentally shook his fist at +the newspaper offices on Park Row that had given him so cold a +reception. At this all-important moment along came Arthur Brisbane, +whom Richard had met in London when the former was the English +correspondent of The Sun. Brisbane had recently been appointed editor +of The Evening Sun, and had already met with a rather spectacular +success. On hearing the object of Richard's visit to New York, he +promptly offered him a position on his staff and Richard as promptly +accepted. I remember that the joyous telegram he sent to my mother, +telling of his success, and demanding that the fatted calf be killed +for dinner that night was not received with unalloyed happiness. To my +mother and father it meant that their first-born was leaving home to +seek his fortune, and that without Richard's love and sympathy the home +could never be quite the same. But the fatted calf was killed, every +one pretended to be just as elated as Richard was over his good +fortune, and in two days he left us for his first adventure. + +The following note to his mother Richard scribbled off in pencil at the +railway-station on his way to New York: + + +I am not surprised that you were sad if you thought I was going away +for good. I could not think of it myself. I am only going to make a +little reputation and to learn enough of the business to enable me to +live at home in the centre of the universe with you. That is truth. +God bless you. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +NEW YORK + +Of the many completely happy periods of Richard's life there were few +more joyous than the first years he spent as a reporter in New York. +For the first time he was completely his own master and paying his own +way--a condition which afforded him infinite satisfaction. He was +greatly attached to Brisbane and as devoted to the interests of The +Evening Sun as if he had been the editor and publisher. In return +Brisbane gave him a free rein and allowed him to write very much what +and as he chose. The two men were constantly together, in and out of +office hours, and planned many of the leading features of the paper +which on account of the brilliancy of its news stories and special +articles was at that time attracting an extraordinary amount of +attention. Richard divided his working hours between reporting +important news events, writing specials (principally about theatrical +people), and the Van Bibber stories, nearly all of which were published +for the first time in The Evening Sun. These short tales of New York +life soon made a distinct hit, and, while they appeared anonymously, it +was generally known that Richard was their author. In addition to his +newspaper work my brother was also working on short stories for the +magazines, and in 1890 scored his first real success in this field, +with "Gallegher," which appeared in Scribner's. This was shortly +followed by "The Other Woman," "Miss Catherwaite's Understudy," "A +Walk up the Avenue," "My Disreputable Friend, Mr. Raegen," "An +Unfinished Story," and other stories that soon gave him an established +reputation as a writer of fiction. But while Richard's success was +attained in a remarkably short space of time and at an extremely early +age, it was not accomplished without an enormous amount of hard work +and considerable privation. When he first went to New York his salary +was but thirty dollars a week, and while he remained on The Evening Sun +never over fifty dollars, and the prices he received for his first +short stories were extremely meagre. During the early days on The +Evening Sun he had a room in a little house at 108 Waverly Place, and +took his meals in the neighborhood where he happened to find himself +and where they were cheapest. He usually spent his week-ends in +Philadelphia, but his greatest pleasure was when he could induce some +member of his family to visit him in New York. I fear I was the one +who most often accepted his hospitality, and wonderful visits they +were, certainly to me, and I think to Richard as well. The great event +was our Saturday-night dinner, when we always went to a little +restaurant on Sixth Avenue. I do not imagine the fifty-cent table +d'hote (vin compris) the genial Mr. Jauss served us was any better than +most fifty-cent table-d'hote dinners, but the place was quaint and +redolent of strange smells of cooking as well as of a true bohemian +atmosphere. Those were the days when the Broadway Theatre was given +over to the comic operas in which Francis Wilson and De Wolfe Hopper +were the stars, and as both of the comedians were firm friends of +Richard, we invariably ended our evening at the Broadway. Sometimes we +occupied a box as the guests of the management, and at other times we +went behind the scenes and sat in the star's dressing-room. I think I +liked it best when Hopper was playing, because during Wilson's regime +the big dressing-room was a rather solemn sort of place, but when +Hopper ruled, the room was filled with pretty girls and he treated us +to fine cigars and champagne. + +Halcyon nights those, and then on Sunday morning we always breakfasted +at old Martin's on University Place eggs a la Martin and that wonderful +coffee and pain de menage. And what a wrench it was when I tore myself +away from the delights of the great city and scurried back to my desk +in sleepy Philadelphia. Had I been a prince royal Richard could not +have planned more carefully than he did for these visits, and to meet +the expense was no easy matter for him. Indeed, I know that to pay for +all our gayeties he usually had to carry his guitar to a neighboring +pawn-broker where the instrument was always good for an eight-dollar +loan. But from the time Richard first began to make his own living one +of the great pleasures of his life was to celebrate, or as he called +it, to "have a party." Whenever he had finished a short story he had a +party, and when the story had been accepted there was another party, +and, of course, the real party was when he received the check. And so +it was throughout his life, giving a party to some one whom a party +would help, buying a picture for which he had no use to help a +struggling artist, sending a few tons of coal to an old lady who was +not quite warm enough, always writing a letter or a check for some one +of his own craft who had been less fortunate than he--giving to every +beggar that he met, fearing that among all the thousand fakers he might +refuse one worthy case. I think this habit of giving Richard must have +inherited from his father, who gave out of all proportion to his means, +and with never too close a scrutiny to the worthiness of the cause. +Both men were too intensely human to do that, but if this great desire +on the part of my father and brother to help others gave the recipients +pleasure I'm sure that it caused in the hearts of the givers an even +greater happiness. The following letters were chosen from a great +number which Richard wrote to his family, telling of his first days on +The Evening Sun, and of his life in New York. + + +YORK Evening Sun--1890 + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today is as lovely and fresh as the morning, a real spring day, and I +feel good in consequence. I have just come from a couple of raids, +where we had a very lively time, and some of them had to pull their +guns. I found it necessary to punch a few sports myself. The old +sergeant from headquarters treats me like a son and takes the greatest +pride in whatever I do or write. He regularly assigns me now to +certain doors, and I always obey orders like the little gentleman that +I am. Instead of making me unpopular, I find it helps me with the +sports, though it hurts my chances professionally, as so many of them +know me now that I am no use in some districts. For instance, in Mott +and Pell streets, or in the Bowery, I am as safe as any precinct +detective. I tell you this to keep you from worrying. They won't +touch a man whom they think is an agent or an officer. Only it spoils +my chances of doing reportorial-detective work. For instance, the +captain of the Bowery district refused me a detective the other morning +to take the Shippens around the Chinese and the tougher quarters +because he said they were as safe with me as with any of the other men +whose faces are as well known. To-night I am going to take a party to +the headquarters of the fire department, where I have a cinch on the +captain, a very nice fellow, who is unusually grateful for something I +wrote about him and his men. They are going to do the Still Alarm act +for me. + +These clippings all came out in to-day's paper. The ladies in the +Tombs were the Shippens, of course; and Mamie Blake is a real girl, and +the story is true from start to finish. I think it is a pathetic +little history. + +Give my love to all. I will bring on the story I have finished and get +you to make some suggestions. It is quite short. Since Scribner's +have been so civil, I think I will give them a chance at the great +prize. I am writing a comic guide book and a history of the Haymarket +for the paper; both are rich in opportunities. This weather makes me +feel like another person. I will be so glad to get home. With lots of +love and kisses for you and Nora. + +DICK-O. + + +NEW YORK--1890. + +DEAR CHAS: + +Brisbane has suggested to me that the Bradley story would lead anyone +to suppose that my evenings were spent in the boudoirs of the +horizontales of 34th Street and has scared me somewhat in consequence. +If it strikes you and Dad the same way don't show it to Mother. Dad +made one mistake by thinking I wrote a gambling story which has made me +nervous. It is hardly the fair thing to suppose that a man must have +an intimate acquaintance with whatever he writes of intimately. A lot +of hunting people, for instance, would not believe that I had written +the "Traver's Only Ride" story because they knew I did not hunt. Don't +either you or Dad make any mistake about this. + +DICK. + +As a matter of fact they would not let me in the room, and I don't know +whether it abounded in signed etchings or Bougereau's nymphs. + + +NEW YORK--1890. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +Today has been more or less feverish. In the morning's mail I received +a letter from Berlin asking permission to translate "Gallegher" into +German, and a proof of a paragraph from The Critic on my burlesque of +Rudyard Kipling, which was meant to please but which bored me. Then +the "Raegen" story came in, making nine pages of the Scribner's, which +at ten dollars a page ought to be $90. Pretty good pay for three +weeks' work, and it is a good story. Then at twelve a young man came +bustling into the office, stuck his card down on the desk and said, "I +am S. S. McClure. I have sent my London representative to Berlin and +my New York man to London. Will you take charge of my New York end?" + +If he thought to rattle me he was very much out of it, for I said in +his same tone and manner, "Bring your New York representative back and +send me to London, and I'll consider it. As long as I am in New York I +will not leave The Evening Sun." + +"Edmund Gosse is my London representative," he said; "you can have the +same work here. Come out and take lunch." I said, "Thank you, I can't; +I'll see you on Tuesday." + +"All right," he said. "I'll come for you. Think of what I say. I'll +make your fortune. Bradford Merrill told me to get you. You won't +have anything to do but ask people to write novels and edit them. I'll +send you abroad later if you don't like New York. Can you write any +children's stories for me?" + +"No," I said, "see you Tuesday." + +This is a verbal report of all and everything that was said. I +consider it a curious interview. It will raise my salary here or I go. +What do YOU think? DICK. + + + +NEW YORK--1890. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +The more I thought of the McClure offer the less I thought of it. So I +told him last night I was satisfied where I was, and that the $75 he +offered me was no inducement. Brisbane says I will get $50 about the +first of October, which is plenty and enough for a young man who +intends to be good to his folks. I cannot do better than stay where I +am, for it is understood between Brisbane and Laffan that in the event +of the former's going into politics I shall take his place, which will +suit very well until something better turns up. Then there is the +chance of White's coming back and my going to Lunnon, which would +please me now more for what I think I could make of it than what I +think others have made of it. If I had gone to McClure I would have +been shelved and side-tracked, and I am still in the running, and +learning every day. Brisbane and I have had our first serious +difficulty over Mrs. R----, who is staying with Mrs. "Bill." There is +at present the most desperate rivalry, and we discuss each other's +chances with great anger. He counts on his transcontinental knowledge, +but my short stories hit very hard, and he is not in it when I sing +"Thy Face Will Lead Me On" and "When Kerrigan Struck High C." She has +a fatal fondness for Sullivan, which is most unfortunate, as Brisbane +can and does tell her about him by the half hour. Yesterday we both +tried to impress her by riding down in front of the porch and showing +off the horses and ourselves. Brisbane came off best, though I came +off quickest, for my horse put his foot in a hole and went down on his +knees, while I went over his head like the White Knight in "Alice." I +would think nothing of sliding off a roof now. But I made up for this +mishap by coming back in my grey suit and having it compared with the +picture in The Century. It is a very close fight, and, while Brisbane +is chasing over town for photographs of Sullivan, I am buying books of +verses of which she seems to be fond. As soon as she gets her divorce +one of us is going to marry her. We don't know which. She is about as +beautiful a woman as I ever saw, and very witty and well-informed, but +it would cost a good deal to keep her in diamonds. She wears some the +Queen gave her, but she wants more. + +DICK. + + +NEW YORK--1890. + +DEAR MOTHER (LATE MA): + +I am well and with lots to do. I went up to see Hopper the other +night, which was the first time in three months that I have been back +of a theater, and it was like going home. There is a smell about the +painty and gassy and dusty place that I love as much as fresh earth and +newly cut hay, and the girls look so pretty and bold lying around on +the sets, and the men so out of focus and with such startling cheeks +and lips. They were very glad to see me and made a great fuss. Then +I've been to see Carmencita dance, which I enjoyed remarkably, and I +have been reading Rudyard Kipling's short stories, and I think it is +disgusting that a boy like that should write such stories. He hasn't +left himself anything to do when he gets old. He reminds me of Bret +Harte and not a bit of Stevenson, to whom some of them compare him. + +I am very glad you liked the lady in mid-air story so much, but it +wasn't a bit necessary to add the MORAL from a MOTHER. I saw it coming +up before I had read two lines; and a very good moral it is, too, with +which I agree heartily. But, of course, you know it is not a new idea +to me. Anything as good and true as that moral cannot be new at this +late date. I went to the Brooklyn Handicap race yesterday. It is one +of the three biggest races of the year, and a man stood in front of me +in the paddock in a white hat. Another man asked him what he was +"playing." + +"Well," he said, "I fancy Fides myself." + +"Fides!" said his friend, "why, she ain't in it. She won't see home. +Raceland's the horse for your money; she's favorite, and there isn't +any second choice. But Fides! Why, she's simply impossible. Raceland +beat HER last Suburban." + +"Yes, I remember," said the man in the white hat, "but I fancy Fides." + +Then another chap said to him, "Fides is all good enough on a dust +track on a sunny, pleasant day, but she can't ran in the mud. She +hasn't got the staying powers. She's a pretty one to look at, but +she's just a 'grandstand' ladies' choice. She ain't in it with +Raceland or Erica. The horse YOU want is not a pretty, dainty flyer, +but a stayer, that is sure and that brings in good money, not big odds, +but good money. Why, I can name you a dozen better'n Fides." + +"Still, somehow, I like Fides best," said the obstinate man in the +white hat. + +"But Fides will take the bit in her mouth and run away, or throw the +jock or break into the fence. She isn't steady. She's all right to +have a little bet on, just enough for a flyer, but she's not the horse +to plunge on. If you're a millionaire with money to throw away, why, +you might put some of it up on her, but, as it is, you want to put your +money where it will be sure of a 'place,' anyway. Now, let me mark +your card for you?" + +"No," said the man, "what you all say is reasonable, I see that; but, +somehow, I rather fancy Fides best." + +I've forgotten now whether Fides won or not, and whether she landed the +man who just fancied her without knowing why a winner or sent him home +broke. But, in any event, that is quite immaterial, the story simply +shows how obstinate some men are as regards horses and--other uncertain +critters. I have no doubt but that the Methodist minister's daughter +would have made Hiram happy if he had loved her, but he didn't. No +doubt Anne ----, Nan ----, Katy ---- and Maude ---- would have made me +happy if they would have consented to have me and I had happened to +love them, but I fancied Fides. + +But now since I have scared you sufficiently, let me add for your peace +of mind that I've not enough money to back any horses just at present, +and before I put any money up on any one of them for the Matrimonial +stakes, I will ask you first to look over the card and give me a few +pointers. I mayn't follow them, you know, but I'll give you a fair +warning, at any rate. + +"You're my sweetheart, I'm your beau." + +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, May 29, 1890. + +This is just a little good night note to say how I wish I was with you +down at that dear old place and how much I love you and Nora who is +getting lovelier and sweeter and prettier everyday and I know a pretty +girl when I see 'em, Fides, for instance. But I won't tease you about +that any more. + +I finished a short silly story to night which I am in doubt whether to +send off or not. I think I will keep it until I read it to you and +learn what you think. + +Mr. Gilder has asked me to stay with them at Marion, and to go to +Cambridge with Mrs. Gilder and dear Mrs. Cleveland and Grover +Cleveland, when he reads the poem before D. K. E. + +I have bought a book on decorations, colored, and I am choosing what I +want, like a boy with a new pair of boots. + +Good-night, my dearest Mama. + +DICK. + + +In addition to his regular work on The Evening Sun, my brother, as I +have already said, was devoting a great part, of his leisure moments to +the writing of short stories, and had made a tentative agreement with a +well-known magazine to do a series of short sketches of New York types. +Evidently fearful that Richard was writing too much and with a view to +pecuniary gain, my mother wrote the following note of warning: + + +PHILADELPHIA, 1890. + +DEAR DICK: + +I wouldn't undertake the "types." For one thing, you will lose +prestige writing for ----'s paper. For another, I dread beyond +everything your beginning to do hack work for money. It is the +beginning of decadence both in work and reputation for you. I know by +my own and a thousand other people. Begin to write because it "is a +lot of money" and you stop doing your best work. You make your work +common and your prices will soon go down. George Lewes managed George +Eliot wisely. + +He stopped her hack work. Kept her at writing novels and soon one each +year brought her $40,000. I am taking a purely mercenary view of the +thing. There is another which you understand better than I-- Mind your +Mother's advice to you--now and all the time is "do only your best +work--even if you starve doing it." But you won't starve. You'll get +your dinner at Martin's instead of Delmonico's, which won't hurt you in +the long run. Anyhow, $1000. for 12,500 words is not a great price. + +That was a fine tea you gave. I should like to have heard the good +talk. It was like the regiment of brigadier generals with no privates. + +Your + +MOTHER. + + +This is a letter written by my father after the publication of +Richard's story "A Walk up the Avenue." Richard frequently spoke of +his father as his "kindest and severest critic." + + +PHILADELPHIA, July 22nd, 1890. + +10.30 P. M. + +MY DEAR Boy: + +You can do it; you have done it; it is all right. I have read A Walk +up the Avenue. It is far and away the best thing you have ever +done--Full of fine subtle thought, of rare, manly feeling. + +I am not afraid of Dick the author. He's all right. I shall only be +afraid--when I am afraid--that Dick the man will not live up to the +other fellow, that he may forget how much the good Lord has given him, +and how responsible to the good Lord and to himself he is and will be +for it. A man entrusted with such talent should carry himself +straighter than others to whom it is denied. He has great duties to +do; he owes tribute to the giver. + +Don't let the world's temptations in any of its forms come between you +and your work. Make your life worthy of your talent, and humbly by day +and by night ask God to help you to do it. + +I am very proud of this work. It is good work, with brain, bone, +nerve, muscle in it. It is human, with healthy pulse and heartsome +glow in it. Remember, hereafter, you have by it put on the bars +against yourself preventing you doing any work less good. You have +yourself made your record, you can't lower it. You can only beat it. + +Lovingly, DAD. + + +In the latter part of December, 1890, Richard left The Evening Sun to +become the managing editor of Harper's Weekly. George William Curtis +was then its editor, and at this time no periodical had a broader or +greater influence for the welfare of the country. As Richard was then +but twenty-six, his appointment to his new editorial duties came as a +distinct honor. The two years that Richard had spent on The Evening +Sun had been probably the happiest he had ever known. He really loved +New York, and at this time Paris and London held no such place in his +affections as they did in later years. And indeed there was small +reason why these should not have been happy years for any young man. +At twenty-six Richard had already accomplished much, and his name had +become a familiar one not only to New Yorkers but throughout the +country. Youth and health he had, and many friends, and a talent that +promised to carry him far in the profession he loved. His new position +paid him a salary considerably larger than he had received heretofore, +and he now demanded and received much higher terms for his stories. +All of which was well for Richard because as his income grew so grew +his tastes. I have known few men who cared less for money than did my +brother, and I have known few who cared more for what it could buy for +his friends and for himself. Money to him, and, during his life he +made very large sums of it, he always chose to regard as income but +never capital. A bond or a share of stock meant to him what it would +bring that day on the Stock Exchange. The rainy day which is the +bugaboo for the most of us, never seemed to show on his horizon. For a +man whose livelihood depended on the lasting quality of his creative +faculties he had an infinite faith in the future, and indeed his own +experience seemed to show that he was justified in this belief. It +could not have been very long after his start as a fiction writer that +he received as high a price for his work as any of his contemporaries; +and just previous to his death, more than twenty years later, he signed +a contract to write six stories at a figure which, so far as I know, +was the highest ever offered an American author. In any case, money or +the lack of it certainly never caused Richard any worriment during the +early days of which I write. For what he made he worked extremely +hard, but the reputation and the spending of the money that this same +hard work brought him caused him infinite happiness. He enjoyed the +reputation he had won and the friends that such a reputation helped him +to make; he enjoyed entertaining and being entertained, and he enjoyed +pretty much all of the good things of life. And all of this he enjoyed +with the naive, almost boyish enthusiasm that only one could to whom it +had all been made possible at twenty-six. Of these happy days Booth +Tarkington wrote at the time of my brother's death: + +"To the college boy of the early nineties Richard Harding Davis was the +'beau ideal of jeunesse doree,' a sophisticated heart of gold. He was +of that college boy's own age, but already an editor--already +publishing books! His stalwart good looks were as familiar to us as +were those of our own football captain; we knew his face as we knew the +face of the President of the United States, but we infinitely preferred +Davis's. When the Waldorf was wondrously completed, and we cut an +exam. in Cuneiform Inscriptions for an excursion to see the world at +lunch in its new magnificence, and Richard Harding Davis came into the +Palm Room--then, oh, then, our day was radiant! That was the top of +our fortune; we could never have hoped for so much. Of all the great +people of every continent, this was the one we most desired to see." + +Richard's intimate friends of these days were Charles Dana Gibson, who +illustrated a number of my brother's stories, Robert Howard Russell, +Albert La Montagne, Helen Benedict, now Mrs. Thomas Hastings, Ethel +Barrymore, Maude Adams, E. H. Sothern, his brother, Sam, and Arthur +Brisbane. None of this little circle was married at the time, its +various members were seldom apart, and they extracted an enormous +amount of fun out of life. I had recently settled in New York, and we +had rooms at 10 East Twenty-eighth Street, where we lived very +comfortably for many years. Indeed Richard did not leave them until +his marriage in the summer of 1899. They were very pleasant, sunny +rooms, and in the sitting-room, which Richard had made quite +attractive, we gave many teas and supper-parties. But of all the happy +incidents I can recall at the Twenty-eighth Street house, the one I +remember most distinctly took place in the hallway the night that +Richard received the first statement and check for his first book of +short stories, and before the money had begun to come in as fast as it +did afterward. We were on our way to dinner at some modest resort when +we saw and at once recognized the long envelope on the mantel. Richard +guessed it would be for one hundred and ninety dollars, but with a +rather doubting heart I raised my guess to three hundred. And when, +with trembling fingers, Richard had finally torn open the envelope and +found a check for nine hundred and odd dollars, what a wild dance we +did about the hall-table, and what a dinner we had that night! Not at +the modest restaurant as originally intended, but at Delmonico's! It +was during these days that Seymour Hicks and his lovely wife Ellaline +Terriss first visited America, and they and Richard formed a mutual +attachment that lasted until his death. + +Richard had always taken an intense interest in the drama, and at the +time he was managing editor of Harper's Weekly had made his first +efforts as a playwright. Robert Hilliard did a one-act version of +Richard's short story, "Her First Appearance," which under the title of +"The Littlest Girl" he played in vaudeville for many years. E. H. +Sothern and Richard had many schemes for writing a play together, but +the only actual result they ever attained was a one-act version Sothern +did at the old Lyceum of my brother's story, "The Disreputable Mr. +Raegen." It was an extremely tense and absorbing drama, and Sothern +was very fine in the part of Raegen, but for the forty-five minutes the +playlet lasted Sothern had to hold the stage continuously alone, and as +it preceded a play of the regulation length, the effort proved too much +for the actor's strength, and after a few performances it was taken +off. Although it was several years after this that my brother's first +long play was produced he never lost interest in the craft of +playwriting, and only waited for the time and means to really devote +himself to it. + + + +BOSTON, January 22nd, 1891. + +DEAR FAMILY:-- + +This is just to say that I am alive and sleepy, and that my head is +still its normal size, although I have at last found one man in Boston +who has read one of my stories, and that was Barrymore from New York. +The Fairchilds' dinner was a tremendous affair, and I was conquered +absolutely by Mr. Howells, who went far, far out of his way to be as +kind and charming as an old man could be. Yesterday Mrs. Whitman gave +a tea in her studio. I thought she meant to have a half dozen young +people to drink a cup with her, and I sauntered in in the most +nonchalant manner to find that about everybody had been asked to meet +me. And everybody came, principally owing to the "Harding Davis" part +of the name for they all spoke of mother and so very dearly that it +made me pretty near weep. Everybody came from old Dr. Holmes who never +goes any place, to Mrs. "Jack" Gardner and all the debutantes. "I was +on in that scene." In the evening I went with the Fairchilds to Mrs. +Julia Ward Howe's to meet the S----s but made a point not to as he was +talking like a cad when I heard him and Mrs. Fairchild and I agreed to +be the only people in Boston who had not clasped his hand. There were +only a few people present and Mrs. Howe recited the Battle Hymn of the +Republic, which I thought very characteristic of the city. To-day I +posed again and Cumnock took me over Cambridge and into all of the +Clubs where I met some very nice boys and felt very old. Then we went +to a tea Cushing gave in his rooms and to night I go to Mrs. Deland's. +But the mornings with the Fairchilds are the best. DICK. + + +In the spring of 1891 my mother and sister, Nora, went abroad for the +summer, and the following note was written to Richard just before my +mother sailed: + +DEAR DICK: + +This is just to give my dearest love to you my darling. Some day at +sea when I cannot hear you nor see you, whenever it is that you get +it--night or morning---you may be sure that we are all loving and +thinking of you. + +Keep close to the Lord. Your Lord who never has refused to hear a +prayer of yours. + +Just think that I have kissed you a thousand times. + +MOTHER. + + + +FRANKLIN SQUARE, NEW YORK. + +June, 1891. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Your letters are a great delight to me but I think you are going +entirely too quickly. You do not feel it now but you are simply +hurrying through the courses of your long dinner so rapidly that when +dessert comes you will not be up to it. A day or two's rest and less +greed to see many things would be much more fun I should think, and you +will enjoy those days more to look back to when you wandered around +some little town by yourselves and made discoveries than those you +spent doing what you feel you ought to do. Excuse this lecture but I +know that when I got to Paris I wanted to do nothing but sit still and +read and let "sights" go-- You will soon learn not to duplicate and +that one cathedral will answer for a dozen. And I am disappointed in +your mad desire to get to Edinboro to get letters from home, as though +you couldn't get letters from me every day of your life and as if there +were not enough of you together to keep from getting homesick. I am +ashamed of you. But that is all the scolding I have to do for I do not +know what has given me more pleasure than your letters and Nora's +especially. They tell me the best news in the world and that is, that +you are all getting as much happiness out of it as I have prayed you +would. I may go over in September myself. But I would only go to +London. Now, then for Home news. I have sold the "Reporter Who Made +Himself King" to McClure's for $300. to be published in the syndicate +in August. I have finished "Her First Appearance" and Gibson is doing +the illustrations, three. I got $175. for it. + +I am now at work on a story about Arthur Cumnock, Harvard's football +captain who was the hero of Class Day. It will come out this week and +will match Lieut. Grant's chance. In July I begin a story called the +"Traveller's Tale" which will be used in the November Harper. That is +all _I_ am doing. + +So far the notices of "Gallegher" have been very good, I mean the +English ones. + +I went up to Class Day on Friday and spent the day with Miss Fairchild +and Miss Howells and with Mr. H. for chaperone. He is getting old and +says he never deserved the fuss they made over him. We had a pretty +perfect day although it threatened rain most of the time. We wandered +around from one spread to another meeting beautifully dressed girls +everywhere and "lions" and celebrities. Then the fight for the roses +around the tree was very interesting and picturesque and arena like and +the best of all was sitting in the broad window seats of the +dormitories with a Girl or two, generally "a" girl and listening to the +glee club sing and watching the lanterns and the crowds of people as +beautiful as Redfern could make them. + +Half of Seabright was burnt down last week but not my half, although +the fire destroyed all the stores and fishermen's houses and stopped +only one house away from Pannachi's, where I will put up. I am very +well and content and look forward to much pleasure this summer at +Seabright and much work. I find I have seldom been so happy as when +working hard and fast as I have been forced to do these last two weeks +and so I will keep it up. Not in such a way as to hurt me but just +enough to keep me happy. DICK. + + +NEW YORK, August 1891. From The Pall Mall Budget Gazette. + +"The Americans are saying, by the way, that they have discovered a +Rudyard Kipling of their own. This is Mr. Richard Harding Davis, a +volume of whose stories has been published this week by Mr. Osgood. +Mr. Davis is only twenty-six, was for sometime on the staff of the New +York Evening Sun. He is now the editor of Harper's Weekly." + +That is me. I have also a mother and sister who once went to London +and what do you think they first went to see, in London, mind you. +They got into a four wheeler and they said "cabby drive as fast as you +can," not knowing that four wheelers never go faster than a dead +march--" to-- "where do you think? St. Paul's, the Temple, the Abbey, +their lodgings, the Houses of Parliament--the Pavilion Music Hall--the +Tower--no to none of these--"To the Post Office." That is what my +mother and sister did! After this when they hint that they would like +to go again and say "these muffins are not English muffins" and "do you +remember the little Inn at Chester, ah, those were happy days," I will +say, "And do you remember the Post Office in Edinburgh and London. We +have none such in America." And as they only go abroad to get letters +they will hereafter go to Rittenhouse Square and I will write letters +to them from London. All this shows that a simple hurriedly written +letter from Richard Harding Davis is of more value than all the show +places of London. It makes me quite PROUD. And so does this: + +"'Gallegher' is as good as anything of Bret Harte's, although it is in +Mr. Davis's own vein, not in the borrowed vein of Bret Harte or anybody +else. 'The Cynical Miss Catherwaight' is very good, too, and 'Mr. +Raegen' is still better." + +But on the other hand, it makes me tired, and so does this: + +"'The Other Woman' is a story which offends good taste in more than one +way. It is a blunder to have written it, a greater blunder to have +published it, and a greater blunder STILL to have republished it." + +I suppose now that Dad has crossed with Prince George and Nora has seen +the Emperor, that you will be proud too. But you will be prouder of +your darling boy Charles, even though he does get wiped out at +Seabright next week and you will be even prouder when he writes great +stories for The Evening Sun. + +RICHARD. + + +The Players, + +16 Gramercy Park. + +24th, 1891. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I had a great day at the game and going there and coming back. I met a +great many old football men and almost all of them spoke of the "Out of +the Game" story. Cumnock, Camp, Poe, Terry and lots more whose names +mean nothing to you, so ignorant are you, were there and we had long +talks. I went to see Cleveland yesterday about a thing of which I have +thought much and talked less and that was going into politics in this +country. To say he discouraged me in so doing would be saying the rain +is wet. He seemed to think breaking stones as a means of getting fame +and fortune was quicker and more genteel. I also saw her and the BABY. +She explained why she had not written you and also incidentally why she +HAD written Childs. I do not know as what Cleveland said made much +impression upon me--although I found out what I could expect from +him--that is nothing here but apparently a place abroad if I wanted it. +But he thought Congress was perfectly feasible but the greatest folly +to go there. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FIRST TRAVEL ARTICLES + +For Richard these first years in New York were filled to overflowing +with many varied interests, quite enough to satisfy most young men of +twenty-seven. He had come and seen and to a degree, so far as the +limitation of his work would permit, had conquered New York, but +Richard thoroughly realized that New York was not only a very small +part of the world but of his own country, and that to write about his +own people and his own country and other people and other lands he must +start his travels at an early age, and go on travelling until the end. +And for the twenty-five years that followed that was what Richard did. +Even when he was not on his travels but working on a novel or a play at +Marion or later on at Mount Kisco, so far as it was possible he kept in +touch with events that were happening and the friends that he had made +all over the globe. He subscribed to most of the English and French +illustrated periodicals and to one London daily newspaper which every +day he read with the same interest that he read half a dozen New York +newspapers and the interest was always that of the trained editor at +work. Richard was not only physically restless but his mind +practically never relaxed. When others, tired after a hard day's work +or play, would devote the evening to cards or billiards or chatter, +Richard would write letters or pore over some strange foreign magazine, +consult maps, make notes, or read the stories of his contemporaries. +He practically read every American magazine from cover to +cover--advertisements were a delight to him, and the finding of a new +writer gave him as much pleasure as if he had been the fiction editor +who had accepted the first story by the embryo genius. The official +organs of our army and navy he found of particular interest. Not only +did he thus follow the movements of his friends in these branches of +the service but if he read of a case wherein he thought a sailor or a +soldier had been done an injustice he would promptly take the matter up +with the authorities at Washington, and the results he obtained were +often not only extremely gratifying to the wronged party but caused +Richard no end of pleasure. + +According to my brother's arrangement with the Harpers, he was to +devote a certain number of months of every year to the editing of The +Weekly, and the remainder to travel and the writing of his experiences +for Harper's Monthly. He started on the first of these trips in +January, 1892, and the result was a series of articles which afterward +appeared under the title of "The West from a Car Window." + + + +January, 1892. (Some place in Texas) + +I left St. Louis last night, Wednesday, and went to bed and slept for +twelve hours. To-day has been most trying and I shall be very glad to +get on dry land again. The snow has ceased although the papers say +this is the coldest snap they have had in San Antonio in ten years. It +might have waited a month for me I think. It has been a most dreary +trip from a car window point of view. Now that the snow has gone, +there is mud and ice and pine trees and colored people, but no cowboys +as yet. They talk nothing but Chili and war and they make such funny +mistakes. We have a G. A. R. excursion on the train, consisting of one +fat and prosperous G. A. R., the rest of the excursion having backed +out on account of Garza who the salient warriors imagine as a roaring +lion seeking whom he may devour. One old chap with white hair came on +board at a desolate station and asked for "the boys in blue" and was +very much disgusted when he found that "that grasshopper Garza" had +scared them away-- He had tramped five miles through the mud to greet a +possible comrade and was much chagrined. The excursion shook hands +with him and they took a drink together. The excursion tells me he is +a glass manufacturer, an owner of a slate quarry and the best embalmer +of bodies in the country. He says he can keep them four years and does +so "for specimens" those that are left on his hands and others he +purchases from the morgue. He has a son who is an actor and he fills +me full of the most harrowing tales of Indian warfare and the details +of the undertaking business. He is SO funny about the latter that I +weep with laughter and he cannot see why-- Joe Jefferson and I went to +a matinee on Wednesday and saw Robson in "She stoops to Conquer." The +house was absolutely packed and when Joe came in the box they yelled +and applauded and he nodded to them in the most fatherly, friendly way +as though to say "How are you, I don't just remember your name but I'm +glad to see you--" It was so much sweeter than if he had got up and +bowed as I would have done. + + +SAN ANTONIO + +I knew more about Texas than the Texans and when they told me I would +find summer here I smiled knowingly-- That is all the smiling I have +done---Did you ever see a stage set for a garden or wood scene by +daylight or Coney Island in March--that is what the glorious, beautiful +baking city of San Antonio is like. There is mud and mud and mud--in +cans, in the gardens of the Mexicans and snow around the palms and +palmettos-- Does the sun shine anywhere? Are people ever warm-- It is +raw, ugly and muddy, the Mexicans are merely dirty and not picturesque. +I am greatly disappointed. But I have set my teeth hard and I will go +on and see it through to the bitter end-- But I will not write anything +for publication until I can take a more cheerful view of it. I already +have reached the stage where I admit the laugh is on me-- But there is +still London to look forward to and this may get better when the sun +comes out---I went to the fort to-day and was most courteously +received. But they told me I should go on to Laredo, if I expected to +see any campaigning-- There is no fighting nor is any expected but they +say they will give me a horse and I can ride around the chaparral as +long as I want. I will write you from Laredo, where I go to-morrow, +Saturday-- + +DICK. + + +At Laredo Richard left the beaten track of the traveller, and with +Trooper Tyler, who acted as his guide, joined Captain Hardie in his +search for Garza. The famous revolutionist was supposed to be in +hiding this side of the border, and the Mexican Government had asked +the United States to find him and return him to the officials of his +own country. + + +In Camp, February 2nd. + +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +We have stopped by the side of a trail for a while and I will take the +chance it gives me to tell you what I have been doing. After Tyler and +I returned to camp, we had a day of rest before Captain Hardie arrived. +He is a young, red-moustached, pointed-bearded chap with light blue +eyes, rough with living in the West but most kind hearted and +enthusiastic. He treats me as though I were his son which is rather +absurd as he is only up to my shoulder. It is so hot I cannot make the +words go straight and you must not mind if I wander. We are hugging a +fence for all the shade there is and the horses and men have all +crawled to the dark side of it and are sleeping or swearing at the sun. +It is about two o'clock and we have been riding since half-past seven. +I have had a first rate time but I do not see that there has been much +in it to interest any one but myself and where Harper Brothers or the +"gentle reader" comes in, I am afraid I cannot see, and if I cannot see +it I fear he will be in a bad way. It has pleased and interested me to +see how I could get along under difficult circumstances and with so +much discomfort but as I say I was not sent out here to improve my +temper or my health or to make me more content with my good things in +the East. If we could have a fight or something that would excuse and +make a climax for all this marching and reconnoitering and discomfort +the story would have a suitable finale and a raison d'etre. However, I +may get something out of it if only to abuse the Government for their +stupidity in chasing a jack rabbit with a brass band or by praising the +men for doing their duty when they know there is no duty to be done. +This country is more like the ocean than anything else and drives one +crazy with its monotony and desolation. And to think we went to war +with Mexico for it-- To-day is my tenth day with the troops in the camp +and in the field and I will leave them as soon as this scout is over +which will be in three days at the most. Then I will go to Corpus +Christi and from there to the ranches but I will wait until I get +baths, hair cuts and a dinner and cool things to drink-- One thing has +pleased me very much and that is that I, with Tyler and the Mexican +Scout made the second best riding record of the troop since they have +been in the field this winter. The others rode 115 miles in 32 hours, +four of them under the first Sergeant, after revolutionists, and we +made 110 miles in 33 hours. The rest of the detachment made 90 miles +and our having the extra thirty to our credit was an accident. On the +31st Hardie sent out the scout and two troopers, of which Tyler was +one, to get a trail and as I had been resting and loafing for three +days, I went out with them. We left at eight after breakfast and +returned at seven, having made thirty miles. When we got in we found +that a detachment was going out on information sent in while we were +out. Tyler was in it and so we got fresh horses and put out at nine +o'clock by moonlight. That was to keep the people in the ranch from +knowing we were going out. We rode until half-past three in the +morning and then camped at the side of the road until half--past six, +when we rode on until five in the afternoon. The men who were watching +to see me give up grew more and more interested as the miles rolled out +and the First Sergeant was very fearful for his record for which he has +been recommended for the certificate of merit. The Captain was very +much pleased and all the men came and spoke to me. It must have been a +good ride for Tyler who is a fifth year man was so tired that he paid a +man to do his sentry duty. We slept at Captain Hunter's camp that last +night and we both came on this morning, riding thirty miles up to two +o'clock to-day. From here we go on into the brush again. I am very +proud of that riding record and of my beard which is fine. I will +finish this when we get near a post-office. + +DICK. + + +February 4th-- We rode forty miles through the brush but saw nothing of +Garza, who was supposed to be in it. But we captured 3 revolutionists, +one of whom ran away but the scout got him. Hardie, Tyler, who is his +orderly, and the scout and I took them in because the rest of the +column was lagging in the rear and the Lieutenant got bally hooly for +it. Tyler disarmed one and I took away the other chaps things. Then +we took a fourth in and let them all go for want of evidence and after +some of the ranch men had identified them. + + +CORPUS CHRISTI, February 6. + +We ended our scout yesterday, and camped at Captain Hunter's last +night-- Mother can now rest her soul in peace as I have done with +scoutings and have replaced the free and easy belt and revolver for the +black silk suspenders and the fire badge of civilization. I am still +covered with 11 days dirt but will get lots of good things to eat and +drink and smoke at Corpus Christi to night, where I will stay for two +days. I am writing this on the car and a ranger is shooting splinters +out of the telegraph poles from the window in front and has a New York +drummer in a state of absolute nervous prostration. I met the Rangers +last night as we came into camp and find them quite the most +interesting things yet. They are just what I expected to find here and +have not disappointed me. Everything else is either what we know it to +be and know all about or else is disappointingly commonplace. I mean +we know certain things are picturesque and I find them so but they have +been "done" to death and new material seems so scarce. I am sometimes +very fearful of the success of the letters-- However, the Rangers I +simply loved. They were gentle voiced and did not swear as the +soldiers do and some of them were as handsome men as I ever saw and SO +BIG. And such children. They showed me all their tricks at the +request of the Adjutant General, who looks upon them as his special +property. They shot four shots into a tree with a revolver, going at +full gallop, hit a mark with both hands at once, shot with the pistol +upside down and the Captain put eight shots into a board with a +Winchester, while I was putting two into the field around it. We got +along very well indeed and they were quite keen for me to go back and +chase Garza. They are sure they have him now. I gave the Captain +permission to put four shots into my white helmet. He only put two and +the rest of the company thinking their reputations were at stake +whipped out their guns and snatched up their rifles and blazed away +until they danced the hat all over the ranch. Then remorse overcame +them and they proposed taking up a collection to get me a sombrero, +which I stopped. So Nora's hat is gone but I am going to get another +and save myself from sunstroke again. The last part of the ride was +enlivened by the presence of three Mexican murderers handcuffed and +chained with iron bands around the neck, that is Texas civilization +isn't it-- + +I have had my dinner and a fine dinner it was with fresh fish and duck +and oysters and segars which I have not had for a week. I am finishing +this at Constantine's and will be here for two days to write things and +will then go on to King's ranch and from there to San Antonio, where I +will also rest a week. I will just about get through my schedule in +the ten weeks at this rate. I had a good time in the bush and am +enjoying it very much though it is lonely now and then-- Still, it is +very interesting and if the stories amount to anything I will be +pleased but I am constantly wondering how on earth Chas stood it as he +did. He is a hero to me for I have some hope of getting back and he +had not-- He is a sport-- How I will sleep to night--a real bed and +sheets and pajamas, after the ground and the same clothes for eleven +days. + +of love. + +DICK. + + +While Richard was travelling in the West, his second volume of short +stories, "Van Bibber and Others," was published. The volume was +dedicated to my father, who wrote Richard the following letter: + + +PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1892. + +MY DEAR OWN DICK: + +I have not been the complete letter writer I should have been, as I +told you on Saturday, but I know you will understand. Your two good +letters came this evening, one to Mamma and one to Nora. They were a +good deal to us all, most, of course, to your dear mother and sister, +who have a fond, foolish fancy or love for you--strange--isn't it? +Yes, dear boy, I liked the new story very, very much. It was in your +best book and in fine spirit, and I liked, too, the dedication of the +book--its meaning and its manner. I am glad to be associated with my +dear boy and with his work even in that brief way. You may not yet +thought about it after this fashion, but I have thought a good deal +about it. Reports come to me of you from many sources, and they are +all good, and they all reflect honor upon me-- Upon me as I'm getting +ready to salute the world, as our French friends say. It is very +pleasant to me as I think it over to feel and to know that my boy has +honored my name, that he has done something good and useful in the +world and for the world. I have something more than pride in you. I +am grateful to you. If this is a little prosie, dear old fellow, +forgive it. It is late at night and I am a little tired, and being +tired stupid. You saw The Atlantic notice of your work. I wish you +could have heard Nora on the author of it, who would not have been +happy in his mind if he had unhappily heard her. She went for that +Heathen Chinee like a wild cat. No disrespect to her, but, all the +same, like a wild cat. To me it was interesting. I did not agree with +it, but here and there I saw the flash of truth even in the adverse +praise. I should have had more respect for the author's opinion if he +had liked that vital speck, Raegen. If he could not see the divine, +human spark in that--a flash from Calvary, what is the use of +considering him? My greatest pride in you, that which has added some +sweetness and joy to my life, has been the recognition that something +of the divine element was given you, and that your voice rang out sweet +and pure at a time when other voices were sounding the fascinations of +impurity. That, like Christ, you taught humanity. Don't be afraid of +being thought "fresh," fear to be thought "knowing." Life isn't much +worth at best,--it is worth nothing at all unless some good be done in +it---the more, the better. Don't make it too serious either. Enjoy it +as you go, but after a fashion that will bring no reproach to your +manhood. Don't be afraid to preach the truth and above all the +religion of humanity. Good night, dear boy. I'm a little tired to +night. With great love, + +DAD. + + +ANADARKO--February 26th, 1892. + +DEAR FAMILY:-- + +I could not write you before as I have been traveling from pillars to +posts, (a joke), in a stage, night and day. I went to Fort Reno from +Oklahoma City where they drove me crazy almost with town lots and lot +sites and homestead holdings. It was all raw and mean, and greedy for +money and a man is much better off in every way in a tenement on Second +Avenue than the "owner of his own home" in one of these mushroom +cities-- So I think. I went to Fort Reno by stage and it seemed to me +that I was really in the West for the first time-- The rest has been as +much like the oil towns around Pittsburgh as anything else. But here +there are rolling prairie lands with millions of prairie dogs and deep +canons and bluffs of red clay that stand out as clear as a razor +hollowed and carved away by the water long ago. And the grass is as +high as a stirrup and the trees very plentiful after the plains of +Texas. The men at Fort Reno were the best I have met, indeed I am just +a little tired of trying to talk of things of interest to the Second +Lieutenant's intellect. But I had to leave there because I had missed +the beef issue and had to see it and as it was due here I pushed on. +This post is very beautiful but the men are very young and civil +appointments mainly, which means that they have not been to West Point +but had fathers and have friends with influence and they are fresh. +But the scenery around the post is delightfully wild and big and there +is an Indian camp at the foot of the hill on which the fort is stuck. +Mother, instead of going to Europe, should come here and see her +Indians. Only if she did she would bring a dozen or more of the +children back with her. They are the brightest spot in my trip and I +spend the mornings and afternoons trying to get them to play with me. +They are very shy and pretty and beautifully barbaric and wear the most +gorgeous trappings. The women, the older ones, are the ugliest women I +ever saw. But the men are fine. I never saw such color as they give +to the landscape and one always thinks they have dressed up just to +please you. I have spent most of my time and money in buying things +from them but they are very dear because the Indians take long to make +them and do not like to part with them. I have had rough times lately +but I think I would be content to remain in the west six months if I +could. It is the necessity of leaving places I like and pushing on to +places I don't, I dislike. Reno was fine with a band and lots of fine +fellows. This post is not so queer but they are so young-- It makes a +great bit of color though with the yellow capes of the cavalry and the +soldiers wig--waging red and white flags at other soldiers eight miles +away on other mountains and the Indians in yellow buckskin and blankets +and their faces painted too. I went to the beef issue to-day--it was +not a pretty sight and most barbarous and cruel. I also went to a +council at which the chiefs were protesting against the cutting down of +their rations which is Commissioner Morgan's doing and which it is +expected will lead to war-- We went in out of curiosity and without +knowing it was a Council and were very much ashamed when one of the +Chiefs rose and said he was glad to see the officers present as they +were the best friends the Indians had and the only men they could +respect in times of peace as a friend, or in times of war as an enemy. +At which we took off our hats and sat it through. Mother's blood would +rise if she could hear the stories they tell, and they are so dignified +and polite. They have an Indian troop here, like the one described in +The Weekly, which you should read and the Captain told them I was a +great Chief from the East, whereat all the soldiers who were of noble +lineage claimed their privilege of shaking hands with me, which had a +demoralizing effect upon the formation and the white privates were +either convulsed with mirth or red with indignation. But you cannot +treat them like white men who do not know their ancestors-- Dad's +letter was the best I have ever got from him and he had always better +write when he is tired. I will always keep it. + +DICK. + + +DENVER--March 7, 1892. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I arrived in Denver Friday night and realized that I was in a city +again where the more you order people about the more they do for you, +being civilized and so understanding that you mean to tip them. I +found my first letter on the newsstand and was very much pleased with +it, and with the way they put it out. The proof was perfect and if +there had been more pictures I would have been entirely satisfied, as +it was I was very much pleased. My baggage had not come, so covered +with mud and dust and straw from the stages and generally disreputable +I went to see a burlesque, and said "Front row, end seat," just as +naturally as though I was in evening dress and high hat--and then I +sank into a beautiful deep velvet chair and saw Amazon marches and +ladies in tights and heard the old old jokes and the old old songs we +know so well and sing so badly. The next morning I went for my mail +and the entire post office came out to see me get it. It took me until +seven in the evening to finish it, and I do not know that it will ever +be answered. The best of it was that you were all pleased with my +letters. That put my mind at rest. Then there was news of deaths and +marriages and engagements and the same people doing the same things +they did when I went away. I did not intend to present any letters as +I was going away that night to Creede, but I found I could not get any +money unless some one identified me so I presented one to a Mr. Jerome +who all the bankers said they would be only too happy to oblige. After +one has been variously taken for a drummer, photographer and has been +offered so much a line to "write up" booming towns, it is a relief to +get back to a place where people know you.--I told Mr. Jerome I had a +letter of introduction and that I was Mr. Davis and he shook hands and +then looked at the letter and said "Good Heavens are you that Mr. +Davis" and then rushed off and brought back the entire establishment +brokers, bankers and mine owners and they all sat around and told me +funny stories and planned more things for me to do and eat than I could +dispose of in a month. + +I am now en route to Creede. Creede when you first see it in print +looks like creede but after you have been in Denver or Colorado even +for one day it reads like C R E E D E. All the men on this car think +they are going to make their fortunes, and toward that end they have on +new boots and flannel shirts, and some of them seeing my beautiful +clothing and careful array came over and confided to me that they were +really not so tough as they looked and had never worn a flannel shirt +before. This car is typical of what they told me I would find at +Creede. There are rich mine owners who are pointed out by the +conductor as the fifth part owner of the "Pot Luck" mine, and dudes in +astrakan fur coats over top boots and new flannel shirts, and hardened +old timers with their bedding and tin pans, who have prospected all +over the state and women who are smoking and drinking. + +I feel awfully selfish whenever I look out of the car window. +Switzerland which I have never seen is a spot on the map compared to +this. The mountains go up with snow on one side and black rows of +trees and rocks on the other, and the clouds seem packed down between +them. The sun on the snow and the peaks peering above the clouds is +all new to me and so very beautiful that I would like to buy a mountain +and call it after my best girl. I will finish this when I get to +Creede. I expect to make my fortune there. DICK. + + +CREEDE, March 7. + +A young man in a sweater and top boots met me at the depot and said +that I was Mr. Davis and that he was a young man whose life I had +written in "There was 90 and 9." He was from Buffalo and was editing a +paper in Creede. He said I was to stop with him-- Creede is built of +new pine boards and lies between two immense mountains covered with +pines and snow. The town is built in the gulley and when the spring +freshets come will be a second Johnstown. Faber, the young man, took +me to the Grub State Cabin where I found two most amusing dudes and +thoroughbred sports from Boston, Harvard men living in a cabin ten by +eight with four bunks and a stove, two banjos and H O P E. They own +numerous silver mines, lots, and shares, but I do not believe they have +five dollars in cash amongst them. They have a large picture of myself +for one of the ORNAMENTS and are great good fellows. We sat up in our +bunks until two this morning talking and are planning to go to Africa +and Mexico and Asia Minor together.--Lots of love. + +DICK. + + +Very happy indeed to be back in his beloved town, Richard returned to +New York late in March, 1892, and resumed his editorial duties. But on +this occasion his stay was of particularly short duration, and in May, +he started for his long-wished-for visit to London. The season there +was not yet in full swing, and after spending a few days in town, +journeyed to Oxford, where he settled down to amuse himself and collect +material for his first articles on English life as he found it. In +writing of this visit to Oxford, H. J. Whigham, one of Richard's +oldest friends, and who afterward served with him in several campaigns, +said: + +"When we first met Richard Harding Davis he was living, to all +practical purposes, the life of an undergraduate at Balliol College, +Oxford. Anyone at all conversant with the customs of universities, +especially with the idiosyncrasies of Oxford, knows that for a person +who is not an undergraduate to share the life of undergraduates on +equal terms, to take part in their adventures, to be admitted to their +confidence is more difficult than it is for the camel to pass through +the eye of a needle or for the rich man to enter heaven. It was +characteristic of Davis that although he was a few years older than the +average university "man" and came from a strange country and, moreover, +had no official reason for being at Oxford at all, he was accepted as +one of themselves by the Balliol undergraduates, in fact, lived in +Balliol for at least a college term, and happening to fall in with a +somewhat enterprising generation of Balliol men he took the lead in +several escapades which have been written into Oxford history. There +is in the makeup of the best type of college undergraduate a wonderful +spirit of adventure, an unprejudiced view of life, an almost Quixotic +feeling for romance, a disdain of sordid or materialistic motives, +which together make the years spent at a great university the most +golden of the average man's career. These characteristics Davis was +fortunate enough to retain through all the years of his life. The same +spirit that took him out with a band of Oxford youths to break down an +iron barrier set by an insolent landowner across the navigable waters +of Shakespeare's Avon carried him, in after years, to the battlefields +where Greece fought against the yoke of Turkey, to the insurrecto camps +of Cuba, to the dark horrors of the Congo, to Manchuria, where gallant +Japan beat back the overwhelming power of Russia, to Belgium, where he +saw the legions of Germany trampling over the prostrate bodies of a +small people. Romance was never dead while Davis was alive." + +That Richard lost no time in making friends at Oxford as, indeed, he +never failed to do wherever he went, the following letters to his +mother would seem to show: + + +OXFORD--May, 1892. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I came down here on Saturday morning with the Peels, who gave an +enormous boating party and luncheon on a tiny little island. The day +was beautiful with a warm brilliant sun, and the river was just as +narrow and pretty as the head of the Squan river, and with old walls +and college buildings added. We had the prettiest Mrs. Peel in our +boat and Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain, who was Miss Endicott and who is very +sweet and pretty. We raced the other punts and rowboats and soon, +after much splashing and exertion, reached the head of the river. Then +we went to, tea in New College and to see the sights of the different +colleges now on the Thames. The barges of the colleges, painted +different colors and gilded like circus band-wagons and decorated with +coats of arms and flying great flags, lined the one shore for a quarter +of a mile and were covered by girls in pretty frocks and under-grads in +blazers. Then the boats came into sight one after another with the men +running alongside on the towpath. This was one of the most remarkable +sights of the country so far. There were over six hundred men coming +six abreast, falling and stumbling and pushing, shouting and firing +pistols. It sounded like a cavalry charge and the line seemed endless. +The whole thing was most theatrical and effective. Then we went to the +annual dinner of the Palmerston Club, where I made a speech which was, +as there is no one else to tell you, well received, "being frequently +interrupted with applause," from both the diners and the ladies in the +gallery. It was about Free Trade and the way America was +misrepresented in the English papers, and composed of funny stories +which had nothing to do with the speech. I did not know I was going to +speak until I got there, and considering the fact, as Wilson says, that +your uncle was playing on a strange table with a crooked cue he did +very well. The next morning we breakfasted with the Bursar of Trinity +and had luncheon with the Viscount St. Cyres to meet Lord and Lady +Coleridge. St. Cyres is very shy and well-bred, and we would have had +a good time had not the M. P.'s present been filled with awe of the +Lord Chief Justice and failed to draw him out. As it was he told some +very funny stories; then we went to tea with Hubert Howard, in whose +rooms I live and am now writing, and met some stupid English women and +shy girls. Then we dined with the dons at New College, so--called +because it is eight hundred years old. We sat at a high table in a big +hall hung with pictures and lit by candles. The under-grads sat +beneath in gowns and rattled pewter mugs. We all wore evening dress +and those that had them red and white fur collars. After dinner we +left the room according to some process of selection, carrying our +napkins with us. We entered a room called the Commons, where we drank +wines and ate nuts and raisins. It was all very solemn and dull and +very dignified. Outside it was quite light although nine o'clock. +Then we marched to another room where there were cigars and brandy and +soda, but Arthur Pollen and I had to go and take coffee with the Master +of Balliol, the only individual of whom Pollen stands in the least awe. +He was a dear old man who said, "O yes, you're from India," and on my +saying "No, from America"; he said, "O yes, it's the other one." I +found the other one was an Indian princess in a cashmere cloak and +diamonds, who looked so proud and lovely and beautiful that I wanted to +take her out to one of the seats in the quadrangle and let her weep on +my shoulder. How she lives among these cold people I cannot +understand. We were all to go to a concert in the chapel, and half of +the party started off, but the Master's wife said, "Oh, I am sure the +Master expects them to wait for him in the hall. It is always done." +At which all the women made fluttering remarks of sympathy and the men +raced off to bring the others back. Only the Indian girl and I +remained undisturbed and puzzled. The party came back, but the Master +saw them and said, "Well, it does not matter, but it is generally +done." At which we all felt guilty. When we got to the chapel +everybody stood up until the Master's party sat down, but as it was +broken in the middle of the procession, they sat down, and then, seeing +we had not all passed, got up again, so that I felt like saying, "As +you were, men," as they do out West in the barracks. Then Lord +Coleridge in taking off his overcoat took off his undercoat, too, and +stood unconscious of the fact before the whole of Oxford. The faces of +the audience which packed the place were something wonderful to see; +their desire to laugh at a tall, red-faced man who looks like a bucolic +Bill Nye struggling into his coat, and then horror at seeing the Chief +Justice in his shirt-sleeves, was a terrible effort--and no one would +help him, on the principle, I suppose, that the Queen of Spain has no +legs. He would have been struggling yet if I had not, after watching +him and Lady Coleridge struggling with him, for a full minute, taken +his coat and firmly pulled the old gentleman into it, at which he +turned his head and winked. + +I will go back to town by the first to see the Derby and will get into +lodgings there. I AM HAVING A VERY GOOD TIME AND AM VERY WELL. The +place is as beautiful as one expects and yet all the time startling one +with its beauty. + +DICK. + + +When the season at Oxford was over Richard returned to London and took +a big sunny suite of rooms in the Albany. Here he settled down to +learn all he could of London, its ways and its people. In New York he +had already met a number of English men and women distinguished in +various walks of life, and with these as a nucleus he soon extended his +circle of friends until it became as large as it was varied. In his +youth, and indeed throughout his life, Richard had the greatest +affection for England and the English. No truer American ever lived, +but he thought the United States and Great Britain were bound by ties +that must endure always. He admired British habits, their +cosmopolitanism and the very simplicity of their mode of living. He +loved their country life, and the swirl of London never failed to +thrill him. During the last half of his life Richard had perhaps as +many intimate friends in London as in New York. His fresh point of +view, his very eagerness to understand theirs, made them welcome him +more as one of their own people than as a stranger. + + +LONDON, June 3, 1892. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I went out to the Derby on Wednesday and think it is the most +interesting thing I ever saw over here. It is SO like these people +never to have seen it. It seems to be chiefly composed of +costermongers and Americans. I got a box-seat on a public coach and +went out at ten. We rode for three hours in a procession of donkey +shays, omnibuses, coaches, carriages, vans, advertising wagons; every +sort of conveyance stretching for sixteen miles, and with people lining +the sides to look on. I spent my time when I got there wandering +around over the grounds, which were like Barnum's circus multiplied by +thousands. It was a beautiful day and quite the most remarkable sight +of my life. Much more wonderful than Johnstown, so you see it must +have impressed me. We were five hours getting back, the people singing +all the way and pelting one another and saying funny impudent things. + +My rooms are something gorgeous. They are on the first floor, looking +into Piccadilly from a court, and they are filled with Hogarth's +prints, old silver, blue and white china, Zulu weapons and fur rugs, +and easy chairs of India silk. You never saw such rooms! And a very +good servant, who cooks and valets me and runs errands and takes such +good care of me that last night Cust and Balfour called at one to get +some supper and he would not let them in. Think of having the Leader +of the House of Commons come to ask you for food and having him sent +away. Burdett-Coutts heard of my being here in the papers and wrote me +to dine with him tonight. I lunched with the Tennants today; no +relation to Mrs. Stanley, and it was informal and funny rather. The +Earl of Spender was there and Lord Pembroke and a lot of women. They +got up and walked about and changed places and seemed to know one +another better than we do at home. I think I will go down to Oxford +for Whitsuntide, which is a heathen institution here which sends +everyone away just as I want to meet them. + +I haven't written anything yet. I find it hard to do so. I think I +would rather wait until I get home for the most of it. Chas. will be +here in less than a week now and we will have a good time. I have +planned it out for days. He must go to Oxford and meet those boys, and +then, if he wishes, on to Eastnor, which I learn since my return is one +of the show places of England. I am enjoying myself, it is needless to +say, very much, and am well and happy. + +DICK. + + +During these first days in England Richard spent much of his time at +Eastnor, Lady Brownlow's place in Lincolnshire, and one of the most +beautiful estates in England. Harry Cust, to whom my brother +frequently refers in his letters, was the nephew of Lady Brownlow, and +a great friend of Richard's. At that time Cust was the Conservative +nominee for Parliament from Lincolnshire, and Richard took a most +active part in the campaign. Happily, we were both at Lady Brownlow's +during its last few tense days, as well as on the day the votes were +counted, and Cust was elected by a narrow margin. Of our thrilling +adventures Richard afterward wrote at great length in "Our English +Cousins." + + +LONDON, July 6, 1892. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +On the Fourth of July, Lady Brownlow sent into town and had a big +American flag brought out and placed over the house, which was a great +compliment, as it was seen and commented on for miles around. Cushing +of Boston, a very nice chap and awfully handsome, is there, too. The +same morning I went out to photograph the soldiers, and Lord William +Frederick, who is their colonel, charged them after me whenever I +appeared. It seems he has a sense of humor and liked the idea of +making an American run on the Fourth of July from Red-coats. I doubt +if the five hundred men who were not on horseback thought it as funny. +They chased me till I thought I would die. The Conservative member for +the county got in last night and we rejoiced greatly, as the moral +effect will help Harry Cust greatly. His election takes place next +Monday. The men went in to hear the vote declared after dinner, and so +did two of the girls, who got Lady Brownlow's consent at dinner, and +then dashed off to change their gowns before she could change her mind. +As we were intent on seeing the fun and didn't want them, we took them +just where we would have gone anyway, which was where the fighting was. +And they showed real sporting blood and saw the other real sort. There +were three of us to each girl, and it was most exciting, with stones +flying and windows crashing and cheers and groans. A political meeting +or election at home is an afternoon tea to the English ones. When we +came back the soldiers were leaving the Park to stop the row, and as we +flew past, the tenants ran to the gate and cheered for the Tory victory +in "good old lopes." When we got to the house the servants ran +cheering all over the shop and rang the alarm bell and built fires, and +we had a supper at one-fifteen. What they will do on the night of +Cust's election, I cannot imagine-- burn the house down probably. +Cushing and I enjoy it immensely. We know them well enough now to be +as funny as we like without having them stare. They are nice when you +know them, but you've GOT to know them first. I had a great dinner at +Farrar's. All the ecclesiastical lights of England in knee-breeches +were there, and the American Minister and Phillips Brooks. It was +quite novel and fun. Lots of love. I have all the money I want. + +DICK. + + +With Cust properly elected, Richard and I returned to the Albany and +settled down to enjoy London from many angles. Although my brother had +been there but a few weeks, his acquaintances among the statesmen, +artists, social celebrities, and the prominent actors of the day was +quite as extraordinary as his geographical and historical knowledge of +the city. We gave many jolly parties, and on account of Richard's +quickly acquired popularity were constantly being invited to dinners, +dances, and less formal but most amusing Bohemian supper-parties. +During these days there was little opportunity for my brother to do +much writing, but he was very busy making mental notes not only for his +coming book on the English people, but for a number of short stories +which he wrote afterward in less strenuous times. We returned to New +York in August, and Richard went to Marion to rest from his social +activities, and to work on his English articles. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARIS + +It was, I think, the year previous to this that my mother and father +had deserted Point Pleasant as a place to spend their summer vacations +in favor of Marion, on Cape Cod, and Richard and I, as a matter of +course, followed them there. At that time Marion was a simple little +fishing village where a few very charming people came every summer and +where the fishing was of the best. In all ways the life was most +primitive, and happily continued so for many years. In, these early +days Grover Cleveland and his bride had a cottage there, and he and +Joseph Jefferson, who lived at Buzzard's Bay, and my father went on +daily fishing excursions. Richard Watson Gilder was one of the +earliest settlers of the summer colony, and many distinguished members +of the literary and kindred professions came there to visit him. It +was a rather drowsy life for those who didn't fish--a great deal of +sitting about on one's neighbor's porch and discussion of the latest +novel or the newest art, or of one's soul, and speculating as to what +would probably become of it. From the first Richard formed a great +affection for the place, and after his marriage adopted it as his +winter as well as his summer home. As a workshop he had two rooms in +one of the natives' cottages, and two more charming rooms it would be +hard to imagine. The little shingled cottage was literally covered +with honeysuckle, and inside there were the old wall-papers, the open +hearths, the mahogany furniture, and the many charming things that had +been there for generations, and all of which helped to contribute to +the quaint peaceful atmosphere of the place. Dana Gibson had a cottage +just across the road, and around the corner Gouverneur Morris lived +with his family. At this time neither of these friends of Richard, nor +Richard himself, allied themselves very closely to the literary colony +and its high thoughts, but devoted most of their time to sailing about +Sippican Harbor, playing tennis and contributing an occasional short +story or an illustration to a popular magazine. But after the colony +had taken flight, Richard often remained long into the fall, doing +really serious work and a great deal of it. At such times he had to +depend on a few friends who came to visit him, but principally on the +natives to many of whom he was greatly attached. It was during these +days that he first met his future wife, Cecil Clark, whose father, John +M. Clark of Chicago, was one of the earliest of the summer colonists to +build his own home at Marion. A most charming and hospitable home it +was, and it was in this same house where we had all spent so many happy +hours that Richard was married and spent his honeymoon, and for several +years made his permanent home. Of the life of Marion during this later +period, he became an integral part, and performed his duties as one of +its leading citizens with much credit to the town and its people. For +Marion Richard always retained a great affection, for there he had +played and worked many of his best years. He had learned to love +everything of which the quaint old town was possessed, animate and +inanimate, and had I needed any further proof of how deeply the good +people of Marion loved Richard, the letters I received from many of +them at the time of his death would show. + +In the early fall of 1892 Richard returned to his editorial work on +Harper's Weekly, and one of the first assignments he gave was to +despatch himself to Chicago to report the Dedication Exercises of the +World's Fair. That the trip at least started out little to my +brother's liking the following seems to show. However, Richard's moods +frequently changed with the hour, and it is more than possible that +before the letter was sent he was enjoying himself hugely and regarding +Chicago with his usual kindly eyes. + + +Chicago Club, + +October 2, 1892. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +Though lost to sight I am still thinking of you sadly. It seems that I +took a coupe after leaving you and after living in it for a few years I +grew tired and got out on the prairie and walked along drinking in the +pure air from the lakes and reading Liebig's and Cooper's advs. After +a brisk ten mile walk I reentered my coupe and we in time drew up +before a large hotel inhabited by a clerk and a regular boarder. I am +on the seventh floor without a bathroom or electric button--I merely +made remarks and then returned to town in a railroad train which runs +conveniently near. After gaining civilization I made my way through +several parades or it may have been the same one to the reviewing +stand. My progress was marked by mocking remarks by the police who +asked of each other to get on to my coat and on several occasions I was +mistaken by a crowd of some thousand people for the P----e of W----s, +and tumultuously cheered. At last I found an inspector of police on +horseback, who agreed to get me to the stand if it took a leg. He +accordingly charged about 300 women and clubbed eight men--I counted +them--and finally got me in. He was very drunk but he was very good to +me. + + + +Once back from Chicago Richard divided his time between his desk at +Franklin Square, his rooms on Twenty-eighth Street, and in quickly +picking up the friendships and the social activities his trip to +England had temporarily broken off. Much as he now loved London, he +was still an enthusiastic New Yorker, and the amount of work and play +he accomplished was quite extraordinary. Indeed it is difficult to +understand where he found the time to do so much. In addition to his +work on Harper's he wrote many short stories and special articles, not +only because he loved the mere writing of them, but because he had come +to so greatly enjoy the things he could buy with the money his labors +now brought him. His pleasures had increased as steadily as the prices +he could now command for his stories, and in looking back on those days +it is rather remarkable when one considers his age, the temptations +that surrounded him, and his extraordinary capacity for enjoyment, that +he never seems to have forgotten the balance between work and play, and +stuck to both with an unswerving and unceasing enthusiasm. However, +after four months of New York, he decided it was high time for him to +be off again, and he arranged with the Harpers to spend the late winter +and the spring in collecting material for the two sets of articles +which afterward appeared in book form under the titles of "The Rulers +of the Mediterranean" and "About Paris." He set sail for Gibraltar the +early part of February, 1893, and the following letters describe his +leisurely progress about the Mediterranean ports. + + +NEW YORK, February 3, 1893. + +DEAREST MOTHER: + +This is a little present for you and a goodby. Your packing-case is +what I need and what I shall want, and I love it because you made it. +But as YOU say, we understand and do not have to write love letters; +you have given me all that is worth while in me, and I love you so that +I look forward already over miles and miles and days and months, and +just see us sitting together at Marion and telling each other how good +it is to be together again and holding each other's hands. I don't +believe you really know how HAPPY I am in loving you, dear, and in +having you say nice things about me. God bless you, dearest, and may I +never do anything to make you feel less proud of your wicked son. + +DICK. + + +Off Gibraltar, + February 12, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today is Sunday. We arrive at Gibraltar at five tomorrow morning and +the boat lies there until nine o'clock. Unless war and pestilence have +broken out in other places, I shall go over to Tangiers in a day or +two, and from there continue on my journey as mapped out when I left. +I have had a most delightful trip and the most enjoyable I have ever +taken by sea. These small boats are as different from the big +twin-screw steamers as a flat from a Broadway hotel. + +Everyone gets to know everything about everyone else, and it has been +more like a yacht than a passenger steamer. When I first came on board +I thought I would not find in any new old country I was about to visit +anything more foreign than the people, and I was right, but they are +most amusing and I have learned a great deal. They are different from +any people I know, and are the Americans we were talking about. The +ones of whom I used to read in The Atlantic and Blackwood's, as +traveling always and sinking out of sight whenever they reached home. +They, with the exception of a Boston couple, know none of my friends or +my haunts, and I have learned a great deal in meeting them. It has +been most BROADENING and the change has been SUCH a rest. I had no +idea of how tired I was of talking about the theater of Arts and +Letters and Miss Whitney's debut and my Soul. These people are simple +and unimaginative and bourgeois to a degree and as kind-hearted and +apparent as animal alphabets. I do not think I have had such a +complete change or rest in years, and I am sure I have not laughed so +much for as long. Of course, the idea of a six months' holiday is +enough to make anyone laugh at anything, but I find that besides that I +was a good deal harassed and run down, and I am glad to cut off from +everything and start fresh. I feel miserably selfish about it all the +time. + +These Germans run everything as though you were the owner of the line. +The discipline is like that of the German Army or of a man-of-war, +everything moves by the stroke of a bell, and they have had dances and +speeches and concerts and religious services and lectures every other +minute. Into all of these I have gone with much enthusiasm. We have +at the captain's table Dr. Field, the editor of The Evangelist, John +Russell, a Boston Democrat, who was in Congress and who has been in +public life for over forty years. A Tammany sachem, who looks like and +worships Tweed, and who says what I never heard an American off the +stage say: "That's me. That's what I do," he says. "When I have +insomnia, I don't believe in your sleeping draughts. I get up and go +round to Jake Stewart's on Fourteenth Street and eat a fry or a +porterhouse steak and then I sleep good---that's me." There is also a +lively lady from Albany next to me and her husband, who tells anecdotes +of the war just as though it had happened yesterday. Indeed, they are +all so much older than I that all their talk is about things I never +understood the truth about, and it is most interesting. I really do +not know when I have enjoyed my meal time so much. The food is very +good, although queer and German, and we generally take two hours to +each sitting. Dr. Field is my especial prey and he makes me laugh +until I cry. He is just like James Lewis in "A Night Off," and is +always rubbing his hands and smacking his lips over his own daring +exploits. I twist everything he says into meaning something dreadful, +and he is instantly explaining he did not really see a bullfight, but +that he walked around the outside of the building. I have promised to +show him life with a capital L, and he is afraid as death of me. But +he got back at me grandly last night when he presented a testimonial to +the captain, and referred to the captain's wife and boy whom he is +going to see after a two years' absence, at which the captain wept and +everybody else wept. And Field, seeing he had made a point, waved his +arms and cried, "I have never known a man who amounted to anything who +had not a good wife to care for--except YOU--" he shouted, pointing at +me, "and no woman will ever save YOU." At which the passengers, who +fully appreciated how I had been worrying him, applauded loudly, and +the Doctor in his delight at having scored on me forgot to give the +captain his testimonial. + +There are two nice girls on board from Chicago and a queer Southern +girl who paints pictures and sings and writes poetry, and who is +traveling with an odd married woman who is an invalid and who like +everyone else on board has apparently spent all her life away from +home. I have spent my odd time in writing the story I told Dad the +night before I sailed and I think it in some ways the best, quite the +best, I have written. I read it to the queer girl and her queer +chaperon and they weep whenever they speak of it, which they do every +half hour. All the passengers apparently laid in a stock of +"Gallegher" and "The West" before starting, and young women in yachting +caps are constantly holding me up for autographs and favorite +quotations. Yesterday we passed the Azores near enough to see the +windows in the houses, and we have seen other islands at different +times, which is quite refreshing. Tomorrow I shall post this and the +trip will be over. It has been a most happy start. I am not going to +write letters often, but am going head over ears into this new life and +let the old one wait awhile. You cannot handle Africa and keep up your +fences in New York at the same time. I am now going out to talk to the +Boston couple, or to propose a lion hunt to Dr. Field. + +Since I wrote that last I have seen Portugal. It made me seem suddenly +very far away from New York. Portugal is a high hill with a white watch +tower on it flying signal flags. It is apparently inhabited by one man +who lives in a long row of yellow houses with red roofs, and populated +by sheep who do grand acts of balancing on the side of the hill. There +is also a Navy of a brown boat with a leg-of-mutton sail and a crew of +three men in the boat--not to speak of the dog. It is a great thing to +have a traveled son. None of you ever saw Portugal, yah! + +I am now in Gibraltar. It is a large place and there does not seem to +be room in this letter, in which to express my feelings about Moors in +bare legs and six thousand Red-coats and to hear Englishmen speak +again. When I woke up Gibraltar was a black silhouette against the +sky, but toward the south there was a low line of mountains with a red +sky behind them, dim and mysterious and old, and that was Africa. Then +Spain turned up all amethyst and green, and the Mediterranean as blue +as they tell you it is. They wouldn't let me take my gun into +Gibraltar. They know my reputation for war. + +DICK. + + +GIBRALTAR. + +February 14th, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +The luck of the British Army which I am modestly fond of comparing with +my own took a vacation yesterday as soon as I had set foot on land. In +the first place Egypt had settled down to her sluggish Nile like calm +and cholera had quarantined the ship I wanted to take to Algiers, +shutting off Algiers and what was more important Tunis. The Governor +was ill shutting off things I wanted and his adjutant was boorish and +proud and haughty. Then I determined to go to Spain but found I had +arrived just one day too late for the last of the three days of the +Mardi Gras and too early for bull fights. Had I taken Saavedra's +letters I should have gone to Madrid and met the Queen and other proud +folks. So on the whole I was blue. But I have now determined to take +a boat for Tangier at once where I have letters to the Duke de Tnas who +is the Master of the Hounds there and a great sport and they say it is +very amusing and exciting. In a fortnight I shall go to Malta. I +called on Harry Cust's brother and told him who I was and he took me in +and put me at the head of the table of young subalterns in grand +uniforms and we had marmalade and cold beef and beer and I was happy to +the verge of tears to hear English as she is spoke. Then we went to a +picnic and took tea in a smuggler's cave and all the foxterriers ran +over the table cloth and the Captain spilt hot water over his white +flannels and jumped around on one leg. After which we played a +handkerchief game sitting in a row and pelting the girls with a knotted +handkerchief and then fighting for it-- During one of these scrimmages +Mulvaney, two others and Learoyd came by and with eyes front and hands +at their caps marched on with stolid countenances, but their officers +were embarrassed. It is hard to return a salute with your face in the +sand and a stout American sitting on your neck and pulling your first +lieutenant's leg. I am now deeply engaged for dinners and dances and +teas and rides and am feeling very cheerful again. I am also very well +thank you and have no illnesses of any sort. You told me to be sure +and put that in-- As you see, I have cut out half of my trip to avoid +the cholera, so you need not worry about THAT. To-day I am going over +the ramparts as much as they will allow and to-morrow I go to Tangier +where I expect to have some boar hunting. I would suggest your getting +The Evangelist in a week or two as Dr. Field's letters cover all I have +seen. I do not tell you anything about the place because you will read +that in the paper to the H. W. but I can assure you the girls are very +pretty and being garrison girls are not as shy as those at home in +England. I am the first American they ever met they assure me every +hour and we get on very well notwithstanding. + +You can imagine what it is like when Spaniards, Moors and English +Soldiers are all crowded into one long street with donkeys and geese +and priests and smugglers and men in polo clothes and soldiers in +football suits and sailors from the man-of-war. Of course, the Rock is +the best story of it all. It is a fair green smiling hill not a +fortress at all. No more a fortress to look at than Fairmont Park +water works, but the joke of it is that under every bush there is a gun +and every gun is painted green and covered with hanging curtains of +moss and every promenade is undermined and the bleakest face of the +rock is tunnelled with rooms and halls. Every night we are locked in +and the soldiers carry the big iron keys clanking through the streets. +It is going to make interesting reading. + +DICK. + + +GIBRALTAR. + +February 23rd, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Aeneas who "ran the round of so many chances" in this neighborhood was +a stationary stay at home to what I have to do. If I ever get away +from the Rock I shall be a traveller of the greatest possible +experience. + +I came here intending to stay a week and to write my letter on Gib. and +on Tangier quietly and peacefully like a gentleman and then to go on to +Malta. I love this place and there is something to do and see every +minute of the time but what happened was this: All the boats that ever +left here stopped running, broke shafts, or went into quarantine or +just sailed by, and unless I want to spend two weeks on the sea in +order to have one at Malta, which is only a military station like this, +I must go off to-morrow with my articles unwritten, my photos +undeveloped and my dinner calls unpaid. I am now waiting to hear if I +can get to Algiers by changing twice from one steamer to another along +the coast of Spain. It will be a great nuisance but I shall be able to +see Algiers and Tunis and Malta in the three weeks which would have +otherwise been given to Malta alone. And Tunis I am particularly keen +to see. While waiting for a telegram from Spain about the boats, I +shall tell you what I have been doing. Everybody was glad to see me +after my return from Tangier. I dined with the Governor on Monday, in +a fine large room lined with portraits of all the old commanders and +their coats-of-arms like a little forest of flags and the Governor's +daughter danced a Spanish dance for us after it was over. Miss Buckle, +Cust's fiancee, dances almost as well as Carmencita, all the girls here +learn it as other girls do the piano. On Tuesday Cust and Miss B. and +another girl and I went over into Spain to see the meet and we had a +short run after a fox who went to earth, much to my relief, in about +three minutes and before I had been thrown off. There are no fences +but the ground is one mass of rocks and cactus and ravines down which +these English go with an ease that makes me tremble with admiration. +We had not come out to follow, so we, being quite soaked through and +very hungry, went to an inn and it was such an inn as Don Quixote used +to stop at, with the dining-room over the stable and a lot of drunken +muleteers in the court and beautiful young women to wait on us. It is +a beautiful country Spain, with every sort of green you ever dreamed +of. We had omelettes and native wine and black bread and got warm +again and then trotted home in the rain and got wet again, so we +stopped at the guard house on the outside of the rock and took tea with +the officer in charge and we all got down on our knees around his fire +and he hobbled around dropping his eyeglasses in his hot water and very +much honored and exceedingly embarrassed. I amused myself by putting +on all the uniforms he did not happen to have on and the young ladies +drank tea and thawed. This is the most various place I ever came +across. You have mountains and seashore and allamandas like Monte +Carlo in their tropical beauty and soldiers day and night marching and +drilling and banging brass bands and tennis and guns firing so as to +rattle all the windows, and picnics and teas. I am engaged way ahead +now but I must get off tomorrow. On Washington's birthday I gave a +luncheon because it struck me as the most inappropriate place in which +one could celebrate the good man's memory and the Governor would not +think of coming at first, but I told him I was not a British subject +and that if I could go to his dinner he could come to my lunch, so +that, or the fact that the beautiful Miss Buckle was coming decided him +to waive etiquette and he came with his A. D. C. and his daughter and +officers and girls came and I had American flags and English flags and +a portrait of Washington and of the Queen and I ransacked the markets +for violets and banked them all up in the middle. It was fine. I +turned the hotel upside down and all the servants wore their best +livery and everybody stood up in a row and saluted His Excellency and I +made a speech and so did his Excellency and the chef did himself proud. +I got it up in one morning. Helen Benedict could not have done it +better. + +I had a funny adventure the morning I left Tangier-- There was a good +deal of talk about Field (confound him) and my getting into the prison +and The Herald and Times correspondents were rather blue about it and +some of the English residents said that I had not been shown the whole +of the prison, that the worst had been kept from us. Field who only +got into the prison because I had worked at it two days, said there was +an additional ward I had not seen. I went back into this while he and +the guard were getting the door open to go out and saw nothing, but to +make sure that the prison was as I believed an absolute square, I went +back on the morning of my departure and climbed a wall and crawled over +a house top and photographed the top of the prison. Then a horrible +doubt came to me that this house upon which I was standing and which +adjoined the prison might be the addition of which the English +residents hinted. There was an old woman in the garden below jumping +up and down and to whom I had been shying money to keep her quiet. I +sent the guide around to ask her what was the nature of the building +upon which I had trespassed and which seemed to worry her so much-- He +came back to tell me that I was on the top of a harem and the old woman +thought I was getting up a flirtation with the gentleman's wives. So I +dropped back again. + +It will be a couple of months at least before my first story comes out +in The Weekly. I cannot judge of them but I think they are up to the +average of the Western stories, the material is much richer I know, but +I am so much beset by the new sights that I have not the patience or +the leisure I had in the West-- Then there were days in which writing +was a relief, now there is so much to see that it seems almost a shame +to waste it. + +By the grace of Providence I cannot leave here until the 28th, much to +my joy and I have found out that I can do better by going direct to +Malta and then to Tunis, leaving Algiers which I did not want to see +out of it-Hurrah. I shall now return to the calm continuation of my +story and to writing notes which Chas will enjoy. + +DICK. + + +GIBRALTAR--February 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Morocco as it is is a very fine place spoiled by civilization. Not +nice civilization but the dregs of it, the broken down noblemen of +Spain and cashiered captains of England and the R---- L----'s of +America. They hunt and play cricket and gamble and do nothing to +maintain what is best in the place or to help what is worst. I love +the Moors and the way they hate the Christian and the scorn and pride +they show. They seem to carry all the mystery and dignity of Africa +and of foreign conquests about them, and they are wonderfully well made +and fine looking and self-respecting. The color is very beautiful, but +the foreign element spoils it at every turn. One should really go +inland but I shall not because I mean to do that when I reach Cairo. +Everybody goes inland from here and Bonsal has covered it already. He +is a great man here among all classes. + +I have bought two long guns and three pistols three feet long and a +Moorish costume for afternoon teas. I shall look fine. My guide's +idea of pleasing me is to kick everybody out of the way which always +brings down curses on me so I have to go back and give them money and +am so gradually becoming popular and much sought after by blind +beggars. You can get three pounds of copper for a franc and it lasts +all day throwing it right and left all the time. I made a great tear +in Bonsal's record today by refusing to pay a snake charmer all he +wanted and then when he protested I took one of the snakes out of his +hands and swung it around my head to the delight of the people. I +wanted to show him he was a fakir to want me to pay for what I would do +myself. It was a large snake about four feet long. Then my horse and +another horse got fighting in the principal street in the city standing +up on their hind legs and boxing like men and biting and squealing. It +was awful and I got mine out of the way and was trod on and had my arm +nearly pulled off and the crowd applauded and asked my guide whether I +was American or English. They do not like the English. So with the +lower classes I may say that I am having a social success. + +DICK. + + +Off Malta--March 1, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I have been having a delightful voyage with moonlight all night and +sunlight all day. Africa kept in sight most of the time and before +that we saw beautiful mountains in Spain covered with snow and red in +the sunset. There were a lot of nice English people going out to India +to meet their husbands and we have "tiffin" and "choota" and "curry," +so it really seemed oriental. The third night out we saw Algiers +sparkling like Coney Island. I play games with myself and pretend I am +at my rooms reading a story which is very hard to pretend as I never +read in my rooms and then I look up and exclaim "Hello, I'm not in New +York, that's Algiers." The thing that has impressed me most is how +absolutely small the world is and how childishly easy it is to go +around it. You and Nora MUST take this trip; as for me I think Willie +Chanler is the most sensible individual I have yet met. + +All the fascination of King Solomon's Mines seems to be behind those +great mountains and this I may add is a bit of advance work for mother, +an entering wedge to my disappearing from sight for years and years in +the Congo. Which, seriously, I will not do; only it is disappointing +to find the earth so small and so easily encompassed that you want to +go on where it is older, and new. The worst of it is that it is hard +leaving all the nice people you meet and then must say good-bye to. +The young ladies and Capt. Buckle and Cust came down to see me off and +Buckle brought me a photo four feet long of Gib, an official one which +I had to smuggle out with a great show of secrecy and now I shall be +sorry to leave these people. Just as I wrote that one of the officers +going out to join his regiment came to the door and blushing said the +passengers were getting up a round robin asking me to stop on and go to +Cairo. + +Since writing the above lots of things have happened. I bid farewell +to everyone at Malta and yet in four hours I was back again bag and +baggage and am now on my way to Cairo. Tunis and the Bey are +impossible. As soon as I landed at Malta I found that though I could +go to Tunis I could not go away without being quarantined for ten days +and if I remained in Malta I must stay a week. On balancing a week of +Egypt against a week of Malta I could not do it so I put back to this +steamer again and here I am. Tomorrow we reach Brindisi and we have +already passed Sicily and had a glimpse of the toe of Italy and it is +the coldest sunny Italy that I ever imagined. I am bitterly +disappointed about Tunis. I have no letters to big people in Cairo +only subalterns but I shall probably get along. I always manage +somehow with my "artful little Ikey ways." It was most gratifying to +mark my return to this boat. One young woman danced a Kangaroo dance +and the Captain wept and all the stewards stood in a line and grinned. +I sing Chevalier's songs and they all sit in the dining room below and +forget to lay out the plates and last night some of the Royal Berkshire +with whom I dined at Malta came on board and after hearing the Old Kent +Road were on the point of Mutiny and refused to return to barracks. +Great is the Power of Chevalier and great is his power for taking you +back to London with three opening bars. Malta was the queerest place I +ever got into. It was like a city, country and island made of cheese, +mouldy cheese, and fresh limburger cheese with holes in it. You sailed +right up to the front door as it were and people were hanging out of +the windows smoking pipes and looking down on the deck as complacently +as though having an ocean steamer in the yard was as much a matter of +course as a perambulator. There were also women with black hoods which +they wear as a penance because long ago the ladies of Malta got +themselves talked about. I was on shore about five hours and saw some +interesting things and with that and Brindisi and the voyage I can make +a third letter but Tunis is writ on my heart like Calais. + +Today Cleveland is inaugurated and I took all the passengers down at +the proper time and explained to them that at that moment a great man +was being made president and gave them each an American cocktail to +remember it by and in which to toast him I am getting to be a great +speech maker and if there are any more anniversaries in America I shall +be a second Depew. + +It is late but it is still the season here and it will be gay, but what +I want to do now is to go off on a little trip inland although Cairo is +the worst of all for it is surrounded by deserts and nothing to shoot +but antelope and foxes and those I SCORN. I want Zulus and lions. I +shall be greatly disappointed if I do not have something to do outside +of Cairo for I have had no adventures at all. It is just as civilized +as Camden only more exciting and beautiful although Camden is exciting +when you have to get there and back in time for the last edition. From +what I have already seen I am ready to spend a month in Cairo and then +confess to knowing nothing of it. But we shall see. There may be a W +A R or a lion hunt or something yet if there is not I shall come back +here again. I must fire that Winchester off at least once just for all +the trouble it has given me at custom houses. Something exciting must +happen or I shall lose faith in the luck of the British army which +marches shoulder to shoulder with mine. If I don't have any adventures +I shall write essays on art after this like Mrs. Van. Love and lots of +it. + +DICK. + + +CAIRO, March 11, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +In a famous book this line occurs, "He determined to go to that hotel +in Cairo where they were to have spent their honeymoon," or words like +that. He is now at that hotel and you can buy the famous book across +the street. It is called "Gallegher." So--in this way everything +comes to him who waits and he comes to it. "Gallegher" is not the only +thing you buy in Egypt. You ride to the Pyramids on a brake with a man +in a white felt hat blowing a horn, and the bugler of the Army of +Occupation is as much in evidence as the priest who calls them to +prayer from the minaret. I left the people I liked on the Sultey last +Thursday in the Suez Canal and came on here in a special train. It is +very cold here, and it is not a place where the cold is in keeping with +the surroundings. You see people in white helmets and astrakan +overcoats. It is an immense city and intensely interesting, especially +the bazaars, but you feel so ignorant about it all that it rather +angers you. I wish I was not such a very bad hand at languages. That +is ONE THING I cannot do, that and ride. I need it very much, +traveling so much, and I shall study very hard while I am in Paris. +Our consul-general here is a very young man, and he showed me a Kansas +paper when I called on him, which said that I was in the East and would +probably call on "Ed" L. He is very civil to me and gives me his +carriages and outriders with gold clothes and swords whenever I will +take them. + +It is so beastly cold here that it spoils a lot of things, and there +are a lot of Americans who say, "I had no idea you were so young a +man," and that, after being five years old for a month and playing +children's games with English people who didn't know or care anything +about you except that you made them laugh, is rather trying. I am +disappointed so far in the trip because it has developed nothing new +beyond the fact that going around the world is of no more importance +than going to breakfast, and I am selfish in my sightseeing and want to +see things others do not. And if you even do see more than those who +are not so fortunate and who have to remain at home, still you are so +ignorant in comparison with those who have lived here for years and to +whom the whole of Africa is a speculation in land or railroads, it +makes you feel like such a faker and as if it were better to turn +correspondent for the N. Y. Herald, Paris edition, and send back the +names of those who are staying at the hotels. That is really all you +can speak with authority about. When you have Gordon and Stanley +dishes on the bill-of-fare, you feel ashamed to say you've been in +Egypt. Anyway, I am a faker and I don't care, and I proved it today by +being photographed on a camel in front of the Pyramids, and if that +wasn't impertinence I do not know its name. I accordingly went and +bought a lot of gold dresses for Nora as a penance. + +As a matter of fact, unless I get into the interior for a month and see +something new, I shall consider the trip a failure, except as a most +amusing holiday for one, and that was not exactly what I wanted or all +I wanted. After this I shall go to big cities only and stay there. +Everybody travels and everybody sees as much as you do and says nothing +of it, certainly does not presume to write a book about it. Anyway, it +has been great fun, so I shall put it down to that and do some serious +work to make up for it. I'd rather have written a good story about the +Inauguration than about Cairo. + +I am well, as usual, and having a fine loaf, only I don't think much of +what I have written--that's all. + +DICK. + + +CAIRO, March 19th, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I went up the Pyramids yesterday and I am very sore today. It sounds +easy because so many people do it, but they do it because they don't +know. I have been putting it off, and putting it off, until I felt +ashamed to such a degree that I had to go. Little had never been +either, so we went out together and met Stanford White and the Emmetts +there, and we all went up. I would rather go into Central Africa than +do it again. I am getting fat and that's about it--and I had to half +pull a much fatter man than myself who pretended to help me. I finally +told them I'd go alone unless the fat man went away, so the other two +drove him off. Going down is worse. It's like looking over a +precipice all the time. I was so glad when I got down that I sang with +glee. I hate work like that, and to make it worse I took everybody's +picture on top of the Pyramid, and forgot to have one of them take me, +so there is no way to prove I ever went up. Little and I hired two +donkeys and called them "Gallegher" and "Van Bibber" and raced them. +My donkey was so little that they couldn't see him--only his ears. +Gallegher won. The donkey-boys called it Von Bebey, so I don't think +it will help the sale of the book. + +Today we went to call on the Khedive. It was very informal and too +democratic to suit my tastes. We went through a line of his bodyguard +in the hall, and the master of ceremonies took us up several low but +wide stairways to a hall. In the hall was a little fat young man in a +frock coat and a fez, and he shook hands with us, and walked into +another room and we all sat down on chairs covered with white muslin. +I talked and Little talked about me and the Khedive pretended to be +very much honored, and said the American who had come over after our +rebellion had done more for the officers in his army than had anyone +else, meaning the English. He did not say that because we were +Americans, but because he hates the English. He struck me as being +stubborn, which is one side of stupidness and yet not stupid, and I +occasionally woke him to bursts of enthusiasm over the Soudanese. His +bursts were chiefly "Ali." Little seemed to amuse him very much, and +Little treated him exactly like a little boy who needed to be cheered +up. I think in one way it was the most curious contrast I ever saw. +"Ed" Little of Abilene, Kansas, telling the ruler of Egypt not to +worry, that he had plenty of years in which to live and that he would +get ahead of them all yet. Those were not his words, but that was the +tone, he was perfectly friendly and sincere about it. + +This place appeals to me as about the best place with which to get +mixed up with that I know, and I've gone over a great many maps since I +left home and know just how small the world is. So, I sent the Khedive +my books after having asked his permission, and received the most +abject thanks. And as Cromer called on me, I am going to drop around +on him with a few of them. Some day there will be fine things going on +here, and there is only one God, and Lord Cromer is his Prophet in this +country. They think that Mohammed is but they are wrong. He is a very +big man. The day he sent his ultimatum to the Khedive telling him to +dismiss Facta Pasha and put back Riaz Pasha, he went out in full view +of the Gezerik drive and played lawn tennis. Any man who can cable for +three thousand more troops to Malta and stop a transport full of two +thousand more at Aden with one hand, and bang tennis balls about with +the other, is going in the long run to get ahead of a stout little boy +in a red fez. It is getting awfully hot here, almost hot enough for +me, and I can lay aside my overcoat by ten o'clock in the morning. +Everyone else has been in flannels and pith helmets, but as they had to +wear overcoats at night I could not see the advantage of the costume. + +DICK. + + +I open this to say that ALL of your letters have just come, so I have +intoxicated myself with them for the last hour and can go over them +again tomorrow. I cannot tell you, dearest, what a delight your +letters are and how I enjoy the clippings. I think of you all the time +and how you would love this Bible land and seeing the places where +Pharaoh's daughter found Moses, and hearing people talk of St. Paul and +the plagues of Egypt and Joseph and Mary just as though they had lived +yesterday. I have seen two St. Johns already, with long hair and +melancholy wild eyes and bare breasts and legs, with sheepskin +covering, eating figs and preaching their gospel. Yesterday two men +came running into town and told one of the priests that they had seen +the new moon in a certain well, and the priest proclaimed a month of +fasting, and the men who pulled us up the Pyramid had to rest because +they had not eaten or drunk all day. At six a sheik called from the +village and all the donkey--boys and guides around the Sphinx ran to +get water and coffee and food. Think of that--of two men running +through the street to say that they had seen the new moon in a well, +when every shop sells Waterbury watches and the people who passed them +were driving dogcarts with English coachmen in top-boots behind. Is +there any other place as incongruous as this, as old and as new? + +DICK. + + +ATHENS, March 30, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I am now in Athens, how I got here is immaterial. Suffice it to say +that never in all my life was I so ill as I was in the two days +crossing from Alexandria to Piraeus, which I did with two other men in +the same cabin more ill than I and praying and swearing and groaning +all the time. "It was awful." + + + "I have crossed in many ships upon the seas + And some of them were good and some were not; + In German, P & O's and Genoese, + But the Khedive's was the worst one of the lot. + We never got a moment's peace in her + For everybody'd howl or pray or bellow; + She threw us on our heads or on our knees, + And turned us all an unbecoming yellow." + + +Athens is a small town but fine. It is chiefly yellow houses with red +roofs, and mountains around it, which remind you of pictures you have +seen when a youth. Also olive trees and straight black pines and the +Acropolis. There is not much of it left as far as I can see from the +city, but what there is is enough to make you wish you had brushed up +your Greek history. I have now reached the place where Pan has a cave, +where the man voted against Aristides because he was humanly tired of +hearing him called the Just and where the Minotaur ate young women. + +What was in the Isle of Crete but the rock from which the father of +Theseus threw himself--is still here! Also the hill upon which Paul +stood and told the Athenians they were too superstitious. You can +imagine my feelings at finding all of these things are true. After +this I am going to the North Pole to find Santa Claus and so renew my +youth. + +I regret to say that it is raining very hard and Athens is not set for +a rainstorm. It is also cold but as I have not been warm since I +crossed the North River with Chas. amid cakes of ice that is of no +consequence. When I come here again I come in the summer. The good +old rule that it is cold in winter and warm in summer is a good enough +rule to follow. You have only to travel to find out how universally +cold winter is. last night I was in Cairo, I got in a carriage and +drove out alone to the Pyramids. It was beautiful moonlight. I got a +donkey and rode up around them and then walked over to the Sphinx. I +had never understood or seen it before. It was the creepiest and most +impressive thing I ever had happen to me, I do believe. There was no +one except the two donkey-boys and myself and the Sphinx. All about +was the desert and above it the purple sky and the white stars and the +great negro's head in front of you with its paws stretched out, and the +moonlight turning it into shadows and white lines. I think I stood +there so long that I got sort of dizzy. It was just as if I had been +the first man to stumble across it, and I felt that I was way back +thousands of years and that the ghosts of Caesar and Napoleon and +Cleopatra and the rest were in the air. That was worth the entire trip +to me. This place promises to be most exciting, the New York artists +are all here, they are the most jauntily dull people I ever met. Do +you know what I mean? They are very nice but so stupid. I don't let +them bother me. Who was the chap who wrote about the bottle of +Malvoisie? because I got a bottle of it for BREAKFAST and it is NO +GOOD. It is like sweet port. But on account of the poem and its being +vin du pays I got it. + +Dear Mother, I wish you were here now and enjoying all these beautiful +things. I got you a present in Cairo that will amuse you. Had I +stayed on in Cairo I should have had much and many marks of distinction +from the English. Lady Gower-Browne, who found out from them that I +had called and that they had done nothing except to be rude, raised a +great hue and cry and everything changed. What she said of me I don't +know but it made a most amusing difference. General Walker galloped a +half mile across the desert to give me his own copy of the directions +for the sham battle, and I was to have met Cromer at dinner +tete-a-tete, and General Kitchener sent apologies by two other generals +and all the subalterns called on me in a body. That was the day before +I left. I don't know what Lady Gower-Browne said, but it made a change +which I am sorry I could not avail myself of as I want politics as well +as memories. + +The next time I come I shall go to even fewer places and see more +people. + +If the Harpers don't look out our interests will clash. I look at it +like this. I can always see the old historical things and take my +children up the Nile, but I want now to make friends with the Mammon of +unrighteousness and the men of the hour. I may want to occupy an hour +or two myself some day and they can help me. If America starts in +annexing islands she will need people to tell her how it is generally +done and it is generally done, I find, by the English. I may give up +literature and start annexing things like Alexander and Caesar and +Napoleon. They say there will be another crisis in Cairo in a month or +so. If that be true I am all right and solid with both parties. But +it has got to be worth while of course or I won't go back. There is a +king living in a fine palace across the square from my window, one of +his officers is now changing the guard in the rain. I hope to call on +the king because I like his guard. They wear petticoats and toes +turned up in front. Don't you mind what I say about liking politics +and don't think I am not enjoying the show things. I have a capacity +for both that is so far unsatisfied, and I am now going out in the rain +to try and find the post-office. Lots of love. + + DICK. + +I am well and have been well (except sea sick) since February + +P. S.--A funeral is just passing the window with the corpse exposed to +view as is the quaint custom here, to add to its horror they rouge the +face of the corpse and everybody kisses it. In the Greek church they +burn candles for people and the number of candles I have burnt for you +would light St. Paul's, and you ought to be good with so much war being +expended all over Athens for you. You buy candles instead of tipping +the verger or putting it in the poor box, or because you are +superstitious and think it will do some good, as I do. + + +Orient Express. Somewhere in Bulgaria on the way to London. + +April 14th, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Tuesday I wrote you a letter in the club at Constantinople telling you +how glad I would be to get out of that City on April 17th on the Orient +Express which only leaves twice a week on Thursdays and Mondays. So +any one who travels by the Orient is looked upon first as a millionaire +and second, if he does not break the journey at Vienna, as a greater +traveller than Col. Burnaby on his way to Khiva. Imagine a Kansas City +man breaking the journey to New York. After I wrote you that letter I +went in the next room and read of the Nile Expedition in search of +Gordon--this went through three volumes of The Graphic and took some +time, so that when I had reached the picture which announced the death +of Gordon it was half past five and I had nothing more to do for four +days-- It was raining and cold and muddy and so I just made up my mind +I would get up and get out and I jumped about for one hour like a +kangaroo and by seven I was on the Orient with two Cook men to help me +and had shaken my fist at the last minaret light of that awful city. +So, now it is all over and it is done-- I have learned a great deal in +an imperfect way of the juxtaposition of certain countries and of the +ease with which one can travel without speaking any known languages and +of the absolute necessity for speaking one, French. I am still +disappointed about the articles but selfishly I have made a lot out of +the trip. You have no idea how hard it is not to tell about strange +things and yet you know people do not care half as much for them as +things they know all about-- No matter, it is done and with the +exception of the last week it was F I N E. + + +"I'm going back to London, to 'tea' and long frock coats + I'm done with Cook and seeing sights + I'm done with table d'hotes + So clear the track you signal man + From Sofia to Pless, I'm going straight for London + On the Orient Express. + +I'm going straight for London O'er Bulgaria's heavy sands To Rotten Row +and muffins, soles, Chevalier and Brass Bands Ho' get away you bullock +man You've heard the whistle blowed a locomotive coming down the Grand +Trunk Road." + + +This is a great country and I want to ask all the natives if they know +"Stenie" Bonsal. They are all his friends and so are the "Balkans," +and all the little Balkans. Nobody wears European clothes here. They +are all as foreign and native and picturesque as they can be, the women +with big silver plates over their stomachs and the men in sheepskin and +tights and the soldiers are grand. We have been passing all day +between snow covered mountains and between herds of cattle and red +roofed, mud villages and long lakes of ice and snow-- It is a beautiful +day and I am very happy. (Second day out) 15th---We are now in Hungary +and just outside of Buda Pesth "the wickedest city in the world," still +in spite of that fact I am going on. I am very glad I came this way-- +The peasants and soldiers are most amusing and like German +picture-papers with black letter type-- I shall stop a day in Paris now +that I have four extra days. + +DICK. + + +In sight of Paris--April 16, 1893. + +DEAREST MOTHER: + +has been the most beautiful day since February 4th. It is the first +day in which I have been warm. All through I have had a varnish of +warmth every now and again but no real actual internal warmth--I am now +in sight of Paris and it is the 16th of April, in the eleven weeks +which have elapsed since the 4th of February I have been in Spain, +France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, +Greece, Egypt and Morocco. I have sat on the Rock of Gibraltar, sailed +on the Nile and the Suez Canal and crossed through the Dardanelles, +over the Balkans, the steppes of Hungary and the Danube and Rhine. I +have seen the sphinx by moonlight, the Parthenon and the Eiffel Tower +and in two days more I shall have seen St. Paul's. What do you think I +should like to see best now? YOU. I have been worrying of late as to +whether or not I should not come home now and leave Paris for another +time because it seems so rough on you to leave you without either of +your younger sons for so long. But I have thought it over a great deal +and I think it better that I should do Paris now and leave myself clear +for the rest of the year. I promise you one thing however that I shall +not undertake to stay away so long again; it is too long and one grows +out of things. But nothing I feel, will be so easy or so amusing as +Paris and I intend to get through with it soon and trot home to you by +the middle of August AT THE VERY LATEST. So, please write me a +deceitful letter and say you do not miss me at all and that my being so +near as Paris makes a great difference and that I am better out of the +way and if Chas goes to London I shall be near him in case he forgets +to put on his overshoes or involves us in a war with G. B. Now, mother +dear, do write me a cheerful letter and say that you do not mind +waiting until the middle of August for me and when I come back this +time I shall make a long stay with you at Marion and tell you lots of +things I have not written you and I shall not go away again for ever so +long and if I do go I shall only stay a little while. You have no idea +how interesting this rush across the continent has been. I started in +snow and through marshes covered with ice and long horned cattle and +now we are in such a beautiful clean green land with green fields and +green trees and flowering bushes which you can smell as the train goes +by. I now think that instead of being a cafe-chantant singer I should +rather be an Austrian baron and own a castle on a hill with a red +roofed village around it. I have spent almost all of the trip sitting +on the platform and enjoying the sight of the queer peasants and the +soldiers and old villages. Tonight I shall be in "Paris, France" as +Morton used to say and I shall get clean and put on my dress clothes +but whether I shall go see Yvette Guilbert or Rusticana again I do not +know. Perhaps I shall just paddle around the fountain in the Place de +la Concorde and make myself thoroughly at home. With a great deal of +love to Dad and Nora and Chas and all. + +DICK. + + +At the time that Richard's first travel articles appeared some of his +critics took umbrage at the fact that he was evidently under the +delusion that he had discovered London, Gibraltar, Athens, Paris, and +the other cities he had visited, and that no one else had ever written +about them. As a matter of fact no one could have been more keenly +conscious of what an oft-told tale were the places that he had chosen +to describe. If Richard took it for granted that the reader was +totally unacquainted with the peoples of these cities and their ways, +it was because he believed that that was the best way to write a +descriptive article, always had believed it, and believed it so long as +he wrote. And whatever difference of opinion may have existed among +the critics and the public as to Richard's fiction, I think it is safe +to say that as a reporter his work of nearly thirty years stood at +least as high as that of any of his contemporaries or perhaps as that +of the reporters of all time. As an editor, when he gave out an +assignment to a reporter to write an article on some well-worn subject +and the reporter protested, Richard's answer was the same: "You must +always remember that that story hasn't been written until YOU write +it." And when he suggested to an editor that he would like to write an +article on Broadway, or the Panama Canal, or the ruins of Rome and the +editor disapproved, Richard's argument was: "It hasn't been done until +_I_ do it." And it was not because he believed for a moment that he +could do it better or as well as it had been done. It was simply +because he knew the old story was always a good story, that is, if it +was seen with new eyes and from a new standpoint. At twenty-eight he +had written a book about England and her people, and the book had met +with much success both in America and England. At twenty-nine, equally +unafraid, he had "covered" the ancient cities that border the +Mediterranean, and now Paris lay before him! This thought--indeed few +thoughts--troubled Richard very much in those days of his early +successes. He had youth, friends, a marvellous spirit of adventure, +and besides there are many worse fates than being consigned to spending +a few months in Paris, having a thoroughly joyous time, taking a few +mental notes, and a little later on transferring them to paper in the +quiet of a peaceful summer home at Marion. + +Chief among his friends in Paris at this time was Charles Dana Gibson, +who was living in a charming old house in the Latin Quarter, and where +the artist did some of his best work and made himself extremely popular +with both the Parisians and the American colony. In addition to Gibson +there were Kenneth Frazier, the portrait-painter, and Tina, Newton, and +James Eustis, the daughter and sons of James B. Eustis, who at that +time was our ambassador to France, a most genial and kindly host, who +made much of Richard and his young friends. + + +PARIS, May 5, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +It is a narrow street with apartment houses of gray stone and iron +balconies along either side of it. The sun sets at one end of the +street at different times during the day and we all lean out on the +balconies to look. On the house, one below mine, on the other side of +our street, is a square sign that says: + +ALFRED DE MUSSET + +EST MORT DANS CETTE MAISON + + +A great many beautiful ladies with the fashionable red shade of hair +still call there, as they used to do when the proper color was black +and it was worn in a chignon and the Second Empire had but just begun. +While they wait they stretch out in their carriages and gaze up at the +balconies until they see me, and as I wear a gold and pink silk wrapper +and not much else, they concentrate all their attention on the wrapper +and forget to drop a sigh for the poet. There are two young people on +the sixth floor opposite, who come out on the balcony after dinner and +hold on to each other and he tells her all about the work of the day. +Below there is a woman who sews nothing but black dresses, and who does +that all day and all night by the light of a lamp. And below the +concierge stands all day in a lace cap and black gown and blue, and +looks up the street and down the street like the woman in front of +Hockley's. BUT on the floor opposite mine there is a beautiful lady in +a pink and white wrapper with long black hair and sleepy black eyes. +She does not take any interest in my pink wrapper, but contents herself +with passing cabs and stray dogs and women with loaves of bread and +bottles in their hands who occasionally stray into our street. At six +she appears in another gown and little slippers and a butterfly for a +hat and says "Good-by" to the old concierge and trips off to dinner. +Lots of love to all. + +DICK. + + +PARIS, May 11th, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I am still somewhat tentative as regards my opinion of the place, what +it will bring me in the way of material I cannot tell. So far, "Paris +Decadent" would be a good title for anything I should write of it. It +is not that I have seen only the worst side of it but that that seems +to be so much the most prominent. They worship the hideous Eiffel +Tower and they are a useless, flippant people who never sleep and yet +do nothing while awake. To-morrow I am going to a pretty inn +surrounded by vines and trees to see a prize fight with all the silly +young French men and their young friends in black and white who ape the +English manners and customs even to "la box." To night at the +Ambassadeurs the rejected lover of some actress took a gang of bullies +from Montmartre there and hissed and stoned her. I turned up most +innocently and greatly bored in the midst of it but I was too far away +to pound anybody-- I collected two Englishmen and we went in front to +await her re-appearance but she had hysterics and went off in a cab and +so we were not given a second opportunity of showing them they should +play fair. It is a typical incident of the Frenchman and has made me +wrathy. The women watching the prize fight will make a good story and +so will the arms of the red mill, "The Moulin Rouge" they keep turning +and turning and grinding out health and virtue and souls. + +I dined to night with the C-----s and P----s, the Ex-Minister and +disagreed with everybody and found them all very middle class as to +intellect. An old English lady next to me said apropos of something +"that is because you are not clever like Mr. ---- and do not have to +work with your brains." To which I said, I did not mind not being +clever as my father was a many times millionaire," at which she became +abjectly polite. Young Rothenstein is going to do a picture of me +to-morrow morning. There is nothing much more to tell except that a +horse stood on his fore legs in the Bois the other day and chucked me +into space. I was very sore but I went on going about as it was the +Varnishing day at the new salon and I wished to see it. I am over my +stiffness now and if "anybody wants to buy a blooming bus" I have one +for sale and five pairs of riding breeches and two of ditto boots. No +more riding for me--- The boxing bag is in good order now and I do not +need for exercise. The lady across the street has a new wrapper in +which she is even more cold and haughty than before. "I sing Tarrara +boom deay and she keeps from liking me." + +DICK. + + +PARIS, May 14th, 1893. + +DEAR NORA: + +Things are getting more interesting here and I shall probably have +something to write about after all, although I shall not know the place +as I did London. Will Rothenstein has drawn a picture of me that I +like very much and if mother likes it VERY, VERY much she may have it +as a loan but she may not like it. I did not like to take it so I +bought another picture of him, one of Coquelin cadet and now I have +two. Coquelin gave him his first commission when he was nineteen, two +years ago, and then asked him to do two sketches. After these were +done Coquelin told him by letter that he would give him half what they +had agreed upon for the big picture for the two sketches and begged the +big picture as a gift. So Rothenstein cut the head and shoulders out +of the big one and sent him the arms and legs. It is the head he cut +out that I have. When Rothenstein and I and Coquelin become famous, +that will make a good story. I have also indulged myself in the +purchase of several of Cherets works of art. They cost three francs +apiece. We have had some delightful lunches at the Ambassadeurs with +Cushing and other artists and last night I went out into the Grande +Monde to a bal masque for charity at the palace of the Comtesse de la +Ferrondeux. It was very stupid and the men outnumbered the women 30 to +1, which are interesting odds. To-day we went to Whistler's and sat +out in a garden with high walls about it and drank tea and laughed at +Rothenstein. The last thing he said was at the Ambassadeurs when one +of the students picking up a fork said, "These are the same sort of +forks I have." Rothenstein said "yes, I did not know you dined here +that often." Some one asked him why he wore his hair long, "To test +your manners" he answered. He is a disciple of Whistler's and Wilde's +and said "yes, I defend them at the risk of their lives." Did I tell +you of his saying "It is much easier to love one's family than to like +them." And when some one said "Did you hear how Mrs. B. treated Mr. +C., (a man he dislikes) he said, "no, but I'm glad she did." It was +lovely at Whistler's and such a contrast to the other American salon I +went to last Sunday. It was so quiet, and green and pretty and +everybody was so unobtrusively polite. + +Rothenstein wore my rosette and made a great sensation and I was +congratulated by Whistler and Abbey and Pennell. Rothenstein said he +was going to have a doublebreasted waistcoat made with rosettes of +decorations for buttons. Tomorrow Lord Dufferin has asked me to +breakfast at the Embassy. He was at the masked ball last night and was +very nice. He reminds me exactly of Disraeli in appearance. It is +awfully hot here and a Fair for charity has asked me to put my name in +"Gallegher" to have it raffled for. "Dear" Bonsal arrives here next +Sunday, so I am in great anticipation. I am very well, tell mother, +and amused. Lots of love. + +DICK. + + +PARIS, June 13, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +There is nothing much to say except that things still go on. I feel +like one of those little India rubber balls in the jet of a fountain +being turned and twisted and not allowed to rest. Today I have been to +hear Yvette Guilbert rehearse and thought her all Chas thinks her only +her songs this season are beneath the morals of a medical student. It +is very hot and it is getting hotter. I had an amusing time at the +Grand Prix where Tina won a lot of money on a tip I gave her which I +did not back myself. In the evening Newton took me to dinner and to +the Jardin de Paris where they had 10 franc admittance and where every +thing went that wasn't nailed. The dudes put candles on their high +hats and the girls snuffed them out with kicks and at one time the +crowd mobbed the band stand and then the stage and played on all the +instruments. The men were all swells in evening dress and the women in +beautiful ball dresses and it was a wonderful sight. It only happens +once a year like the Yale-Princeton night at Koster and Bials except +that the women are all very fine indeed. They rode pig-a-back races +and sang all the songs. I had dinner with John Drew last night. I +occasionally sleep and if Nora doesn't come on time I shall be a +skeleton and have no money left. As a matter of fact I am fatter than +ever and can eat all sorts of impossible things here that I could never +eat at home. I lunch every day with the Eustises and we dine out +almost every night. I consort entirely with the poorest of art +students or the noblest of princesses and so far have kept out of +mischief, but you can never tell for this is a wicked city they say, or +it strikes me as most amusing at present only I cannot see what Harper +and Bros. are going to get out of it. I said that of London so I +suppose it will all straighten out by the time I get back. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FIRST PLAYS + +When the season in Paris had reached its end, Richard returned to +London and later on to Marion, where he spent the late summer and early +fall, working on his Mediterranean and Paris articles, and completing +his novel "Soldiers of Fortune." In October he returned to New York +and once more assumed his editorial duties and took his usual active +interest in the winter's gayeties. + +The first of these letters refers to a dinner of welcome given to Sir +Henry Irving. The last two to books by my mother and Richard, and +which were published simultaneously. + + +NEW YORK, November 27, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +The dinner was very fine. I was very glad I went. Whitelaw Reid sat +on one side of Sir Henry Irving and Horace Porter on the other. +Howells and Warner came next. John Russell Young and Mark Twain, +Millet, Palmer, Hutton, Gilder and a lot more were there. There were +no newspaper men, not even critics nor actors there, which struck me as +interesting. The men were very nice to me. Especially Young, Reid, +Irving and Howells. Everybody said when I came in, "I used to know you +when you were a little boy," so that some one said finally, "What a +disagreeable little boy you MUST have been." I sat next a chap from +Brazil who told me lots of amusing things. One story if it is good +saves a whole day for me. One he told was of a German explorer to whom +Don Pedro gave an audience. The Emperor asked him, with some touch of +patronage, if he had ever met a king before. "Yes," the German said +thoughtfully; "five, three wild and two tame." + +Mark Twain told some very funny stories, and captured me because I +never thought him funny before, and Irving told some about Stanley, and +everybody talked interestingly. Irving said he was looking forward to +seeing Dad when he reached Philadelphia. "It is nice to have seen +you," he said, "but I have still to see your father," as though I was +not enough. DICK. + + +NEW YORK, 1893. + +DEAREST MOTHER: + +I cannot tell you how touched and moved I was by the three initials in +the book. It was a genuine and complete surprise and when I came +across it while I was examining the letterpress with critical +approbation and with no idea of what was to come, it left me quite +breathless-- It was so sweet of you-- You understand me and I +understand you and you know how much that counts to me-- I think the +book is awfully pretty and in such good taste-- It is quite a delight +to the eye and I am much more keen about it than over any of my own-- I +have sent it to some of my friends but I have not read it yet myself, +as I am waiting until I get on the boat where I shall not be +disturbed-- Then I shall write you again-- It was awfully good of you, +and I am so pleased to have it to give away. I never had anything to +show people when they asked for one of your other books and this comes +in such an unquestionable form-- With lots of love. + +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, 1893. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I got your nice letter and one from Dad. Both calling me many +adjectives pleasing to hear although they do not happen to fit. So you +are in a third edition are you? These YOUNG writers are crowding me to +the wall. I feel thrills of pride when I see us sitting cheek by jowl +on the news-stands. Lots of love. + + + + +In February, 1894, Richard was forced by a severe attack of sciatica to +give up temporarily the gayeties of New York and for a cure he +naturally chose our home in Philadelphia, where he remained for many +weeks. Although unable to leave his bed, he continued to do a +considerable amount of work, including the novelette "The Princess +Aline," in the writing of which I believe my brother took more pleasure +than in that of any story or novel he ever wrote. The future Empress +of Russia was the heroine of the tale, and that she eventually read the +story and was apparently delighted with it caused Richard much human +happiness. + + +PHILADELPHIA. + +March 5th. + +DEAR CHAS: + +I am getting rapidly better owing to regular hours and light literature +and home comforts. I am not blue as I was and my morbidness has gone +and I only get depressed at times. I am still however feeling tired +and I think I will take quite a rest before I venture across the seas. +But across them I will come no matter if all the nerves on earth jump +and pull. Still, I think it wiser for all concerned that I get +thoroughly well so that when I do come I won't have to be cutting back +home again as I did last time. We are young yet and the world's wide +and there's a new farce comedy written every minute and I have a great +many things to do myself so I intend to get strong and then do them. I +enclose two poems. I am going to have them printed for my particular +pals later. I am writing one to all of you folks over there. + +DICK. + + +TAKE ME BACK TO BROADWAY, WHERE THE ORCHIDS GROW + +WITH APOLOGIES TO THE WESTERN DIALECT POETS + + "I have wandered up and down somewhat in many different lands + I have been to Fort Worth, Texas, and I've tramped + through Jersey sands, + I have seen Pike's Peak by Moonlight, and I've visited the Fair + And to save enumeration I've been nearly everywhere. + But no matter where + I rested and no matter where I'd go, I have longed to be + on Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow. + + Some people love the lilies fair that hide in mossy dells + Some folks are fond of new mown hay, before the rainy spells + But give to me the orchids rare that hang in Thorley's store, + And in Fleischman's at the Hoffman, and in half a dozen more + And when I see them far from home they make my heart's blood glow + For they take me back to Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow. + + Let Paris boast of boulevards where one can sit and drink + There is no such chance on Broadway, at the Brower House, + 'I don't think.' + And where else are there fair soubrettes in pipe clayed tennis shoes, + And boys in silken sashes promenading by in twos + Oh you can boast of any street of which you're proud to know + But give me sleepy Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow. + + Let poets sing of chiming bells and gently lowing kine + I like the clanging cable cars like fire engines in line + And I never miss the sunset and for moonlight never sigh + When 'Swept by Ocean Breezes.' flashes out against the sky. + And when the Tenderloin awakes, and open theatres glow + I want to be on Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow." + + +A VOUS, JOHN DREW + + "John Drew, I am your debtor + For a very pleasant letter + And a lot of cabinet photos + Of the 'Butterflies' and you + And I think it very kind + That you kept me so in mind + And pitied me in exile + So I do, John Drew. + + +2 + + + John Drew, 'twixt you and me + Precious little I can see + Of that good there is in Solitude + That poets say they view. + For _I_ hate to be in bed + With a candle at my head + Sitting vis a vis with Conscience. + So would you, John Drew. + +3 + + + John Drew, then promise me + That as soon as I am free + I may sit in the first entrance + As Lamb always lets me do. + And watch you fume and fret + While the innocent soubrette + Takes the centre of the stage a-- + Way from you, John Drew." + +R. H. D. + + +In the summer of 1894 Richard went to London for a purely social visit, +but while he was there President Carnot was assassinated, and he went +to Paris to write the "story" of the funeral and of the election of the +new President. + +VERSAILLES, June 24, 1894. + +I am out here to see the election of the new President. I jumped on +the mail coach and came off in a hurry without any breakfast, but I had +a pretty drive out, and the guard and I talked of London. The palace +is closed and no one is admitted except by card, so I have seen only +the outside of it. It is most interesting. There is not a ribbon or a +badge; not a banner or a band. The town is as quiet as always, and +there are not 200 people gathered at the gate through which the +deputies pass. Compared to an election convention in Chicago, it is +most interesting. How lively it is inside of the chamber where the +thing is going on I cannot say. I shall not wait to hear the result, +but will return on the coach. + +Nothing could be more curious than the apparent indifference of the +people of Paris to the assassination of the President. Two days after +he died there was not a single flag at half mast among the private +residences. The Government buildings, the hotels and the stores were +all that advertised their grief. I shall have an interesting story to +write of it for the Parisian series. Dana Gibson and I will wait until +after the funeral and then go to Andorra. If he does not go, I may go +alone, but perhaps I shall go back to London at once. This has been an +interesting time here, but only because it is so different from what +one would expect. It reads like a burlesque to note the expressions of +condolence from all over the world, and to mark the self-satisfaction +of the French at attracting so much sympathy, and their absolute +indifference to the death of Carnot. It is most curious. We have an +ideal time. Never before have I had such jolly dinners, with such good +talk and such amusing companions. + +DICK. + + +LONDON, July 15, 1894. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Mr. Irving gave a supper last night to Mme. Bernhardt and Mme. Rejane. +There were about twenty people, and we ate in the Beefsteak Room of the +Lyceum Theater, which is so called after the old Beefsteak Club which +formerly met there. I had a most delightful time, and talked to all +the French women and to Miss Terry, who sent her love to Dad. She +said, "I did not SEE him this last visit; that is, I saw him but I did +not see him." Her daughter is a very sweet girl, and the picture Miss +Terry made on her knees looking up at Bernhardt and Rejane when they +chattered in French was wonderful. Neither she nor Irving could speak +a word of French, and whenever any one else tried, the crowd all stood +in a circle and applauded and guyed them. After it was over, at about +three in the morning, Miss Terry offered me a lift home in her open +carriage, so she and her daughter and I rode through the empty streets +in the gray light for miles and miles, as, of course, I did not get out +of such company any sooner than I had to do. They had taken Irving's +robe of cardinal red and made it into cloaks, and they looked very odd +and eerie with their yellow hair and red capes, and talking as fast as +they could. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA + +About January 1, 1895, Richard accompanied by his friends Somers +Somerset and Lloyd C. Griscom, afterward our minister to Tokio and +ambassador to Brazil and Italy, started out on a leisurely trip of +South and Central America. With no very definite itinerary, they +sailed from New Orleans, bent on having a good time, and as many +adventures as possible, which Richard was to describe in a series of +articles. These appeared later on in a volume entitled "Three Gringos +in Venezuela." + + +January, 1895. + +DEAR FAM: + +On board Breakwater at anchor. You will be pleased to hear that I am +writing this in a fine state of perspiration in spite of the fact that +I have light weight flannels, no underclothes and all the windows open. +It is going to storm and then it will be cooler. We have had a bully +time so far although the tough time is still to come, that will be +going from Puerto Cortez to Tegucigalpa. At Belize the Governor +treated us charmingly and gave us orderlies and launches and lunches +and advice and me a fine subject for a short story. For nothing has +struck me as so sad lately as did Sir Anthony Moloney K. C. M. G. +watching us go off laughing and joking in his gilded barge to wherever +we pleased and leaving him standing alone on his lawn with some papers +to sign and then a dinner tete-a-tete with his Secretary and so on to +the end of his life. It was pathetic to hear him listen to all the +gossip from the outside world and to see how we pleased him when we +told him we were getting more bald than he was and that he would make a +fine appearance in the Row at his present weight. He had not heard of +Trilby!! + +We struck a beautiful place today called Livingston where we went +ashore and photographed the army in which there was no boy older than +eighteen and most of them under ten. It was quite like Africa, the +homes were all thatched and the children all naked and the women mostly +so. We took lots of photographs and got on most excellently with the +natives who thought we were as funny as we thought them. Almost every +place we go word has been sent ahead and agents and consuls and custom +house chaps come out to meet me and ask what they can do. This is very +good and keeps Griscom and Somerset in a proper frame of awe. But +seriously I could not ask for better companions, they are both +enormously well informed and polite and full of fun. The night the +Governor asked Somers to dinner and did not ask us we waited up for him +and then hung him out over the side of the boat above the sharks until +he swore he would never go away from us again. Griscom is more +aggravatingly leisurely but he has a most audacious humor and talks to +the natives in a way that fills them with pleasure but which nearly +makes Somers and I expose the whole party by laughing. Today we lie +here taking in banannas and tomorrow I will see Conrad, Conrad, +Conrad!! Send this to the Consul. Lots of love. + +DICK. + + +SAN PEDRO--SULA--February, 1895. + +MY DEAR FAMILY: + +The afternoon of the day we were in Puerto Cortez the man of war +Atlanta steamed into the little harbor and we all cheered and the +lottery people ran up the American flag. Then I and the others went +out to her as fast as we could be rowed and I went over the side and +the surprise of the officers was very great. They called Somers and +Griscom to come up and we spent the day there. They were a much +younger and more amusing lot of fellows than those on the Minneapolis +and treated us most kindly. It was a beautiful boat and each of us +confessed to feeling quite tempted to go back again to civilization +after one day on her. Their boat had touched at Tangier and so they +claimed that she was the one meant in the Exiles. They told me that +the guide Isaac Cohen whom I mentioned in Harper's Weekly carries it +around as an advertisement and wanted to ship with them as cabin boy. +We left the next day on the railroad and the boys finding that two +negroes sat on the cowcatcher to throw sand on the rails in slippery +places bribed them for their places and I sat on the sand box. I never +took a more beautiful drive. We did not go faster than an ordinary +horse car but still it was exciting and the views and vistas wonderful. +Sometimes we went for a half mile under arches of cocoanut palms and a +straight broad leafed palm called the manaca that rises in separate +leaves sixty feet from the ground. Imagine a palm such as we put in +pots at weddings and teas as high as Holy Trinity Church and hundreds +and hundreds of them. The country is very like Cuba but more luxuriant +in every way. There are some trees with marble like trunks and great +branches covered with oriole nests and a hundred orioles flying in and +out of them or else plastered with orchids. If Billy Furness were to +see in what abundance they grew he would be quite mad. It is a great +pity he did not come with us. This little town is the terminus of the +railroad and we have been here four days while Jeffs the American +Colonel in the Hondurean Army is getting our outfit. It has been very +pleasant and we are in no hurry which is a good thing for us. It is a +most exciting country and as despotic as all uncivilized and unstable +governments must be. But we have called on the Governor of the +district with Jeffs and he gave us a very fine letter to all civil and +unmilitary authorities in the district calling on them to aid and +protect us in every way. I am getting awfully good material for my +novel and for half a dozen stories to boot only I am surprised to find +how true my novel was to what really exists here. About ten years ago +---- disappeared, having as I thought drunk himself to death. He came +up to me here on my arrival with a lot of waybills in his hand and I +learned that he had been employed in this hole in the ground by a +railroad for two years. I remembered meeting him at Newport when I was +still at Lehigh, and last night he asked me to dinner and told me what +he had been doing which included everything from acting in South +America to blacking boots in Australia. His boss was a Pittsburgh +engineer who is apparently licking him into shape and who told me to +tell his father that he had stopped drinking absolutely. His colored +"missus" sat with us at the table and played with a beetle during the +three hours I stayed there during which time he asked me about ---- who +he said had ruined him. He told me of how ---- had done and said this, +and the contrast to the thatched roof and the mud floor and the Scotch +American engineer and the mulatto girl was rather striking. I never +had more luck in any trip than I have had on this one and the luck of +R. H. D. of which I was fond of boasting seems to hold good. That man +of war, for instance, was the only American one that had touched at +Puerto Cortez in TEN years and it came the day we did and left the day +we did. We saw a big lithograph of Eddie Sothern in a palm hut here so +we went before a notary and swore to it and had three seals put on the +paper and sent it him as a joke. We start tomorrow the 22nd so you see +we are behind our schedule and I suppose you people are all worried to +death about us. We will be much longer than six days on our way to +Tegucigalpa as we are going shooting and also to pay our respects to +Bogran the ex-president and the man who is getting up the next +revolution. But we take care to tell everyone we are travelling for +pleasure and are great admirers of Bonilla the present president. +Somers and I are getting on famously. He is a very fine boy with a +great sense of humor and apparently very fond of me. We had five men +counting Jeffs who we call our military attache and Charwood and four +drivers and eleven mules so it is quite an outfit. In Ecuador with one +more man it would constitute a revolution. + +DICK. + + +SANTA BARBARA--January 25, 1895. + +DEAR FAM: + +We are not at Tegucigalpa as you observe but travelling in this +country. "As you see it on Broadway " and as you see it here are two +different things. We have had five days of it so far and rested here +today in order to pay our respects to General Bogran the ex-president +of the Republic. It is still six days to Tegucigalpa. The trip across +Central America will certainly be one of the most interesting +experiences of my life. It is the most beautiful country I have seen +and the most barbarous. It is also the hottest and the most +insect-ious and the dirtiest. This latter seems a little view to take +of it but it means a great deal as the insects prevent your doing +anything in a natural way; as for instance sitting on the grass or +sleeping on the ground or hunting through the bushes. It is pretty +much as you imagine it is from what you have read, that covers it, and +I have discovered nothing new by coming to see it. I only verify what +others have seen. The people are most uninteresting chiefly because +they are surly to Americans and do not make you feel welcome. I do not +mean that I did not do well to come for I am more glad that I did than +I can say only I have not, as I have been able to do before, found +something that others have not seen. I never expect to see such a +country again unless in Africa. If you leave the path for ten yards +you would never get back to it except by accident and you could not get +that far away unless you cut yourself a trail. In some places the mail +route which we follow and over which the mail is carried on the backs +of runners is cut in the rock and we go down steps as even as those of +the City Hall and for hours we travel over rough rocks and stones and a +path so narrow that your knees catch in the vines at the side. The +mules are wonderfully sure footed and never slip although they are very +little, and I am pretty heavy. The heat is something awful. It bakes +you and will dry your pith helmet in ten minutes after you have soaked +it in water. But the scenery is magnificent, sometimes we ride above +the clouds and look down into valleys stretching fifty miles away and +see the buzzards half a mile below us. Then we go through forests of +manaca palms that spread out on a single stem sideways and form arches +over our heads with the leaves hanging in front of us like portiers or +we cross great plains of grass and cactus and rock. The best fun is +the baths we take in the mountain streams. They are almost as cool as +one could wish and we shoot the rapids and lie under the waterfalls and +come out with all the soreness rubbed out of us as though we had been +massaged. We went shooting for two days but as they had no dogs we did +not do much. I got the best shot of the trip and missed it. It was a +large wild cat and he turned his side full on but I fired over him. +Somers and I spent most of the time firing chance shots at alligators, +but they never gave us a good chance as the birds warn them when they +are in danger. One old fellow fifteen feet long beat us for some time +and then Somers and I started across the river to catch him asleep. It +was like the taking of Lungtepen. We had our money belts around our +necks and our shoes in one hand and rifles in the other. The rapids +ran very fast and the last I saw of Somerset he was sitting on the bank +he had started from counting out wet bank notes and blowing the water +out of his gun barrel. I got across all right by sticking my feet +between rocks and put on my shoes and crawled up on the old Johnnie. +He smelt of musk so strong that you could have found him in the dark. +I had, a beautiful shot at him at fifty yards but I was too greedy and +ran around some rocks to get nearer and he heard me and dived. I shot +a macaw, one of those overgrown parrots with tail feathers three feet +from tip to tip. I got him with a rifle and as Griscom had got his +with a shotgun I came out all right as a marksman although I was very +sore at missing the wild cat. We sleep in hats and we sleep precious +little for the dogs and pigs and insects all help to keep us awake and +I cannot get used to a hammock. The native beds are made of matting +such as they put over tea chests, or bull's hide stretched. Last night +I slept in a hut with a woman and her three daughters all over fifteen +and they sat up and watched me prepare for bed with great interest. I +would not have missed this trip for any other I know. I wanted to +rough it and we've roughed it and we will have another week of it too. +We have some remarkable photographs and the article ought to be most +interesting. Bogran proved to be a very handsome and remarkable man +and we had a very interesting talk with him. From Tegucigalpa we will +probably go directly to Venezuela across the Isthmus of Panama and not +visit another Republic. We have all travelled too much to care to +duplicate, and that is what we would be doing by remaining longer in +Central America. A month of it will be enough of it and we will not +get away from Amapala before the first of February. We are all well +and happy and dirty and sing and laugh and tell stories and listen to +Griscom's anecdotes of the aristocracy as we pick our way along. So +goodbye and God bless you all. + +DICK. + + +TEGUCIGALPA, CENTRAL AMERICA. + +February 1st, 1895. + +4th, 1895. + +DEAR FAMILY-- + +Here we are at last, the trip from Santa Barbara where I last wrote you +was made in six days. It was not so interesting as the first part +because it was very high up and the tropical scenery gave way to +immensely tall pines and other trees that might have been in +California, or the Rockies. The Corderillas which is the name of the +mountains we crossed are a continuation, by the way, of the Rockies, +and the Andes but are not more than 4,000 feet high. We had two very +hot days of it in the plains of Comgaqua where there was once a city of +60,000 founded by Cortez but where there are not now more than 6,000. +The heat was awful. We peeled all over our faces and hands and dodged +and ducked our heads as though some one were biting at us. My saddle +and clothes were so hot that I could not place my hand on them. At one +village we heard that a bull fight was to be given at the next fifteen +miles away, so we rode on there and arrived in time to take part. They +had enclosed the plaza with a barricade of logs seven feet high, bound +together with vines. They roped a big bull and lassoed him all over +and then a man got on his back with spurs on his bare feet and held on +by the ropes around the bull's body and by his toes and threw a cloak +over the bull's eyes when ever it got too near any one-- They stuck it +with spears until it was mad and then let the lassoes slip and the bull +started off to tear out the torreadors. I thought it would be a great +sporting act to kodak a bull while it was charging you and so we all +volunteered to act as torreadors and it was most exciting and funny. +It was rather late to get good results but I got some pretty good +pictures of the bull coming at me with his head down and then I'd skip +into a hole in the wall. The best pictures I got were of Somers and +Griscom scrambling over the seven foot barriers with the bull in hot +chase. We all looked so funny in our high boots and helmets and so +much alike that the savages yelled with delight and thought we had been +engaged especially for their pleasure. Our "mosers," or mule drivers +treated us most insolently but we could not do anything because Jeffs. +had engaged them and we did not want to interfere with his authority +but at a place the last day out one of them told Jeffs. he lied and +that we all lied. He had lost or stolen a canteen of Griscom's and +they had said we had not given it to him. Jeffs. went at him right and +left and knocked him all over the shop. There were half a dozen +drunken mule drivers at the place and we thought they would take a hand +but they did not. That night Jeffs. thought to try us to see what we +would have done and left us bathing in a mountain stream and rode on +ahead and hid himself behind a rock in a canon and lay in ambush for +us. We were jogging along in the moonlight and Somerset was reciting +the "Walrus and the Carpenter," when suddenly Jeffs. let out a series +of yells in Spanish and opened fire on us over our heads. Somerset was +riding my mule and I had no weapons, so I yelled at him to shoot and he +fell off his mule and ran to mine and let go at the rock behind which +Jeffs. was with the carbines. So that in about five seconds Jeffs.' +curiosity was perfectly satisfied as to what we would do, and he +shouted for mercy. We thought it was a sentry or brigands and were +greatly disappointed when it turned out to be Jeffs. We got here last +night and a dirtier or more dismal place you never saw. We had +telegraphed ahead for rooms but nothing was in order and we were lodged +much worse than we had been several times in the interior where there +was occasionally a clean floor. This morning we wrote direct to the +President, asking for an interview or audience and did not ask our +Consul to help us because Jeffs. had asked him in our presence to come +meet us and he said he would after he had done talking to some other +men, but he never came. Before we heard from Bonilla however, we +learned that the Vice-president who has the same name was to be sworn +in so we went to the palace along with the populace in their bare feet. +We sat out of sight but the English Consul who was the finest looking +person in the chamber--all over gold lace--saw us and asked that we be +given places in front, which the minister of something asked us to take +but we objected on account of our clothes. Somers had on a flannel +suit that looked exactly like pajamas and lawn tennis shoes. But as +soon as the ceremony was over they insisted on our going in to the +banquet hall and in spite of our objections we were there conveyed and +presented to Bonilla who behaved very well and after saying he had +received our letters but had not had time to read them left us and +avoided us, which was what we wanted for we looked like the devil. We +met everybody else though and took the English and Guatemalian Consuls +back to our rooms and gave them drinks and then we went to their rooms, +so the day went very pleasantly. The President sent us a funny printed +card appointing an audience at eleven to-morrow. It is exactly what +you would imagine it would be, the soldiers are barefooted except about +fifty and the President leaned out of the window in his shirt sleeves +after the review and they have not plastered up the holes in his palace +that his cannon made in it just a year ago to-day, when he was fighting +Vasquez, and Vasquez was then on the inside and Bonilla on the hills. +I forgot to tell you that this morning a boy about sixteen years old, +with a policeman's badge and club came to our window and talked +pleasantly with us or at us rather, while we shaved and guyed him in +English. Finally we found that he had come to arrest Jeffs. so we told +him where Jeffs. was but he preferred to watch us shave and we finished +it under his custody. Then we went to the Commandante and found that +the mosers had had Jeffs. arrested for not paying them on their arrival +at Tegucigalpa, as we had distinctly told them we would not do but at +San Pedro from where we took them, on their return. It was only a +spite case suggested by Jeffs. thrashing their leader. The Commandante +gave them a scolding and we went out in triumph. + + +February 4th-- + +Your cable received all right. We were very glad to hear. We have +decided to go on by mules to Manaqua, the Capital of Nicaragua, and +from there either to Corinto or to Lemon on the Atlantic side. We had +to do this or wait here ten days for the boat going south at Amapala. +It is moonlight now so that we can avoid the heat of the day. +Yesterday we went out riding with the President, who put a gold +revolver in his hip pocket before he started and made us feel that +uneasy lies the head that rules in this country. He had two horses +that had never been ridden before, as a compliment to our powers, the +result was that the Vice-president's horse almost killed him, which I +guess the President intended it should and the horse Griscom rode +backed all over the town. He was a stallion and had never been ridden +before that day. Mine was a gentle old gee-gee and yet I felt good +when we were all on the ground again. The British consul gave Somers a +fine reception and raised the flag for him and had the band there to +play "God Save the Queen," which he had spent the whole morning in +teaching them. Griscom and I called on our Consul and played his +guitar. We bought one for ourselves for the rest of the trip. + +I want you to do something for me: keep all the unfavorable notices you +get. I know Mother won't do it, so I shall expect Nora to make a point +of saving them from the waste-paper basket. If there is not a lot of +them when I get back, I will raise a row. + +DICK. + + +MANAQUA--NICARAGUA--February 13, 1895. + +DEAR FAM: + +I had a great deal to tell you, but we have just received copies of the +Panama Star and have read of the trolley riots in Brooklyn, a crisis in +France, War in the Balkans, a revolution in Honolulu and another in +Colombia. The result is that we feel we are not in it and we are all +kicking and growling and abusing our luck. How Claiborne and Russell +will delight over us and in telling how the militia fired on the +strikers and how Troop A fought nobly. Never mind our turn will come +someday and we may see something yet. We have had the deuce of a time +since we left Tegucigalpa. Now we are in a land where there are bull +hide beds and canvas cots instead of hammocks and ice and railroads and +direct communication with steamship lines. Hereafter all will be +merely a matter of waiting until the boat sails or the train starts and +the uncertainties of mules and cat boats are at an end. It is hard to +explain about our difficulties after we left Tegucigalpa but they were +many. We gave up our idea of riding here direct because they assured +us we could get a steam launch from Amapala to Corinto so we rode three +days to San Lorenzo on the Pacific side and took an open boat from +there to Amapala. It was rowed by four men who walked up a notched log +and then fell back dragging the sweeps back, with the weight of their +bodies. + +It was a moonlight night and they looked very picturesque rising and +sinking back and outlined against the sky. They were naked to the +waist and rowed all night and I had a good chance to see them as I had +to lie on the bottom of the boat on three mahogany logs. By ten the +next day we were too cramped to stand it, so we put ashore on a +deserted island and played Robinson Crusoe. We had two biscuits and a +box of sardines among five of us but we found oysters on the rocks and +knocked a lot off with clubs and stones and the butts of our guns. +They were very good. We also had a bath until a fish ran into me about +three feet long and cut two gashes in my leg. We reached Amapala about +four in the afternoon. It was an awful place; dirt and filth and no +room to move about, so we chartered an open boat to sail or row to +Corinto sixty miles distant. You see, we could not go back to +Tegucigalpa until the steamer arrived which is to take us South of +Panama and we could not go to Manaqua either and for the same reason +that we had sent back our mule train and we would not wait in Amapala +partly because of fever which had been there and partly because we +wanted to get to Corinto where they have ice and to see Manaqua. The +boat was about as long as the Vagabond and twice as deep and a foot or +two more across her beam. There were four of us, five of the crew and +two natives who wanted to make the trip and who we took with us. It +was pretty awful. The old tub rocked like a milk shake and I was never +so ill in my life, we all lay packed together on the ribs of the boat +and could not move and the waves splashed over us but we were too ill +to care. The next day the sun beat in on us and roasted us like an +open furnace. The boat was a pit of heat and outside the swell of the +Pacific rose and fell and reflected the sun like copper. We reached +Corinto in about twenty four hours and I was never so glad to get any +place before. The town turned out to greet us and some Englishmen ran +to ask from what boat we had been ship wrecked. They would not believe +we had taken the trip for any other reason. They helped us very kindly +and would not let us drink all the iced water we wanted and sent us in +to bathe in a place surrounded by piles to keep out the sharks and by a +roof to shelter one from the sun. Corinto proved to be all that +Amapala was not; clean, cool with very excellent food and broad beds of +matting. I liked it better than any place at which we have been, we +came on here the next day to see the President and found the city hot, +dusty and of no interest. There is an excellent hotel however and we +had a talk with the President who was a much better chap than Bonilla +being older and more civilized. Of course there is absolutely no +reason or excuse for us if we do not get control of this canal. If +only that it would allow our ships of war to pass from Ocean to Ocean +instead of going around the horn. The women are really beautiful but +that has nothing to do with the canal. Tomorrow morning we return to +Corinto as Somers and I like it best. Griscom would like to go on +across by the route of the canal which would be a good thing were we +certain of meeting a steamer at Simon or Greytown, but the Minister who +went last month that way had to wait there sixteen days. So, we will +probably leave Corinto on the 17th or 20th, there are two steamers, one +that stops at ports and one that does not. They both arrive together. +I do not know which we will take but--this letter will go with me. Up +to date I think the trip will make a good story but it will have to be +a personal one about the three of us for the country as it stands is +uninteresting to the general reader for the reason that it DUPLICATES +itself in everything. But with our photographs and a humorous story, +it ought to be worth reading and I have picked enough curious things to +make it of some value. + + +February 15,--Corinto. + +We are back here now and rid of that dusty, dirty city. You would be +amused if you saw this place and tried to understand why we prefer it +to any place we have seen. There is surf bathing at a half mile +distant and a good hotel with a great bar where a Frenchman gives us +ice and the sea captains and agents for mines and plantations in the +interior gather to play billiards. Outside there are rows of handsome +women with decollete gowns and shining black hair and colored silk +scarfs selling fruit and down the one street which faces the bay are a +double row of palms and the store where two American boys have a +phonograph. They are the only Americans I have met who have or are +taking a dollar out of this country. They play the guitar and banjo +very well. One of them was on the Princeton glee club and their +stories of how they have toured Central America are very amusing. Lots +of Love. + +DICK. + + +S. S. Barracouta--Off San Juan + +February 21, 1895. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today I believe is the 21st. We are out two days from Corinto off San +Juan on the boundary of Costa Rica and lie here some hours. Then we go +on without stopping to Panama arriving there about the 25th. On the +28th we take the steamer to Caracas. We will be at Caracas a week and +then go straight home. But in the meanwhile we will have got one mail +at Colon when we go there to take the boat for Caracas and glad I will +be to get it. We have had a summary of the news in the Panama Star and +a bundle of Worlds telling all about the trolley strike and that is all +except Dad's cable at Tegucigalpa that we have heard in nearly two +months. I am very sorry that the distances have turned out so much +longer than we expected and that we had that unfortunate ten days wait +for the steamer. I know you want me home and I would like to be there +but I do not think I ought to go without seeing Caracas. It helps the +book so much too if one runs it into South America for no one in the +States thinks much of Central and does not want to read about it. At +least I know I never did. We have had a most amusing time with the two +phonograph chaps. One of them has been an advertising agent and a +deputy sheriff and chased stage coach robbers and kept a hard-ware +store and is only twenty-five and the other has not had quite as much +experience but has been to Princeton, he is 23. The mixture of +narratives which change from tricks of the hard-ware trade to dances at +Buckingham Palace and anecdotes of Cliff House supper parties at San +Francisco are very interesting. I am going to write a book for them +and call it "Through Central America with a Phonograph" or "Who We Did, +and How We Done Them." We sing the most beautiful medleys and +contribute to the phonograph. I had to protest against them announcing +"Her Golden Hair was Hanging Down her Back" by Richard Harding Davis +and Somerset kicked at their introducing "God Save the Queen" as sung +by "His Grace the Duke of Bedford" which they insist in thinking his +real title and his name; if he would only confess the truth. You +cannot have any idea of how glad I am that I took this trip, just this +particular trip, not for any interest it will be to the gentle reader +but for the benefit it has been to me. All the things I was nervous +about have been done and should I get nerves again as I suppose I +always will in one form or another I can get rid of them by remembering +how I got rid of them before during this most peculiar excursion. For +though I and we all told the truth about being well, we were in a most +trying place at times and the ride we took and the sail to get away +from possible fever was very much of a strain. I do not see how +Griscom kept up as he did for he was an invalid and very nervous when +he started. But he showed great sporting blood. It was much better +having three than two and he furnished us with much amusement at which +he never complains. His artlessness and his bad breaks which keep us +filled with terror make the most entertaining narratives and he tells +them on himself and then keeps on making new ones. One night Jeffs +came down with fever through bathing in the mountain streams, a +practice which did not hurt us but which natives of the country cannot +do in safety, and I confess I was scared. Jeffs pulled through in a +few days. It was odd that the man who had lived here eleven years +should have been the only one to give up throughout the whole trip and +he was a good sport, too. + +I will have the Central American stories all done or nearly so by the +time we reach New York which is one of the comforts of this over +abundance of sea voyages. I have the lottery story nearly written and +am wondering now if Bissell will let me publish it. Would it not be a +good idea to have Dad, if he knows him, explain about how I went South +to write it and just what it is and get his official sanction or shall +I write or get the Harper's to write when I get back. The lottery +people in joke offered $10,000 if they could write the story +themselves. And sometimes I wish they would for it is the hardest kind +of work. I do not want to advertise their old game and yet I cannot +help doing it, in a way. We put in at Punta Arenas and I found a woman +looking at us with an opera glass and shortly after she sent out to say +she knew me and that she wanted me to come up. It seemed I met her in +Elizabeth, New Jersey with Eddie Coward where she was playing in +private theatricals. Since then as a punishment no doubt she has lived +here and her husband is Minister of the Navy with one gun boat. This +trip is very hot and I sleep on deck and look up at the stars and the +light on the jib and the smoke spoiling the firmament. It makes you +feel terribly far away from the centre of civilization in front of the +fire and you all trying to make out where we are at. I hope you know +more about it than we do. + +It is the worst country for getting about that I ever heard of. It has +revived my interest and belief in all such beautiful things as buried +treasures and hidden cities and shooting men against stone walls and +filibusters. There are not many of these stories but every man tells +them differently so they have all the freshness of a new tale. There +is no ice on this boat or lemons or segars. It is the first time so +they say that it has happened in twelve months, but after this it must +be better. At Panama they fine the ice man $1000 every day his machine +breaks and so we have hopes. I feel so very, very selfish off down +here and leaving you all alone and it makes me lose my temper more than +usual when all these delays occur but I promise to be good hereafter +and we will be together soon now by the end of March sure and I hope +you will not miss me too much, as much as I miss all of you. Sometimes +I wish you could see some of these islands and the long shadowy sharks +and the turtles, there are thousands of turtles as big as tubs just +floating around like empty bottles, but I have never on the whole taken +a trip when I so seldom wished that the family were around to enjoy it. +It used to hurt me during the Mediterranean trip but there is not much +that would please you in this outfit. I like it because I am satisfied +to go dirty for weeks at a time and to talk to the engineer or the +queer passengers and to pick up stories and improve my geography but I +do not think the scenery would compensate either Nora or you or Dad for +the lack of necessities and CLEANTH. When we were crossing the +continent I don't believe I had a spot on me as big as a nickel without +three bites on it, all sorts of bites, they just swarmed over you all +sizes, colors and varieties. They came from dogs, from the sand, from +trees, from the grass, from the air. The worst were little red bugs +that lay under the leaves called carrapati's and that came off on you +in a hundred at a time. And there were also "jiggers" that get under +your nails and leave eggs there. Some times we could not sleep at all +for the bites and you had to carry a brush to brush the carripats off +every time you passed through bushes. It's the damnedest country I was +ever in now that I have time to think of it. The other day I was going +in to bathe and the sand was so hot that I could not get to the +breakers and so I went yelling and jumping back to the grass and the +grass was just one mass of burrs, so I gave another yell and leaped on +to a big log and the log was full of thorns. That's the sort of +country it is. And then after you do make a dash for the surf a shark +makes a dash for you and you don't know what you are here for anyway. +It had its humorous side and it was very funny, especially as it never +turned out otherwise, to see the men scamper when the sharks came in. +They never scented us for ten minutes or so and then they would swim up +and we would give a yell and all make for the shore head over heels and +splashing and shrieking and scared and excited. There would always be +one man who was further out than the rest and he could not hear on +account of the waves and we would all line up on the beach and yell and +dance up and down and try to attract his attention. But you would see +him go on diving and playing along in horrible loneliness until he +turned to speak to some one and found the man gone and then he would +look for the others and when he saw us all on the shore he would give +one wild whoop out of him and go falling over himself with his hair on +end and his eyes and mouth wide open. I saw one shark ten feet long +but we would have died of the heat if we had not bathed so we thought +it was worth it. That's over now because we cannot get any more sea +bathing. Just around Panama. Finest place seen yet. + +RICHARD. + + +PANAMA, February 28th, 1895. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Griscom has awakened to the fact that he is a Press correspondent and +is interviewing rebels who come stealthily by night followed by spies +of the government and sit in Griscom's room with the son of the Consul +General, as interpreter. Somerset and I refuse to be implicated and +sit in the plaza waiting for a file of soldiers to carry Griscom off +which is our cue for action. There is a man-of-war, the Atlanta, the +one we made friends with at Puerto Cortez, lying at Colon and so we +feel safe. We may now be said to be absorbing local color. That is +about all we have done since we left Amapala. And if it were not that +you are all alone up there, I would not mind it. I would probably +continue on. We know it now as we do London or Paris. We can +distinguish sea captains, lawyers in politics, commandantes, oldest +residents, gentlemenly good for nothings, shipping agents and +commission dealers, coffee planters and men who are "on the beach" with +unerring eye. We know the story of each before he tells it, or it is +told by some one else. The Commandante shot a lot of men by the side +of a road during the last revolution, first allowing them to dig their +own graves and is here now so that he can pay himself by stealing the +custom dues, the lawyer politician has been to Cornell and taken a +medical degree in Paris and aspires to be a deputy and only remembers +New York as the home of Lillian Russell. The commission merchants are +all Germans and the coffee planters are all French. They point with +pride to little bare-foot boys selling sea shells and cocoanuts as +their offspring, although they cannot remember their names. The sea +captains you can tell by their ready made clothes of a material that +would be warm in Alaska and by them wearing Spanish dollars for watch +guards and by the walk which is rolling easily when sober and pitching +heavily toward the night. The oldest resident always sits in front of +the hotel and in the same seat, with a tortoise shell cane and +remembers when Vasquez or Mendoza or Barrios, or Bonilla occupied the +Cathedral and fired hot shot into the Palace and everybody took refuge +in the English Consulate and he helped guard the bank all night with a +Springfield rifle. The men who are on the beach have just come out of +the hospital where they have had yellow fever and they want food. This +story is intended to induce you to get rid of them hurriedly by a small +token. Sometimes out of this queer combination you will get a good +story but generally they want to show you a ruined abbey or a document +as old as the Spanish occupation or to make you acquainted with a man +who has pearls to sell, or a coffee plantation or a collection of +unused stamps which he stole while a post-office employee. Our chief +sport now is to go throw money at the prisoners who are locked up in a +row of dungeons underneath the sea wall. The people walk and flirt and +enjoy the sea breeze above them and the convicts by holding a mirror +between the bars of the dungeons can see who is leaning over the +parapet above them. Then they hold out their hands and you drop +nickels and they fail to catch them and the sentry comes up and teases +them by holding the money a few inches beyond their reach. They climb +all over the crossbars in their anxiety to get the money and look like +great monkeys. At night it is perfectly tremendous for their is only a +light over their heads and they crawl all over the bars beneath this, +standing on each other's shoulders and pushing and fighting and yelling +half naked and wholey black and covered with sweat. As a matter of +fact they are better content to stay in jail than out and when the +British Consul offered to send eight of them back to Jamaica they +refused to go and said they would rather serve out their sentence of +eight years. This is the way the place looks and I am going to +introduce it in a melodrama and have some one lower files down to the +prisoners. DICK. + + +After some not very eventful or pleasant days at Caracas, Richard +sailed for home and from the steamer wrote the following letter: + + +March 26th--On board S. S. Caracas. + +DEAR CHAS: + +Off the coast of God's country. Hurrah! H---- did not come near us +until the morning of our departure when he arrived at the Station +trembling all over and in need of a shave. But in the meanwhile the +consul at Caracas picked Griscom and myself up in the street and took +us in to see Crespo who received us with much dignity and politeness. +So we met him after all and helped the story out that much. + +There is not much more to tell except that I was never so glad to set +my face home as I am now and even the roughness of this trip cannot +squelch my joy. It seems to me as if years had passed since we left +and to think we are only three days off from Sandy Hook seems much too +wonderfully good to be possible. Some day when we have dined alone +together at Laurent's I will tell you the long story of how Somers and +Gris came to be decorated with the Order of the Bust of Bolivar the +Liberator of Venezuela of the 4th class but at present I will only say +that there is a third class of the order still coming to me in Caracas, +as there is 20 minutes still coming to Kelly in Brooklyn. It was a +matter of either my getting the third class, which I ought to have had +anyway having the third class of another order already, and THEIR +GETTING NOTHING, or our all getting the 4th or 5th class and of course +I choose that they should get something and so they did and for my +aimable unselfishness in the matter they have frequently drunken my +health. I was delighted when Somers got his for he was happier over it +than I have ever seen him over anything and kept me awake nights +talking about it. I consider it the handsomest order there is after +the Legion of Honor and I have become so crazy about Bolivar who was a +second Washington and Napoleon that I am very glad to have it, although +I still sigh for the third class with its star and collar. + +The boys are especially glad because we have organized a Traveller's +Club of New York of which we expect great things and they consider that +it starts off well in having three of the members possessors of a +foreign order. We formed the club while crossing Honduras in sight of +the Pacific Ocean and its object is to give each other dinners and to +present a club medal to people who have been nice to and who have +helped members of the club while they were in foreign parts. It is my +idea and I think a good one as there are lots of things one wants to do +for people who help you and this will be as good as any. Members of +the club are the only persons not eligible to any medal bestowed by the +club and the eligibility for membership is determined by certain +distances which a man must have travelled. Although the idea really is +to keep it right down to our own crowd and make each man justify the +smallness of the club's membership by doing something worth while. I +am President. Bonsal is vice president. Russell treasurer and Griscom +Secretary. Somerset is the solitary member. You and Sam and Helen and +Elizabeth Bisland are at present the only honorary members. We are +also giving gold medals to the two chaps who crossed Asia on bicycles, +to Willie Chanler and James Creelman, but that does not make them +members. It only shows we as a club think they have done a sporting +act. I hope you like the idea. We have gone over it for a month and +considered it in every way and I think we are all well enough known to +make anybody pleased to have us recognize what they did whether it was +for any of us personally or for the public as explorers. On this trip +for instance we would probably send the club medals in silver to +Admiral Meade, to Kelly, to Royas the Venezuelan Minister for the +orders to the Governor of Belize, to the consul at La Guayra and to one +of the phonograph chaps. In the same way if you would want to send a +medal to any man or woman prince or doctor who had been kind, +courteous, hospitable or of official service to you you would just send +in a request to the committee. Write me soon and with lots of love +DICK. + + +In April, 1895, Richard was back in New York, at work on his South and +Central American articles, and according to the following letters, +having a good time with his old friends. + + +NEW YORK, April 27, 1895. + +DEAR CHAS: + +I read in the paper the other morning that John Drew was in Harlem, so +I sent him a telegram saying that I was organizing a relief expedition, +and would bring him out of the wilderness in safety. At twelve I sent +another reading, "Natives from interior of Harlem report having seen +Davis Relief Expeditionary Force crossing Central Park, all well. +Robert Howard Russell." At two I got hold of Russell, and we +telegraphed "Relief reached Eighty-fifth street; natives peacefully +inclined, awaiting rear column, led by Griscom; save your ammunition +and provisions." Just before the curtain fell we sent another, +reading: "If you can hold the audience at bay for another hour, we +guarantee to rescue yourself and company and bring you all back to the +coast in safety. Do not become disheartened." Then we started for +Harlem in a cab with George and another colored man dressed as African +warriors, with assegai daggers and robes of gold and high turbans and +sashes stuck full of swords. I wore my sombrero and riding breeches, +gauntlets and riding boots, with cartridge belts full of bum cartridges +over my shoulder and around the waist. Russell had my pith helmet and +a suit of khaki and leggins. Griscom was in one of my coats of many +pockets, a helmet and boots. We all carried revolvers, canteens and +rifles. We sent George in with a note saying we were outside the +zareba and could not rescue him because the man on watch objected to +our guns. As soon as they saw George they rushed out and brought us +all in. Drew was on the stage, so we tramped into the first entrance, +followed by all the grips, stage hands and members of the company. The +old man heard his cue just as I embraced him, and was so rattled that +when he got on the stage he could not say anything, and the curtain +went down without any one knowing what the plot was about. When John +came off, I walked up to him, followed by the other four and the entire +company, and said: "Mr. Drew, I presume," and he said: "Mr. Davis, I +believe. I am saved!" Helen Benedict happened to be in Maude Adams' +dressing-room, and went off into a fit, and the company was delighted +as John would have been had he been quite sure we were not going on the +stage or into a box. We left them after we had had a drink, although +the company besought us to stay and protect them, and got a supper +ready in Russell's rooms, at which Helen, Ethel Barrymore, John and +Mrs. Drew, Maude Adams and Griscom were present. + +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, November, 1895. + +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +The china cups have arrived all right and are a beautiful addition to +my collection and to my room, in which Daphne still holds first place. + +What do you think Sir Henry sent me? The medal and his little black +pipe in a green velvet box about as big as two bricks laid side by side +with a heavy glass top with bevelled edges and the medal and pipe lying +on a white satin bed, bound down with silver--and a large gold plate +with the inscription "To Richard Harding Davis with the warmest +greetings from Gregory Brewster--1895"-- You have no idea how pretty it +is, Bailey, Banks and Biddle made it-- It is just like him to do +anything so sweet and thoughtful and it has attracted so many people +that I have had it locked up-- No Burden jewel robbers here-- My +friend, the Russian O---- lady still pursues me and as she has no sense +of humor and takes everything seriously, she frightens me-- I am afraid +she will move in at any moment-- She has asked me to spend the summer +with her at Paris and Monte Carlo, and at her country place in Norfolk +and bombards me with invitations to suppers and things in the meantime. +She has just sent me a picture of herself two feet by three, with +writing all over it and at any moment, I expect her to ring the bell +and order her trunks taken up stairs-- I am too attractive-- Last night +I dined with Helen and Maude Adams, who is staying with her. I want +them to board me too. Maude sang for us after dinner and then went off +to see Yvette Guilbert at a "sacred concert" to study her methods. I +went to N----'s box to hear Melba and we chatted to the accompaniment +of Melba, Nordica and Plancon in a trio--the Ogre, wore fur, pearls, +white satin and violets. It was a pink silk box. Then I went down to +a reception at Mrs. De Koven's and found it was a play. Everybody was +seated already so I squatted down on the floor in front of Mrs. De +Koven and a tall woman in a brocade gown cut like a Japanese woman's-- +It was very dark where the audience was, so I could not see her face +but when the pantomime was over I looked up and saw it was Yvette +Guilbert. So I grabbed Mrs. De Koven and told her to present me and +Guilbert said in English-- "It is not comfortable on the floor is it?" +and I said, "I have been at your feet for three years now, so I am +quite used to it"--for which I was much applauded-- Afterwards I told +some one to tell her in French that I had written a book about Paris +and about her and that I was going to mark it and send it and before +the woman could translate, Guilbert said, "No, send me the Van Bippere +book"-- So we asked her what she meant and she said, " M. Bourget told +me to meet you and to read your Van Bippere Book, you are Mr. Davis, +are you not?"-- So after that I owned the place and refused to meet +Mrs. Vanderbilt. + +Yvette has offered to teach me French, so I guess I won't go to +Somerset's wedding, unless O---- scares me out of the country. I got +my $2,000 check and have paid all my debts. They were not a third as +much as I thought they were, so that's all right. + +Do come over mother, as soon as you can and we will meet at Jersey +City, and have a nice lunch and a good talk. Give my bestest love to +Dad and Nora. How would she like Yvette for a sister-in-law? John +Hare has sent me seats for to night-- He is very nice-- I have begun +the story of the "Servants' Ball" and got well into it. + +and lots of love. + +DICK. + + + +The following letter was written to me at Florence. The novel referred +to was "Soldiers of Fortune," which eventually proved the most +successful book, commercially, my brother ever wrote. Mrs. Hicks, to +whom Richard frequently refers, is the well-known English actress +Ellaline Terriss, the wife of Seymour Hicks. Somerset is Somers +Somerset, the son of Lady Henry Somerset, and the Frohman referred to +is Daniel Frohman, who was the manager of the old Lyceum Theatre. + +Early in November, William R. Hearst asked my brother to write a +description of the Yale-Princeton football game for The Journal. +Richard did not want to write the "story" and by way of a polite +refusal said he could not undertake it for less than $500.00. Greatly +to his surprise Hearst promptly accepted the offer. At the time, I +imagine this was by far the largest sum ever paid a writer for +reporting a single event. + + +December 31st, 1895. + New York. + The Players. + +New Year's Eve. + +DEAR CHAS: + +I am not much of a letter writer these days, but I have finished the +novel and that must make up for it. It goes to the Scribners for +$5,000 which is not as much as I think I should have got for it. I am +now lying around here until the first of February, when I expect to +sail to Somerset's wedding, reaching you in little old Firenzi in +March. We will then paint it. After that I do not know what I shall +do. The Journal is after me to do almost anything I want at my own +figure, as a correspondent. They have made Ralph London correspondent +and their paper is the only one now to stick to. They are trying to +get all the well known men at big prices. + +I have had such a good time helping Mrs. Hicks in Seymour's absence. +She had about everything happen to her that is possible and she is just +the sort of little person you love to do things for. She finally +sailed and I am now able to attend to my own family. + +The Central American and Venezuelan book comes out on February lst. +Several of the papers here jokingly alluded to the fact that my article +on the Venezuelan boundary had inspired the President's message. Of +course you get garbled ideas of things over there and exaggerated ones, +as for instance, on the Coxey army. But you never saw anything like +the country after that war message. It was like living with a British +fleet off Sandy Hook. Everybody talked of it and of nothing else. I +went to a dinner of 300 men all of different callings and I do not +believe one of them spoke of anything else. Cabmen, car conductors, +barkeepers, beggars and policemen. All talked war and Venezuela and +the Doctrine of Mr. Monroe. In three days the country lost one +thousand of millions of dollars in values, which gives you an idea how +expensive war is. It is worse than running a newspaper. Now, almost +everyone is for peace, peace at any price. I do not know of but one +jingo paper, The Sun, and war talk is greeted with jeers. It was as if +the people had suddenly had their eyes opened to what it really meant +and having seen were wiser and wanted no more of it. Your brother, +personally, looks at it like this. Salisbury was to blame in the first +place for being rude and not offering to arbitrate as he had been asked +to do. When he said to Cleveland, "It's none of your business" the +only answer was "Well, I'll make it my business" but instead of +stopping there, Cleveland uttered a cast iron ultimatum instead of +leaving a loophole for diplomacy and a chance for either or both to +back out. That's where I blame him as does every one else. + +Sam Sothern is in Chicago and we all wrote him guying letters about the +war. Helen said she was going to engage "The Heart of Maryland" +company to protect her front yard, while Russell and I have engaged +"The Girl I Left Behind Me" company with Blanch Walsh and the original +cast. + +We sent Somerset a picture of himself riddled with bullets. And Mrs. +Hicks made herself famous by asking if it was that odious Dunraven they +were going to war about. + +My article was a very lucky thing and is greatly quoted and in social +gatherings I am appealed to as a final authority. + +The football story, by the way, did me a heap of good with the +newspapers and the price was quoted as the highest ever paid for a +piece of reporting. People sent for it so that the edition was +exhausted. The Journal people were greatly pleased. + +Yvette Guilbert is at Hammerstein's and crowds the new music hall +nightly, at two dollars a seat. Irving and Miss Terry have been most +friendly to me and to the family. Frohman is going to put "Zenda" on +in New York because he has played a failure, which will of course kill +it for next year for Eddie, when he comes out as a star. I have never +seen such general indignation over a private affair. Barrymore called +it a case of Ollaga Zenda. They even went to Brooklyn when Eddie was +playing there and asked him to stage the play for them and how he made +his changes and put on his whiskers. Poor Eddie, he lacks a business +head and a business manager--and Sam talks and shakes his head but is +little better. Lots of love and best wishes for the New Year. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MOSCOW, BUDAPEST, LONDON + +The years 1896--1897 were probably the most active of Richard's very +active life. In the space of twelve months he reported the Coronation +at Moscow, the Millennial Celebration at Budapest, the Spanish-Cuban +War, the McKinley Inauguration, the Greek-Turkish War and the Queen's +Jubilee. Although this required a great deal of time spent in +travelling, Richard still found opportunity to do considerable work on +his novel "Captain Macklin," to which he refers in one of his letters +from London. + +As correspondent of the New York American, then The Journal, Richard +went from Florence, where he was visiting me, to Moscow. He was +accompanied by Augustus Trowbridge, an old friend of my brother's and a +rarely good linguist. The latter qualification proved of the greatest +possible assistance to Richard in his efforts to witness the actual +coronation ceremony. To have finally been admitted to the Kremlin my +brother always regarded as one of his greatest successes as a +correspondent. + + +En route--May 1896. + +DEAR CHAS: + +The night is passed and with the day comes "a hope" but during the +blackness I had "a suffer"-- I read until two--five hours--and then +slept until five when the middle man who had slept on my shoulder all +night left the train and the second one to whom Bernardi was so polite +left me alone and had the porter fit me up a bed so that I slept until +seven again-- Then the Guardian Angel returned for his traps and I bade +him a sleepy adieu and was startled to see two soldiers standing +shading their eyes in salute in the doorway and two gentlemen bowing to +my kind protector with the obsequiousness of servants-- He sort of +smiled back at me and walked away with the soldiers and 13 porters +carrying his traps. So I rung up the conductor and he said it was the +King's Minister with his eyes sticking out of his head--the conductor's +eyes--not the Minister's. I don't know what a King's Minister is but +he liked your whiskey-- I am now passing through the Austrian Tyrol +which pleases me so much that I am chortling with joy-- None of the +places for which my ticket call are on any map--but don't you care, I +don't care-- I wish I could adequately describe last night with nothing +but tunnels hours in length so that you had to have all the windows +down and the room looked like a safe and full of tobacco smoke and damp +spongey smoke from the engine, and bad air. That first compartment I +went in was filled later with German women who took off their skirts +and the men took off their shoes. Everybody in the rear of the car is +filthy dirty but I had a wash at the Custom house and now I am almost +clean and quite happy. The day is beautiful and the compartment is all +my own-- I am absolutely enchanted with the Tyrol-- I have never seen +such quaint picture book houses and mills with wheels like that in the +Good for Nothing and crucifixes wonderfully carved and snow mountains +and dark green forests-- The sky is perfect and the air is filled with +the sun and the train moves so smoothly that I can see little blue +flowers, baby blue, Bavarian blue flowers, in the Spring grass. Such +dear old castles like birds nests and such homelike old mills and +red-faced millers with feathers in their caps you never saw out of a +comic opera-- The man in here with me now is a Russian, of course, and +saw the last Coronation and knows that my suite is on the principal +Street and attends to my changing money and getting an omelette-- I can +survive another night now having had an omelette not so good as Madam +Masi's but still an omelette-- I have now left Munich and the Russian +and a conductor whom I mistook for a hereditary prince of Bavaria, with +tassels down his back, has assured me he is going to Berlin, and that I +am going to Berlin and much else to which I smile knowingly and say +mucho gracia, wee wee, ya ya, ich ich limmer and other long speeches +ending with "an er--" + +DICK. + + +May 15th, 1896. Moscow. + +DEAR CHAS: + +We left Berlin Monday night at eleven and slept well in a wagon-lit. +That was the only night out of the five that I spent in the cars that I +had my clothes off, although I was able to stretch out on the seats, so +I am cramped and tired now. At seven Monday morning the guard woke us +and told us to get ready for the Custom House and I looked out and saw +a melancholy country of green hills and black pines and with no sign of +human life. It was raining and dreary looking and then I saw as we +passed them a line of posts painted in black and white stripes a half +mile apart on each side of the train and I knew we had crossed the +boundary and that the line of posts stretched from the Arctic Ocean to +the Black Sea and from the Pacific to the Caucasus Mountains and the +Pamirs. It gave me a great thrill but I have had so many to-day, that +I had almost forgotten that one. For two days we jogged along through +a level country with meanthatched huts and black crows flying +continually and peasants in sheepskin coats, full in the skirt and +tight at the waist, with boots or thongs of leather around their feet. +The women wore boots too and all the men who were not soldiers had +their hair cropped short like mops. We could not find any one who +understood any language, so as we never knew when we would stop for +food, we ate at every station and I am of the opinion that for months I +have been living on hot tea and caviar and hash sandwiches. The snow +fell an inch deep on Wednesday and dried up again in an hour and the +sun shone through it all. So on the whole it was a good trip and most +interesting. But here we are now in a perfect pandemonium and the Czar +has not yet come nor one-fifth even of the notables. It is a great +city, immense and overpowering in its extent. The houses are ugly low +storied and in hideous colors except the churches which are like +mosques and painted every color. I confess I feel beaten to night by +the noise and rush and roar and by so many strange figures and +marvellous costumes. Our rooms are perfect that is one thing and the +situation is the very best. If the main street were Fifth Avenue and +Madison Square the Governor's Square, his palace would be Delmonico's +and our rooms would be the corner rooms of the Brunswick, so you can +see how well we are placed. We can sit in our windows and look down +and up the main street and see every one who leaves or calls upon the +Governor. We are now going out for a dinner and to one of many +cafe-chantants and I will tell you the rest to-morrow, when I get +sleep, for after five nights of it I feel done up, but I feel equally +sure it is going to be a great experience and I cannot tell you how +glad 1 am that I came. Love to you all and to dear Florence in which +Trowbridge, who is a brick, joins me. + +DICK. + + +Moscow--May 1896. + +DEAR CHAS: + +There was a great deal to tell when I shut down last night, but I +thought I would have had things settled by this time and waited, but it +looks now as though there was to be no rest for the weary until the +Czar has put his crown on his head. The situation is this: there are +ninety correspondents, and twelve are to get into the coronation, two +of these will be Americans. There are five trying for it. + +Count Daschoff, the Minister of the Court, has the say as to who gets +in of those five. T. and I called on him with my credentials just as +he was going out. Never have I seen such a swell. He made us feel +like dudes from Paterson, New Jersey. He had three diamond eagles in +an astrakan cap, a white cloak, a gray uniform, top boots and three +rows of medals. He spoke English perfectly, with the most politely +insolent manner that I have ever had to listen to; and eight servants, +each of whom we had, in turn, mistaken for a prince royal, bowed at him +all the brief time he talked over our heads. He sent us to the bureau +for correspondents, where they gave me a badge and a pocketbook, with +my photo in it. They are good for nothing, except to get through the +police lines. No one at the bureau gave us the least encouragement as +to my getting in at the coronation. We were frantic, and I went back +to Breckenridge, our Minister, and wrote him a long letter explaining +what had happened, and that what I wrote would "live," that I was +advertised and had been advertised to write this story for months. I +dropped The Journal altogether, and begged him to represent me as a +literary light of the finest color. This he did in a very strong +letter to Daschoff, and I presented it this morning, but the Minister, +like Edison, said he would let me know when he could see me. Then I +wrote Breck a letter of thanks so elegant and complimentary that he +answered with another, saying if his first failed he would try again. +That means he is for me, and at the bureau they say whichever one he +insists on will get in, but they also say he is so good-natured that he +helps every one who comes. I told him this, and he has promised to +continue in my behalf as soon as we hear from Daschoff. + +The second thing of importance is the getting the story, IF WE GET IT, +on the wire. That, I am happy to say, we are as assured of as I could +hope to be. I own the head of the Telegraph Bureau soul, body and +mind. He loves the ground T. and I spurn, and he sent out my first +cable today, one of interrogation merely, ahead of twelve others; he +has also given us the entree to a private door to his office, all the +other correspondents having to go to the press-rooms and undergo a sort +of press censorship, which entails on each man the cutting up of his +story into three parts, so as to give all a chance. I gave T. three +dictums to guide him; the first was that we did not want a fair +chance--we wanted an unfair advantage over every one else. Second, to +never accept a "No" or a "Yes" from a subordinate, but to take +everything from head-quarters. Third, to use every mouse, and not to +trust to the lions. He had practise on the train. When he told me we +would be in Moscow in ten hours, I would say, "Who told you that," and +back he would go to the Herr Station Director in a red gown, and return +to say that we would get there in twenty hours. By this time I will +match him against any newspaper correspondent on earth. He flatters, +lies, threatens and bribes with a skill and assurance that is simply +beautiful, and his languages and his manners pull me out of holes from +which I could never have risen. With it all he is as modest as can be, +and says I am the greatest diplomat out of office, which I really think +he believes, but I am only using old reporters' ways and applying the +things other men did first. + +My best stroke was to add to my cable to The Journal, "Recommend ample +recognition of special facilities afforded by telegraph official"--and +then get him to read it himself under the pretext of wishing to learn +if my writing was legible. He grinned all over himself, and said it +was. After my first story is gone I will give him 200 roubles for +himself in an envelope and say Journal wired me to do it. That will +fix him for the coronation story, as it amounts to six months' wages +about. But, my dear brother, in your sweet and lovely home, where the +sun shines on the Cascine and the workmen sleep on the bridges, and +dear old ladies knit in the streets, that is only one of the thousand +things we have had to do. It would take years to give you an account +of what we have done and why we do it. It is like a game of whist and +poker combined and we bluff on two flimsy fours, and crawl the next +minute to a man that holds a measly two-spot. There is not a wire we +have not pulled, or a leg, either, and we go dashing about all day in a +bath-chair, with a driver in a bell hat and a blue nightgown, leaving +cards and writing notes and giving drinks and having secretaries to +lunch and buying flowers for wives and cigar boxes for husbands, and +threatening the Minister with Cleveland's name. + +John A. Logan, Jr., is coming dressed in a Russian Uniform, and he wore +it on the steamer, and says he is the special guest of the Czar and the +Secretary of the visiting mission. Mrs. P. P. is paying $10,000 for a +hotel for one week. That is all the gossip there is. We lunched with +the McCooks today and enjoyed hearing American spoken, and they were +apparently very glad to have us, and made much of T. and of me. We only +hope they can help us; and I am telling the General the only man to +meet is Daschoff, and when he does I will tell him to tell Daschoff I +am the only man to be allowed in the coronation. I wish I could tell +you about the city, but we see it only out of the corner of our eyes as +we dash to bureau after bureau and "excellency" and "royal highness" +people, and then dash off to strengthen other bridges and make new +friends. It is great fun, and I am very happy and T. is having the +time of his life. He told me he would rather be with me on this trip +than travel with the German Emperor, and you will enjoy to hear that he +wrote Sarah I was the most "good-natured" man he ever met. God bless +you all, and dear, dear Florence. Lots of love. + +DICK. + + +Moscow--May, 1896. + +DEAR CHAS: + +I have just sent off my coronation story, and the strain of this thing, +which has really been on me for six months, is off. You can imagine +what a relief it is, or, rather, you cannot, for no one who has not +been with us these last ten days can know what we have had to do. The +story I sent is not a good one. It was impossible to tell it by cable, +and the first one on the entry was a much better one. I do not care +much, though; of course, I do care, as I ought to have made a great hit +with it, but there was no time, and there was so much detail and +minutia that I could not treat it right. However, after the awful +possibility, or rather certainty, that we have had to face of not +getting any story at all, I am only too thankful. I would not do it +again for ten thousand dollars. Edwin Arnold, who did it for The +Telegraph, had $25,000, and if I told you of the way Hearst acted and +Ralph interfered with impertinent cables, you would wonder I am sane. +They never sent me a cent for the cables until it was so late that I +could not get it out of the bank, and we have spent and borrowed every +penny we have. Imagine having to write a story and to fight to be +allowed a chance to write it, and at the same time to be pressed for +money for expenses and tolls so that you were worn out by that alone. +The brightest side of the whole thing was the way everybody in this +town was fighting for me. The entire town took sides, and even men who +disliked me, and who I certainly dislike, like C. W. and R---- of the +Paris Embassy, turned in and fought for my getting in like relations. +And the women--I had grand dukes and ambassadors and princes, whom I do +not know by sight, moving every lever, and as Stanhope of The Herald, +testified "every man, woman and child in the visiting and resident +legation is crazy on the subject of getting Davis into the coronation." +They made it a personal matter, and when I got my little blue badge, +the women kissed me and each other, and cheered, and the men came to +congratulate me, and acted exactly as though they had got it themselves. + +It was a beautiful sight; the Czarina much more beautiful and more +sad-looking than ever before. But it was not solemn enough, and the +priests groaned and wailed and chanted and sang, and every one stood +still and listened. All that the Czar and Czarina did was over ten +minutes after they entered the chapel, and then for three hours the +priests took the center of the stage and groaned. I was there from +seven until one. Six solid hours standing and writing on my hat. It +was a fine hat, for we were in court costume, I being a distinguished +visitor, as well as a correspondent. That was another thing that +annoyed me, because Breckinridge, who has acted like a brick, did not +think he could put me on both lists, so I chose the correspondents' +list, of course, in hopes of seeing the ceremony, but knowing all the +time that that meant no balls or functions, so that had I lost the +ceremony I would have had nothing; but he arranged it so that I am on +both lists. Not that I care now. For I am tired to death; and +Trowbridge did not get on either list, thanks to the damned Journal and +to his using all his friends to help me, so that I guess I will get out +and go to Buda Pest and meet you in Paris. Do not consider this too +seriously, for I am writing it just after finishing my cable and having +spent the morning on my toes in the chapel. I will feel better +tomorrow. Anyway, it is done and I am glad, as it was the sight of the +century, and I was in it, and now I can spend my good time and money in +gay Paree. Love to all. + +DICK. + + +From Moscow Richard went direct to Buda Pest, where he wrote an article +on the Hungarian Millennial. + + + +BUDA PEST + +May 8th, 1896. + +CHAS: + +I have just returned from the procession of the Hungarian Nobles. It +was even more beautiful and more interesting than the Czar's entry than +which I would not have believed anything could have been more +impressive-- But the first was military, except for the carriages, +which were like something out of fairyland--to-day, the costumes were +all different and mediaeval, some nine hundred years old and none +nearer than the 15th Century. The mis en scene was also much better. +Buda is a clean, old burgh, with yellow houses rising on a steep green +hill, red roofs and towers and domes, showing out of the trees-- It is +very high but very steep and the procession wound in and out like a +fairy picture-- I sat on the top of the hill, looking down it to the +Danube, which separates Buda from Pest-- The Emperor sat across the +square about 75 yards from our tribune in the balcony of his palace. +We sat in the Palace yard and the procession passed and turned in front +of us-- There were about 1,500 nobles, each dressed to suit himself, in +costumes that had descended for generations--of brocade, silk, fur, and +gold and silver cloth-- Each costume averaged, with the trappings of +the horse, 5,000 dollars. Some cost $1,000, some $15,000. Some wore +complete suits of chain armor, with bearskins and great black eagle +feathers on their spears just as they were when they invaded Rome-- +Others wore gold chain armor and leopard or wolf skins and their horses +were studded with turquoises and trappings of gold and silver and +smothered in silver coins-- It would have been ridiculous if they had +not been the real thing in every detail and if you had not known how +terribly in earnest the men were. There is no other country in the +world where men change from the most blase and correct of beings, to +fairy princes in tights and feathers and jewelled belts and satin +coats-- They were an hour in passing and each one seemed more beautiful +than the others-- I am very glad I came although I was disappointed at +missing the accident at Moscow. It must have been more terrible than +Johnstown. I found the ----s quite converted into the most awful snobs +but the people they worship are as simple and well bred as all gentle +people are and I have had the most delightful time with them. It is so +small and quiet after Moscow, and instead of being lost in an avalanche +of embassies and suites and missions, I have a distinct personality, as +"the American," which I share with "the" Frenchman and four Englishmen. +We are the only six strangers and they give us the run of all that is +going on-- At night we dine at the most remarkable club in the world, +on the border of the Park, where the best of all the Gypsey musicians +plays for us-- The music is alone worth having come to hear, and the +dear souls who play it, having been told that I like it follow me all +around the terrace and sit down three feet away and fix their eyes on +you, and then proceed to pull your nerves and heart out of you for an +hour at a time-- One night a man here dipped a ten thousand franc note +in his champagne and pasted it on the leader's violin and bowed his +thanks, and the leader bowed in return and the next morning sent him +the note back in an envelope, saying that the compliment was worth more +than the money-- The leader's name is Berchey and the Hungarians have +never allowed him to leave the country for fear he would not be allowed +to come back-- He is a fat, half drunken looking man, with his eyes +full of tears half the time he plays. He looks just like a setter dog +and he is so terribly in earnest that when he fixes me with his eyes +and plays at me, the court ladies all get up and move their chairs out +of his way just as though he were a somnambulist-- + +I leave here Wednesday and reach Paris Friday MORNING the eleventh-- +You must try to meet me at the Cafe de la Paix at half past nine-- Wait +in the corner room if you don't wish to sit outside and as soon as I +get washed I will join you for coffee. It will be fine to see you +again and to be done with jumping about from hotel to hotel and to be +able to read the signs and to know how to ask for food. Russian, +German and Hungarian have made French seem like my mother tongue-- + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CAMPAIGNING IN CUBA AND GREECE + +In December, 1896, Richard and Frederic Remington, the artist, were +commissioned by the New York Journal to visit Cuba which was then at +war with Spain. It was their intention to go from Key West in the +Vamoose, a very fast but frail steam-launch, and to make a landing at +some uninhabited point on the Cuban coast. After this their plans seem +to have been to trust to luck and the kindliness of the revolutionists. +After waiting for some time at Key West for favorable weather, they at +last started out on a dark night to make the crossing. A few hours +after the Vamoose had left Key West a heavy storm arose--apparently +much too violent for the slightly built launch. The crew struck and +the captain finally refused to go on to Cuba and put back to Key West. +Shortly after this Remington and my brother reached Havana by a more +simple and ostentatious route. This was my brother's first effort as a +war correspondent, and I presume it was this fact and the very +indefiniteness of the original plan that caused his mother and father +so much uneasiness. And, indeed, it did prove eventually a hazardous +exploit. + + +way to Key West. + +December 19, 1896. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I hope you won't be cross with me for going off and not letting you +know, but I thought it was better to do it that way as there was such +delay in our getting started. I am going to Cuba by way of Key West +with Frederic Remington and Michaelson, a correspondent who has been +there for six months. We are to be taken by the Vamoose the fastest +steam yacht made to Santa Clara province where the Cubans will meet us +and take us to Gomez. We will stay a month with him, the yacht calling +for copy and sketches once a week, and finally for us in a month. I +get all my expenses and The Journal pays me $3,000 for the month's +work. The Harper's Magazine also takes a story at six hundred dollars +and Russell will reprint Remington's sketches and my story in book +form, so I shall probably clear $4,000 in the next month or six weeks. +I was a week in getting information on the subject so I know all about +it from the men who have just been there and I want you to pay +attention to what I tell you they told me and not to listen to any +stray visitor who comes in for tea and talks without any tact or +knowledge. There is no danger in the trip except the problem of +getting there and getting away again, and that is now removed by The +Journal's yacht. I would have gone earlier had any of the periodicals +that asked me to go shown me any way to get there-- THERE IS NO FEVER +THIS TIME OF YEAR and as you know fever never touches me. It got all +the others in Central America and never worried me at all. There is no +danger of getting shot, as the province into which we go, the Santa +Clara province, is owned and populated and patrolled by the Cubans. It +is no more Spanish than New Jersey and the Spaniards cannot get in +there. We have the strongest possible letters from the Junta, and I +have from Lamont, Bayard and Olney and credentials in every language. +We will sit around the Gomez camp and send messengers back to the +coast. It is a three days trip and as Gomez may be moving from place +to place you may not hear from us for a month and we may not hear from +you but remember it was a much longer time than that before you heard +from me when I went to Honduras. Also keep in mind that I am going as +a correspondent only and must keep out of the way of fighting and that +I mean to do so, as Chamberlain says we want descriptive stories not +brave deeds-- Major Flint who has arranged the trip for us was down +there with Maceo as a correspondent. He saw six fights and never shot +off his gun once because as he said it was not his business to kill +people and he has persuaded me that he is right, so I won't do anything +but look on-- I have bought at The Journal's expense a fifty dollar +field glass which is a new invention and the best made. I have marked +it so that you can see a man five miles off and as soon as I see him I +mean to begin to ride or run the other way--no one loves himself more +than I do so you leave me to take care of myself. I wish I could give +you any idea of the contempt the four returned correspondents who +talked to me, have for the Spaniards. They have seen them shoot 2,500 +rounds without hitting men at 200 yards and they run away if the enemy +begins on them first. However, you trust to Richard-- We have a fine +escort arranged for us and Michaelson speaks Spanish perfectly and has +been six months scouting over the country. + +DICK. + + +KEY West, December 26, 1896. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I got your letters late last night and they made me pretty solemn. It +is an awfully solemn thing to have people care for you like that and to +care for them as I do. I can't tell you how much I love you. You +don't know how much the pain of worrying you for a month has meant to +me, but I have talked it all out with myself, and left it to God and I +am sure I am doing right. As Mrs. Crown said, "There's a whole +churchful up here praying for you," and I guess that will pull me +through. Of course, dear, dear Mother thought she was cross with me. +She could not be cross with me, and her letter told me how much she +cared, that was all, and made me be extra careful. But I need not +promise you to be careful. You have an idea I am a wild, +filibustering, hot-headed young man. I am not. I gave the guides to +understand their duty was to keep us out of danger if we had to walk +miles to avoid it. We are men of peace, going in, as real estate +agents and coffee-planters and drummers are going in on every steamer, +to attend to our especial work and get out again quick. I have just as +strong a prejudice against killing a man as I have against his killing +me. + +Lots and lots of love. Don't get scared if you don't hear for a month, +although we will try to get our stories back once a week, but you know +we are at the convenience of the Cubans who will pocket our despatches +and money and not take the long trip back. Thank dear Dad for his +letter full of good advice. It was excellent. Remington and Michelson +are good men and I like them immensely. Already we are firm friends. + +Love, + + + + +KEY WEST--January 1, 1897. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +As you will know by my telegram we are either off on a safe sea going +boat or waiting for one. There is no turning back from here and the +only reason I thought of doing so was the knowledge of the way you +would suffer and worry. I argued it out that it was selfish in me to +weigh my getting laughed at and paragraphed as the war correspondent +that always Turned Back against a month of uneasiness for you, but +later I saw I could not do it much as I love you for the element of +danger to me is non-existent; it is merely an exciting adventure and +you will have to believe me and not worry but be a Spartan mother. I +would not count being laughed at and the loss of my own self respect if +I really thought there was great danger, but I do not. You will not +lose me and if I go now I can sit still next time and say "I have done +better things than that." If I had not gone it would have meant that I +would have had to have done just that much harder a stunt next time to +make people forget that I had failed in this one. Now do cheer up and +believe in the luck of Richard Harding Davis and the British Army. We +have carte blanche from The Journal to buy or lease any boat on the +coast and I rocked them for $1000 in advance payment because of the +delay over the Vamoose. + +I am so happy at thinking I am going, I could not have faced anyone had +I not, although we had nothing to do with the failure, we tried to +cross fairly in the damn tub and it was her captain who put back. I +lay out on the deck and cried when he refused to go ahead, we had +waited so long. The Cubans and Remington and Michelson had put on all +their riding things but fortunately I had not and so was spared that +humiliation. What I don't know about the Fine Art of Filibustering now +is unnecessary. I find many friends of my Captain Boynton or "Capt. +Burke." Tonight the officers of the Raleigh give me a grand dinner at +which I wear a dress suit and make speeches--they are the best chaps I +ever met in the Navy. Lots of love and best wishes to Dad and to Nora +for a happy, happy New Year. You know me and you know my conscience +but it would not let me go back in order to save you anxiety so you +won't think me selfish. God bless you. + +DICK. + + +KEY WEST, January 2nd, 1897. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I have learned here that the first quality needed to make a great +filibuster is Patience, it is not courage, or resources or a knowledge +of the Cuban Coast line, it is patience. Anybody can run a boat into a +dark bayou and dump rifles on the beach and scurry away to sea again +but only heroes can sit for a month on a hotel porch or at the end of a +wharf, and wait. That is all we do and that is my life at Key West. I +get up and half dress and take a plunge in the bay and then dress fully +and have a greasy breakfast and then light a huge Key West cigar, price +three cents and sit on the hotel porch with my feet on a rail-- Nothing +happens after that except getting one's boots polished as the two +industries of this place are blacking boots and driving cabs. I have +two boys to black mine at the same time every morning and pay the one +who does his the better of the two-- It generally ends in a fight so +that affords diversion-- Then a man comes along, any man, and says, +"Remmington's looking for you" and I get up and look for Remington. +There is only a triangle of streets where one can find him and I call +at "Josh" Curry's first and then at Pendleton's News Store and read all +the back numbers of the Police Gazette for the hundredth time and then +call here at the Custom House and then look in at the Cable office, +where Michaelson lives sending telegrams about anything or nothing and +that brings me back to the hotel porch again, where I have my boots +shined once more and then go into mid-day dinner. In the meanwhile +Remington is looking for me a hundred yards in the rear. He generally +gets to "Josh's" as I leave the Custom House-- In the afternoon I study +Spanish out of a text book and at three take a bicycle ride, at five I +call at the garrison to take tea with the doctor and his wife, who is +sweeter than angel's ever get to be with a miniature angel of a baby +called Martha. I wait until retreat is sounded and the gun is fired at +sunset and having commented unfavorably on the way the soldiers let the +flag drop on the grass instead of catching it on the arms as a +bluejacket does, I ride off to the bay for another bath-- Then I take +the launch to the Raleigh and dine with the officers and rejoice in the +clean fresh paint and brass and decks and the lights and black places +of a great ship of war, than which nothing is more splendid. We sit on +the quarter-deck and smoke and play the guitar and I go home again, in +time for bed. I vary this programme occasionally by spending the +morning on the end of a wharf watching another man fish and reading old +novels and the "Lives of Captain Walker" and "Captain Fry of the +Virginius," two great books from each of which I am going to write a +short story like the one of the Alamo or of the Jameson Raid-- The life +of Walker I found on the Raleigh and the life of Captain Fry with all +the old wood cuts and the newspaper comments of the time at a book +store here. I don't know when we shall get away but it is no use +kicking about it, Michaelson is doing all he can and the new tug will +be along in a week anyway. I shall be so glad to get to Cuba that I +will dance with glee. + +DICK. + + +MATANZAS, January 15th, 1897. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I sent you a note by Remington which he will mail in the States-- From +here I go to Sagua La Grande. It is on the northern coast. I think +from there I shall cross over to Cienfuegos on the Southern coast and +then if I can catch a steamer go to Santiago to see my old friends, at +the Juraqua mines and MacWilliams' ore road and "the Palms"-- +Everywhere I am treated well on account of Weyler's order and I am +learning a great deal and talking very little, my Spanish being bad. +There is war here and no mistake and all the people in the fields have +been ordered in to the fortified towns where they are starving and +dying of disease. Yesterday I saw the houses of these people burning +on both sides of the track-- They gave shelter to the insurgents and so +very soon they found their houses gone. I am so relieved at getting +old Remington to go as though I had won $5000. He was a splendid +fellow but a perfect kid and had to be humored and petted all the time. +I shall if I have luck be through with this in a few weeks but it has +had such a set back at the start that I am afraid it can never make a +book and I doubt if I can write a decent article even. I am so anxious +not to keep you worrying any longer than is necessary and so I am +hurrying along taking only a car window view of things. Address me +care of Consul General Lee, Havana and confine your remarks to what is +going on at home. I know what is going on here. I don't believe half +I hear but I am being slowly converted. Remington is more excitable +than I am, so don't misunderstand if he starts in violently. I am +getting details and verifying things. He is right on a big scale but +every one has lied so about this island that I do not want to say +anything I do not believe is true. This is a beautiful little city and +after Jaruco, where we slept two days ago, it is Paris. There we slept +off the barnyard and cows and chickens walked all over the floor and +fleas all over us. It was like Honduras only filthier. Speaking of +Paris, tell the Kid I expect to go over to him soon after I return to +New York. + +of love. + +DICK. + + +CARDENAS--North Coast of Cuba. + +January 16th, 1897. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +It is very funny not knowing what sort of a place you are to sleep in +next and taking things out of a grab bag, as it were-- In Europe you +can always guess what the well known towns will give you for you have a +guide book, but here it is all luck. Matanzas was a pretty city but +the people were awful, the hotel was Spanish and the proprietor +insolent, though I was spending more of Willie Hearst's money than all +of the officers spend in a week, the Consul could not talk English or +Spanish, he said he hadn't come there "to go to school to no Spaniard" +and he gloried in the fact he had been there three years without +knowing a word of the language. His vice-Consul was worse and +everything went wrong generally. Every one I met was an Alarmist and +that is polite for liar. They asked Remington if he was the man who +manufactured the rifles and gave us the Iowa Democrat to read. To +night I reached here after a six hours ride through blazing fields of +sugar cane and stopped on my way to the hotel to ask the Consul when +the next boat went to Saqua la Grande-- I had no letter of introduction +to him as I had to the Matanzas consul, but as soon as he saw my card +he got out of his chair and shook hands again and was as hearty and +well bred and delightful as Charley himself and unlike Chas he did not +ask me 14 francs for looking on him. He is out now chasing around to +get me a train for to-morrow. But I won't go to-morrow. My hotel +looks on the plaza and the proprietor and the whole suite of attendants +are my slaves. It is just as different as can be. My interpreter does +it, he calls himself MY VALET, although I point out to him that two +shirts and twelve collars do not constitute a wardrobe even with a +rubber coat thrown in. But he likes to play at my being a +distinguished stranger and I can't say I object. Only when you +remember the way I was invited to see Cuba and expected to see it, and +now the way I am seeing it from car windows with A VALET. What would +the new school of yellow kid journalists say if they knew that. For +the first time on this trip I have wished you were both with me, that +was to night. I never see anything really beautiful but that it +instantly makes me feel selfish and wish you could see it too. It has +happened again and again and to night I wish you could be here with me +on this balcony. The town runs down a slope to the bay and in the +middle of it is the Plaza with me on the balcony which lets out of my +sleeping room-- "the room" so the proprietor tells me, "reserved only +for the Capitain General." It is just like the description in that +remarkable novel of mine where Clay and Alice sit on the balcony of the +restaurant. I have the moonlight and the Cathedral with the open doors +and the bronze statue in the middle and the royal palms moving in the +breeze straight from the sea and the people walking around the plaza +below. If it was in any way as beautiful as this Clay and Alice would +have ended the novel that night. + +I got a grand lot of letters to-day which Otto, my interpreter brought +back from Havana after having conducted Remington there in safety. I +must say you are writing very cheerfully now, but I don't wonder you +worried at first but now that I am a commercial traveller with an order +from Weyler which does everything when I find it necessary, you really +must not worry any more but just let me continue on my uneventful +journey and then come home. I shall have been gone so long and my +friends, judging from Russell and Dana and Irene's letters, will be so +glad to see me, that they will have forgotten I went out to do other +things than coast around in trains. As a matter of fact this is a +terribly big problem and most difficult to get the truth of, I find +myself growing to be the opposite of the alarmist, whatever that is, +although you would think the picturesque and dramatic and exciting +thing would be the one I would rather believe because I want to believe +it, but I find that that is not so, I see a great deal on both sides +and I do not believe half I am told. As we used to say at college, "it +is against history," and it is against history for men to act as I am +told they are acting here-- They show me the pueblo huddled together +around the fortified towns, living in palm huts but I know that they +have always lived in palm huts, the yellow kid reporters don't know +that or consider it, but send off word that the condition of the people +is terrible, that they have only leaves to cover them, and it sounds +very badly. That is an instance of what I mean. In a big way there is +no doubt that the process going on here is one of extermination and +ruin. Two years ago the amount of sugar shipped from the port of +Matanzas to the U. S. was valued at 11 millions a year. This last year +just over shows that sugar to the amount of $800,000 was sent out. In +'94, 154 vessels touched at Matanzas on their way to America. In '95 +there were 80 and in '96 there are 16. I always imagined that houses +were destroyed during a war because they got in the way of cannon balls +or they were burned because they might offer shelter to the enemy, but +here they are destroyed, with the purpose of making the war horrible +and hurrying up the end. The insurgents began first by destroying the +sugar mills, some of which were worth millions of dollars in machinery, +and now the Spaniards are burning the homes of the people and herding +them in around the towns to starve out the insurgents and to leave them +without shelter or places to go for food or to hide the wounded. So +all day long where ever you look you see great heavy columns of smoke +rising into this beautiful sky above the magnificent palms the most +noble of all palms, almost of all trees-- It is the most beautiful +country I have ever visited. I had no recollection of how beautiful it +was or else I had not the knowledge of other places with which to +compare it. Nothing out of the imagination can approach it in its +great waterfalls and mossy rocks and grand plains and forests of white +pillars with plumes waving above them. Only man is vile here and it is +cruel to see the walls of the houses with blind eyes, with roofs gone +and gardens burned, every church but one that I have seen was a +fortress with hammocks swung from the altars and rude barricades thrown +up around the doorways-- If this is war I am of the opinion that it is +a senseless wicked institution made for soldiers, lovers and +correspondents for different reasons, and for no one else in the world +and it is too expensive for the others to keep it going to entertain +these few gentlemen-- I have seen very little of it yet and I probably +won't see much more, but I have seen all I want. Remington had his +mind satisfied even sooner--but then he is an alarmist and exaggerates +things-- The men who wear the red badge of courage, I don't feel sorry +for, they have their reward in their bloody bandages and the little +cross on their tunic but those you meet coming back sick and dying with +fever are the ones that make fighting contemptible--poor little +farmers, poor little children with no interest in Cuba or Spain's right +to hold it, who have been sent out to die like ants before they have +learned to hold a mauser, and who are going back again with the beards +that have grown in the field hospitals on their cheeks and their eyes +hollow, and too weak to move or speak. Six of them died while I was in +Jaroco, a town as big as Marion and that had been the average for two +months, think of that, six people dying in Marion every day through +July and August-- I didn't stay in that town any longer than the train +did-- Well I have been writing editorials here instead of cheering you +up but I guess I'm about right and when I see a little more I'll tell +it over again to The Journal-- It is not as exciting reading as deeds +of daring by our special correspondent and I haven't changed my name or +shaved my eyebrows or done anything the other men have done but I +believe I am getting near the truth. They have shut off provisions +going or coming from the towns, they have huddled hundreds of people +who do not know what a bath means around these towns, and this is going +to happen-- As soon as the rains begin the yellow fever and smallpox +will set in and all vessels leaving Cuban ports will be quarantined and +the island will be one great plague spot. The insurgents who are in +the open fields will live and the soldiers will die for their officers +know nothing of sanitation or care nothing. The little Consul has just +been here to see me and we have had a long talk and I got back at him. +He told me he had seen the Franco-German war as a correspondent of The +Tribune and I asked him if he had ever met another correspondent of The +Tribune at that time a German student named Hans who cabled the story +of the battle of Gravellote and who Archibald Forbes says was the first +correspondent to use the cable. The Consul who looks like William D. +Howells wriggled around in his chair and said "I guess you mean me but +I was not a German student, I was born and raised in Philadelphia and +Forbes got my name wrong, it is Hance." So then I got up and shook +hands with him in my turn and told him I had always wanted to meet that +correspondent and did not expect to do so in Cardenas, on the coast of +Cuba. + +Thank you all for your letters. I am glad you liked the Jameson book. +I thought you knew I was a F. R. G. S. It was George Curzon proposed +me and as he is a gold medallist of the Society it was easy getting in. +Lots of love. + +DICK. + + +Richard returned to New York from Cuba in February, 1897, but the +following month started for Florence to pay me a long-promised visit. +On his way he stopped for a few days in London and Paris. + + + +ABASSADE DES ETATS-UNIS + 59 Rue Galilee, + Paris, April 1st, 1897. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I got over here to-day after the heaviest weather I ever tackled on +this channel. Stephen Crane came with me. I gave him a lunch on +Wednesday. Anthony Hope, McCarthy, Harold Frederic and Barrie came. +Sir Evelyn Wood instead of coming was detained at the war office and +sent instead a lance Sergeant on horseback with a huge envelope marked +"On Her Majesty's Service," which was to be delivered into my hands-- +The entire Savoy was upset and it was generally supposed that war had +been declared and that I was being ordered to the front-- The whole +hotel hung over us until I had receipted for the package and the +soldier had saluted and clanked away. I gave Crane the letter as a +souvenir. I also saw Seymour Hicks' first night and recognized 15 +American songs in it. + +The London Times offered me the position of correspondent on the Greek +frontier. Every one in London thought it an enormous compliment and +Harold Frederic, Ralph, Ballard Smith and the rest were very envious. +I told them I could not go, but I was glad to have had the compliment +paid me. Barrie has made out a scenario of the "Soldiers" for dramatic +purposes and has asked the Haymarket management to consider it. So, +that I guess that it must be good-- + +So, I also guess I had better finish it-- I leave for Florence to +night. I am having a fine, fine time and I am so glad you are all well. + +Lots of love, + +DICK. + + +Of the many happy days we have spent together, I do not believe there +were any much more happy than the three weeks Richard remained with me. +It was his first long visit to Italy and from the day of his arrival he +loved the old town and its people who gave him a most friendly welcome. +He had come at a time when Florence was at its best, its narrow quaint +streets filled with sunshine and thronged with idling natives and the +scurrying tourists that always came with the first days of spring. The +Cascine and the pink-walled roads of the environs were ablaze with wild +roses and here, after his rather strenuous experience in Cuba, Richard +gave himself up to long days of happy idleness. Together we took +voyages of discovery to many of the little walled and forgotten towns +where the tourists seldom set foot. Once we even wandered so far as +Monte Carlo, where my brother tried very hard to break the bank and did +not succeed. But the Richard Harding Davis luck did not fail him +completely and I remember I greatly envied him the huge pile of gold +and notes that represented his winnings and which we did our very best +to spend before we left the land of the Prince of Monaco. However, +having had his first taste of war, Richard felt that he must leave the +peace and content of Florence to see how the Greeks, with whom he had +much sympathy, were faring with their enemies the Turks. As it +happened, this expedition proved but a short interruption, and in less +than a month he was once more back with his new-found friends in +Florence. + + +April 28, 1897 + +On the Way to Patras on a Steamer. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +It has been a week since I wrote you last, when I sent you the +Inauguration article. Since then I have been having the best time I +ever had any place ALONE. I have had more fun with a crowd, but never +have been so happy by myself. What I would have been had I taken some +other chap with me I cannot imagine. But the people of this part of +Greece have been so kind that I cannot say I have been alone. I never +met with strangers anywhere who were so hospitable, so confiding and +polite. After that slaughter-yard and pest place of Cuba, which is +much more terrible to me now than it was when I was there, or before I +had seen that war can be conducted like any other evil of civilization, +this opera bouffe warfare is like a duel between two gentlemen in the +Bois. Cuba is like a slave-holder beating a slave's head in with a +whip. I am a war correspondent only by a great stretch of the +imagination; I am a peace correspondent really, and all the fighting I +have seen was by cannon at long range. (I was at long range, not the +cannon.) I am doing this campaign in a personally conducted sense with +no regard to the Powers or to the London Times. I did send them an +article called "The Piping Times of War." If they do not use it I +shall illustrate it with the photos I have taken and sell it, for five +times the sum they would give, to the Harpers who are ever with us. As +I once said in a noted work, "Greece, Mrs. Morris, restores all your +lost illusions." For the last week I have been back in the days of +Conrad, the Corsair, and "Oh, Maid of Athens, ere We Part." I have +been riding over wind-swept hills and mountains topped with snow, and +with sheep and goats and wild flowers of every color spreading for +acres, and in a land where every man dresses by choice like a grand +opera brigand, and not only for photographic purposes. I have been on +the move all the time, chasing in the rear of armies that turn back as +soon as I approach and apologize for disappointing me of a battle, or +riding to the scene of a battle that never comes off, or hastening to a +bombardment that turns out to be an attack on an empty fort. + +I live on brown bread and cheese and goat's milk and sleep like a log +in shepherds' huts. It is so beautiful that I almost grudge the night. +Nora and Mother could take this trip as safely as a regiment and would +see things out of fairyland. And such adventures! Late in life I am +at last having adventures and honors heaped upon me. I was elected a +captain of a band of brigands who had been watching a mountain pass for +a month, and as it showed no signs of running away had taken to dancing +on the green. I caught them at this innocent pastime and they allowed +me to photograph them and give them wine at eight cents a quart which +we drank out of a tin stovepipe. They drank about four feet of +stovepipe or thirty-six cents' worth, then they danced and sang for me +in a circle, old men and boys, then drilled with their carbines, and I +showed them my revolver and field-glasses and themselves in the finder +of the camera; and when I had to go they took me on their shoulders and +marched me around waving their rifles. Then the old men kissed me on +the cheek and we all embraced and they wept, and I felt as badly as +though I were parting from fifty friends. They told my guide that if I +would come back they would get fifty more "as brave as they" and I +could be captain. I could not begin to tell you all the amusing things +that have happened in this one week. I did not want to come at all, +only a stern sense of duty made me. For I wanted to write the play in +Charley's gilded halls and get to Paris and London. But I can never +cease rejoicing that I took this trip. And it will make the book, "A +Year from a Reporter's Diary," as complete as it can be. That was why +I came. Now I have the Coronation of the Czar, the Millennial at +Hungary, the Inauguration at Washington, the Queen's Jubilee, the War +in Cuba, and the Greco-Turkish War. That is a good year's work and I +mean to loaf after it. You will laugh and say that that is what I +always say, but if you knew how I had to kick myself out of Florence +and the Cascine to come here you would believe me. I want a rest and I +am cutting this very short. + +Don't fail to cut anything Dad and Mother don't like out of the +Inauguration article. You will have me with you this winter on my +little bicycle and going to dances and not paying board to anyone. +Remember how I used to threaten to go to Greece when the coffee was not +good. It seems too funny now, for I never was in a better place, or +had more fun or saw less of war or the signs of war. + +DICK. + + +May 7, 1897. + +10 East Twenty-Eighth Street-NIT + Sponitza. + +DEAR CHAS. + +This is one of the places out of Phroso, but as you never read Phroso I +will cut all that-- I hate to say it so soon again but this is the most +beautiful country to travel over I have seen-- It is a fairy theatrical +grand opera country where everybody dresses in petticoats and gold +braided vests and carry carbines to tend sheep with-- I rode from Santa +Maura (see map) to a spot opposite Prevesa where they said there was +going to be bombarding-- There was not of course but I had I think the +most beautiful ride of my life. I was absolutely happy--little lambs +bleated and kids butted each other and peasants in fur cloaks without +sleeves and in tights like princes sat on rocks and played pipes and +the sky was blue, the mountains covered with snow and the fields and +hills full of purple bushes and yellow and blue flowers and sheep-- +There was a cable station of yellow adobe. It was the only building +and it looked across at Prevesa but nobody bombarded. The general gave +me cognac and the cable operator played a guitar for me and the preyor +sang a fine bass, the corporal not to be out done gave me chocolate and +the army stood around in the sun and joined in the conversation +correcting the general and each other and taking off their hats to all +the noble sentiments we toasted. It was just like a comic opera. +After a while when I had finished a fine hunck of cheese and hard eggs +and brown bread I took a photograph of the General and the cable +operator and the officer with the bass voice and half of the army-- The +other half was then sent to escort me to this place. It walked and I +rode and there were many halts for drinks and cigarettes. They all ran +after a stray colt and were lost for some time but we re-mobilized and +advanced with great effect into this town. I was here taken in charge +by at least fifty sailors and as many soldiers and comic opera brigands +in drawers and white petticoats, who conducted me to a house on the +hill where the innkeeper brought me a live chicken to approve of for +dinner. Then the mayor of the town turned up in gold clothes and +Barrison Sister skirts and said the General had telegraphed about me +and that I was his-- The innkeeper wept and said he had seen me first +and the chorus of soldiers, sailors and brigands all joined in. I kept +out of it but I knew the Mayor would win and he did. Then we went out +to a man-of-war the size of the Vagabond and were solemnly assured +there would be bombarding of Prevesa to-morrow-- I go to sleep in that +hope. We leave here at seven crossing the river and ride after the +Greeks who are approaching Prevesa from the land side while the +men-of-war bombard it from the river. At least that is what they say. +I think it is the mildest war on both sides I ever heard of and I +certainly mean to be a Times correspondent next time I play at going to +war-- After being insulted and frightened to death all over Cuba, this +is the pleasantest picnic I was ever on-- They seriously apologized for +not bombarding while I was there and I said not to mention it-- With +lots of love, old man, and to the family + +DICK. + + +FLORENCE + +May 16, 1897. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +Here I am safe and sound again in the old rooms in Florence. I was +gone twenty-three days and was traveling nineteen of them, walking, +riding; in sailboats, in the cars, and on steamers. I have had more +experiences and adventures than I ever had before in three months and +quite enough to last me for years. + +After my happy ride through Turkey and the retreat of the Greek army in +Arta, of which I wrote you last, I have been in Thessaly where I saw +the two days' battle of Velestinos from the beginning up to the end. +It was the one real battle of the war and the Greeks fought well from +the first to the last. I left Athens on the 29th of April with John +Bass, a Harvard graduate, and a most charming and attractive youth who +is, or was, in charge of the Journal men; Stephen Crane being among the +number. He seems a genius with no responsibilities of any sort to +anyone, and I and Bass left him at Velestinos after traveling with him +for four days. Crane went to Volo, as did every other correspondent, +leaving Bass and myself in Velestinos. As the villagers had run away, +we burglarized the house of the mayor and made it our habitation while +the courier hunted for food. It was like "The Swiss Family Robinson," +and we rejoiced over the discovery of soap and tablecloths and stray +knives and forks, just as though we had been cast on a desert island. +Bass did the cooking and I laid the table and washed up and made the +beds, which were full of fleas. But we had been sleeping on chairs and +on the floor for a week so we did not mind much. + +The second day we were awakened by cannon and you can imagine our joy +and excitement. We had it all to ourselves for eight hours, as it took +the other correspondents that long to arrive. It was an artillery and +infantry battle and about 20,000 men were engaged on both sides. The +Greeks fought from little trenches on the hills back of the town and +the Turks advanced across a great green prairie. It was very long +range and only twice did they get to within a quarter of a mile of our +trenches. Bass and I went all over the Greek lines, for you were just +as safe in one place as in another, which means that it wasn't safe +anywhere, so we gave up considering that and followed the fight as best +we could from the first trench, which was the only one that gave an +uninterrupted view of the Turkish forces. It was a brilliantly clear +day but opened with a hail storm, which enabled the Turks to crawl up +half a mile in the sudden darkness. It also gave me the worst attack +of sciatica I ever had. Fortunately, it did not come on badly until I +reached Volo, when it suddenly took hold of me so that I could not +walk. The trenches were wet with the rain and we had no clothes to +change to, and two more showers kept us more or less wet all day. We +had a fine view of everything and I learned a lot. + +We were under a heavy fire for thirteen hours and certainly had some +very close escapes. At times the firing was so fierce that if you had +raised your arm above your head, the hand would have been instantly +torn off. We had to lie on our stomachs with our chins in the dirt and +not so much as budge. This was when the Turkish fire happened to be +directed on our trench. At such times all the other trenches would +fire so as to draw the attack away, and we would have to wait until it +was over. The shells sounded like the jarring sound of telegraph wires +when one hits the pole they hang from with a stone; and when the shells +were close they sounded like the noise made by two trains passing in +opposite directions when the wind is driven between the cars. The +bullets were much worse than the shells as you could always hear them +coming, and the bullets slipped up and passed you in a sneaking way +with a noise like rustling silk, or if some one had torn a silk +handkerchief with a sharp pull. One shell struck three feet from me +and knocked me over with the dirt and stones and filled my nose and +mouth with pebbles. I went back and dug it out of the ground while it +was still hot and have it as a souvenir. I swore terribly at the +bullets and Bass used to grin in a sickly way. It made your hair creep +when they came very close. One man next me got a shot through the +breast while he was ramming his cleaner down the barrel, and there were +three killed within the limits of our fifty yards. We could not get +back because there was a cross fire that swept a place we had to pass +through, just about the way the wind comes around the City Hall in the +times of a blizzard. We called it Dead Man's Curve, after that at +Fourteenth Street and Union Square, because it was sprinkled with dead +ammunition, mules and soldiers. We came through it the first time +without knowing what we were getting into and we had no desire to go +back again. So we waited until the sun set. I took some of the finest +photographs and probably the only ones ever taken of a battle at such +close range. Whenever the men fired, I would shoot off the camera and +I expect I have some pretty great pictures. Bass took some of me so if +there is any question as to whether I was at the Coronation, there will +be none as to whether I was at Velestinos. + +Our house was hit with two shells and bullets fell like the gentle rain +from heaven all over the courtyard, so we would have been no safer +there than behind the trenches. We sent off the first account of the +battle written by anybody by midday, and stayed on until the next day +at four when the place was evacuated in good order because, as usual, +the Crown Prince was running away--from Pharsalia this time. + +They say in Greece "Lewes, the peasant, won the race from Marathon, but +Constantine the prince, won the race from Larissa." + +I was all right until I got to Volo when my right leg refused +absolutely to do its act and I had to be carried on a donkey. A Greek +thought I looked funny sitting groaning on the little donkey; which I +did--I looked ridiculous. So he laughed, and Bass and a French +journalist batted him over the face and left me clinging to the +donkey's neck and howling to them to come back and hold me up. But +they preferred to fight, and a policeman came along and arrested the +unhappy Greek and beat him over the head, just for luck, and marched +him off to jail, just for laughing. + +They took me to the hospital ship which was starting, and I came to +Athens that way with one hundred and sixteen wounded; the man on my +right had his ankles gone and the man on the left had a bullet in his +side. They groaned all night and so did I. Then when the sun rose +they sang, which was worse. I never saw anything more beautiful than +the red-cross nurses, and I guess that is the most beautiful picture I +shall ever see--those sweet-faced girls in blue and white bending over +the dirty frightened little peasant boys and taking care of their +wounds. I made love to all of them and asked three to marry me. I was +in bed for two days after I got to Athens but had a fine time, as all +the officers from the San Francisco, from the admiral down, came to see +me, and the minister, consul and the rest did all that could have been +done. I am now all right and was bicycling in the dear old Cascine +this morning. On the whole it was a most successful trip. Sylvester +Scovel and Phillips of The World arrived just as it was all over, and +so Bass and I are about the only two Americans who were in it. + +The train from Brindisi stopped at Rome on the way back and I went to +see the Pages. They took me out and showed me Rome by moonlight in one +hour. It was like a cinematograph. They are here now and coming to +dinner tonight. Last night the consul had all our friends to dinner to +welcome me back, and maybe I was not glad. I had been living on cheese +and brown bread and cold lamb for two weeks, with no tobacco, and +sleeping five hours a night on floors and sofas. Sometimes the +officers and men fought for food, and we never got anything warm to eat +except occasionally tinned things which we cooked in my kit. It was +the most satisfactory trip all round I ever had. I have been twenty +years trying to be in a battle and it will be twenty years more before +I will want to be in another. + +On the eighteenth I start for London, stopping one day in Paris to see +the Clarks and Eustises. It is going to be bigger than the Coronation +for crowds, and Mother need not worry, I shall keep out of it. The +Minister to Russia sent me word that the Czar's prime minister has +given him my article and that the Czar said thank him very much. So +that is all right. Also Hay is to present me to the Prince at the +levee on the 31st of May, and I shall send him a copy, too. I am +looking forward to London with such joy. Tell Mother to send me the +Bookbuyer with her article in it. I have only read the reviews of it, +and they are so enthusiastic that I must have the whole thing quick. +It was such a fine thing to do about Poe, and to give those other two +fetishes the coup de grace. It reads splendidly and I want it all. +What did Dad think of the Inauguration article? I send you all my +dearest love and will have lots to tell you when I get back this time. + +God bless you all. + +DICK. + + +Richard left Florence the latter part of May, and went to London where +he had made arrangements to report the Queen's Jubilee. He began his +round of gayeties by being presented at Court. The Miss Groves and +Miss Wather to whom he refers in the following letter were the clerks +at Cox's hotel. + + +LONDON, June 2nd, 1897. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I was a beautiful sight at the Levee. I wore a velvet suit made +especially for me but no dearer for that and steel buttons and a +beautiful steel sword and a court hat with silver on the side and silk +stockings that I wore at Moscow and pumps with great buckles. I was +too magnificent for words and so you would have said. I waited a long +time in a long hall crowded with generals and sea captains and +highlanders and volunteers and cavalry men and judges and finally was +admitted past a rope and then past another rope and then rushed along +into the throne room where I saw beefeaters and life guardsmen and +chamberlains with white wands and I gave one my card and he read out +"R. H. D. of the United States by the American Ambassador" and then I +bowed to the Prince and Duke of York, Connaught and Edinburgh and to +the American Ambassador and then Henry White and Spencer Eddy, the two +Secretaries and the naval attache all shook hands with me and I went +around in a hansom in the bright sunshine in hopes of finding some one +who would know me. But no one did so I went to Cox's Hotel and showed +myself to Miss Groves and Miss Wather. I went on the Terrace yesterday +with the Leiters and at O'Connor's invitation brought them to tea. +Labouchere was there and Dillon just out of jail and it was most +interesting. I am very, very busy doing nothing and having a fine +time-- + +DICK. + + +LONDON, June 21, 1897. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Words cannot tell at least not unless I am well paid for it what London +is like to-day. In the first place it is so jammed that no one can +move and it is hung with decorations so that no one can see. Royal +carriages get stuck just as do the humble drayman or Pickford's Van and +royalties are lodging in cheap hotels with nothing but a couple of +Grenadier's in sentry boxes to show they are any better blooded than +the rest of the lodgers. I also added to the confusion by giving a +lunch to the Ambassador and Miss Hay in return for the presentation. +Lady Henry and Mrs. Asquith sat on either side of him and Mrs. Clark +had Asquith and Lord Basil Blackwood to talk to-- There was also +Anthony Hope, the beautiful Julia Neilson and her husband Fred Terry +and Lady Edward Cecil and Lord Lester-- It went off fine and the Savoy +people sent in an American Eagle of ice, decorated with American flags +and dripping icy tears from its beak. It cost me five shillings a head +and looked as though it cost that in pounds-- To night I dine with the +Goulds and then go to a musical where Melba sings, Padewreski plays and +then walk the streets if I can until daybreak as I think of making the +night before the procession the greater part of the story. I send you +a plan showing my seat which cost me twenty-five dollars, the +advertised price being $125. but there has been a terrible slump in +seats. Love to dear Dad and Nora. + +DICK. + + + +LONDON. + 89 Jermyn Street, + +June 25th, 1897. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +The Jubilee turned out to be the easiest spectacle to get at and to get +away from that I ever witnessed. Experience in choosing a place and +police regulations made it so simple that we went straight to our seats +and got away again without as much trouble as it would have taken to +have gone to a matinee. The stage management of the thing almost +impressed me more than anything else. For grandeur and show it about +equalled the procession of the Czar and in many ways it was more +interesting because it was concerned with our own people and with our +own part of the world. Next to the Queen, Lord Roberts got all of the +applause. He rode a little white pony that had been with him in six +campaigns and had carried him on his march to Candahar. It had all the +campaign medals presented to it by the War Department and wore them in +a line on its forehead, and walked just as though he knew what a great +occasion it was. After Roberts came in popularity a Col. Maurice +Clifford with the Rhodesian Horse in sombrero's and cartridge belts and +khaki suits. He had lost his arm and was easily recognized. Wilfred +Laurier the French Premier of Canada and the Lord Mayor were the other +favourites. The scene in front of St. Paul's was absolutely +magnificent with the sooty pillars behind the groups of diplomats, +bishops and choir boys in white, University men in pink silk gowns, and +soldiers, beef eaters, gentlemen at arms and the two Archbishops. The +best moment was when the collected troops; negroes, Chinamen, East +Indians, West Indians, African troopers, Canadian Mounted Police, +Australians, Borneo police and English Grenadiers all sang the doxology +together in the beautiful sunshine and under the shadow of that great +facade of black and white marble. Also when the Archbishop of +Canterbury without any warning suddenly after kissing the Queen's hand +threw up his arm and cried out so that you could have heard him a +hundred yards off "Three Cheers for Her Majesty" and the diplomats, and +foreign rajahs and bishops and Salvation Army captains waved their hats +and mortar boards and the soldiers ran their bearskins and helmets on +their bayonets and spun them around in the air. The weather was +absolutely perfect and there were no accidents. Last night the +carriages were allowed to parade the streets and for hours the route +was blocked with omnibuses hired by private parties, coster carts, +private carriages, court carriages and the hansoms. The procession +formed by these was two hours in going one mile. They passed my +windows in Jermyn Street for three hours and a party of us sat inside +and guyed the life out of them until one in the morning. We got very +clever at it finally and very impudent and as the people were only two +yards from us my windows being on a level with the tops of the buses +and as we had a flaring illumination that lit up the street completely +we had lots of fun with them especially with the busses, as we +pretended to believe that the advertisements referred to the people on +the top, and we would ask anxiously which lady was "Lottie Collins" and +which gentleman had been brought up on " Mellin's Food"-- We had even +more fun with the swells coming home from the Gala night at the opera +and hemmed in between costers and Pickford's vans loaded down with +women and children. + +They called on us for speeches and matches and segars and we kept the +procession supplied with food and drink. Nobody got mad and they +answered back but we were prepared with numerous repartees and they +were apparently so surprised by finding a party of ladies and gentlemen +engaged in chaffing court officials that they would forget to reply +until they had moved on. One bus driver said "Oh, you can larff, cause +your at 'ome. We are 'unting for Jensen on a North Pole Expedition. +We won't be home for three years yet--" Charley seems very happy and he +got a most hearty welcome. I shall follow him over. I do not think I +shall go when he does as that would mean seeing people and getting +settled and I must get the Greek war done by the 12th of July and the +Jubilee by the 15th of August. I know you will not mind, but I have +been terribly interrupted by the Jubilee and by so many visitors. They +are running in all the time, so I shall try to get the Greek war +article done before I sail and also have a little peaceful view of +London. I have seen nothing of it really yet. It has been like living +in a circus, and moving about on an election night. I am well as can +be except for occasional twinges of sciatica but I have not had to go +to bed with it and some times it disappears for a week. A little less +rain and more sun will stop it. I hope you do not mind my not +returning but we will all be together for many months this Fall and I +really feel that I have not had a quiet moment here for pleasure and +work. It has been such a rush. I do wish to see dear Dad. I am so +very sorry about his being ill, and I hope he is having lots of +fishing. Love to all at Marion--and God bless you. + +RICHARD. + + +LONDON + +July 13, 1897. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today Barrie gave a copyright performance of "The Little Minister" +which Maude Adams is to play in the States. It was advertised by a +single bill in front of the Haymarket Theater and the price of +admission was five guineas. We took in fifteen guineas, the audience +being Charley Frohman, Lady Craig and a man. Cyril Maude played the +hero and Brandon Thomas and Barrie the two low comedy parts--two +Scotchmen of Thrums. I started to play one of them, but as I insisted +on making it an aged negro with songs, Barrie and Frohman got +discouraged and let me play the villain, Lord Rintoul, in which +character I was great. Maude played his part in five different ways +and dialects so as to see which he liked best, he said. It was a bit +confusing. Then one of the actors went up in the gallery and pretended +to be a journalist critic who had sneaked in, and he abused the play +and the actors with the exception of the man who played Whamond +(himself) whom he said he thought showed great promise. Maude +pretended not to know who he was and it fooled everybody. Mrs. Barrie +played the gipsy and danced most of the time, which she said was her +conception of the part as it was in the book. Her husband explained +that this was a play, not a book, but she did not care and danced on +and off. She played my daughter, and I had a great scene in which I +cursed her, which got rounds of applause. Lady Lewis's daughters in +beautiful Paquin dresses played Scotch lassies, and giggled in all the +sad parts, and one actress who had made a great success as one of the +"Two Vagabonds" made everybody weep by really trying to act. At one +time there were five men on the stage all talking Scotch dialect and +imitating Irving at the same time. It was a truly remarkable +performance. Ethel Barrymore goes back on Saturday with Drew to play a +French maid in "A Marriage of Convenience." She is announced to be +engaged to Hope, I see by the papers. They are not engaged, of course, +but the papers love to make matches. Look for me as sailing either on +the 31st on the St. Louis or a week later. With lots and lots of love. + +DICK. + + +In the late summer Richard returned to Marion and from there went to +New York. However, at this time, the lure of England was very strong +with my brother, and early December found him back in London. + + +LONDON, December 29th, 1897. + +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +I had a most exciting Christmas, most of which I spent in Whitechapel +in the London Hospital. I lunched with the Spenders and then went down +with them carrying large packages for distribution to the sick. I +expected to be terribly bored, but thought I would feel so virtuous +that I would the better enjoy my dinner which I had promised to take +with the McCarthys-- On the contrary, I had the most amusing time and +much more fun than I had later. The patients seemed only to be playing +sick, and some of them were very humorous and others very pathetic and +I played tin soldiers with some, and distributed rich gifts, other +people had paid for, with a lavish hand. I also sat on a little girl's +cot and played dolls for an hour. She had something wrong with her +spine and I wept most of the time, chiefly because she smiled all the +time. She went asleep holding on to my middle finger like the baby in +"The Luck of Roaring Camp." There were eighty babies in red flannel +nightgowns buttoned up the back who had pillow fights in honor of the +day and took turns in playing on a barrel organ, those that were strong +and tall enough. In the next ward another baby in white was dying-- +Its mother was a coster girl, seventeen years old, with a big hat and +plumes like those the flower girls wear at Piccadilly Circus. The baby +was yellow like old ivory and its teeth and gums were blue and it died +while we were watching it. The mother girl was drinking tea and crying +into it out of red swollen eyes, and twenty feet off one of the red +nightgowned kids was playing "Louisiana Lou" on the barrel organ. The +nurse put the baby's arms under the sheets and then pulled one up over +its face and took the teacup away from the mother who didn't see what +had happened and I came away while three young nurses were comforting +the girl. Most of the nurses were very beautiful, and I neglected my +duties as Santa Claus to talk to them. They would stop talking to get +down on their knees and dust up the floor, which was most embarrassing, +you couldn't very well ask to be let to help. There was one coster who +had his broken leg in a cage which moved with the leg no matter how +much he tossed. He was like the man "who sat in jail without his +boots, admiring how the world was made," he spent all his waking hours +in wrapt admiration of the cage-- He said to me "I've been here a +fortnight now, come Monday, and I can't break my leg no how. Yer can't +do it, that's all-- Yer can twist, and kick, and toss, and it don't do +no good. Yer jest can't do it-- Now you take notice." Then he would +kick violently and the cage would run around on trolleys and keep the +broken limb straight. "See!" he would exclaim, "Wot did I tell you-- +Its no use of trying, yer just can't do it. 'ere I've been ten days a +trying and it can't be done." + +We had a very fine Christmas dinner just Ethel, the McCarthy's and I. +Fanny, tell Charles, brought in the plum pudding with a sprig of holly +in it and blazing, and after dinner I read them the Jackall-- About +eleven I started to take Ethel to Miss Terry's, who lives miles beyond +Kensington. There was a light fog. I said that all sorts of things +ought to happen in a fog but that no one ever did have adventures +nowadays. At that we rode straight into a bank of fog that makes those +on the fishing banks look like Spring sunshine. You could not see the +houses, nor the street, nor the horse, not even his tail. All you +could see were gas jets, but not the iron that supported them. The +cabman discovered the fact that he was lost and turned around in +circles and the horse slipped on the asphalt which was thick with +frost, and then we backed into lamp-posts and curbs until Ethel got so +scared she bit her under lip until it bled. You could not tell whether +you were going into a house or over a precipice or into a sea. The +horse finally backed up a flight of steps, and rubbed the cabby against +a front door, and jabbed the wheels into an area railing and fell down. +That, I thought, was our cue to get out, so we slipped into a well of +yellow mist and felt around for each 'other until a square block of +light suddenly opened in mid air and four terrified women appeared in +the doorway of the house through which the cabman was endeavoring to +butt himself. They begged us to come in, and we did-- Being Christmas +and because the McCarthy's always call me "King" I had put on all my +decorations and the tin star and I also wore my beautiful fur coat, to +which I have treated myself, and a grand good thing it is, too-- I took +this off because the room was very hot, forgetting about the +decorations and remarked in the same time to Ethel that it would be +folly to try and get to Barkston Gardens, and that we must go back to +the "Duchess's" for the night. At this Ethel answered calmly "yes, +Duke," and I became conscious of the fact that the eyes of the four +women were riveted on my fur coat and decorations. At the word "Duke" +delivered by a very pretty girl in an evening frock and with nothing on +her hair the four women disappeared and brought back the children, the +servants, and the men, who were so overcome with awe and excitement and +Christmas cheer that they all but got down on their knees in a circle. +So, we fled out into the night followed by minute directions as to +where "Your Grace" and "Your Ladyship" should turn. For years, no +doubt, on a Christmas Day the story will be told in that house, +wherever it may be in the millions of other houses of London, how a +beautiful Countess and a wicked Duke were pitched into their front door +out of a hansom cab, and after having partaken of their Christmas +supper, disappeared again into a sea of fog. The only direction Ethel +and I could remember was that we were to go to the right when we came +to a Church, so when by feeling our way by the walls we finally reached +a church we continued going on around it until we had encircled it five +times or it had encircled us, we were not sure which. After the fifth +lap we gave up and sat down on the steps. Ethel had on low slippers +and was shivering and coughing but intensely amused and only scared for +fear she would lose her voice for the first night of "Peter"-- We could +hear voices sometimes, like people talking in a dream, and sometimes +the sound of dance music, and a man's voice calling "Perlice" in a +discouraged way as if he didn't much care whether the police came or +not, but regularly like a fog siren-- I don't know how long we sat +there or how long we might have sat there had not a man with a bicycle +lamp loomed up out of the mist and rescued us. He had his mother with +him and she said with great pride that her boy could find his way +anywhere. So, we clung to her boy and followed. A cabman passed +leading his horse with one of his lamps in his other hand and I turned +for an instant to speak to him and Ethel and her friends disappeared +exactly as though the earth had opened. So, I yelled after them, and +Ethel said "Here, I am," at my elbow. It was like the chesire cat that +kept appearing and disappearing until he made Alice dizzy. We finally +found a link-boy and he finally found the McCarthy's house, and I left +them giving Ethel quinine and whiskey. They wanted me to stay, but I +could not face dressing, in the morning. So I felt my way home and +only got lost twice. The Arch on Constitution Hill gave me much +trouble. I thought it was the Marble Arch, and hence-- In Jermyn +Street I saw two lamps burning dimly and a voice said, hearing my +footsteps "where am I? I don't know where I am no more than nothing--" +I told him he was in Jermyn Street with his horse's head about twenty +feet from St. James-- There was a long dramatic silence and then the +voice said-- "Well, I be blowed I thought I was in Pimlico!!!" + +This has been such a long letter that I shall have to skip any more. I +have NO sciatica chiefly because of the fur coat, I think, and I got +two Christmas presents, one from Margaret Fraser and one from the +Duchess of Sutherland-- Boxing Day I took Margaret to the matinee of +the Pantomine and it lasted five hours, until six twenty, then I +dressed and dined with the Hay's and went with them to the Barnum +circus which began at eight and lasted until twelve. It was a busy day. + +Lots of love. + +DICK. + + + +LONDON, March 20, 1898. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +The Nellie Farren benefit was the finest thing I have seen this year +past. It was more remarkable than the Coronation, or the Jubilee. It +began at twelve o'clock on Thursday, but at ten o'clock Wednesday +night, the crowd began to gather around Drury Lane, and spent the night +on the sidewalk playing cards and reading and sleeping. Ten hours +later they were admitted, or a few of them were, as many as the +galleries would hold. Arthur Collins, the manager of the Drury Lane +and the man who organized the benefit, could not get a stall for his +mother the day before the benefit. They were then not to be had, the +last having sold for twelve guineas. I got TWO the morning of the +benefit for three pounds each, and now people believe that I did get +into the Coronation! The people who had stalls got there at ten +o'clock, and the streets were blocked for "blocks" up to Covent Garden +with hansoms and royal carriages and holders of tickets at fifty +dollars apiece. It lasted six hours and brought in thirty thousand +dollars. Kate Vaughan came back and danced after an absence from the +stage of twelve years. Irving recited The Dream of Eugene Aram, Terry +played Ophelia, Chevalier sang Mrs. Hawkins, Dan Leno gave Hamlet, +Marie Tempest sang The Jewel of Asia and Hayden Coffin sang Tommy +Atkins, the audience of three thousand people joining in the chorus, +and for an encore singing "Oh, Nellie, Nellie Farren, may your love be +ever faithful, may your pals be ever true, so God bless you Nellie +Farren, here's the best of luck to you." In Trial by Jury, Gilbert +played an associate judge; the barristers were all playwrights, the +jury the principal comedians, the chorus girls were real chorus girls +from the Gaiety mixed in with leading ladies like Miss Jeffries and +Miss Hanbury, who could not keep in step. But the best part of it was +the pantomime. Ellaline came up a trap with a diamond dress and her +hair down her back and electric lights all over her, and said, "I am +the Fairy Queen," and waved her wand, at which the "First Boy" in the +pantomime said, "Go long, now, do, we know your tricks, you're Ellaline +Terriss"; and the clown said, "You're wrong, she's not, she's Mrs. +Seymour Hicks." Then Letty Lind came on as Columbine in black tulle, +and Arthur Roberts as the policeman, and Eddy Payne as the clown and +Storey as Pantaloon. + +The rest of it brought on everybody. Sam Sothern played a "swell" and +stole a fish. Louis Freear, a housemaid, and all the leading men +appeared as policemen. No one had more than a line to speak which just +gave the audience time to recognize him or her. The composers and +orchestra leaders came on as a German band, each playing an instrument, +and they got half through the Washington Post before the policemen beat +them off. Then Marie Lloyd and all the Music Hall stars appeared as +street girls and danced to the music of a hand-organ. Hayden Coffin, +Plunkett Greene and Ben Davies sang as street musicians and the clown +beat them with stuffed bricks. After that there was a revue of all the +burlesques and comic operas, then the curtain was raised from the +middle of the stage, and Nellie Farren was discovered seated at a table +on a high stage with all the "legitimates" in frock-coats and walking +dresses rising on benches around her. + +The set was a beautiful wood scene well lighted. Wyndham stood on one +side of her, and he said the yell that went up when the curtain rose +was worse than the rebel yell he had heard in battles. In front of +her, below the stage, were all the people who had taken part in the +revue, forming a most interesting picture. There was no one in the +group who had not been known for a year by posters or photographs: +Letty Lind as the Geisha, Arthur Roberts as Dandy Dan. The French Girl +and all the officers from The Geisha, the ballet girls from the +pantomime, the bareback-riders from The Circus Girl; the Empire +costumes and the monks from La Poupee, and all the Chinese and Japanese +costumes from The Geisha. Everybody on the stage cried and all the old +rounders in the boxes cried. + +It was really a wonderfully dramatic spectacle to see the clown and +officers and Geisha girls weeping down their grease paint. Nellie +Farren's great song was one about a street Arab with the words: "Let +me hold your, nag, sir, carry your little bag, sir, anything you please +to give--thank'ee, sir!" She used to close her hand, then open it and +look at the palm, then touch her cap with a very wonderful smile, and +laugh when she said, "Thank'ee, sir!" This song was reproduced for +weeks before the benefit, and played all over London, and when the +curtain rose on her, the orchestra struck into it and the people +shouted as though it was the national anthem. Wyndham made a very good +address and so did Terry, then Wyndham said he would try to get her to +speak. She has lost the use of her hands and legs and can only walk +with crutches, so he put his arm around her and her son lifted her from +the other side and then brought her to her feet, both crying like +children. You could hear the people sobbing, it was so still. She +said, "Ladies and Gentleman," looking at the stalls and boxes, then she +turned her head to the people on the stage below her and said, +"Brothers and Sisters," then she stood looking for a long time at the +gallery gods who had been waiting there twenty hours. You could hear a +long "Ah" from the gallery when she looked up there, and then a "hush" +from all over it and there was absolute silence. Then she smiled and +raised her finger to her bonnet and said, "Thank'ee, sir," and sank +back in her chair. It was the most dramatic thing I ever saw on a +stage. The orchestra struck up "Auld Lang Syne" and they gave three +cheers on the stage and in the house. The papers got out special +editions, and said it was the greatest theatrical event there had ever +been in London. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR + +When the news reached Richard that the Spanish-American War seemed +inevitable he returned at once to New York. Here he spent a few days +in arranging to act as correspondent for the New York Herald, the +London Times, and Scribner's Magazine, and then started for Key West. + + +Off Key West--April 24th, 1898. + On Board Smith, Herald Yacht. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I wrote you such a cross gloomy letter that I must drop you another to +make up for it. Since I wrote that an hour ago we have received word +that war is declared and I am now on board the Smith. She is a really +fine vessel as big as Benedict's yacht with plenty of deck room and big +bunks. I have everything I want on board and The Herald men are two +old Press men so we are good friends. If I had had another hour I +believe I could have got a berth on the flag ship for Roosevelt +telegraphed me the longest and strongest letter on the subject a man +could write instructing the Admiral to take me on as I was writing +history. Chadwick seemed willing but then the signal to set sail came +and we had to stampede. All the ships have their sailing pennants up. +It is as calm as a mirror thank goodness but as hot as hell. We expect +to be off Havana tomorrow at sunset. Then what we do no one knows. +The crew is on strike above and the mate is wrestling with them but as +it seems to be only a question of a few dollars it will come out all +right. We expect to be back here on Sunday but may stay out later. +Don't worry if you don't hear. It is grand to see the line of +battleships five miles out like dogs in a leash puffing and straining. +Thank God they'll let them slip any minute now. I don't know where +"Stenie" is. I am now going to take a nap while the smooth water lasts. + +DICK. + + +--Flagship New York-- + +Off Havana, + +April 26, 1898. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +I left Key West on the morning of the 24th in the Dolphin with the idea +of trying to get on board the flagship on the strength of Roosevelt's +letter. Stenie Bonsal got on just before she sailed, not as a +correspondent, but as a magazine-writer for McClure's, who have given +him a commission, and because he could act as interpreter. I left the +flagship the morning of the day I arrived. The captain of the Dolphin +apologized to his officers while we were at anchor in the harbor of Key +West, because his was a "cabin" and not a "gun" ship, and because he +had to deliver the mails at once on board the flagship and not turn out +of his course for anything, no matter how tempting a prize it might +appear to be. He then proceeded to chase every sail and column of +smoke on the horizon, so that the course was like a cat's cradle. We +first headed for a big steamer and sounded "general quarters." It was +fine to see the faces of the apprentices as they ran to get their +cutlasses and revolvers, their eyes open and their hair on end, with +the hope that they were to board a Spanish battleship. But at the +first gun she ran up an American flag, and on getting nearer we saw she +was a Mallory steamer. An hour later we chased another steamer, but +she was already a prize, with a prize crew on board. Then we had a +chase for three hours at night; after what we believed was the Panama, +but she ran away from us. We fired three shells after her, and she +still ran and got away. The next morning I went on board the New York +with Zogbaum, the artist. Admiral Sampson is a fine man; he impressed +me very much. He was very much bothered at the order forbidding +correspondents on the ship, but I talked like a father to him, and he +finally gave in, and was very nice about the way he did it. Since then +I have had the most interesting time and the most novel experience of +my life. We have been lying from three to ten miles off shore. We can +see Morro Castle and houses and palms plainly without a glass, and with +one we can distinguish men and women in the villages. It is, or was, +frightfully hot, and you had to keep moving all the time to get out of +the sun. I mess with the officers, but the other correspondents, the +Associated Press and Ralph Paine of The World and Press of +Philadelphia, with the middies. Paine got on because Scovel of The +World has done so much secret service work for the admiral, running in +at night and taking soundings, and by day making photographs of the +coast, also carrying messages to the insurgents. + +It is a wonderful ship, like a village, and as big as the Paris. We +drift around in the sun or the moonlight, and when we see a light, +chase after it. There is a band on board that plays twice a day. It +is like a luxurious yacht, with none of the ennui of a yacht. The +other night, when we were heading off a steamer and firing six-pounders +across her bows, the band was playing the "star" song from the +Meistersinger. Wagner and War struck me as the most fin de siecle idea +of war that I had ever heard of. The nights have been perfectly +beautiful, full of moonlight, when we sit on deck and smoke. It is +like looking down from the roof of a high building. Yesterday they +brought a Spanish officer on board, he had been picked up in a schooner +with his orderly. I was in Captain Chadwick's cabin when he was +brought in, and Scovel interpreted for the captain, who was more +courteous than any Spanish Don that breathes. The officer said he had +been on his way to see his wife and newly born baby at Matanzas, and +had no knowledge that war had been declared. I must say it did me good +to see him. I remembered the way the Spanish officers used to insult +me in a language which I, fortunately for me, could not understand, and +how I hated the sight of them, and I enjoyed seeing his red and yellow +cockade on the table before me, while I sat in a big armchair and +smoked and was in hearing of the marines drilling on the upper deck. +He was invited to go to breakfast with the officers, and I sat next to +him, and as it happened to be my turn to treat, I had the satisfaction +of pouring drinks down his throat. I told stories about Spanish +officers all the time to the rest of the mess, pretending I was telling +them something else by making drawings on the tablecloth, so that the +unhappy officer on his other side, who was talking Spanish to him, had +a hard time not to laugh. I told Zogbaum he ought to draw a picture of +him at the mess to show how we treated prisoners, and a companion one +of the captain of the Compeliton, who came over with us on the Dolphin, +and who showed us the marks of the ropes on his wrists and arms the +Spaniards had bound him with when he was in Cabanas for nine months. +The orderly messed with the bluejackets, who treated him in the most +hospitable manner. He was a poor little peasant boy, half starved and +hollow-eyed, and so scared that he could hardly stand, but they took +great pride in the fact that they had made him eat three times of +everything. They are, without prejudice, the finest body of men and +boys you would care to see, and as humorous and polite and keen as any +class of men I ever met. + +The war could be ended in a month so far as the island of Cuba is +concerned, if the troops were ready and brought over here. The coast +to Havana for ten miles is broad enough for them to march along it, and +the heights above could be covered the entire time by the fleet, so +that it would be absolutely impossible for any force to withstand the +awful hailstorm they would play on it. Transports carrying the +provisions would be protected by the ships on the gulf side, and the +guns at Morro could be shut up in twenty-four hours. This is not a +dream, but the most obvious and feasible plan, and it is a disgrace if +the Washington politicians delay. As to health, this is the healthiest +part of the coast. The trade winds blow every day of the year, and the +fever talk is all nonsense. The army certainly has delayed most +scandalously in mobilizing. This talk of waiting a month is suicide. +It is a terrible expense. It keeps the people on a strain, destroys +business, and the health of the troops at Tampa is, to my mind, in much +greater danger than it would be on the hills around Havana, where, as +Scovel says, there is as much yellow fever as there is snow. Tell Dad +to urge them to act promptly. In the meanwhile I am having a +magnificent time. I am burned and hungry and losing about a ton of fat +a day, and I sleep finely. The other night the Porter held us up, but +it was a story that never got into the papers. I haven't missed a +trick so far except not getting on the flagship from the first, but +that does not count now since I am on board. + +I haven't written anything yet, but I am going to begin soon. I expect +to make myself rich on this campaign. I get ten cents a word from +Scribner's for everything I send them, if it is only a thousand words, +and I get four hundred dollars a week salary from The Times, and all my +expenses. I haven't had any yet, but when I go back and join the army, +I am going to travel en suite with an assistant and the best and +gentlest ponies; a courier and a servant, a tent and a secretary and a +typewriter, so that Miles will look like a second lieutenant. + +When I came out here on the Dolphin I said I was going to Tampa, lying +just on the principle that it is no other newspaper-man's business +where you are going. So, The Herald man at Key West, hearing this, and +not knowing I WAS GOING TO THE FLAGSHIP, called Long, making a strong +kick about the correspondents, Bonsal, Remington and Paine, who are, or +were, with the squadron. Stenie left two days ago, hoping to get a +commission on the staff of General Lee. So yesterday Scovel told me +Long had cabled in answer to The Herald's protests to the admiral as +follows: "Complaints have been received that correspondents Paine, +Remington and Bonsal are with the squadron. Send them ashore at once. +There must be no favoritism." + +Scovel got the admiral at once to cable Long on his behalf because of +his services as a spy, but as Roosevelt had done so much for me, I +would not appeal over him, and this morning I sent in word to the +admiral that I was leaving the ship and would like to pay my respects. +Sampson is a thin man with a gray beard. He looks like a college +professor and has very fine, gentle eyes. He asked me why I meant to +leave the ship, and I said I had heard one of the torpedo boats was +going to Key West, and I thought I would go with her if he would allow +it. He asked if I had seen the cable from Long, and I said I had heard +of it, and that I was really going so as not to embarrass him with my +presence. He said, "I have received three different orders from the +Secretary, one of them telling me I could have such correspondents on +board as were agreeable to me. He now tells me that they must all go. +You can do as you wish. You are perfectly welcome to remain until the +conflict of orders is cleared up." I saw he was mad and that he wanted +me to stay, or at least not to go of my own wish, so that he could have +a grievance out of it--if he had to send me away after having been told +he could have those with him who were agreeable to him. Captain +Chadwick was in the cabin, and said, "Perhaps Mr. Davis had better +remain another twenty-four hours." The admiral added, "Ships are going +to Key West daily." Then Chadwick repeated that he thought I had +better stay another day, and made a motion to me to do so. So I said I +would, and now I am waiting to see what is going to happen. Outside, +Chadwick told me that something in the way of an experience would +probably come off, so I have hopes. By this time, of course, you know +all about it. I shall finish this later. + +We began bombarding Matanzas twenty minutes after I wrote the above. +It was great. I guess I got a beat, as The Herald tug is the only one +in sight. + +DICK. + + +Flagship--Off Havana + +April 30th, 1898. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +You must not mind if I don't write often, but I feel that you see The +Herald every day and that tells you of what I am seeing and doing, and +I am writing so much, and what with keeping notes and all, I haven't +much time-- What you probably want to know is that I am well and that +my sciatica is not troubling me at all--Mother always wants to know +that. On the other hand I am on the best ship from which to see things +and on the safest, as she can move quicker and is more heavily armored +than any save the battleships-- The fact that the admiral is on board +and that she is the flagship is also a guarantee that she will not be +allowed to expose herself. I was very badly scared when I first came +to Key West for fear I should be left especially when I didn't make the +flagship-- But I have not missed a single trick so far-- Bonsal missed +the bombardment and so did Stephen Crane-- All the press boats were +away except The Herald's. I had to write the story in fifteen minutes, +so it was no good except that we had it exclusively-- + +I am sending a short story of the first shot fired to the Scribner's +and am arranging with them to bring out a book on the Campaign. I have +asked them to announce it as it will help me immensely here for it is +as an historian and not as a correspondent that I get on over those men +who are correspondents for papers only. I have made I think my +position here very strong and the admiral is very much my friend as are +also his staff. Crane on the other hand took the place of Paine who +was exceedingly popular with every one and it has made it hard for +Crane to get into things-- I am having a really royal time, it is so +beautiful by both night and day and there is always color and movement +and the most rigid discipline with the most hearty good feeling-- I get +on very well with the crew too, one of them got shot by a revolver's +going off and I asked the surgeon if I might not help at the operation +so that I might learn to be useful, and to get accustomed to the sight +of wounds and surgery-- It was a wonderful thing to see, and I was +confused as to whether I admired the human body more or the way the +surgeon's understood and mastered it-- The sailor would not give way to +the ether and I had to hold him for an hour while they took out his +whole insides and laid them on the table and felt around inside of him +as though he were a hollow watermelon. Then they put his stomach back +and sewed it in and then sewed up his skin and he was just as good as +new. We carried him over to a cot and he came to, and looked up at us. +We were all bare-armed and covered with his blood, and then over at the +operating table, which was also covered with his blood. He was gray +under his tan and his lips were purple and his eyes were still drunk +with the ether-- But he looked at our sanguinary hands and shook his +head sideways on the pillow and smiled-- "You'se can't kill me," he +said, "I'm a New Yorker, by God--you'se can't kill me." The Herald +cabled for a story as to how the crew of the New York behaved in +action. I think I shall send them that although there are a few things +the people had better take for granted-- Of course, we haven't been "in +action" yet but the first bombardment made me nervous until it got well +started. I think every one was rather nervous and it was chiefly to +show them there was nothing to worry about that we fired off the U. S. +guns. They talk like veterans now-- It was much less of a strain than +I had expected, there was no standing on your toes nor keeping your +mouth open or putting wadding in your ears. I took photographs most of +the time, and they ought to be excellent--what happened was that you +were thrown up off the deck just as you are when an elevator starts +with a sharp jerk and there was an awful noise like the worst clap of +thunder you ever heard close to your ears, then the smoke covered +everything and you could hear the shot going through the air like a +giant rocket-- The shots they fired at us did not cut any ice except a +shrapnel that broke just over the main mast and which reminded me of +Greece-- The other shots fell short-- The best thing was to see the +Captains of the Puritan and Cincinnati frantically signalling to be +allowed to fire too-- A little fort had opened on us from the left so +they plugged at that, it was a wonderful sight, the Monitor was swept +with waves and the guns seemed to come out of the water. The +Cincinnati did the best of all. Her guns were as fast as the reports +of a revolver, a self-cocking revolver, when one holds the trigger for +the whole six. We got some copies of The Lucha on the Panama and their +accounts of what was going on in Havana were the best reading I ever +saw-- They probably reported the Matanzas bombardment as a Spanish +victory-- The firing yesterday was very tame. We all sat about on deck +and the band played all the time-- We didn't even send the men to +quarters-- I do not believe the army intends to move for two weeks yet, +so I shall stay here. They seem to want me to do so, and I certainly +want to-- But that army is too slow for words, and we love the "Notes +from the Front" in The Tribune, telling about the troops at +Chickamauga-- I believe what will happen is that a chance shot will +kill some of our men, and the Admiral won't do a thing but knock hell +out of whatever fort does it and land a party of marines and +bluejackets-- Even if they only occupy the place for 24 hours, it will +beat that army out and that's what I want. They'll get second money in +the Campaign if they get any, unless they brace up and come over-- I +have the very luck of the British Army, I walked into an open hatch +today and didn't stop until I caught by my arms and the back of my +neck. It was very dark and they had opened it while I was in a cabin. +The Jackie whose business it was to watch it was worse scared than I +was, and I looked up at him while still hanging to the edges with my +neck and arms and said "why didn't you tell me?" He shook his head and +said, "that's so, Sir, I certainly should have told you, I certainly +should"-- They're exactly like children and the reason is, I think, +because they are so shut off from the contamination of the world. One +of these ships is like living in a monastery, and they are as +disciplined and gentle as monks, and as reckless as cowboys. When I go +forward and speak to one of them they all gather round and sit on the +deck in circles and we talk and they listen and make the most +interesting comments-- The middy who fired the first gun at Matanzas is +a modest alert boy about 18 years old and crazy about his work-- So, +the Captain selected him for the honor and also because there is such +jealousy between the bow and stern guns that he decided not to risk +feelings being hurt by giving it to either-- So, Boone who was at +Annapolis a month ago was told to fire the shot-- We all took his name +and he has grown about three inches. We told him all of the United +States and England would be ringing with his name-- When I was alone he +came and sat down on a gull beside me and told me he was very glad they +had let him fire that first gun because his mother was an invalid and +he had gone into the navy against her wish and he hoped now that she +would be satisfied when she saw his name in the papers. He was too +sweet and boyish about it for words and I am going to take a snapshot +at him and put his picture in Scribner's--"he only stands about so +high--" + +DICK. + +I enclose a souvenir of the bombardment. Please keep it carefully for +me-- It was the first shot "in anger" in thirty years. + + +TAMPA, May 3rd, 1898. + +DEAR NORA: + +We are still here and probably will be. It is a merry war, if there +were only some girls here the place would be perfect. I don't know +what's the matter with the American girl--here am I--and Stenie and +Willie Chanler and Frederick Remington and all the boy officers of the +army and not one solitary, ugly, plain, pretty, or beautiful girl. I +bought a fine pony to-day, her name was Ellaline but I thought that was +too much glory for Ellaline so I diffused it over the whole company by +re-christening her Gaiety Girl, because she is so quiet, all the Gaiety +Girls I know are quiet. + +She never does what I tell her anyway, so it doesn't matter what I call +her. But when this cruel war is over ($6 a day with bath room +adjoining) I am going to have an oil painting of her labelled "Gaiety +Girl the Kentucky Mare that carried the news of the fall of Havana to +Matanzas, fifty miles under fire and Richard Harding Davis." To-morrow +I am going to buy a saddle and a servant. War is a cruel thing +especially to army officers. They have to wear uniforms and are not +allowed to take off their trousers to keep cool-- They take off +everything else except their hats and sit in the dining room without +their coats or collars-- That's because it is war time. They are +terrible brave--you can see it by the way they wear bouquets on their +tunics and cigarette badges and Cuban flags and by not saluting their +officers. One General counted today and forty enlisted men passed him +without saluting. The army will have to do a lot of fighting to make +itself solid with me. They are mounted police. We have a sentry here, +he sits in a rocking chair. Imagine one of Sampson's or Dewey's +bluejackets sitting down even on a gun carriage. Wait till I write my +book. I wouldn't say a word now but when I write that book I'll give +them large space rates. I am writing it now, the first batch comes out +in Scribner's in July. + +to you all. + +DICK. + + +During the early days of the war, Richard received the appointment of a +captaincy, but on the advice of his friends that his services were more +valuable as a correspondent, he refused the commission. The following +letter shows that at least at the time my brother regretted the +decision, but as events turned out he succeeded in rendering splendid +service not only as a correspondent but in the field. + + +TAMPA--May 14, 1898. + +DEAR CHAS. + +On reflection I am greatly troubled that I declined the captaincy. It +is unfortunate that I had not time to consider it. We shall not have +another war and I can always be a war correspondent in other countries +but never again have a chance to serve in my own. The people here +think it was the right thing to do but the outside people won't. Not +that I care about that, but I think I was weak not to chance it. I +don't know exactly what I ought to do. When I see all these kid +militia men enlisted it makes me feel like the devil. I've no doubt +many of them look upon it as a sort of a holiday and an outing and like +it for the excitement, but it would bore me to death. The whole thing +would bore me if I thought I had to keep at it for a year or more. +That is the fault of my having had too much excitement and freedom. It +spoils me to make sacrifices that other men can make. Whichever way it +comes out I shall be sorry and feel I did not do the right thing. +Lying around this hotel is enough to demoralize anybody. We are much +more out of it than you are, and one gets cynical and loses interest. +On the other hand I would be miserable to go back and have done +nothing. It is a question of character entirely and I don't feel I've +played the part at all. It's all very well to say you are doing more +by writing, but are you? It's an easy game to look on and pat the +other chaps on the back with a few paragraphs, that is cheap +patriotism. They're taking chances and you're not and when the war's +over they'll be happy and I won't. The man that enlists or volunteers +even if he doesn't get further than Chickamauga or Gretna Green and the +man who doesn't enlist at all but minds his own business is much better +off than I will be writing about what other men do and not doing it +myself, especially as I had a chance of a life time, and declined it. +I'll always feel I lost in character by not sticking to it whether I +had to go to Arizona or Governor's Island. I was unfortunate in having +Lee and Remington to advise me. We talked for two hours in Fred's +bedroom and they were both dead against it and Lee composed my telegram +to the president. Now, I feel sure I did wrong. Shafter did not care +and the other officers were delighted and said it was very honorable +and manly giving me credit for motives I didn't have. I just didn't +think it was good enough although I wanted it too and I missed +something I can never get again. I am very sad about it. I know all +the arguments for not taking it but as a matter of fact I should have +done so. I would have made a good aide, and had I got a chance I +certainly would have won out and been promoted. That there are fools +appointed with me is no answer. I wouldn't have stayed in their class +long. + +DICK. + + +TAMPA, May 29, 1898. + +DEAR CHAS.: + +The cigars came; they are O. K. and a great treat after Tampa products. +Captain Lee and I went out to the volunteer camps today: Florida, +Alabama, Ohio and Michigan, General Lee's push, and it has depressed me +very much. I have been so right about so many things these last five +years, and was laughed at for making much of them. Now all I urged is +proved to be correct; nothing our men wear is right. The shoes, the +hats, the coats, all are dangerous to health and comfort; one-third of +the men cannot wear the regulation shoe because it cuts the instep, and +buy their own, and the volunteers are like the Cuban army in +appearance. The Greek army, at which I made such sport, is a fine +organization in comparison as far as outfit goes; of course, there is +no comparison in the spirit of the men. One colonel of the Florida +regiment told us that one-third of his men had never fired a gun. They +live on the ground; there are no rain trenches around the tents, or +gutters along the company streets; the latrines are dug to windward of +the camp, and all the refuse is burned to WINDWARD. + +Half of the men have no uniforms nor shoes. I pointed out some of the +unnecessary discomforts the men were undergoing through ignorance, and +one colonel, a Michigan politician, said, "Oh, well, they'll learn. It +will be a good lesson for them." Instead of telling them, or telling +their captains, he thinks it best that they should find things out by +suffering. I cannot decide whether to write anything about it or not. +I cannot see where it could do any good, for it is the system that is +wrong--the whole volunteer system, I mean. Captain Lee happened to be +in Washington when the first Manila outfit was starting from San +Francisco, and it was on his representations that they gave the men +hammocks, and took a store of Mexican dollars. They did not know that +Mexican dollars are the only currency of the East, and were expecting +to pay the men in drafts on New York. + +Isn't that a pitiable situation when a captain of an English company +happens to stray into the war office, and happens to have a good heart +and busies himself to see that our own men are supplied with hammocks +and spending money. None of our officers had ever seen khaki until +they saw Lee's, nor a cork helmet until they saw mine and his; now, +naturally, they won't have anything else, and there is not another one +in the country. The helmets our troops wear would be smashed in one +tropical storm, and they are so light that the sun beats through them. +They are also a glaring white, and are cheap and nasty and made of +pasteboard. The felt hats are just as bad; the brim is not broad +enough to protect them from the sun or to keep the rain off their +necks, and they are made of such cheap cotton stuff that they grow hard +when they are wet and heavy, instead of shedding the rain as good felt +would do. They have always urged that our uniforms, though not smart +nor "for show," were for use. The truth is, as they all admit, that +for the tropics they are worse than useless, and that in any climate +they are cheap and poor. + +I could go on for pages, but it has to be written later; now they would +only think it was an attack on the army. But it is sickening to see +men being sacrificed as these men will be. This is the worst season of +all in the Philippines. The season of typhoons and rainstorms and +hurricanes, and they would have sent the men off without anything to +sleep on but the wet ground and a wet blanket. It has been a great +lesson for me, and I have rubber tents, rubber blankets, rubber coats +and hammocks enough for an army corps. I have written nothing for the +paper, because, if I started to tell the truth at all, it would do no +good, and it would open up a hell of an outcry from all the families of +the boys who have volunteered. Of course, the only answer is a +standing army of a hundred thousand, and no more calling on the +patriotism of men unfitted and untrained. It is the sacrifice of the +innocents. The incompetence and, unreadiness of the French in 1870 was +no worse than our own is now. It is a terrible and pathetic spectacle, +and the readiness of the volunteers to be sacrificed is all the more +pathetic. It seems almost providential that we had this false-alarm +call with Spain to show the people how utterly helpless they are. + +love, + +DICK. + + +TAMPA, June 9th, 1898. + +Well, here we are again. Talk of the "Retreat from Ottawa" I've +retreated more in this war than the Greeks did. If they don't brace up +soon, I'll go North and refuse to "recognize" the war. I feel I +deserve a pension and a medal as it is. We had everything on board and +our cabins assigned us and our "war kits" in which we set forth taken +off, and were in yachting flannels ready for the five days cruise. I +had the devil of a time getting out to the flagship, as they call the +headquarters boat. I went out early in the morning of the night when I +last wrote you. I stayed up all that night watching troops arrive and +lending a helping hand and a word of cheer to dispirited mules and men, +also segars and cool drinks, none of them had had food for twenty-four +hours and the yellow Florida people having robbed them all day had shut +up and wouldn't open their miserable shops. They even put sentries +over the drinking water of the express company which is only making +about a million a day out of the soldiers. So their soldiers slept +along the platform and trucks rolled by them all night, shaking the +boards on which they lay by an inch or two. About four we heard that +Shafter was coming and an officer arrived to have his luggage placed on +the Seguranca. I left them all on the pier carrying their own baggage +and sweating and dripping and no one having slept. Their special train +had been three hours in coming nine miles. I hired a small boat and +went off to the flagship alone but the small boat began to leak and I +bailed and the colored boy pulled and the men on the transports cheered +us on. Just at the sinking point I hailed a catboat and we transferred +the Admiral's flag to her and also my luggage. The rest of the day we +spent on the transport. We left it this morning. Some are still on it +but as they are unloading all the horses and mules from the other +transports fifteen having died from the heat below deck and as they +cannot put them on again under a day, I am up here to get cool and to +stretch my legs. The transport is all right if it were not so awfully +crowded. I am glad I held out to go with the Headquarter staff. I +would have died on the regular press boat, as it is the men are +interesting on our boat. We have all the military attaches and Lee, +Remington, Whitney and Bonsal. The reason we did not go was because +last night the Eagle and Resolute saw two Spanish cruisers and two +torpedo boats laying for us outside, only five miles away. What they +need with fourteen ships of war to guard a bottled up fleet and by +leaving twenty-six transports some of them with 1,400 men on them +without any protection but a small cruiser and one gun boat is beyond +me. The whole thing is beyond me. It is the most awful picnic that +ever happened, you wouldn't credit the mistakes that are made. It is +worse than the French at Sedan a million times. We are just amateurs +at war and about like the Indians Columbus discovered. I am +exceedingly pleased with myself at taking it so good naturedly. I +would have thought I would have gone mad or gone home long ago. Bonsal +and Remington threaten to go every minute. Miles tells me we shall +have to wait until those cruisers are located or bottled up. I'm tired +of bottling up fleets. I like the way Dewey bottles them. What a +story that would have made. Twenty-six transports with as many +thousand men sunk five miles out and two-thirds of them drowned. +Remember the Maine indeed! they'd better remember the Main and brace +up. If we wait until they catch those boats I may be here for another +month as we cannot dare go away for long or far. If we decide to go +with a convoy which is what we ought to do, we may start in a day or +two. Nothing you read in the papers is correct. Did I tell you that +Miles sent Dorst after me the other night and made me a long speech, +saying he thought I had done so well in refusing the commission. I was +glad he felt that way about it. Well, lots of love. I'm now going to +take a bath. God bless you, this is a "merry war." + +RICHARD. + + +In sight of Santiago-- + +June 26th, 1898. + +DEAR CHAS.: + +We have come to a halt here in a camp along the trail to Santiago. You +can see it by climbing a hill. Instead of which I am now sitting by a +fine stream on a cool rock. I have discovered that you really enjoy +things more when you are not getting many comforts than you do when you +have all you want. That sounds dull but it is most consoling. I had a +bath this morning in these rocks that I would not have given up for all +the good dinners I ever had at the Waldorf, or the Savoy. It just went +up and down my spine and sent thrills all over me. It is most +interesting now and all the troubles of the dull days of waiting at +Tampa and that awful time on the troopship are over. The army is +stretched out along the trail from the coast for six miles. Santiago +lies about five miles ahead of us. I am very happy and content and the +book for Scribners ought to be an interesting one. It is really very +hard that my despatches are limited to 100 words for there are lots of +chances. The fault lies with the army people at Washington, who give +credentials to any one who asks. To The Independent and other +periodicals--in no sense newspapers, and they give seven to one paper, +consequently we as a class are a pest to the officers and to each +other. Fortunately, the survival of the fittest is the test and only +the best men in every sense get to the front. There are fifty others +at the base who keep the wire loaded with rumors, so when after great +difficulty we get the correct news back to Daiquire a Siboney there is +no room for it. Some of the "war correspondents" have absolutely +nothing but the clothes they stand in, and the others had to take up +subscriptions for them. They gambled all the time on the transports +and are ensconced now at the base with cards and counters and nothing +else. Whitney has turned out great at the work and I am glad he is not +on a daily paper or he would share everything with me. John Fox, +Whitney and I are living on Wood's rough riders. We are very welcome +and Roosevelt has us at Headquarters but, of course, we see the men we +know all the time. You get more news with the other regiments but the +officers, even the Generals, are such narrow minded slipshod men that +we only visit them to pick up information. Whitney and I were the only +correspondents that saw the fight at Guasimas. He was with the +regulars but I had the luck to be with Roosevelt. He is sore but still +he saw more than any one else and is proportionally happy. Still he +naturally would have liked to have been with our push. We were within +thirty yards of the Spaniards and his crowd were not nearer than a +quarter of a mile which was near enough as they had nearly as many +killed. Gen. Chaffee told me to-day that it was Wood's charge that won +the day, without it the tenth could not have driven the Spaniards +back-- Wood is a great young man, he has only one idea or rather all +his ideas run in one direction, his regiment, he eats and talks nothing +else. He never sleeps more than four hours and all the rest of the +time he is moving about among the tents-- Between you and me and the +policeman, it was a very hot time-- Maybe if I drew you a map you would +understand why. + +Wood and Gen. Young, by agreement the night before and without orders +from anybody decided to advance at daybreak and dislodge the Spaniards +from Las Guasimas. They went by two narrow trails single file, the two +trails were along the crests of a line of hills with a valley between. +The dotted line is the trail we should have taken had the Cubans told +us it existed, if we had done so we would have had the Spaniards in the +frontband rear as General Young would have caught them where they +expected him to come, and we would have caught them where they were not +looking for us. Of course, the Cubans who are worthless in every way +never told us of this trail until we had had the meeting. No one knew +we were near Spaniards until both columns were on the place where the +two trails meet. Then our scouts came back and reported them and the +companies were scattered out as you see them in the little dots. The +Spaniards were absolutely hidden not over 25 per cent of the men saw +one of them for two hours-- I ran out with the company on the right of +the dotted line, marked "our position." I thought it was a false alarm +and none of us believed there were any Spaniards this side of Santiago. +The ground was covered with high grass and cactus and vines so that you +could not see twenty feet ahead, the men had to beat the vines with +their carbines to get through them. We had not run fifty yards through +the jungle before they opened on us with a quick firing gun at a +hundred yards. I saw the enemy on the hill across the valley and got +six sharp shooters and began on them, then the fire got so hot that we +had to lie on our faces and crawl back to the rear. I had a wounded +man to carry and was in a very bad way because I had sciatica, Two of +his men took him off while I stopped to help a worse wounded trooper, +but I found he was dead. When I had come back for him in an hour, the +vultures had eaten out his eyes and lips. In the meanwhile a trooper +stood up on the crest with a guidon and waved it at the opposite trail +to find out if the firing there was from Spaniards or Len Young's +negroes. He was hit in three places but established the fact that +Young was up on the trail on our right across the valley for they +cheered. He was a man who had run on the Gold Ticket for Congress in +Arizona, and consequently, as some one said, naturally should have led +a forlorn hope. A blackguard had just run past telling them that Wood +was killed and that he had been ordered to Siboney for reinforcements. +That was how the report spread that we were cut to pieces-- A reporter +who ran away from Young's column was responsible for the story that I +was killed. He meant Marshall who was on the left of the line and who +was shot through the spine-- There was a lot of wounded at the base and +the fighting in front was fearful to hear. It was as fast as a hard +football match and you must remember it lasted two full hours; during +that time the men were on their feet all the time or crawling on their +hands-- Not one of them, with the exception of ----, and a Sergeant who +threw away his gun and ran, went a step back. It was like playing +blindman's buff and you were it. I got separated once and was scared +until I saw the line again, as my leg was very bad and I could not get +about over the rough ground. I went down the trail and I found Capron +dying and the whole place littered with discarded blankets and +haversacks. I also found Fish and pulled him under cover--he was quite +dead-- Then I borrowed a carbine and joined Capron's troop, a second +lieutenant and his Sergeant were in command. The man next me in line +got a bullet through his sleeve and one through his shirt and you could +see where it went in and came out without touching the skin. The +firing was very high and we were in no danger so I told the lieutenant +to let us charge across an open place and take a tin shack which was +held by the Spaniards' rear guard, for they were open in retreat. +Roosevelt ordered his men to do the same thing and we ran forward +cheering across the open and then dropped in the grass and fired. I +guess I fired about twenty rounds and then formed into a strategy board +and went off down the trail to scout. I got lonely and was coming back +when I met another trooper who sat down and said he was too hot to run +in any direction Spaniard or no Spaniard. So we sat down and panted. +At last he asked me if I was R. H. D. and I said I was and he said "I'm +Dean, I met you in Harvard in the racquet court." Then we embraced--the +tenth came up then and it was all over. My leg, thank goodness, is all +right again and has been so for three days. It was only the running +about that caused it. I won't have to run again as I have a horse now +and there will be no more ambushes and moreover we have 12,000 men +around us-- Being together that way in a tight place has made us all +friends and I guess I'll stick to the regiment. Send this to dear +Mother and tell her I was not born to be killed. I ought to tell you +more of the charming side of the life--we are all dirty and hungry and +sleep on the ground and have grand talks on every subject around the +headquarters tent. I was never more happy and content and never so +well. It is hot but at night it is quite cool and there has been no +rain only a few showers. 'No one is ill and there have been no cases of +fever. I have not heard from you or any one since the 14th, which is +not really long but so much goes on that it seems so. Lots of love to +you all. + +DICK. + + +After reading this over I ought perhaps to say that the position of the +real correspondents is absolutely the very best. No one confounds us +with the men at the base, and nothing they have they deny us. We are +treated immeasurably better than the poor attaches who are still on the +ship and who if they were spies could not be treated worse. But for +Whitney, Remington and myself nothing is too good. Generals fight to +have us on their staffs and all that sort of thing, so I really cannot +complain, except about the fact that our real news is crowded out by +the faker in the rear. + + +SANTIAGO. + +Headquarters + Cavalry Division, U. S. Army. + Headqrs. Wood's Rough Riders. + +June 29th, 1898. + +DEAR DAD: + +I suppose you are back from Marion now and I have missed you. I can't +tell you how sorry I am. I wanted to see you coming up the street this +summer in your knickerbockers and with no fish, but still happy. Never +mind, we shall do the theatres this Fall, and have good walks downtown. +I hope Mother will come up and visit me this September, at Marion and +sit on Allen's and on the Clarks' porch and we can have Chas. too. I +suppose he will have had his holiday but he can come up for a Sunday. +We expect to move up on Santiago the day after to-morrow, and it's +about time, for the trail will not be passable much longer. It rains +every day at three o'clock for an hour and such rain you never guessed. +It is three inches high for an hour. Then we all go out naked and dig +trenches to get it out of the way. It is very rough living. I have to +confess that I never knew how well off I was until I got to smoking +Durham tobacco and I've only half a bag of that left. The enlisted men +are smoking dried horse droppings, grass, roots and tea. Some of them +can't sleep they are so nervous for the want of it, but to-day a lot +came up and all will be well for them. I've had a steady ration of +coffee, bacon and hard tack for a week and one mango, to night we had +beans. Of course, what they ought to serve is rice and beans as fried +bacon is impossible in this heat. Still, every one is well. This is +the best crowd to be with--they are so well educated and so +interesting. The regular army men are very dull and narrow and would +bore one to death. We have Wood, Roosevelt, Lee, the British Attache, +Whitney and a Doctor Church, a friend of mine from Princeton, who is +quite the most cheerful soul and the funniest I ever met. He carried +four men from the firing line the other day back half a mile to the +hospital tent. He spends most of his time coming around headquarters +in an undershirt of mine and a gold bracelet fighting tarantulas. I +woke up the other morning with one seven inches long and as hairy as +your head reposing on my pillow. My sciatica bothers me but has not +prevented me seeing everything and I can dig rain gutters and cut wood +with any of them. It is very funny to see Larned, the tennis champion, +whose every movement at Newport was applauded by hundreds of young +women, marching up and down in the wet grass. Whitney and I guy him. +To-day a sentry on post was reading "As You Like It" and whenever I go +down the line half the men want to know who won the boat race-- To-day +Wood sent me out with a detail on a pretense of scouting but really to +give them a chance to see the country. They were all college boys, +with Willie Tiffany as sergeant and we had a fine time and could see +the Spanish sentries quite plainly without a glass. I hope you will +not worry over this long separation. I don't know of any experience I +have had which has done me so much good, and being with such a fine lot +of fellows is a great pleasure. The scenery is very beautiful when it +is not raining. I have a cot raised off the ground in the Colonel's +tent and am very well off. If Chaffee or Lawton, who are the finest +type of officers I ever saw, were in command, we would have been +fighting every day and would probably have been in by this time. This +weather shows that Havana must be put off after Porto Rico. They +cannot campaign in this mud. + +DICK. + + +SANTIAGO, July 1898. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +This is just to reassure you that I am all right. I and Marshall were +the only correspondents with Roosevelt. We were caught in a clear case +of ambush. Every precaution had been taken, but the natives knew the +ground and our men did not. It was the hottest, nastiest fight I ever +imagined. We never saw the enemy except glimpses. Our men fell all +over the place, shouting to the others not to mind them, but to go on. +I got excited and took a carbine and charged the sugar house, which was +what is called the key to the position. If the men had been regulars I +would have sat in the rear as B---- did, but I knew every other one of +them, had played football, and all that sort of thing, with them, so I +thought as an American I ought to help. The officers were falling all +over the shop, and after it was all over Roosevelt made me a long +speech before some of the men, and offered me a captaincy in the +regiment any time I wanted it. He told the Associated Press man that +there was no officer in his regiment who had "been of more help or +shown more courage" than your humble servant, so that's all right. +After this I keep quiet. I promise I keep quiet. Love to you all. + +RICHARD. + + +From Cuba Richard sailed with our forces to Porto Rico, where his +experiences in the Spanish-American war came to an end, and he returned +to Marion. He spent the fall in New York, and early in 1899 went to +London. + +One of the most interesting, certainly the most widely talked of, +"sporting events" for which Richard was responsible was the sending of +an English district-messenger boy from London to Chicago. The idea was +inspired by my brother's general admiration of the London messenger +service and his particular belief in one William Thomas Jaggers, a +fourteen-year-old lad whom Richard had frequently employed to carry +notes and run errands. One day, during a casual luncheon conversation +at the Savoy with his friend Somers Somerset, Richard said that he +believed that if Jaggers were asked to carry a message to New York that +he could not only do it but would express no surprise at the +commission. This conversation resulted in the bet described in the +following letters. The boy slipped quietly away from London, but a few +days later the bet became public and the newspapers were filled with +speculation as to whether Jaggers could beat the mails. The messenger +carried three letters, one to my sister, one to Miss Cecil Clark of +Chicago, whom Richard married a few months later, and one to myself. +As a matter of fact, Jaggers delivered his notes several hours before +letters travelling by the same boat reached the same destinations. The +newspapers not only printed long accounts of Jaggers's triumphal +progress from New York to Chicago and back again, but used the success +of his undertaking as a text for many editorials against the dilatory +methods of our foreign-mail service. Jaggers left London on March 11, +1899, and was back again on the 29th, having travelled nearly +eighty-four hundred miles in eighteen days. On his return he was +received literally by a crowd of thousands, and his feat was given +official recognition by a gold medal pinned on his youthful chest by +the Duchess of Rutland. Also, later on, at a garden fete he was +presented to the Queen, and incidentally, still later, returned to the +United States as "buttons" to my brother's household. + + +Bachelors' Club, + Piccadilly, W. + +March 15th, 1899. + +DEAR CHAS. + +I hope you are not annoyed about Jaggers. When he started no one knew +of it but three people and I had no idea anyone else would, but the +company sent it to The Mail without my name but describing me as "an +American gentleman"-- Instantly the foreign correspondents went to them +to find out who I was and to whom I was sending the letter-- I told the +company it was none of their damned business--that I employed the boy +by the week and that I could send him where-ever I chose. Then the +boy's father got proud and wrote to The Mail about his age and so they +got the boy's name. Mine, however, is still out of it, but in America +they are sure to know as the people on the steamer are crazy about him +and Kinsey the Purser knows he is sent by me. After he gets back from +Chicago and Philadelphia, you can do with him as you like until the +steamer sails. If the thing is taken up as it is here and the fat is +in the fire, then you can do as you please-- I mean you can tell the +papers about it or not-- Somerset holds one end of the bets and I the +other. There are two bets: one that he will beat the mail to Chicago, +Somerset agreeing to consider the letter you give him to Bruce, as +equivalent to one coming from here. The other bet is that he will +deliver and get receipts from you, Nora and Bruce, and return here by +the 5th of April-- You and Bobby ought to be able to do well by him if +it becomes, as I say, so far public that there is no possibility of +further concealment-- You have my permission to do what you please-- He +is coming into my employ as soon as he gets back and as soon as the +company give him a medal. + +Over here there is the greatest possible interest in the matter-- At +the Clubs I go to, the waiters all wait on me in order to have the +latest developments and when it was cabled over here that the Customs' +people intended stopping him, indignation raged at the Foreign office. + +of love, + +DICK. + + +89 Jermyn Street, S. W. + +March--1899 + +DEAR NORA: + +This is to be handed to you by my special messenger, who is to assure +you that I am in the best of health and spirits-- Keep him for a few +hours and then send him on to Chicago-- As he is doing this on a bet, +do not give him any written instructions only verbal ones. I am very +well and happy and send you all my love-- Jaggers has been running +errands for me ever since I came here, and a most loyal servitor when I +was ill-- On his return I want to keep him on as a buttons. See that +he gets plenty to eat-- If he comes back alive he will have broken the +messenger boy service record by three thousand miles. Personally, it +does not cost me anything to speak of. The dramatization of the +Soldiers continues briskly, and Maude is sending Grundy back the +Jackal, to have a second go at it. Maude insists on its being done--so +I stand to win a lot. + +RICHARD. + + +Beefsteak Club, 9, Green Street, + Leicester Square, W. C. Tuesday. + +March--1899. + +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +The faithful Jaggers should have arrived to-day, or will do so this +evening-- I am sure you will make the poor little chap comfortable-- I +do regret having sent him on such a journey especially since the papers +here made such an infernal row over it-- However, neither of us will +lose by it in the end-- + +I dined with Lady Clarke last night and met Lord Castleton there and he +invited me up to Dublin for the Punchtown Races-- I have a great mind +to go and write a story on them-- Castleton is a great sport and very +popular at home and in England and it would be a pleasant experience. +Kuhne Beveridge is doing a bust of me in khaki outfit for the Academy +and also for a private exhibition of her own works, which includes the +Prince of Wales, and the Little Queen of Holland. + +Hays Hammond has invited me down to South Africa again, with a promise +of making my fortune, but I am not going as it takes too long. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BOER WAR + +On May 4, 1899, at Marion, Massachusetts, Richard was married to Cecil +Clark, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Clark of Chicago. After +the marriage Richard and his wife spent a few weeks in Marion and the +remainder of the summer in London and Aix-les-Bains. + + +MARION, May 28th, 1899. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +You sent me such a good letter about the visit of the three selected +chorus girls. But what was best, was about your wishing to see me. Of +course, you know that I feel that too. I would have it so that we all +lived here, so that Dad could fish, and Nora and Cecil could discuss +life, and you and I could just take walks and chat. But because that +cannot be, we are no further away than we ever were and when the pain +to see you comes, I don't let it hurt and I don't kill it either for it +is the sweetest pain I can feel. If sons will go off and marry, or be +war-correspondents, or managers, it does not mean that Home is any the +less Home. You can't wipe out history by changing the name of a +boulevard, as somebody said of the French, and if I were able to be in +two places at once, I know in which two places I would be here with +Cecil at Marion, and at Home in the Library with you and Dad and The +Evening Telegraph, and Nora and Van Bibber. You will never know how +much I love you all and you must never give up trying to comprehend it. +God bless you and keep you, and my love to you every minute and always. + +DICK. + + +Late in January, 1900, Richard and his wife started on their first +great adventure together to the Boer War. Arriving at Cape Town, +Richard left his wife there and, acting as correspondent with the +British forces for the New York Herald and London Mail, saw the relief +of Ladysmith. After this he returned to Cape Town, with the intention +of joining Lord Roberts in his advance on Pretoria. But on arriving at +Cape Town he learned that Lord Roberts did not intend to move for three +weeks, and so decided to say farewell to the British army and to return +to London in a leisurely and sightseeing fashion along the east coast. +It was after they were well started on this return voyage that Richard +conceived the idea of leaving the ship at Durban, going to Pretoria, +and, as he expressed it, "watch the Boers fighting the same men I had +just seen fighting them." + + +R. M. S. Scot + +February 4th, 1900. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +A great change has come since I wrote you from Madeira. We are now on +Summer seas and have regulated the days so that they pass very +pleasantly--not that we do not want to be on land-- I never so much +wanted it-- Somers is with us and is such a comfort. He is even +younger than he used to be and so quick and courteous and good +tempered. He is like a boy off on a holiday-- I think he is very much +in love with his wife, but in spite of himself he is glad to get a +holiday, and like all of us he will be so much more glad when he is +homeward bound. They threatened to shut us out of our only chance of +putting foot on land at Madeira-- In the first place, we were so +delayed by the storm that we arrived at eight o'clock at night, so that +we missed seeing it in its beauty of flowers and palms. And then it +was so rough that they said it was most unsafe for us to attempt to go +ashore. It was a great disappointment but I urged that every one loved +his own life, and if the natives were willing to risk theirs to sell us +photographs and wicker baskets it was probably safer than it looked-- +So we agreed to die together, and with Somers got our rain coats, and +the three of us leaped into a row boat pulled by two Portugese pirates +and started off toward a row of lamps on a quay that seemed much lower +than the waves. The remainder on the ship watched us disappear with +ominus warnings-- We really had a most adventurous passage--towards +shore the waves tossed us about like a lobster pot and we just missed +being run down by a coal barge and escaped an upset over the bow anchor +chain of a ship. It was so close that both Somers and I had our coats +off and I told Cecil to grab the chain-- But we weathered it and landed +at a high gangway cut in the solid rock the first three steps of which +were swamped by the waves. A rope and chain hung from the top of the +wharf and a man swung his weight on this and yanked us out to the steps +as the boat was on the wave. The rain beat and the wind roared and +beautiful palms lashed the air with their fronds-- It was grand to get +on shore once again-- At the end of the wharf we were hustled into a +sled on steel runners, like a hearse with curtains around it and drawn +by bullocks-- The streets were all of mosaic, thousands of little +stones being packed together like corn on a cob. Over this the heavy +sledge was drawn by the bullocks while a small boy ran ahead through +the narrow streets to clear the way-- He had a feather duster made of +horse's tail as a badge of authority and he yelled some strange cry at +the empty streets and closed houses. Another little boy in a striped +jersey ran beside and assured us he was a guide. It was like a page +out of a fairy story. The strange cart sliding and slipping over the +stones which were as smooth as ice, and the colored house fronts and +the palms and strange plants. The darkness made it all the more +unreal-- There was a governor's palace buttressed and guarded by +sentinels in a strange uniform and queer little cafe's under vines--and +terraces of cannon, and at last a funny, pathetic little casino. It +was such a queer imitation of Aix and Monte Carlo-- There were +chasseurs and footmen in magnificent livery and stucco white walls +ornamented with silk SHAWLS. Also a very good band and a new roulette +table-- Coming in out of the night and the rain it was like a theatre +after the "dark scene" has just passed-- There were some most dignified +croupiers and three English women and a few sad English men and some +very wicked looking natives in diamonds and white waistcoats. We had +only fifteen minutes to spare so we began playing briskly with two +shilling pieces Cecil with indifferent fortune and Somers losing-- But +I won every time and the croupiers gave me strange notes of the Bonco +de Portugal which I put back on the board only to get more of a larger +number-- I felt greatly embarrassed as I was not a real member of the +club and I hated to blow in out of a hurricane and take their money and +sail away again-- So I appealed to one of the sad eyed Englishmen and +he assured me it was all right, that they welcomed the people from the +passing steamers who generally left a few pounds each with the bank. +But the more I spread the money the more I won until finally the whole +room gathered around. Then I sent out and ordered champagne for +everybody and spare gold to all the waiters and still cashed in +seventy-five dollars in English money. It was pretty good for fifteen +minutes and we went out leaving the people open-eyed, and hitting the +champagne bottles-- It was all a part of the fun especially as with all +our gold we could get nothing for supper but "huevos frite" which was +all the Spanish I could remember and which meant fried eggs-- But we +were very wet and hungry and we got the eggs and some fruit and real +Madeira wine and then rowed out again rejoicing. The pirates demanded +their pay half way to the boat while we were on the high seas but they +had struck the very wrong men, and I never saw a mutiny quelled so +abruptly-- Somers and I told them we'd throw them overboard and row +ourselves and they understood remarkably well-- The next day we were +the admired and envied of those who had not had the nerve "to dare to +attempt." It was one of the best experiences altogether we ever had +and I shall certainly put Madeira on my silver cup. + +RICHARD. + + +After their arrival at Cape Town, where Richard arranged for his wife +to stay during his absence at the British front, he started for +Ladysmith, sailing on the same vessel on which he had left England. + + +February 18th, 1900 + +board Scot. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I got off yesterday and am hoping to get to Buller before Ladysmith is +relieved. I could not get to go with Roberts because Ralph has been +here four months and has borne the heat and burden of the day, so +although I only came in order to be with Roberts and Kitchener I could +not ask to have Ralph recalled-- They wanted me with Roberts and I +wanted it but none of us could make up our minds to turn down Ralph. +So I am going up on this side track on the chance of seeing Ladysmith +relieved and of joining Roberts with Buller later. I shall be +satisfied if I see Ladysmith fall. Fortunately I am to do a great deal +of cabling for The Mail every day and that counts much more with the +reading public than letters-- + +Cape Town is a dusty, wind ridden western town with a mountain back of +it which one man said was a badly painted back drop-- The only +attractive thing about the town is this mountain and a hotel situated +at its base in perfectly beautiful gardens. Here Cecil is settled. I +got her a sitting room and a big bedroom and The Mail agent or Pryor +pays her $150 a week and will take good care of her. It really is a +beautiful and comfortable hotel and grounds and she has made many +friends, and also I forced a pitch battle with a woman who was rude to +her when we visited the hospital-- So, as the hospital people were very +keen to have me see and praise their hospital they have taken up arms +against the unfortunate little bounder and championed Cecil and me. +Cecil had really nothing to do with it as you can imagine-- She only +laughed but I gave the lady lots to remember. + +On the other hand every one is as kind and interested in Cecil as can +be. Mrs. Waldron whose son is Secretary to Milner and his secretary +were more than polite to each of us. Milner spent the whole evening we +were there talking to Cecil and not to the lady we had had the row +with, which was a pleasing triumph. He sent me unsolicited a most +flattering personal letter to the Governor of Natal, saying that I had +come to him with my strong letters but that he had so enjoyed meeting +me that he wished to pass me on on his own account. Cecil asked me +what it was I had talked so much to him about and I asked her if it +were possible she couldn't guess that of course I would be telling him +how to run the colony. My advice was to bombard Cape Town and make +martial law, for the Cape Towners are the most rotten, cowardly lot of +rebels I ever imagined as being possible. He seemed so glad to find +any one who appreciated that it was a queen's colony in name only and +said, "Mr. Davis, it is as bad as this--I can take a stroll with you +from these gardens (we were at the back of the Government House) and at +the end of our stroll we will be in hostile territory." + +We spent the last day after I had got my orders to join Buller (who +seemed very pleased to have me) calling on the officials for passes +together and they were in a great state falling into their coats and +dressing guard for her and were all so friendly and hearty. The Censor +seems to think I am a sort of Matthew Arnold and should be wrapped in +cotton, so does Pryor The Mail agent who apologizes for asking me to +cable, which is just what I want to do. They are very generous and are +spending money like fresh air. I am to cable letters to Cape Town, +only to save three days. So, now all that is needed is for something +to happen. Everything else is arranged. All I want is to see three or +four good fights and a big story like the relief of Ladysmith and I am +ready and anxious to get home. I shall observe them from behind an ant +hill--I don't say this to please you but because I mean it. This is +not my war and all I want is to earn the very generous sums I have been +offered and get home. We are just off Port Elizabeth. I will go on +shore and post this there. With all love. DICK. + + +Deal's Central Hotel, East London. + +February 20th, 1900. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are stopping at every port now, as though the Scot were a ferry +boat. We came over the side to get here in baskets with a neat door in +the side and were bumped to the deck of the tender in all untenderness. +This is more like Africa than any place I have seen. The cactus and +palms abound and the Kaffirs wear brass anklets and bracelets. A man +at lunch at this hotel asked me if I was R. H. D. and said he was an +American who had got a commission in Brabants horse-- He gave me the +grandest sort of a segar and apparently on his representation the hotel +brought me two books to sign, marked "Autographs of Celebrities of the +Boer War." It seemed in my case at least to be premature and hopeful. + +Good luck and God bless you. This will be the last letter you will get +for ten days or two weeks, as I am now going directly away from +steamers. This one reaches you by a spy gentleman who is to give it to +Rene Bull of The Graphic and who will post it in Cape Town-- He and all +the other correspondents are abandoning Buller for Roberts. Let 'em +all go. The fewer the better, I say. My luck will keep I hope. DICK. + + +Imperial Hotel, + Maritzburg, Natal. + +Feb. 23rd, 1900. + +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +I reached Durban yesterday. They paraded the band in my honour and +played Yankee Doodle indefinitely-- I had corrupted them by giving them +drinks to play the "Belle of New York" nightly. The English officers +thought Yankee Doodle was our national anthem and stood with their hats +off in a hurricane balancing on the deck of the tender on one foot-- +The city of Durban is the best I have seen. It was as picturesque as +the Midway at the Fair-- There were Persians, Malay, Hindoo, Babu's +Kaffirs, Zulu's and soldiers and sailors. I went on board the Maine to +see the American doctors--one of them said he had met me on Walnut +Street, when he had nearly run me down with his ambulance from the +Penna Hospital. Lady Randolph took me over the ship and was very much +puzzled when all the hospital stewards called me by name and made +complimentary remarks. It impressed her so much apparently that she +and the American nurses I hadn't met on board came to see me off at the +station, which was very friendly. I have had a horrible day here and +got up against the British officer in uniform and on duty bent-- The +chief trouble was that none of them knew what authority he had to do +anything--and I had to sit down and tell them. I wonder with +intelligence like theirs that their Intelligence Department did not +tell them the Boers fought with war clubs and spears. I bought a +ripping pony and my plan is to cut away from all my magnificent +equipment and try to overtake Buller before he reaches Ladysmith and +send back for the heavy things later. It is just a question of minutes +really and it seems hard to have come 1500 miles and then to miss it by +an hour-- I arrive at Chievely tomorrow at five--that is only ten miles +from where Buller is to night, so were it not for their d----d +regulations I could ride across country and join them by midday but I +bet they won't let me and I also bet I'll get there in time. Of course +you'll, know before you see this. Marelsburg is the capital and its +chief industry is rickshaw's pulled by wild Kaffi's, with beads and +snake skins around them and holes in their ears into which they stick +segars and horn spoons for dipping snuff. The women wear less than the +men and have their hair done up in red fungus. + +Well, love to you all, to Nora and Dad and Chas, and God bless you. + +DICK. + + +1900. + +DEAR DEAR MOTHER:-- + +I am here at last and counting the days when I shall get away. War +does not soothe my savage breast. I find I want Cecil, and Jaggers, +and Macklin to write, and plays to rehearse. Without Cecil bored to +death at Cape Town, I would not mind it at all. I know how to be +comfortable and on my second day I beat all these men who have been +here three months in getting my news on the wire. For I am a news man +now, and have to collect horrid facts and hosts of casualties and to +find out whether it was the Dubblins or the Durbans that did it and +what it was they did. I was in terrible fear that I would be too late +to see the relief of Ladysmith but I was well in time and saw a fight +the first few hours I arrived. It is terribly big and overwhelming +like eighty of Barnum circuses all going at once in eighty rings and +very hard to understand the geography. The Tugela is like a snake and +crosses itself every three feet so that you never know whether you have +crossed it yourself or not. Every one is most kind and I am as +comfortable as can be. Indeed I like my tent so much that I am going +to take it to Marion. It has windows in it and the most amusing trap +doors and pockets in the walls and clothes lines and hooks and +ventilators-- It is colored a lovely green-- I have also two chairs +that fold up and a table that does nothing else and a bed and two +lanterns, 3 ponies, one a Boer pony I bought for $12. from a Tommy who +had stolen it. I had to pay $125 each for the other two and one had a +sore back and the other gets lost in my saddle. But war as these +people do it bores one to destruction. They are terribly dull souls. +They cannot give an order intelligently. The real test of a soldier is +the way he gives an order. I heard a Colonel with eight ribbons for +eight campaigns scold a private for five minutes because he could not +see a signal flag, and no one else could. It is not becoming that a +Colonel should scold for five minutes. Friday they charged a hill with +one of their "frontal" attacks and lost three Colonels and 500 men. In +the morning--it was a night attack--when the roll was called only five +officers answered. The proper number is 24. A Captain now commands +the regiment. It is sheer straight waste of life through dogged +stupidity. I haven't seen a Boer yet except some poor devils of +prisoners but you can see every English who is on a hill. They walk +along the skyline like ships on the horizon. It must be said for them +that it is the most awful country to attack in the world. It is +impossible to give any idea of its difficulties. However I can tell +you that when I get back to the center of civilization. Do you know I +haven't heard from you since I left New York on the St. Louis. All +your letters to London went astray. What lots you will have to tell me +but don't let Charley worry. I won't talk about the war this time. I +never want to hear of it again. + +DICK. + + +LADYSMITH. March 1st, 1899. + +DEAR CHAS: + +This is just a line to say I got in here with the first after a gallop +of twelve miles. Keep this for me and the envelope. With my love and +best wishes-- + +DICK. + + +LADYSMITH, March 3, 1900. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +The column came into town today, 2200 men, guns, cavalry, ambulances, +lancers, navy guns and oxen. It was a most cruel assault upon one's +feelings. The garrison lined the streets as a saluting guard of honor +but only one regiment could stand it and the others all sat down on the +curb only rising to cheer the head of each new regiment. They are +yellow with fever, their teeth protruding and the skin drawn tight over +their skeletons. The incoming army had had fourteen days hard fighting +at the end of three months campaigning but were robust and tanned +ragged and caked with mud. As they came in they cheered and the +garrison tried to cheer back but it was like a whisper. + +Winston Churchill and I stood in front of Gen. White and cried for an +hour. For the time you forgot Boers and the cause, or the lack of +cause of it all, and saw only the side of it that was before you, the +starving garrison relieved by men who had lost almost one out of every +three in trying to help them. I was rather too previous in getting in +and like every-one else who came from outside gave away everything I +had so that now I'm as badly off as the rest of them. Yesterday my +rations for the day were four biscuits and an ounce of coffee and of +tea, with corn which they call mealies which I could not eat but which +saved my horse's life. He is a Boer pony I bought from a Tommy for two +pounds ten and he's worth both of the other two for which I paid $125 a +piece. Tomorrow the wagon carrying my supplies will be in and I can +get millions of things. It almost apalls me to think how many. +Especially clean clothes. I've slept in these for four days. I got +off some stories which I hope will read well. I can't complain now +that I saw the raising of this siege. But I hope we don't stay still. +I want to see a lot quickly and get out. This is very safe warfare. +You sit on a hill and the army does the rest. My sciatica is not +troubling me at all. Love to you all and God bless you. + +DICK. + + +LADYSMITH, March 4th, 1900. + +DEAR, DEAR MOTHER: + +Today I got the first letter I have had from you since we left home. +It was such happiness to see your dear sweet handwriting again. It was +just like seeing you for a glimpse, or hearing you speak. I am so +hungry for news of Nora and Chas and you all. I know you've written, +but the letters have missed somehow. I sent yours right back to Cecil +who is very lonely at present. Somerset has gone to the front and +Jim--home--Blessed word! A little middy rode up to me today and began +by saying "I'm going home. I'm ORDERED there. Home-- To England!" He +seemed to think I would not understand. He prattled on like a child +saying what luck he had had, that he had been besieged in Ladysmith and +seen lots of fighting and would get a medal and all the while he was +"just a middy." "But isn't it awful to think of our chaps that were +left on the ship" he said quite miserably. It is a beastly dull war. +The whole thing is so "class" and full of "form" and tradition and +worrying over "putties" and etiquette and rank. It is the most +wonderful organization I ever imagined but it is like a beautiful +locomotive without an engineer. + +The Boers outplay them in intelligence every day. The whole army is +officered by one class and that the dull one. It is like the House of +Peers. You would not believe the mistakes they make, the awful way in +which they sacrifice the lives of officers and men. And they let the +Boers escape. I watched the Boers for four hours the other day +escaping after the battle of Pieters and I asked, not because I wanted +them captured but just as a military proposition "Why don't you send +out your cavalry and light artillery and take those wagons?" The staff +officer giggled and said "They might kill us." I don't know what he +meant; neither did he. However, I'm sick of it but there's nothing +else to talk of. I hate all the people about me and this dirty town +and I wish I was back. And I'm going too. I'll have started by the +time you get this. + +I mean to cut out of this soon but don't imagine I'm in any danger. +I'm taking d---d good care to keep out of danger. No one is more +determined on that than I am. Dear Mother, this is such a dull letter +but you must forgive me. I was never so homesick and bored in my life. +It will be better when I go out tomorrow in my green tent and leave +this beastly hole. I like the tent life, and the horses and being +clean. I've really starved here for four days and haven't had a clean +thing on me. God bless you all and dear Nora God bless her and Chas +and the Lone Fisherman. + +DICK. + + +Outside Ladysmith. + +5th March, 1900. + +DEAREST MOTHER: + +I was a brute to write as I did last night. But I was so blue in that +miserable town!!! It was so foul and dirty. The town smelt as bad as +Johnstown. My room in the so called hotel stunk, the dirt was all over +the floor and the servants had to be paid to do everything even to +bring you a towel--and then I had no place to write or be alone, and +nothing to eat-- The poor souls at my table who had been in the siege, +when they got a little bit of sugar or a can of condensed milk would +carry it off from the table as though it were a diamond diadem-- I did +the same thing myself for I couldn't eat what they gave me and so I +corrupted the canteen dealer and bought tin things-- I've really never +wanted tobacco so much and food as I have here--to give away I mean, +for it was something wonderful to see what it meant to them. Three +troopers came into the dining room yesterday and asked if they could +buy some tea and were turned out so rudely that it seemed to hurt them +much more than the fact that they were hungry: I followed them out and +begged them to come back to my verandah and have tea with me but they +at first would not because they knew I had witnessed what had happened +in the hotel. They belonged to a very good regiment and they had been +starved for four months. But in spite of their independence I got them +to my porch. I had just purchased at awful prices a few delicacies +like sugar and tobacco, marmalade and a bottle of whiskey. So I gave +them to them and I never enjoyed anything so much-- The poor yellow +faced skeletons ate in absolute silence still fighting with their pride +until I told them I was an American and was a canteen contractor's +friend-- Then I gave them segars and it was too pitiful-- In our +column, if you give a man something extra he says a lot and swears it's +the best drink or the best segar or that you're the best chap he ever +met-- Just as I say it to them when they give me things. But these +starved bodies tried to be very polite and conversational on every +subject except food--when I offered them the segars which could only be +got then at a dollar twenty-five a piece (they had not cost me that as +I had bought them in Cape Town for two cents apiece!) What has Dad to +say to that for economy? They accepted them quite as though it was in +Havana--and then leaned back and went off into opium dreams-- Imagine +the first segar after three months. I am out here now on a bluff, with +two trees in front and great hills with names historical of the siege +of Ladysmith--names which I refuse to learn or remember--I am perfectly +comfortable and were it not for Cecil perfectly content-- If she were +only here it would be perfectly magnificent-- I have a retinue that +would do credit to the Warringtons in the Virginians-- Three Kaffir +boys who refuse to yield to my sense of the picturesque and go naked +like their less effete brothers, two oxen and three ponies, a little +puppy I found starved in Ladysmith and fed on compressed beef tablets. +I call her Ladysmith and she sleeps beside my cot and in my lap when I +am reading--I have also a beautiful tent with tape window panes, +ventilators, pockets inside, doors that loop up and red knobs; also, it +is green so that the ants won't eat it. Also two tables, two chairs, a +bath tub, two lanterns, and a cape cart--and a folding bed-- In Cuba I +had two saddle bags and was just as clean and just as happy. One boy +does nothing but polish my boots and gaiters and harness, so that I +look as well as the officers who are not much good at anything but +that. I must tell you what I think is the saddest story of the siege-- +They could not feed the horses, so they kept part of them for scouting, +part to eat and drove 3,000 of them towards the Boers. Being, well +trained cavalry horses, they did not know how to eat grass, so at bugle +call the whole 3,000 came trotting back again and sentries were placed +at every street to stampede them back into the veldt-- One horse from +one battery met out in the prairie another horse that had been its gun +mate in an artillery regiment five years before in India and the two +poor things came galloping back side by side and passed the sentries +and into the lines and drew up beside their battery. Another horse +found its rider acting as sentry and when the man tried to drive it +away it thought he was playing with it and kept coming back and finally +the man brought it in to the colonel and cried and asked if it might +have half of his rations of corn. Good night and God bless you all +with all my love. + +DICK. + + +March 15th, 1900. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I am on my way back to Cape Town. This seemed better than staying with +Buller who will not move for two or three weeks. I shall either go +straight up to Roberts, or we will return to London. I have seen the +relief of Ladysmith and got a very good idea of it all, and I do not +know but what I shall quit now. I started in too late to do much with +it and as it is I have seen a great deal. It is neither an interesting +country nor an interesting war. But I don't have to stay here to +oblige anybody. If I do go up to Roberts it will only be to stay for +three weeks at the most and only then if there is fighting. I won't go +if he is resting as Buller is. So this will explain why we start home +so soon. I am very glad I came. I would have been very sorry always +if I had not, but my heart is not in it as, of course, it was in our +war. Sometimes they fight all day using seven or eight regiments and +kill a terrible lot of fine soldiers and capture forty Boer farmers and +two women. It is not the kind of war I care to report. "Nor mean to!" +I cannot make a book out of what little I've seen but I will come out +about even. It has been very rough on Cecil. Today I went to the +Maine and asked Lady Randolph to give me a lift down to Cape Town as +the ship gets there two days ahead of the Castle Steamer. So, they +were apparently very glad to have me and I am going on Saturday. I +like it on the ship where I have been spending the day as it is fun +taking care of the wounded and listening to their stories. I am to +write an article for her next Anglo Saxon magazine on the Passing of +the War Correspondent. The idea is that he must either disappear +altogether like the Vivandiere or be allowed to do his work. As it is +now the Government forces him upon the Generals against their will and +so they get back by taking it out of him. Either they should persuade +the Government that their objections to him are weighty and suppress +him altogether, or recognize him as a part of the outfit. I don't much +care which as I certainly would never again go with an English army. I +am sorry the letters home have been so dull but I have had rather hard +luck straight through, and the distances are so very great and the time +spent in covering them seems very wasteful. I shall be glad I saw it +because it is the biggest thing as to scale that I ever saw of the +sort, and I could not have afforded to have missed being in it. It is +the first big modern war and all the conditions and weapons are new. I +don't think the English have learned anything by it, because the fault +lies entirely with their officers who are all or nearly all of one +class. + +DICK. + + +March 25th, 1900. + +Cape Town. + +This is just to explain our plans and as they take a bit of explaining +this is meant for the Houses of Clark and of Davis. So, pass it on-- +After Ladysmith was relieved Buller decided he would not move for a +month, so I came back to join Roberts. I could not do that on first +arriving because there was a Mail man with him. I meant to do it later +as a Herald man, and to let The Mail go. But on arriving here, having +spent a week in coming and having sold all my outfit at a loss, I found +that Roberts did not intend to move for three weeks either. So I +decided I had seen enough to justify my returning. There were other +reasons, the chief one being that the English irritated me and I had so +little sympathy with them that I could not write with any pleasure of +their work. My sporting blood refused to boil at the spectacle of such +a monster Empire getting the worst of it from an untrained band of +farmers-- I found I admired the farmers. So we decided to chuck it and +go to London. I would not have missed it for anything. I would never +have been satisfied, if we had not come. I have seen much of the +country and the people, and of the army and its wonderful organization +and discipline. I enjoyed two battles--and the relief of Ladysmith is +one of the things to have seen, almost the best, if not the best. +Every officer and correspondent agrees that I got the pick of the +fighting and the "best story." By the way, I beat all the London +papers in getting out the news by one day. At least, so Pryor, The +Mail manager tells me. The paper was very much pleased. We have now +decided to come home by the East Coast. It was Cecil's idea and wish +and I was only too glad to do it. She says we certainly will never +come to this country again. God help us if we do--and that it would be +criminal to spend seventeen blank days on the West coast when we could +fill in the entire trip North on the East Coast at many ports. It is a +rather complicated trip as one has to change frequently but it will be +a great thing to have seen. Cecil has really seen nothing at Cape Town +and on this trip she will be paid for all the boredom that has gone +before. I have been over part of it and am sure. Durban alone is one +of the most curious cities I ever saw. It is like the Midway at the +Fair. I want her to have some fun out of this. She has been so +unselfish and fine all through and I hope I can make the rest of the +adventure to her liking-- It is sure to be for after Delagoa Bay it is +all real Africa not the shoddy "colonial" shopkeepers' paradise that we +have here. And we are going to stop off at Zanzibar for some time +where we have letters to everybody and where Cecil is to draw the +Sultan and I am to play him the "Typical Tune of Zanzibar." You will +see by our route that we spend two days or a day at many places and so +shall get a good idea of the country. The Konig is a 5,000 ton ship +and we have two cabins-- From Port Said we will run up to Cairo to get +a dinner and then over to Constantinople to see Lloyd Griscom and the +city which Cecil has never visited. Then to Paris by way of the Orient +Express. Then London and back with Charley to Aix. I feel sure that +one more course there will cure my leg for always. As it is it has not +touched me once even during the campaign when I was wet and had to +climb hills, and at Ladysmith, where I had no food for a week. Of +course, if we get tired on the way up we may go straight on from Port +Said to Marseilles and so to London. It seems funny to look upon Port +Said as being at home, but from this distance it seems as near New York +as Boston-- You will get this when we reach Zanzibar or later and we +will cable when we can. + +DICK. + + +It was said at the time that Richard left the British forces because +the censors would not permit him to send out the truth about Buller's +advance, and that the English officials resented his going to report +the war from the Boer side. The first statement my brother flatly +denied, and the fact that it was through the direct intervention of Sir +Alfred Milner, assisted by the efforts of our consul Adelbert S. Hay at +Pretoria, that Richard was enabled to reach the Boer capital seems to +prove the latter charge equally false. Although throughout the war my +brother's sympathies were with the Boers, and in spite of the fact that +the papers he represented wanted him to report the war from the Boer +side, he persisted in going at first with the British forces. His +reasons were that he wished to see a great army, with all modern +equipment in action, and that practically all of his English friends +were with the British army. "My only reason for leaving it", he wrote, +"was the fact that I found myself facing a month of idleness. Had +General Buller continued his advance immediately after his relief of +Ladysmith I would have gone with his column and would probably have +never seen a Boer, except a Boer prisoner." + + +Royal Hotel, + Durban, Natal. + +April 5th, 1900. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We arrived here to-day and got off in a special tug together. We did +the basket trick all right, although the next time it came down a swell +raised the tug and fractured every one in the basket except Sangree and +Rogers, the two New York correspondents who were hanging on by the +upper edges. Cecil loved the place which is the Midway Plaisance of +cities and we had a good lunch and managed to get into the hotel where +there are over twenty cots in the reading room, and hall. The +Commandant objected to our going to Praetoria and seemed inclined to +refuse us passes to leave Durban for Delagoa Bay. He also was rather +fresh to Cecil, so I called him down very hard, and told him if he +couldn't make up his mind whether we would go or not, I'd wire to some +others who would help him to make up his mind quickly. He said I was +at liberty to do that, so I went out and burned wires over all of South +Africa. As he reads all the telegrams he naturally read mine and the +next morning he was as humble and white as a head waiter. But by ten +o'clock my wires began to bear fruit and he began to catch it. Milner +wired him to send us on at once and apologized to us by another wire so +all is well and we go vouched for by the High Commissioner. + +DICK. + + +PRETORIA, May 18th, 1900. + +DEAR DAD--AND OTHERS OF THE CLARK AND DAVIS FAMILIES: + +I have not had time to write such a long letter as this one must be, as +I have been working on my Ledger and Scribner stories. + +Cecil and I started to the "front," which was then May 4th, at +Brandfort with Captain Von Loosberg, a German baron who married in New +Orleans and became an American citizen and who is now in command of +Loosberg's Artillery in the Free State. The night we left, the English +took Brandfort, so we decided to go only as far as Winburg. The next +morning the train despatcher informed us Winburg was taken, so we +decided to go to Smalldeel, but that went during the afternoon, so we +stopped at Kronstad. From there, after a day's rest, we went to +Ventersberg station, and rode across to Ventersberg town, about two +hours away, and put up in Jones's Hotel. The next day we went down to +the Boer laagers on the Sand river and met President Steyn on the way. +He got out of his Cape Cart and gave Cecil a rose and Loosberg his +field glasses, which Cecil took from Loosberg in exchange for her own +Zeiss glass, and he gave me a drink and an interview. He also gave us +a letter to St. Reid, who had established an ambulance base on Cronje's +farm, telling him to give Cecil something to sleep upon. The, Boers +were very polite to Cecil and as she rode through the different camps +every man took off his hat. We went back to Ventersberg that night and +about two o'clock Cecil came to my room and woke me up with the +intelligence that the British were only two hours away. She had heard +the commandant informing the landlady, a grand low comedy character +from Brooklyn, who had the room next to Cecil's. I interviewed the +landlady who was sitting up in bed in curl papers, and with a Webley +revolver. She was quite hysterical so I aroused Loosberg who was too +sleepy to understand. The commandant could be heard in the distance +offering his kingdom for a horse and a Cape cart. Cecil and I decided +our horses were done up and that we were too ignorant of the trail to +know where to run. So we decided to go to sleep. In the morning we +confessed that each had been afraid the other would want to escape, and +each wanted only to be allowed to go to sleep again. Loosberg's Cape +Cart and five mules having arrived we packed our things on it and +started again for the Sand River where we spent the night on Cronje's +farm. Mrs. Cronje had taken away all the bedding but Dr. Reid gave +Cecil his field mattress and I made one out of rugs and piano covers. +In the morning I found that the iron straps of the mattress had marked +me for life like a grilled beefsteak. There were only Reid and his +assistant surgeon in the farmhouse and they were greatly excited at +having a woman to look after. + +We bade farewell to Loosberg who had found his artillery push, and +started off in his Cape Cart which he wished us to use and take back +for him for safety to Del Hay at Pretoria. Our objective point was the +railroad bridge over the sand. The Boers were on one bank, the British +about seven miles back on the other, the trail ran along the British +side of the river which was sad of it. However, we drove on, I riding +and Cecil and Christian, the Kaffir, in the Cart. We saw no one for +several hours except some Kaffir Kraals and we almost ran into two +herds of deer. I counted twenty-six in one herd, they were about a +quarter of a mile away. We came to a cross road and I decided to put +back as we had lost track of the river and were bearing straight into +the English lines. Just as we found the river again and had got across +a drift cannon opened on our right. We then knew we were in between +the Boers and the English but we had no other knowledge of our +geographical position. Such being the case we decided to outspan and +lunch. Out-spanning is setting the mules and horses at liberty, +in-spanning trying to catch them again. It takes five minutes to +out-span, and three hours to in-span. We had Armour's corned beef and +Libby's canned bacon. Cecil cooked the bacon on a stick and we ate it +with biscuits captured by our Boer friends at Cronje's farm from the +English Tommies. About three o'clock we started off again, and were +captured by three Boers. I was riding behind the cart and threw up my +hands "that quick," but Cecil could not hear me yelling at her to stop +on account of the noise of the cart. I knew if I rode after her they +would shoot at me, and that if she didn't stop, as they were shouting +at her to do, they would shoot her. Under these trying circumstances I +sat still. It caused quite a coolness on Cecil's part. However the +Boers could see I was trying to get her to halt so they only rode +around and headed her off. We were so glad to see them that they could +not be suspicious. Still, as we had come directly from the English +lines they had doubts. We told them we had lost ourselves and the more +they threatened to take us to the commandant the more satisfied we +were. I insisted on taking photos of them reading Cecil's passport. +It annoyed them that we refused to be serious, we assured them we had +never met anyone we were so glad to see. They finally believed us, and +our passports which describe Cecil as my "frau," and artist of Harper's +Weekly, an idea of Loosberg's. We all smoked and then shook hands and +they went back to their positions. We next met Christian De Vet one of +the two big generals who is a grand character. Nothing could match the +wonderful picturesqueness of his camp spread out over the side of a +hill with the bearded fine featured old Van Dyck and Hugonot heads +under great sombreros. De Vet made us a long speech saying it was only +to be expected that the Great Republic would send men to help the +little Republics, but he had not hoped that the women would show their +sympathy by coming too. All this with the most simple earnest +courtesy. He said "No English woman would dare do what you are doing." +He showed us a farin house on a kopje about five miles off where he +said we could get shelter and where we would be near the fighting on +the morrow. We rode in the moonlight for some time but when we reached +the house it was filthy and the people were in such terror that we +decided to camp out in the veldt. We found a grove of trees near by +and a stream of water running beside it so we made a fire there. We +had only one biscuit left but several cans of bacon and tea. It was +great fun and we sat up as late as we could around the fire on account +of the cold. We could see the Boer fires in the moonlight on the hills +and across the Sand, the English flashlights signalling all night. We +put a rubber blanket on the grass and wrapped up in steamer rugs but +both of us died several times of cold and even sitting on the fire +failed to warm me. We were awakened out of a cold storage sort of +sleep by pom-poms going off right over our They sounded just as +disturbing I found from the rear as when you are in front of them. +They are the most effective of all the small guns for causing your +nerves to riot. We climbed up the hill and saw the English coming in +their usual solid formation stretching out for three miles. We went +back and got the cart and drove to a nearer kopje, but just as we +reached it the Boers abandoned it. Roberts's column was now much +nearer. We then drove on still further in the direction of the bridge. +I kept telling Cecil that the firing was all from the Boers as I did +not want Christian to bolt and run away with the cart and mules. But +Cecil remembered the pictures in Harper's Weekly showing the shrapnel +smoke making rings in the air and as she saw these floating over our +head, she knew the English were firing on us, but said nothing for fear +of scaring Christian. I had promised to get her under fire which was +her one wish so I said that she was now well under fire for the first +and the last time. To which she replied "Pshaw!" I never saw any one +show such self possession. We halted the cart behind a deserted farm +house, and saddled her pony. The shells were now falling all over the +shop, and I was scared to distraction. But she took about five minutes +to see that her saddle was properly tightened and then we rode up to +the hill. Again the Boers were leaving and only a few remained. They +warned her to keep back but we dismounted and walked up to the hill. +It was a very hot place but Cecil was quite unmoved. We showed her the +shells striking back of her and around her but she refused to be +impressed with the danger. She went among the Boers begging them to +make a stand very quietly and like one man to another and they took it +just in that way and said "But we are very tired. We have been driven +back for three days. We are only a thousand, they are twenty +thousand." Some of them only sat still too proud to run, too sick to +fight! When the British got within five hundred yards of the artillery +I told her she must run. At the same moment Botha's men a mile on our +right broke away in a mad gallop, as though the lancers were after +them. I finally got her on her pony and we raced for Ventersberg with +Christian a good first. He had lost all desire to out-span. + +At Ventersberg we found every one harnessing up in the street and +abandoning everything. We again felt this untimely desire for food, +and had lunch at Jones's hotel on scraps and Cecil went off to see if +she could loot the cook, as everyone but her had left the hotel and as +we needed one in Pretoria. A despatch-rider came running to me as I +was smoking in the garden and shouted that the "Roinekes" were coming +in force over the hill. I ran out in the street and saw their shells +falling all over the edge of the village. They were only a quarter of +an hour behind us. I yelled for Cecil who was helping the looted cook +pack up her own things and anyone else's she could find in a sheet. I +gathered up a dog and a kitten Cecil wanted and left a note for the +next English officer who occupied my room with the inscription "I'd +leave my happy home for you." We then put the cook, the kitten, the +dog and Cecil in the cart and I got on the horse and we let out for +Kronstad at a gallop. We raced the thirty miles in five hours without +one halt. That was not our cruelty to animals but Christian's who +whenever I ordered him to halt and let us rest, yelled that the +Englesses were after us and galloped on. The retreat was a terribly +pathetic spectacle; for hours we passed through group after group of +the broken and dispirited Boers. At Kronstad President Steyn whom I +went to see on arriving ordered a special car for me, and sent us off +at once. We reached here the next morning, Christian arriving a day +later having killed one mule and one pony in his eagerness to escape. +We are going back again as soon as Roberts reaches the Vaal. There +there must be a stand. Love and best wishes to you all---- + +DICK. + + +June 8th, 1900. + +On board the Kausler. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We engaged our passage on this ship some weeks ago not thinking we +would have the English near Pretoria until August. But as it happened +they came so near that we did not know whether or not to wait over and +see them enter the capital. I decided not, first, because after that +one event, there would be nothing for us to see or do. We could not +leave until the 2nd of July and a month under British martial law was +very distasteful to me. Besides I did not care much to see them enter, +or to be forced to witness their rejoicing. As soon as we got under +way and about half the distance to the coast, it is a two days' trip. +We heard so many rumors of Roberts's communication having been cut off +and that the war was not over, that we thought perhaps we ought to go +back-- As we have no news since except that the British are in Pretoria +we still do not know what to think. Personally I am glad I came away +as I can do just as much for the Boers at home now as there where the +British censor would have shut me off from cabling and mails are so +slow. With the local knowledge I have, I hope to keep at it until it +is over. But when I consider the magnitude of the misrepresentation +about the burghers I feel appalled at the idea of going up against it. +One is really afraid to tell all the truth about the Boer because no +one would believe you-- It is almost better to go mildly and then you +may have some chance. But personally I know no class of men I admire +as much or who to-day preserve the best and oldest ideas of charity, +fairness and good-will to men. + +DICK. + + +June 29th, 1900. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are now just off Crete, and our next sight of the blue land will be +Europe. It means so many things; being alone with Cecil again, instead +of on a raft touching elbows with so many strangers, and it means a +shop where you can buy collars, and where they put starch in your +linen. Also many beautiful ladies one does not know and men in evening +dress one does not know and green tables covered with gold and little +green and red bits of ivory where one passes among the tables and +wonders what they would think if they knew we two had found our +greatest friends in the Boer farmers, in Dutch Station Masters who gave +us a corner under the telegraph table in which to sleep, with Nelson +who kept the Transvaal Steam Laundry, Col. Lynch of the steerage who +comes to the dividing line to beg French books from Cecil, and that we +had cooked our food on sticks, drunk out of the same cups with Kaffir +servants and slept on the ground when there was frost on it. It will +be so strange to find that there are millions of people who do not know +Komali poort, who have thought of anything else except burghers and +roor-i-neks-- It seems almost disloyal to the Boers to be glad to see +newspapers only an hour old instead of six weeks old, and to welcome +all the tyranny of collar buttons, scarf pins, watch chains, walking +sticks and gloves even. I love them both and I can hardly believe it +is true that we are to go to a real hotel with a lift and a chasseur, +where you cannot smoke in the dining-room. As for Aix, that I cannot +believe will ever happen-- It was just a part of one's honeymoon and I +refuse to cheat myself into thinking that within a week I will be +riding through the lanes of the little villages, drinking red wine at +Burget, watching Chas spread cheese over great hunks of bread and +listening to three bands at one time. And then the joy to follow of +Home and America and all that is American. Even the Custom House holds +nothing but joy for me--and then "mine own people!" It has been six +weeks since we have heard from you or longer, nearly two months and how +I miss you and want you. It will be a happy day when Dad meets me at +the wharf and I can see his blue and white tie again and his dear face +under the white hat--where you and Nora will be I cannot tell, but I +will seek you out. We will be happy together--so happy-- It has been +the longest separation we have known and such a lot of things have +happened. It will be such peace to see you and hold you once again. + +DICK. + + +AIX-LES-BAINS. + +July 6th, 1900. + +DEAR FAMILY: + +Cecil and I arrived last night tired and about worn out--we had had a +month on board ship and two days in the cars and when we got out at Aix +and found our rooms ready and Francois waiting, we shouted and cheered. +It was never so beautiful as it looked in the moonlight and we walked +all over it, through the silent streets chortling with glee. They +could not give us our same rooms but we got the suite just above them, +which is just as good. They were so extremely friendly and glad to see +us and had flowers in all the rooms. We have not heard a word about +Chas yet, as our mail has not arrived from Paris, but I will cable in a +minute and hear. We cannot wait any longer for news of him. I got up +at seven this morning so excited that I could not sleep and have been +to the baths, where I was received like the President of the Republic. +In fact everybody seems to have only the kindest recollections of us +and to be glad to have us back. + +Such a rest as it is and so clean and bright and good--Only I have +absolutely nothing to wear except a two pound flannel suit I bought at +Lorenzo Marquez until I get some built by a French tailor. I must wear +a bath robe or a bicycle suit until evening. We have not been to the +haunts of evil yet but we are dining there to night and all will be +well. Cecil sends her love to you all-- Goodbye and God bless you. + + + +Richard and his wife returned to America in the early fall of 1900 and, +after a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Clark at Marion, settled for the winter +in New York. They took a house in East Fifty-eighth Street where they +did much entertaining and lived a very social existence, but I do not +imagine that either of them regarded the winter as a success. Richard +was unable to do his usual amount of work, and both he and his wife +were too fond of the country to enjoy an entire winter in town. In the +spring they went back to Marion. + + +MARION, + MASSACHUSETTS. May, 1901. + +We arrived here last night in a glowing sunset which was followed by a +grand moon. The house was warm and clean and bright, with red curtains +and open fires and everything was just as we had left it, so that it +seemed as though we had just come out of a tortuous bad dream of +asphalt and L. roads and bad air. I was never so glad to get away from +New York. + +Outside it is brisk and fine and smells of earth and melting snow and +there is a grand breeze from the bay. We took a long walk to-day, with +the three dogs, and it was pitiful to see how glad they were to be free +of the cellar and a back yard and at large among grass and rocks and +roots of trees. I wanted to bottle up some of the air and send it to +all of my friends in New York. It is so much better to smell than +hot-house violets. Seaton came on with us to handle the dogs and to +unpack and so to-day we are nearly settled already with silver, +pictures, clothes and easels and writing things all in place. The +gramophone is whirling madly and all is well-- Lots and lots of love. + +DICK. + + +The following was written by Richard to his mother on her birthday: + +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. + +June 27th, 1901. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +In those wonderful years of yours you never thought of the blessing you +were to us, only of what good you could find in us. All that time, you +were helping us and others, and making us better, happier, even nobler +people. From the day you struck the first blow for labor, in The Iron +Mills on to the editorials in The Tribune, The Youth's Companion and +The Independent, with all the good the novels, the stories brought to +people, you were always year after year making the ways straighter, +lifting up people, making them happier and better. No woman ever did +better for her time than you and no shrieking suffragette will ever +understand the influence you wielded, greater than hundreds of +thousands of women's votes. + +We love you dear, dear mother, and we KNOW you and may your coming +years be many and as full of happiness for yourself as they are for us. + +RICHARD. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH CORONATIONS + +Interrupted by frequent brief visits to New York Philadelphia, and +Boston, Richard and his wife remained in Marion from May, 1901, until +the early spring of 1902. During this year Richard accomplished a +great deal of work and lived an ideal existence. In the summer months +there were golf and tennis and an army of visitors, and during the +winter many of their friends came from New York to enjoy a most +charming hospitality and the best of duck shooting and all kinds of +winter sports. + +Late in April, they sailed for Gibraltar on their way to Madrid, where +Richard was to report the coronation ceremonies, and from Madrid they +went to Paris and then to London to see the coronation of King Edward. +It was while on a visit to the Rudyard Kiplings that they heard the +news that Edward had been suddenly stricken with a serious illness and +that the ceremony had been postponed. + + +11, St. James's Place, + St. James's Street, S. W. + London. + +June, 1902. + +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +This is only to say that at the Kipling's we heard the news, and being +two newspaper men, refused to believe it and went to the postoffice of +the little village to call up Brighton on the 'phone. It was very +dramatic, the real laureate of the British Empire asking if the King +were really in such danger that he could not be crowned, while the +small boy in charge of the grocery shop, where the postoffice was, wept +with his elbows on the counter. They sent me my ticket--unasked--for +the Abbey, early this morning, and while I was undecided whether to +keep it--or send it back, this came. So, now, I shall frame it as a +souvenir of one of the most unhappy occasions I ever witnessed. You +can form no idea of what a change it has made. It really seems to have +stunned every one--that is the usual and accepted word, but this time +it describes it perfectly. + +Goodbye, + DICK. + + +During the summer of 1903 my mother and father occupied a cottage at +Marion, and every morning Richard started the day by a visit to them. +My brother had already bought his Crossroads Farm at Mount Kisco, and +the new house was one of the favorite topics of their talk. The +following letter was written by my mother to Richard, after her return +to Philadelphia. + + +September, 1903. + +Here we are in the old library and breakfast over. There seemed an +awful blank in the world as I sat down just now, and I said to Dad "Its +Dick--he must come THIS morning." + +You don't know how my heart used to give a thump when you and Bob came +in that old door. It has been such a good month--everybody was so +friendly--and Dad was so well and happy--but your visits were the core +of it all. And our good drives! Well we'll have lots of drives at the +Crossroads. You'll call at our cottage every morning and I'm going to +train the peacocks to run before the trap and I'll be just like Juno. + +There isn't a scrap of news. It is delightfully cool here. + +M. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE JAPANESE-RUSSIAN WAR + +During the fall and early winter of 1903 Richard and his wife lingered +on in Marion, but came to New York after the Christmas holidays. The +success of his farce "The Dictator" had been a source of the greatest +pleasure to Richard, and he settled down to playwriting with the same +intense zeal he put into all of his work. However, for several years +Robert J. Collier and my brother had been very close friends, and +Richard had written many articles and stories for Collier's Weekly, so +that when Collier urged my brother to go to the Japanese-Russian War as +correspondent with the Japanese forces, Richard promptly gave up his +playwriting and returned to his old love--the role of reporter. +Accompanied by his wife, Richard left New York for San Francisco in +February. + + +February, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are really off on the "long trail" bound for the boundless East. We +have a charming drawing-room, a sympathetic porter and a courtly +conductor descended from one of the first Spanish conquerors of +California. We arranged the being late for lunch problem by having +dinner at five and cutting the lunch out. Bruce and Nan came over for +dinner and we had a very jolly time. They all asked after you all, and +drank to our re-union at Marion in July. Later they all tried to come +with us on the train. It looked so attractive with electric lights in +each seat, and observation car and library. A reporter interviewed us +and Mr. Clark gave us a box of segars and a bottle of whiskey. But +they will not last, as will Dad's razors and your housewife. I've used +Dad's razors twice a day, and they still are perfect. It's snowing +again, but we don't care. They all came to the station to see us off +but no one cried this time as they did when we went to South Africa. +Somehow we cannot take this trip seriously. It is such a holiday trip +all through not grim and human like the Boer war. Just quaint and +queer. A trip of cherry blossoms and Geisha girls. I send all my love +to you. + +DICK. + + +SAN FRANCISCO, February 26th. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We got in here last night at midnight just as easily as though we were +coming into Jersey City. Before we knew it we had seen the Golden +Gate, and were snug in this hotel. Today as soon as we learned we +could not sail we started in to see sights and we made a record and +hung it up high. We went to the Cliff House and saw the seals on the +rocks below, to the Park, the military reservation, Chinatown, and the +Poodle Dog Restaurant. We also saw the Lotta monument, the Stevenson +monument, the Spreckles band stand, the place where the Vigilance +Committee hung the unruly, and tonight I went to a dinner the Bohemian +Club gave to the War correspondents. I made a darned good speech. +Think of ME making a speech of any sort, but I did, and I had sense +enough not to talk about the war but the "glorious climate of +California" instead and of all the wonders of Frisco. So, I made a +great hit. It certainly is one of the few cities that lives up to it's +reputation in every way. I should call it the most interesting city, +with more character back of it than any city on this continent. There +are only four deck rooms and we each have one. The boat is small, but +in spite of the crowd that is going on her, will I think be +comfortable. I know it will be that, and it may be luxurious. + +DICK. + + +On way to Japan. + +March 13th, 1904. + +About four this afternoon we saw an irregular line of purple mountains +against a yellow sky, and it was Japan. In spite of the Sunday papers, +and the interminable talk on board, the guide books and maps which had +made Japan nauseous to me, I saw the land of the Rising Sun with just +as much of a shock and thrill as I first saw the coast of Africa. We +forgot entirely we had been twenty days at sea and remembered only that +we were ten miles from Japan, only as far as New Bedford is from +Marion. We are at anchor now, waiting to go in in the morning. Were +it not for war we could go in now but we must wait to be piloted over +the sunken mines. That and the flashlights moving from the cruisers +ten miles away gave us our first idea of war. To-morrow early we will +be off for Tokio, as it is only forty miles from Yokohama. Of course, +I may get all sorts of news before we land, but that is what we expect +to do. It will be good to feel solid earth, and to see the kimonos and +temples and geishas and cherry blossoms. I am almost hoping the +Government won't let us go to the front and that for a week at least +Cecil and I can sit in tea houses with our shoes off while the nesans +bring us tea and the geishas rub their knees and make bows to us. I am +sending you through Harper's, a book on Hawaii and one of Japan that I +have read and like and which I think will help you to keep in touch +with the wanderers. With all my love to all. + +DICK. + + +TOKYO, March 22nd, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +The "situation" here continues to remain in such doubt that I cannot +tell of it, as it changes hourly. There are three "columns," so far +existing only in imagination. That is, so far as they concern the +correspondents. The first lot have chosen themselves, and so have the +second lot. But the first lot are no nearer starting than they were +two weeks ago. I may be kept waiting here for weeks and weeks. I do +not like to turn out Palmer, although I very much want to go with the +first bunch. On the other hand I am paid pretty well to get to the +front, and I am uncertain as to what I ought to do. If the second +column were to start immediately after the first, we then would have +two men in the field, but if it does not, then Collier will be paying +$1000. a week for stories of tea houses and "festivals." Palmer +threatens to resign if I take his place in the first column and that +would be a loss to the paper that I do not feel I could make up. If it +gets any more complicated I'll wire Collier to decide. + +Meanwhile, we are going out to dinners and festivals and we ride. I +have a good pony the paper paid for Cecil has hired another and we find +it delightful to scamper out into the country. We have three rooms in +a row. One we use for a sitting room. They look very welland as it is +still cold we keep them cheerful with open fires. We have a table in +the dining-room to ourselves and to which we can ask our friends. The +food is extremely good. Griscom and the Secretaries have all called +and sent pots of flowers, and we are dining out every other night. In +the day we shop and ride. But all day and all night we the +correspondents plot and slave and intrigue over the places on the +columns. I got mine on the second column all right but no one knows if +it ever will move. So, naturally, I want to be on the first. The rows +are so engrossing that I have not enjoyed the country as I expected. +Still, I am everlastingly glad we came. It is an entirely new life and +aspect. It completes so much that we have read and seen. In spite of +the bother over the war passes I learn things daily and we see +beautiful and curious things, and are educated as to the East, as no +books could have done it for us. John Bass who was my comrade in arms +in Greece and his wife are here. They are the very best. Also we see +Lloyd daily, and the hotel is full of amusing men, who are trying to +get to the front. Of course, we know less of the war than you do. +None of the news from Cheefoo, none of the "unauthorized" news reaches +us. Were it not for our own squabbles we would not know not only that +the country was at war but not even that war existed ANYWHERE in the +world. We are here entirely en tourist and it cannot be helped. The +men who tried to go with the Russians are equally unfortunate. Think +of us as wandering around each with a copy of Murray seeing sights. +That is all we really do, All my love. + +DICK. + + +YOKOHAMA--April 2, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I just got your letter dated the 28th of February and the days +following in which you worried over me in the ice coated trenches of +Korea. I read it in a rickshaw in a warm sun on my way to buy favors +for a dinner to Griscom. We have had three warm days and no doubt the +sun will be out soon. The loss of the sun, though, is no great one. +We have lots of pleasures and lots of troubles in spite of the Sun. +Yesterday the first batch of correspondents were sent on their way. I +doubt if they will get any further than Chemulpo but their going +cheered the atmosphere like a storm in summer. The diplomats and +Japanese were glad to get rid of them, they were delighted to be off. +Some had been here 58 days, and we all looked at it as a good sign as +it now puts us "next." But after they had gone it was pretty blue for +some of them were as good friends as I want. I know few men I like as +well as I do John Bass. Many of them were intensely interesting. It +was, by all odds, the crowd one would have wished to go with. As it +is, I suspect we all will meet again and that the two columns will be +merged on the Yalu. None of the attaches have been allowed to go, so +it really is great luck for the correspondents. Tell Chas I still am +buying my Kit. It's pretty nearly ready now. I began in New York and +kept on in Boston, San Francisco, and here. It always was my boast +that I had the most complete kit in the world, and in spite of +Charley's jeers at my lack of preparedness everybody here voted it the +greatest ever seen. For the last ten days all the Jap saddlers, tent +makers and tinsmiths have been copying it. + +DICK. + + +TOKIO--May 2, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today, we walked into our new house and tomorrow we will settle down +there. We rented the furniture for the two unfurnished rooms; knives, +forks, spoons, china for the table and extras for 35 dollars gold for +two months. It took six men to bring the things in carts. They got +nothing. Yesterday, I took two rickshaw men from half past twelve to +half past five. Out of that time they ran and pushed me for two solid +hours. Their price for the five hours was eighty cents gold. What you +would pay a cabman to drive you from the Waldorf to Martin's. I wish +you could see our menage. Such beautiful persons in grey silk kimonos +who bow, and bow and slip and slide in spotless torn white stockings +with one big toe. They make you ashamed of yourself for walking on +your own carpet in your own shoes. Today we got the first news of the +battle on the Yalu, the battle of April 26-30th. I suppose Palmer and +Bass saw it; and I try to be glad I did what was right by Collier's +instead of for myself. But I don't want to love another paper. I +suppose there will be other fights but that one was the first, and it +must have been wonderful. On the 4th we expect to be on our way to +Kioto with Lloyd and his wife and John Fox. By that time we expect to +be settled in the new house. + +DICK. + + +TOKIO, May 22nd, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +You will be glad to hear that the correspondents at the front are not +allowed within two and a half miles of the firing line. This I am sure +you will approve. Their tales of woe have just been received here, and +they certainly are having a hard time. The one thing they all hope for +is that the Japs will order them home. My temper is vile to-day, as I +cannot enjoy the gentle pleasures of this town any longer and with this +long trip to Port Arthur before I can turn towards home. I am as cross +as a sick bear. We were at Yokohama when your last letters came and +they were a great pleasure. I got splendid news of The Dictator. +Yesterday we all went to Yokohama. There are four wild American boys +here just out of Harvard who started the cry of "Ping Yang" for the +"Ping Yannigans" they being the "Yannigans." They help to make things +very lively and are affectionately regarded by all classes. Yesterday, +they and Fox and Cecil and I went to the races, with five ricksha boys +each, and everybody lost his money except myself. But it was great +fun. It rained like a seive, and all the gentlemen riders fell off, +and every time we won money our thirty ricksha men who would tell when +we won by watching at which window we had bet, would cheer us and +salaam until to save our faces we had to scatter largesses. Egan +turned up in the evening and dined with John and Cecil and me in the +Grand Hotel and told us first of all the story the correspondents had +brought back to Kobbe for which every one from the Government down has +been waiting. It would make lively reading if any of us dared to write +it. To-day he made his protests to Fukushima as we mapped them out +last night and the second lot will I expect be treated better. But, as +the first lot were the important men representing the important +syndicates the harm, for the Japs, has been done. Of course, much they +do is through not knowing our points of view. To them none of us is of +any consequence except that he is a nuisance, and while they are +conversationally perfect in politeness, the regulations they inflict +are too insulting. However, you don't care about that, and neither do +I. I am going to earn my money if I possibly can, and come home. + +DICK. + + +TOKIO, June 13th, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We gave a farewell dinner last night to the Ping Yannigans two of whom +left on the Navy expedition and another one to-morrow for God's +country. There were eight men and we had new lanterns painted with the +arms of Corea and the motto of the Ping Yannigans. Also many flags. +All but the Japanese flag. One of them with a side glance at the +servants said, "Gentleman and Lady: I propose a toast, Japan for the +Japanese and the Japanese for Japan." We all knew what he meant but +the servants were greatly pleased. Jack London turned up to-day on his +way home. I liked him very much. He is very simple and modest and +gave you a tremendous impression of vitality and power. He is very +bitter against the wonderful little people and says he carries away +with him only a feeling of irritation. But I told him that probably +would soon wear off and he would remember only the pleasant things. I +did envy him so, going home after having seen a fight and I not yet +started. Still THIS TIME we may get off. Yokoyama the contractor +takes our stuff on the 16th, and so we feel it is encouraging to have +our luggage at the front even if we are here. + +DICK. + + +YOKOHAMA, July 26th, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We gave in our passes to-day, and sail to-morrow at five. They say we +are not to see Port Arthur fall but are to be taken up to Oku's army. +That means we miss the "popular" story, and may have to wait around +several weeks before we see the other big fight. They promised us Port +Arthur but that is reason enough for believing they do not intend we +shall see it at all. John and I are here at a Japanese hotel, the one +Li Hung Chang occupied when he came over to arrange the treaty between +China and Japan. It is a very beautiful house, the best I have seen of +real Japanese and the garden and view of the harbor is magnificent. I +wish Cecil could see it too, but I know she would not care for a room +which is as free to the public view as the porch at Marion. It has 48 +mats and as a mat is 3 x 5 you can work it out. We eat, sleep and +dress in this room and it is like trying to be at home on top of a +Chickering Grand. But it is very beautiful and the moonlight is fine +and saddening. No one of us has the least interest in the war or in +what we may see or be kept from seeing. We have been "over trained" +and not even a siege of London could hold our thoughts from home. I +have just missed the mail which would have told me you were at Marion. +I should so love to have heard from you from there. I do not think you +will find the Church house uncomfortable; and you can always run across +the road when the traffic is not too great, and chat with Benjamin. I +do hope that Dad will have got such good health from Marion and such +lashers of fish. I got a good letter from Charles and I certainly feel +guilty at putting extra work on a man as busy as he. Had I known he +was the real judge of those prize stories I would have sent him one +myself and given him the name of it. Well, goodbye for a little time. +We go on board in a few hours, and after that everything I write you is +read by the Censor so I shall not say anything that would gratify their +curiosity. They think it is unmanly to write from the field to one's +family and the young princes forbade their imperial spouses from +writing them until the war is over. However, not being an imperial +Samaari but a home loving, family loving American, I shall miss not +hearing very much, and not being able to tell you all how I love you. + +DICK. + + + +DALNY, July 27th, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We left Shimonoseki three days ago and have had very pleasant going on +the Heijo Maru a small but well run ship of 1,500 tons. Fox and I got +one of the two best rooms and I have been very comfortable. We are at +anchor now at a place of no interest except for its sunsets. + +We have just been told as the anchor is being lowered that we can send +letters back by the Island, so I can just dash this off before leaving. +We have reached Dalny and I have just heard the first shot fired which +was to send me home. All the others came and bid John and me a +farewell as soon as we were sure it was the sound of cannon. However, +as it is 20 miles away I'll have to hang on until I get a little +nearer. We have had a very pleasant trip even though we were delayed +two days by fog and a slow convoy. Now we are here at Dalny. It looks +not at all like its pictures, which, as I remember them were all taken +in winter. It is a perfectly new, good brick barracks-like town. I am +landing now. The two servants seem very satisfactory and I am in +excellent health. Today Cecil has been four days at Hong Kong. Please +send the gist of this letter dull as it is to Mrs. Clark. When I began +it I thought I would have plenty of time to finish it on shore. Of +course, after this all I write and this too, I suppose will be +censored. So, there will not be much liveliness. I have no taste to +expose my affections to the Japanese staff. So, goodbye. + +R. + + + +July 31st, 1904. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We have been met here with a bitter disappointment. We are all to be +sent north, although only 18 hours away. We can hear the guns at Port +Arthur the fall of which they promised us we would see. To night we +are camping out in one of the Russian barracks. To-morrow we go, +partly by horse and partly by train. A week must elapse before we can +get near headquarters. And then we have no guarantee that we will see +any fighting. This means for me a long delay. It is very +disappointing and the worst of the many we have suffered in the last +four months. I have written Cecil asking her to seriously think of +going home but I am afraid she will not. Were it not for that and the +disappointment one feels in travelling a week's journey away from the +sound of guns I would be content. My horse is well and so am I. It is +good to get back to drawing water, and carrying baggage and skirmishing +about for yourself. The contractor gave us a good meal and the +servants are efficient but I like doing things myself and skirmishing +for them. We make a short ride this morning of six miles to Kin Chow +and then 30 miles by rail. "Headquarters" is about a five days ride +distant. Tell Chas my outfit seems nearly complete. Maybe I can buy a +few things I forgot in Boston at Kin Chow. Fox and I will get out just +as soon as we see fighting but before you get this you will probably +hear by cable from me. If not, it will mean we still are waiting for a +fight. The only mistake I made was in not going home the first time +they deceived us instead of waiting for this and worst of all. + +to you all. + +DICK. + + +MANCHURIA, August 14, 1904. + +We have been riding through Manchuria for eleven days. Nine days we +rode then two days we rested. By losing the trail we managed to +average about 20 miles a day. I kept well and enjoyed it very much. +As I had to leave my servant behind with a sick horse, I had to take +care of my mule and pony myself and hunt fodder for them, so I was +pretty busy. Saiki did all he could, but he is not a servant and +sooner than ask him I did things myself. We passed through a very +beautiful country, sleeping at railway stations and saw two battle +fields of recent fights. Now we are in a Chinese City and waiting to +see what should be the biggest fight since Sedan. The Russians are +about ten miles from us, so we are not allowed outside the gates of the +city without a guide. Of course, we have none of that freedom we have +enjoyed in other wars, but apart from that they treat us very well +indeed. And in a day or two they promise us much fighting, which we +will be allowed to witness from a hill. This is a very queer old city +but the towns and country are all very primitive and we depend upon +ourselves for our entertainment. I expect soon to see you at home. In +three more days I shall have been out here five months and that is too +long. Good luck to you all. + +R. H. D. + + +MANCHURIA, August 18th, 1904. + +We still are inside this old Chinese town. It has rained for five +days, and this one is the first in which we could go abroad. Unless +you swim very well it is not safe to cross one of these streets. We +have found an old temple and some of us are in it now. It is such a +relief to escape from that compound and the rain. This place is full +of weeds and pine trees, cooing doves and butterflies. The temples are +closed and no one is in charge but an aged Chinaman. We did not come +here to sit in temples, so John and I will leave in a week, battle or +no battle. The argument that having waited so long one might as well +wait a little longer does not touch us. It was that argument that kept +us in Tokio when we knew we were being deceived weekly, and the same +man who deceived us there, is in charge here. It is impossible to +believe anything he tells his subordinates to tell us, so, we will be +on our way back when you get this. I am well, and only disappointed. +Had they not broken faith with us about Port Arthur we would by now +have seen fighting. As it is we will have wasted six months. + +Love to Dad, and Chas and Nora and you. + +DICK. + + +In writing of his decision to leave the Japanese army, Richard, after +his return to the United States, said: + +"On the receipt of Oku's answer to the Correspondents we left the army. +Other correspondents would have quit then, as most of them did ten days +later, but that their work and Kuroki, so far from being fifty miles +north toward Mukden, as Okabe said he was, was twenty miles to the east +on our right preparing for the, closing-in movement which was just +about to begin. Three days after we had left the army, the greatest +battle since Sedan was waged for six days. + +"So, our half-year of time and money, of dreary waiting, of daily +humiliations at the hands of officers with minds diseased by suspicion, +all of which would have been made up to us by the sight of this one +great spectacle, was to the end absolutely lost to us. Perhaps we made +a mistake in judgment. As the cards fell we certainly did. + +"The only proposition before us was this: There was small chance of +any immediate fighting. If there were fighting we would not see it. +Confronted with the same conditions again, I would decide in exactly +the same manner. Our misfortune lay in the fact that our experience +with other armies had led us to believe that officers and gentlemen +speak the truth, that men with titles of nobility, and with the higher +titles of General and Major-General, do not lie. In that we were +mistaken." + +Greatly disappointed at his failure to see really anything of the war, +much embittered at the Japanese over their treatment of the +correspondents, Richard reached Vancouver in October. As my father was +seriously ill he came to Philadelphia at once and divided the next two +months between our old home and Marion. + +On December 14, 1904, my father died, and it was the first tragedy that +had come into Richard's life, as it was in that of my sister or myself. +As an editorial writer, most of my father's work had been anonymous, +but his influence had been as far-reaching as it had been ever for all +that was just and fine. All of his life he had worked unremittingly +for good causes and, in spite of the heavy burdens which of his own +will he had taken upon his none too strong shoulders, I have never met +with a nature so calm , so simple, so sympathetic with those who were +weak--weak in body or soul. As all newspaper men must, he had been +brought in constant contact with the worst elements of machine +politics, as indeed he had with the lowest strata of the life common to +any great city. But in his own life he was as unsophisticated; his +ideals of high living, his belief in the possibilities of good in all +men and in all women, remained as unruffled as if he had never left his +father's farm where he had spent his childhood. When my father died +Richard lost his "kindest and severest critic" as he also lost one of +his very closest friends and companions. + +During the short illness that preceded my brother's death, although +quite unconscious that the end was so near, his thoughts constantly +turned back to the days of his home in Philadelphia, and he got out the +letters which as a boy and as a young man he had written to his family. +After reading a number of them he said: "I know now why we were such a +happy It was because we were always, all of us, of the same age." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MOUNT KISCO + +During my brother's life there were four centres from which he set +forth on his travels and to which he returned to finish the articles +for which he had collected the material, or perhaps to write a novel, a +few short stories, or occasionally a play, but unlike most of the +followers of his craft, never to rest. Indeed during the last +twenty-five years of his life I do not recall two consecutive days when +Richard did not devote a number of hours to literary work. The centres +of which I speak were first Philadelphia, then New York, then Marion, +and lastly Mount Kisco. Happy as Richard had been at Marion, the +quaint little village, especially in winter, was rather inaccessible, +and he realized that to be in touch with the numerous affairs in which +he was interested that his headquarters should be in or near New York. +In addition to this he had for long wanted a home of his very own, and +so located that he could have his family and his friends constantly +about him. Some years, however, elapsed between this dream and its +realization. In 1903 he took the first step by purchasing a farm +situated in the Westchester Hills, five miles from Mount Kisco, New +York. He began by building a lake at the foot of the hill on which the +home was to stand, then a water-tower, and finally the house itself. +The plans to the minutest detail had been laid out on the lawn at +Marion and, as the architect himself said, there was nothing left for +him to do but to design the cellar. + +Richard and his wife moved into their new home in July, 1905, and +called it Crossroads Farm, keeping the original name of the place. In +later years Richard added various adjoining parcels of land to his +first purchase, and the property eventually included nearly three +hundred acres. The house itself was very large, very comfortable, and +there were many guest-rooms which every week-end for long were filled +by the jolliest of house-parties. In his novel "The Blind Spot," +Justus Miles Forman gives the following very charming picture of the +place: + +"It was a broad terrace paved with red brick that was stained and a +little mossy, so that it looked much older than it had any right to, +and along its outer border there were bay-trees set in big Italian +terracotta jars; but the bay-trees were placed far apart so that they +should not mask the view, and that was wise, for it was a fine view. +It is rugged country in that part of Westchester County--like a choppy +sea: all broken, twisted ridges, and abrupt little hills, and piled-up +boulders, and hollow, cup-like depressions among them. The Grey house +sat, as it were, upon the lip of a cup, and from the southward terrace +you looked across a mile or two of hollow bottom, with a little lake at +your feet, to sloping pastures where there were cattle browsing, and to +the far, high hills beyond. + +"There was no magnificence about the outlook--nothing to make you catch +your breath; but it was a good view with plenty of elbow room and no +sign of a neighbor--no huddling--only the water of the little lake, the +brown November hillsides, and the clean blue sky above. The distant +cattle looked like scenic cattle painted on their green-bronze pasture +to give an aspect of husbandry to the scene." + +Although Richard was now comfortably settled, he had of late years +acquired a great dread of cold weather. As soon as winter set in his +mind turned to the tropics, and whenever it was possible he went to +Cuba or some other land where he was sure of plenty of heat and +sunshine. The early part of 1906 found him at Havana, this time on a +visit to the Hon. E. V. Morgan, who was then our minister to Cuba. +From Havana he went to the Isle of Pines. + + +ISLE OF PINES, March 26th, 1906. + +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +We are just returning from the Isle of Pines. We reached there after a +day on the water at about six on Wednesday, 22nd. They dropped us at a +woodshed in a mangrove swamp, where a Mr. Mason met us with two mules. +I must have said I was going to the island because every one was +expecting me. Until the night before we had really no idea when we +would go, so, to be welcomed wherever we went, was confusing. For four +days we were cut off from the world, and in that time, five days in +all, we covered the entire island pretty thoroughly-- It was one of the +most interesting trips I ever took and Cecil enjoyed it as much as I +did. The island is a curious mixture of palm and pines, one minute it +looks like Venezuela and the next like Florida and Lakewood. It is +divided into two parties of Americans, the "moderates" and the +"revolutionists." The Cubans are very few and are all employed by the +Americans, who own nine-tenths of the Island. Of course, they all want +the U. S. to take it, they differ only as to how to persuade the +senators to do it. I had to change all my opinions about the +situation. I thought it was owned by land speculators who did not live +there, nor wish to live there, but instead I found every one I met had +built a home and was cultivating the land. We gave each land company a +turn at me, and we had to admire orange groves and pineapples, +grapefruit and coffee until we cried for help. With all this was the +most romantic history of the island before the "gringos" came. It was +a famous place for pirates and buried treasures and slave pens. It was +a sort of clearing house for slaves where they were fattened. I do not +believe people take much interest in or know anything about it, but I +am going to try and make an interesting story of it for Collier. It +was queer to be so completely cut off from the world. There was a +wireless but they would not let me use it. It is not yet opened to the +public. I talked to every one I met and saw much that was pathetic and +human. It was the first pioneer settlement Cecil had ever seen and the +American making the ways straight is very curious. He certainly does +not adorn whatever he touches. But never have I met so many +enthusiastics and such pride in locality. To-night we reach the Hotel +Louvre, thank heaven! where I can get Spanish food again, and not +American ginger bread, and, "the pie like mother used to make." We now +are on a wretched Spanish tug boat with every one, myself included, +very seasick and babies howling and roosters crowing. But soon that +will be over, and, after a short ride of thirty miles through a +beautiful part of the island, we will be in Havana in time for a fine +dinner, with ice. What next we will do I am not sure. After living in +that beautiful palace of Morgan's, it just needed five days of the +"Pinero's" to make us enjoy life at a hotel-- If we can make +connections, I think I will go over to Santo Domingo, and study up that +subject, too. But, even if we go no where else the trip to the I. of +P. was alone well worth our long journey. I don't know when I have +seen anything as curious, and as complicated a political existence. +Love to all of you dear ones. + +DICK. + + +HAVANA--April 9, 1906. + +ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE, ESQ. + +MY DEAR MAURICE: + +I have just read about myself, in the April Bookman, which I would be +very ungrateful if I did not write and tell you how much it pleased me. +That sounds as though what pleased me was, obviously, that what you +said was so kind. But what I really mean, and that for which I thank +you, was your picking out things that I myself liked, and that I would +like to think others liked. I know that the men make "breaks," and am +sorry for it, but, I forget to be sorry when you please me by pointing +out the good qualities in "Laquerre," and the bull terrier. Nothing +ever hurt me so much as the line used by many reviewers of "Macklin" +that "Mr. Davis' hero is a cad, and Mr. Davis cannot see it." Macklin +I always thought was the best thing I ever did, and it was the one over +which I took the most time and care. Its failure was what as Maggie +Cline used to say, "drove me into this business" of play writing. All +that ever was said of it was that it was "A book to read on railroad +trains and in a hammock." That was the verdict as delivered to me by +Romeike from 300 reviewers, and it drove me to farces. So, I was +especially glad when you liked "Royal Macklin." I tried to make a +"hero" who was vain, theatrical, boasting and selfconscious, but, still +likable. But, I did not succeed in making him of interest, and it +always has hurt me. Also, your liking the "Derelict" and the "Fever +Ship" gave me much pleasure. You see what I mean, it was your +selecting the things upon which I had worked, and with which I had made +every effort, that has both encouraged and delighted me. Being +entirely unprejudiced, I think it is a fine article, and as soon as I +stamp this, I will read it over again. So, thank you very much, +indeed, for to say what you did seriously, over your own name, took a +lot of courage, and for that daring, and for liking the same things I +do, I thank you many times. + +Sincerely yours, + +RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. + + +In reading this over, I find all I seem to have done in it is to +complain because no one, but yourself and myself liked "Macklin." What +I wanted to say is, that I am very grateful for the article, for the +appreciation, although I don't deserve it, and for your temerity in +saying so many kind things. Nothing that has been written about what I +have written has ever pleased me so much. + +R. H. D. + + +In the spring of 1906 while Richard was on a visit to Providence, R. +I., Henry W. Savage produced a play by Jesse Lynch Williams and my +brother was asked to assist at rehearsals, a pastime in which he found +an enormous amount of pleasure. The "McCloy" mentioned in the +following letter was the city editor of The Evening Sun when my brother +first joined the staff of that paper as a reporter. + + +NEW YORK, May 4, 1906. + +DEAR NORA: + +I left Providence Tuesday night and came on to New York yesterday. +Savage and Williams and all were very nice about the help they said I +had given them, and I had as much fun as though it had been a success I +had made myself, and I didn't have to make a speech, either. + +Yesterday I spent in the newspaper offices gathering material from +their envelopes on Winston Churchill, M. P. who is to be one of my real +Soldiers of Fortune. He will make a splendid one, in four wars, twice +made a question; before he was 21 years old, in Parliament, and a +leader in BOTH parties before he was 36. In the newspaper offices they +had a lot of fun with me. When I came into the city room of The Eve. +Sun, McCloy was at his desk in his shirt spiking copy. He just raised +his eyes and went on with his blue pencil. I said "There's nothing in +that story, sir, the man will get well, and the woman is his wife." + +"Make two sticks of it," said McCloy, "and then go back to the +Jefferson police court." + +When I sat down at my old desk, and began to write the copy boy came +and stood beside me and when I had finished the first page, snatched +it. I had to explain I was only taking notes. + +At The Journal, Sam Chamberlain who used to pay me $500 a story, +touched me on the shoulder as I was scribbling down notes, and said +"Hearst says to take you back at $17 a week." I said "I'm worth $18 and +I can't come for less." So he brought up the business manager and had a +long wrangle with him as to whether I should get $18. The business +manager, a Jew gentleman, didn't know me from Adam, and seriously tried +to save the paper a dollar a week. When the reporters and typewriter +girls began to laugh, he got very mad. It was very funny how soothing +was the noise of the presses, and the bells and typewriters and men +yelling "Copy!" and "Damn the boy!" I could write better than if I had +been in the silence of the farm. It was like being able to sleep as +soon as the screw starts. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CONGO + +During the winter of 1907 the world rang with the reports of the +atrocities in the Congo, and Robert J. Collier, of Collier's Weekly, +asked Richard to go to the Congo and make an investigation. I do not +believe that my brother was ever in much sympathy with the commission, +as he did not feel that he could afford the time that a thorough +investigation demanded. However, with his wife he sailed for Liverpool +on January 5, 1907, and three weeks later started for Africa. +Regarding this trip, in addition to the letters he wrote to his family, +I also quote from a diary which he had just started and which he +conscientiously continued until his death. + + +From diary of January 24th, 1907. Last day in London. Margaret Frazer +offered me gun from a Captain Jenkins of Nigeria. Instead bought +Winchester repeating, hoping, if need it, get one coast. Lunched +Savoy-Lynch, Mrs. Lynch, her sister--very beautiful girl. In afternoon +Sam Sothern and Margaret came in to say "Good bye." Dined at Anthony +Hope's--Barrie and Mrs. Barrie and Jim Whigham. Mrs. Barrie looking +very well, Barrie not so well. As silent as ever, only talked once +during dinner when he told us about the first of his series of cricket +matches between authors and artists. Did not have eleven authors, so +going along road picked up utter strangers one a soldier in front of +embracing two girls. Said he would come if girls came too--all put in +brake. Mrs. Barrie said the Llewellen Davis' were the originals for +the Darlings and their children in Peter Pan. They played a strange +game of billiards suggested by Barrie who won as no one else knew the +rules and they claimed he invented them to suit his case. Sat up until +three writing and packing. The dinner was best have had this trip in +London. + + +Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo. + +S. S. February 11th, 1907. + + +To-morrow, we will be in Banana, which is the first port in the Congo. +When I remember how far away the Congo seemed from New York and London, +it is impossible to believe we are less than a day from it. I am so +very glad I came. The people who have lived here for years agree about +it in no one fact, so, it is a go-as-you-please for any one so far as +accurate information is concerned, and I am as likely to be right as +any one else. It has been a pleasant trip and for us will not be over +until some days, for at Matadi, which is up the river, we will probably +live on the steamer as the shore does not sound attractive. Then I +shall probably go on up the river and after a month or six weeks come +back again. At Boma I am to see the Governor, one of the inspectors on +board is to introduce me, and I have an idea they will make me as +comfortable as possible, so that I may not see anything. Not that I +would be likely to see anything hidden under a year. Yesterday was the +crossing of the Equator. The night before Neptune, one of the crew, +and his wife, the ship's butcher, and a kroo boy, as black as coal for +the heir apparent came over the side and proclaimed that those who +never before had crossed the Equator must be baptized. We had crossed +but I was perfectly willing to go through it for the fun. The Belgians +went at it as seriously as children, and worked up a grand succession +of events. First we had gymkana races among the kroo boys. The most +remarkable was their placing franc pieces in tubs of white and red +flour, for which the boys dived, they then dug for more money into a +big basket fitted with feathers and when they came out they were the +most awful sights imaginable. You can picture their naked black bodies +and faces spotted with white and pink and stuck like chickens with +feathers. Then the next day we were all hauled before a court and +judged, and having all been found guilty were condemned to be shaved +and bathed publicly at four. Meantime the Italians, is it not the +picture of them, had organized a revolution against the Tribunal, with +the object of ducking them. They went into this as though it were a +real conspiracy and had signs and passwords. At four o'clock, in turn +they sat us on the edge of the great tank on the well deck and splashed +us over with paste and then tilted us in. I tried to carry the +Frenchman who was acting as barber, with me but only got him half in. +But Milani, one of the Italians, swung him over his head plumb into the +water. The Frenchman is a rich elephant hunter who is not very +popular. When the revolution broke loose we all yelled "A bas le +Tribunal" "Vive la Revolution!" and there was awful rough house. I +made for the Frenchman and went in with him and nearly drowned him, and +everybody was being thrown into the tank or held in front of a fire +cross. After dinner there was a grand ceremony, the fourth, in which +certificates were presented by an Inspecteur d'Etat who is on board, +and is a Deputy Governor of a district. Then there was much champagne +and a concert and Cecil and I sat with the Captain, the Bishop, in his +robes and berretta and the two inspectors and they were very charming +to both of us. + +DICK. + + + +Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo. + +S. S. February 13th, 1907. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We reached Banana yesterday morning, and the mouth of the Congo, and as +the soldier said when he reached the top of San Juan Hill, "Hell! well +here we are!" Banana looks like one of the dozen little islands in the +West Indies, where we would stop to take on some "brands of bananas," +instead of the port to a country as big as Europe. We went ashore and +wandered around under the palm trees, and took photos, and watched some +men fishing in the lagoons, and we saw a strange fish that leaps on the +top of the water just as a frog jumps on land. It is certainly hot. +Milani and I went in swimming in the ocean, and got finely cool. Then +we paddled the canoe back to the ship to show the blacks how good we +were, and got very hot, and the blacks charged us a franc for the +voyage. To-morrow we will be in Boma, the capital, which is much of a +place with shops and a lawn tennis court. + + +BOMA, February 15th. + +Boma is more or less laid out and contains the official residences of +the Government. I walked all over it in an hour, and here you walk +very slow. There are three or four big trading stores AND a tennis +court. It is, however, a dreary place. We called on the missionary +and his wife, but she does not speak English and their point of view of +everything was not cheerful or instructive. Cecil plans to remain on +board while at Matadi and return with this same boat to Boma. I want +her to go home in this boat or in some other, as I believe Boma most +unhealthy and I know it to be most uncomfortable. She would have to go +to a hotel which is very hot and rough, although it is clean and well +run. I am undecided whether to go up the river for ten days, to where +it crosses the equator, or to leave the upper Congo and go up the Kasai +river. This is off the beaten track, and one may see something of +interest. I will know better what I will do in an hour, when I get to +Matadi. + + +MATADI--Feby. 21. + +We are now at Matadi. The Captain invited us to stop on board and it +is well he did. We dine on deck where the wind blows but the rest of +the ship is being cleaned and painted for the trip North. Four hatches +are discharging cargo all at once, from four in the morning until +midnight. Officers and kroo boys get four hours sleep out of the +twenty-four, but I sleep right through it, so does Cecil. Sometimes +they take out iron rails and then zinc roofs and steel boats, 6000 +cases of gin and 1000 tons of coal. Still, it is much better than in +the Hotel Africa on shore. Matadi is a hill of red iron and the heat +is grand. Everything in this country is grand. The river is, in +places, seven miles wide, the sunsets are like nothing earthly, and the +black people are like brooding shadows of lost souls, that is, if souls +have shadows. Most of the blacks in this town are "prisoners" with a +steel ring around the neck, and chained in long lines. I leave on the +23d to go up the Kasai River, because that is where the atrocities come +from and up there there are many missionaries. I don't want you to +think I say this to "calm your fears," but I say it because it is as +true of this place as of every other one in the world, and that is, +that it is as easy to get about here as it is in Rhode Island. It is +not half as dangerous as automobiling. I have not even felt feverish, +neither has Cecil. I never felt better. Cecil stays on board and goes +back to Boma. There she stops a week and then takes another ship back +to London. She will not wait at Boma for me, at least, I hope not and +cannot imagine her doing so. In any event, after I start, there will +be no way for us to communicate, and I will act on the understanding +that she has started North. + +I have two very good boys and both speak English, and are from Sierra +Leone. I take a two-day trip of 200 miles by rail, then four days by +boat up the Kasai and then I may come back by boat or walk. It depends +on how I like it, how long I stay, for I can hope to see very little, +as under a year it would be impossible to write with authority of this +country. But I'll see more of it than some at home, and I'll hear what +those who have lived here for years have to say. It is awfully +interesting, absolutely different and more uncivilized than anything I +ever saw. But all the time you are depressed with how little you know +and can know of it. I will be here six weeks or two months and then +should get up the coast to London about the middle of May or sooner. + +DICK. + + +From diary of February 22nd, 1907. + +Spent about the worst night of my life. No mattress, no pillow. Not +space enough for my own cot. Every insect in the world ate me. After +a bath and coffee felt better. It rained heavily until three P. M. +Read Pendennis, and loved it. The picture of life at Clavering and +Fairoaks, and Dr. Portman and Foker are wonderful. I do not know when +I have enjoyed and admired a work so much. For some reason it is all +entirely new again. I will read them all now in turn. After rain +cleared took my slaves and went after "supplies." Met a King. I +thought he was a witch doctor, and the boys said he was a dancing man. +All his suite, wives and subjects followed, singing a song that made +your flesh creep. At Hatton and Cookson's bought "plenty chop" for +"boys" who were much pleased. Also a sparklet bottle, some whiskey and +two pints of champagne at 7 francs the pint. Blush to own it was demi +Sec. Also bacon, jam, milk, envelopes, a pillow. Saw some ivory State +had seized and returned. 15 Kilo's. Some taken from Gomez across +street not returned until he gave up half. No reason given Taylor +agent H. & C. why returned Apparently when called will come down on the +ivory question. Cuthbert Malet, coffee planter, came call on me. Only +Englishman still in Service State. Had much to say which did not want +printed until he out of country which will be in month or two. +Anstrossi has given me side of cabin where there is room for my cot, so +expect to sleep. + + +STANLEY POOL, Feb. 22nd, 1907. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +When you get this, I will be on my way to London. The rest of my stay +here will be on board two boats, touching at the banks of the Kasai +river. One I now am on takes me up and another takes me down. I will +see a great deal that is strange and it is very interesting. +Yesterday, for example, only an hour before our train reached Gongolo +Station, there were three elephants that wandered across the track. We +were very disappointed not to have seen them. At the mission house on +the way up, I brought the first ice the mission boys had seen and when +I put a piece in the hand of one, he yelled and danced about as though +it were a coal. The higher up you go the tougher it gets. Back in the +jungle, one can only imagine what it is like. Here all the white men +have black wives, and the way the whip is used on the men is very +different from the lower congo. The boat is about as large as a +touring car, with all the machinery exposed. I am very comfortable +though, with my bed and camp chair, and, books to read, when one gets +tired of this great, dirty river. I, expect to see hippopotamuses and +many crocodiles and to learn something of the "atrocities" by hearsay. +To see for oneself, would take months. I return from the Kasai +district by a boat like this one, burning wood and with a stern wheel, +reaching Leopoldville, this place, about the 12th of March, and sailing +on the Albertville for Southampton on the 19th of March. So I should +be in London and so very near you by the 8th of April. Of course, if I +take a later boat from here, I will be just that much later. I am +perfectly well, never better. No fever, no "tired feeling" good +appetite, in spite of awful tough food. From this place money cannot +be used and I carry a bag of salt and rolls of cloth. For a bottle of +salt you get a fowl or a turkey, for a tablespoonful an egg, or a bunch +of fruit. When you write be sure and tell me ALL your plans for the +summer; that is, after you have been to see us. My dearest love to you +all. + +DICK. + + +From diary of February 27th, 1907. + +Saw two hippos. Thought Anstrossi said they were buffalo. So was glad +when I found out what they were. I did not want to go home without +having seen only two dead ones. In a few minutes I saw two more. +Anstrossi fired at them but I did not, as thought it not the game when +one could not recover them. Before noon saw six in a bunch--and then +what I thought was a spit of rock with a hippo lying on the end of it, +turned out to be fifteen hippos in a line! Burnham has told he had +seen eleven in the Volta in one day. Before one o'clock, I had seen +twenty-six, and, later in the day Anstrossi fired at another, and shot +a hole in the awning. That made twenty-seven in one day. Also some +monkeys. The hippos were delightful. They seemed so aristocratic, +like gouty old gentlemen, puffing and blowing and yawning, as though +everything bored them. + + +From diary of February 28th, 1907. + +When just going up for coffee, saw what was so big, looking at it +against horizon, thought it must be an elephant. Was a young hippo. +Captain Jensen brought boat within eighty yards of him, and both +Anstrossi and I fired, apparently knocking him off his legs, for he +rolled on his side as though his back was broken. I missed him the +second shot, which struck the water just in front of him. The other +three shots caught him in the head, in the mouth and ear. He lay quite +still, and the boys rushed out a gang plank and surrounded him singing +and shouting and cutting his tail to make him bleed and weaken him. +They don't die for an hour but he seemed dead enough, so I went to my +cabin to re-load my gun and my camera. In three minutes I came out, +and found the hippo still quiet. Then he began to toss his head and I +shot him again, to put him out of pain. In return for which he rolled +over into the water and got away. I was mad. Later saw four more. +Just at sunset while taking bath another was seen on shore. We got +within sixty yards of him and all of us missed him or at least did not +hurt him. He then trotted for the river with his head up and again I +must have missed, although at one place he was but fifty yards away, +when he entered the water, a hundred. I stepped it off later in the +sand. I followed him up and hit him or some one of us hit him and he +stood up on his hind legs. But he put back to land for the third time. +Captain said wait until moon came out. But though we hunted up to our +waists saw none. One came quite close at dinner. Seven on the day. + + +CONGO RIVER--March 1, 1907. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I have been up the Congo as far as the Kasai river, and up that to a +place called Dima. There I found myself in a sort of cul de sac. I +found that the rubber plantations I had come to see, were nine days +journey distant. In this land where time and distance are so +differently regarded than with us, a man tells you to go to Dima to see +rubber. He means after getting to Dima, you must catch a steamer that +leaves every two weeks and travel for five days. But he forgets that +that fact is important to visitors. As he is under contract to stay +here three years, it does not much matter to him how he spends a month, +or so. Dima was two hundred yards square, and then the jungle. In +half an hour, I saw it all, and met every one in it. They gave me a +grand reception, but I could not spend ten days in Dima. The only +other thing I could do was to take a canoe to the Jesuit Mission where +the Fathers promised me shooting, or, try to catch the boat back to +England that stops at interesting ports. Sooner than stop in Boma, I +urged Cecil to take that boat. So, if I catch it, we will return +together. It is a five weeks journey, and rather long to spend alone. +In any event my letters will go by a faster boat. I have had a most +wonderfully interesting visit, at least, to me. I hope I can make it +readable. But, much of its pleasure was personal. + +I have just had to stop writing this, for what when I get back to New +York will seem a perfectly good reason for interrupting a letter to +even you. A large hippopotamus has just pushed past us with five baby +hippos in front of her. She is shoving them up stream, and the papa +hippo is in the wake puffing and blowing. They are very plenty here +and on the way up stream, I saw a great many, and every morning and +evening went hunting for them on shore. I wanted the head of a +hippopotamus awfully keenly for the farm. But of the only two I saw on +land, both got away from me. I did not shoot at any I saw in the +water, although the other idiot on board did, because if you kill them, +you cannot recover them, and it seems most unsportsmanlike. Besides, I +was so grateful to them for being so proud and pompous, and real +aristocrats dating back from the flood. But I was terribly +disappointed at losing both of those I saw on land. One I dropped at +the first shot, and the other I missed, as he was running, to get back +into the water. The one I shot, and that everyone thought was dead, +AFTER THE "BOYS" BEGAN TO CUT HIM UP, decided he was not going to stand +for that, and to our helpless dismay suddenly rolled himself into the +water. If that is not hard luck, I don't know it. All I got was a bad +photograph of him, and I had already decided where I would hang his +head, and how much I would tip the crew for cutting him up. It was a +really wonderful journey. I loved every minute of it and never was I +in better health. + +If I only could have known that you knew that I was all right, but +instead you were worrying. The nights were bright moonlight, and the +days were beautiful; full of strange people and animals, birds and +views. We three sat in the little bridge of the tinpot boat, and +smoked pipes and watched the great muddy river rushing between +wonderful banks. There was the Danish Captain, an Italian officer and +the engineer was from Finland. The Italian spoke French and the two +others English, and I acted as interpreter!! Can you imagine it? I am +now really a daring French linguist. People who understand me, get +quick promotion. If I only could have been able to tell you all was +well and not to be worried. At Kwarmouth I have just received a wire +from Cecil saying she expects to leave by the slow boat but will stay +if I wish it. So, now we can both go by the slow boat if I can catch +it. I hope so. must have found Boma as bad as it looked. God bless +you all. + +DICK. + + + +On April 13, Richard was back in London and in his diary of that date +he writes, "Never so glad to get anywhere. Went to sleep to the music +of motorcars. Nothing ever made me feel so content and comfortable and +secure as their 'honk, honk.'" + + +From diary of April 22nd, 1907. + +A blackmailer named H---- called, with photos of atrocities and letters +and films. He wanted 30 Pounds for the lot. I gave him 3 Pounds for +three photos. One letter he showed me signed Bullinger, an Englishman, +said he had put the fear of God in their hearts by sticking up the +chief's head on a pole, and saying, "Now, make rubber, or you will look +like that." Went to lunch with Pearson but it was the wrong day, and so +missed getting a free feed. Thinking he would turn up, I ordered a +most expensive lunch. I paid for it. Evening went Patience, which +liked immensely and then Duchess of Sutherland's party to Premiers. +Saw Churchill and each explained his share of the Real Soldiers row. + + +From diary of April 28th, 1907. + +We went down by train to Cliveden going by Taplow to Maidenhead where +Astor had sent his car to meet us. It is a wonderful place and the +view of the Thames is a beautiful one. They had been making +alterations, bathrooms, and putting white enamel tiles throughout the +dungeons. If Dukes lived no more comfortably than those who owned +Cliveden, I am glad I was not a Duke. What was most amusing was the +servant's room which was quite as smart as any library or study, with +fine paintings, arm chairs and writing material. Nannie and Astor were +exceedingly friendly and we walked all over the place. It was good to +get one's feet on turf again. They sent us back by motor, so we +arrived most comfortably. I gave a dinner to the Hopes, Wyndham, Miss +Mary Moore, Ashmead-Bartlett and Margaret. Websters could not come. +Later, came on here, and had a chat, the Websters coming too. I read +Thaw trial. + + +Early in May Richard and his wife returned to Mount Kisco and my +brother at once started in to change his farce "The Galloper" into a +musical comedy. It was produced on August 12, at the Astor Theatre, +under the title of the "Yankee Tourist," with Raymond Hitchcock as the +star. The following I quote from Richard's diary of that date: + + +Monday, August 12th, 1907. + +Was to have lunched with Ned Stone but he was in court. Met Whigham in +street. Impulsively asked him to lunch. Ethel and Jack turned up at +Martin's; asked them to lunch. Ethel and I drove around town doing +errands, mine being the purchase of tickets for numerous friends. +Called on Miss Trusdale to inquire about Harden-Hickey. She wants her +to go to the country. Cecil arrived at six. We had a suite of +eighty-nine rooms. We dined at Sherry's with Ethel and Jack, Ethel +being host. Taft was there. Hottest night ever. I sat with Jack. In +spite of weather, play went well. Bonsals, Ethel, Arthur Brisbane were +in Cecil's box. Booth Tarkington in Irwin's. Surprise of performance +was "Hello, Bill" which Raymond had learned only that morning. Helen +Hale helped him greatly with dance. People came to supper at Waldorf, +and things went all wrong. Next time I have a first Night I want no +friends during or after. Missed the executive ability of Charles +Belmont greatly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A LONDON WINTER + +From the fall of 1907 to that of 1908 Richard divided his time between +Mount Kisco, Marion, and Cuba. In December of 1908 he sailed for +London where he took Turner the artist's old house in Chelsea for the +winter. + + +Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. + +December 25. Christmas Day. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are settled here in Darkest Chelsea as though we had been born here. +I am thinking of putting in my time of exile by running for Mayor. +Meanwhile, it is a wonderful place in which to write the last chapters +of "Once Upon a Time." The house is quite wonderful. In Spring and +Summer it must be rarely beautiful. It has trees in front and a yard +and a garden and a squash court: a sort of tennis you play against the +angles of walls covered smooth with cement. Also a studio as large as +a theatre. Outside the trees beat on the windows and birds chirp +there. The river flows only forty feet away, with great brown barges +on it, and gulls whimper and cry, and aeroplane all day. I have a fine +room, and about the only one you can keep as warm as toast SHOULD be, +and in England never is. + +Cecil has engaged a teacher, and a model and he is coming here to work. +He is twenty years old, and called the "boy Sargent." So, as soon as +the British public gets sober, we will begin life in earnest, and both +work hard. I need not tell you how glad I am to be at it. I was with +you all in heart last night and recited as much as I could remember of +"Twas the Night Before Christmas," which always means Dad to me, as he +used to read it to us. How much he made the day mean to us. I wish I +could just slip in for a kiss, and a hug. But tonight we will all +drink to you, and a few hours later you will drink to us. God bless +you all. + +DICK. + + +December 29th. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +A blizzard has swept over London. The last one cost the City +Corporation $25,000!! The last man who contracted to clean New York +of snow was cleaned out by two days of it, to the tune of $200,000. +Still, in spite of our alleged superiority in all things, one inch of +snow in Chelsea can do more to drive one to drink and suicide than a +foot of it "on the farm." At the farm we threw a ton of coal against +it, and lit log fires and oil lamps, and were warm. Here, they try to +fight it with two buckets of soft chocolate cake called Welch coal, and +the result is you freeze. Cecil's studio is like one vast summer hotel +at Portland Maine in January. You cannot go near it except in rubber +boots, fur coats and woolen gloves. My room still is the only one that +is livable. It is four feet square, heavily panelled in oak and the +coal fire makes it as warm as a stoke hole. So, I am all right and can +work nicely. Janet Sothern came to lunch today and Cecil and she in +furs went picture gazing. Tomorrow we have Capt. Chule to dinner. He +came up the West coast with us and is accustomed to a temperature of +120 degrees. + +New Year's eve we spend with Lady Lewis where we dine and keep it up +until four in the morning. We will easily be able to get back here but +how we can get a hansom from here to the great city, I can't imagine. +I have seen none in five days. It is fine to be surrounded by busts of +Carlyle, Whistler, Rosetti and Turner's own, but occasionally you wish +for a taxicab. Tomorrow I am going on a spree to the great city of +London. The novel goes on smoothly, and all is well. I am still +running for Mayor of Chelsea. + +Love to you all. + +DICK. + + +LONDON--January 1, 1909. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I drank your health and Noll's and Charley's last night and so we all +came into the New Year together. I hope it will be as good for me as +the last. Certainly Chas. is coming on well with another book. It is +splendid. I am so very, very glad. Some of the very best stories +anybody has written will be in his next book. + +We dined at the Lewis's. There were 150 at dinner and as we live in +Chelsea now--one might as well be in Brooklyn--we were a half hour +late. Fancy feeling you were keeping 150 people hungry. I sat at Lady +Lewis's table with some interesting men and one beautiful woman all +dressed in glass over pink silk, and pearls, and pearls and then, +pearls. She said "Who am I" and I said "You look like a girl in +America, who used to stand under a green paper lamp shade up in a farm +house in New Hampshire and play a violin." Whereat there was much +applause, because it seemed she was that girl, the daughter of a Mrs. +Van S----, who wrote short stories. Her daughter was L---- Van S---- +now the wife of a baronet and worth five million dollars. The board we +paid then was eight dollars a week. Now, we are dining with her next +Monday and as I insisted on gold plate she said "Very well, I'll get +out the gold plate." But wasn't it dramatic of me to remember her +after twenty two years? + +DICK. + + +LONDON-February 23, 1909. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +George Washington's health was celebrated by drinking it at dinner. I +had been asked to speak at a banquet but for some strange reason could +not see myself in the part. The great Frohman arrived last night and +we are all agitated until he speaks. If he would only like my plays as +some of the actors do, I would be passing rich. Barrie asked himself +to lunch yesterday and was very entertaining. He told us of a letter +he received from Guy DuMaurier who wrote "An Englishman's Home" which +has made a sensation second to nothing in ten years. He is an officer +stationed at a small post in South Africa. He wrote Barrie he was at +home, very blue and homesick, and outside it was raining. Then came +Barrie's long cable, at 75 cents a word, saying his play was the +success of the year. He did not know even it had been ACCEPTED. He +shouted to his wife, and they tried to dance but the hut was too small, +so they ran out into the compound and danced in the rain. Then he sent +the Kaffir boys to the mess to bring all the officers and all the +champagne and they did not go to bed at all. The next day cables, +still at three shillings a word came from papers and magazines and +publishers, managers, syndicates. And, in his letter he says, still +not appreciating what a fuss it has made, "I suppose all it needs now +is to be made a question in the House," when already it has been the +text of half a dozen speeches by Cabinet Ministers, and three companies +are playing it in the provinces. What fun to have a success come in +such a way, not even to know it was being rehearsed. Today Sargent is +here to see what is wrong with Cecil's picture of Janet. He came early +and said he couldn't tell until he saw Janet, so now he is back again, +and both Janet and Cecil are shaking with excitement. He is the most +simple, kindly genius I ever met. He says the head is very fine and I +guess Cecil suspected that, before she called him in. He says she must +send it to the Royal Academy. I am now going out to hear more words +fall from the great man, and so farewell. Seymour and I began work +yesterday on the Dictator. It went very smooth. All my love to Noll +and to you. + +DICK. + + +Read the other letter first and then, let me tell you that when I went +out to see Sargent, I found Cecil complaining that she could not +understand just how it was he wanted Janet to pose. Whereat she handed +him a piece of chalk and he made a sketch of Janet as exquisite as the +morning and rubbed his hands of the charcoal and left it there! It's +only worth a hundred pounds! Can you imagine the nerve of Cecil. I +was so shocked I could only gasp. But, he was quite charming and +begged her to call him next time she got in a scrape, and gave her his +private telephone number. + +Fancy having Sargent waiting to be called up to make sketches for you. +I left Janet and Cecil giggling with happiness. Janet because she had +been sketched by him and Cecil because she has the sketch. It's a +three fourths length three feet high, and he did it in ten minutes. I +am now going to ask her to invite the chef of the Ritz in, to give us a +sketch of cooking a dinner. + +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MILITARY MANOEUVRES + +In August, 1909, Richard and his wife left Mount Kisco for a visit to +Mr. and Mrs. Clark at Marion. While there my brother attended and +later on wrote an article on the war manoeuvres held at Middleboro, +Massachusetts. + + +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. + +August 16th, 1909. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +We had a splendid day to day. I arranged to have Cecil meet me at +eleven at Headquarters in the woods below Middleboro, and I spent the +morning locating different regiments. Then, after I "met up" with her, +I took her in my car. Both she and Hiller were awfully keen over it, +so, we got on splendidly. And, of course, Hiller's knowledge of the +country was wonderfully convenient. We had great luck in seeing the +only fight of the day, the first one of the war. Indeed, I think we +caused it. There was a troop of cavalry with a Captain who was afraid +to advance. I chided him into doing something, the umpire having +confided to me, he would mark him, if he did not. But, he did it +wrong. Anyway, he charged a barn with 36 troopers and lost every +fourth man. In real warfare he would have lost all his men and all his +horses. Cecil and Hiller pursued in the car at the very heels of the +cavalry, and I ran ahead with the bicycle scouts. It was most +exciting. I am going out again to-morrow. Lots of Love to you all. + +DICK. + + +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. + +August 19th, 1909. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +I got in last night too late to write and I am sorry. To-day, the war +came to an end with our army, the Red one, with the road to Boston open +before it. Indeed, when the end came, they were fighting with their +backs to that City, and could have entered it to-night. I begged both +Bliss and Wood to send in the cavalry just for the moral effect, but +they were afraid of the feeling, that was quite strong. I had much +fun, never more, and saw all that was worth seeing. I was glad to see +I am in such good shape physically, but with the tramping I do over the +farm, it is no wonder. I could take all the stone walls at a jump, +while the others were tearing them down. I also met hundreds of men I +knew and every one was most friendly, especially the correspondents. +Just as I liked to be on a story with a "star" man when I was a +reporter, they liked having a real "war" correspondent, take it +seriously. They were always wanting to know if it were like the Real +Thing, and as I assured them it was, they were satisfied. Some +incidents were very funny. I met a troop of cavalry this morning, +riding away from the battle, down a crossroad, and thinking it was a +flanking manoeuvre, started to follow them with the car. "Where are +you going?" I asked the Captain. "Nowhere," he said, "We are dead." +An Umpire was charging in advance of two troops of the 10th down a +state road, when one trooper of the enemy who were flying, turned back +and alone charged the two troops. "You idiot"! yelled the Umpire, +"don't you know you and your horse are shot to pieces?" "Sure, I know +it," yelled the trooper "but, this ---- horse don't know it." + +RICHARD. + + +Early in the fall of 1909 Richard returned from Marion to New York and +went to Crossroads, where for the next three years he remained a +greater part of the time. They were years of great and serious changes +for him. An estrangement of long standing between him and his wife had +ended in their separation early in 1910, to be followed later by their +divorce. In September of that year my mother died while on a visit to +Crossroads. + +After my father's death life to her became only a period of waiting +until the moment came when she would rejoin him--because her faith was +implicit and infinite. She could not well set about preparing herself +because all of her life she had done that and, so, smiling and with a +splendid bravery and patience she lived on, finding her happiness in +bringing cheer and hope and happiness to all who came into the presence +of her wonderful personality. The old home in Philadelphia was just +the same as it had been through her long married life--that is with one +great difference, but on account of this difference I knew that she was +glad to spend her last days with Richard at Crossroads. And surely +nothing that could be done for a mother by a son had been left undone +by him. Through these last long summer days she sat on the terrace +surrounded by the flowers and the sunshine that she so loved. Little +children came to play at her knee, and old friends travelled from afar +to pay her court. + +In the winter of 1910-11 my brother visited Aiken, where he spent +several months. The following June he went to London at the time of +King George's coronation, but did not write about it. Again, in +November, 1911, he visited my sister in London, but returned to New +York in January, 1912, and spent a part of the winter in Aiken and +Cuba. At Aiken he found at least peace and the devotion of loving +friends that he so craved, but in London and Cuba, which once had meant +so much to him, he seemed to have lost interest entirely. But not once +during these years did he cease working, and working hard. On almost +every page of his diary at this period I find such expressions as +"wrote 500 words for discipline." And again "Satisfaction in work of +last years when writing for existence, has been up to any I ever wrote." + +And in spite of all of the trouble of these days, he not only wrote +incessantly but did some of his very finest work. Personally I have +never seen a man make a more courageous fight. To quote again from his +diary of this time: "Early going to my room saw red sunrise and gold +moon. I seemed to stop worrying about money. With such free pleasures +I found I could not worry. Every day God gives me greater delight in +good things, in beauty, and in every simple exercise and amusement." + +Twice during these difficult days he went to visit Gouverneur Morris +and his wife at Aiken, and after Richard's death his old friend wrote +of the first of these visits: + +"It was in our little house at Aiken, in South Carolina, that he was +with us most and we learned to know him best, and that he and I became +dependent upon each other in many ways. "Events, into which I shall +not go, had made his life very difficult and complicated. And he who +had given so much friendship to so many people needed a little +friendship in return, and perhaps, too, he needed for a time to live in +a house whose master and mistress loved each other, and where there +were children. Before he came that first year our house had no name. +Now it is called 'Let's Pretend.' + +"Now the chimney in the living-room draws, but in those first days of +the built-over house it didn't. At least, it didn't draw all the time, +but we pretended that it did, and with much pretense came faith. From +the fireplace that smoked to the serious things of life we extended our +pretendings, until real troubles went down before them--down and out. + +"It was one of Aiken's very best winters, and the earliest spring I +ever lived anywhere. R. H. D. came shortly after Christmas. The +spiraeas were in bloom, and the monthly roses; you could always find a +sweet violet or two somewhere in the yard; here and there splotches of +deep pink against gray cabin walls proved that precocious peach-trees +were in bloom. It never rained. At night it was cold enough for +fires. In the middle of the day it was hot. The wind never blew, and +every morning we had a four for tennis and every afternoon we rode in +the woods. And every night we sat in front of the fire (that didn't +smoke because of pretending) and talked until the next morning. + +"He was one of those rarely gifted men who find their chiefest pleasure +not in looking backward or forward, but in what is going on at the +moment. Weeks did not have to pass before it was forced upon his +knowledge that Tuesday, the fourteenth (let us say), had been a good +Tuesday. He knew it the moment he waked at 7 A. M., and perceived the +Tuesday sunshine making patterns of bright light upon the floor. The +sunshine rejoiced him and the knowledge that even before breakfast +there was vouchsafed to him a whole hour of life. That day began with +attentions to his physical well-being. There were exercises conducted +with great vigor and rejoicing, followed by a tub, artesian cold, and a +loud and joyous singing of ballads. + +"The singing over, silence reigned. But if you had listened at his +door you must have heard a pen going, swiftly and boldly. He was hard +at work, doing unto others what others had done unto him. You were a +stranger to him; some magazine had accepted a story that you had +written and published it. R. H. D. had found something to like and +admire in that story (very little perhaps), and it was his duty and +pleasure to tell you so. If he had liked the story very much he would +send you instead of a note a telegram. Or it might be that you had +drawn a picture, or, as a cub reporter, had shown golden promise in a +half column of unsigned print, R. H. D. would find you out, and find +time to praise you and help you. So it was that when he emerged from +his room at sharp eight o'clock, he was wide-awake and happy and +hungry, and whistled and double-shuffled with his feet, out of +excessive energy, and carried in his hands a whole sheaf of notes and +letters and telegrams. + +"Breakfast with him was not the usual American breakfast, a sullen, +dyspeptic gathering of persons who only the night before had rejoiced +in each other's society. With him it was the time when the mind is, or +ought to be, at its best, the body at its freshest and hungriest. +Discussions of the latest plays and novels, the doings and undoings of +statesmen, laughter and sentiment--to him, at breakfast, these things +were as important as sausages and thick cream. + +"Breakfast over, there was no dawdling and putting off of the day's +work (else how, at eleven sharp, could tennis be played with a free +conscience?). Loving, as he did, everything connected with a +newspaper, he would now pass by those on the hall-table with never so +much as a wistful glance, and hurry to his workroom. + +"He wrote sitting down. He wrote standing up. And, almost you may +say, he wrote walking up and down. Some people, accustomed to the +delicious ease and clarity of his style, imagine that he wrote very +easily. He did and he didn't. Letters, easy, clear, to the point, and +gorgeously human, flowed from him without let or hindrance. That +masterpiece of corresponding, the German March through Brussels, was +probably written almost as fast as he could talk (next to Phillips +Brooks, he was the fastest talker I ever heard), but when it came to +fiction he had no facility at all. Perhaps I should say that he held +in contempt any facility that he may have had. It was owing to his +incomparable energy and Joblike patience that he ever gave us any +fiction at all. Every phrase in his fiction was, of all the myriad +phrases he could think of, the fittest in his relentless judgment to +survive. Phrases, paragraphs, pages, whole stories even, were written +over and over again. He worked upon a principle of elimination. If he +wished to describe an automobile turning in at a gate, he made first a +long and elaborate description from which there was omitted no detail, +which the most observant pair of eyes in Christendom had ever noted +with reference to just such a turning. Thereupon he would begin a +process of omitting one by one those details which he had been at such +pains to recall; and after each omission he would ask himself, 'Does +the picture remain?' If it did not, he restored the detail which he +had just omitted, and experimented with the sacrifice of some other, +and so on, and so on, until after Herculean labor there remained for +the reader one of those swiftly flashed ice-clear pictures (complete in +every detail) with which his tales and romances are so delightfully and +continuously adorned. + +"But it is quarter to eleven, and this being a time of holiday, R. H. +D. emerges from his workroom happy to think that he has placed one +hundred and seven words between himself and the wolf who hangs about +every writer's door. He isn't satisfied with those hundred and seven +words. He never was in the least satisfied with anything that he +wrote, but he has searched his mind and his conscience and he believes +that under the circumstances they are the very best that he can do. +Anyway, they can stand in their present order until--after lunch. + +"A sign of his youth was the fact that to the day of his death he had +denied himself the luxury and slothfulness of habits. I have never +seen him smoke automatically as most men do. He had too much respect +for his own powers of enjoyment and for the sensibilities, perhaps, of +the best Havana tobacco. At a time of his own deliberate choosing, +often after many hours of hankering and renunciation, he smoked his +cigar. He smoked it with delight, with a sense of being rewarded, and +he used all the smoke there was in it. + +"He dearly loved the best food, the best champagne, and the best Scotch +whiskey. But these things were friends to him, and not enemies. He +had toward food and drink the continental attitude; namely, that +quality is far more important than quantity; and he got his +exhilaration from the fact that he was drinking champagne and not from +the champagne. Perhaps I shall do well to say that on questions of +right and wrong he had a will of iron. All his life he moved +resolutely in whichever direction his conscience pointed; and although +that ever present and never obtrusive conscience of his made mistakes +of judgment now and then, as must all consciences, I think it can never +once have tricked him into any action that was impure or unclean. Some +critics maintain that the heroes and heroines of his books are +impossibly pure and innocent young people. R. H. D. never called upon +his characters for any trait of virtue, or renunciation, or +self-mastery of which his own life could not furnish examples." + +In June of 1912 Richard reported the Republican convention at Chicago. +Shortly after this, on July 8, he married at Greenwich, Connecticut, +Miss Elizabeth Genevieve McEvoy, known on the stage as Bessie McCoy, +with whom he had first become acquainted in 1908 after the estrangement +from his wife. + +Richard and his wife made their home at Crossroads, where he devoted +most of his working hours to the writing of short stories. In August +of that year my brother, accompanied by his wife, returned to Chicago +to report the Progressive convention. During the year 1913 he wrote +and produced the farce "Who's Who," of which William Collier was the +star, and in the fall of the same year spent a month in Cuba, with +Augustus Thomas, where they produced a film version of "Soldiers of +Fortune." In referring to this trip, Thomas wrote at the time of +Richard's death: + +"In 1914 a motion-picture company arranged to make a feature film of +the play, and Dick and I went with their outfit to Santiago de Cuba, +where, twenty years earlier, he had found the inspiration for his story +and out of which city and its environs he had fashioned his +supposititious republic of Olancho. On that trip he was the idol of +the company. With the men in the smoking-room of the steamer there +were the numberless playful stories, in the rough, of the experiences +on all five continents and seven seas that were the backgrounds of his +published tales. + +"At Santiago, if an official was to be persuaded to consent to some +unprecedented seizure of the streets, or a diplomat invoked for the +assistance of the Army or the Navy, it was the experience and good +judgment of Dick Davis that controlled the task. In the field there +were his helpful suggestions of work and make up to the actors, and on +the boat and train and in hotel and camp the lady members met in him an +easy courtesy and understanding at once fraternal and impersonal. + +"The element that he could not put into the account and which is +particularly pertinent to this page, is the author of 'Soldiers of +Fortune' as he revealed himself to me both with intention and +unconsciously in the presence of the familiar scenes. + +"For three weeks, with the exception of one or two occasions when some +local dignitary captured the revisiting lion, he and I spent our +evenings together at a cafe table overlooking 'The Great Square,' which +he sketches so deftly in its atmosphere when Clay and the Langhams and +Stuart dine there. At one end of the plaza the President's band was +playing native waltzes that came throbbing through the trees and +beating softly above the rustling skirts and clinking spurs of the +senoritas and officers sweeping by in two opposite circles around the +edges of the tessellated pavements. Above the palms around the square +arose the dim, white facade of the Cathedral, with the bronze statue of +Anduella the liberator of Olancho, who answered with his upraised arm +and cocked hat the cheers of an imaginary populace. + +"Twenty years had gone by since Dick had received the impression that +wrote those lines, and now sometimes after dinner half a long cigar +would burn out as he mused over the picture and the dreams that had +gone between. From one long silence he said: 'I think I'll come back +here this winter and bring Mrs. Davis with me--stay a couple of +months.' What a fine compliment to a wife to have the thought of her +and that plan emerge from that deep and romantic background. + +"The picture people began their film with a showing of the 'mountains +which jutted out into the ocean and suggested roughly the five knuckles +of a giant's hand clenched and lying flat upon the surface of the +water.' That formation of the sea wall is just outside of Santiago. +'The waves tunnelled their way easily enough until they ran up against +those five mountains and then they had to fall back.' How natural for +one of us to be unimpressed by such a feature of the landscape and yet +how characteristic of Dick Davis to see the elemental fight that it +recorded and get the hint for the whole of the engineering struggle +that is so much of his book. + +"We went over those mountains together, where two decades before he had +planted his banner of romance. We visited the mines and the railroads +and everywhere found some superintendent or foreman or engineer who +remembered Davis. He had guessed at nothing. Everywhere he had +overlaid the facts with adventure and with beauty, but he had been on +sure footing all the time. His prototype of MacWilliams was dead. +Together we visited the wooden cross with which the miners had marked +his grave. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +VERA CRUZ AND THE GREAT WAR + +Late in April, 1914, when war between the United States and Mexico +seemed inevitable Richard once more left the peace and content of +Crossroads and started for Vera Cruz, arriving there on April 29. He +had arranged to act as correspondent for a syndicate of newspapers, and +as he had for long been opposed to the administration's policy of +"watchful waiting" was greatly disappointed on his arrival at the +border to learn of the President's plan of mediation. He wrote to his +wife: + + +CRUZ, April 24, 1914. + +DEAREST ONE: + +We left today at 5.30. It was a splendid scene, except for the +children crying, and the wives of the officers and enlisted men trying +not to cry. I got a stateroom to myself. With the electric fan on and +the airport open, it is about as cool as a blast furnace. But I was +given a seat on the left of General Funston, who is commanding this +brigade, and the other officers at the table are all good fellows. As +long as I was going, I certainly had luck in getting away as sharply as +I did. One day's delay would have made me miss this transport, which +will be the first to land troops. + + +April 25th. + +A dreadnaught joined us today, the Louisiana. I wirelessed the Admiral +asking permission to send a press despatch via his battleship, and he +was polite in reply, but firm. He said "No." There are four transports +and three torpedo boats and the battleship. We go very slowly, because +we must keep up with one of the troop ships with broken engines. At +night it is very pretty seeing the ships in line, and the torpedo boats +winking their signals at each other. I am writing all the time or +reading up things about the army I forget and getting the new dope. +Also I am brushing up my Spanish. Jack London is on board, and three +other correspondents, two of whom I have met on other trips, and one +"cub" correspondent. He was sitting beside London and me busily +turning out copy, and I asked him what he found to write about. He +said, "Well, maybe I see things you fellows don't see." What he meant +was that what was old to us was new to him, but he got guyed +unmercifully. + + +April 27, 1914. + +The censor reads all I write, and so do some half-dozen Mexican cable +clerks and 60 (sixty) correspondents. So when I cable "love," it MEANS +devotion, adoration, and worship; loyalty, fidelity and truth, wanting +you, needing you, unhappy for you. It means ALL that. + +RICHARD. + + +VERA CRUZ, April 30, 1914. + +This heat--humid and moist--would sweat water out of a chilled steel +safe; so imagine what it does to me with all the awful winter's +accumulation of fat. I hate to say it, but I LIKE these Mexicans--much +better than Cubans, or Central Americans. They are human, kindly; it +is only the politicians and bandits like Villa who give them a bad +name. But, though they ought to hate us, whenever I stop to ask my way +they invite me to come in and have "coffee" and say, "My house is +yours, senor," which certainly is kind after people have taken your +town away from you and given you another flag and knocked your head off +if you did not salute it. I now have a fine room. The Navy moved out +today and I got the room of the paymaster. It faces the plaza and the +cathedral. I burned a candle there today for our soon meeting. The +priests all had run away, so I had to hunt up the candle, and pay the +money into the box marked for that purpose, but the Lord does not run +away, and He will see we soon meet. + + +May 2nd. + +Yesterday I went out on the train that brings in refugees and saw the +Mexicans. They had on three thousand cartridges, much hair, hats as +high as church steeples, and lots of dirt. The Selig Moving Picture +folks took many pictures of us and several "stills," in which the war +correspondent was shown giving cigarettes to the brigands. Also, I had +a wonderful bath in the ocean off the aviation camp. I borrowed a suit +from one of the aviators, and splashed and swam around for an hour. +My! it was good. It reminded me of my dear Bessie, because the last +time I was in the ocean was with her. + +Maybe you know what is going on, but we do not. So I just hustle +around all day trying to find news as I did when I was a reporter. It +is hot enough here even for me, and I have lost about eight pounds of +that fat I laid in during our North Pole winter! + + +VERA CRUZ--May 8, 1914. + +DEAR CHAS.: + +Today, when Wilson ordered Huerta not to blockade Tampico which was an +insult to Mediators and the act of a bully and a coward, AND a +declaration of war, we all got on our ponies to "advance." Then came +word Huerta would not blockade. It is like living in a mad house. We +all are hoping mediators refuse to continue negotiations. If they have +self respect that is what they will do. Tonight if Wilson and Huerta +ran for President, Huerta would get all our votes. He may be an +uneducated Indian, but at least he is a man. However, that makes no +never mind so far as to my getting back. The reason I cannot return is +because I have "credentials." It is not that they want ME here, but +they want my credentials here. The administration is using, as I see +it, the privilege of having a correspondent at the front as a club. It +says until war is declared it won't issue any more. So those +syndicates who have no correspondent and the papers forming them, are +afraid to attack or to criticise the administration for fear they will +be blacklisted. And those who have a correspondent with his three +thousand dollar signed and sealed pass in his pocket aren't taking any +chance on losing him. So, I see before me an endless existence in Vera +Cruz. + +RICHARD. + + +On May 7 Richard started for Mexico City where, if possible, he +intended to interview Huerta. At Pasco de Macho he was arrested, but +afterward was allowed to proceed to Mexico City. Here he was again +arrested, and without being allowed to interview Huerta was sent back +the day after his arrival to Vera Cruz. + +Of this Vera Cruz experience John N. Wheeler, a friend of Richard's and +the manager of the syndicate which sent him to Mexico, wrote the +following after my brother's death: + +"Richard Harding Davis went to Vera Cruz for a newspaper syndicate, and +after the first sharp engagement in the Mexican seaport there was +nothing for the correspondent to do but kill time on that barren, low +lying strip of Gulf coast, hemmed in on all sides by Mexicans and the +sea, and time is hard to kill there. Yet there was a story to be got, +but it required nerve to go after it. + +"In Mexico City was Gen. Huerta, the dictator of Mexico. If a +newspaper could get an interview with him it would be a 'scoop,' but +the work was inclined to be dangerous for the interviewer, since +Americans were being murdered rather profusely in Mexico at the time in +spite of the astute assurances of Mr. Bryan, and no matter how +substantial his references the correspondent was likely to meet some +temperamental and touchy soldier with a loaded rifle who would shoot +first and afterward carry his papers to some one who could read them. + +"One of the newspapers taking the stories by Mr. Davis from the +syndicate had a staff man at Vera Cruz as well, and thought to 'scoop' +the country by sending this representative to see Huerta, in this way +'beating' even the other subscribers to the Davis service. An +interview in Mexico City was consequently arranged and the staff man +was cabled and asked to make the trip. He promptly cabled his refusal, +this young man preferring to take no such chances. It was then +suggested that Mr. Davis should attempt it. By pulling some wires at +Washington it was arranged, through the Brazilian and English +Ambassadors at the Mexican capital, for Mr. Davis to interview +President Huerta, with safe conduct (this being about as safe as +nonskid tires) to Mexico City. Mr. Davis was asked if he would make +the trip. In less than two hours back came this laconic cable: + +"'Leaving Mexico City to-morrow afternoon at 3 o'clock.' + +"That was Richard Harding Davis--no hesitancy, no vacillation. He was +always willing to go, to take any chance, to endure discomfort and all +if he had a fighting opportunity to get the news. The public now knows +that Davis was arrested on this trip, that Huerta refused to make good +on the interview, and that it was only through the good efforts of the +British Ambassador at the Mexican capital he was released. But Davis +went. + +"There was an echo of this journey to the Mexican capital several +months later after the conflict in Europe had been raging for a few +weeks. Lord Kitchener announced at one stage of the proceedings he +would permit a single correspondent, selected and indorsed by the +United States Government, to accompany the British army to the front. +Of course, all the swarm of American correspondents in London at the +time were eager for the desirable indorsement. Mr. Davis cabled back +the conditions of his acceptance. Immediately Secretary of State Bryan +was called in Washington on the long-distance telephone. + +"'Lord Kitchener has announced,' the Secretary of State was told, 'that +he will accept one correspondent with the British troops in the field, +if he is indorsed by the United States Government. Richard Harding +Davis, who is in London, represents a string of the strongest +newspapers in the United States for this syndicate, and we desire the +indorsement of the State Department so he can obtain this appointment.' + +"'Mr. Davis made us some trouble when he was in Mexico,' answered Mr. +Bryan. 'He proceeded to the Mexican capital without our consent and I +will have to consider the matter very carefully before indorsing him. +His Mexican escapade caused us some diplomatic efforts and +embarrassment.' (What the Secretary of State did to bring about Mr. +Davis's release on the occasion of his Mexican arrest is still a secret +of the Department.) + +"Mr. Bryan did not indorse Mr. Davis finally, which was well, since +Lord Kitchener of Khartum kept the selected list of correspondents +loafing around London on one pretext or another so long they all became +disgusted and went without an official pass from 'K. of K.' As soon as +Mr. Davis was told he would not be appointed he proceeded to Belgium +and returned some of the most thrilling stories written on this +conflict at great personal risk." + + +May 13, 1914. + +MY DEAREST ONE: + +DO NOT BLAME me for this long delay in writing. God knows I wanted +every day to "talk" to you. But we were on the "suspect" list, and to +make even a note was risky. The way I did it was to exclaim over the +beauty of some flower or tree, and then ask the Mexican nearest me to +write the name of it HIMSELF in MY notebook. Then I would say, "In +English that would be----" and I would pretend to write beside it the +English equivalent, but really would write the word that was the key to +what I wished to remember. So, you see, a letter at that rate of +progress was impossible. It was a case of "Can't get away to cable you +today; police won't let me!" However, we are all safe at home again. +As a matter of fact, I had a most exciting time, and am dying to tell +you the "insie" story. But the one I sent the papers must serve. I +promised myself I would give the FIRST soldier, marine and sailor I met +on returning a cigar, and the first sailor was the CHAPLAIN OF THE +FLEET, Father Reany. But he took the cigar and gave me his blessing. +I am now burning candles to St. Rita. What worried me the MOST was how +worried YOU would be; and I begged Palmer not to send the story of our +first arrest. But other people told of it, and he had to forward it. +You certainly made the wires BURN! and had the army guessing. One +officer said to me, "I'm awfully sorry to see you back. If you'd only +have stayed in jail another day your wife would have had us all on our +way to Mexico." And the censor said, "My God! I'm glad you're safe! +Your wife has MADE OUR LIVES HELL!" And quite right, too, bless you! +None of us knows anything, but it looks to me that NOTHING will induce +Wilson to go to war. But the Mexicans think we ARE at war, and act +accordingly. They may bring on a conflict. That is why I am making +ready in case we advance and that is why I cabled today for the rest of +my kit. I have a fine little pony, and a little messenger boy who +speaks Spanish, to look after the horse, and me. + +And now, as to your LETTERS, they came to-day, five of them, COUNT 'EM, +and the pictures did make me laugh. I showed those of the soldier +commandeering the vegetables to Funston and he laughed. And, I did +love the flowers you sent no matter HOW homesick they made me! (Oh). +I do not want a camera. + +I have one, and those fancy cameras I don't understand. + +The letters you forwarded were wonderfully well selected. I mean, +those from other people. One of them was from Senator Root telling me +Bryan is going to reward our three heroic officers who jumped into the +ocean. I know you will be glad. There are NO mosquitoes! Haven't met +up with but three and THEY are not COMING BACK. + +I send you a picture of my room from the outside. From the inside the +view is so "pretty." Across the square is the cathedral and the trees +are filled with birds that sing all night, and statues, and pretty +globes. The band plays every night and when it plays "Hello, Winter +Time," I CRY for you. I paid the band-master $20 to play it, and it is +WORTH IT. I sit on the balcony and think of you and know just what you +are doing, for there is only an hour and a half difference. That is, +when with you it is ten o'clock with me it is eight-thirty. So when +you and Louise are at dinner you can know I am just coming in from my +horseback ride to bathe and "nap." And when at eight-thirty you are +playing the Victor, I am drinking a cocktail to you, and shooing away +the Colonels and Admirals who interfere with my ceremony of drinking to +my dear wife. + + + +VERA CRUZ, May 20th, 1914. + +DEAREST WIFE: + +I got SUCH a bully letter yesterday from you, written long ago from the +Webster. It said you missed me, and it said you loved me, and there +were funny pictures of you reading the war and peace news each with a +different expression, and you told me about Padrigh and how he runs +down the road. It made me very sad and homesick, but very glad to feel +I was so missed. Also you told me cheerful falsehoods about my Tribune +stories. I know they are no good, and as they are no good, the shorter +the better, but I like to be told they are good. Anyway, I sat down at +once and wrote a long screed on Vera Cruz and the sleepy people that +five here. + +We all live on the sidewalk under the stone porch. Every night a table +is reserved and by my orders ALL chairs, except mine, are removed. So +no one can sit down and bore me while I am dining. Another trick I +have to be left alone is to carry a big roll of cable blanks, and I +pretend to write out cables if anyone tries to talk. Then I beckon the +messenger (he always sits in the plaza) and say "File that!" and he +goes once around the block and reports back that it is "filed." If the +bore renews the attack I write another cable, and the unhappy messenger +makes another tour. The band plays from seven to eight every night. +There are five bands, and I saw no reason why there should not be music +every evening. After a day in this dirty hotel or dirty city a lively +band helps. Funston agreed, but forgot, until after three nights with +no band, I wrote him a letter. It was signed by fake names, asking if +he couldn't get nineteen German musicians into a bandstand how could he +hope to get ten thousand soldiers into Mexico City. So now we have a +band each night. That is all my day. After dinner I sit at table and +the men bring up chairs, or else I go to some other table. There are +some damn fool women here who are a nuisance, and they now have dancing +in the hotel adjoining, but I don't know them, except to bow, and I +approve of the tango parties because it keeps them away from the +sidewalk. They ire "refugees," the sort of folks you meet at Ocean +Grove, or rather DON'T meet! All love to you, and give Patrigh a pat +from his Uncle Richard for looking after you and looking for me, and +remember me to Louise and Shu and everything at home. I love you so. + +RICHARD. + + +VERA CRUZ, May 28, 1914. + +I want to be home to see the daisy field with you. That knee you +nearly busted tobogganing when the daisy field was an iceberg is now +recovered. + +The one and all came this morning and as I expected it was all full of +love from you. I DID get happiness out of the thought you put in it. +And all done in an hour. The underclothes made me weep. I could get +none here. Not because Mexicans are not as large as I am, but because +no Mexican of any size would wear 'em. So I've had to wash the few +that the washer-woman didn't destroy myself. And when I saw the lot +you sent! It was like a white sale! Also the quinine which I tasted +just for luck, and the soap in the little violet wrapper made me quite +homesick. Especially was I glad to get socks and pongee suits, and +shirts. I really was getting desperate. God knows what I would have +done without them. + +I want to see you so much, and I want to see you in the same setting of +other days, I want to walk with you in the daisy field, and in the +laurel blossoms, and clip roses. But to be with you I'd be willing to +walk on broken glass. Not you, too. Just me. + +RICHARD. + + + +VERA CRUZ--June 4, 1914. + +DEAR OLD MAN: + +I am awfully sorry for your sake, you could not get away. Of course +for myself I am glad that I am to see you and Dai. At least, I hope I +am. God alone knows when we will get out of here. I am sick of it. +Next time I go to war both armies must fight for two months before I +will believe they mean it, and BEFORE I WILL BUDGE. + +It is true I am getting good money, but also there is absolutely +NOTHING to write about. Bryan doesn't know that unless he talks by +code every radio on sixteen ships can read every message he sends to +these waters. And the State Department saying it could not understand +the Hyranga giving up her cargo is a damn silly lie. No one is so +foolish as to think the Chester and Tacomah let her land those arms +under their guns unless they had been told to submit to it. And yet +today, we get papers of the 29th in which Bryan says he has twice +cabled Badger for information, when for a week Badger has been reading +Bryan's orders to consuls to let the arms be landed. Can you beat +that? This is an awful place, and if I don't write it is because I +hate to harrow your feelings. It is a town of flies, filth and heat. +John McCutcheon is the only friend I have seen, and he sensibly lives +on a warship. I can't do that, as cables come all the time suggesting +specials, and I am not paid to loaf. John is here on a vacation, and +can do as he pleases. But I ride around like any cub reporter. And +there is no news. Since I left home I have not talked five minutes to +a woman "or mean to!" The Mexican women are a cross between apes and +squaws. Of all I have seen here nothing has impressed me so as the +hideousness of the women, girls, children, widows, grandmothers. And +the refugees, as Collier would say it, are "terrible!" I live a very +lonely existence. I find it works out that way best. And at the same +time all the correspondents are good friends, and I don't find that +there is one of them who does not go out of his way to SHOW he is +friendly. What I CAN'T understand is why no one at home never guesses +I might like to read some of my own stories. . . . + +DICK. + + +Of these days in Vera Cruz John T. McCutcheon wrote the following +shortly after Richard's death: + +"Davis was a conspicuous figure in Vera Cruz, as he inevitably had been +in all such situations. Wherever he went, he was pointed out. His +distinction of appearance, together with a distinction in dress, which, +whether from habit or policy, was a valuable asset in his work, made +him a marked man. He dressed and looked the 'war correspondent,' such +a one as he would describe in one of his stories. He fulfilled the +popular ideal of what a member of that fascinating profession should +look like. His code of life and habits was as fixed as that of the +Briton who takes his habits and customs and games and tea wherever he +goes, no matter how benighted or remote the spot may be. + +"He was just as loyal to his code as is the Briton. He carried his +bath-tub, his immaculate linen, his evening clothes, his war +equipment--in which he had the pride of a connoisseur--wherever he +went, and, what is more, he had the courage to use the evening clothes +at times when their use was conspicuous. He was the only man who wore +a dinner coat in Vera Cruz, and each night, at his particular table in +the crowded 'Portales,' at the Hotel Diligencia, he was to be seen, as +fresh and clean as though he were in a New York or London restaurant. + +Each day he was up early to take the train out to the 'gap,' across +which came arrivals from Mexico City. Sometimes a good 'story' would +come down, as when the long-heralded and long-expected arrival of +Consul Silliman gave a first-page 'feature' to all the American papers. + +"In the afternoon he would play water polo over at the navy aviation +camp, and always at a certain time of the day his 'striker' would bring +him his horse and for an hour or more he would ride out along the beach +roads within the American lines." + + . . . . . . . . . + +On June 15 Richard sailed on the Utah for New York, arriving there on +the 22d. For a few weeks after his return he remained at Mount Kisco +completing his articles on the Mexican situation but at the outbreak of +the Great War he at once started for Europe, sailing with his wife on +August 4, the day war was declared between England and Germany. + + + +On Lusitania--August 8, 1914. + +DEAR CHAS: + +We got off in a great rush, as the Cunard people received orders to +sail so soon after the Government had told them to cancel all +passengers, that no one expected to leave by her, and had secured +passage on the Lorraine and St. Paul. + +They gave me a "regal" suite which at other times costs $1,000 and it +is so darned regal that I hate to leave it. I get sleepy walking from +one end of it to the other; and we have open fires in each of the three +rooms. Generally when one goes to war it is in a transport or a troop +train and the person of the least importance is the correspondent. So, +this way of going to war I like. We now are a cruiser and are slowly +being painted grey, and as soon as they got word England was at war all +lights were put out and to find your way you light matches. You can +imagine the effect of this Ritz Carlton idea of a ship wrapped in +darkness. Gerald Morgan is on board, he is also accredited to The +Tribune, and Frederick Palmer. I do not expect to be allowed to see +anything but will try to join a French army. I will leave Bessie near +London with Louise at some quiet place like Oxford or a village on the +Thames. We can "take" wireless, but not send it, so as no one is +sending and as we don't care to expose our position, we get no news. +We are running far North and it is bitterly cold. I think Peary will +sue us for infringing his copyrights. + +I will try to get in touch with Nora. I am worried lest she cannot get +at her money. As British subjects no other thing should upset them. +Address me American Embassy, London. I send such love to you both. +God bless you. + +DICK. + + +Richard arrived in Liverpool August 13, and made arrangements for his +wife to remain in London. Unable to obtain credentials from the +English authorities, he started for Brussels and arrived there in time +to see the entry of the German troops, which he afterward described so +graphically. Indeed this article is considered by many to be one of +the finest pieces of descriptive writing the Great War has produced. + +For several days after Brussels had come under the control of the +Germans Richard remained there and then decided to go to Paris as the +siege of the French capital at the time seemed imminent. He and his +friend Gerald Morgan, who was acting as the correspondent of the London +Daily Telegraph, decided to drive to Hal and from there to continue on +foot until they had reached the English or French armies where they +knew they would be among friends. At Hal they were stopped by the +German officials and Morgan wisely returned to Brussels. However, +Richard having decided to continue on his way, was promptly seized by +the Germans and held as an English spy. For a few days he had a most +exciting series of adventures with the German military authorities and +his life was frequently in danger. It was finally due to my brother's +own strategy and the prompt action of our Ambassador to Belgium, Brand +Whitlock, that he was returned to Brussels and received his official +release. + +On August 27, Richard left Brussels for Paris on a train carrying +English prisoners and German wounded, and en route saw much of the +burning and destruction of Louvain. + + + +BRUSSELS, August 17, 1914. + +DEAREST: + +Write me soon and often! All is well here so long as I know you are +all right, so do not fail to tell me all, and keep me in touch. If _I_ +do not write much it is because letters do not get through always, and +are read. But you know I love you, and you know twice each day I pray +for you and wish for you all the time. I feel as though I had been +gone a month. Gerald Morgan and I got in last night; this is a +splendid new hotel; for $2.50 I get a room and bath like yours on the +"royal suite," only bigger. This morning the minister did everything +he could for us. There are about twenty Americans who want +credentials. They say they will take no Americans, but to our minister +they said they would make exception in favor of three, so I guess the +three will be John McCutcheon, Palmer and myself. John and I, if +anyone gets a pass, are sure. With the passes we had, Gerald and I +started out in a yellow motor, covered with flags of the Allies, and +saw a great deal. How I wished you were with me, you would so have +loved it. The country is absolutely beautiful. We were stopped every +quarter mile to show our passes and we got a working idea of how it +will be. Tonight I dined with Mr. Whitlock, the minister, and John +McCutcheon came in and Irving Cobb. John and I will get together and +go out. All you need is a motor car and you can go pretty much +everywhere, EXCEPT near where there is fighting. So what I am to do to +earn my wages I don't know. I am now going to bed and I send my +darlin' all love. Today I sent you a wire. If it got to you let me +know. Take such good care of yourself. Remember me to Louise, and, +WRITE ME. All love, DEAR, DEAR one. My wife and my sweetheart. + +Your husband, + +RICHARD. + + +The following is the last letter that got through. + + + +BRUSSELS, August 21, 1914. + +DEAREST ONE: + +I cannot say much, as I doubt if this will be opened by you. The +German army came in and there was no fighting and I am very well. I am +only distressed at not being able to get letters from you, and not +being able to send them. I will write a long one, and hold it until I +am sure of some way by which it can reach you. + +YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD SAY. + + + +Mrs. Davis had waited in London to meet Richard on his return from the +war, but a misunderstanding as to the date of his return, coupled with +her strong sense of duty to his interests at home, gave occasion for +the letter which follows: + + +LONDON, August 31, 1914. + +DEAREST ONE: + +Not since the Herald Square days have I had such a blow as when I drove +up to 10 Clarges, and found you gone! IT WAS NOBODY'S FAULT! YOU WERE +SO RIGHT to go; and I COULD NOT COME. I am so distressed lest it was +my cable saying I could not get back that decided you to go before the +fifth. But Ashford says it was not. He tells me the cable came at +THREE in the morning and that you had arranged to be called at +six-thirty in order to leave for Scotland. So, for sending that cable +I need not blame myself too much. I sent you so many messages I do not +know which got through. But I think it must have been one saying I +could not return in time to see you before the fifth. THEN, no trains +were running. The very NEXT DAY the Germans started a troop train, and +I took it. The reason I could not come by automobile was because I had +a falling out with the "mad dogs" and they would not give me a pass. +So Evans, with whom I was to motor to Holland, got through Friday +afternoon and sent the cable. As soon as I reached Holland, I cabled I +was coming and kept on telegraphing every step of the journey, which +lasted three days. + +I telegraphed last from Folkestone; even telling you what to have for +my supper. As you directed, Ashford opened the cables, and when I +drove up, he was at the door in tears. He had made a light in your +rooms and, of course, as I looked up I thought you still were in them. +When they told me I was a day late, I cried, too. It was the bitterest +disappointment I ever knew. I had taken the very first train out of +Brussels, the one with the wounded, and for three days had been having +one hell of a time. But I kept thinking of seeing you, and hearing +your dear voice. So the trip did not matter. I was only thinking of +SEEING YOU, and thanking God I was shut of the dirty Germans. We had +nothing to eat, and we slept on the floor of the train, the Germans +kept us locked in, and, all through even Holland, we were under arrest. +But nothing mattered, because I was so happy at thought of meeting you. +As I said neither of us was at fault. You just HAD to go, and I could +NOT COME. But, you can feel how I felt to learn you were at sea. + +I was so glad I could use your old rooms. I went to the table where +you used to write and was so glad I could at least be as near to you as +that. No other place in London could have held me that night. Not +Buckingham Palace. I found little things you had left. I loved even +the funny pictures on the wall because we had talked of them together. +It was ROTTEN, ROTTEN luck. But only the Germans and their hellish war +were to blame. I drove straight to the cable office, and tried to +wireless you, knowing you would feel glad to know I was well, and safe +and sound. But the cable people could not send my message. You were +then out of reach of wireless, on the Irish coast. And for nine days +there was no way to tell you I had come back as fast as trains and +boats and the dirty Germans would let me. Oh, my dear, dear one, HOW I +LOVE you. If only I could have seen you for just five minutes. As it +was, I thought for five days more we would be together. What I shall +do now, I don't know. I must go back with either the French or the +English until my contract expires, and then, I can join you. Tomorrow +I am trying to see Asquith and Churchill to get with the army. And I +will at once return across the channel. But, do not worry! I will +never again let a German come within ONE MILE of me! After this, +between me and the Germans, there will be some hundreds of thousands of +English or French. So after this reaches you I will soon be on my way +HOME. Don't worry. Get James back and Amelia and everyone else who +can make you comfortable, and trust in the good Lord. I have your +cross and St. Rita around my neck, and in spite of what the Kaiser +says, God is looking after other people than Germans. Certainly he has +taken good care of me. And he will guard you, and our "blessed" one. +And in a little time, dear, DEAR heart, I will be back, and I will +become a grocer. God love you and keep you, as he does. And you will +never know HOW I LOVE YOU! Good night, dearest, sweetheart and wife! +I am writing this at your table, and, thanking God you are going to the +farm, and to peace and happiness. I SEND YOU ALL THE LOVE IN ALL THE +WORLD. + +RICHARD. + + +LONDON, September 3rd. + +MY DEAREST ONE: + +It was a full moon again tonight and I think you were on deck and saw +it, because by now, you have passed the four days at sea and should be +in the St. Lawrence. So I knew you saw the moon, too, and I sent you a +kiss, via it. It was just over St. James Palace but also it was just +over you. + +Today has been a day of worries. Wheeler cabled that the papers wanted +me to be "neutral" and not write against the Germans. As I am not +interested in the German vote, or in advertising of German breweries +(such a hard word to SAY) I thought, considering the EXCLUSIVE stories +I had sent them, instead of kicking, they ought to be sending me a few +bouquets. Especially, as I got cables from Gouvey, Whigham, Scribner's +and others congratulating me on the anti-German stories. So I cabled +Wheeler to tell papers of his syndicate, dictation from them as to what +I should write was "unexpected," that they could go to name-of-place +censored and that if he wished I would release him from his contract +tonight. Considering that without credentials I was with French, +Belgian and German armies and saw entry of Germans into Brussels and +sacking of Louvain and got arrested as a spy, they were a bit +ungrateful. I am now wondering WHAT I would have seen HAD I HAD +credentials. + +I saw Anthony Hope at the club last night. He had to go back to the +country, so I dined alone on English oysters. Fancy anyone being +NEUTRAL in this war! Germany dropping bombs in Paris and Antwerp on +women and churches and scattering mines in the channel where they blow +up fishermen and burning the cathedrals! A man who now would be +neutral would be a coward. Good night, NEAR, DEAR, DEAR one. It has +been several weeks since I had sleep, so if I rave and wander in my +letters forgive me. You know how I am thinking of you. God bless you. +God keep you for me. + +Your husband who loves you SO! + + +LONDON, September 7th. + +DEAREST: + +I just got your cable saying you were at the farm, and well! HOW HAPPY +IT MADE ME! I cabled you to Quebec, and to Mt. Kisco, and when two +days passed and I heard nothing, today I was scared, so I cabled Gouvey +to look after you, and also to Wheeler. I went to the Brompton Oratory +today, which is the second most important church here (the cardinal +lives at Westminster) and burned the BIGGEST CANDLE they had for you +and the "blessing." A big woman all in black was kneeling in the +little chapel and when I could not get the candle to stand up, she +beckoned to one of the priests, and he ran and fixed it. Then she went +on praying. And WHO do you think she was? Queen Amelie of Portugal, +you see her pictures in the Tattler and Sphere opening bazaars. So she +must be very good or she would not be saying her prayers all alone with +the poor people and seeing that my Bessie's candle was burning. I have +been waiting here hoping to get some sort of credentials from +Kitchener. But though Winston Churchill has urged him, and tomorrow is +going to urge him again, they give me no hope. So I'll just go over +"on my own" and I bet I'll see more than anyone else. I have fine +papers, anyhow. I am now writing Scribner article, so THAT is off my +mind. And now that you are home, I have no "worries." I wish I had got +your cable earlier. I would have had oysters and champagne in BATH +TUBS. Give my love to all the flowers, and to Shea and Paedrig, and +Tom, and Louise, and Gouvey and the lake. And take SUCH good care of +yourself, and love me, and be happy for I do so love you dear one. I +DO SO LOVE YOU. + +YOUR HUSBAND. + + +September 15th. + +DEAREST: + +Tonight I got your cable in answer to mine asking if you were well. +All things considered twenty-four hours was not so long for them to get +the answer to me. You BET I will be careful. I don't want to get +nearer to a German than twenty miles. At the battlefield I collected +five German spiked helmets but at the Paris gate they took ALL of them +from me. I WAS mad! I wanted to keep them in my "gym," and pound them +with Indian clubs. I wrote all day yesterday, so today I did not work. +There is nothing more here to do. And as soon as my contract is up +October 1st, I will make towards YOU! Seeing the big battle was great +luck. So far I have seen more than anyone. I have had no credentials; +and yet have been with ALL the armies. Now I am just beating time, +until I can get home. The fighting is too far away even if I could go +to it. But I can't without being arrested. And I am fed up on being +arrested. Today all the little children came out of doors. They have +been locked up for fear of airships. It was fine to see them playing +in the Champs Elysees and making forts out of pebbles, and rolling +hoops. + +God loves you, dear one, and I trust in Him. But I am awful sick for a +sight of you. What a lot we will have to tell each other. One thing I +never have to tell you, but it makes me happy when I can. It is this: +I LOVE YOU! And every minute I think of you. + +With all my love. + +Your + +RICHARD. + + + +PARIS, September 15th, 1914. + +DEAR CHAS.: + +I got this morning your letter of August 25th. In it you say kind +things about my account of the Germans entering Brussels. Nothing so +much pleases me as to get praise from you or to know my work pleases +you. Since the Germans were pushed in every one here is breathing +again. But for me it was bad as now the armies are too far to reach by +taxicab, and if you are caught anywhere outside the city you are +arrested and as a punishment sent to Tours. Eight correspondents, +among them two Times men and John Reed and Bobby Dunn, were sent to +Tours Sunday. I had another piece of luck that day with Gerald Morgan. +I taxicabed out to Soissons and saw a wonderful battle. So, now I can +go home in peace. Had I been forced to return without seeing any +fighting I never would have lived it down. I am in my old rooms of +years ago. I got the whole imperial suite for eight francs a day. It +used to be 49 francs a day. Of course, Paris that closes tight at nine +is hardly Paris, but the beauty of the city never so much impressed me. +There is no fool running about to take your mind off the gardens and +buildings. What MOST makes me know I am in Paris, though, are the +packages of segars lying on the dressing table. Give my love to Dai, +and tell her I hope soon to see you. The war correspondent is dead. +My only chance was to get with the English who will take one American +and asked Bryan to choose, he passed it to the Press Association and +they chose Palmer. But I don't believe the official correspondents +will be allowed to see much. I saw the Germans enter Brussels, the +burning of Louvain and the Battle of Soissons and had a very serious +run in with the Germans and nearly got shot. But now if you go out, +every man is after you, and even the gendarmes try to arrest you. It +is sickening. For never, of course, was there such a chance to +describe things that everyone wants to read about. Again my love to +Dai and you. I will see you soon. + +RICHARD. + + +In October Richard returned to the United States and settled down to +complete his first book on the war. During this period and indeed +until the hour of his death my brother devoted the greater part of his +time to the cause of the Allies. He had always believed that the +United States should have entered the war when the Germans first +outraged Belgium, and to this effect he wrote many letters to the +newspapers. In addition to this he was most active in various of the +charities devoted to the causes of the Allies, wrote a number of +appeals, and contributed money out of all proportion to his means. The +following appeal he wrote for the Secours National: + +"You are invited to help women, children and old people in Paris and in +France, wherever the war has brought desolation and distress. To +France you owe a debt. It is not alone the debt you incurred when your +great grandfathers fought for liberty, and to help them, France sent +soldiers, ships and two great generals, Rochambeau and La Fayette. You +owe France for that, but since then you have incurred other debts. + +"Though you may never have visited France, her art, literature, her +discoveries in Science, her sense of what is beautiful, whether in a +bonnet, a boulevard or a triumphal arch, have visited you. For them +you are the happier; and for them also, to France you are in debt. + +"If you have visited Paris, then your debt is increased a hundred fold. +For to whatever part of France you journeyed, there you found courtesy, +kindness, your visit became a holiday, you departed with a sense of +renunciation; you were determined to return. And when after the war, +you do revisit France, if your debt is unpaid, can you without +embarrassment sink into debt still deeper? What you sought Paris gave +you freely. Was it to study art or to learn history, for the history +of France is the history of the world; was it to dine under the trees +or to rob the Rue de la Paix of a new model; was it for weeks to motor +on the white roads or at a cafe table watch the world pass? Whatever +you sought, you found. Now, as in 1776 we fought, to-day France fights +for freedom, and in behalf of all the world, against militarism that is +'made in Germany.' + +"Her men are in the trenches; her women are working in the fields, +sweeping the Paris boulevards, lighting the street lamps. They are +undaunted, independent, magnificently capable. They ask no charity. +But from those districts the war has wrecked, there are hundreds of +thousands of women and little children without work, shelter or food. +To them throughout the war zone the Secours National gives instant +relief. In one day in Paris alone it provides 80,000 free meals. Six +cents pays for one of these meals. One dollar from you will for a week +keep a woman or child alive. + +"The story is that one man said, 'In this war the women and children +suffer most. I'm awfully sorry for them!' and the other man said, 'Yes +I'm five dollars sorry. How sorry are you?' + +"If ever you intend paying that debt you owe to France do not wait +until the war is ended. Now, while you still owe it, do not again +impose yourself upon her hospitality, her courtesy, her friendship. + +"But, pay the debt now. + +"And then, when next in Paris you sit at your favorite table and your +favorite waiter hands you the menu, will you not the more enjoy your +dinner if you know that while he was fighting on the Aisne, it was your +privilege to help a little in keeping his wife and child alive." + +The winter of 1914-15 Richard and his wife spent in New York, and on +January 4, 1915, their baby, Hope, was born. No event in my brother's +life had ever brought him such infinite happiness, and during the short +fifteen months that remained to him she was seldom, if ever, from his +thoughts, and no father ever planned more carefully for a child's +future than Richard did for his little daughter. + +On April 11 my brother and his wife took Hope to Crossroads for the +first time. In his diary of this time he writes, "Only home in the +world is the one I own. Everything belongs. It is so comfortable and +the lake and the streams in the woods where you can get your feet wet. +The thrill of thinking a stump is a trespasser! You can't do that on +ten acres." + +A cause in which Richard was enormously interested at this time was +that of the preparedness of his own country, and for it he worked +unremittingly. In August, 1915, he went to Plattsburg, where he took a +month of military training. + + +PLATTSBTTRG, N. Y. + +August, 1915. + +DEAR OLD MAN: + +This is a very real thing, and STRENUOUS. I know now why God invented +Sunday. The first two days were mighty hard, and I had to work extra +to catch up. I don't know a darned thing, and after watching soldiers +for years, find that I have picked up nothing that they have to learn. +The only things I have learned don't count here, as they might under +marching conditions. My riding I find is quite good, and so is my +rifle shooting. As you could always beat me at that you can see the +conditions are not high. But being used to the army saddle helps me a +lot. I have a steeple chaser on one side and a M. F. H. on the other, +and they can't keep in the saddle, and hate it with bitter oaths. The +camp commander told me that was a curious development; that the best +gentlemen jockeys and polo players on account of the saddle, were sore, +in every sense. Yesterday I rose at 5-30, assembled for breakfast at +six, took down tent to ventilate it, when a cloud meanly appeared, and +I had to put it up again. Then in heavy marching order we drilled two +hours as skirmishers, running and hurling ourselves at the earth, like +falling on the ball, and I always seemed to fall where the cinder path +crossed the parade ground. We got back in time to clean ourselves for +dinner at noon. And then practised firing at targets. At two we were +drilled as cavalry in extended order. We galloped to a point, advanced +on foot, were driven back by an imaginary enemy, and remounted. We +galloped as a squadron, and the sight was really remarkable when you +think the men had been together only four days. But the horses had +been doing it for years. All I had to do to mine was to keep on. He +knew what was wanted as well as did the Captain. After that we put on +our packs and paraded at retreat to the band. Then had supper and +listened to a lecture. I ache in every bone, muscle, and joint. But +the riding has not bothered me. It is only hurling the damned rifle at +myself. At nine I am sound asleep. It certainly is a great +experience, and, all the men are helping each other and the spirit is +splendid. The most curious meetings come off and all kinds of men are +at it from college kids to several who are great grand fathers. +Russell Colt turned up and was very funny over his experiences. He +said he saluted everybody and one man he thought was a general and +stood at attention to salute was a Pullman car conductor. The food is +all you want, and very good. I've had nothing to drink, but +sarsaparilla, but with the thirst we get it is the best drink I know. +I have asked to have no letters forwarded and if I don't write I hope +you will understand as during the day there is not a minute you are +your own boss and at night I am too stiff and sleepy to write. + +All love to you. + +DICK. + + + +DEAREST: + +It is now seven-thirty, and I have had twelve busy hours. They made me +pass an examination as though for Sing Sing, then a man gave me a gun +that at first weighed eight pounds and then twenty. He made me do all +sorts of things with it, such as sentries used to do to me. Then I was +given the gun to keep, and packs, beds, blankets, and I made myself at +home in a tent; then I was moved to another tent with five other men. +Then I got a horse and they galloped us up and down a field for two +hours. I lost ten pounds. Then we were marched around to a band. I +had a sergeant on either side of me, so I did not go wrong, OFTEN. +Then, aching in every bone and with my head filled with orders and +commands, I got into the lake and escaped. You can believe I enjoyed +that bath. It certainly is a fine thing, and I am glad I enrolled (for +every one has been as nice as could be), but I miss you and Hope +terribly. It seems years since I saw you. I am going to my cot quick. +It is now eight o'clock, and I feel like I had been beaten in a stone +crusher. Kiss Hope's foot for me. + +Your loving husband, + +DICK. + + +Monday. + +DEAREST ONE: + +I got such a beautiful letter from you! With pictures of Hope +playing with the Bunny. It is the best picture yet. I carry it next +to my heart because you made it, because it is of her. And she sits up +now? Well, I will miss the big clothes-basket. I loved to see her in +it. Years ago, when I left home, she was trying to crawl out of it. +What you tell me of her--knowing what you mean when you say "Kitty" and +"Bunny"--is wonderful. How good it will be! You must come close under +my arm, and tell me every little thing. I feel so much better now that +we have broken into the last week, and are on the home stretch. We +have broken the backbone of the long absence, and, the first thing you +know, I'll be telephoning to have you meet me at White Plains. + +This is me sewing up a hole in my breeches. The socks are drying on +the line, my rubber bath is on the right. I am now going to Canada. +But I'll be back in half an hour; it's only 200 yards distant. All the +folks here are French, and the signs are in French. Last place we +halted I bought lumberman's socks to wear at night. I sleep very well, +for I buy my raincoat full of hay from the nearest farmer, and sleep on +that. Today we had another "battle." It began at 7.30 and ended at +one o'clock. We were kept going all that time, taking "cover" behind +railroad embankments and stone walls and in plowed fields, finally +ending with a bayonet charge. I killed so many I stopped counting. + +Don't let Hope forget her father. Better put on a wrist-watch and my +horn spectacles, and hold her the wrong way, so she will be reminded of +her Dad. + +Good-night, my dearest one. You will never know how terribly I miss +you and love you, and want you in my arms, and you holding Hope so that +I can have all my happiness in one big armful of all that is good. + +YOUR LOVING HUSBAND. + + + +Wednesday. + +DEAREST ONE: + +The Vitagraph people came today. They have a great film to stir people +to preparedness called "The Battle Cry of Peace." It shows New York +destroyed by Germans. They took pictures of several of the +better-known men showing "them" preparing. I was taken cleaning my +rifle, and, as the captain was passing, I asked him to get in the +picture with me and be shown instructing me. He was delighted, but +right in the middle of the picture he "inspected" my barrel. I had not +cleaned it, and he forgot the camera, and gave me the devil. You can +imagine how the crowd roared, and the camera director man was +delighted. I wanted it retaken showing the captain patting me on the +back. + +Roosevelt turned up today, and was very nice. Martin Egan came with +him and the British Naval Attache, and they have asked me to dine at a +real table at Hotel Champlain with two other men. It will be fine to +eat off china. The "hike" begins Friday, and we sleep each night on +the ground, but the country we march through is beautiful. All that +counts is getting the days behind me and getting you in my arms. Doing +one's "bit" for one's country is right, but as the man said, "God knows +I love my country and want to fight for her, but I hope to God I never +love another country." Good-night, dear, dear one! How wonderful it +will be to see and hear you again. Kiss Hope for her Dad. + +RICHARD. + + +Saturday. + +DEAREST: + +This is writing with all the love, but with difficulties. I am sitting +on a log and the light is a candle. Today we had our first fight. It +happened the squad of eight men I am in was sent in advance, and I was +100 yards in front, so I was the first to come in touch with the scouts +of the Red Army, and I killed a lot. My squad was so brave that we all +got killed THREE TIMES. But as soon as the umpire rode away we would +come to life, and go on fighting. Finally, he took us prisoners, and +made us sit down and look on at the battle. As we had been running +around and each carrying a forty-pound pack, we were glad to remain +dead. But we have declared that nothing can kill us tomorrow but +asphyxiating gas. I have terrible nightmares for fear something has +happened to one of you, and then I trust in the good Lord, and pray him +to make the time pass swiftly. + +Good-night, and all the love and kisses for you both. + +RICHARD. + + +On October 19, 1915, Richard sailed on the Chicago for France and his +second visit to the Great War. He arrived at Paris on October 30, and +shortly afterward visited the Western front at Amiens and Artois. He +also interviewed Poincare, and through him the French President sent a +message to the American people. At this time my brother had received +permission from the authorities to visit all of the twelve sectors of +the French front under particularly advantageous conditions, and was +naturally most anxious to do so. However, through a misunderstanding +between the syndicate he represented and certain of the newspapers +using its service, he found it advisable, even although against his own +judgment, to go to Greece, and to postpone his visit to the sectors of +the French front he had not already seen. On November 13 he left Paris +bound for Salonica. + + +On Way to France, Oct. 18, 1915. + +DEAREST ONE: + +You are much more brave than I am. Anyway, you are much better +behaved. For all the time you were talking I was crying, not with my +eyes only, but with ALL of me. I am so sad. I love you so, and I will +miss you so. I want you to keep saying to yourself all the time, "This +is the most serious effort he ever made, because the chances of seeing +anything are so SMALL, and because never had he such a chance to HELP. +But, all the time, every minute he thinks of me. He wants me. He +misses my voice, my eyes, my presence at his side when he walks or +sleeps. He never loved me so greatly, or at leaving me was so unhappy +as he is now." + +Goodby, dear heart. My God-given one! Would it not be wonderful, if +tonight when I am up among the boats on the top deck that girl in the +Pierrot suit, and in her arms Hope, came, and I took them and held them +both? You will walk with her at five, and I will walk and think of you +and love you and long for you. + +God keep you, dearest of wives, and mothers. + +RICHARD. + + +October 24. + +MY DEAR DAUGHTER: + +So many weeks have passed since I saw you that by now you are able to +read this without your mother looking over your shoulder and helping +you with the big words. I have six sets of pictures of you. Every day +I take them down and change them. Those your dear mother put in glass +frames I do not change. Also, I have all the sweet fruits and +chocolates and red bananas. How good of you to think of just the +things your father likes. Some of them I gave to a little boy and +girl. I play with them because soon my daughter will be as big. They +have no mother like you, OF COURSE; they have no mother like YOURS--for +except my mother there never was a mother like yours; so loving, so +tender, so unselfish and thoughtful. If she is reading this, kiss her +for me. These little children have a little father. He dresses them +and bathes them himself. He is afraid of the cold; and sits in the +sun; and coughs and shivers. His children and I play hide-and-seek, +and, as you will know some day, for that game there is no such place as +a steamer, with boats and ventilators and masts and alleyways. Some +day we will play that game hiding behind the rocks and trees and rose +bushes. Every day I watch the sun set, and know that you and your +pretty mother are watching it, too. And all day I think of you both. + +Be very good. Do not bump yourself. Do not eat matches. Do not play +with scissors or cats. Do not forget your dad. Sleep when your mother +wishes it. Love us both. Try to know how we love you. THAT you will +never learn. Good-night and God keep you, and bless you. + +YOUR DAD. + + +PARIS, November 1. + +DEAREST ONE: + +Today is "moving" day, and I feel like ---- censored word, at the +thought of your having the moving to direct and manage by yourself. I +can picture Barney and Burke loading, and unloading, and coal and wood +being stored, and provisions and ice, and finally Hope brought down to +take her third--no--fourth motor ride. And God will see she makes it +all safely, and that in her new house you are comfortable. + +Last night I dreamed about Hope and you, a long dream, and it made me +so happy. Something happened today that you will like to hear. When +the war came the French students at the Beaux Arts had to go to fight. +The wives and children had nothing to live on. So, the American +students, about a dozen of them, organized a relief league. The Beaux +Arts is in a most wonderful palace built by Cardinal Richelieu and +decorated later by Napoleon. In this they were gathering socks, +asphyxiating masks, warm clothes. They were hand painting postcards +for fifty cents apiece. The "masters" as they call their teachers, +also were painting them. I gave them some money which was received +politely, but, as it would not go far, without much enthusiasm. As I +was going, I said, "I'll be back tomorrow to get some facts and I'll +write a story about what you're doing." This is the part that is +embarrassing to write, but you will understand. They gave a cheer and +a yell just as though I had said, "Peace is declared" or "I will give +you Carnegie's fortune." And they danced around, and shook hands, and +Whitney Warren, who is at the head of it, all but cried. Later, he +told me the letter I had written for his wife's fund for orphans by the +war had brought in $5000, that was why they were so pleased. So we, +you and I, will try to look at it that way, and try to believe that +from this separation, which is cruel for us, others may get some +benefit. Tomorrow, I am to be received at the Elysee by the President, +and I am going to try to make him say something that will draw money +from America for the French hospitals. If he will only ask, I know our +people will give. In a day or two, I think I will be allowed to see +something, but, that you will know best by reading The Times. + +Your loving husband is lonely for you, and so it will be always. + +RICHARD. + + +November 17th. + +DEAR SWEETHEART: + +My last letter was such a complaining one that I am ashamed. But, not +leaving me to decide what was best for the papers, made me mad. Since +I wrote, I ought to be madder, for I have been to the trenches outside +of Rheims in Champagne; and, had they not deviled the spirit out of me +with cables, I believe I could have written such a lot of stories of +France that no one else has had the opportunity to write. Believe me +no one has yet told the story of the trench war. Anyway, in spite of +all the photographs and articles, to me it was all new. I was allowed +to go alone, and given carte blanche to see whatever I wished. I saw +everything, but it would not be possible to write of it yet. It was +wonderful. I was in the three lines, reaching the FIRST line by +moonlight. No one spoke above a whisper. The Germans were only 300 to +400 yards distant. But worst of all were the rats. They ran over my +feet and I was a darned sight more afraid of them than the Germans. I +saw the Cathedral, and the only hotel open (from which I sent you and +Hope a postal) was the same one in which we stopped a year ago. I had +sent the hotel my book in which I said complimentary things, and I got +a great welcome. They even gave me a room with a fire in it, and so I +was warm for the first time since I left the Crossroads. And this +morning it SNOWED. On my way back to Paris, I stopped to tell the +General what I had seen and to thank him. He said, "Oh, that is +nothing. When you return, I will take you out myself, and I will show +you something worth while." I am going to carry a rat-trap, and two +terriers on a leash. Tonight, when I got back, there was a letter from +you, but no writing, but there was a photo of Her, and me holding her. +How is it possible that any living thing is so beautiful as my child? +How fat, and wonderful, and dear, and lovable, and how terribly I want +to hold her as I am holding her in the picture, and how much better as +I really don't need my left arm to hold such a mite), if I had you +close to me in it. I miss you so, and love you so! I told Wheeler +before I left as I was not going to waste time traveling I would not go +to Servia. So, as soon as I arrived, I was fretted with cables to go. +I cabled to stop giving me advice, that I had a much better chance in +France than anyone could have anywhere else. Maybe, before I arrive, +the Greeks will have joined the Germans, in which case, I WON'T LEAVE +THE SHIP. I'll come straight back on her to the Allies. + +RICHARD. + + +November 20th. + +This is the way Hope's cat looks, "My whiskers!" she says, "I never +knew I was to be let in for anything like this!" When I told her about +the big rats in the trenches she wanted to go with me next time, but, +today when I told her that the Crown Prince of Servia made his servants +eat live mice (he is no longer Crown Prince), she looked just as she +does in the picture. "Then, what do _I_ eat in Servia?" she said, and +I told her both of us would live on goat's milk. + +You will be glad when I tell you I have been, warm. We came pretty far +south in two days, and, the damp chill of Paris is gone. On the train +a funny thing happened. An English officer and I got talking and he +was press censor at Salonica where I am going after Athens. I asked +him to look over the many letters I had and tell me if any of them +would be likely to get me in bad, being addressed to pro-Germans, for +example. He said, "Well, THIS chap is all right anyway. I'll vouch +for him, because this letter is addressed to me." + + SEE THE CAT! + HOPE GAVE THE CAT TO HER DAD. + IS THE CAT SAD? + YES + IS THE DAD SAD? + VERY!! + WHY IS THE CAT AND THE DAD SAD? + THEY WANT HOME AND HOPE. + DO THEY LOVE HOPE? + DON'T MAKE THEM LAUGH! + + +We leave, the Basses, the English officer and I, in a small tub of a +boat for Patras, and train to Athens. I will try to go at once to +Servia. Harjes, who are the Paris house of J. P. Morgan, gave me a +"mission" to try and organize for the Servians the same form of relief +as has been arranged for the Belgians. He gave me permission if I saw +the need for help was imminent (and it will be) to cable him for +whatever I thought the Serbs most needed. So, it is a chance to do +much. To get out news will be impossible. However, here I am and +tomorrow I'll be good and seasick. + +I have your charm around my neck, and all the pictures, and the +luck-bringing cat, and the scapular, and the love you give me to keep +me well and bring us soon together. That is the one thing I want. God +bless you both, Hope's dad and your husband. + + + +ATHENS, + +November 26th. + +DEAR HEART: + +I am off tonight for Salonica. I am not very cheerful for I miss you +very, very terribly, and the further I go, the worse I feel. But now I +am nearly as far as I can get, and when you receive this I will--thank +God--be turned back to Paris, and London, and HOME! I thought so often +of you this morning when I took a holiday and climbed the Acropolis. +On the top of it I picked a dandelion for you. It was growing between +the blocks of marble that have been there since 400 years before our +Lord: before St. Paul preached to the Athenians. I was all alone on +the rock, and could see over the AEgean Sea, Corinth, Mount Olympus, +where the Gods used to sit, and the Sphinx lay in wait for travelers +with her famous riddle. It takes two days and one night to go to +Salonica, and the boats are so awful no one undresses but sleeps in his +clothes on top of the bed. + +Goodby, sweetheart, and give SUCH a kiss to my precious daughter. How +beautiful she is. Even the waiter who brought me a card stopped to +exclaim about her picture. So, of course, being not at all proud I +showed him her in my arms. I want you both so and I love you both SO. +And, I wanted you so this morning as I always do when there is a +beautiful landscape, or flowers, or palms. I know how you love them. +The dandelion is very modest and I hope the censor won't lose it out, +for she has a long way to go and carries a burden of love. I wish I +was bringing them in the door of the Scribner cottage at this very +minute. + +RICHARD. + + +VOLO, November 27. + +I got here today, after the darnedest voyage of two days in a small +steamer. We ran through a snow storm and there was no way to warm the +boat. So, I DIED. You know how cold affects me--well--this was the +coldest cold I ever died of. I poured alcohol in me, and it was like +drinking iced tea. Now, I am on shore in a cafe near a stove. We +continue on to Salonica at midnight. There are 24 men and one woman, +Mrs. Bass, on board. I am much too homesick to write more than to say +I love you, and I miss you and Hope so, that I don't look at the +photos. Did you get the cable I sent Thanksgiving--from Athens, it +read: "Am giving thanks for Hope and you." I hope the censor let that +get by him. The boat I was on was a refrigerator ship; it was also +peculiar in that the captain dealt baccarat all day with the +passengers. It was a sort of floating gambling house. This is +certainly a strange land. Snow and roses and oranges, all at once. I +must stop. I'm froze. Give the kiss I want to give to Her, and know, +oh! how I love and love and love her mother--NEVER SO MUCH AS NOW. + + +SALONICA November 30th, 1915. + +DEAR OLD MAN: + +I got here to night and found it the most picturesque spot I ever +visited. I am glad I came. It was impossible to get a room but I +found John McCutcheon and two other men occupying a grand suite and +they have had a cot put in for me. To-morrow I hope to get a room. +The place is filled with every nation except Germans and even they are +here out of uniforms. We had a strange time coming. The trip from +Athens should have taken two nights and a day but we took four. The +Captain of the boat anchored and played baccarat whenever he thought +there were enough passengers not seasick to make it worth his while. +He played from eleven in the morning until four in the morning. I +don't know now who ran the ship. It is so cold when you bathe, the +steam runs off you. I never have suffered so. But, it looked as +though every one else was singing "Its going to be a hard, hard winter" +from the way they, dress. Tomorrow I am going to buy fur pants. You +can't believe what a picture it is. Servians, French, Greeks, Scots in +kilts, London motor cars, Turks, wounded and bandaged Tommies and +millions of them fighting for food, for drink, for a place at the +"movies," and more "rumors" than there are words in the directory. +To-morrow, I present my letters and hope to get to the "front." I only +hope the front doesn't come to us. But, it ought to be a place for +great stories. All love to you old man, and bless you both. How I +look forward to our first lunch in your wonderful home! And to sit in +front of your fire, and hear all the news. All love to you both. + +RICHARD. + + +December 6, 1915. + +DEAREST ONE: + +I have been away so could not write. They took us to the French and +English "front" and away from Greece; we were in Bulgaria and Servia. +It was at a place where the three boundaries met. We saw remarkable +mountain ranges and deep snow, and some fine artillery. But throwing +shells into that bleak, white jumble of snow and rocks--there was fifty +miles of it--was like throwing a baseball at the Rocky Mountains. +Still, it was seeing something. Now, I have a room, and a very +wonderful one. I had to bribe everyone in the hotel to get it; and I +have something to write and, no more moving about I hope, for at least +a week. I am able to see the ships at anchor for miles, and the +landing stage for all the warships is just under my window. As near as +McCoy Rock from the terrace. It is like a moving picture all the time. +I bought myself an oil stove and a can of Standard oil, and, instead of +trying to warm the hotel with my body, I let George do it. But it is a +very small stove, and to really get the good of it, I have to sit with +it between my legs. Still, it is such a relief to be alone, and not to +pack all the time. McCutcheon and Bass, Hare and Shepherd are fine, +but I felt like the devil, imposing on them, and working four in a room +is no joke. We dine together each night. Except them, I see no one, +but have been writing. Also, I have been collecting facts about +Servian relief. Harjes, Morgan's representative in Paris, gave me +carte blanche to call on him for money or supplies; but I waited until +today to cable, so as to be sure where help was most needed. It is +still cold, but that AWFUL cold spell was quite unprecedented and is +not likely to come again. I NEVER suffered so from cold, and, as you +know, I suffer considerable. All the English officers who had hunted +in cold places, said neither had they ever felt such cold. Seven +hundred Tommies were frost bitten and toes and fingers fell off. I do +not say anything about how awful it is not to hear. But, if I had had +your letters forwarded to this dump of the Levant, I never would have +got them. Now, I have to wait for them until I get to Paris, but there +I will surely get them. Cables, of course, can reach me, but no cables +mean to me that you are all right. Nor do I want to "talk" about +Christmas. + +You know how I feel about that, and about missing the first one SHE has +had. But it will be the LAST one we will know apart. Never again! + +I want you in my arms and to hear you laugh and see your eyes. I am in +need of you to make a fuss over me. McCutcheon and Co. don't care +whether I have cold hands or not. You do. Your ointment and gloves +saved my fingers from falling off like the soldiers' did. And your +"housewife" I use to put on buttons, and, your scapular and medal keep +me well. But your love is what really lifts me up and consoles me. +When I think how you and I care for each other, then, I am scared, for +it is very beautiful. And we must not ever be away from each other +again. God keep you my beloved, and both my blessings. I cannot bear +it--when I think of all I am missing of her, and, all that she is +doing. God guard you both. My darling and dear wife and mother of +Hope. + +Your husband, + +RICHARD. + + +SALONICA, December 18th. + +DEAREST WIFE AND SWEETHEART: + +I am very blue tonight, and NEVER was so homesick. Yesterday just to +feel I was in touch with you I sent a cable through the fog, it said, +"Well, homesick, all love to you both." I did not ask if you and Hope +were well, because I KNOW the good Lord will not let any harm come to +you. I am certainly caught by the heels this time. And it will be the +last time. As you know, I meant only to go to France where no time +would be wasted in travel, and I would be able to get back soon. But +the blockade held up the ship and on the other one the captain stayed +at anchor, and, then when I got here, the Allies retreated, and I had +to stay on to cover what is to come next. What that is, or whether +nothing happens, you will know by the time this reaches you. So, here +I am. For TEN days until this morning we have never seen the sun. In +sixty years nothing like it has happened. The Salonicans said the +English transports brought the fog with them. Anyway, I got it. My +room is right on the harbor. I never thought I would LOVE an oil +stove. I always thought they were ill-smelling, air-destroying. But +this one saved my life. I wrote with it between my knees, I dry my +laundry on it, and use the tin pan on top of it to take the dampness +out of the bed. The fog kept everything like a sponge. Coal is thirty +dollars a ton. To get wood for firewood the boatmen row miles out, and +wait below the transports to get the boxes they throw overboard. I go +around asking EVERYBODY if this place is not now a dead duck for news. +But they all give me no encouragement. They say it is the news center +of the world. I hope it chokes. I try to comfort myself by thinking +you are happy, because you have Hope, and I have nobody, except John +McCutcheon and Bass and Jimmie Hare, and they are as blue as I am, and +no one can get any money. I cabled today to Wheeler for some via the +State Department. I went to the Servian camp for the little orphans +whose fathers have been killed, and they all knelt and kissed my hands. +It was awful. I thought of Hope, and hugged a few and carried them +around in my arms and felt much better. Today for the first time, I +quit work and went to see an American film at the cinema to cheer me. +But when I saw the streetcars, and "ready to wear" clothes, and the +policemen I got suicidal. I went back and told the others and they all +rushed off to see "home" things, and are there now. This is a yell of +a letter, but it's the only kind I can write. My stories and cables +are rotten, too. I have seen nothing--just traveled and waited for +something to happen. Goodnight, dearest one. I love you so. You will +never know how much I love you. Kiss my darling for me, and, think +only of the good days when we will be together again. Such good days. +Goodnight again--all love. + +RICHARD. + + +HARBOR SALONICA, December 19th. + +I am a happy man tonight! And that is the first time I have been able +to say so since I left you. The backbone of the trip is broken! and my +face is turned West--toward you and Hope. John McCutcheon gave me a +farewell dinner tonight of which I got one half, as the police made me +go on board at nine, although we do not sail until five in the morning. +So there was time for only one toast, as I was making for the door. +Was it to your husband? It was not. It was to Hope Davis, two weeks +yet of being one year old, and being toasted by the war correspondents +in Salonica. They knew it would please me. And I went away very +choken and happy. SUCH a boat as this is! I have a sofa in the +dining-room, and at present it is jammed with refugees and all smoking +and not an air port open. What a relief it will be to once more get +among clean people. We must help the Servians, and God knows they need +help. But, if they would help each other, or themselves, I would like +them better. I am now on deck under the cargo light and, on the top +floor of the Olympus Hotel, can see John's dinner growing gayer and +gayer. It is like the man who went on a honeymoon alone. I am so +happy tonight. You seem so near now that I am coming West. + +How terribly I have missed you, and wanted you, and longed for your +voice and LAUGH, and to have you open the door of my writing room, and +say, "A lady is coming to call on you," and then enter the dearest wife +and dearest baby in the world! + +God bless you, and all my love. + +RICHARD. + + +ROME, + +Christmas Eve, 1915. + +MY DEAREST, DEAREST, DEAREST: + +I planned to get to Paris late Christmas night. I cabled Frazier at the +Embassy, to have all my letters at the Hotel de l'Empire. I MEANT to +spend the night reading of you and Hope. I made a record trip from +Salonica. By leaving the second steamer at Messina and taking an +eighteen-hour trip across Italy I saved ten hours. But when I got here +I found the French Consul had taken a holiday, AND WAS OUT BUYING +CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! So, I could not get permission to enter France. +With some Red Cross Americans, I raged around the French Consulate, but +it was no use. So I am here, and cannot leave UNTIL MIDNIGHT +CHRISTMAS. When I found I could not get away, I told Cook's to give me +their rapid-fire guide, and I set out to SEE ROME. The Manager of +Cook's was the same man who, 19 years ago, sold me tickets to the Greek +war in Florence, when the American Consulate was in the same building +with Cook's, and Charley was Consul. So he gave me a great guide. We +began at ten this morning and we stopped at six. They say it takes +five years to see Rome, but when I let the rapid-fire guide escape, he +said he had to compliment me; we climbed more stairways and hills than +there are in all New York and Westchester County; and there is just one +idea in my mind, and that is that you and I must see this sacred place +together. On all this trip I have wanted YOU, but NEVER so as today. +And I particularly inquired about the milk. It is said to be +excellent. So we will come here, and you, with all your love of what +is fine and beautiful, will be very happy, and Hope will learn Italian, +and to know what is best in art, and statues and churches. I have seen +2900 churches, and all of them built by Michael Angelo and decorated by +Raphael; and it was so wonderful I cried. I bought candles and +prayers, and I am afraid Christian Science had a dull day. Tomorrow we +start at nine, and go to high mass at St. Peter's, and then into the +country to the catacombs, where the early Christians hid from the +Romans. It is not what you would call an English Christmas, but it is +so beautiful and wonderful that you BOTH ARE VERY NEAR. + +I sent you a cable, the second one, because it is not sure they are +forwarded, and I hung up a stocking for Hope. One of the peasant women +made in Salonica. I am bringing it with me. And the cat is on my +window--still looking out on the Romans. The green leaf I got in the +forum, where Mark Antony made his speech over Caesar's body. It is the +plant that gave Pericles the idea of the Corinthian column. You +remember. It was growing under a tile some one had laid over it--and +the yellow flower was on my table at dinner, so I send it, that we may +know on Christmas Eve we dined together. + +Good-night, now, and God bless you. I am off to bed now, in a bed with +sheets. The first in six days. How I LOVE you, and LOVE you. Such +good wishes I send you, and such love to you both. May the good Lord +bless you as he has blessed me--with the best of women, with the best +of daughters. I am a proud husband and a proud father; and soon I will +be a HAPPY husband and a HAPPY father. + +Good-night, dear heart. + +RICHARD. + + +PARIS, December 28th, 1915. + +DEAR OLD MAN: + +Hurrah for the Dictator! He has been a great good friend to me. I +will know to-day about whether I can go back to the French front. If +not I will try the Belgians and then London, and home. I spent +Christmas day in Rome in the catacombs. I could not wear my heart upon +my sleeve for duchesses to peck at. It is just as you say, Dad and +Mother made the day so dear and beautiful. I did not know how glad I +would be to be back here for while the trip East led to no news value, +to me personally it was interesting. But I am terribly tired after the +last nine days, sleeping on sofas, decks, a different deck each night +and writing all the time and such poor stuff. But, oh! when I saw +Paris I knew how glad I was! WHAT a beautiful place, what a kind +courteous people. We will all be here some day. Tell Dai she must be +my interpreter. All love to her, and you, and good luck to the +syndicate. YOUR syndicate. I have not heard from mine for six weeks. +They have not sent me a single clipping of anything, so I don't know +whether anything got through or not, and I have nothing to show these +people here that might encourage them to send me out again. They +certainly have made it hard hoeing. Tell Guvey his letter about the +toys was a great success here, and copied into several papers. + +Goodbye, and God bless you, and good luck to you. + +DICK. + + +PARIS, December 31st, 1915. + +DEAR OLD MAN: + +To wish you and Dai a Happy New Year. It will mean a lot to us when we +can get together, and take it together, good and bad. I am awfully +pleased over the novel coming out by the Harper's and, in landing so +much for me out of The Dictator. You have started the New Year for me +splendidly. I expect I will be back around the first of February. I +am now trying to "get back," but, I need more time. I can only put the +trip down to the wrong side of the ledger. Personally, I got a lot out +of it, but I am not sent over here to improve my knowledge of Europe, +but to furnish news and stories and that has not happened. + +I am constantly running against folks who knew you in Florence, and I +regret to say most of them are in business at the Chatham bar. What a +story they make; the M----'s and the like, who know Paris only from the +cocktail side. One of our attaches told me to-day he had been lunching +for the last 18 months at the grill room of the Chatham, where the +"mixed grill" was as good as in New York. He had no knowledge of any +other place to eat. The Hotel de l'Empire is a terrible tragedy. They +are so poor, that I believe it is my eight francs a day keeps them +going; nothing else is in sight. But, it is the exception. Never did +a people take a war as the French take this worst of all wars. They +really are the most splendid of people. I only wish I could have had +one of them for a grandfather or grandmother. Bessie writes that Hope +is growing wonderfully and beautifully, and I am sick for a sight of +her, and for you. Good night and God bless you and the happiest of New +Years to you both. + +Your loving brother, + +DICK. + + +These postcards are "originals" painted by students of the Beaux-Arts +to keep alive, and to keep those students in the trenches. They are +for Dai. + + +PARIS, December 31, 1915. + +DEAREST ONE: + +The old year, the dear, old year that brought us Hope, is very near the +end. I am not going to watch him go. I have drunk to the New Year and +to my wife and daughter, and before there is "a new step on the floor, +and a new face at the door," I will be asleep. Of all my many years, +the old year, that is so soon to pass away, has been the best, for it +has brought you to me with a closer tie, has added to the love I have +for every breath you breathe, for your laugh and your smile, and deep +concern, that comes if you think your worthless husband is worried, or +cross, or dismayed. Each year I love you more; for I know you more, +and to know more of the lovely soul you are, is to love more. Just now +we are in a hard place. I am sure you cannot comprehend how her +father, her "Dad" and your husband can keep away. Neither do I +understand. + +But, for both your sakes, I want, before I own up that this adventure +has been a failure, to try and pull something out of the wreck. If the +government says I CAN, then I still may be able to do something. If it +says, "NO," then it's Home, boys, Home, and that's where I want to be. +It's home, boys, home, in the old countree. 'Neath the ash, and the +oak, and the spreading maple tree, it's home, boys, home, to mine own +countree! This is Hope and you. So know, that in getting to you I +have not thrown away a minute. I have been a slave-driver, to others +as well as to myself. But you cannot get favors with a whip; and, the +French war office has other matters to occupy it, that it considers of +more importance than an impatient war correspondent. So long as you +understand, it will not matter. Nothing hurts, except that you may not +understand. The moment I see you, and you see me, you will understand. +So, goodnight, and God bless you, you, my two blessings. Here is to +our own year of 1915, your year and Hope's year, and, because I have +you both, my year. I send you all the love in all the world. + +RICHARD. + + +January 5, 1916. + +MY DEAREST ONE: + +WHAT PICTURES! WHAT HAPPINESS! What a proud Richard! On top of my +writing yesterday that I had had no sketches of yours, and no kodaks of +Hope, eight came to-night, and oh! I am so proud, so homesick. What a +wonderful nurse and mother you are! Was ever there anything so +lovable? And that she should be ours, to hold and to love, and to make +happy. These last eight days in Paris, in and out, have made me so +homesick for those I love, that you will never know what the delays +meant. I felt just the way poor women feel who kidnap babies. In the +parks I know the nurse-maids are afraid of me. I stick my head under +the hoods of the baby carriages, and stop and stand watching them at +play. And tonight when all these beautiful pictures came, I was the +happiest father anywhere. + +The delay was no one's fault, not mine anyway, nor can I blame anyone. +These people are splendid. They are willing to do anything for one, +but it takes time. When they are fighting for their lives and have not +seen their own babies in a year, that you want to see yours is only +natural and to oblige you they can't see why they should upset the +whole war. But now it looks less as though I would have to call it a +failure. And Hope may be proud of me, and you may be proud of me, and +I will have enough ammunition to draw on for many articles and letters, +and another book. + +It has been a cruel time; and when I tell you how I worked to get it +over, and to be back with you, you will understand many things. The +most important of all will be how I love you. Only wait until I can +lay eyes on you, you will just take one look and know that it couldn't +be helped, that the delay was the work of others, that, all I wanted +was my Bessie and my Hope. + +How heavy she will be, if she is anything like the picture of her on +the coverlet, she is a prize baby. And if she is anything like as +beautiful as in the baby carriage she is an angel straight from God. I +want to sit in the green chair and have you on one knee and her majesty +on the other, and have her climb over me, and pull my hair and bang my +nose, and in time to know how I love you both. + +Goodnight, dear heart, I wish you had had yourself in the picture. I +have three in the summer time with you holding her and that is the way +I like to see you, that is the way I think of you. I love you, and I +love her for making you so happy, and I love her for her sake, and +because she is OURS: and has tied us tighter and closer even than it +has ever been. I love you so that I can't write about it, and I am +going to do nothing all spring but just sit around, and be in +everybody's way, watching you together. + +How jealous I am of you, and homesick for you. Of course, she knows +"mamma" is YOU; and to look at you when they ask, "Where's mother?" +Who else could be her mother BUT THE DEAREST WOMAN IN THE WORLD, and +the one who loves her so, and in so wonderful a way. She is beautiful +beyond all things human I know. If ever a woman deserved a beautiful +daughter, YOU DO, for you are the best of mothers, and you know how "to +care greatly." + +Good-night, my precious, dear one, and God keep you, as He will, and +help me to keep you both happy. What you give me you never will know. + +RICHARD. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE LAST DAYS + +After a short visit to London, Richard returned to New York in +February, 1916. During his absence his wife and Hope had occupied the +Scribner cottage at Mount Kisco, about two miles from Crossroads. Here +my brother finished his second book on the war, and wrote numerous +articles and letters urging the immediate necessity for preparedness in +this country. As to Richard's usefulness to his country at this time, +I quote in part from two appreciations written after my brother's death +by the two most prominent exponents of preparedness. + +Theodore Roosevelt said: + +"He was as good an American as ever lived, and his heart flamed against +cruelty and injustice. His writings form a text-book of Americanism +which all our people would do well to read at the present time." + +Major-General Leonard Wood said: + +"The death of Richard Harding Davis was a real loss to the movement for +preparedness. Mr. Davis had an extensive experience as a military +observer, and thoroughly appreciated the need of a general training +system like that of Australia or Switzerland and of thorough +organization of our industrial resources in, order to establish a +condition of reasonable preparedness in this country. A few days +before his death he came to Governors Island for the purpose of +ascertaining in what line of work he could be most useful in building +up sound public opinion in favor of such preparedness as would give us +a real peace insurance. His mind was bent on devoting his energies and +abilities to the work of public education on this vitally important +subject, and few men were better qualified to do so, for he had served +as a military observer in many campaigns. + +"Throughout the Cuban campaign he was attached to the headquarters of +my regiment in Cuba as a military observer. He was with the advanced +party at the opening of the fight at Las Guasiinas, and was +distinguished throughout the fight by coolness and good conduct. He +also participated in the battle of San Juan and the siege of Santiago, +and as an observer was always where duty called him. He was a +delightful companion, cheerful, resourceful, and thoughtful of the +interests and wishes of others. His reports of the game were valuable +and among the best and most accurate. + +"The Plattsburg movement took a very strong hold of him. He saw in +this a great instrument for building up a sound knowledge concerning +our military history and policy, also a very practical way of training +men for the duties of junior officers. He realized fully that we +should need in case of war tens of thousands of officers with our newly +raised troops, and that it would be utterly impossible to prepare them +in the hurry and confusion of the onrush of modern war. His heart was +filled with a desire to serve his country to the best of his ability. +His recent experience in Europe pointed out to him the absolute madness +of longer disregarding the need of doing those things which reasonable +preparedness dictates, the things which cannot be accomplished after +trouble is upon us. He had in mind at the time of his death a series +of articles to be written especially to build up interest in universal +military training through conveying to our people an understanding of +what organization as it exists to-day means, and how vitally important +it is for our people to do in time of peace those things which modern +war does not permit done once it is under way. + +"Davis was a loyal friend, a thoroughgoing American devoted to the best +interests of his country, courageous, sympathetic, and true. His loss +has been a very real one to all of us who knew and appreciated him, and +in his death the cause of preparedness has lost an able worker and the +country a devoted and loyal citizen." + +Although suffering from his strenuous experiences in France, and more +particularly from those in Greece, Richard continued to accomplish his +usual enormous amount of work, and during these weeks wrote his last +short story, "The Deserter." + +The following letter was written to me while I was in the Bahamas and +was in reference to a novel which I had dedicated to Hope: + + +MOUNT KISCO--February 28, 1916. + +DEAR OLD MAN: + +No word yet of the book, except the advts. I enclose. I will send you +the notices as soon as they begin to appear. I am so happy over the +dedication, and, very proud. So, Hope will be when she knows. As I +have not read the novel it all will come as a splendid and pleasant +surprise. I am looking forward to sitting down to it with all the +pleasure in the world. + +You chose the right moment to elope. Never was weather so cold, cruel +and bitter. Hope is the only one who goes out of doors. + +I start the fires in the Big House tomorrow and the plumbers and paper +hangers, painters enter the day after. + +The attack on Verdun makes me sick. I was there six weeks ago in one +of the forts but of course could not then nor can I now write of it. I +don't believe the drive ever can get through. For two reasons, and the +unmilitary one is that I believe in a just God. Give my love to Dai, +and for you always + +DICK. + +P. S. I am happy you are both so happy, but those post cards with the +palms were cruelty to animals. + + +On the 21st of March, 1916, Richard and his wife and daughter moved +from the Scribner cottage to Crossroads, and a few days later he was +attacked by the illness that ended in his death on April 11. He had +dined with his wife and afterward had worked on an article on +preparedness, written some letters and telegrams concerning the same +subject and, while repeating one of the latter over the telephone, was +stricken. Within a week of his fifty-third year, just one year from +the day he had first brought his baby daughter to her real home, doing +the best and finest work of his career in the cause of the Allies and +preparedness, quite unconscious that the end was near, he left us. In +those fifty-two years he had crowded the work, the pleasures, the kind, +chivalrous deeds of many men, and he died just as I am sure he would +have wished to die, working into the night for a great cause, and +although ill and tired, still fretful for the morning that he might +again take up the fight. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adventures and Letters, by Richard Harding Davis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURES AND LETTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 405.txt or 405.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/405/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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NEW YORK +V. FIRST TRAVEL ARTICLES +VI. THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARIS +VII. FIRST PLAYS +VIII. CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA +IX. MOSCOW, BUDAPEST, LONDON +X. CAMPAIGNING IN CUBA, AND GREECE +XI. THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR +XII. THE BOER WAR +XIII. THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH CORONATIONS +XIV. THE JAPANESE-RUSSIAN WAR +XV. MOUNT KISCO +XVI. THE CONGO +XVII. A LONDON WINTER +XVIII. MILITARY MANOEUVRES +XIX. VERA CRUZ AND THE GREAT WAR +XX. THE LAST DAYS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE EARLY DAYS + +Richard Harding Davis was born in Philadelphia on April +18, 1864, but, so far as memory serves me, his life and mine +began together several years later in the three-story brick +house on South Twenty-first Street, to which we had just +moved. For more than forty years this was our home in all +that the word implies, and I do not believe that there was +ever a moment when it was not the predominating influence in +Richard's life and in his work. As I learned in later years, +the house had come into the possession of my father and mother +after a period on their part of hard endeavor and unusual +sacrifice. It was their ambition to add to this home not only +the comforts and the beautiful inanimate things of life, but +to create an atmosphere which would prove a constant help to +those who lived under its roof--an inspiration to their +children that should endure so long as they lived. At the +time of my brother's death the fact was frequently commented +upon that, unlike most literary folk, he had never known what +it was to be poor and to suffer the pangs of hunger and +failure. That he never suffered from the lack of a home was +certainly as true as that in his work he knew but little of +failure, for the first stories he wrote for the magazines +brought him into a prominence and popularity that lasted until +the end. But if Richard gained his success early in life and +was blessed with a very lovely home to which he could always +return, he was not brought up in a manner which in any way could +be called lavish. Lavish he may have been in later years, but if +he was it was with the money for which those who knew him best +knew how very hard he had worked. + +In a general way, I cannot remember that our life as boys +differed in any essential from that of other boys. My brother +went to the Episcopal Academy and his weekly report never +failed to fill the whole house with an impenetrable gloom and +ever-increasing fears as to the possibilities of his future. +At school and at college Richard was, to say the least, an +indifferent student. And what made this undeniable fact so +annoying, particularly to his teachers, was that morally he +stood so very high. To "crib," to lie, or in any way to cheat +or to do any unworthy act was, I believe, quite beyond his +understanding. Therefore, while his constant lack of interest +in his studies goaded his teachers to despair, when it came to +a question of stamping out wrongdoing on the part of the +student body he was invariably found aligned on the side of +the faculty. Not that Richard in any way resembled a prig or +was even, so far as I know, ever so considered by the most +reprehensible of his fellow students. He was altogether too +red-blooded for that, and I believe the students whom he +antagonized rather admired his chivalric point of honor even +if they failed to imitate it. As a schoolboy he was +aggressive, radical, outspoken, fearless, usually of the +opposition and, indeed, often the sole member of his own +party. Among the students at the several schools he attended +he had but few intimate friends; but of the various little +groups of which he happened to be a member his aggressiveness +and his imagination usually made him the leader. As far back +as I can remember, Richard was always starting something--usually +a new club or a violent reform movement. And in school or +college, as in all the other walks of life, the reformer must, +of necessity, lead a somewhat tempestuous, if happy, +existence. The following letter, written to his father when +Richard was a student at Swarthmore, and about fifteen, will +give an idea of his conception of the ethics in the case: + + +SWARTHMORE--1880. +DEAR PAPA: + + +I am quite on the Potomac. I with all the boys at our table +were called up, there is seven of us, before Prex. for +stealing sugar-bowls and things off the table. All the youths +said, "O President, I didn't do it." When it came my turn I +merely smiled gravely, and he passed on to the last. Then he +said, "The only boy that doesn't deny it is Davis. Davis, you +are excused. I wish to talk to the rest of them." That all +goes to show he can be a gentleman if he would only try. I am +a natural born philosopher so I thought this idea is too +idiotic for me to converse about so I recommend silence and I +also argued that to deny you must necessarily be accused and +to be accused of stealing would of course cause me to bid +Prex. good-by, so the only way was, taking these two +considerations with each other, to deny nothing but let the +good-natured old duffer see how silly it was by retaining a +placid silence and so crushing his base but thoughtless +behavior and machinations. + +DICK. + + +In the early days at home--that is, when the sun shone--we +played cricket and baseball and football +in our very spacious back yard, and the programme of our +sports was always subject to Richard's change without notice. +When it rained we adjourned to the third-story front, where we +played melodrama of simple plot but many thrills, and it was +always Richard who wrote the plays, produced them, and played +the principal part. As I recall these dramas of my early +youth, the action was almost endless and, although the company +comprised two charming misses (at least I know that they +eventually grew into two very lovely women), there was no time +wasted over anything so sentimental or futile as love-scenes. +But whatever else the play contained in the way of great +scenes, there was always a mountain pass--the mountains being +composed of a chair and two tables--and Richard was forever +leading his little band over the pass while the band, wholly +indifferent as to whether the road led to honor, glory, or +total annihilation, meekly followed its leader. For some +reason, probably on account of my early admiration for Richard +and being only too willing to obey his command, I was +invariably cast for the villain in these early dramas, and the +end of the play always ended in a hand-to-hand conflict +between the hero and myself. As Richard, naturally, was the +hero and incidentally the stronger of the two, it can readily +be imagined that the fight always ended in my complete +undoing. Strangulation was the method usually employed to +finish me, and, whatever else Richard was at that tender age, +I can testify to his extraordinary ability as a choker. + +But these early days in the city were not at all the happiest +days of that period in Richard's life. He took but little +interest even in the social or the athletic side of his school +life, and his failures in his studies +troubled him sorely, only I fear, however, because it troubled +his mother and father. The great day of the year to us was +the day our schools closed and we started for our summer +vacation. When Richard was less than a year old my mother and +father, who at the time was convalescing from a long illness, +had left Philadelphia on a search for a complete rest in the +country. Their travels, which it seems were undertaken in the +spirit of a voyage of discovery and adventure, finally led +them to the old Curtis House at Point Pleasant on the New +Jersey coast. But the Point Pleasant of that time had very +little in common with the present well-known summer resort. +In those days the place was reached after a long journey by +rail followed by a three hours' drive in a rickety stagecoach +over deep sandy roads, albeit the roads did lead through +silent, sweet-smelling pine forests. Point Pleasant itself +was then a collection of half a dozen big farms which +stretched from the Manasquan River to the ocean half a mile +distant. Nothing could have been more primitive or as I +remember it in its pastoral loveliness much more beautiful. +Just beyond our cottage the river ran its silent, lazy course +to the sea. With the exception of several farmhouses, its +banks were then unsullied by human habitation of any sort, and +on either side beyond the low green banks lay fields of wheat +and corn, and dense groves of pine and oak and chestnut trees. +Between us and the ocean were more waving fields of corn, +broken by little clumps of trees, and beyond these damp +Nile-green pasture meadows, and then salty marshes that led to +the glistening, white sand-dunes, and the great silver semi- +circle of foaming breakers, and the broad, blue sea. On all +the land that lay between us and the ocean, where +the town of Point Pleasant now stands, I think there were but +four farmhouses, and these in no way interfered with the +landscape or the life of the primitive world in which we +played. + +Whatever the mental stimulus my brother derived from his home +in Philadelphia, the foundation of the physical strength that +stood him in such good stead in the campaigns of his later +years he derived from those early days at Point Pleasant. The +cottage we lived in was an old two-story frame building, to +which my father had added two small sleeping-rooms. Outside +there was a vine-covered porch and within a great stone +fireplace flanked by cupboards, from which during those happy +days I know Richard and I, openly and covertly, must have +extracted tons of hardtack and cake. The little house was +called "Vagabond's Rest," and a haven of rest and peace and +content it certainly proved for many years to the Davis +family. From here it was that my father started forth in the +early mornings on his all-day fishing excursions, while my +mother sat on the sunlit porch and wrote novels and mended the +badly rent garments of her very active sons. After a +seven-o'clock breakfast at the Curtis House our energies never +ceased until night closed in on us and from sheer exhaustion +we dropped unconscious into our patch-quilted cots. All day +long we swam or rowed, or sailed, or played ball, or camped +out, or ate enormous meals--anything so long as our activities +were ceaseless and our breathing apparatus given no rest. +About a mile up the river there was an island--it's a very +small, prettily wooded, sandy-beached little place, but it +seemed big enough in those days. Robert Louis Stevenson made +it famous by rechristening it Treasure Island, and writing the +new name and his own on a bulkhead that had been built to +shore up one of its fast disappearing sandy banks. But that +is very modern history and to us it has always been "The +Island." In our day, long before Stevenson had ever heard of +the Manasquan, Richard and I had discovered this tight little +piece of land, found great treasures there, and, hand in hand, +had slept in a six-by-six tent while the lions and tigers +growled at us from the surrounding forests. + +As I recall these days of my boyhood I find the recollections +of our life at Point Pleasant much more distinct than those we +spent in Philadelphia. For Richard these days were especially +welcome. They meant a respite from the studies which were a +constant menace to himself and his parents; and the freedom of +the open country, the ocean, the many sports on land and on +the river gave his body the constant exercise his constitution +seemed to demand, and a broad field for an imagination which +was even then very keen, certainly keen enough to make the +rest of us his followers. + +In an extremely sympathetic appreciation which Irvin S. Cobb +wrote about my brother at the time of his death, he says that +he doubts if there is such a thing as a born author. +Personally it so happened that I never grew up with any one, +except my brother, who ever became an author, certainly an +author of fiction, and so I cannot speak on the subject with +authority. But in the case of Richard, if he was not born an +author, certainly no other career was ever considered. So far +as I know he never even wanted to go to sea or to be a +bareback rider in a circus. A boy, if he loves his father, +usually wants to follow in his professional footsteps, and in +the case of Richard, he had the double inspiration of following +both in the footsteps of his father and in those of his mother. +For years before Richard's birth his father had been a newspaper +editor and a well-known writer of stories and his mother a +novelist and short-story writer of great distinction. Of those +times at Point Pleasant I fear I can remember but a few of our +elders. There were George Lambdin, Margaret Ruff, and Milne +Ramsay, all painters of some note; a strange couple, Colonel +Olcott and the afterward famous Madam Blavatsky, trying to +start a Buddhist cult in this country; Mrs. Frances Hodgson +Burnett, with her foot on the first rung of the ladder of +fame, who at the time loved much millinery finery. One day my +father took her out sailing and, much to the lady's +discomfiture and greatly to Richard's and my delight, upset +the famous authoress. At a later period the Joseph Jeffersons +used to visit us; Horace Howard Furness, one of my father's +oldest friends, built a summer home very near us on the river, +and Mrs. John Drew and her daughter Georgie Barrymore spent +their summers in a near-by hostelry. I can remember Mrs. +Barrymore at that time very well---wonderfully handsome and a +marvellously cheery manner. Richard and I both loved her +greatly, even though it were in secret. Her daughter Ethel I +remember best as she appeared on the beach, a sweet, +long-legged child in a scarlet bathing-suit running toward the +breakers and then dashing madly back to her mother's open +arms. A pretty figure of a child, but much too young for +Richard to notice at that time. In after-years the child in +the scarlet bathing-suit and he became great pals. Indeed, +during the latter half of his life, through the good days and +the bad, there were very few friends who held so close a place in +his sympathy and his affections as Ethel Barrymore. + +Until the summer of 1880 my brother continued on at the +Episcopal Academy. For some reason I was sent to a different +school, but outside of our supposed hours of learning we were +never apart. With less than two years' difference in our ages +our interests were much the same, and I fear our interests of +those days were largely limited to out-of-door sports and the +theatre. We must have been very young indeed when my father +first led us by the hand to see our first play. On Saturday +afternoons Richard and I, unattended but not wholly unalarmed, +would set forth from our home on this thrilling weekly +adventure. Having joined our father at his office, he would +invariably take us to a chop-house situated at the end of a +blind alley which lay concealed somewhere in the neighborhood +of Walnut and Third Streets, and where we ate a most wonderful +luncheon of English chops and apple pie. As the luncheon drew +to its close I remember how Richard and I used to fret and +fume while my father in a most leisurely manner used to finish +off his mug of musty ale. But at last the three of us, hand +in hand, my father between us, were walking briskly toward our +happy destination. At that time there were only a few +first-class theatres in Philadelphia--the Arch Street Theatre, +owned by Mrs. John Drew; the Chestnut Street, and the Walnut +Street--all of which had stock companies, but which on the +occasion of a visiting star acted as the supporting company. +These were the days of Booth, Jefferson, Adelaide Neilson, +Charles Fletcher, Lotta, John McCullough, John Sleeper Clark, +and the elder Sothern. And how Richard and I worshipped them +all--not only these but every small-bit actor in every stock +company in town. Indeed, so many favorites of the stage did my +brother and I admire that ordinary frames would not begin to hold +them all, and to overcome this defect we had our bedroom entirely +redecorated. The new scheme called for a gray wallpaper +supported by a maroon dado. At the top of the latter ran two +parallel black picture mouldings between which we could easily +insert cabinet photographs of the actors and actresses which +for the moment we thought most worthy of a place in our +collection. As the room was fairly large and as the mouldings +ran entirely around it, we had plenty of space for even our +very elastic love for the heroes and heroines of the footlights. + +Edwin Forrest ended his stage career just before our time, but +I know that Richard at least saw him and heard that wonderful +voice of thunder. It seems that one day, while my mother and +Richard were returning home, they got on a street-car which +already held the great tragedian. At the moment Forrest was +suffering severely from gout and had his bad leg stretched +well out before him. My brother, being very young at the time +and never very much of a respecter of persons, promptly fell +over the great man's gouty foot. Whereat (according to my +mother, who was always a most truthful narrator) Forrest broke +forth in a volcano of oaths and for blocks continued to hurl +thunderous broadsides at Richard, which my mother insisted +included the curse of Rome and every other famous tirade in +the tragedian's repertory which in any way fitted the occasion. +Nearly forty years later my father became the president of the +Edwin Forrest Home, the greatest charity ever founded by an actor +for actors, and I am sure by his efforts of years on behalf of +the institution did much to atone for Richard's early unhappy +meeting with the greatest of all the famous leather-lunged +tragedians. + +From his youth my father had always been a close student of +the classic and modern drama, and throughout his life numbered +among his friends many of the celebrated actors and actresses +of his time. In those early days Booth used to come to rather +formal luncheons, and at all such functions Richard and I ate +our luncheon in the pantry, and when the great meal was nearly +over in the dining-room we were allowed to come in in time for +the ice-cream and to sit, figuratively, at the feet of the +honored guest and generally, literally, on his or her knees. +Young as I was in those days I can readily recall one of those +lunch-parties when the contrast between Booth and Dion +Boucicault struck my youthful mind most forcibly. Booth, with +his deep-set, big black eyes, shaggy hair, and lank figure, +his wonderfully modulated voice, rolled out his theories of +acting, while the bald-headed, rotund Boucicault, his +twinkling eyes snapping like a fox-terrier's, interrupted the +sonorous speeches of the tragedian with crisp, witty +criticisms or "asides" that made the rest of the company laugh +and even brought a smile to the heavy, tragic features of +Booth himself. But there was nothing formal about our +relations with John Sleeper Clark and the Jefferson family. +They were real "home folks" and often occupied our spare room, +and when they were with us Richard and I were allowed to come +to all the meals, and, even if unsolicited, freely express our +views on the modern drama. + +In later years to our Philadelphia home came Henry Irving and +his fellow player Ellen Terry and Augustin Daly and that +wonderful quartet, Ada Rehan, Mrs. Gilbert, James Lewis, and +our own John Drew. Sir Henry I always recall by the first +picture I had of him in our dining-room, sitting far away from +the table, his long legs stretched before him, peering +curiously at Richard and myself over black-rimmed glasses and +then, with equal interest, turning back to the ash of a long +cigar and talking drama with the famous jerky, nasal voice but +always with a marvellous poise and convincing authority. He +took a great liking to Richard in those days, sent him a +church-warden's pipe that he had used as Corporal Brewster, +and made much of him later when my brother was in London. +Miss Terry was a much less formal and forbidding guest, +rushing into the house like a whirlwind and filling the place +with the sunshine and happiness that seemed to fairly exude +from her beautiful magnetic presence. Augustin Daly usually +came with at least three of the stars of his company which I +have already mentioned, but even the beautiful Rehan and the +nice old Mrs. Gilbert seemed thoroughly awed in the presence +of "the Guv'nor." He was a most crusty, dictatorial party, as +I remember him with his searching eyes and raven locks, always +dressed in black and always failing to find virtue in any +actor or actress not a member of his own company. I remember +one particularly acrid discussion between him and my father in +regard to Julia Marlowe, who was then making her first bow to +the public. Daly contended that in a few years the lady would +be absolutely unheard of and backed his opinion by betting a +dinner for those present with my father that his judgment would +prove correct. However, he was very kind to Richard and myself +and frequently allowed us to play about behind the scenes, which +was a privilege I imagine he granted to very few of his +friends' children. One night, long after this, when Richard +was a reporter in New York, he and Miss Rehan were burlesquing +a scene from a play on which the last curtain had just fallen. +It was on the stage of Daly's theatre at Thirtieth Street and +Broadway, and from his velvet box at the prompt-entrance Daly +stood gloomily watching their fooling. When they had finished +the mock scene Richard went over to Daly and said, "How bad do +you think I am as an actor, Mr. Daly?" and greatly to my +brother's delight the greatest manager of them all of those +days grumbled back at him: "You're so bad, Richard, that I'll +give you a hundred dollars a week, and you can sign the +contract whenever you're ready." Although that was much more +than my brother was making in his chosen profession at the +time, and in spite of the intense interest he had in the +theatre, he never considered the offer seriously. As a matter +of fact, Richard had many natural qualifications that fitted +him for the stage, and in after-years, when he was rehearsing +one of his own plays, he could and frequently would go up on +the stage and read almost any part better than the actor +employed to do it. Of course, he lacked the ease of gesture +and the art of timing which can only be attained after sound +experience, but his reading of lines and his knowledge of +characterization was quite unusual. In proof of this I know +of at least two managers who, when Richard wanted to sell them +plays, refused to have him read them the manuscript on the +ground that his reading gave the dialogue a value it did not +really possess. + +In the spring of 1880 Richard left the Episcopal Academy, and +the following September went to Swarthmore College, situated +just outside of Philadelphia. I fear, however, the change was +anything but a success. The life of the big coeducational +school did not appeal to him at all and, in spite of two or +three friendships he made among the girls and boys, he +depended for amusement almost wholly on his own resources. In +the afternoons and on holidays he took long walks over the +country roads and in search of adventure visited many +farmhouses. His excuse for these calls was that he was +looking for old furniture and china, and he frequently +remained long enough to make sketches of such objects as he +pretended had struck his artistic fancy. Of these adventures +he wrote at great length to his mother and father, and the +letters were usually profusely decorated with illustrations of +the most striking incidents of the various escapades. Several +of these Swarthmore experiences he used afterward in short +stories, and both the letters and sketches he sent to his +parents at the time he regarded in the light of preparation +for his future work. In his studies he was perhaps less +successful than he had been at the Episcopal Academy, and +although he played football and took part in the track sports +he was really but little interested in either. There were +half-holidays on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and when my brother +did not come to town I went to Swarthmore and we spent the +afternoons in first cooking our lunch in a hospitable woods +and then playing some games in the open that Richard had +devised. But as I recall these outings they were not very +joyous occasions, as Richard was extremely unhappy over his +failures at school and greatly depressed about the prospects for +the future. + +He finished the college year at Swarthmore, but so unhappy had +he been there that there was no thought in his mind or in that +of his parents of his returning. At that time my uncle, H. +Wilson Harding, was a professor at Lehigh University, and it +was arranged that Richard should go to Bethlehem the following +fall, live with his uncle, and continue his studies at +Ulrich's Preparatory School, which made a specialty of +preparing boys for Lehigh. My uncle lived in a charming old +house on Market Street in Bethlehem, quite near the Moravian +settlement and across the river from the university and the +iron mills. He was a bachelor, but of a most gregarious and +hospitable disposition, and Richard therefore found himself +largely his own master, in a big, roomy house which was almost +constantly filled with the most charming and cultivated +people. There my uncle and Richard, practically of about the +same age so far as their viewpoint of life was concerned, kept +open house, and if it had not been for the occasional qualms +his innate hatred of mathematics caused him, I think my +brother would have been completely happy. Even studies no +longer worried him particularly and he at once started in to +make friendships, many of which lasted throughout his life. +As is usual with young men of seventeen, most of these men and +women friends were several times Richard's age, but at the +period Richard was a particularly precocious and amusing youth +and a difference of a few decades made but little +difference--certainly not to Richard. Finley Peter Dunne once +wrote of my brother that he "probably knew more waiters, +generals, actors, and princes than any man +who lived," and I think it was during the first year of his +life at Bethlehem that he began the foundation for the +remarkable collection of friends, both as to numbers and +variety, of which he died possessed. Although a "prep," he +made many friends among the undergraduates of Lehigh. He made +friends with the friends of his uncle and many friends in both +of the Bethlehems of which his uncle had probably never heard. +Even at that early age he counted among his intimates William +W. Thurston, who was president of the Bethlehem Iron Company, +and J. Davis Brodhead, one of Pennsylvania's most conspicuous +Democratic congressmen and attorneys. Those who knew him at +that time can easily understand why Richard attracted men and +women so much older than himself. He was brimming over with +physical health and animal spirits and took the keenest +interest in every one he met and in everything that was going +on about him. And in the broadest sense he saw to it then, as +he did throughout his life, that he always did his share. + +During those early days at Bethlehem his letters to his family +were full of his social activities, with occasional references +to his work at school. He was always going to dinners or +dances, entertaining members of visiting theatrical companies; +and on Friday night my mother usually received a telegram, +saying that he would arrive the next day with a party of +friends whom he had inadvertently asked to lunch and a +matinee. It was after one of these weekly visits that my +mother wrote Richard the following: + + +Monday Night. +MY DARLING Boy: + + +You went off in such a hurry that it took my breath at the +last. You say coming down helps you. It +certainly does me. It brings a real sunshine to Papa and me. +He was saying that to-day. I gave Nolly a sort of holiday +after her miseries last night. We went down street and got +Papa a present for our wedding day, a picture, after all, and +then I took Miss Baker some tickets for a concert. I saw her +father who said he "must speak about my noble looking boy." I +always thought him a genius but now I think him a man of +penetration as well. Then Nolly and I went over to see the +Russians. But they are closely boxed up and not allowed +to-day to see visitors. So we came home cross and hungry. +All evening I have been writing business letters. + +Papa has gone to a reception and Charley is hard at work at +his desk. + +I answered Mr. Allen's letter this morning, dear, and told him +you would talk to him. When you do, dear, talk freely to him +as to me. You will not perhaps agree with all he says. But +your own thoughts will be healthier for bringing them--as I +might say, out of doors. You saw how it was by coming down +here. Love of Christ is not a melancholy nor a morbid thing, +dear love, but ought to make one more social and cheerful and +alive. + +I wish you could come home oftener. Try and get ahead with +lessons so that you can come oftener. And when you feel as if +prayer was a burden, stop praying and go out and try to put +your Christianity into real action by doing some +kindness--even speaking in a friendly way to somebody. Bring +yourself into contact with new people--not John, Hugh, Uncle +and Grandma, and try to act to them as Christ would have you +act, and my word for it, you will go home with a new light on +your own relations to Him and a new meaning for your prayers. +You remember the prayer "give me a great thought to refresh me." +I think you will find some great thoughts in human beings--they +will help you to understand yourself and God, when you try to +help them God makes you happy my darling. + +MAMA. + + +It was in this year that Richard enjoyed the thrill of seeing +in print his first contribution to a periodical. The date of +this important event, important, at least, to my brother, was +February 1, the fortunate publication was Judge, and the +effusion was entitled "The Hat and Its Inmate." Its purport +was an overheard conversation between two young ladies at a +matinee and the editors thought so well of it that for the +privilege of printing the article they gave Richard a year's +subscription to Judge. His scrap-book of that time shows +that in 1884 Life published a short burlesque on George W. +Cable's novel, "Dr. Sevier," and in the same year The +Evening Post paid him $1.05 for an article about "The New +Year at Lehigh." It was also in the spring of 1884 that +Richard published his first book, "The Adventures of My +Freshman," a neat little paper-covered volume including half a +dozen of the short stories that had already appeared in The +Lehigh Burr. In writing in a copy of this book in later +years, Richard said: "This is a copy of the first book of +mine published. My family paid to have it printed and finding +no one else was buying it, bought up the entire edition. +Finding the first edition had gone so quickly, I urged them to +finance a second one, and when they were unenthusiastic I was +hurt. Several years later when I found the entire edition in +our attic, I understood their reluctance. The reason the book +did not sell is, I think, because some one must have read it." + +In the summer of 1882 Richard went to Boston, and in the +following letter unhesitatingly expressed his opinion of that +city and its people. + + +BOSTON, Wednesday. + +July 1882. +DEAR FAMILY:-- + + +I left Newport last night or rather this morning. I stopped +at Beverly and called on Dr. Holmes. He talked a great deal +about mama and about a great many other things equally lovely +in a very easy, charming way. All I had to do was to listen +and I was only too willing to do that. We got along splendidly. +He asked me to stay to dinner but I refused with +thanks, as I had only come to pay my respects and put off to +Dr. Bartol's. Dr. Holmes accompanied me to the depot and saw +me safely off. Of all the lovely men I ever saw Dr. Bartol is +the one. He lives in a great, many roomed with as many +gables, house. Elizabethan, of course, with immense +fireplaces, brass and dark woods, etchings and engravings, +with the sea and rocks immediately under the window and the +ocean stretching out for miles, lighthouses and more Elizabethan +houses half hid on the bank, and ships and small boats +pushing by within a hundred rods of the windows. I stayed to +dinner there and we had a very jolly time. There were two +other young men and another maiden besides Miss Bartol. They +talked principally about the stage; that is, the Boston Stock +Company, which is their sole thought and knowledge of the +drama. The Dr. would strike off now and then to +philosophizing and moralizing but his daughter +would immediately sit upon him, much to my disgust but to the +evident relief of the rest. His wife is as lovely as he is +but I can't give it to you all now. Wait until I get home. + +The young lady, the youths and myself came up to Boston +together and had as pleasant a ride, as the heat would allow. +I left them at the depot and went up to the Parker House and +then to the Art Museum. The statuary is plaster, the coins +are copies, and by the way, I found one exactly like mine, +which, if it is genuine is worth, "well considerable", as the +personage in charge remarked. The pictures were simply vile, +only two or three that I recognized and principally Millet and +some charcoal sketches of Hunt's, who is the Apostle of Art +here. The china was very fine but they had a collection of +old furniture and armor which was better than anything else. +Fresh from or rather musty from these antiques, who should I +meet but the cheerful Dixey and Powers. We had a very jolly +talk and I enjoyed it immensely, not only myself but all the +surrounding populace, as Dixey would persist in showing the +youthful some new "gag," and would break into a clog or +dialect much to the delectation of the admiring Bostonians. I +am stranded here for to night and will push on to Newport +to-morrow. I'll go see the "babes" to night, as there is +nothing else in the city that is worth seeing that I haven't +investigated. I left the Newburyportians in grief with +regret. I met lots of nice people and every one was so very +kind to me, from the authoresses to the serving maids. +Good-bye. + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER II + +COLLEGE DAYS + + +In the fall of 1882 Richard entered Lehigh, but the first year +of his college life varied very little from the one he had +spent in the preparatory school. During that year he had met +most of the upper classmen, and the only difference was that +he could now take an active instead of a friendly interest in +the life and the sports of the college. Also he had formed +certain theories which he promptly proceeded to put into +practical effect. Perhaps the most conspicuous of these was +his belief that cane-rushes and hazing were wholly unnecessary +and barbarous customs, and should have no place in the college +of his day. Against the former he spoke at college meetings, +and wrote long letters to the local papers decrying the +custom. His stand against hazing was equally vehement, and he +worked hand in hand with the faculty to eradicate it entirely +from the college life. That his stand was purely for a +principle and not from any fear of personal injury, I think +the following letter to his father will show: + + +BETHLEHEM, February 1882. +DEAR DAD: + +You may remember a conversation we had at Squan about hazing +in which you said it was a very black-guardly thing and a +cowardly thing. I didn't agree with you, but when I saw how +it really was and how silly and undignified it was, besides +being brutal, I thought it over and changed my mind completely, +agreeing with you in every respect. A large number of our class +have been hazed, taking it as a good joke, and have been laughed +at by the whole college. I talked to the boys about it, and said +what I would do and so on, without much effect. Wednesday a +junior came to me, and told me I was to be hazed as I left the +Opera House Friday night. After that a great many came to me +and advised and warned me as to what I should do. I decided +to get about fifty of our class outside and then fight it out; +that was before I changed my mind. As soon as I did I +regretted it very much, but, as it turned out, the class +didn't come, so I was alone, as I wished to be. You see, I'd +not a very good place here; the fellows looked on me as a sort +of special object of ridicule, on account of the hat and cane, +walk, and so on, though I thought I'd got over that by this +time. The Opera House was partly filled with college men, a +large number of sophomores and a few upper class men. It was +pretty generally known I was going to have a row, and that +brought them as much as the show. Poor Ruff was in agony all +day. He supposed I'd get into the fight, and he knew he'd get +in, too, sooner or later. If he did he'd be held and not be +able to do anything, and then the next day be blamed by the +whole college for interfering in a class matter. He hadn't +any money to get into the show, and so wandered around outside +in the rain in a great deal more excited state than I was. +Howe went all over town after putting on his old clothes, in +case of personal damage, in search of freshmen who were at +home out of the wet. As I left the building a man grabbed me +by my arm, and the rest, with the seniors gathered around; the +only freshman present, who was half scared to death, clung as +near to me as possible. I withdrew my arm and faced them. "If +this means hazing," I said, "I'm not with you. There's not +enough men here to haze me, but there's enough to thrash me, and +I'd rather be thrashed than hazed." You see, I wanted them to +understand exactly how I looked at it, and they wouldn't think +I was simply hotheaded and stubborn. I was very cool about it +all. They broke in with all sorts of explanations; hazing was +the last thing they had thought of. No, indeed, Davis, old +fellow, you're mistaken. I told them if that was so, all +right, I was going home. I saw several of my friends in the +crowd waiting for me, but as I didn't want them to interfere, +I said nothing, and they did not recognize me. When among the +crowd of sophomores, the poor freshman made a last effort, he +pulled me by the coat and begged me to come with him. I said +no, I was going home. When I reached the next corner I +stopped. "I gave you fair warning, keep off. I tell you I'll +strike the first man, the first one, that touches me." Then +the four who had been appointed to seize me jumped on me, and +I only got one good blow in before they had me down in the +gutter and were beating me on the face and head. I put my +hands across my face, and so did not get any hard blows +directly in the face. They slipped back in a moment, and when +I was ready I scrambled up pretty wet and muddy, and with my +face stinging where they had struck. It had all been done so +quickly, and there was such a large crowd coming from the +theatre, that, of course, no one saw it. When I got up there +was a circle all around me. They hadn't intended to go so +far. The men, except those four who had beaten me, were +rather ashamed and wished they were out of it. I turned to +Emmerich, a postgraduate, and told him to give me room. "Now," I +said, "you're not able to haze me, and I can't thrash twelve of +you, but I'll fight any one man you bring out." I asked for the +man that struck me, and named another, but there was no response. + +The upper classmen, who had just arrived, called out that was +fair, and they'd see it fair. Goodnough, Purnell and Douglas, +who don't like me much, either. Ruff was beside me by this time. + +He hadn't seen anything of it, and did not get there until he +heard me calling for a fair chance and challenging the class +for a man. I called out again, the second time, and still no +one came, so I took occasion to let them know why I had done +as I did in a short speech to the crowd. I said I was a +peaceable fellow, thought hazing silly, and as I never +intended to haze myself, I didn't intend any one to haze me. +Then I said again, "This is the third time, will one of your +men fight this fair? I can't fight twelve of you." Just then +two officers who had called on some mill-hands, who are always +dying for a fight, and a citizen to help them, burst into the +crowd of students, shouldering them around like sheep until +they got to me, when one of them put his arm around me, and +said, "I don't know anything about this crowd, but I'll see +you're protected, sir. I'll give 'em fair play." One officer +got hold of Ruff and pretty near shook him to pieces until I +had to interfere and explain. They were for forming a +body-guard, and were loud in their denunciations of the +college, and declaring they'd see me through if I was a +stranger to 'em. + +Two or three of the sophomores, when they saw how things were +going, set up a yell, but Griffin struck out +and sent one of them flying one way and his hat another, so +the yells ended. Howe and Murray Stuart took me up to their +rooms, and Ruff went off for beefsteak for my eye, and treated +the crowd who had come to the rescue, at Dixon's, to beer. +The next day was Saturday, and as there was to be a meeting of +the Athletic Association, of course, I wanted to show up. The +fellows all looked at my eye pretty hard and said nothing. I +felt pretty sure that the sympathy was all with me. + +Four men are elected from the college to be on the athletic +committee. They can be nominated by any one, though generally +it is done by a man in their own class. We had agreed the day +before to vote for Tolman for our class, so when the president +announced nominations were in order for the freshmen class, +Tolman was instantly nominated. At the same time one of the +leading sophomores jumped up and nominated Mr. Davis, and a +number of men from the same class seconded it. I knew every +one in the college knew of what had happened, and especially +the sophomores, so I was, of course, very much surprised. I +looked unconscious, though, and waited. One of the seniors +asked that the nominees should stand up, as they didn't know +their names only their faces. As each man rose he was hissed +and groaned down again. When I stood up the sophomores burst +into a yell and clapped and stamped, yelling, "Davis! Davis! +vote for D!" until I sat down. As I had already decided to +nominate Tolman, I withdrew my name from the nominees, a +movement which was received by loud cries of "No! No!" from +the sophs. So, you see, Dad, I did as you said, as I thought +was right, and came out well indeed. You see, I am now the +hero of the hour, every one in town knows it, and every one +congratulates me, and, "Well done, me boy," as Morrow '83 said, +seems to be the idea, one gets taken care of in this world if you +do what's the right thing, if it is only a street fight. In +fact, as one of the seniors said, I've made five friends where +I had one before. The sophs are ashamed and sorry, as their +conduct in chapel, which was more marked, than I made it, +shows. I've nothing to show for it but a red mark under the +eye, and so it is the best thing that could possibly have +happened. Poor Ruff hugged me all the way home, and I've +started out well in a good way, I think, though not a very +logical one. + +Uncle says to tell you that my conduct has his approval throughout. + +DICK. + +To which letter my father promptly replied: + +PHILADELPHIA. February 25th, 1882. +DEAR OLD BOY: + +I'm glad the affair ended so well. I don't want you to fight, +but if you have to fight a cuss like that do it with all your +might, and don't insist that either party shall too strictly +observe the Markis O' Queensbury rules. Hit first and hardest +so that thine adversary shall beware of you. + +DAD. + + +At that time the secret societies played a very important part +in the college life at Lehigh, and while I do not believe that +Richard shared the theory of some of the students that they +were a serious menace to the social fabric, he was quite firm +in his belief that it was inadvisable to be a member of any +fraternity. In a general way he did not like the idea of secrecy +even in its mildest form, and then, as throughout his life, he +refused to join any body that would in any way limit his complete +independence of word or action. In connection with this phase +of his college life I quote from an appreciation which M. A. +De W. Howe, one of Richard's best friends both at college and +in after-life, wrote for The Lehigh Burr at the time of my +brother's death: + +"To the credit of the perceptive faculty of undergraduates, it +ought to be said that the classmates and contemporaries of +Richard Harding Davis knew perfectly well, while he and they +were young together, that in him Lehigh had a son so marked in +his individuality, so endowed with talents and character that +he stood quite apart from the other collegians of his day. +Prophets were as rare in the eighties as they have always +been, before and since, and nobody could have foreseen that +the name and work of Dick Davis would long before his untimely +death, indeed within a few years from leaving college, be +better known throughout the world than those of any other +Lehigh man. We who knew him in his college days could not +feel the smallest surprise that he won himself quickly a +brilliant name, and kept a firm hold upon it to the last. + +"What was it that made him so early a marked man? I think it +was the spirit of confidence and enthusiasm which turned every +enterprise he undertook into an adventure,--the brave and +humorous playing of the game of life, the true heart, the +wholesome body and soul of my friend and classmate. He did +not excel in studies or greatly, in athletics. But in his own +field, that of writing, he was so much better than the rest of +us that no one of his fellow-editors of the Epitome or +Burr needed to be considered in comparison with +him. No less, in spite of his voluntary nonmembership in the +fraternities of his day, was he a leader in the social +activities of the University. The `Arcadian Club' devoted in +its beginnings to the `pipes, books, beer and gingeralia' of +Davis's song about it and the `Mustard and Cheese' were his +creations. In all his personal relationships he was the most +amusing and stimulating of companions. With garb and ways of +unique picturesqueness, rarer even in college communities a +generation ago than at present, it was inevitable that he +sometimes got himself laughed at as well as with. But what +did it all matter, even then? To-day it adds a glow of color +to what would be in any case a vivid, deeply valued memory. + +"It is hard to foresee in youth what will come most sharply +and permanently in the long run. After all these years it is +good to find that Davis and what his companionship gave one +hold their place with the strongest influences of Lehigh." + +But Richard was naturally gregarious and at heart had a great +fondness for clubs and social gatherings. Therefore, having +refused the offer of several fraternities that did him the +honor to ask him to become a member, it was necessary for him +to form a few clubs that held meetings, but no secrets. +Perhaps the most successful of these were "The Mustard and +Cheese," a dramatic club devoted to the presentation of farces +and musical comedies, and The Arcadia Club, to the fortnightly +meetings of which he devoted much time and thought. The +following letter to his father will give some idea of the +scope of the club, which, as in the case of "The Mustard and +Cheese," gained a permanent and important place in the social +life of Lehigh. + +DEAR DAD: + +We have started the best sort of a club up here which I am +anxious to tell you of. It consists of a spread, net price of +which will be about 30 cents each, every two or three weeks. +Only six fellows belong and those the best of the College. +Purnell, Haines and myself founded it. I chose Charley, +Purnell, Reeves, Haines and Howe. We will meet Saturday +nights at 9 so as not to interfere with our work, and sing, +read, eat and box until midnight. It is called the "Pipe and +Bowl," and is meant to take the place that The Hasty Pudding, +Hammer and Tongs and Mermaid do at other colleges. Two of us +are to invite two outsiders in turn each meeting. We will +hope to have Dad a member, honorary, of course, when we can +persuade him to give us a night off with his company. We want +to combine a literary feature and so will have selected readings +to provoke discussions after the pipes are lit. The men +are very enthusiastic about it and want to invite Mr. Allen +and you and every one that they can make an honorary member of +immediately. + + +It was first as an associate editor and afterward as +editor-in-chief of the college paper, The Lehigh Burr, that +Richard found his greatest pleasure and interest during his +three years at Lehigh. In addition to his editorial duties he +wrote a very great part of every issue of the paper, and his +contributions included short stories, reports of news events, +editorials, and numerous poems. + +As, after his life at college, Richard dropped verse as a mode +of expression, I reprint two of the poems which show him in +the lighter vein of those early days. + +A COMMENCEMENT IDYL + + "I'm a Freshman who has ended his first year, + But I'm new; + And I do whate'er the Juniors, whom I fear, + Bid me do. + Under sudden showers I thrive; + To be bad and bold I strive, + But they ask--`Is it alive?' + So they do. + + I'm a Sophomore who has passed off his exams, + Let me loose! + With a mark as high as any other man's, + As obtuse + I'm fraternal. I am Jolly. + I am seldom melancholy + And to bone I think is folly, + What's the use? + + +I'm a Junior whom exams. have left forlorn, + Flunked me dead; +So I'll keep the town awake 'till early morn; + Paint it red. + At class-meetings I'm a kicker, + Take no water with my liquor, + And a dumb-bell's not thicker + Than my head. + +I'm a Senior whose diploma's within reach, + Eighty-four. +On Commencement Day you'll hear my maiden-speech; + I will soar! + I got through without condition; + I'm a mass of erudition; + Do you know of a position!" + + + + OUR STREET + + + "Our street is still and silent, + Grass grows from curb to curb, + + No baker's bells + With jangling knells + Our studious minds disturb. + No organ grinders ever call, + No hucksters mar our peace; + For traffic shuns our neighborhood + And leaves us to our ease. + + + But now it lives and brightens, + Assumes a livelier hue; + The pavements wide, + On either side, + Would seem to feel it too. + You might not note the difference, + The change from grave to gay, + But I can tell, and know full well, + Priscilla walks our way." + + + +Shortly after his return to college Richard celebrated his +nineteenth birthday, and received these letters from his +father and mother: + +April 17th, 1883. +MY DEAR BOY: + +When I was thinking what I could give to you to-morrow, I +remembered the story of Herder, who when he was old and weak +and they brought him food and wine asked for "a great thought +to quicken him." + +So I have written some old sayings for you that have helped +me. Maybe, this year, or some other year, when I am not with +you, they may give you, sometimes, comfort and strength. + +God bless you my son-- + +YOUR OLD MOTHER + +who loves you dearly--dearly. + + +THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER +PHILADELPHIA, April 17th, 1883. + +MY DEAR BOY: + +You are to be nineteen years old on Wednesday. After two +years more you will be a man. You are so manly and good a boy +that I could not wish you to change in any serious or great +thing. You have made us very happy through being what you +have been, what you are. You fill us with hope of your future +virtue and usefulness. + +To be good is the best thing of all; it counts for more than +anything else in the world. We are very grateful that you +have even in youth been wise enough to choose the right road. +You will find it not easy to keep upon it always, but remember +if you do get off struggle back to it. I do not know but I +think God loves the effort to do as well as the act done. + +I congratulate you my dear son, on your new birthday. I wish +you health, happiness and God's loving care. May he bless you +my son forever. I enclose a trifle for your pleasure. My +love to you always, but God bless you dear Dick. + +DAD. + + +In the fall of 1885, Richard decided to leave Lehigh and go to +John Hopkins University, where he took a special course in +such studies as would best benefit him in the career which he +had now carefully planned. During this year in Baltimore +Richard's letters show that he paid considerable attention to +such important subjects as political economy and our own labor +problems, but they also show that he did not neglect football +or the lighter social diversions. In a short space of time he +had made many friends, was very busy going to dinners and dances, +and had fallen in love with an entirely new set of maids and +matrons. Richard had already begun to send contributions to the +magazines, and an occasional acceptance caused him the +satisfaction common to all beginners. It was in regard to one of +these early contributions that my mother wrote Richard the +following letter: + + +PHILADELPHIA + +January 1887. +DEAR BOY: + +What has become of The Current? It has not come yet. If it +has suspended publication be sure and get your article back. +You must not destroy a single page you write. You will find +every idea of use to you hereafter. + +Sometimes I am afraid you think I don't take interest enough +in your immediate success now with the articles you send. But +I've had thirty years experience and I know how much that sort +of success depends on the articles suiting the present needs +of the magazine, and also on the mood of the editor when he +reads it. + +Besides--except for your own disappointment--I know it would +be better if you would not publish under your own name for a +little while. Dr. Holland--who had lots of literary +shrewdness both as writer and publisher--used to say for a +young man or woman to rush into print was sure ruin to their +lasting fame. They either compromised their reputations by +inferior work or they made a great hit and never played up to +it, afterwards, in public opinion. + +Now my dear old man this sounds like awfully cold comfort. +But it is the wisest idea your mother has +got. I confess I have GREAT faith in you--and I try to +judge you as if you were not my son. I think you are going to +take a high place among American authors, but I do not think +you are going to do it by articles like that you sent to The +Current. The qualities which I think will bring it to you, +you don't seem to value at all. They are your dramatic eye. +I mean your quick perception of character and of the way +character shows itself in looks, tones, dress, etc., and in +your keen sympathy--with all kinds of people--Now, these are +the requisites for a novelist. Added to that your humour. + +You ought to make a novelist of the first class. But you must +not expect to do it this week or next. A lasting, real +success takes time, and patient, steady work. Read Boz's +first sketches of "London Life" and compare them with "Sydney +Carton" or "David Copperfield" and you will see what time and +hard work will do to develop genius. + +I suppose you will wonder why I am moved to say all this? It +is, I think, because of your saying "the article sent to St. +Nicholas was the best you would be able to do for years to +come" and I saw you were going to make it a crucial test of +your ability. That is, forgive me, nothing but nonsense. +Whatever the article may be, you may write one infinitely +superior to it next week or month. Just in proportion as you +feel more deeply, or notice more keenly, and as you acquire +the faculty of expressing your feelings or observations more +delicately and powerfully which faculty must come into +practice. It is not inspiration--it never was that--without +practice, with any writer from Shakespeare down. + +me. I don't say, like Papa, stop writing. God +forbid. I would almost as soon say stop breathing, +for it is pretty much the same thing. But only to remember +that you have not yet conquered your art. You are a +journeyman not a master workman, so if you don't succeed, it +does not count. The future is what I look to, for you. I had +to stop my work to say all this, so good-bye dear old chum. + +Yours, + +MOTHER. + + +If anything worried Richard at all at this period, I think it +was his desire to get down to steady newspaper work, or indeed +any kind of work that would act as the first step of his +career and by which he could pay his own way in the world. It +was with this idea uppermost in his mind in the late spring of +1886, and without any particular regret for the ending of his +college career, that he left Baltimore and, returning to his +home in Philadelphia, determined to accept the first position +that presented itself. But instead of going to work at once, +he once more changed his plans and decided to sail for +Santiago de Cuba with his friend William W. Thurston, who as +president of the Bethlehem Steel Company, was deeply +interested in the iron mines of that region. Here and then it +was that Richard first fell in love with Cuba--a love which in +later years became almost an obsession with him. Throughout +his life whenever it was possible, and sometimes when it +seemed practically impossible, my brother would listen to the +call of his beloved tropics and, casting aside all +responsibilities, would set sail for Santiago. After all it +was quite natural that he should feel as he did about this +little Cuban coast town, for apart from its lazy life, spicy +smells, waving palms and Spanish cooking, it was here that he +found the material for his first novel and greatest monetary +success, "Soldiers of Fortune." Apart from the many purely +pleasure trips he made to Santiago, twice he returned there to +work--once as a correspondent during the Spanish-American War, +and again when he went with Augustus Thomas to assist in the +latter's film version of the play which years before Thomas +had made from the novel. + + + +CHAPTER III +FIRST NEWSPAPER EXPERIENCES + + +In the late summer of 1886 Richard returned from Cuba and +settled down in Philadelphia to write an article about his +experiences at Santiago and to look for regular newspaper +work. Early in September he wrote his mother: + + +September, 1886. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I saw the Record people to-day. They said there was not an +opening but could give me "chance" work, that is, I was to +report each day at one and get what was left over. I said I +would take it as I would have my mornings free to write the +article and what afternoons I did not have newspaper work +besides. This is satisfactory. They are either doing all +they can to oblige Dad or else giving me a trial trip before +making an opening. The article is progressing but slowly. To +paraphrase Talleyrand, what's done is but little and that +little is not good. However, since your last letter full of +such excellent "tips" I have rewritten it and think it is much +improved. I will write to Thurston concerning the artist +to-morrow. He is away from B. at present. On the whole the +article is not bad. + + +Your boy, +DICK. + + +Richard's stay on The Record, however, was short-lived. His +excuse for the brevity of the experience was given in an +interview some years later. "My City Editor didn't like me +because on cold days I wore gloves. +But he was determined to make me work, and gave me about +eighteen assignments a day, and paid me $7. a week. At the +end of three months he discharged me as incompetent." + +From The Record Richard went to The Press, which was much +more to his liking, and, indeed it was here that he did his +first real work and showed his first promise. For nearly +three years he did general reporting and during this time +gained a great deal more personal success than comes to most +members of that usually anonymous profession. His big chance +came with the Johnstown flood, and the news stories he wired +to his paper showed the first glimpse of his ability as a +correspondent. Later on, disguised as a crook, he joined a +gang of yeggmen, lived with them in the worst dives of the +city, and eventually gained their good opinion to the extent +of being allowed to assist in planning a burglary. But before +the actual robbery took place, Richard had obtained enough +evidence against his crook companions to turn them over to the +police and eventually land them in prison. It was during +these days that he wrote his first story for a magazine, and +the following letter shows that it was something of a +milestone in his career. + +PHILADELPHIA. + +August, 1888. +DEAR FAMILY: + +The St. Nicholas people sent me a check for $50 for the +"pirate" story. It would be insupportable affectation to say +that I was not delighted. Jennings Crute and I were waiting +for breakfast when I found the letter. I opened it very +slowly, for I feared they would bluff me with some letter +about illustrations or revision, or offering me a reduced +subscription to the magazine. There was a letter inside and a +check. I read the letter before I looked at the check, which I +supposed would be for $30, as the other story was valued at $20. +The note said that a perfect gentleman named Chichester would be +pleased if I would find enclosed a check for $50. I looked at +Jenny helplessly, and said, "It's for fifty, Jenny." Crute had +an insane look in his eyes as he murmured "half a hundred +dollars, and on your day off, too." Then I sat down suddenly and +wondered what I would buy first, and Crute sat in a dazed +condition, and abstractedly took a handful of segars out of +the box dear old Dad gave me. As I didn't say anything, he +took another handful, and then sat down and gazed at the check +for five minutes in awe. After breakfast I calculated how +much I would have after I paid my debts. I still owe say $23, +and I have some shoes to pay for and my hair to cut. I had a +wild idea of going over to New York and buying some stocks, +but I guess I'll go to Bond's and Baker's instead. + +I'm going down street now to see if Drexel wants to borrow any +ready money-on the way down I will make purchases and pay +bills so that my march will be a triumphal procession. + +I got a story on the front page this morning about an +explosion at Columbia Avenue Station--I went out on it with +another man my senior in years and experience, whom Watrous +expected to write the story while I hustled for facts. When +we got back I had all the facts, and what little he had was +incorrect--so I said I would dispense with his services and +write the story myself. I did it very politely, but it +queered the man before the men, and Watrous grew very +sarcastic at his expense. Next time Andy will know better and +let me get my own stories alone. + +Your Millionaire Son, + +DICK. + +I'm still the "same old Dick"; not proud a bit. + +This was my mother's reply: + + +Thursday. +August 1888. +DEAR DICK: + +Your letter has just come and we are all delighted. Well done +for old St. Nicholas! I thought they meant to wait till the +story was published. It took me back to the day when I got +$50. for "Life in the Iron Mills." I carried the letter half +a day before opening it, being so sure that it was a refusal. + +I had a great mind to read the letter to Davis and Cecile who +were on the porch but was afraid you would not like it. + +I did read them an extremely impertinent enclosure which was +so like the letter I sent yesterday. That I think you got it +before writing this. + +. . . Well I am glad about that cheque! Have you done +anything on Gallagher? That is by far the best work you've +done--oh, by far--Send that to Gilder. In old times The +Century would not print the word "brandy." But those days +are over. + +Two more days--dear boy-- + +MOTHER. + + +In addition to his work on The Press, Richard also found +time to assist his friend, Morton McMichael, 3d, in the +editing of a weekly publication called The +Stage. In fact with the exception of the services of an +office boy, McMichael and Richard were The Stage. Between +them they wrote the editorials, criticisms, the London and +Paris special correspondence, solicited the advertisements, +and frequently assisted in the wrapping and mailing of the +copies sent to their extremely limited list of subscribers. +During this time, however, Richard was establishing himself as +a star reporter on The Press, and was already known as a +clever news-gatherer and interviewer. It was in reply to a +letter that Richard wrote to Robert Louis Stevenson enclosing +an interview he had had with Walt Whitman, that Stevenson +wrote the following letter--which my brother always regarded +as one of his greatest treasures: + + +Why, thank you so much for your frank, agreeable and natural +letter. It is certainly very pleasant that all you young +fellows should enjoy my work and get some good out of it and +it was very kind in you to write and tell me so. The tale of +the suicide is excellently droll, and your letter, you may be +sure, will be preserved. If you are to escape unhurt out of +your present business you must be very careful, and you must +find in your heart much constancy. The swiftly done work of +the journalist and the cheap finish and ready made methods to +which it leads, you must try to counteract in private by +writing with the most considerate slowness and on the most +ambitious models. And when I say "writing"--O, believe me, it +is rewriting that I have chiefly in mind. If you will do this +I hope to hear of you some day. + +Please excuse this sermon from + +Your obliged + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +In the spring of 1889 Richard as the correspondent of the +Philadelphia Telegraph, accompanied a team of Philadelphia +cricketers on a tour of Ireland and England, but as it was +necessary for him to spend most of his time reporting the +matches played in small university towns, he saw only enough +of London to give him a great longing to return as soon as the +chance offered. Late that summer he resumed his work on The +Press, but Richard was not at all satisfied with his +journalistic progress, and for long his eyes had been turned +toward New York. There he knew that there was not only a +broader field for such talent as he might possess, but that +the chance for adventure was much greater, and it was this +hope and love of adventure that kept Richard moving on all of +his life. + +On a morning late in September, 1889, he started for New York +to look for a position as reporter on one of the metropolitan +newspapers. I do not know whether he carried with him any +letters or that he had any acquaintances in the journalistic +world on whose influence he counted, but, in any case, he visited +a number of offices without any success whatever. +Indeed, he had given up the day as wasted, and was on his way +to take the train back to Philadelphia. Tired and +discouraged, he sat down on a bench in City Hall Park, and +mentally shook his fist at the newspaper offices on Park Row +that had given him so cold a reception. At this all-important +moment along came Arthur Brisbane, whom Richard had met in +London when the former was the English correspondent of The +Sun. Brisbane had recently been appointed editor of The +Evening Sun, and had already met with a rather spectacular +success. On hearing the object of Richard's visit to New +York, he promptly offered him a position on his staff and +Richard as promptly accepted. I remember that the joyous +telegram he sent to my mother, telling of his success, and +demanding that the fatted calf be killed for dinner that night +was not received with unalloyed happiness. To my mother and +father it meant that their first-born was leaving home to seek +his fortune, and that without Richard's love and sympathy the +home could never be quite the same. But the fatted calf was +killed, every one pretended to be just as elated as Richard was +over his good fortune, and in two days he left us for his first +adventure. + +The following note to his mother Richard scribbled off in +pencil at the railway-station on his way to New York: + + +I am not surprised that you were sad if you thought I was +going away for good. I could not think of it myself. I am +only going to make a little reputation and to learn enough of +the business to enable me to live at home in the centre of the +universe with you. That is truth. God bless you. + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +NEW YORK + + +Of the many completely happy periods of Richard's life there +were few more joyous than the first years he spent as a +reporter in New York. For the first time he was completely +his own master and paying his own way--a condition which +afforded him infinite satisfaction. He was greatly attached +to Brisbane and as devoted to the interests of The Evening +Sun as if he had been the editor and publisher. In return +Brisbane gave him a free rein and allowed him to write very +much what and as he chose. The two men were constantly +together, in and out of office hours, and planned many of the +leading features of the paper which on account of the +brilliancy of its news stories and special articles was at +that time attracting an extraordinary amount of attention. +Richard divided his working hours between reporting important +news events, writing specials (principally about theatrical +people), and the Van Bibber stories, nearly all of which were +published for the first time in The Evening Sun. These +short tales of New York life soon made a distinct hit, and, +while they appeared anonymously, it was generally known that +Richard was their author. In addition to his newspaper work +my brother was also working on short stories for the +magazines, and in 1890 scored his first real success in this +field, with "Gallegher," which appeared in Scribner's. This +was shortly followed by "The Other Woman," "Miss +Catherwaite's Understudy," "A Walk up the Avenue," "My +Disreputable Friend, Mr. Raegen," "An Unfinished Story," and +other stories that soon gave him an established reputation as +a writer of fiction. But while Richard's success was attained +in a remarkably short space of time and at an extremely early +age, it was not accomplished without an enormous amount of +hard work and considerable privation. When he first went to +New York his salary was but thirty dollars a week, and while +he remained on The Evening Sun never over fifty dollars, and +the prices he received for his first short stories were +extremely meagre. During the early days on The Evening Sun +he had a room in a little house at 108 Waverly Place, and took +his meals in the neighborhood where he happened to find +himself and where they were cheapest. He usually spent his +week-ends in Philadelphia, but his greatest pleasure was when +he could induce some member of his family to visit him in New +York. I fear I was the one who most often accepted his +hospitality, and wonderful visits they were, certainly to me, +and I think to Richard as well. The great event was our +Saturday-night dinner, when we always went to a little +restaurant on Sixth Avenue. I do not imagine the fifty-cent +table d'hote (vin compris) the genial Mr. Jauss served us +was any better than most fifty-cent table-d'hote dinners, but +the place was quaint and redolent of strange smells of cooking +as well as of a true bohemian atmosphere. Those were the days +when the Broadway Theatre was given over to the comic operas +in which Francis Wilson and De Wolfe Hopper were the stars, +and as both of the comedians were firm friends of Richard, we +invariably ended our evening at the Broadway. Sometimes we +occupied a box as the guests of the management, and at other +times we went behind the scenes and sat in the star's +dressing-room. I think I liked it best when Hopper was playing, +because during Wilson's regime the big dressing-room was a rather +solemn sort of place, but when Hopper ruled, the room was filled +with pretty girls and he treated us to fine cigars and champagne. + +Halcyon nights those, and then on Sunday morning we always +breakfasted at old Martin's on University Place eggs a la +Martin and that wonderful coffee and pain de menage. And what +a wrench it was when I tore myself away from the delights of +the great city and scurried back to my desk in sleepy +Philadelphia. Had I been a prince royal Richard could not +have planned more carefully than he did for these visits, and +to meet the expense was no easy matter for him. Indeed, I +know that to pay for all our gayeties he usually had to carry +his guitar to a neighboring pawn-broker where the instrument +was always good for an eight-dollar loan. But from the time +Richard first began to make his own living one of the great +pleasures of his life was to celebrate, or as he called it, to +"have a party." Whenever he had finished a short story he had +a party, and when the story had been accepted there was +another party, and, of course, the real party was when he +received the check. And so it was throughout his life, giving +a party to some one whom a party would help, buying a picture +for which he had no use to help a struggling artist, sending a +few tons of coal to an old lady who was not quite warm enough, +always writing a letter or a check for some one of his own +craft who had been less fortunate than he--giving to every +beggar that he met, fearing that among all the thousand fakers +he might refuse one worthy case. I think this habit of giving +Richard must have inherited from his father, who gave out of all +proportion to his means, and with never too close a scrutiny to +the worthiness of the cause. Both men were too intensely human +to do that, but if this great desire on the part of my father and +brother to help others gave the recipients pleasure I'm sure +that it caused in the hearts of the givers an even greater +happiness. The following letters were chosen from a great +number which Richard wrote to his family, telling of his first +days on The Evening Sun, and of his life in New York. + + +YORK Evening Sun--1890 +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today is as lovely and fresh as the morning, a real spring +day, and I feel good in consequence. I have just come from a +couple of raids, where we had a very lively time, and some of +them had to pull their guns. I found it necessary to punch a +few sports myself. The old sergeant from headquarters treats +me like a son and takes the greatest pride in whatever I do or +write. He regularly assigns me now to certain doors, and I +always obey orders like the little gentleman that I am. +Instead of making me unpopular, I find it helps me with the +sports, though it hurts my chances professionally, as so many +of them know me now that I am no use in some districts. For +instance, in Mott and Pell streets, or in the Bowery, I am as +safe as any precinct detective. I tell you this to keep you +from worrying. They won't touch a man whom they think is an +agent or an officer. Only it spoils my chances of doing +reportorial-detective work. For instance, the captain of the +Bowery district refused me a detective the other morning to +take the Shippens around the Chinese and the tougher quarters +because he said they were as safe with me as with any of the +other men whose faces are as well known. To-night I am going to +take a party to the headquarters of the fire department, where I +have a cinch on the captain, a very nice fellow, who is unusually +grateful for something I wrote about him and his men. They are +going to do the Still Alarm act for me. + +These clippings all came out in to-day's paper. The ladies in +the Tombs were the Shippens, of course; and Mamie Blake is a +real girl, and the story is true from start to finish. I +think it is a pathetic little history. + +Give my love to all. I will bring on the story I have +finished and get you to make some suggestions. It is quite +short. Since Scribner's have been so civil, I think I will +give them a chance at the great prize. I am writing a comic +guide book and a history of the Haymarket for the paper; both +are rich in opportunities. This weather makes me feel like +another person. I will be so glad to get home. With lots of +love and kisses for you and Nora. + +DICK-O. + + +NEW YORK--1890. +DEAR CHAS: + +Brisbane has suggested to me that the Bradley story would lead +anyone to suppose that my evenings were spent in the boudoirs +of the horizontales of 34th Street and has scared me somewhat +in consequence. If it strikes you and Dad the same way don't +show it to Mother. Dad made one mistake by thinking I wrote a +gambling story which has made me nervous. It is hardly the +fair thing to suppose that a man must have an intimate +acquaintance with whatever he writes of intimately. A lot of +hunting people, for instance, would not believe that I had +written the "Traver's Only Ride" story because they knew I did +not hunt. Don't either you or Dad make any mistake about this. + +DICK. + +As a matter of fact they would not let me in the room, and I +don't know whether it abounded in signed etchings or +Bougereau's nymphs. + + +NEW YORK--1890. +DEAR FAMILY: + +Today has been more or less feverish. In the morning's mail I +received a letter from Berlin asking permission to translate +"Gallegher" into German, and a proof of a paragraph from The +Critic on my burlesque of Rudyard Kipling, which was meant to +please but which bored me. Then the "Raegen" story came in, +making nine pages of the Scribner's, which at ten dollars a +page ought to be $90. Pretty good pay for three weeks' work, +and it is a good story. Then at twelve a young man came +bustling into the office, stuck his card down on the desk and +said, "I am S. S. McClure. I have sent my London representative +to Berlin and my New York man to London. Will you take +charge of my New York end?" + +If he thought to rattle me he was very much out of it, for I +said in his same tone and manner, "Bring your New York +representative back and send me to London, and I'll consider +it. As long as I am in New York I will not leave The Evening +Sun." + +"Edmund Gosse is my London representative," he said; "you can +have the same work here. Come out and take lunch." +I said, "Thank you, I can't; I'll see you on Tuesday." + +"All right," he said. "I'll come for you. Think of what I +say. I'll make your fortune. Bradford Merrill told me to get +you. You won't have anything to do but ask people to write +novels and edit them. I'll send you abroad later if you don't +like New York. Can you write any children's stories for me?" + +"No," I said, "see you Tuesday." + +This is a verbal report of all and everything that was said. +I consider it a curious interview. It will raise my salary +here or I go. What do YOU think? +DICK. + + + +NEW YORK--1890. +DEAR FAMILY: + +The more I thought of the McClure offer the less I thought of +it. So I told him last night I was satisfied where I was, and +that the $75 he offered me was no inducement. Brisbane says I +will get $50 about the first of October, which is plenty and +enough for a young man who intends to be good to his folks. I +cannot do better than stay where I am, for it is understood +between Brisbane and Laffan that in the event of the former's +going into politics I shall take his place, which will suit +very well until something better turns up. Then there is the +chance of White's coming back and my going to Lunnon, which +would please me now more for what I think I could make of it +than what I think others have made of it. If I had gone to +McClure I would have been shelved and side-tracked, and I am +still in the running, and learning every day. +Brisbane and I have had our first serious difficulty +over Mrs. R----, who is staying with Mrs. "Bill." There is at +present the most desperate rivalry, and we discuss each +other's chances with great anger. He counts on his +transcontinental knowledge, but my short stories hit very +hard, and he is not in it when I sing "Thy Face Will Lead Me +On" and "When Kerrigan Struck High C." She has a fatal +fondness for Sullivan, which is most unfortunate, as Brisbane +can and does tell her about him by the half hour. Yesterday +we both tried to impress her by riding down in front of the +porch and showing off the horses and ourselves. Brisbane came +off best, though I came off quickest, for my horse put his +foot in a hole and went down on his knees, while I went over +his head like the White Knight in "Alice." I would think +nothing of sliding off a roof now. But I made up for this +mishap by coming back in my grey suit and having it compared +with the picture in The Century. It is a very close fight, +and, while Brisbane is chasing over town for photographs of +Sullivan, I am buying books of verses of which she seems to be +fond. As soon as she gets her divorce one of us is going to +marry her. We don't know which. She is about as beautiful a +woman as I ever saw, and very witty and well-informed, but it +would cost a good deal to keep her in diamonds. She wears +some the Queen gave her, but she wants more. + +DICK. + + +NEW YORK--1890. +DEAR MOTHER (LATE MA): + +I am well and with lots to do. I went up to see Hopper the +other night, which was the first time in three months that I +have been back of a theater, and it was like going home. +There is a smell about the painty and gassy and dusty place that +I love as much as fresh earth and newly cut hay, and the girls +look so pretty and bold lying around on the sets, and the men so +out of focus and with such startling cheeks and lips. They were +very glad to see me and made a great fuss. Then I've been to see +Carmencita dance, which I enjoyed remarkably, and I have been +reading Rudyard Kipling's short stories, and I think it is +disgusting that a boy like that should write such stories. He +hasn't left himself anything to do when he gets old. He reminds +me of Bret Harte and not a bit of Stevenson, to whom some of them +compare him. + +I am very glad you liked the lady in mid-air story so much, +but it wasn't a bit necessary to add the MORAL from a +MOTHER. I saw it coming up before I had read two lines; and +a very good moral it is, too, with which I agree heartily. +But, of course, you know it is not a new idea to me. Anything +as good and true as that moral cannot be new at this late +date. I went to the Brooklyn Handicap race yesterday. It is +one of the three biggest races of the year, and a man stood in +front of me in the paddock in a white hat. Another man asked +him what he was "playing." + +"Well," he said, "I fancy Fides myself." + +"Fides!" said his friend, "why, she ain't in it. She won't +see home. Raceland's the horse for your money; she's +favorite, and there isn't any second choice. But Fides! Why, +she's simply impossible. Raceland beat HER last Suburban." + +"Yes, I remember," said the man in the white hat, "but I fancy +Fides." + +Then another chap said to him, "Fides is all good enough on a +dust track on a sunny, pleasant day, but she can't ran in the +mud. She hasn't got the staying powers. She's a pretty one to +look at, but she's just a `grandstand' ladies' choice. She ain't +in it with Raceland or Erica. The horse YOU want is not a +pretty, dainty flyer, but a stayer, that is sure and that brings +in good money, not big odds, but good money. Why, I can name you +a dozen better'n Fides." + +"Still, somehow, I like Fides best," said the obstinate man in +the white hat. + +"But Fides will take the bit in her mouth and run away, or +throw the jock or break into the fence. She isn't steady. +She's all right to have a little bet on, just enough for a +flyer, but she's not the horse to plunge on. If you're a +millionaire with money to throw away, why, you might put some +of it up on her, but, as it is, you want to put your money +where it will be sure of a `place,' anyway. Now, let me mark +your card for you?" + +"No," said the man, "what you all say is reasonable, I see +that; but, somehow, I rather fancy Fides best." + +I've forgotten now whether Fides won or not, and whether she +landed the man who just fancied her without knowing why a +winner or sent him home broke. But, in any event, that is +quite immaterial, the story simply shows how obstinate some +men are as regards horses and--other uncertain critters. I +have no doubt but that the Methodist minister's daughter would +have made Hiram happy if he had loved her, but he didn't. No +doubt Anne ----, Nan ----, Katy ---- and Maude ---- would have +made me happy if they would have consented to have me and I +had happened to love them, but I fancied Fides. + +But now since I have scared you sufficiently, let me add for +your peace of mind that I've not enough +money to back any horses just at present, and before I put any +money up on any one of them for the Matrimonial stakes, I will +ask you first to look over the card and give me a few +pointers. I mayn't follow them, you know, but I'll give you a +fair warning, at any rate. + +"You're my sweetheart, I'm your beau." +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, May 29, 1890. + +This is just a little good night note to say how I wish I was +with you down at that dear old place and how much I love you +and Nora who is getting lovelier and sweeter and prettier +everyday and I know a pretty girl when I see 'em, Fides, for +instance. But I won't tease you about that any more. + +I finished a short silly story to night which I am in doubt +whether to send off or not. I think I will keep it until I +read it to you and learn what you think. + +Mr. Gilder has asked me to stay with them at Marion, and to go +to Cambridge with Mrs. Gilder and dear Mrs. Cleveland and +Grover Cleveland, when he reads the poem before D. K. E. + +I have bought a book on decorations, colored, and I am +choosing what I want, like a boy with a new pair of boots. + +Good-night, my dearest Mama. + +DICK. + + +In addition to his regular work on The Evening Sun, my +brother, as I have already said, was devoting a great part, of +his leisure moments to the writing of short stories, and had +made a tentative agreement with a well-known magazine to do a +series of short sketches of New York types. Evidently fearful +that Richard was writing too much and with a view to pecuniary +gain, my mother wrote the following note of warning: + + +PHILADELPHIA, 1890. +DEAR DICK: + +I wouldn't undertake the "types." For one thing, you will +lose prestige writing for ----'s paper. For another, I dread +beyond everything your beginning to do hack work for money. +It is the beginning of decadence both in work and reputation +for you. I know by my own and a thousand other people. Begin +to write because it "is a lot of money" and you stop doing +your best work. You make your work common and your prices +will soon go down. George Lewes managed George Eliot wisely. + +He stopped her hack work. Kept her at writing novels and soon +one each year brought her $40,000. I am taking a purely +mercenary view of the thing. There is another which you +understand better than I-- Mind your Mother's advice to +you--now and all the time is "do only your best work--even if +you starve doing it." But you won't starve. You'll get your +dinner at Martin's instead of Delmonico's, which won't hurt +you in the long run. Anyhow, $1000. for 12,500 words is not a +great price. + +That was a fine tea you gave. I should like to have heard the +good talk. It was like the regiment of brigadier generals +with no privates. + +Your + +MOTHER. + + +This is a letter written by my father after the publication of +Richard's story "A Walk up the Avenue." Richard frequently spoke +of his father as his "kindest and severest critic." + + +PHILADELPHIA, July 22nd, 1890. + +10.30 P. M. +MY DEAR Boy: + +You can do it; you have done it; it is all right. I have read +A Walk up the Avenue. It is far and away the best thing you +have ever done--Full of fine subtle thought, of rare, manly +feeling. + +I am not afraid of Dick the author. He's all right. I shall +only be afraid--when I am afraid--that Dick the man will not +live up to the other fellow, that he may forget how much the +good Lord has given him, and how responsible to the good Lord +and to himself he is and will be for it. A man entrusted with +such talent should carry himself straighter than others to +whom it is denied. He has great duties to do; he owes tribute +to the giver. + +Don't let the world's temptations in any of its forms come +between you and your work. Make your life worthy of your +talent, and humbly by day and by night ask God to help you to +do it. + +I am very proud of this work. It is good work, with brain, +bone, nerve, muscle in it. It is human, with healthy pulse +and heartsome glow in it. Remember, hereafter, you have by it +put on the bars against yourself preventing you doing any work +less good. You have yourself made your record, you can't +lower it. You can only beat it. + +Lovingly, +DAD. + + +In the latter part of December, 1890, Richard left The +Evening Sun to become the managing editor of +Harper's Weekly. George William Curtis was then its +editor, and at this time no periodical had a broader or +greater influence for the welfare of the country. As Richard +was then but twenty-six, his appointment to his new editorial +duties came as a distinct honor. The two years that Richard +had spent on The Evening Sun had been probably the happiest +he had ever known. He really loved New York, and at this time +Paris and London held no such place in his affections as they +did in later years. And indeed there was small reason why +these should not have been happy years for any young man. At +twenty-six Richard had already accomplished much, and his name +had become a familiar one not only to New Yorkers but +throughout the country. Youth and health he had, and many +friends, and a talent that promised to carry him far in the +profession he loved. His new position paid him a salary +considerably larger than he had received heretofore, and he +now demanded and received much higher terms for his stories. +All of which was well for Richard because as his income grew +so grew his tastes. I have known few men who cared less for +money than did my brother, and I have known few who cared more +for what it could buy for his friends and for himself. Money +to him, and, during his life he made very large sums of it, he +always chose to regard as income but never capital. A bond or +a share of stock meant to him what it would bring that day on +the Stock Exchange. The rainy day which is the bugaboo for +the most of us, never seemed to show on his horizon. For a +man whose livelihood depended on the lasting quality of his +creative faculties he had an infinite faith in the future, and +indeed his own experience seemed to show that he was +justified in this belief. It could not have been very long +after his start as a fiction writer that he received +as high a price for his work as any of his contemporaries; +and just previous to his death, more than twenty years +later, he signed a contract to write six stories +at a figure which, so far as I know, was the highest ever +offered an American author. In any case, money or the lack of +it certainly never caused Richard any worriment during the +early days of which I write. For what he made he worked +extremely hard, but the reputation and the spending of the money +that this same hard work brought him caused him infinite +happiness. He enjoyed the reputation he had won and the +friends that such a reputation helped him to make; he enjoyed +entertaining and being entertained, and he enjoyed pretty much +all of the good things of life. And all of this he enjoyed +with the naive, almost boyish enthusiasm that only one could +to whom it had all been made possible at twenty-six. Of these +happy days Booth Tarkington wrote at the time of my brother's +death: + +"To the college boy of the early nineties Richard Harding +Davis was the `beau ideal of jeunesse doree,' a +sophisticated heart of gold. He was of that college boy's own +age, but already an editor--already publishing books! His +stalwart good looks were as familiar to us as were those of +our own football captain; we knew his face as we knew the face +of the President of the United States, but we infinitely +preferred Davis's. When the Waldorf was wondrously completed, +and we cut an exam. in Cuneiform Inscriptions for an excursion +to see the world at lunch in its new magnificence, and Richard +Harding Davis came into the Palm Room--then, oh, then, our day +was radiant! That was the top of our fortune; we could never +have hoped for so much. Of all the great people of every +continent, this was the one we most desired to see." + +Richard's intimate friends of these days were Charles Dana +Gibson, who illustrated a number of my brother's stories, +Robert Howard Russell, Albert La Montagne, Helen Benedict, now +Mrs. Thomas Hastings, Ethel Barrymore, Maude Adams, E. H. +Sothern, his brother, Sam, and Arthur Brisbane. None of this +little circle was married at the time, its various members +were seldom apart, and they extracted an enormous amount of +fun out of life. I had recently settled in New York, and we +had rooms at 10 East Twenty-eighth Street, where we lived very +comfortably for many years. Indeed Richard did not leave them +until his marriage in the summer of 1899. They were very +pleasant, sunny rooms, and in the sitting-room, which Richard +had made quite attractive, we gave many teas and +supper-parties. But of all the happy incidents I can recall +at the Twenty-eighth Street house, the one I remember most +distinctly took place in the hallway the night that Richard +received the first statement and check for his first book of +short stories, and before the money had begun to come in as +fast as it did afterward. We were on our way to dinner at +some modest resort when we saw and at once recognized the long +envelope on the mantel. Richard guessed it would be for one +hundred and ninety dollars, but with a rather doubting heart I +raised my guess to three hundred. And when, with trembling +fingers, Richard had finally torn open the envelope and found +a check for nine hundred and odd dollars, what a wild dance we +did about the hall-table, and what a dinner we had that night! +Not at the modest restaurant as originally intended, but at +Delmonico's! It was during these days that Seymour Hicks and his +lovely wife Ellaline Terriss first visited America, and they and +Richard formed a mutual attachment that lasted until his death. + +Richard had always taken an intense interest in the drama, and +at the time he was managing editor of Harper's Weekly had +made his first efforts as a playwright. Robert Hilliard did a +one-act version of Richard's short story, "Her First +Appearance," which under the title of "The Littlest Girl" he +played in vaudeville for many years. E. H. Sothern and +Richard had many schemes for writing a play together, but the +only actual result they ever attained was a one-act version +Sothern did at the old Lyceum of my brother's story, "The +Disreputable Mr. Raegen." It was an extremely tense and +absorbing drama, and Sothern was very fine in the part of +Raegen, but for the forty-five minutes the playlet lasted +Sothern had to hold the stage continuously alone, and as it +preceded a play of the regulation length, the effort proved +too much for the actor's strength, and after a few +performances it was taken off. Although it was several years +after this that my brother's first long play was produced he +never lost interest in the craft of playwriting, and only +waited for the time and means to really devote himself to it. + + + +BOSTON, January 22nd, 1891. +DEAR FAMILY:-- + +This is just to say that I am alive and sleepy, and that my +head is still its normal size, although I have at last found +one man in Boston who has read one of my stories, and that was +Barrymore from New York. The Fairchilds' dinner was a +tremendous affair, and I was conquered absolutely by Mr. +Howells, who went far, far out of his way to be as kind and +charming as an old man could be. Yesterday Mrs. Whitman gave a +tea in her studio. I thought she meant to have a half dozen +young people to drink a cup with her, and I sauntered in in the +most nonchalant manner to find that about everybody had been +asked to meet me. And everybody came, principally owing to the +"Harding Davis" part of the name for they all spoke of mother +and so very dearly that it made me pretty near weep. +Everybody came from old Dr. Holmes who never goes any place, +to Mrs. "Jack" Gardner and all the debutantes. "I was on in +that scene." In the evening I went with the Fairchilds to +Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's to meet the S----s but made a point not +to as he was talking like a cad when I heard him and Mrs. +Fairchild and I agreed to be the only people in Boston who had +not clasped his hand. There were only a few people present +and Mrs. Howe recited the Battle Hymn of the Republic, which I +thought very characteristic of the city. To-day I posed again +and Cumnock took me over Cambridge and into all of the Clubs +where I met some very nice boys and felt very old. Then we +went to a tea Cushing gave in his rooms and to night I go to +Mrs. Deland's. But the mornings with the Fairchilds are the +best. +DICK. + + +In the spring of 1891 my mother and sister, Nora, went abroad +for the summer, and the following note was written to Richard +just before my mother sailed: + +DEAR DICK: + +This is just to give my dearest love to you my darling. Some +day at sea when I cannot hear you nor see you, +whenever it is that you get it--night or morning---you may be +sure that we are all loving and thinking of you. + +Keep close to the Lord. Your Lord who never has refused to +hear a prayer of yours. + +Just think that I have kissed you a thousand times. + +MOTHER. + + + +FRANKLIN SQUARE, NEW YORK. + +June, 1891. + +DEAR MOTHER: + +Your letters are a great delight to me but I think you are +going entirely too quickly. You do not feel it now but you +are simply hurrying through the courses of your long dinner so +rapidly that when dessert comes you will not be up to it. A +day or two's rest and less greed to see many things would be +much more fun I should think, and you will enjoy those days +more to look back to when you wandered around some little town +by yourselves and made discoveries than those you spent doing +what you feel you ought to do. Excuse this lecture but I know +that when I got to Paris I wanted to do nothing but sit still +and read and let "sights" go-- You will soon learn not to +duplicate and that one cathedral will answer for a dozen. And +I am disappointed in your mad desire to get to Edinboro to get +letters from home, as though you couldn't get letters from me +every day of your life and as if there were not enough of you +together to keep from getting homesick. I am ashamed of you. +But that is all the scolding I have to do for I do not know +what has given me more pleasure than your letters and Nora's +especially. They tell me the best news in the world and that +is, that you are all getting as much happiness out of it as I +have prayed you would. I may go over in September myself. +But I would only go to London. Now, then for Home news. +I have sold the "Reporter Who Made Himself King" to +McClure's for $300. to be published in the syndicate in +August. I have finished "Her First Appearance" and Gibson +is doing the illustrations, three. I got $175. for it. + +I am now at work on a story about Arthur Cumnock, Harvard's +football captain who was the hero of Class Day. It will come +out this week and will match Lieut. Grant's chance. In July +I begin a story called the "Traveller's Tale" which will be +used in the November Harper. That is all _I_ am doing. + +So far the notices of "Gallegher" have been very good, I mean +the English ones. + +I went up to Class Day on Friday and spent the day with Miss +Fairchild and Miss Howells and with Mr. H. for chaperone. He +is getting old and says he never deserved the fuss they made +over him. We had a pretty perfect day although it threatened +rain most of the time. We wandered around from one spread to +another meeting beautifully dressed girls everywhere and +"lions" and celebrities. Then the fight for the roses around +the tree was very interesting and picturesque and arena like +and the best of all was sitting in the broad window seats of +the dormitories with a Girl or two, generally "a" girl and +listening to the glee club sing and watching the lanterns and +the crowds of people as beautiful as Redfern could make them. + +Half of Seabright was burnt down last week but not my half, +although the fire destroyed all the stores and fishermen's +houses and stopped only one house away +from Pannachi's, where I will put up. I am very well and +content and look forward to much pleasure this summer at +Seabright and much work. I find I have seldom been so happy +as when working hard and fast as I have been forced to do +these last two weeks and so I will keep it up. Not in such a +way as to hurt me but just enough to keep me happy. +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, August 1891. +From The Pall Mall Budget Gazette. + +"The Americans are saying, by the way, that they have +discovered a Rudyard Kipling of their own. This is Mr. +Richard Harding Davis, a volume of whose stories has been +published this week by Mr. Osgood. Mr. Davis is only +twenty-six, was for sometime on the staff of the New York +Evening Sun. He is now the editor of Harper's Weekly." + +That is me. I have also a mother and sister who once went to +London and what do you think they first went to see, in +London, mind you. They got into a four wheeler and they said +"cabby drive as fast as you can," not knowing that four +wheelers never go faster than a dead march--" to--" where do +you think? St. Paul's, the Temple, the Abbey, their lodgings, +the Houses of Parliament--the Pavilion Music Hall--the +Tower--no to none of these--"To the Post Office." That is +what my mother and sister did! After this when they hint that +they would like to go again and say "these muffins are not +English muffins" and "do you remember the little Inn at +Chester, ah, those were happy days," I will say, "And do you +remember the Post Office in Edinburgh and London. We have none +such in America." And as they only go abroad to get letters they +will hereafter go to Rittenhouse Square and I will write letters +to them from London. All this shows that a simple hurriedly +written letter from Richard Harding Davis is of more value than +all the show places of London. It makes me quite PROUD. And so +does this: + +"`Gallegher' is as good as anything of Bret Harte's, although +it is in Mr. Davis's own vein, not in the borrowed vein of +Bret Harte or anybody else. `The Cynical Miss Catherwaight' +is very good, too, and `Mr. Raegen' is still better." + +But on the other hand, it makes me tired, and so does this: + +"`The Other Woman' is a story which offends good taste in more +than one way. It is a blunder to have written it, a greater +blunder to have published it, and a greater blunder STILL to +have republished it." + +I suppose now that Dad has crossed with Prince George and Nora +has seen the Emperor, that you will be proud too. But you +will be prouder of your darling boy Charles, even though he +does get wiped out at Seabright next week and you will be even +prouder when he writes great stories for The Evening Sun. + +RICHARD. + + +The Players, + +16 Gramercy Park. + +24th, 1891. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I had a great day at the game and going there and coming back. +I met a great many old football men and almost all of them +spoke of the "Out of the Game" story. Cumnock, Camp, Poe, +Terry and lots more whose names mean nothing to you, so +ignorant are you, were there and we had long talks. +I went to see Cleveland yesterday about a thing of which I +have thought much and talked less and that was going into +politics in this country. To say he discouraged me in so +doing would be saying the rain is wet. He seemed to think +breaking stones as a means of getting fame and fortune was +quicker and more genteel. I also saw her and the BABY. She +explained why she had not written you and also incidentally +why she HAD written Childs. I do not know as what Cleveland +said made much impression upon me--although I found out what I +could expect from him--that is nothing here but apparently a +place abroad if I wanted it. But he thought Congress was +perfectly feasible but the greatest folly to go there. +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER V +FIRST TRAVEL ARTICLES + + +For Richard these first years in New York were filled to +overflowing with many varied interests, quite enough to +satisfy most young men of twenty-seven. He had come and seen +and to a degree, so far as the limitation of his work would +permit, had conquered New York, but Richard thoroughly +realized that New York was not only a very small part of the +world but of his own country, and that to write about his own +people and his own country and other people and other lands he +must start his travels at an early age, and go on travelling +until the end. And for the twenty-five years that followed +that was what Richard did. Even when he was not on his +travels but working on a novel or a play at Marion or later on +at Mount Kisco, so far as it was possible he kept in touch +with events that were happening and the friends that he had +made all over the globe. He subscribed to most of the English +and French illustrated periodicals and to one London daily +newspaper which every day he read with the same interest that +he read half a dozen New York newspapers and the interest was +always that of the trained editor at work. Richard was not +only physically restless but his mind practically never +relaxed. When others, tired after a hard day's work or +play, would devote the evening to cards or billiards +or chatter, Richard would write letters or pore over +some strange foreign magazine, consult maps, make notes, or +read the stories of his contemporaries. He practically read +every American magazine from cover to cover--advertisements +were a delight to him, and the finding of a new writer gave +him as much pleasure as if he had been the fiction editor who +had accepted the first story by the embryo genius. The +official organs of our army and navy he found of particular +interest. Not only did he thus follow the movements of his +friends in these branches of the service but if he read of a +case wherein he thought a sailor or a soldier had been done an +injustice he would promptly take the matter up with the +authorities at Washington, and the results he obtained were +often not only extremely gratifying to the wronged party but +caused Richard no end of pleasure. + +According to my brother's arrangement with the Harpers, he was +to devote a certain number of months of every year to the +editing of The Weekly, and the remainder to travel and the +writing of his experiences for Harper's Monthly. He started +on the first of these trips in January, 1892, and the result +was a series of articles which afterward appeared under the +title of "The West from a Car Window." + +January, 1892. +(Some place in Texas) + +I left St. Louis last night, Wednesday, and went to bed and +slept for twelve hours. To-day has been most trying and I +shall be very glad to get on dry land again. The snow has +ceased although the papers say this is the coldest snap they +have had in San Antonio in ten years. It might have waited a +month for me I think. It has been a most dreary trip from +a car window point of view. Now that the snow has gone, there +is mud and ice and pine trees and colored people, but no +cowboys as yet. They talk nothing but Chili and war and they +make such funny mistakes. We have a G. A. R. excursion on the +train, consisting of one fat and prosperous G. A. R., the rest +of the excursion having backed out on account of Garza who the +salient warriors imagine as a roaring lion seeking whom he may +devour. One old chap with white hair came on board at a +desolate station and asked for "the boys in blue" and was very +much disgusted when he found that "that grasshopper Garza" had +scared them away-- He had tramped five miles through the mud +to greet a possible comrade and was much chagrined. The +excursion shook hands with him and they took a drink together. +The excursion tells me he is a glass manufacturer, an owner of +a slate quarry and the best embalmer of bodies in the country. +He says he can keep them four years and does so "for +specimens" those that are left on his hands and others he +purchases from the morgue. He has a son who is an actor and +he fills me full of the most harrowing tales of Indian warfare +and the details of the undertaking business. He is SO funny +about the latter that I weep with laughter and he cannot see +why-- Joe Jefferson and I went to a matinee on Wednesday and +saw Robson in "She stoops to Conquer." The house was +absolutely packed and when Joe came in the box they yelled and +applauded and he nodded to them in the most fatherly, friendly +way as though to say "How are you, I don't just remember your +name but I'm glad to see you--" It was so much sweeter than if +he had got up and bowed as I would have done. + + +SAN ANTONIO + +I knew more about Texas than the Texans and when they told me +I would find summer here I smiled knowingly-- That is all the +smiling I have done---Did you ever see a stage set for a +garden or wood scene by daylight or Coney Island in +March--that is what the glorious, beautiful baking city of San +Antonio is like. There is mud and mud and mud--in cans, in +the gardens of the Mexicans and snow around the palms and +palmettos-- Does the sun shine anywhere? Are people ever +warm-- It is raw, ugly and muddy, the Mexicans are merely +dirty and not picturesque. I am greatly disappointed. But I +have set my teeth hard and I will go on and see it through to +the bitter end-- But I will not write anything for publication +until I can take a more cheerful view of it. I already have +reached the stage where I admit the laugh is on me-- But there +is still London to look forward to and this may get better +when the sun comes out---I went to the fort to-day and was +most courteously received. But they told me I should go on to +Laredo, if I expected to see any campaigning-- There is no +fighting nor is any expected but they say they will give me a +horse and I can ride around the chaparral as long as I want. +I will write you from Laredo, where I go to-morrow, Saturday-- + +DICK. + + +At Laredo Richard left the beaten track of the traveller, and +with Trooper Tyler, who acted as his guide, joined Captain +Hardie in his search for Garza. The famous revolutionist was +supposed to be in hiding this side of the border, and the +Mexican Government had asked the United States to find him and +return him to the officials of his own country. + + +In Camp, February 2nd. +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +We have stopped by the side of a trail for a while and I will +take the chance it gives me to tell you what I have been +doing. After Tyler and I returned to camp, we had a day of +rest before Captain Hardie arrived. He is a young, +red-moustached, pointed-bearded chap with light blue eyes, +rough with living in the West but most kind hearted and +enthusiastic. He treats me as though I were his son which is +rather absurd as he is only up to my shoulder. It is so hot I +cannot make the words go straight and you must not mind if I +wander. We are hugging a fence for all the shade there is and +the horses and men have all crawled to the dark side of it and +are sleeping or swearing at the sun. It is about two o'clock +and we have been riding since half-past seven. I have had a +first rate time but I do not see that there has been much in +it to interest any one but myself and where Harper Brothers +or the "gentle reader" comes in, I am afraid I cannot see, and +if I cannot see it I fear he will be in a bad way. It has +pleased and interested me to see how I could get along under +difficult circumstances and with so much discomfort but as I +say I was not sent out here to improve my temper or my health +or to make me more content with my good things in the East. +If we could have a fight or something that would excuse and +make a climax for all this marching and reconnoitering and +discomfort the story would have a suitable finale and a raison +d'etre. However, I may get something out of it if only to abuse +the Government for their stupidity in chasing a jack rabbit with +a brass band or by praising the men for doing their duty when +they know there is no duty to be done. This country is more +like the ocean than anything else and drives one crazy with +its monotony and desolation. And to think we went to war with +Mexico for it-- To-day is my tenth day with the troops in the +camp and in the field and I will leave them as soon as this +scout is over which will be in three days at the most. Then I +will go to Corpus Christi and from there to the ranches but I +will wait until I get baths, hair cuts and a dinner and cool +things to drink-- One thing has pleased me very much and that +is that I, with Tyler and the Mexican Scout made the second +best riding record of the troop since they have been in the +field this winter. The others rode 115 miles in 32 hours, +four of them under the first Sergeant, after revolutionists, +and we made 110 miles in 33 hours. The rest of the detachment +made 90 miles and our having the extra thirty to our credit +was an accident. On the 31st Hardie sent out the scout and +two troopers, of which Tyler was one, to get a trail and as I +had been resting and loafing for three days, I went out with +them. We left at eight after breakfast and returned at seven, +having made thirty miles. When we got in we found that a +detachment was going out on information sent in while we were +out. Tyler was in it and so we got fresh horses and put out +at nine o'clock by moonlight. That was to keep the people in +the ranch from knowing we were going out. We rode until +half-past three in the morning and then camped at the side of +the road until half--past six, when we rode on until five in +the afternoon. The men who were watching to see me give up grew +more and more interested as the miles rolled out and the First +Sergeant was very fearful for his record for which he has been +recommended for the certificate of merit. The Captain was +very much pleased and all the men came and spoke to me. It +must have been a good ride for Tyler who is a fifth year man +was so tired that he paid a man to do his sentry duty. We +slept at Captain Hunter's camp that last night and we both +came on this morning, riding thirty miles up to two o'clock +to-day. From here we go on into the brush again. I am very +proud of that riding record and of my beard which is fine. I +will finish this when we get near a post-office. + +DICK. + + +February 4th-- We rode forty miles through the brush but saw +nothing of Garza, who was supposed to be in it. But we +captured 3 revolutionists, one of whom ran away but the scout +got him. Hardie, Tyler, who is his orderly, and the scout and +I took them in because the rest of the column was lagging in +the rear and the Lieutenant got bally hooly for it. Tyler +disarmed one and I took away the other chaps things. Then we +took a fourth in and let them all go for want of evidence and +after some of the ranch men had identified them. + + +CORPUS CHRISTI, February 6. + +We ended our scout yesterday, and camped at Captain Hunter's +last night-- Mother can now rest her soul in peace as I have +done with scoutings and have replaced the free and easy belt +and revolver for the black silk suspenders and the fire badge +of civilization. I am still covered with 11 days dirt but +will get lots of good things to eat and drink and smoke +at Corpus Christi to night, where I will stay for two days. I +am writing this on the car and a ranger is shooting splinters +out of the telegraph poles from the window in front and has a +New York drummer in a state of absolute nervous prostration. +I met the Rangers last night as we came into camp and find +them quite the most interesting things yet. They are just +what I expected to find here and have not disappointed me. +Everything else is either what we know it to be and know all +about or else is disappointingly commonplace. I mean we know +certain things are picturesque and I find them so but they +have been "done" to death and new material seems so scarce. I +am sometimes very fearful of the success of the letters-- +However, the Rangers I simply loved. They were gentle voiced +and did not swear as the soldiers do and some of them were as +handsome men as I ever saw and SO BIG. And such children. +They showed me all their tricks at the request of the Adjutant +General, who looks upon them as his special property. They +shot four shots into a tree with a revolver, going at full +gallop, hit a mark with both hands at once, shot with the +pistol upside down and the Captain put eight shots into a +board with a Winchester, while I was putting two into the +field around it. We got along very well indeed and they were +quite keen for me to go back and chase Garza. They are sure +they have him now. I gave the Captain permission to put four +shots into my white helmet. He only put two and the rest of +the company thinking their reputations were at stake whipped +out their guns and snatched up their rifles and blazed away +until they danced the hat all over the ranch. Then remorse +overcame them and they proposed taking up a collection to get me +a sombrero, which I stopped. So Nora's hat is gone but I am +going to get another and save myself from sunstroke again. The +last part of the ride was enlivened by the presence of three +Mexican murderers handcuffed and chained with iron bands around +the neck, that is Texas civilization isn't it-- + +I have had my dinner and a fine dinner it was with fresh fish +and duck and oysters and segars which I have not had for a +week. I am finishing this at Constantine's and will be here +for two days to write things and will then go on to King's +ranch and from there to San Antonio, where I will also rest a +week. I will just about get through my schedule in the ten +weeks at this rate. I had a good time in the bush and am +enjoying it very much though it is lonely now and then-- +Still, it is very interesting and if the stories amount to +anything I will be pleased but I am constantly wondering how +on earth Chas stood it as he did. He is a hero to me for I +have some hope of getting back and he had not-- He is a +sport-- How I will sleep to night--a real bed and sheets and +pajamas, after the ground and the same clothes for eleven +days. + +of love. + +DICK. + + +While Richard was travelling in the West, his second volume of +short stories, "Van Bibber and Others," was published. The +volume was dedicated to my father, who wrote Richard the +following letter: + + +PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1892. +MY DEAR OWN DICK: + +I have not been the complete letter writer I should have been, +as I told you on Saturday, but I know you +will understand. Your two good letters came this evening, +one to Mamma and one to Nora. They were a good deal to us +all, most, of course, to your dear mother and sister, who have +a fond, foolish fancy or love for you--strange--isn't it? +Yes, dear boy, I liked the new story very, very much. It was +in your best book and in fine spirit, and I liked, too, the +dedication of the book--its meaning and its manner. I am glad +to be associated with my dear boy and with his work even in +that brief way. You may not yet thought about it after this +fashion, but I have thought a good deal about it. Reports +come to me of you from many sources, and they are all good, +and they all reflect honor upon me-- Upon me as I'm getting +ready to salute the world, as our French friends say. It is +very pleasant to me as I think it over to feel and to know +that my boy has honored my name, that he has done something +good and useful in the world and for the world. I have +something more than pride in you. I am grateful to you. If +this is a little prosie, dear old fellow, forgive it. It is +late at night and I am a little tired, and being tired stupid. +You saw The Atlantic notice of your work. I wish you could +have heard Nora on the author of it, who would not have been +happy in his mind if he had unhappily heard her. She went for +that Heathen Chinee like a wild cat. No disrespect to her, +but, all the same, like a wild cat. To me it was interesting. +I did not agree with it, but here and there I saw the flash of +truth even in the adverse praise. I should have had more +respect for the author's opinion if he had liked that vital +speck, Raegen. If he could not see the divine, human spark in +that--a flash from Calvary, what is the use of considering +him? My greatest pride in you, that which has added some +sweetness and joy to my life, has been the recognition that +something of the divine element was given you, and that your +voice rang out sweet and pure at a time when other voices were +sounding the fascinations of impurity. That, like Christ, you +taught humanity. Don't be afraid of being thought "fresh," fear +to be thought "knowing." Life isn't much worth at best,--it is +worth nothing at all unless some good be done in it---the more, +the better. Don't make it too serious either. Enjoy it as you +go, but after a fashion that will bring no reproach to your +manhood. Don't be afraid to preach the truth and above all the +religion of humanity. Good night, dear boy. I'm a little tired +to night. +With great love, + +DAD. + + +ANADARKO-February 26th, 1892. +DEAR FAMILY:-- + +I could not write you before as I have been traveling from +pillars to posts, (a joke), in a stage, night and day. I went +to Fort Reno from Oklahoma City where they drove me crazy +almost with town lots and lot sites and homestead holdings. +It was all raw and mean, and greedy for money and a man is +much better off in every way in a tenement on Second Avenue +than the "owner of his own home" in one of these mushroom +cities-- So I think. I went to Fort Reno by stage and it +seemed to me that I was really in the West for the first time-- +The rest has been as much like the oil towns around Pittsburgh +as anything else. But here there are rolling prairie lands with +millions of prairie dogs and deep canons and bluffs of red clay +that stand out as clear as a razor hollowed and carved +away by the water long ago. And the grass is as high as a +stirrup and the trees very plentiful after the plains of +Texas. The men at Fort Reno were the best I have met, indeed +I am just a little tired of trying to talk of things of +interest to the Second Lieutenant's intellect. But I had to +leave there because I had missed the beef issue and had to see +it and as it was due here I pushed on. This post is very +beautiful but the men are very young and civil appointments +mainly, which means that they have not been to West Point but +had fathers and have friends with influence and they are +fresh. But the scenery around the post is delightfully wild +and big and there is an Indian camp at the foot of the hill on +which the fort is stuck. Mother, instead of going to Europe, +should come here and see her Indians. Only if she did she +would bring a dozen or more of the children back with her. +They are the brightest spot in my trip and I spend the +mornings and afternoons trying to get them to play with me. +They are very shy and pretty and beautifully barbaric and wear +the most gorgeous trappings. The women, the older ones, are +the ugliest women I ever saw. But the men are fine. I never +saw such color as they give to the landscape and one always +thinks they have dressed up just to please you. I have spent +most of my time and money in buying things from them but they +are very dear because the Indians take long to make them and +do not like to part with them. I have had rough times lately +but I think I would be content to remain in the west six +months if I could. It is the necessity of leaving places I +like and pushing on to places I don't, I dislike. Reno was +fine with a band and lots of fine fellows. This post is not +so queer but they are so young-- It makes a great bit of color +though with the yellow capes of the cavalry and the soldiers +wig--waging red and white flags at other soldiers eight miles +away on other mountains and the Indians in yellow buckskin and +blankets and their faces painted too. I went to the beef +issue to-day--it was not a pretty sight and most barbarous and +cruel. I also went to a council at which the chiefs were +protesting against the cutting down of their rations which is +Commissioner Morgan's doing and which it is expected will lead +to war-- We went in out of curiosity and without knowing it +was a Council and were very much ashamed when one of the +Chiefs rose and said he was glad to see the officers present +as they were the best friends the Indians had and the only men +they could respect in times of peace as a friend, or in times +of war as an enemy. At which we took off our hats and sat it +through. Mother's blood would rise if she could hear the +stories they tell, and they are so dignified and polite. They +have an Indian troop here, like the one described in The +Weekly, which you should read and the Captain told them I was +a great Chief from the East, whereat all the soldiers who were +of noble lineage claimed their privilege of shaking hands with +me, which had a demoralizing effect upon the formation and the +white privates were either convulsed with mirth or red with +indignation. But you cannot treat them like white men who do +not know their ancestors-- Dad's letter was the best I have +ever got from him and he had always better write when he is +tired. I will always keep it. + +DICK. + + +DENVER--March 7, 1892. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I arrived in Denver Friday night and realized that I was +in a city again where the more you order people +about the more they do for you, being civilized and so +understanding that you mean to tip them. I found my first +letter on the newsstand and was very much pleased with it, and +with the way they put it out. The proof was perfect and if +there had been more pictures I would have been entirely +satisfied, as it was I was very much pleased. My baggage had +not come, so covered with mud and dust and straw from the +stages and generally disreputable I went to see a burlesque, +and said "Front row, end seat," just as naturally as though I +was in evening dress and high hat--and then I sank into a +beautiful deep velvet chair and saw Amazon marches and ladies +in tights and heard the old old jokes and the old old songs we +know so well and sing so badly. The next morning I went for +my mail and the entire post office came out to see me get it. +It took me until seven in the evening to finish it, and I do +not know that it will ever be answered. The best of it was +that you were all pleased with my letters. That put my mind +at rest. Then there was news of deaths and marriages and +engagements and the same people doing the same things they did +when I went away. I did not intend to present any letters as +I was going away that night to Creede, but I found I could not +get any money unless some one identified me so I presented one +to a Mr. Jerome who all the bankers said they would be only +too happy to oblige. After one has been variously taken for a +drummer, photographer and has been offered so much a line to +"write up" booming towns, it is a relief to get back to a +place where people know you.--I told Mr. Jerome I had a letter +of introduction and that I was Mr. Davis and he shook hands +and then looked at the letter and said "Good Heavens are you +that Mr. Davis" and then rushed off and brought back the entire +establishment brokers, bankers and mine owners and they all sat +around and told me funny stories and planned more things for me +to do and eat than I could dispose of in a month. + +I am now en route to Creede. Creede when you first see it in +print looks like creede but after you have been in Denver or +Colorado even for one day it reads like C R E E D E. All the +men on this car think they are going to make their fortunes, +and toward that end they have on new boots and flannel shirts, +and some of them seeing my beautiful clothing and careful +array came over and confided to me that they were really not +so tough as they looked and had never worn a flannel shirt +before. This car is typical of what they told me I would find +at Creede. There are rich mine owners who are pointed out by +the conductor as the fifth part owner of the "Pot Luck" mine, +and dudes in astrakan fur coats over top boots and new flannel +shirts, and hardened old timers with their bedding and tin +pans, who have prospected all over the state and women who are +smoking and drinking. + +I feel awfully selfish whenever I look out of the car window. +Switzerland which I have never seen is a spot on the map +compared to this. The mountains go up with snow on one side +and black rows of trees and rocks on the other, and the clouds +seem packed down between them. The sun on the snow and the +peaks peering above the clouds is all new to me and so very +beautiful that I would like to buy a mountain and call it +after my best girl. I will finish this when I get to Creede. +I expect to make my fortune there. +DICK. + +CREEDE, March 7. + +A young man in a sweater and top boots met me at the depot and +said that I was Mr. Davis and that he was a young man whose +life I had written in "There was 90 and 9." He was from +Buffalo and was editing a paper in Creede. He said I was to +stop with him-- Creede is built of new pine boards and lies +between two immense mountains covered with pines and snow. +The town is built in the gulley and when the spring freshets +come will be a second Johnstown. Faber, the young man, took +me to the Grub State Cabin where I found two most amusing +dudes and thoroughbred sports from Boston, Harvard men living +in a cabin ten by eight with four bunks and a stove, two +banjos and H O P E. They own numerous silver mines, lots, and +shares, but I do not believe they have five dollars in cash +amongst them. They have a large picture of myself for one of +the ORNAMENTS and are great good fellows. We sat up in our +bunks until two this morning talking and are planning to go to +Africa and Mexico and Asia Minor together.--Lots of love. +DICK. + + +Very happy indeed to be back in his beloved town, Richard +returned to New York late in March, 1892, and resumed his +editorial duties. But on this occasion his stay was of +particularly short duration, and in May, he started for his +long-wished-for visit to London. The season there was not yet +in full swing, and after spending a few days in town, +journeyed to Oxford, where he settled down to amuse himself +and collect material for his first articles on English life as +he found it. In writing of this visit to Oxford, H. J. +Whigham, one of Richard's oldest friends, and who afterward +served with him in several campaigns, said: + +"When we first met Richard Harding Davis he was living, to all +practical purposes, the life of an undergraduate at Balliol +College, Oxford. Anyone at all conversant with the customs of +universities, especially with the idiosyncrasies of Oxford, +knows that for a person who is not an undergraduate to share +the life of undergraduates on equal terms, to take part in +their adventures, to be admitted to their confidence is more +difficult than it is for the camel to pass through the eye of +a needle or for the rich man to enter heaven. It was +characteristic of Davis that although he was a few years older +than the average university "man" and came from a strange +country and, moreover, had no official reason for being at +Oxford at all, he was accepted as one of themselves by the +Balliol undergraduates, in fact, lived in Balliol for at least +a college term, and happening to fall in with a somewhat +enterprising generation of Balliol men he took the lead in +several escapades which have been written into Oxford history. +There is in the makeup of the best type of college +undergraduate a wonderful spirit of adventure, an unprejudiced +view of life, an almost Quixotic feeling for romance, a +disdain of sordid or materialistic motives, which together +make the years spent at a great university the most golden of +the average man's career. These characteristics Davis was +fortunate enough to retain through all the years of his life. +The same spirit that took him out with a band of Oxford youths +to break down an iron barrier set by an insolent landowner +across the navigable waters of Shakespeare's Avon carried him, +in after years, to the battlefields where Greece fought +against the yoke of Turkey, to the insurrecto camps of Cuba, +to the dark horrors of the Congo, to Manchuria, where gallant +Japan beat back the overwhelming power of Russia, to Belgium, +where he saw the legions of Germany trampling over the +prostrate bodies of a small people. Romance was never dead +while Davis was alive." + +That Richard lost no time in making friends at Oxford as, +indeed, he never failed to do wherever he went, the following +letters to his mother would seem to show: + + +OXFORD--May, 1892. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I came down here on Saturday morning with the Peels, who gave +an enormous boating party and luncheon on a tiny little +island. The day was beautiful with a warm brilliant sun, and +the river was just as narrow and pretty as the head of the +Squan river, and with old walls and college buildings added. +We had the prettiest Mrs. Peel in our boat and Mrs. Joseph +Chamberlain, who was Miss Endicott and who is very sweet and +pretty. We raced the other punts and rowboats and soon, after +much splashing and exertion, reached the head of the river. +Then we went to, tea in New College and to see the sights of +the different colleges now on the Thames. The barges of the +colleges, painted different colors and gilded like circus +band-wagons and decorated with coats of arms and flying great +flags, lined the one shore for a quarter of a mile and were +covered by girls in pretty frocks and under-grads in blazers. +Then the boats came into sight one after another with the men +running alongside on the towpath. This was one of the most +remarkable sights of the country so far. There were over six +hundred men coming six abreast, falling and stumbling and +pushing, shouting and firing pistols. It sounded like a +cavalry charge and the line seemed endless. The whole thing +was most theatrical and effective. Then we went to the annual +dinner of the Palmerston Club, where I made a speech which was, +as there is no one else to tell you, well received, "being +frequently interrupted with applause," from both the diners and +the ladies in the gallery. It was about Free Trade and the way +America was misrepresented in the English papers, and composed +of funny stories which had nothing to do with the speech. I +did not know I was going to speak until I got there, and +considering the fact, as Wilson says, that your uncle was playing +on a strange table with a crooked cue he did very well. The +next morning we breakfasted with the Bursar of Trinity and had +luncheon with the Viscount St. Cyres to meet Lord and Lady +Coleridge. St. Cyres is very shy and well-bred, and we would +have had a good time had not the M. P.'s present been filled +with awe of the Lord Chief Justice and failed to draw him out. +As it was he told some very funny stories; then we went to tea +with Hubert Howard, in whose rooms I live and am now writing, +and met some stupid English women and shy girls. Then we +dined with the dons at New College, so--called because it is +eight hundred years old. We sat at a high table in a big hall +hung with pictures and lit by candles. The under-grads sat +beneath in gowns and rattled pewter mugs. We all wore evening +dress and those that had them red and white fur collars. +After dinner we left the room according to some process of +selection, carrying our napkins with us. We entered a room +called the Commons, where we drank wines and ate nuts and +raisins. It was all very solemn and dull and very dignified. +Outside it was quite light although nine o'clock. Then we +marched to another room where there were cigars and brandy +and soda, but Arthur Pollen and I had to go and take coffee +with the Master of Balliol, the only individual of whom Pollen +stands in the least awe. He was a dear old man who said, "O +yes, you're from India," and on my saying "No, from America"; +he said, "O yes, it's the other one." I found the other one +was an Indian princess in a cashmere cloak and diamonds, who +looked so proud and lovely and beautiful that I wanted to take +her out to one of the seats in the quadrangle and let her weep +on my shoulder. How she lives among these cold people I +cannot understand. We were all to go to a concert in the +chapel, and half of the party started off, but the Master's +wife said, "Oh, I am sure the Master expects them to wait for +him in the hall. It is always done." At which all the women +made fluttering remarks of sympathy and the men raced off to +bring the others back. Only the Indian girl and I remained +undisturbed and puzzled. The party came back, but the Master +saw them and said, "Well, it does not matter, but it is +generally done." At which we all felt guilty. When we got to +the chapel everybody stood up until the Master's party sat +down, but as it was broken in the middle of the procession, +they sat down, and then, seeing we had not all passed, got up +again, so that I felt like saying, "As you were, men," as they +do out West in the barracks. Then Lord Coleridge in taking +off his overcoat took off his undercoat, too, and stood +unconscious of the fact before the whole of Oxford. The faces +of the audience which packed the place were something +wonderful to see; their desire to laugh at a tall, red-faced +man who looks like a bucolic Bill Nye struggling into his +coat, and then horror at seeing the Chief Justice in his +shirt-sleeves, was a terrible effort--and no one would help him, +on the principle, I suppose, that the Queen of Spain has no legs. +He would have been struggling yet if I had not, after watching +him and Lady Coleridge struggling with him, for a full minute, +taken his coat and firmly pulled the old gentleman into it, at +which he turned his head and winked. + +I will go back to town by the first to see the Derby and will +get into lodgings there. I AM HAVING A VERY GOOD TIME AND AM +VERY WELL. The place is as beautiful as one expects and yet +all the time startling one with its beauty. + +DICK. + + +When the season at Oxford was over Richard returned to London +and took a big sunny suite of rooms in the Albany. Here he +settled down to learn all he could of London, its ways and its +people. In New York he had already met a number of English +men and women distinguished in various walks of life, and with +these as a nucleus he soon extended his circle of friends +until it became as large as it was varied. In his youth, and +indeed throughout his life, Richard had the greatest affection +for England and the English. No truer American ever lived, +but he thought the United States and Great Britain were bound +by ties that must endure always. He admired British habits, +their cosmopolitanism and the very simplicity of their mode of +living. He loved their country life, and the swirl of London +never failed to thrill him. During the last half of his life +Richard had perhaps as many intimate friends in London as in +New York. His fresh point of view, his very eagerness to +understand theirs, made them welcome him more as one of their +own people than as a stranger. + +LONDON, June 3, 1892. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I went out to the Derby on Wednesday and think it is the most +interesting thing I ever saw over here. It is SO like these +people never to have seen it. It seems to be chiefly composed +of costermongers and Americans. I got a box-seat on a public +coach and went out at ten. We rode for three hours in a +procession of donkey shays, omnibuses, coaches, carriages, +vans, advertising wagons; every sort of conveyance stretching +for sixteen miles, and with people lining the sides to look +on. I spent my time when I got there wandering around over +the grounds, which were like Barnum's circus multiplied by +thousands. It was a beautiful day and quite the most +remarkable sight of my life. Much more wonderful than +Johnstown, so you see it must have impressed me. We were five +hours getting back, the people singing all the way and pelting +one another and saying funny impudent things. + +My rooms are something gorgeous. They are on the first floor, +looking into Piccadilly from a court, and they are filled with +Hogarth's prints, old silver, blue and white china, Zulu +weapons and fur rugs, and easy chairs of India silk. You +never saw such rooms! And a very good servant, who cooks and +valets me and runs errands and takes such good care of me that +last night Cust and Balfour called at one to get some supper +and he would not let them in. Think of having the Leader of +the House of Commons come to ask you for food and having him +sent away. Burdett-Coutts heard of my being here in the +papers and wrote me to dine with him tonight. I lunched with +the Tennants today; no relation to Mrs. Stanley, and it was +informal and funny rather. The Earl of Spender was there and +Lord Pembroke and a lot of women. They got up and walked about +and changed places and seemed to know one another better than we +do at home. I think I will go down to Oxford for Whitsuntide, +which is a heathen institution here which sends everyone away +just as I want to meet them. + +I haven't written anything yet. I find it hard to do so. I +think I would rather wait until I get home for the most of it. +Chas. will be here in less than a week now and we will have a +good time. I have planned it out for days. He must go to +Oxford and meet those boys, and then, if he wishes, on to +Eastnor, which I learn since my return is one of the show +places of England. I am enjoying myself, it is needless to +say, very much, and am well and happy. + +DICK. + + +During these first days in England Richard spent much of his +time at Eastnor, Lady Brownlow's place in Lincolnshire, and +one of the most beautiful estates in England. Harry Cust, to +whom my brother frequently refers in his letters, was the +nephew of Lady Brownlow, and a great friend of Richard's. At +that time Cust was the Conservative nominee for Parliament +from Lincolnshire, and Richard took a most active part in the +campaign. Happily, we were both at Lady Brownlow's during its +last few tense days, as well as on the day the votes were +counted, and Cust was elected by a narrow margin. Of our +thrilling adventures Richard afterward wrote at great length +in "Our English Cousins." + + +LONDON, July 6, 1892. +DEAR MOTHER: + +On the Fourth of July, Lady Brownlow sent into town and +had a big American flag brought out and placed over +the house, which was a great compliment, as it was seen +and commented on for miles around. Cushing of Boston, a +very nice chap and awfully handsome, is there, too. The same +morning I went out to photograph the soldiers, and Lord +William Frederick, who is their colonel, charged them after me +whenever I appeared. It seems he has a sense of humor and +liked the idea of making an American run on the Fourth of July +from Red-coats. I doubt if the five hundred men who were not +on horseback thought it as funny. They chased me till I +thought I would die. The Conservative member for the county +got in last night and we rejoiced greatly, as the moral effect +will help Harry Cust greatly. His election takes place next +Monday. The men went in to hear the vote declared after +dinner, and so did two of the girls, who got Lady Brownlow's +consent at dinner, and then dashed off to change their gowns +before she could change her mind. As we were intent on seeing +the fun and didn't want them, we took them just where we would +have gone anyway, which was where the fighting was. And they +showed real sporting blood and saw the other real sort. There +were three of us to each girl, and it was most exciting, with +stones flying and windows crashing and cheers and groans. A +political meeting or election at home is an afternoon tea to +the English ones. When we came back the soldiers were leaving +the Park to stop the row, and as we flew past, the tenants ran +to the gate and cheered for the Tory victory in "good old +lopes." When we got to the house the servants ran cheering +all over the shop and rang the alarm bell and built fires, and +we had a supper at one-fifteen. What they will do on the +night of Cust's election, I cannot imagine-- +burn the house down probably. Cushing and I enjoy it +immensely. We know them well enough now to be as funny as we +like without having them stare. They are nice when you know +them, but you've GOT to know them first. I had a great +dinner at Farrar's. All the ecclesiastical lights of England +in knee-breeches were there, and the American Minister and +Phillips Brooks. It was quite novel and fun. Lots of love. +I have all the money I want. + + +DICK. + + +With Cust properly elected, Richard and I returned to the +Albany and settled down to enjoy London from many angles. +Although my brother had been there but a few weeks, his +acquaintances among the statesmen, artists, social +celebrities, and the prominent actors of the day was quite as +extraordinary as his geographical and historical knowledge of +the city. We gave many jolly parties, and on account of +Richard's quickly acquired popularity were constantly being +invited to dinners, dances, and less formal but most amusing +Bohemian supper-parties. During these days there was little +opportunity for my brother to do much writing, but he was very +busy making mental notes not only for his coming book on the +English people, but for a number of short stories which he +wrote afterward in less strenuous times. We returned to New +York in August, and Richard went to Marion to rest from his +social activities, and to work on his English articles. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PARIS + +It was, I think, the year previous to this that my mother and +father had deserted Point Pleasant as a place to spend their +summer vacations in favor of Marion, on Cape Cod, and Richard +and I, as a matter of course, followed them there. At that +time Marion was a simple little fishing village where a few +very charming people came every summer and where the fishing +was of the best. In all ways the life was most primitive, and +happily continued so for many years. In, these early days +Grover Cleveland and his bride had a cottage there, and he and +Joseph Jefferson, who lived at Buzzard's Bay, and my father +went on daily fishing excursions. Richard Watson Gilder was +one of the earliest settlers of the summer colony, and many +distinguished members of the literary and kindred professions +came there to visit him. It was a rather drowsy life for +those who didn't fish--a great deal of sitting about on one's +neighbor's porch and discussion of the latest novel or the +newest art, or of one's soul, and speculating as to what would +probably become of it. From the first Richard formed a great +affection for the place, and after his marriage adopted it as +his winter as well as his summer home. As a workshop he had +two rooms in one of the natives' cottages, and two more +charming rooms it would be hard to imagine. The little +shingled cottage was literally covered with honeysuckle, +and inside there were the old wall-papers, the open +hearths, the mahogany furniture, and the many charming +things that had been there for generations, and all +of which helped to contribute to the quaint peaceful +atmosphere of the place. Dana Gibson had a cottage just +across the road, and around the corner Gouverneur Morris lived +with his family. At this time neither of these friends of +Richard, nor Richard himself, allied themselves very closely +to the literary colony and its high thoughts, but devoted most +of their time to sailing about Sippican Harbor, playing tennis +and contributing an occasional short story or an illustration +to a popular magazine. But after the colony had taken flight, +Richard often remained long into the fall, doing really +serious work and a great deal of it. At such times he had to +depend on a few friends who came to visit him, but principally +on the natives to many of whom he was greatly attached. It +was during these days that he first met his future wife, Cecil +Clark, whose father, John M. Clark of Chicago, was one of the +earliest of the summer colonists to build his own home at +Marion. A most charming and hospitable home it was, and it +was in this same house where we had all spent so many happy +hours that Richard was married and spent his honeymoon, and +for several years made his permanent home. Of the life of +Marion during this later period, he became an integral part, +and performed his duties as one of its leading citizens with +much credit to the town and its people. For Marion Richard +always retained a great affection, for there he had played and +worked many of his best years. He had learned to love +everything of which the quaint old town was possessed, animate +and inanimate, and had I needed any further proof of how +deeply the good people of Marion loved Richard, the letters I +received from many of them at the time of his death would show. + +In the early fall of 1892 Richard returned to his editorial +work on Harper's Weekly, and one of the first assignments he +gave was to despatch himself to Chicago to report the +Dedication Exercises of the World's Fair. That the trip at +least started out little to my brother's liking the following +seems to show. However, Richard's moods frequently changed +with the hour, and it is more than possible that before the +letter was sent he was enjoying himself hugely and regarding +Chicago with his usual kindly eyes. + +Chicago Club, +DEAR FAMILY: October 2, 1892. + + +Though lost to sight I am still thinking of you sadly. It +seems that I took a coupe after leaving you and after living +in it for a few years I grew tired and got out on the prairie +and walked along drinking in the pure air from the lakes and +reading Liebig's and Cooper's advs. After a brisk ten mile +walk I reentered my coupe and we in time drew up before a +large hotel inhabited by a clerk and a regular boarder. I am +on the seventh floor without a bathroom or electric button--I +merely made remarks and then returned to town in a railroad +train which runs conveniently near. After gaining +civilization I made my way through several parades or it may +have been the same one to the reviewing stand. My progress +was marked by mocking remarks by the police who asked of each +other to get on to my coat and on several occasions I was +mistaken by a crowd of some thousand people for the P----e of +W----s, and tumultuously cheered. At last I found an inspector +of police on horseback, who agreed to get me to the stand if it +took a leg. He accordingly charged about 300 women and clubbed +eight men--I counted them--and finally got me in. He was very +drunk but he was very good to me. + + + + +Once back from Chicago Richard divided his time between his +desk at Franklin Square, his rooms on Twenty-eighth Street, +and in quickly picking up the friendships and the social +activities his trip to England had temporarily broken off. +Much as he now loved London, he was still an enthusiastic New +Yorker, and the amount of work and play he accomplished was +quite extraordinary. Indeed it is difficult to understand +where he found the time to do so much. In addition to his +work on Harper's he wrote many short stories and special +articles, not only because he loved the mere writing of them, +but because he had come to so greatly enjoy the things he +could buy with the money his labors now brought him. His +pleasures had increased as steadily as the prices he could now +command for his stories, and in looking back on those days it +is rather remarkable when one considers his age, the +temptations that surrounded him, and his extraordinary +capacity for enjoyment, that he never seems to have forgotten +the balance between work and play, and stuck to both with an +unswerving and unceasing enthusiasm. However, after four +months of New York, he decided it was high time for him to be +off again, and he arranged with the Harpers to spend the late +winter and the spring in collecting material for the two sets +of articles which afterward appeared in book form under the +titles of "The Rulers of the Mediterranean" and "About Paris." +He set sail for Gibraltar the early part of February, 1893, and +the following letters describe his leisurely progress about the +Mediterranean ports. + + +NEW YORK, February 3, 1893. +DEAREST MOTHER: + +This is a little present for you and a goodby. Your +packing-case is what I need and what I shall want, and I love +it because you made it. But as YOU say, we understand and +do not have to write love letters; you have given me all that +is worth while in me, and I love you so that I look forward +already over miles and miles and days and months, and just see +us sitting together at Marion and telling each other how good +it is to be together again and holding each other's hands. I +don't believe you really know how HAPPY I am in loving you, +dear, and in having you say nice things about me. God bless +you, dearest, and may I never do anything to make you feel +less proud of your wicked son. + +DICK. + + +Off Gibraltar, +DEAR MOTHER: February 12, 1893. + +Today is Sunday. We arrive at Gibraltar at five tomorrow +morning and the boat lies there until nine o'clock. Unless +war and pestilence have broken out in other places, I shall go +over to Tangiers in a day or two, and from there continue on +my journey as mapped out when I left. I have had a most +delightful trip and the most enjoyable I have ever taken by +sea. These small boats are as different from the big +twin-screw steamers as a flat from a Broadway hotel. + +Everyone gets to know everything about everyone else, and it +has been more like a yacht than a passenger steamer. When I +first came on board I thought I would not find in any new old +country I was about to visit anything more foreign than the +people, and I was right, but they are most amusing and I have +learned a great deal. They are different from any people I +know, and are the Americans we were talking about. The ones +of whom I used to read in The Atlantic and Blackwood's, as +traveling always and sinking out of sight whenever they +reached home. They, with the exception of a Boston couple, +know none of my friends or my haunts, and I have learned a +great deal in meeting them. It has been most BROADENING and +the change has been SUCH a rest. I had no idea of how tired +I was of talking about the theater of Arts and Letters and +Miss Whitney's debut and my Soul. These people are simple and +unimaginative and bourgeois to a degree and as kind-hearted +and apparent as animal alphabets. I do not think I have had +such a complete change or rest in years, and I am sure I have +not laughed so much for as long. Of course, the idea of a six +months' holiday is enough to make anyone laugh at anything, +but I find that besides that I was a good deal harassed and +run down, and I am glad to cut off from everything and start +fresh. I feel miserably selfish about it all the time. + +These Germans run everything as though you were the owner of +the line. The discipline is like that of the German Army or +of a man-of-war, everything moves by the stroke of a bell, and +they have had dances and speeches and concerts and religious +services and lectures every other minute. Into all of these I +have gone with much enthusiasm. We have at the +captain's table Dr. Field, the editor of The Evangelist, +John Russell, a Boston Democrat, who was in Congress and who +has been in public life for over forty years. A Tammany +sachem, who looks like and worships Tweed, and who says what I +never heard an American off the stage say: "That's me. +That's what I do," he says. "When I have insomnia, I don't +believe in your sleeping draughts. I get up and go round to +Jake Stewart's on Fourteenth Street and eat a fry or a +porterhouse steak and then I sleep good---that's me." There +is also a lively lady from Albany next to me and her husband, +who tells anecdotes of the war just as though it had happened +yesterday. Indeed, they are all so much older than I that all +their talk is about things I never understood the truth about, +and it is most interesting. I really do not know when I have +enjoyed my meal time so much. The food is very good, although +queer and German, and we generally take two hours to each +sitting. Dr. Field is my especial prey and he makes me laugh +until I cry. He is just like James Lewis in "A Night Off," +and is always rubbing his hands and smacking his lips over his +own daring exploits. I twist everything he says into meaning +something dreadful, and he is instantly explaining he did not +really see a bullfight, but that he walked around the outside +of the building. I have promised to show him life with a +capital L, and he is afraid as death of me. But he got back +at me grandly last night when he presented a testimonial to +the captain, and referred to the captain's wife and boy whom +he is going to see after a two years' absence, at which the +captain wept and everybody else wept. And Field, seeing he +had made a point, waved his arms and cried, "I have never +known a man who amounted to anything who had not a good wife +to care for--except YOU--" he shouted, pointing at me, "and +no woman will ever save YOU." At which the passengers, who +fully appreciated how I had been worrying him, applauded +loudly, and the Doctor in his delight at having scored on me +forgot to give the captain his testimonial. + +There are two nice girls on board from Chicago and a queer +Southern girl who paints pictures and sings and writes poetry, +and who is traveling with an odd married woman who is an +invalid and who like everyone else on board has apparently +spent all her life away from home. I have spent my odd time +in writing the story I told Dad the night before I sailed and +I think it in some ways the best, quite the best, I have +written. I read it to the queer girl and her queer chaperon +and they weep whenever they speak of it, which they do every +half hour. All the passengers apparently laid in a stock of +"Gallegher" and "The West" before starting, and young women in +yachting caps are constantly holding me up for autographs and +favorite quotations. Yesterday we passed the Azores near +enough to see the windows in the houses, and we have seen +other islands at different times, which is quite refreshing. +Tomorrow I shall post this and the trip will be over. It has +been a most happy start. I am not going to write letters +often, but am going head over ears into this new life and let +the old one wait awhile. You cannot handle Africa and keep up +your fences in New York at the same time. I am now going out +to talk to the Boston couple, or to propose a lion hunt to Dr. +Field. + +Since I wrote that last I have seen Portugal. It made me +seem suddenly very far away from New York. Portugal is a high +hill with a white watch tower on it flying signal flags. It is +apparently inhabited by one man who lives in a long row of yellow +houses with red roofs, and populated by sheep who do grand acts +of balancing on the side of the hill. There is also a Navy of a +brown boat with a leg-of-mutton sail and a crew of three men in +the boat--not to speak of the dog. It is a great thing to have a +traveled son. None of you ever saw Portugal, yah! + +I am now in Gibraltar. It is a large place and there does not +seem to be room in this letter, in which to express my +feelings about Moors in bare legs and six thousand Red-coats +and to hear Englishmen speak again. When I woke up Gibraltar +was a black silhouette against the sky, but toward the south +there was a low line of mountains with a red sky behind them, +dim and mysterious and old, and that was Africa. Then Spain +turned up all amethyst and green, and the Mediterranean as +blue as they tell you it is. They wouldn't let me take my gun +into Gibraltar. +They know my reputation for war. + +DICK. + +GIBRALTAR. + +February 14th, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +The luck of the British Army which I am modestly fond of +comparing with my own took a vacation yesterday as soon as I +had set foot on land. In the first place Egypt had settled +down to her sluggish Nile like calm and cholera had +quarantined the ship I wanted to take to Algiers, shutting off +Algiers and what was more important Tunis. The Governor was +ill shutting off things I wanted and his adjutant was boorish +and proud and haughty. Then I determined to go to Spain but +found I had arrived just one day too late for the last of the +three days of the Mardi Gras and too early for bull fights. Had +I taken Saavedra's letters I should have gone to Madrid and met +the Queen and other proud folks. So on the whole I was blue. +But I have now determined to take a boat for Tangier at once +where I have letters to the Duke de Tnas who is the Master of the +Hounds there and a great sport and they say it is very amusing +and exciting. In a fortnight I shall go to Malta. I called on +Harry Cust's brother and told him who I was and he took me in and +put me at the head of the table of young subalterns in grand +uniforms and we had marmalade and cold beef and beer and I was +happy to the verge of tears to hear English as she is spoke. +Then we went to a picnic and took tea in a smuggler's cave and +all the foxterriers ran over the table cloth and the Captain +spilt hot water over his white flannels and jumped around on one +leg. After which we played a handkerchief game sitting in a row +and pelting the girls with a knotted handkerchief and then +fighting for it-- During one of these scrimmages Mulvaney, two +others and Learoyd came by and with eyes front and hands at +their caps marched on with stolid countenances, but their +officers were embarrassed. It is hard to return a salute with +your face in the sand and a stout American sitting on your +neck and pulling your first lieutenant's leg. I am now deeply +engaged for dinners and dances and teas and rides and am +feeling very cheerful again. I am also very well thank +you and have no illnesses of any sort. You told me to be sure +and put that in-- As you see, I have cut out half of my trip +to avoid the cholera, so you need not worry about THAT. +To-day I am going over the ramparts as much as they will allow +and to-morrow I go to Tangier where I expect to have some boar +hunting. I would suggest your getting The Evangelist in a week +or two as Dr. Field's letters cover all I have seen. I do not +tell you anything about the place because you will read that in +the paper to the H. W. but I can assure you the girls are very +pretty and being garrison girls are not as shy as those at +home in England. I am the first American they ever met they +assure me every hour and we get on very well notwithstanding. + +You can imagine what it is like when Spaniards, Moors and +English Soldiers are all crowded into one long street with +donkeys and geese and priests and smugglers and men in polo +clothes and soldiers in football suits and sailors from the +man-of-war. Of course, the Rock is the best story of it all. +It is a fair green smiling hill not a fortress at all. No +more a fortress to look at than Fairmont Park water works, but +the joke of it is that under every bush there is a gun and +every gun is painted green and covered with hanging curtains +of moss and every promenade is undermined and the bleakest +face of the rock is tunnelled with rooms and halls. Every +night we are locked in and the soldiers carry the big iron +keys clanking through the streets. It is going to make +interesting reading. +DICK. + +GIBRALTAR. + +DEAR MOTHER: February 23rd, 1893. + +AEneas who "ran the round of so many chances" in this +neighborhood was a stationary stay at home to what I have to +do. If I ever get away from the Rock I shall be a traveller +of the greatest possible experience. + +I came here intending to stay a week and to write my letter on +Gib. and on Tangier quietly and peacefully like a gentleman +and then to go on to Malta. I love this place and there is +something to do and see every minute of the time but what +happened was this: All the boats that ever left here stopped +running, broke shafts, or went into quarantine or just sailed +by, and unless I want to spend two weeks on the sea in order +to have one at Malta, which is only a military station like +this, I must go off to-morrow with my articles unwritten, my +photos undeveloped and my dinner calls unpaid. I am now +waiting to hear if I can get to Algiers by changing twice from +one steamer to another along the coast of Spain. It will be a +great nuisance but I shall be able to see Algiers and Tunis +and Malta in the three weeks which would have otherwise been +given to Malta alone. And Tunis I am particularly keen to +see. While waiting for a telegram from Spain about the boats, +I shall tell you what I have been doing. Everybody was glad +to see me after my return from Tangier. I dined with the +Governor on Monday, in a fine large room lined with portraits +of all the old commanders and their coats-of-arms like a +little forest of flags and the Governor's daughter danced a +Spanish dance for us after it was over. Miss Buckle, Cust's +fiancee, dances almost as well as Carmencita, all the girls +here learn it as other girls do the piano. On Tuesday Cust +and Miss B. and another girl and I went over into Spain to see +the meet and we had a short run after a fox who went to earth, +much to my relief, in about three minutes and before I had +been thrown off. There are no fences but the ground is one +mass of rocks and cactus and ravines down which these English +go with an ease that makes me tremble with admiration. We had +not come out to follow, so we, being quite soaked through and +very hungry, went to an inn and it was such an inn as Don Quixote +used to stop at, with the dining-room over the stable and a lot +of drunken muleteers in the court and beautiful young women to +wait on us. It is a beautiful country Spain, with every sort of +green you ever dreamed of. We had omelettes and native wine and +black bread and got warm again and then trotted home in the +rain and got wet again, so we stopped at the guard house on +the outside of the rock and took tea with the officer in +charge and we all got down on our knees around his fire and he +hobbled around dropping his eyeglasses in his hot water and +very much honored and exceedingly embarrassed. I amused +myself by putting on all the uniforms he did not happen to +have on and the young ladies drank tea and thawed. This is +the most various place I ever came across. You have mountains +and seashore and allamandas like Monte Carlo in their tropical +beauty and soldiers day and night marching and drilling and +banging brass bands and tennis and guns firing so as to rattle +all the windows, and picnics and teas. I am engaged way ahead +now but I must get off tomorrow. On Washington's birthday I +gave a luncheon because it struck me as the most inappropriate +place in which one could celebrate the good man's memory and +the Governor would not think of coming at first, but I told +him I was not a British subject and that if I could go to his +dinner he could come to my lunch, so that, or the fact that +the beautiful Miss Buckle was coming decided him to waive +etiquette and he came with his A. D. C. and his daughter and +officers and girls came and I had American flags and English +flags and a portrait of Washington and of the Queen and I +ransacked the markets for violets and banked them all up in the +middle. It was fine. I turned the hotel upside down and all the +servants wore their best livery and everybody stood up in a row +and saluted His Excellency and I made a speech and so did his +Excellency and the chef did himself proud. I got it up in one +morning. Helen Benedict could not have done it better. + +I had a funny adventure the morning I left Tangier-- There was +a good deal of talk about Field (confound him) and my getting +into the prison and The Herald and Times correspondents +were rather blue about it and some of the English residents +said that I had not been shown the whole of the prison, that +the worst had been kept from us. Field who only got into the +prison because I had worked at it two days, said there was an +additional ward I had not seen. I went back into this while +he and the guard were getting the door open to go out and saw +nothing, but to make sure that the prison was as I believed an +absolute square, I went back on the morning of my departure +and climbed a wall and crawled over a house top and +photographed the top of the prison. Then a horrible doubt +came to me that this house upon which I was standing and which +adjoined the prison might be the addition of which the English +residents hinted. There was an old woman in the garden below +jumping up and down and to whom I had been shying money to +keep her quiet. I sent the guide around to ask her what was +the nature of the building upon which I had trespassed and +which seemed to worry her so much-- He came back to tell me +that I was on the top of a harem and the old woman thought I +was getting up a flirtation with the gentleman's wives. So I +dropped back again. + +It will be a couple of months at least before my first story +comes out in The Weekly. I cannot judge of them but I think +they are up to the average of the Western stories, the +material is much richer I know, but I am so much beset by the +new sights that I have not the patience or the leisure I had +in the West-- Then there were days in which writing was a +relief, now there is so much to see that it seems almost a +shame to waste it. + +By the grace of Providence I cannot leave here until the 28th, +much to my joy and I have found out that I can do better by +going direct to Malta and then to Tunis, leaving Algiers which +I did not want to see out of it-Hurrah. I shall now return to +the calm continuation of my story and to writing notes which +Chas will enjoy. + +DICK. + + +GIBRALTAR-February 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Morocco as it is is a very fine place spoiled by civilization. +Not nice civilization but the dregs of it, the broken down +noblemen of Spain and cashiered captains of England and the +R---- L----'s of America. They hunt and play cricket and +gamble and do nothing to maintain what is best in the place or +to help what is worst. I love the Moors and the way they hate +the Christian and the scorn and pride they show. They seem to +carry all the mystery and dignity of Africa and of foreign +conquests about them, and they are wonderfully well made and +fine looking and self-respecting. The color is very +beautiful, but the foreign element spoils it at every turn. +One should really go inland but I shall not because I mean to +do that when I reach Cairo. Everybody goes inland from here +and Bonsal has covered it already. He is a great man here among +all classes. + +I have bought two long guns and three pistols three feet long +and a Moorish costume for afternoon teas. I shall look fine. +My guide's idea of pleasing me is to kick everybody out of the +way which always brings down curses on me so I have to go back +and give them money and am so gradually becoming popular and +much sought after by blind beggars. You can get three pounds +of copper for a franc and it lasts all day throwing it right +and left all the time. I made a great tear in Bonsal's record +today by refusing to pay a snake charmer all he wanted and +then when he protested I took one of the snakes out of his +hands and swung it around my head to the delight of the +people. I wanted to show him he was a fakir to want me to pay +for what I would do myself. It was a large snake about four +feet long. Then my horse and another horse got fighting in +the principal street in the city standing up on their hind +legs and boxing like men and biting and squealing. It was +awful and I got mine out of the way and was trod on and had my +arm nearly pulled off and the crowd applauded and asked my +guide whether I was American or English. They do not like the +English. So with the lower classes I may say that I am having +a social success. +DICK. + +Off Malta--March 1, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I have been having a delightful voyage with moonlight all +night and sunlight all day. Africa kept in sight most of the +time and before that we saw beautiful mountains in Spain +covered with snow and red in the sunset. There were a lot of +nice English people going out to India to meet their husbands and +we have "tiffin" and "choota" and "curry," so it really seemed +oriental. The third night out we saw Algiers sparkling like +Coney Island. I play games with myself and pretend I am at my +rooms reading a story which is very hard to pretend as I never +read in my rooms and then I look up and exclaim "Hello, I'm not +in New York, that's Algiers." The thing that has impressed me +most is how absolutely small the world is and how childishly easy +it is to go around it. You and Nora MUST take this trip; as for +me I think Willie Chanler is the most sensible individual I have +yet met. + +All the fascination of King Solomon's Mines seems to be behind +those great mountains and this I may add is a bit of advance +work for mother, an entering wedge to my disappearing from +sight for years and years in the Congo. Which, seriously, I +will not do; only it is disappointing to find the earth so +small and so easily encompassed that you want to go on where +it is older, and new. The worst of it is that it is hard +leaving all the nice people you meet and then must say +good-bye to. The young ladies and Capt. Buckle and Cust came +down to see me off and Buckle brought me a photo four feet +long of Gib, an official one which I had to smuggle out with a +great show of secrecy and now I shall be sorry to leave these +people. Just as I wrote that one of the officers going out to +join his regiment came to the door and blushing said the +passengers were getting up a round robin asking me to stop on +and go to Cairo. + +Since writing the above lots of things have happened. I bid +farewell to everyone at Malta and yet in four hours I was back +again bag and baggage and am now on my way to Cairo. Tunis and +the Bey are impossible. As soon as I landed at Malta I found +that though I could go to Tunis I could not go away without being +quarantined for ten days and if I remained in Malta I must stay a +week. On balancing a week of Egypt against a week of Malta I +could not do it so I put back to this steamer again and here I +am. Tomorrow we reach Brindisi and we have already passed Sicily +and had a glimpse of the toe of Italy and it is the coldest sunny +Italy that I ever imagined. I am bitterly disappointed about +Tunis. I have no letters to big people in Cairo only subalterns +but I shall probably get along. I always manage somehow with my +"artful little Ikey ways." It was most gratifying to mark my +return to this boat. One young woman danced a Kangaroo dance +and the Captain wept and all the stewards stood in a line and +grinned. I sing Chevalier's songs and they all sit in the +dining room below and forget to lay out the plates and last +night some of the Royal Berkshire with whom I dined at Malta +came on board and after hearing the Old Kent Road were on the +point of Mutiny and refused to return to barracks. Great is +the Power of Chevalier and great is his power for taking you +back to London with three opening bars. Malta was the +queerest place I ever got into. It was like a city, country +and island made of cheese, mouldy cheese, and fresh limburger +cheese with holes in it. You sailed right up to the front +door as it were and people were hanging out of the windows +smoking pipes and looking down on the deck as complacently as +though having an ocean steamer in the yard was as much a +matter of course as a perambulator. There were also women with +black hoods which they wear as a penance because long ago the +ladies of Malta got themselves talked about. I was on shore +about five hours and saw some interesting things and with that +and Brindisi and the voyage I can make a third letter but +Tunis is writ on my heart like Calais. + +Today Cleveland is inaugurated and I took all the passengers +down at the proper time and explained to them that at that +moment a great man was being made president and gave them each +an American cocktail to remember it by and in which to toast +him I am getting to be a great speech maker and if there are +any more anniversaries in America I shall be a second Depew. + +It is late but it is still the season here and it will be gay, +but what I want to do now is to go off on a little trip inland +although Cairo is the worst of all for it is surrounded by +deserts and nothing to shoot but antelope and foxes and those +I SCORN. I want Zulus and lions. I shall be greatly +disappointed if I do not have something to do outside of Cairo +for I have had no adventures at all. It is just as civilized +as Camden only more exciting and beautiful although Camden is +exciting when you have to get there and back in time for the +last edition. From what I have already seen I am ready to +spend a month in Cairo and then confess to knowing nothing of +it. But we shall see. There may be a W A R or a lion hunt or +something yet if there is not I shall come back here again. I +must fire that Winchester off at least once just for all the +trouble it has given me at custom houses. Something exciting +must happen or I shall lose faith in the luck of the British +army which marches shoulder to shoulder with mine. If I don't +have any adventures I shall write essays on art after this like +Mrs. Van. Love and lots of it. + +DICK. + + +CAIRO, March 11, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +In a famous book this line occurs, "He determined to go to +that hotel in Cairo where they were to have spent their +honeymoon," or words like that. He is now at that hotel and +you can buy the famous book across the street. It is called +"Gallegher." So--in this way everything comes to him who +waits and he comes to it. "Gallegher" is not the only thing +you buy in Egypt. You ride to the Pyramids on a brake with a +man in a white felt hat blowing a horn, and the bugler of the +Army of Occupation is as much in evidence as the priest who +calls them to prayer from the minaret. I left the people I +liked on the Sultey last Thursday in the Suez Canal and came +on here in a special train. It is very cold here, and it is +not a place where the cold is in keeping with the surroundings. +You see people in white helmets and astrakan overcoats. +It is an immense city and intensely interesting, especially +the bazaars, but you feel so ignorant about it all that it +rather angers you. I wish I was not such a very bad hand at +languages. That is ONE THING I cannot do, that and ride. I +need it very much, traveling so much, and I shall study very +hard while I am in Paris. Our consul-general here is a very +young man, and he showed me a Kansas paper when I called on +him, which said that I was in the East and would probably call +on "Ed" L. He is very civil to me and gives me his carriages +and outriders with gold clothes and swords whenever I will +take them. + +It is so beastly cold here that it spoils a lot of things, and +there are a lot of Americans who say, "I had no idea you were +so young a man," and that, after being five years old for a +month and playing children's games with English people who +didn't know or care anything about you except that you made +them laugh, is rather trying. I am disappointed so far in the +trip because it has developed nothing new beyond the fact that +going around the world is of no more importance than going to +breakfast, and I am selfish in my sightseeing and want to see +things others do not. And if you even do see more than those +who are not so fortunate and who have to remain at home, still +you are so ignorant in comparison with those who have lived +here for years and to whom the whole of Africa is a +speculation in land or railroads, it makes you feel like such +a faker and as if it were better to turn correspondent for the +N. Y. Herald, Paris edition, and send back the names of +those who are staying at the hotels. That is really all you +can speak with authority about. When you have Gordon and +Stanley dishes on the bill-of-fare, you feel ashamed to say +you've been in Egypt. Anyway, I am a faker and I don't care, +and I proved it today by being photographed on a camel in +front of the Pyramids, and if that wasn't impertinence I do +not know its name. I accordingly went and bought a lot of +gold dresses for Nora as a penance. + +As a matter of fact, unless I get into the interior for a +month and see something new, I shall consider the trip a +failure, except as a most amusing holiday for one, and that +was not exactly what I wanted or all I wanted. After this I +shall go to big cities only and stay there. Everybody travels +and everybody sees as much as you do and says nothing of it, +certainly does not presume to write a book about it. Anyway, it +has been great fun, so I shall put it down to that and do some +serious work to make up for it. I'd rather have written a good +story about the Inauguration than about Cairo. + +I am well, as usual, and having a fine loaf, only I don't +think much of what I have written--that's all. + +DICK. + +CAIRO, March 19th, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I went up the Pyramids yesterday and I am very sore today. It +sounds easy because so many people do it, but they do it +because they don't know. I have been putting it off, and +putting it off, until I felt ashamed to such a degree that I +had to go. Little had never been either, so we went out +together and met Stanford White and the Emmetts there, and we +all went up. I would rather go into Central Africa than do it +again. I am getting fat and that's about it--and I had to +half pull a much fatter man than myself who pretended to help +me. I finally told them I'd go alone unless the fat man went +away, so the other two drove him off. Going down is worse. +It's like looking over a precipice all the time. I was so +glad when I got down that I sang with glee. I hate work like +that, and to make it worse I took everybody's picture on top +of the Pyramid, and forgot to have one of them take me, so +there is no way to prove I ever went up. Little and I hired +two donkeys and called them "Gallegher" and "Van Bibber" and +raced them. My donkey was so little that they couldn't see +him--only his ears. Gallegher won. The donkey-boys called it +Von Bebey, so I don't think it will help the sale of the book. + +Today we went to call on the Khedive. It was very informal +and too democratic to suit my tastes. We went through a line +of his bodyguard in the hall, and the master of ceremonies +took us up several low but wide stairways to a hall. In the +hall was a little fat young man in a frock coat and a fez, and +he shook hands with us, and walked into another room and we +all sat down on chairs covered with white muslin. I talked +and Little talked about me and the Khedive pretended to be +very much honored, and said the American who had come over +after our rebellion had done more for the officers in his army +than had anyone else, meaning the English. He did not say +that because we were Americans, but because he hates the +English. He struck me as being stubborn, which is one side of +stupidness and yet not stupid, and I occasionally woke him to +bursts of enthusiasm over the Soudanese. His bursts were +chiefly "Ali." Little seemed to amuse him very much, and +Little treated him exactly like a little boy who needed to be +cheered up. I think in one way it was the most curious +contrast I ever saw. "Ed" Little of Abilene, Kansas, telling +the ruler of Egypt not to worry, that he had plenty of years +in which to live and that he would get ahead of them all yet. +Those were not his words, but that was the tone, he was +perfectly friendly and sincere about it. + +This place appeals to me as about the best place with which to +get mixed up with that I know, and I've gone over a great many +maps since I left home and know just how small the world is. So, +I sent the Khedive my books after having asked his permission, +and received the most abject thanks. And as Cromer called on +me, I am going to drop around on him with a few of them. Some +day there will be fine things going on here, and there is only +one God, and Lord Cromer is his Prophet in this country. They +think that Mohammed is but they are wrong. He is a very big +man. The day he sent his ultimatum to the Khedive telling him +to dismiss Facta Pasha and put back Riaz Pasha, he went out in +full view of the Gezerik drive and played lawn tennis. Any +man who can cable for three thousand more troops to Malta and +stop a transport full of two thousand more at Aden with one +hand, and bang tennis balls about with the other, is going in +the long run to get ahead of a stout little boy in a red fez. +It is getting awfully hot here, almost hot enough for me, and +I can lay aside my overcoat by ten o'clock in the morning. +Everyone else has been in flannels and pith helmets, but as +they had to wear overcoats at night I could not see the +advantage of the costume. + +DICK. + + +I open this to say that ALL of your letters have just come, +so I have intoxicated myself with them for the last hour and +can go over them again tomorrow. I cannot tell you, dearest, +what a delight your letters are and how I enjoy the clippings. +I think of you all the time and how you would love this Bible +land and seeing the places where Pharaoh's daughter found +Moses, and hearing people talk of St. Paul and the plagues of +Egypt and Joseph and Mary just as though they had lived +yesterday. I have seen two St. Johns already, with long hair +and melancholy wild eyes and bare breasts and legs, with +sheepskin covering, eating figs and preaching their gospel. +Yesterday two men came running into town and told one of the +priests that they had seen the new moon in a certain well, and +the priest proclaimed a month of fasting, and the men who pulled +us up the Pyramid had to rest because they had not eaten or drunk +all day. At six a sheik called from the village and all the +donkey--boys and guides around the Sphinx ran to get water and +coffee and food. Think of that--of two men running through the +street to say that they had seen the new moon in a well, when +every shop sells Waterbury watches and the people who passed them +were driving dogcarts with English coachmen in top-boots behind. +Is there any other place as incongruous as this, as old and as +new? + +DICK. + + +ATHENS, March 30, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I am now in Athens, how I got here is immaterial. Suffice it +to say that never in all my life was I so ill as I was in the +two days crossing from Alexandria to Piraeus, which I did with +two other men in the same cabin more ill than I and praying +and swearing and groaning all the time. "It was awful." + + + "I have crossed in many ships upon the seas + And some of them were good and some were not; + In German, P & O's and Genoese, + But the Khedive's was the worst one of the lot. + We never got a moment's peace in her + For everybody'd howl or pray or bellow; + She threw us on our heads or on our knees, + And turned us all an unbecoming yellow." + + +Athens is a small town but fine. It is chiefly yellow houses +with red roofs, and mountains around it, which +remind you of pictures you have seen when a youth. Also olive +trees and straight black pines and the Acropolis. There is +not much of it left as far as I can see from the city, but +what there is is enough to make you wish you had brushed up +your Greek history. I have now reached the place where Pan +has a cave, where the man voted against Aristides because he +was humanly tired of hearing him called the Just and where the +Minotaur ate young women. + +What was in the Isle of Crete but the rock from which the +father of Theseus threw himself--is still here! Also the hill +upon which Paul stood and told the Athenians they were too +superstitious. You can imagine my feelings at finding all of +these things are true. After this I am going to the North +Pole to find Santa Claus and so renew my youth. + +I regret to say that it is raining very hard and Athens is not +set for a rainstorm. It is also cold but as I have not been +warm since I crossed the North River with Chas. amid cakes of +ice that is of no consequence. When I come here again I come +in the summer. The good old rule that it is cold in winter +and warm in summer is a good enough rule to follow. You have +only to travel to find out how universally cold winter is. +last night I was in Cairo, I got in a carriage and drove +out alone to the Pyramids. It was beautiful moonlight. I got +a donkey and rode up around them and then walked over to the +Sphinx. I had never understood or seen it before. It was the +creepiest and most impressive thing I ever had happen to me, I +do believe. There was no one except the two donkey-boys and +myself and the Sphinx. All about was the desert and above it +the purple sky and the white stars and the great negro's head +in front of you with its paws stretched out, and the moonlight +turning it into shadows and white lines. I think I stood there +so long that I got sort of dizzy. It was just as if I had been +the first man to stumble across it, and I felt that I was way +back thousands of years and that the ghosts of Caesar and +Napoleon and Cleopatra and the rest were in the air. That was +worth the entire trip to me. This place promises to be most +exciting, the New York artists are all here, they are the most +jauntily dull people I ever met. Do you know what I mean? They +are very nice but so stupid. I don't let them bother me. Who +was the chap who wrote about the bottle of Malvoisie? because I +got a bottle of it for BREAKFAST and it is NO GOOD. It is +like sweet port. But on account of the poem and its being +vin du pays I got it. + +Dear Mother, I wish you were here now and enjoying all these +beautiful things. I got you a present in Cairo that will +amuse you. Had I stayed on in Cairo I should have had much +and many marks of distinction from the English. Lady +Gower-Browne, who found out from them that I had called and +that they had done nothing except to be rude, raised a great +hue and cry and everything changed. What she said of me I +don't know but it made a most amusing difference. General +Walker galloped a half mile across the desert to give me his +own copy of the directions for the sham battle, and I was to +have met Cromer at dinner tete-a-tete, and General Kitchener +sent apologies by two other generals and all the subalterns +called on me in a body. That was the day before I left. I +don't know what Lady Gower-Browne said, but it made a change +which I am sorry I could not avail myself of as I want +politics as well as memories. + +The next time I come I shall go to even fewer places and see +more people. + +If the Harpers don't look out our interests will clash. I +look at it like this. I can always see the old historical +things and take my children up the Nile, but I want now to +make friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness and the men of +the hour. I may want to occupy an hour or two myself some day +and they can help me. If America starts in annexing islands +she will need people to tell her how it is generally done and +it is generally done, I find, by the English. I may give up +literature and start annexing things like Alexander and Caesar +and Napoleon. They say there will be another crisis in Cairo +in a month or so. If that be true I am all right and solid +with both parties. But it has got to be worth while of course +or I won't go back. There is a king living in a fine palace +across the square from my window, one of his officers is now +changing the guard in the rain. I hope to call on the king +because I like his guard. They wear petticoats and toes +turned up in front. Don't you mind what I say about liking +politics and don't think I am not enjoying the show things. I +have a capacity for both that is so far unsatisfied, and I am +now going out in the rain to try and find the post-office. +Lots of love. + + DICK. + +I am well and have been well (except sea sick) since February + +P. S.--A funeral is just passing the window with the corpse +exposed to view as is the quaint custom here, to add to its +horror they rouge the face of the corpse and everybody kisses +it. In the Greek church they burn candles for people and the +number of candles I have burnt for you would light St. Paul's, +and you ought to be good with so much war being expended all over +Athens for you. You buy candles instead of tipping the verger or +putting it in the poor box, or because you are superstitious and +think it will do some good, as I do. + + +Orient Express. Somewhere in Bulgaria on the way to London. + +April 14th, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Tuesday I wrote you a letter in the club at Constantinople +telling you how glad I would be to get out of that City on +April 17th on the Orient Express which only leaves twice a +week on Thursdays and Mondays. So any one who travels by the +Orient is looked upon first as a millionaire and second, if he +does not break the journey at Vienna, as a greater traveller +than Col. Burnaby on his way to Khiva. Imagine a Kansas City +man breaking the journey to New York. After I wrote you that +letter I went in the next room and read of the Nile Expedition +in search of Gordon--this went through three volumes of The +Graphic and took some time, so that when I had reached the +picture which announced the death of Gordon it was half past +five and I had nothing more to do for four days-- It was +raining and cold and muddy and so I just made up my mind I +would get up and get out and I jumped about for one hour like +a kangaroo and by seven I was on the Orient with two Cook men +to help me and had shaken my fist at the last minaret light of +that awful city. So, now it is all over and it is done-- I +have learned a great deal in an imperfect way of the +juxtaposition of certain countries and of the ease with which one +can travel without speaking any known languages and of the +absolute necessity for speaking one, French. I am still +disappointed about the articles but selfishly I have made a lot +out of the trip. You have no idea how hard it is not to tell +about strange things and yet you know people do not care half as +much for them as things they know all about-- No matter, it is +done and with the exception of the last week it was F I N E. + + +"I'm going back to London, to `tea' and long frock coats + I'm done with Cook and seeing sights + I'm done with table d'hotes + So clear the track you signal man + From Sofia to Pless, I'm going straight for London + On the Orient Express. + +I'm going straight for London +O'er Bulgaria's heavy sands +To Rotten Row and muffins, soles, +Chevalier and Brass Bands +Ho' get away you bullock man +You've heard the whistle blowed +a locomotive coming down the Grand Trunk Road." + + +This is a great country and I want to ask all the natives if +they know "Stenie" Bonsal. They are all his friends and so +are the "Balkans," and all the little Balkans. Nobody wears +European clothes here. They are all as foreign and native and +picturesque as they can be, the women with big silver plates +over their stomachs and the men in sheepskin and tights and +the soldiers are grand. We have been passing all day between +snow covered mountains and between herds of cattle and red +roofed, mud villages and long lakes of ice and snow-- It is a +beautiful day and I am very happy. (Second day out) 15th---We are +now in Hungary and just outside of Buda Pesth "the wickedest city +in the world," still in spite of that fact I am going on. I am +very glad I came this way-- The peasants and soldiers are most +amusing and like German picture-papers with black letter +type-- I shall stop a day in Paris now that I have four extra +days. + +DICK. + + +In sight of Paris--April 16--1893. +DEAREST MOTHER: + +has been the most beautiful day since February 4th. +It is the first day in which I have been warm. All through I +have had a varnish of warmth every now and again but no real +actual internal warmth--I am now in sight of Paris and it is +the 16th of April, in the eleven weeks which have elapsed +since the 4th of February I have been in Spain, France, Italy, +Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, +Egypt and Morocco. I have sat on the Rock of Gibraltar, +sailed on the Nile and the Suez Canal and crossed through the +Dardanelles, over the Balkans, the steppes of Hungary and the +Danube and Rhine. I have seen the sphinx by moonlight, the +Parthenon and the Eiffel Tower and in two days more I shall +have seen St. Paul's. What do you think I should like to see +best now? YOU. I have been worrying of late as to whether +or not I should not come home now and leave Paris for another +time because it seems so rough on you to leave you without +either of your younger sons for so long. But I have thought +it over a great deal and I think it better that I should do +Paris now and leave myself clear for the rest of the year. I +promise you one thing however that I shall not undertake to +stay away so long again; it is too long and one grows out of +things. But nothing I feel, will be so easy or so amusing as +Paris and I intend to get through with it soon and trot home +to you by the middle of August AT THE VERY LATEST. So, +please write me a deceitful letter and say you do not miss me +at all and that my being so near as Paris makes a great +difference and that I am better out of the way and if Chas +goes to London I shall be near him in case he forgets to put +on his overshoes or involves us in a war with G. B. Now, +mother dear, do write me a cheerful letter and say that you do +not mind waiting until the middle of August for me and when I +come back this time I shall make a long stay with you at +Marion and tell you lots of things I have not written you and +I shall not go away again for ever so long and if I do go I +shall only stay a little while. You have no idea how +interesting this rush across the continent has been. I +started in snow and through marshes covered with ice and long +horned cattle and now we are in such a beautiful clean green +land with green fields and green trees and flowering bushes +which you can smell as the train goes by. I now think that +instead of being a cafe-chantant singer I should rather be an +Austrian baron and own a castle on a hill with a red roofed +village around it. I have spent almost all of the trip +sitting on the platform and enjoying the sight of the queer +peasants and the soldiers and old villages. Tonight I shall +be in "Paris, France" as Morton used to say and I shall get +clean and put on my dress clothes but whether I shall go see +Yvette Guilbert or Rusticana again I do not know. Perhaps +I shall just paddle around the fountain in the Place de la +Concorde and make myself thoroughly at home. With a great +deal of love to Dad and Nora and Chas and all. + +DICK. + + +At the time that Richard's first travel articles appeared some +of his critics took umbrage at the fact that he was evidently +under the delusion that he had discovered London, Gibraltar, +Athens, Paris, and the other cities he had visited, and that +no one else had ever written about them. As a matter of fact +no one could have been more keenly conscious of what an +oft-told tale were the places that he had chosen to describe. +If Richard took it for granted that the reader was totally +unacquainted with the peoples of these cities and their ways, +it was because he believed that that was the best way to write +a descriptive article, always had believed it, and believed it +so long as he wrote. And whatever difference of opinion may +have existed among the critics and the public as to Richard's +fiction, I think it is safe to say that as a reporter his work +of nearly thirty years stood at least as high as that of any +of his contemporaries or perhaps as that of the reporters of +all time. As an editor, when he gave out an assignment to a +reporter to write an article on some well-worn subject and the +reporter protested, Richard's answer was the same: "You must +always remember that that story hasn't been written until +YOU write it." And when he suggested to an editor that he +would like to write an article on Broadway, or the Panama +Canal, or the ruins of Rome and the editor disapproved, Richard's +argument was: "It hasn't been done until _I_ do it." And it was +not because he believed for a moment that he could do it better +or as well as it had been done. It was simply because he knew +the old story was always a good story, that is, if it was seen +with new eyes and from a new standpoint. At twenty-eight he +had written a book about England and her people, and the book +had met with much success both in America and England. At +twenty-nine, equally unafraid, he had "covered" the ancient +cities that border the Mediterranean, and now Paris lay before +him! This thought--indeed few thoughts--troubled Richard very +much in those days of his early successes. He had youth, +friends, a marvellous spirit of adventure, and besides there +are many worse fates than being consigned to spending a few +months in Paris, having a thoroughly joyous time, taking a few +mental notes, and a little later on transferring them to paper +in the quiet of a peaceful summer home at Marion. + +Chief among his friends in Paris at this time was Charles Dana +Gibson, who was living in a charming old house in the Latin +Quarter, and where the artist did some of his best work and +made himself extremely popular with both the Parisians and the +American colony. In addition to Gibson there were Kenneth +Frazier, the portrait-painter, and Tina, Newton, and James +Eustis, the daughter and sons of James B. Eustis, who at that +time was our ambassador to France, a most genial and kindly +host, who made much of Richard and his young friends. + + +PARIS, May 5, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +It is a narrow street with apartment houses of gray stone and +iron balconies along either side of it. The sun sets at one +end of the street at different times during the day and we all +lean out on the balconies to look. On the house, one below mine, +on the other side of our street, is a square sign that says: + +ALFRED DE MUSSET + +EST MORT DANS CETTE MAISON + + +A great many beautiful ladies with the fashionable red shade +of hair still call there, as they used to do when the proper +color was black and it was worn in a chignon and the Second +Empire had but just begun. While they wait they stretch out +in their carriages and gaze up at the balconies until they see +me, and as I wear a gold and pink silk wrapper and not much +else, they concentrate all their attention on the wrapper and +forget to drop a sigh for the poet. There are two young +people on the sixth floor opposite, who come out on the +balcony after dinner and hold on to each other and he tells +her all about the work of the day. Below there is a woman who +sews nothing but black dresses, and who does that all day and +all night by the light of a lamp. And below the concierge +stands all day in a lace cap and black gown and blue, and +looks up the street and down the street like the woman in +front of Hockley's. BUT on the floor opposite mine there is +a beautiful lady in a pink and white wrapper with long black +hair and sleepy black eyes. She does not take any interest in +my pink wrapper, but contents herself with passing cabs and +stray dogs and women with loaves of bread and bottles in their +hands who occasionally stray into our street. At six she +appears in another gown and little slippers and a butterfly +for a hat and says "Good-by" to the old concierge and trips +off to dinner. Lots of love to all. +DICK. + + +PARIS, May llth, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I am still somewhat tentative as regards my opinion of the +place, what it will bring me in the way of material I cannot +tell. So far, "Paris Decadent" would be a good title for +anything I should write of it. It is not that I have seen +only the worst side of it but that that seems to be so much +the most prominent. They worship the hideous Eiffel Tower and +they are a useless, flippant people who never sleep and yet do +nothing while awake. To-morrow I am going to a pretty inn +surrounded by vines and trees to see a prize fight with all +the silly young French men and their young friends in black +and white who ape the English manners and customs even to "la +box." To night at the Ambassadeurs the rejected lover of some +actress took a gang of bullies from Montmartre there and +hissed and stoned her. I turned up most innocently and +greatly bored in the midst of it but I was too far away to +pound anybody-- I collected two Englishmen and we went in +front to await her re-appearance but she had hysterics and +went off in a cab and so we were not given a second +opportunity of showing them they should play fair. It is a +typical incident of the Frenchman and has made me wrathy. The +women watching the prize fight will make a good story and so +will the arms of the red mill, "The Moulin Rouge" they keep +turning and turning and grinding out health and virtue and +souls. + +I dined to night with the C-----s and P----s, the Ex-Minister +and disagreed with everybody and found them all very middle +class as to intellect. An old English lady next to me said +apropos of something "that is because you are not clever like +Mr. ---- and do not have to work with your brains." To which I +said, I did not mind not being clever as my father was a many +times millionaire," at which she became abjectly polite. Young +Rothenstein is going to do a picture of me to-morrow morning. +There is nothing much more to tell except that a horse stood +on his fore legs in the Bois the other day and chucked me into +space. I was very sore but I went on going about as it was +the Varnishing day at the new salon and I wished to see it. I +am over my stiffness now and if "anybody wants to buy a +blooming bus" I have one for sale and five pairs of riding +breeches and two of ditto boots. No more riding for me--- The +boxing bag is in good order now and I do not need for +exercise. The lady across the street has a new wrapper in +which she is even more cold and haughty than before. "I sing +Tarrara boom deay and she keeps from liking me." + +DICK. + + +PARIS, May 14th, 1893. +DEAR NORA: + +Things are getting more interesting here and I shall probably +have something to write about after all, although I shall not +know the place as I did London. Will Rothenstein has drawn a +picture of me that I like very much and if mother likes it +VERY, VERY much she may have it as a loan but she may not +like it. I did not like to take it so I bought another +picture of him, one of Coquelin cadet and now I have two. +Coquelin gave him his first commission when he was nineteen, +two years ago, and then asked him to do two sketches. After +these were done Coquelin told him by letter that he would give +him half what they had agreed upon for the big picture for the +two sketches and begged the big picture as a gift. So +Rothenstein cut the head and shoulders out of the big one and +sent him the arms and legs. It is the head he cut out that I +have. When Rothenstein and I and Coquelin become famous, that +will make a good story. I have also indulged myself in the +purchase of several of Cherets works of art. They cost three +francs apiece. We have had some delightful lunches at the +Ambassadeurs with Cushing and other artists and last night I +went out into the Grande Monde to a bal masque for charity at +the palace of the Comtesse de la Ferrondeux. It was very +stupid and the men outnumbered the women 30 to 1, which are +interesting odds. To-day we went to Whistler's and sat out in +a garden with high walls about it and drank tea and laughed at +Rothenstein. The last thing he said was at the Ambassadeurs +when one of the students picking up a fork said, "These are +the same sort of forks I have." Rothenstein said "yes, I did +not know you dined here that often." Some one asked him why +he wore his hair long, "To test your manners" he answered. He +is a disciple of Whistler's and Wilde's and said "yes, I +defend them at the risk of their lives." Did I tell you of +his saying "It is much easier to love one's family than to +like them." And when some one said "Did you hear how Mrs. B. +treated Mr. C., (a man he dislikes) he said, "no, but I'm glad +she did." It was lovely at Whistler's and such a contrast to +the other American salon I went to last Sunday. It was so +quiet, and green and pretty and everybody was so unobtrusively +polite. + +Rothenstein wore my rosette and made a great sensation and I +was congratulated by Whistler and Abbey and Pennell. +Rothenstein said he was going to have a doublebreasted waistcoat +made with rosettes of decorations for buttons. Tomorrow Lord +Dufferin has asked me to breakfast at the Embassy. He was at the +masked ball last night and was very nice. He reminds me exactly +of Disraeli in appearance. It is awfully hot here and a Fair for +charity has asked me to put my name in "Gallegher" to have it +raffled for. "Dear" Bonsal arrives here next Sunday, so I am in +great anticipation. I am very well, tell mother, and amused. +Lots of love. + +DICK. + + +PARIS, June 13, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +There is nothing much to say except that things still go on. +I feel like one of those little India rubber balls in the jet +of a fountain being turned and twisted and not allowed to +rest. Today I have been to hear Yvette Guilbert rehearse and +thought her all Chas thinks her only her songs this season are +beneath the morals of a medical student. It is very hot and +it is getting hotter. I had an amusing time at the Grand Prix +where Tina won a lot of money on a tip I gave her which I did +not back myself. In the evening Newton took me to dinner and +to the Jardin de Paris where they had 10 franc admittance and +where every thing went that wasn't nailed. The dudes put +candles on their high hats and the girls snuffed them out with +kicks and at one time the crowd mobbed the band stand and then +the stage and played on all the instruments. The men were all +swells in evening dress and the women in beautiful ball +dresses and it was a wonderful sight. It only happens once a +year like the Yale-Princeton night at Koster and Bials except +that the women are all very fine indeed. They rode +pig-a-back races and sang all the songs. I had dinner with +John Drew last night. I occasionally sleep and if Nora +doesn't come on time I shall be a skeleton and have no money +left. As a matter of fact I am fatter than ever and can eat +all sorts of impossible things here that I could never eat at +home. I lunch every day with the Eustises and we dine out +almost every night. I consort entirely with the poorest of +art students or the noblest of princesses and so far have kept +out of mischief, but you can never tell for this is a wicked +city they say, or it strikes me as most amusing at present +only I cannot see what Harper and Bros. are going to get out +of it. I said that of London so I suppose it will all +straighten out by the time I get back. + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FIRST PLAYS + +When the season in Paris had reached its end, Richard returned +to London and later on to Marion, where he spent the late +summer and early fall, working on his Mediterranean and Paris +articles, and completing his novel "Soldiers of Fortune." In +October he returned to New York and once more assumed his +editorial duties and took his usual active interest in the +winter's gayeties. + +The first of these letters refers to a dinner of welcome given +to Sir Henry Irving. The last two to books by my mother and +Richard, and which were published simultaneously. + + +NEW YORK, November 27, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +The dinner was very fine. I was very glad I went. Whitelaw +Reid sat on one side of Sir Henry Irving and Horace Porter on +the other. Howells and Warner came next. John Russell Young +and Mark Twain, Millet, Palmer, Hutton, Gilder and a lot more +were there. There were no newspaper men, not even critics nor +actors there, which struck me as interesting. The men were +very nice to me. Especially Young, Reid, Irving and Howells. +Everybody said when I came in, "I used to know you when you +were a little boy," so that some one said finally, "What a +disagreeable little boy you MUST have been." I sat next a +chap from Brazil who told me lots of amusing things. One story +if it is good saves a whole day for me. One he told was of a +German explorer to whom Don Pedro gave an audience. The +Emperor asked him, with some touch of patronage, if he had +ever met a king before. "Yes," the German said thoughtfully; +"five, three wild and two tame." + +Mark Twain told some very funny stories, and captured me +because I never thought him funny before, and Irving told some +about Stanley, and everybody talked interestingly. Irving +said he was looking forward to seeing Dad when he reached +Philadelphia. "It is nice to have seen you," he said, "but I +have still to see your father," as though I was not enough. +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, 1893. +DEAREST MOTHER: + +I cannot tell you how touched and moved I was by the three +initials in the book. It was a genuine and complete surprise +and when I came across it while I was examining the +letterpress with critical approbation and with no idea of what +was to come, it left me quite breathless-- It was so sweet of +you-- You understand me and I understand you and you know how +much that counts to me-- I think the book is awfully pretty +and in such good taste-- It is quite a delight to the eye and +I am much more keen about it than over any of my own-- I have +sent it to some of my friends but I have not read it yet +myself, as I am waiting until I get on the boat where I shall +not be disturbed-- Then I shall write you again-- It was +awfully good of you, and I am so pleased to have it to give +away. I never had anything to show people when they asked for +one of your other books and this comes in such an unquestionable +form-- With lots of love. + +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, 1893. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I got your nice letter and one from Dad. Both calling me many +adjectives pleasing to hear although they do not happen to +fit. So you are in a third edition are you? These YOUNG +writers are crowding me to the wall. I feel thrills of pride +when I see us sitting cheek by jowl on the news-stands. +Lots of love. + + + + +In February, 1894, Richard was forced by a severe attack of +sciatica to give up temporarily the gayeties of New York and +for a cure he naturally chose our home in Philadelphia, where +he remained for many weeks. Although unable to leave his bed, +he continued to do a considerable amount of work, including +the novelette "The Princess Aline," in the writing of which I +believe my brother took more pleasure than in that of any +story or novel he ever wrote. The future Empress of Russia +was the heroine of the tale, and that she eventually read the +story and was apparently delighted with it caused Richard much +human happiness. + +PHILADELPHIA. + +March 5th. +DEAR CHAS: + +I am getting rapidly better owing to regular hours and light +literature and home comforts. I am not blue as I was and my +morbidness has gone and I only get depressed at times. I am +still however feeling tired and I think I will take quite a rest +before I venture across the seas. But across them I will come no +matter if all the nerves on earth jump and pull. Still, I think +it wiser for all concerned that I get thoroughly well so that +when I do come I won't have to be cutting back home again as I +did last time. We are young yet and the world's wide and there's +a new farce comedy written every minute and I have a great many +things to do myself so I intend to get strong and then do +them. I enclose two poems. I am going to have them printed +for my particular pals later. I am writing one to all of you +folks over there. + +DICK. + + +TAKE ME BACK TO BROADWAY, WHERE +THE ORCHIDS GROW + +WITH APOLOGIES TO THE WESTERN DIALECT POETS + +"I have wandered up and down somewhat in many different lands +I have been to Fort Worth, Texas, and I've tramped through Jersey sands, +I have seen Pike's Peak by Moonlight, and I've visited the Fair +And to save enumeration I've been nearly everywhere. +But no matter where I rested and no matter where I'd go, +I have longed to be on Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow. + +Some people love the lilies fair that hide in mossy dells +Some folks are fond of new mown hay, before the rainy spells +But give to me the orchids rare that hang in Thorley's store, +And in Fleischman's at the Hoffman, and in half a dozen more +And when I see them far from home they make my heart's blood glow + For they take me back to Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow. + +Let Paris boast of boulevards where one can sit and drink +There is no such chance on Broadway, at the Brower House, + `I don't think.' +And where else are there fair soubrettes in pipe clayed tennis shoes, +And boys in silken sashes promenading by in twos +Oh you can boast of any street of which you're proud to know +But give me sleepy Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow. + +Let poets sing of chiming bells and gently lowing kine +I like the clanging cable cars like fire engines in line +And I never miss the sunset and for moonlight never sigh +When `Swept by Ocean Breezes.' flashes out against the sky. +And when the Tenderloin awakes, and open theatres glow +I want to be on Broadway + + Where + the + Orchids + Grow." + + +A VOUS, JOHN DREW + +"John Drew, I am your debtor +For a very pleasant letter +And a lot of cabinet photos +Of the `Butterflies' and you +And I think it very kind +That you kept me so in mind +And pitied me in exile +So I do, John Drew. + + +2 + + +John Drew, 'twixt you and me +Precious little I can see +Of that good there is in Solitude +That poets say they view. +For _I_ hate to be in bed +With a candle at my head +Sitting vis a vis with Conscience. +So would you, John Drew. + +3 + + +John Drew, then promise me +That as soon as I am free +I may sit in the first entrance + +As Lamb always lets me do. +And watch you fume and fret +While the innocent soubrette +Takes the centre of the stage a-- +Way from you, John Drew." + + +R. H. D. + + +In the summer of 1894 Richard went to London for a purely +social visit, but while he was there President Carnot was +assassinated, and he went to Paris to write the "story" of the +funeral and of the election of the new President. + +VERSAILLES, June 24, 1894. + +I am out here to see the election of the new President. I +jumped on the mail coach and came off in a hurry without any +breakfast, but I had a pretty drive out, and the guard and I +talked of London. The palace is closed and no one is admitted +except by card, so I have seen only the outside of it. It is +most interesting. There is not a ribbon or a badge; not a +banner or a band. The town is as quiet as always, +and there are not 200 people gathered at the gate through +which the deputies pass. Compared to an election convention +in Chicago, it is most interesting. How lively it is inside +of the chamber where the thing is going on I cannot say. I +shall not wait to hear the result, but will return on the coach. + +Nothing could be more curious than the apparent indifference +of the people of Paris to the assassination of the President. +Two days after he died there was not a single flag at half +mast among the private residences. The Government buildings, +the hotels and the stores were all that advertised their +grief. I shall have an interesting story to write of it for +the Parisian series. Dana Gibson and I will wait until after +the funeral and then go to Andorra. If he does not go, I may +go alone, but perhaps I shall go back to London at once. This +has been an interesting time here, but only because it is so +different from what one would expect. It reads like a +burlesque to note the expressions of condolence from all over +the world, and to mark the self-satisfaction of the French at +attracting so much sympathy, and their absolute indifference +to the death of Carnot. It is most curious. We have an ideal +time. Never before have I had such jolly dinners, with such +good talk and such amusing companions. + +DICK. + + +LONDON, July 15, 1894. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Mr. Irving gave a supper last night to Mme. Bernhardt and Mme. +Rejane. There were about twenty people, and we ate in the +Beefsteak Room of the Lyceum Theater, which is so called after +the old Beefsteak Club which formerly met there. I had a most +delightful time, and talked to all the French women and to +Miss Terry, who sent her love to Dad. She said, "I did not +SEE him this last visit; that is, I saw him but I did not +see him." Her daughter is a very sweet girl, and the picture +Miss Terry made on her knees looking up at Bernhardt and +Rejane when they chattered in French was wonderful. Neither +she nor Irving could speak a word of French, and whenever any +one else tried, the crowd all stood in a circle and applauded +and guyed them. After it was over, at about three in the +morning, Miss Terry offered me a lift home in her open +carriage, so she and her daughter and I rode through the empty +streets in the gray light for miles and miles, as, of course, +I did not get out of such company any sooner than I had to do. +They had taken Irving's robe of cardinal red and made it into +cloaks, and they looked very odd and eerie with their yellow +hair and red capes, and talking as fast as they could. + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA + + +About January 1, 1895, Richard accompanied by his friends +Somers Somerset and Lloyd C. Griscom, afterward our minister +to Tokio and ambassador to Brazil and Italy, started out on a +leisurely trip of South and Central America. With no very +definite itinerary, they sailed from New Orleans, bent on +having a good time, and as many adventures as possible, which +Richard was to describe in a series of articles. These +appeared later on in a volume entitled "Three Gringos in +Venezuela." + + +January, 1895. +DEAR FAM: + +On board Breakwater at anchor. You will be pleased to hear +that I am writing this in a fine state of perspiration in +spite of the fact that I have light weight flannels, no +underclothes and all the windows open. It is going to storm +and then it will be cooler. We have had a bully time so far +although the tough time is still to come, that will be going +from Puerto Cortez to Tegucigalpa. At Belize the Governor +treated us charmingly and gave us orderlies and launches and +lunches and advice and me a fine subject for a short story. +For nothing has struck me as so sad lately as did Sir Anthony +Moloney K. C. M. G. watching us go off laughing and joking in +his gilded barge to wherever we pleased and leaving him standing +alone on his lawn with some papers to sign and then a dinner +tete-a-tete with his Secretary and so on to the end of his +life. It was pathetic to hear him listen to all the gossip +from the outside world and to see how we pleased him when we +told him we were getting more bald than he was and that he +would make a fine appearance in the Row at his present weight. +He had not heard of Trilby!! + +We struck a beautiful place today called Livingston where we +went ashore and photographed the army in which there was no +boy older than eighteen and most of them under ten. It was +quite like Africa, the homes were all thatched and the +children all naked and the women mostly so. We took lots of +photographs and got on most excellently with the natives who +thought we were as funny as we thought them. Almost every +place we go word has been sent ahead and agents and consuls +and custom house chaps come out to meet me and ask what they +can do. This is very good and keeps Griscom and Somerset in a +proper frame of awe. But seriously I could not ask for better +companions, they are both enormously well informed and polite +and full of fun. The night the Governor asked Somers to +dinner and did not ask us we waited up for him and then hung +him out over the side of the boat above the sharks until he +swore he would never go away from us again. Griscom is more +aggravatingly leisurely but he has a most audacious humor and +talks to the natives in a way that fills them with pleasure +but which nearly makes Somers and I expose the whole party by +laughing. Today we lie here taking in banannas and tomorrow I +will see Conrad, Conrad, Conrad!! Send this to the Consul. +Lots of love. +DICK. + + +SAN PEDRO--SULA--February, 1895. +MY DEAR FAMILY: + +The afternoon of the day we were in Puerto Cortez the man of +war Atlanta steamed into the little harbor and we all +cheered and the lottery people ran up the American flag. Then +I and the others went out to her as fast as we could be rowed +and I went over the side and the surprise of the officers was +very great. They called Somers and Griscom to come up and we +spent the day there. They were a much younger and more +amusing lot of fellows than those on the Minneapolis and +treated us most kindly. It was a beautiful boat and each of +us confessed to feeling quite tempted to go back again to +civilization after one day on her. Their boat had touched at +Tangier and so they claimed that she was the one meant in the +Exiles. They told me that the guide Isaac Cohen whom I +mentioned in Harper's Weekly carries it around as an +advertisement and wanted to ship with them as cabin boy. We +left the next day on the railroad and the boys finding that +two negroes sat on the cowcatcher to throw sand on the rails +in slippery places bribed them for their places and I sat on +the sand box. I never took a more beautiful drive. We did +not go faster than an ordinary horse car but still it was +exciting and the views and vistas wonderful. Sometimes we +went for a half mile under arches of cocoanut palms and a +straight broad leafed palm called the manaca that rises in +separate leaves sixty feet from the ground. Imagine a palm +such as we put in pots at weddings and teas as high as Holy +Trinity Church and hundreds and hundreds of them. The country +is very like Cuba but more luxuriant in every way. There are +some trees with marble like trunks and great branches covered +with oriole nests and a hundred orioles flying in and out of them +or else plastered with orchids. If Billy Furness were to see in +what abundance they grew he would be quite mad. It is a great +pity he did not come with us. This little town is the terminus +of the railroad and we have been here four days while Jeffs the +American Colonel in the Hondurean Army is getting our outfit. +It has been very pleasant and we are in no hurry which is a +good thing for us. It is a most exciting country and as +despotic as all uncivilized and unstable governments must be. +But we have called on the Governor of the district with Jeffs +and he gave us a very fine letter to all civil and unmilitary +authorities in the district calling on them to aid and protect +us in every way. I am getting awfully good material for my +novel and for half a dozen stories to boot only I am surprised +to find how true my novel was to what really exists here. +About ten years ago ---- disappeared, having as I thought +drunk himself to death. He came up to me here on my arrival +with a lot of waybills in his hand and I learned that he had +been employed in this hole in the ground by a railroad for two +years. I remembered meeting him at Newport when I was still +at Lehigh, and last night he asked me to dinner and told me +what he had been doing which included everything from acting +in South America to blacking boots in Australia. His boss was +a Pittsburgh engineer who is apparently licking him into shape +and who told me to tell his father that he had stopped +drinking absolutely. His colored "missus" sat with us at the +table and played with a beetle during the three hours I stayed +there during which time he asked me about ---- who he said had +ruined him. He told me of how ---- had done and said this, and +the contrast to the thatched roof and the mud floor and the +Scotch American engineer and the mulatto girl was rather +striking. I never had more luck in any trip than I have had on +this one and the luck of R. H. D. of which I was fond of boasting +seems to hold good. That man of war, for instance, was the only +American one that had touched at Puerto Cortez in TEN years and +it came the day we did and left the day we did. We saw a big +lithograph of Eddie Sothern in a palm hut here so we went +before a notary and swore to it and had three seals put on the +paper and sent it him as a joke. We start tomorrow the 22nd +so you see we are behind our schedule and I suppose you people +are all worried to death about us. We will be much longer +than six days on our way to Tegucigalpa as we are going +shooting and also to pay our respects to Bogran the +ex-president and the man who is getting up the next +revolution. But we take care to tell everyone we are +travelling for pleasure and are great admirers of Bonilla the +present president. Somers and I are getting on famously. He +is a very fine boy with a great sense of humor and apparently +very fond of me. We had five men counting Jeffs who we call +our military attache and Charwood and four drivers and eleven +mules so it is quite an outfit. In Ecuador with one more man +it would constitute a revolution. + +DICK. + +DEAR FAM: SANTA BARBARA--January 25, 1895. + +We are not at Tegucigalpa as you observe but travelling in +this country. "As you see it on Broadway " and as you see it +here are two different things. We have had five days of it so +far and rested here today in order to pay our respects to General +Bogran the ex-president of the Republic. It is still six days to +Tegucigalpa. The trip across Central America will certainly +be one of the most interesting experiences of my life. It is +the most beautiful country I have seen and the most barbarous. +It is also the hottest and the most insect-ious and the +dirtiest. This latter seems a little view to take of it but +it means a great deal as the insects prevent your doing +anything in a natural way; as for instance sitting on the +grass or sleeping on the ground or hunting through the bushes. +It is pretty much as you imagine it is from what you have +read, that covers it, and I have discovered nothing new by +coming to see it. I only verify what others have seen. The +people are most uninteresting chiefly because they are surly +to Americans and do not make you feel welcome. I do not mean +that I did not do well to come for I am more glad that I did +than I can say only I have not, as I have been able to do +before, found something that others have not seen. I never +expect to see such a country again unless in Africa. If you +leave the path for ten yards you would never get back to it +except by accident and you could not get that far away unless +you cut yourself a trail. In some places the mail route which +we follow and over which the mail is carried on the backs of +runners is cut in the rock and we go down steps as even as +those of the City Hall and for hours we travel over rough +rocks and stones and a path so narrow that your knees catch in +the vines at the side. The mules are wonderfully sure footed +and never slip although they are very little, and I am pretty +heavy. The heat is something awful. It bakes you and will +dry your pith helmet in ten minutes after you have soaked it +in water. But the scenery is magnificent, sometimes we ride +above the clouds and look down into valleys stretching fifty +miles away and see the buzzards half a mile below us. Then we go +through forests of manaca palms that spread out on a single stem +sideways and form arches over our heads with the leaves hanging +in front of us like portiers or we cross great plains of grass +and cactus and rock. The best fun is the baths we take in the +mountain streams. They are almost as cool as one could wish and +we shoot the rapids and lie under the waterfalls and come out +with all the soreness rubbed out of us as though we had been +massaged. We went shooting for two days but as they had no +dogs we did not do much. I got the best shot of the trip and +missed it. It was a large wild cat and he turned his side full +on but I fired over him. Somers and I spent most of the time +firing chance shots at alligators, but they never gave us a +good chance as the birds warn them when they are in danger. +One old fellow fifteen feet long beat us for some time and +then Somers and I started across the river to catch him +asleep. It was like the taking of Lungtepen. We had our +money belts around our necks and our shoes in one hand and +rifles in the other. The rapids ran very fast and the last I +saw of Somerset he was sitting on the bank he had started from +counting out wet bank notes and blowing the water out of his +gun barrel. I got across all right by sticking my feet +between rocks and put on my shoes and crawled up on the old +Johnnie. He smelt of musk so strong that you could have found +him in the dark. I had, a beautiful shot at him at fifty +yards but I was too greedy and ran around some rocks to get +nearer and he heard me and dived. I shot a macaw, one of those +overgrown parrots with tail feathers three feet from tip to tip. +I got him with a rifle and as Griscom had got his with a shotgun +I came out all right as a marksman although I was very sore at +missing the wild cat. We sleep in hats and we sleep precious +little for the dogs and pigs and insects all help to keep us +awake and I cannot get used to a hammock. The native beds are +made of matting such as they put over tea chests, or bull's hide +stretched. Last night I slept in a hut with a woman and her +three daughters all over fifteen and they sat up and watched +me prepare for bed with great interest. I would not have +missed this trip for any other I know. I wanted to rough it +and we've roughed it and we will have another week of it too. +We have some remarkable photographs and the article ought to +be most interesting. Bogran proved to be a very handsome and +remarkable man and we had a very interesting talk with him. +From Tegucigalpa we will probably go directly to Venezuela +across the Isthmus of Panama and not visit another Republic. +We have all travelled too much to care to duplicate, and that +is what we would be doing by remaining longer in Central +America. A month of it will be enough of it and we will not +get away from Amapala before the first of February. We are +all well and happy and dirty and sing and laugh and tell +stories and listen to Griscom's anecdotes of the aristocracy +as we pick our way along. So goodbye and God bless you all. + +DICK. + + +TEGUCIGALPA, CENTRAL AMERICA. +February lst, 1895. + +4th, 1895. +DEAR FAMILY-- + +Here we are at last, the trip from Santa Barbara where I +last wrote you was made in six days. It was not so +interesting as the first part because it was very +high up and the tropical scenery gave way to immensely tall +pines and other trees that might have been in California, or +the Rockies. The Corderillas which is the name of the +mountains we crossed are a continuation, by the way, of the +Rockies, and the Andes but are not more than 4,000 feet high. +We had two very hot days of it in the plains of Comgaqua where +there was once a city of 60,000 founded by Cortez but where +there are not now more than 6,000. The heat was awful. We +peeled all over our faces and hands and dodged and ducked our +heads as though some one were biting at us. My saddle and +clothes were so hot that I could not place my hand on them. +At one village we heard that a bull fight was to be given at +the next fifteen miles away, so we rode on there and arrived +in time to take part. They had enclosed the plaza with a +barricade of logs seven feet high, bound together with vines. +They roped a big bull and lassoed him all over and then a man +got on his back with spurs on his bare feet and held on by the +ropes around the bull's body and by his toes and threw a cloak +over the bull's eyes when ever it got too near any one-- They +stuck it with spears until it was mad and then let the lassoes +slip and the bull started off to tear out the torreadors. I +thought it would be a great sporting act to kodak a bull while +it was charging you and so we all volunteered to act as +torreadors and it was most exciting and funny. It was rather +late to get good results but I got some pretty good pictures +of the bull coming at me with his head down and then I'd skip +into a hole in the wall. The best pictures I got were of +Somers and Griscom scrambling over the seven foot barriers with +the bull in hot chase. We all looked so funny in our high boots +and helmets and so much alike that the savages yelled with +delight and thought we had been engaged especially for their +pleasure. Our "mosers," or mule drivers treated us most +insolently but we could not do anything because Jeffs. had +engaged them and we did not want to interfere with his +authority but at a place the last day out one of them told +Jeffs. he lied and that we all lied. He had lost or stolen a +canteen of Griscom's and they had said we had not given it to +him. Jeffs. went at him right and left and knocked him all +over the shop. There were half a dozen drunken mule drivers +at the place and we thought they would take a hand but they +did not. That night Jeffs. thought to try us to see what we +would have done and left us bathing in a mountain stream and +rode on ahead and hid himself behind a rock in a canon and lay +in ambush for us. We were jogging along in the moonlight and +Somerset was reciting the "Walrus and the Carpenter," when +suddenly Jeffs. let out a series of yells in Spanish and +opened fire on us over our heads. Somerset was riding my mule +and I had no weapons, so I yelled at him to shoot and he fell +off his mule and ran to mine and let go at the rock behind +which Jeffs. was with the carbines. So that in about five +seconds Jeffs.' curiosity was perfectly satisfied as to what +we would do, and he shouted for mercy. We thought it was a +sentry or brigands and were greatly disappointed when it +turned out to be Jeffs. We got here last night and a dirtier +or more dismal place you never saw. We had telegraphed ahead +for rooms but nothing was in order and we were lodged much +worse than we had been several times in the interior where +there was occasionally a clean floor. This morning we wrote +direct to the President, asking for an interview +or audience and did not ask our Consul to help us because +Jeffs. had asked him in our presence to come meet us and he +said he would after he had done talking to some other men, but +he never came. Before we heard from Bonilla however, we +learned that the Vice-president who has the same name was to +be sworn in so we went to the palace along with the populace +in their bare feet. We sat out of sight but the English +Consul who was the finest looking person in the chamber--all +over gold lace--saw us and asked that we be given places in +front, which the minister of something asked us to take but we +objected on account of our clothes. Somers had on a flannel +suit that looked exactly like pajamas and lawn tennis shoes. +But as soon as the ceremony was over they insisted on our +going in to the banquet hall and in spite of our objections we +were there conveyed and presented to Bonilla who behaved very +well and after saying he had received our letters but had not +had time to read them left us and avoided us, which was what +we wanted for we looked like the devil. We met everybody else +though and took the English and Guatemalian Consuls back to +our rooms and gave them drinks and then we went to their +rooms, so the day went very pleasantly. The President sent us +a funny printed card appointing an audience at eleven +to-morrow. It is exactly what you would imagine it would be, +the soldiers are barefooted except about fifty and the +President leaned out of the window in his shirt sleeves after +the review and they have not plastered up the holes in his +palace that his cannon made in it just a year ago to-day, when +he was fighting Vasquez, and Vasquez was then on the inside +and Bonilla on the hills. I forgot to tell you +that this morning a boy about sixteen years old, with a +policeman's badge and club came to our window and talked +pleasantly with us or at us rather, while we shaved and guyed +him in English. Finally we found that he had come to arrest +Jeffs. so we told him where Jeffs. was but he preferred to +watch us shave and we finished it under his custody. Then we +went to the Commandante and found that the mosers had had +Jeffs. arrested for not paying them on their arrival at +Tegucigalpa, as we had distinctly told them we would not do +but at San Pedro from where we took them, on their return. It +was only a spite case suggested by Jeffs. thrashing their +leader. The Commandante gave them a scolding and we went out +in triumph. + +February 4th-- + +Your cable received all right. We were very glad to hear. We +have decided to go on by mules to Manaqua, the Capital of +Nicaragua, and from there either to Corinto or to Lemon on the +Atlantic side. We had to do this or wait here ten days for +the boat going south at Amapala. It is moonlight now so that +we can avoid the heat of the day. Yesterday we went out +riding with the President, who put a gold revolver in his hip +pocket before he started and made us feel that uneasy lies the +head that rules in this country. He had two horses that had +never been ridden before, as a compliment to our powers, the +result was that the Vice-president's horse almost killed him, +which I guess the President intended it should and the horse +Griscom rode backed all over the town. He was a stallion and +had never been ridden before that day. Mine was a gentle old +gee-gee and yet I felt good when we were all on the ground again. +The British consul gave Somers a fine reception and raised the +flag for him and had the band there to play "God Save the Queen," +which he had spent the whole morning in teaching them. Griscom +and I called on our Consul and played his guitar. We bought one +for ourselves for the rest of the trip. + +I want you to do something for me: keep all the unfavorable +notices you get. I know Mother won't do it, so I shall expect +Nora to make a point of saving them from the waste-paper +basket. If there is not a lot of them when I get back, I will +raise a row. + +DICK. + + +MANAQUA-NICARAGUA-February 13, 1895. +DEAR FAM: + +I had a great deal to tell you, but we have just received +copies of the Panama Star and have read of the trolley riots +in Brooklyn, a crisis in France, War in the Balkans, a +revolution in Honolulu and another in Colombia. The result is +that we feel we are not in it and we are all kicking and +growling and abusing our luck. How Claiborne and Russell will +delight over us and in telling how the militia fired on the +strikers and how Troop A fought nobly. Never mind our turn +will come someday and we may see something yet. We have had +the deuce of a time since we left Tegucigalpa. Now we are in +a land where there are bull hide beds and canvas cots instead +of hammocks and ice and railroads and direct communication +with steamship lines. Hereafter all will be merely a matter +of waiting until the boat sails or the train starts and the +uncertainties of mules and cat boats are at an end. It is +hard to explain about our difficulties after we left Tegucigalpa +but they were many. We gave up our idea of riding here direct +because they assured us we could get a steam launch from Amapala +to Corinto so we rode three days to San Lorenzo on the Pacific +side and took an open boat from there to Amapala. It was rowed +by four men who walked up a notched log and then fell back +dragging the sweeps back, with the weight of their bodies. + +It was a moonlight night and they looked very picturesque +rising and sinking back and outlined against the sky. They +were naked to the waist and rowed all night and I had a good +chance to see them as I had to lie on the bottom of the boat +on three mahogany logs. By ten the next day we were too +cramped to stand it, so we put ashore on a deserted island and +played Robinson Crusoe. We had two biscuits and a box of +sardines among five of us but we found oysters on the rocks +and knocked a lot off with clubs and stones and the butts of +our guns. They were very good. We also had a bath until a +fish ran into me about three feet long and cut two gashes in +my leg. We reached Amapala about four in the afternoon. It +was an awful place; dirt and filth and no room to move about, +so we chartered an open boat to sail or row to Corinto sixty +miles distant. You see, we could not go back to Tegucigalpa +until the steamer arrived which is to take us South of Panama +and we could not go to Manaqua either and for the same reason +that we had sent back our mule train and we would not wait in +Amapala partly because of fever which had been there and +partly because we wanted to get to Corinto where they have ice +and to see Manaqua. The boat was about as long as the +Vagabond and twice as deep and a foot or two more across her +beam. There were four of us, five of the crew and two natives +who wanted to make the trip and who we took with us. It was +pretty awful. The old tub rocked like a milk shake and I was +never so ill in my life, we all lay packed together on the ribs +of the boat and could not move and the waves splashed over us but +we were too ill to care. The next day the sun beat in on us and +roasted us like an open furnace. The boat was a pit of heat +and outside the swell of the Pacific rose and fell and +reflected the sun like copper. We reached Corinto in about +twenty four hours and I was never so glad to get any place +before. The town turned out to greet us and some Englishmen +ran to ask from what boat we had been ship wrecked. They +would not believe we had taken the trip for any other reason. +They helped us very kindly and would not let us drink all the +iced water we wanted and sent us in to bathe in a place +surrounded by piles to keep out the sharks and by a roof to +shelter one from the sun. Corinto proved to be all that +Amapala was not; clean, cool with very excellent food and +broad beds of matting. I liked it better than any place at +which we have been, we came on here the next day to see the +President and found the city hot, dusty and of no interest. +There is an excellent hotel however and we had a talk with the +President who was a much better chap than Bonilla being older +and more civilized. Of course there is absolutely no reason +or excuse for us if we do not get control of this canal. If +only that it would allow our ships of war to pass from Ocean +to Ocean instead of going around the horn. The women are +really beautiful but that has nothing to do with the canal. +Tomorrow morning we return to Corinto as Somers and +I like it best. Griscom would like to go on across by the +route of the canal which would be a good thing were we certain +of meeting a steamer at Simon or Greytown, but the Minister +who went last month that way had to wait there sixteen days. +So, we will probably leave Corinto on the 17th or 20th, there +are two steamers, one that stops at ports and one that does +not. They both arrive together. I do not know which we will +take but--this letter will go with me. Up to date I think the +trip will make a good story but it will have to be a personal +one about the three of us for the country as it stands is +uninteresting to the general reader for the reason that it +DUPLICATES itself in everything. But with our photographs +and a humorous story, it ought to be worth reading and I have +picked enough curious things to make it of some value. + +February 15,--Corinto. + +We are back here now and rid of that dusty, dirty city. You +would be amused if you saw this place and tried to understand +why we prefer it to any place we have seen. There is surf +bathing at a half mile distant and a good hotel with a great +bar where a Frenchman gives us ice and the sea captains and +agents for mines and plantations in the interior gather to +play billiards. Outside there are rows of handsome women with +decollete gowns and shining black hair and colored silk scarfs +selling fruit and down the one street which faces the bay are +a double row of palms and the store where two American boys +have a phonograph. They are the only Americans I have met who +have or are taking a dollar out of this country. They play +the guitar and banjo very well. One of them was on the +Princeton glee club and their stories of how they have toured +Central America are very amusing. Lots of Love. + +DICK. + + +S. S. Barracouta--Off San Juan + +February 21, 1895. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today I believe is the 21st. We are out two days from Corinto +off San Juan on the boundary of Costa Rica and lie here some +hours. Then we go on without stopping to Panama arriving +there about the 25th. On the 28th we take the steamer to +Caracas. We will be at Caracas a week and then go straight +home. But in the meanwhile we will have got one mail at Colon +when we go there to take the boat for Caracas and glad I will +be to get it. We have had a summary of the news in the Panama +Star and a bundle of Worlds telling all about the trolley +strike and that is all except Dad's cable at Tegucigalpa that +we have heard in nearly two months. I am very sorry that the +distances have turned out so much longer than we expected and +that we had that unfortunate ten days wait for the steamer. I +know you want me home and I would like to be there but I do +not think I ought to go without seeing Caracas. It helps the +book so much too if one runs it into South America for no one +in the States thinks much of Central and does not want to read +about it. At least I know I never did. We have had a most +amusing time with the two phonograph chaps. One of them has +been an advertising agent and a deputy sheriff and chased +stage coach robbers and kept a hard-ware store and is only +twenty-five and the other has not had quite as much experience +but has been to Princeton, he is 23. The mixture of narratives +which change from tricks of the hard-ware trade to dances at +Buckingham Palace and anecdotes of Cliff House supper parties at +San Francisco are very interesting. I am going to write a book +for them and call it "Through Central America with a Phonograph" +or "Who We Did, and How We Done Them." We sing the most +beautiful medleys and contribute to the phonograph. I had to +protest against them announcing "Her Golden Hair was Hanging Down +her Back" by Richard Harding Davis and Somerset kicked at their +introducing "God Save the Queen" as sung by "His Grace the Duke +of Bedford" which they insist in thinking his real title and his +name; if he would only confess the truth. You cannot have any +idea of how glad I am that I took this trip, just this +particular trip, not for any interest it will be to the gentle +reader but for the benefit it has been to me. All the things +I was nervous about have been done and should I get nerves +again as I suppose I always will in one form or another I can +get rid of them by remembering how I got rid of them before +during this most peculiar excursion. For though I and we all +told the truth about being well, we were in a most trying +place at times and the ride we took and the sail to get away +from possible fever was very much of a strain. I do not see +how Griscom kept up as he did for he was an invalid and very +nervous when he started. But he showed great sporting blood. +It was much better having three than two and he furnished us +with much amusement at which he never complains. His +artlessness and his bad breaks which keep us filled with +terror make the most entertaining narratives and he tells them +on himself and then keeps on making new ones. One night Jeffs +came down with fever through bathing in the mountain streams, a +practice which did not hurt us but which natives of the country +cannot do in safety, and I confess I was scared. Jeffs pulled +through in a few days. It was odd that the man who had lived +here eleven years should have been the only one to give up +throughout the whole trip and he was a good sport, too. + +I will have the Central American stories all done or nearly so +by the time we reach New York which is one of the comforts of +this over abundance of sea voyages. I have the lottery story +nearly written and am wondering now if Bissell will let me +publish it. Would it not be a good idea to have Dad, if he +knows him, explain about how I went South to write it and just +what it is and get his official sanction or shall I write or +get the Harper's to write when I get back. The lottery people +in joke offered $10,000 if they could write the story +themselves. And sometimes I wish they would for it is the +hardest kind of work. I do not want to advertise their old +game and yet I cannot help doing it, in a way. We put in at +Punta Arenas and I found a woman looking at us with an opera +glass and shortly after she sent out to say she knew me and +that she wanted me to come up. It seemed I met her in +Elizabeth, New Jersey with Eddie Coward where she was playing +in private theatricals. Since then as a punishment no doubt +she has lived here and her husband is Minister of the Navy +with one gun boat. This trip is very hot and I sleep on deck +and look up at the stars and the light on the jib and the +smoke spoiling the firmament. It makes you feel terribly far +away from the centre of civilization in front of the fire and +you all trying to make out where we are at. I hope you know +more about it than we do. + +It is the worst country for getting about that I ever heard +of. It has revived my interest and belief in all such +beautiful things as buried treasures and hidden cities and +shooting men against stone walls and filibusters. There are +not many of these stories but every man tells them differently +so they have all the freshness of a new tale. There is no ice +on this boat or lemons or segars. It is the first time so +they say that it has happened in twelve months, but after this +it must be better. At Panama they fine the ice man $1000 +every day his machine breaks and so we have hopes. I feel so +very, very selfish off down here and leaving you all alone and +it makes me lose my temper more than usual when all these +delays occur but I promise to be good hereafter and we will be +together soon now by the end of March sure and I hope you will +not miss me too much, as much as I miss all of you. Sometimes +I wish you could see some of these islands and the long +shadowy sharks and the turtles, there are thousands of turtles +as big as tubs just floating around like empty bottles, but I +have never on the whole taken a trip when I so seldom wished +that the family were around to enjoy it. It used to hurt me +during the Mediterranean trip but there is not much that would +please you in this outfit. I like it because I am satisfied +to go dirty for weeks at a time and to talk to the engineer or +the queer passengers and to pick up stories and improve my +geography but I do not think the scenery would compensate +either Nora or you or Dad for the lack of necessities and +CLEANTH. When we were crossing the continent I don't +believe I had a spot on me as big as a nickel without three +bites on it, all sorts of bites, they just swarmed over you +all sizes, colors and varieties. They came from dogs, from +the sand, from trees, from the grass, from the air. +The worst were little red bugs that lay under the leaves +called carrapati's and that came off on you in a hundred at a +time. And there were also "jiggers" that get under your nails +and leave eggs there. Some times we could not sleep at all +for the bites and you had to carry a brush to brush the carripats +off every time you passed through bushes. It's the +damnedest country I was ever in now that I have time to think +of it. The other day I was going in to bathe and the sand was +so hot that I could not get to the breakers and so I went +yelling and jumping back to the grass and the grass was just +one mass of burrs, so I gave another yell and leaped on to a +big log and the log was full of thorns. That's the sort of +country it is. And then after you do make a dash for the surf +a shark makes a dash for you and you don't know what you are +here for anyway. It had its humorous side and it was very +funny, especially as it never turned out otherwise, to see the +men scamper when the sharks came in. They never scented us +for ten minutes or so and then they would swim up and we would +give a yell and all make for the shore head over heels and +splashing and shrieking and scared and excited. There would +always be one man who was further out than the rest and he +could not hear on account of the waves and we would all line +up on the beach and yell and dance up and down and try to +attract his attention. But you would see him go on diving and +playing along in horrible loneliness until he turned to speak +to some one and found the man gone and then he would look for +the others and when he saw us all on the shore he would give +one wild whoop out of him and go falling over himself with his +hair on end and his eyes and mouth wide open. I saw one shark +ten feet long but we would have died of the heat if we had not +bathed so we thought it was worth it. That's over now because +we cannot get any more sea bathing. Just around Panama. +Finest place seen yet. + +RICHARD. + +PANAMA, February 28th, 1895. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Griscom has awakened to the fact that he is a Press +correspondent and is interviewing rebels who come stealthily +by night followed by spies of the government and sit in +Griscom's room with the son of the Consul General, as +interpreter. Somerset and I refuse to be implicated and sit +in the plaza waiting for a file of soldiers to carry Griscom +off which is our cue for action. There is a man-of-war, the +Atlanta, the one we made friends with at Puerto Cortez, +lying at Colon and so we feel safe. We may now be said to be +absorbing local color. That is about all we have done since +we left Amapala. And if it were not that you are all alone up +there, I would not mind it. I would probably continue on. We +know it now as we do London or Paris. We can distinguish sea +captains, lawyers in politics, commandantes, oldest residents, +gentlemenly good for nothings, shipping agents and commission +dealers, coffee planters and men who are "on the beach" with +unerring eye. We know the story of each before he tells it, +or it is told by some one else. The Commandante shot a lot of +men by the side of a road during the last revolution, first +allowing them to dig their own graves and is here now so +that he can pay himself by stealing the custom dues, +the lawyer politician has been to Cornell and taken a medical +degree in Paris and aspires to be a deputy and only remembers +New York as the home of Lillian Russell. The commission +merchants are all Germans and the coffee planters are all +French. They point with pride to little bare-foot boys +selling sea shells and cocoanuts as their offspring, although +they cannot remember their names. The sea captains you can +tell by their ready made clothes of a material that would be +warm in Alaska and by them wearing Spanish dollars for watch +guards and by the walk which is rolling easily when sober and +pitching heavily toward the night. The oldest resident always +sits in front of the hotel and in the same seat, with a +tortoise shell cane and remembers when Vasquez or Mendoza or +Barrios, or Bonilla occupied the Cathedral and fired hot shot +into the Palace and everybody took refuge in the English +Consulate and he helped guard the bank all night with a +Springfield rifle. The men who are on the beach have just +come out of the hospital where they have had yellow fever and +they want food. This story is intended to induce you to get +rid of them hurriedly by a small token. Sometimes out of this +queer combination you will get a good story but generally they +want to show you a ruined abbey or a document as old as the +Spanish occupation or to make you acquainted with a man who +has pearls to sell, or a coffee plantation or a collection of +unused stamps which he stole while a post-office employee. +Our chief sport now is to go throw money at the prisoners who +are locked up in a row of dungeons underneath the sea wall. The +people walk and flirt and enjoy the sea breeze above them and the +convicts by holding a mirror between the bars of the dungeons can +see who is leaning over the parapet above them. Then they hold +out their hands and you drop nickels and they fail to catch +them and the sentry comes up and teases them by holding the +money a few inches beyond their reach. They climb all over +the crossbars in their anxiety to get the money and look like +great monkeys. At night it is perfectly tremendous for their +is only a light over their heads and they crawl all over the +bars beneath this, standing on each other's shoulders and +pushing and fighting and yelling half naked and wholey black +and covered with sweat. As a matter of fact they are better +content to stay in jail than out and when the British Consul +offered to send eight of them back to Jamaica they refused to +go and said they would rather serve out their sentence of +eight years. This is the way the place looks and I am going +to introduce it in a melodrama and have some one lower files +down to the prisoners. +DICK. + + +After some not very eventful or pleasant days at Caracas, +Richard sailed for home and from the steamer wrote the +following letter: + +March 26th--On board S. S. Caracas. + +DEAR CHAS: + +Off the coast of God's country. Hurrah! H---- did not come +near us until the morning of our departure when he arrived at +the Station trembling all over and in need of a shave. But in +the meanwhile the consul at Caracas picked Griscom and myself +up in the street and took us in to see Crespo who received us +with much dignity and politeness. So we met him after all and +helped the story out that much. + +There is not much more to tell except that I was never so glad +to set my face home as I am now and even the roughness of this +trip cannot squelch my joy. It seems to me as if years had +passed since we left and to think we are only three days off +from Sandy Hook seems much too wonderfully good to be +possible. Some day when we have dined alone together at +Laurent's I will tell you the long story of how Somers and Gris +came to be decorated with the Order of the Bust of Bolivar the +Liberator of Venezuela of the 4th class but at present I will +only say that there is a third class of the order still coming +to me in Caracas, as there is 20 minutes still coming to Kelly +in Brooklyn. It was a matter of either my getting the third +class, which I ought to have had anyway having the third class +of another order already, and THEIR GETTING NOTHING, or our +all getting the 4th or 5th class and of course I choose that +they should get something and so they did and for my aimable +unselfishness in the matter they have frequently drunken my +health. I was delighted when Somers got his for he was +happier over it than I have ever seen him over anything and +kept me awake nights talking about it. I consider it the +handsomest order there is after the Legion of Honor and I have +become so crazy about Bolivar who was a second Washington and +Napoleon that I am very glad to have it, although I still sigh +for the third class with its star and collar. + +The boys are especially glad because we have organized a +Traveller's Club of New York of which we expect great things +and they consider that it starts off well in having three of +the members possessors of a foreign order. We formed the club +while crossing Honduras in sight of the Pacific Ocean and its +object is to give each other dinners and to present a club +medal to people who have been nice to and who have +helped members of the club while they were in foreign parts. +It is my idea and I think a good one as there are lots of +things one wants to do for people who help you and this will +be as good as any. Members of the club are the only persons +not eligible to any medal bestowed by the club and the +eligibility for membership is determined by certain distances +which a man must have travelled. Although the idea really is +to keep it right down to our own crowd and make each man +justify the smallness of the club's membership by doing +something worth while. I am President. Bonsal is vice +president. Russell treasurer and Griscom Secretary. Somerset +is the solitary member. You and Sam and Helen and Elizabeth +Bisland are at present the only honorary members. We are also +giving gold medals to the two chaps who crossed Asia on +bicycles, to Willie Chanler and James Creelman, but that does +not make them members. It only shows we as a club think they +have done a sporting act. I hope you like the idea. We have +gone over it for a month and considered it in every way and I +think we are all well enough known to make anybody pleased to +have us recognize what they did whether it was for any of us +personally or for the public as explorers. On this trip for +instance we would probably send the club medals in silver to +Admiral Meade, to Kelly, to Royas the Venezuelan Minister for +the orders to the Governor of Belize, to the consul at La +Guayra and to one of the phonograph chaps. In the same way if +you would want to send a medal to any man or woman prince or +doctor who had been kind, courteous, hospitable or of official +service to you you would just send in a request to the +committee. Write me soon and with lots of love +DICK. + + +In April, 1895, Richard was back in New York, at work on his +South and Central American articles, and according to the +following letters, having a good time with his old friends. + + +NEW YORK, April 27, 1895. +DEAR CHAS: + +I read in the paper the other morning that John Drew was in +Harlem, so I sent him a telegram saying that I was organizing +a relief expedition, and would bring him out of the wilderness +in safety. At twelve I sent another reading, "Natives from +interior of Harlem report having seen Davis Relief +Expeditionary Force crossing Central Park, all well. Robert +Howard Russell." At two I got hold of Russell, and we +telegraphed "Relief reached Eighty-fifth street; natives +peacefully inclined, awaiting rear column, led by Griscom; +save your ammunition and provisions." Just before the curtain +fell we sent another, reading: "If you can hold the audience +at bay for another hour, we guarantee to rescue yourself and +company and bring you all back to the coast in safety. Do not +become disheartened." Then we started for Harlem in a cab +with George and another colored man dressed as African +warriors, with assegai daggers and robes of gold and high +turbans and sashes stuck full of swords. I wore my sombrero +and riding breeches, gauntlets and riding boots, with +cartridge belts full of bum cartridges over my shoulder and +around the waist. Russell had my pith helmet and a suit of +khaki and leggins. Griscom was in one of my coats of many +pockets, a helmet and boots. We all carried revolvers, +canteens and rifles. We sent George in with a note saying we +were outside the zareba and could not rescue him because the +man on watch objected to our guns. As soon as they saw George +they rushed out and brought us all in. Drew was on the stage, +so we tramped into the first entrance, followed by all the +grips, stage hands and members of the company. The old man +heard his cue just as I embraced him, and was so rattled that +when he got on the stage he could not say anything, and the +curtain went down without any one knowing what the plot was +about. When John came off, I walked up to him, followed by +the other four and the entire company, and said: "Mr. Drew, I +presume," and he said: "Mr. Davis, I believe. I am saved!" +Helen Benedict happened to be in Maude Adams' dressing-room, +and went off into a fit, and the company was delighted as John +would have been had he been quite sure we were not going on +the stage or into a box. We left them after we had had a +drink, although the company besought us to stay and protect +them, and got a supper ready in Russell's rooms, at which +Helen, Ethel Barrymore, John and Mrs. Drew, Maude Adams and +Griscom were present. + +DICK. + + +NEW YORK, November, 1895. +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +The china cups have arrived all right and are a beautiful +addition to my collection and to my room, in which Daphne +still holds first place. + +What do you think Sir Henry sent me? The medal and his little +black pipe in a green velvet box about as big as two bricks +laid side by side with a heavy glass top with bevelled edges +and the medal and pipe lying on a white satin bed, bound down +with silver--and a large gold plate with the inscription "To +Richard Harding Davis with the warmest greetings from Gregory +Brewster--1895"-- You have no idea how pretty it is, +Bailey, Banks and Biddle made it-- It is just like him to do +anything so sweet and thoughtful and it has attracted so many +people that I have had it locked up-- No Burden jewel robbers +here-- My friend, the Russian O---- lady still pursues me and +as she has no sense of humor and takes everything seriously, +she frightens me-- I am afraid she will move in at any +moment-- She has asked me to spend the summer with her at +Paris and Monte Carlo, and at her country place in Norfolk and +bombards me with invitations to suppers and things in the +meantime. She has just sent me a picture of herself two feet +by three, with writing all over it and at any moment, I expect +her to ring the bell and order her trunks taken up stairs-- I +am too attractive-- Last night I dined with Helen and Maude +Adams, who is staying with her. I want them to board me too. +Maude sang for us after dinner and then went off to see Yvette +Guilbert at a "sacred concert" to study her methods. I went +to N----'s box to hear Melba and we chatted to the +accompaniment of Melba, Nordica and Plancon in a trio--the +Ogre, wore fur, pearls, white satin and violets. It was a +pink silk box. Then I went down to a reception at Mrs. De +Koven's and found it was a play. Everybody was seated already +so I squatted down on the floor in front of Mrs. De Koven and +a tall woman in a brocade gown cut like a Japanese woman's-- +It was very dark where the audience was, so I could not see +her face but when the pantomime was over I looked up and saw +it was Yvette Guilbert. So I grabbed Mrs. De Koven and told +her to present me and Guilbert said in English-- "It is not +comfortable on the floor is it?" and I said, "I have been at +your feet for three years now, so I am quite used to it"--for +which I was much applauded-- Afterwards I told some one to tell +her in French that I had written a book about Paris and about her +and that I was going to mark it and send it and before the woman +could translate, Guilbert said, "No, send me the Van Bippere +book"-- So we asked her what she meant and she said, " M. Bourget +told me to meet you and to read your Van Bippere Book, you are +Mr. Davis, are you not?"-- So after that I owned the place and +refused to meet Mrs. Vanderbilt. + +Yvette has offered to teach me French, so I guess I won't go +to Somerset's wedding, unless O---- scares me out of the +country. I got my $2,000 check and have paid all my debts. +They were not a third as much as I thought they were, so +that's all right. + +Do come over mother, as soon as you can and we will meet at +Jersey City, and have a nice lunch and a good talk. Give my +bestest love to Dad and Nora. How would she like Yvette for a +sister-in-law? John Hare has sent me seats for to night-- He +is very nice-- I have begun the story of the "Servants' Ball" +and got well into it. + +and lots of love. + +DICK. + + + +The following letter was written to me at Florence. The novel +referred to was "Soldiers of Fortune," which eventually proved +the most successful book, commercially, my brother ever wrote. +Mrs. Hicks, to whom Richard frequently refers, is the +well-known English actress Ellaline Terriss, the wife of +Seymour Hicks. Somerset is Somers Somerset, the son of Lady +Henry Somerset, and the Frohman referred to is Daniel Frohman, +who was the manager of the old Lyceum Theatre. + +Early in November, William R. Hearst asked my brother to write +a description of the Yale-Princeton football game for The +Journal. Richard did not want to write the "story" and by +way of a polite refusal said he could not undertake it for +less than $500.00. Greatly to his surprise Hearst promptly +accepted the offer. At the time, I imagine this was by far +the largest sum ever paid a writer for reporting a single +event. + + +December 31st, 1895. +New York. +The Players. + +New Year's Eve. +DEAR CHAS: + +I am not much of a letter writer these days, but I have +finished the novel and that must make up for it. It goes to +the Scribners for $5,000 which is not as much as I think I +should have got for it. I am now lying around here until the +first of February, when I expect to sail to Somerset's +wedding, reaching you in little old Firenzi in March. We will +then paint it. After that I do not know what I shall do. +The Journal is after me to do almost anything I want at my +own figure, as a correspondent. They have made Ralph London +correspondent and their paper is the only one now to stick to. +They are trying to get all the well known men at big prices. + +I have had such a good time helping Mrs. Hicks in Seymour's +absence. She had about everything happen to her that is +possible and she is just the sort of little person you love to +do things for. She finally sailed and I am now able to attend +to my own family. + +The Central American and Venezuelan book comes out on February +lst. Several of the papers here jokingly alluded to the fact +that my article on the Venezuelan boundary had inspired the +President's message. Of course you get garbled ideas of things +over there and exaggerated ones, as for instance, on the Coxey +army. But you never saw anything like the country after that war +message. It was like living with a British fleet off Sandy Hook. +Everybody talked of it and of nothing else. I went to a +dinner of 300 men all of different callings and I do not +believe one of them spoke of anything else. Cabmen, car +conductors, barkeepers, beggars and policemen. All talked war +and Venezuela and the Doctrine of Mr. Monroe. In three days +the country lost one thousand of millions of dollars in +values, which gives you an idea how expensive war is. It is +worse than running a newspaper. Now, almost everyone is for +peace, peace at any price. I do not know of but one jingo +paper, The Sun, and war talk is greeted with jeers. It was +as if the people had suddenly had their eyes opened to what it +really meant and having seen were wiser and wanted no more of +it. Your brother, personally, looks at it like this. +Salisbury was to blame in the first place for being rude and +not offering to arbitrate as he had been asked to do. When he +said to Cleveland, "It's none of your business" the only +answer was "Well, I'll make it my business" but instead of +stopping there, Cleveland uttered a cast iron ultimatum +instead of leaving a loophole for diplomacy and a chance for +either or both to back out. That's where I blame him as does +every one else. + +Sam Sothern is in Chicago and we all wrote him guying letters +about the war. Helen said she was going to engage "The Heart +of Maryland" company to protect her front yard, while Russell +and I have engaged "The Girl I Left Behind Me" company with +Blanch Walsh and the original cast. + +We sent Somerset a picture of himself riddled with bullets. +And Mrs. Hicks made herself famous by asking if it was that +odious Dunraven they were going to war about. + +My article was a very lucky thing and is greatly quoted and in +social gatherings I am appealed to as a final authority. + +The football story, by the way, did me a heap of good with the +newspapers and the price was quoted as the highest ever paid +for a piece of reporting. People sent for it so that the +edition was exhausted. The Journal people were greatly pleased. + +Yvette Guilbert is at Hammerstein's and crowds the new music +hall nightly, at two dollars a seat. Irving and Miss Terry +have been most friendly to me and to the family. Frohman is +going to put "Zenda" on in New York because he has played a +failure, which will of course kill it for next year for Eddie, +when he comes out as a star. I have never seen such general +indignation over a private affair. Barrymore called it a case +of Ollaga Zenda. They even went to Brooklyn when Eddie was +playing there and asked him to stage the play for them and how +he made his changes and put on his whiskers. Poor Eddie, he +lacks a business head and a business manager--and Sam talks +and shakes his head but is little better. Lots of love and +best wishes for the New Year. + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MOSCOW, BUDAPEST, LONDON + + +The years 1896--1897 were probably the most active of +Richard's very active life. In the space of twelve months he +reported the Coronation at Moscow, the Millennial Celebration +at Budapest, the Spanish-Cuban War, the McKinley Inauguration, +the Greek-Turkish War and the Queen's Jubilee. Although this +required a great deal of time spent in travelling, Richard +still found opportunity to do considerable work on his novel +"Captain Macklin," to which he refers in one of his letters +from London. + +As correspondent of the New York American, then The +Journal, Richard went from Florence, where he was visiting +me, to Moscow. He was accompanied by Augustus Trowbridge, an +old friend of my brother's and a rarely good linguist. The +latter qualification proved of the greatest possible +assistance to Richard in his efforts to witness the actual +coronation ceremony. To have finally been admitted to the +Kremlin my brother always regarded as one of his greatest +successes as a correspondent. + + +En route--May 1896. +DEAR CHAS: + +The night is passed and with the day comes "a hope" but during +the blackness I had "a suffer"-- I read until two--five +hours--and then slept until five when the middle man who had +slept on my shoulder all night left the train and the second one +to whom Bernardi was so polite left me alone and had the porter +fit me up a bed so that I slept until seven again-- Then the +Guardian Angel returned for his traps and I bade him a sleepy +adieu and was startled to see two soldiers standing shading their +eyes in salute in the doorway and two gentlemen bowing to my kind +protector with the obsequiousness of servants-- He sort of +smiled back at me and walked away with the soldiers and 13 +porters carrying his traps. So I rung up the conductor and he +said it was the King's Minister with his eyes sticking out of his +head--the conductor's eyes--not the Minister's. I don't know +what a King's Minister is but he liked your whiskey-- I am now +passing through the Austrian Tyrol which pleases me so much +that I am chortling with joy-- None of the places for which my +ticket call are on any map--but don't you care, I don't care-- +I wish I could adequately describe last night with nothing but +tunnels hours in length so that you had to have all the +windows down and the room looked like a safe and full of +tobacco smoke and damp spongey smoke from the engine, and bad +air. That first compartment I went in was filled later with +German women who took off their skirts and the men took off +their shoes. Everybody in the rear of the car is filthy dirty +but I had a wash at the Custom house and now I am almost clean +and quite happy. The day is beautiful and the compartment is +all my own-- I am absolutely enchanted with the Tyrol-- I have +never seen such quaint picture book houses and mills with +wheels like that in the Good for Nothing and crucifixes +wonderfully carved and snow mountains and dark green forests-- +The sky is perfect and the air is filled with the sun and the +train moves so smoothly that I can see little blue flowers, baby +blue, Bavarian blue flowers, in the Spring grass. Such dear +old castles like birds nests and such homelike old mills and +red-faced millers with feathers in their caps you never saw +out of a comic opera-- The man in here with me now is a +Russian, of course, and saw the last Coronation and knows that +my suite is on the principal Street and attends to my changing +money and getting an omelette-- I can survive another night +now having had an omelette not so good as Madam Masi's but +still an omelette-- I have now left Munich and the Russian and +a conductor whom I mistook for a hereditary prince of Bavaria, +with tassels down his back, has assured me he is going to +Berlin, and that I am going to Berlin and much else to which I +smile knowingly and say mucho gracia, wee wee, ya ya, ich +ich limmer and other long speeches ending with "an er--" + +DICK. + + +May 15th, 1896. Moscow. +DEAR CHAS: + +We left Berlin Monday night at eleven and slept well in a +wagon-lit. That was the only night out of the five that I +spent in the cars that I had my clothes off, although I was +able to stretch out on the seats, so I am cramped and tired +now. At seven Monday morning the guard woke us and told us to +get ready for the Custom House and I looked out and saw a +melancholy country of green hills and black pines and with no +sign of human life. It was raining and dreary looking and +then I saw as we passed them a line of posts painted in black +and white stripes a half mile apart on each side of the train +and I knew we had crossed the boundary and that the line of +posts stretched from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea and from +the Pacific to the Caucasus Mountains and the Pamirs. It gave me +a great thrill but I have had so many to-day, that I had almost +forgotten that one. For two days we jogged along through a level +country with meanthatched huts and black crows flying continually +and peasants in sheepskin coats, full in the skirt and tight at +the waist, with boots or thongs of leather around their feet. +The women wore boots too and all the men who were not soldiers +had their hair cropped short like mops. We could not find any +one who understood any language, so as we never knew when we +would stop for food, we ate at every station and I am of the +opinion that for months I have been living on hot tea and caviar +and hash sandwiches. The snow fell an inch deep on Wednesday and +dried up again in an hour and the sun shone through it all. +So on the whole it was a good trip and most interesting. But +here we are now in a perfect pandemonium and the Czar has not +yet come nor one-fifth even of the notables. It is a great +city, immense and overpowering in its extent. The houses are +ugly low storied and in hideous colors except the churches +which are like mosques and painted every color. I confess I +feel beaten to night by the noise and rush and roar and by so +many strange figures and marvellous costumes. Our rooms are +perfect that is one thing and the situation is the very best. +If the main street were Fifth Avenue and Madison Square the +Governor's Square, his palace would be Delmonico's and our +rooms would be the corner rooms of the Brunswick, so you can +see how well we are placed. We can sit in our windows and +look down and up the main street and see every one who leaves +or calls upon the Governor. We are now going out for a dinner +and to one of many cafe-chantants and I will tell you the rest +to-morrow, when I get sleep, for after five nights of it I +feel done up, but I feel equally sure it is going to be a +great experience and I cannot tell you how glad 1 am that I +came. Love to you all and to dear Florence in which +Trowbridge, who is a brick, joins me. + +DICK. + +Moscow--May 1896. +DEAR CHAS: + +There was a great deal to tell when I shut down last night, +but I thought I would have had things settled by this time and +waited, but it looks now as though there was to be no rest for +the weary until the Czar has put his crown on his head. The +situation is this: there are ninety correspondents, and twelve +are to get into the coronation, two of these will be +Americans. There are five trying for it. + +Count Daschoff, the Minister of the Court, has the say as to +who gets in of those five. T. and I called on him with my +credentials just as he was going out. Never have I seen such +a swell. He made us feel like dudes from Paterson, New +Jersey. He had three diamond eagles in an astrakan cap, a +white cloak, a gray uniform, top boots and three rows of +medals. He spoke English perfectly, with the most politely +insolent manner that I have ever had to listen to; and eight +servants, each of whom we had, in turn, mistaken for a prince +royal, bowed at him all the brief time he talked over our +heads. He sent us to the bureau for correspondents, where +they gave me a badge and a pocketbook, with my photo in it. +They are good for nothing, except to get through the police +lines. No one at the bureau gave us the least encouragement as +to my getting in at the coronation. We were frantic, and I went +back to Breckenridge, our Minister, and wrote him a long +letter explaining what had happened, and that what I wrote +would "live," that I was advertised and had been advertised to +write this story for months. I dropped The Journal +altogether, and begged him to represent me as a literary light +of the finest color. This he did in a very strong letter to +Daschoff, and I presented it this morning, but the Minister, +like Edison, said he would let me know when he could see me. +Then I wrote Breck a letter of thanks so elegant and +complimentary that he answered with another, saying if his +first failed he would try again. That means he is for me, and +at the bureau they say whichever one he insists on will get +in, but they also say he is so good-natured that he helps +every one who comes. I told him this, and he has promised to +continue in my behalf as soon as we hear from Daschoff. + +The second thing of importance is the getting the story, IF +WE GET IT, on the wire. That, I am happy to say, we are as +assured of as I could hope to be. I own the head of the +Telegraph Bureau soul, body and mind. He loves the ground T. +and I spurn, and he sent out my first cable today, one of +interrogation merely, ahead of twelve others; he has also +given us the entree to a private door to his office, all the +other correspondents having to go to the press-rooms and +undergo a sort of press censorship, which entails on each man +the cutting up of his story into three parts, so as to give +all a chance. I gave T. three dictums to guide him; the first +was that we did not want a fair chance--we wanted an unfair +advantage over every one else. Second, to never accept a "No" +or a "Yes" from a subordinate, but to take everything from +head-quarters. Third, to use every mouse, and not to trust to +the lions. He had practise on the train. When he told me we +would be in Moscow in ten hours, I would say, "Who told you +that," and back he would go to the Herr Station Director in a +red gown, and return to say that we would get there in twenty +hours. By this time I will match him against any newspaper +correspondent on earth. He flatters, lies, threatens and +bribes with a skill and assurance that is simply beautiful, +and his languages and his manners pull me out of holes from +which I could never have risen. With it all he is as modest +as can be, and says I am the greatest diplomat out of office, +which I really think he believes, but I am only using old +reporters' ways and applying the things other men did first. + +My best stroke was to add to my cable to The Journal, +"Recommend ample recognition of special facilities afforded by +telegraph official"--and then get him to read it himself under +the pretext of wishing to learn if my writing was legible. He +grinned all over himself, and said it was. After my first +story is gone I will give him 200 roubles for himself in an +envelope and say Journal wired me to do it. That will fix +him for the coronation story, as it amounts to six months' +wages about. But, my dear brother, in your sweet and lovely +home, where the sun shines on the Cascine and the workmen +sleep on the bridges, and dear old ladies knit in the streets, +that is only one of the thousand things we have had to do. It +would take years to give you an account of what we have done +and why we do it. It is like a game of whist and poker +combined and we bluff on two flimsy fours, and crawl the next +minute to a man that holds a measly two-spot. There is not a +wire we have not pulled, or a leg, either, and +we go dashing about all day in a bath-chair, with a driver in +a bell hat and a blue nightgown, leaving cards and writing +notes and giving drinks and having secretaries to lunch and +buying flowers for wives and cigar boxes for husbands, and +threatening the Minister with Cleveland's name. + +John A. Logan, Jr., is coming dressed in a Russian Uniform, +and he wore it on the steamer, and says he is the special +guest of the Czar and the Secretary of the visiting mission. +Mrs. P. P. is paying $10,000 for a hotel for one week. That +is all the gossip there is. We lunched with the McCooks today +and enjoyed hearing American spoken, and they were apparently +very glad to have us, and made much of T. and of me. We only +hope they can help us; and I am telling the General the only +man to meet is Daschoff, and when he does I will tell him to +tell Daschoff I am the only man to be allowed in the +coronation. I wish I could tell you about the city, but we +see it only out of the corner of our eyes as we dash to bureau +after bureau and "excellency" and "royal highness" people, and +then dash off to strengthen other bridges and make new +friends. It is great fun, and I am very happy and T. is +having the time of his life. He told me he would rather be +with me on this trip than travel with the German Emperor, and +you will enjoy to hear that he wrote Sarah I was the most +"good-natured" man he ever met. God bless you all, and dear, +dear Florence. Lots of love. + +DICK. + +Moscow--May, 1896. +DEAR CHAS: + +I have just sent off my coronation story, and the strain of this +thing, which has really been on me for six months, is off. You +can imagine what a relief it is, or, rather, you cannot, for no +one who has not been with us these last ten days can know what we +have had to do. The story I sent is not a good one. It was +impossible to tell it by cable, and the first one on the entry +was a much better one. I do not care much, though; of course, I +do care, as I ought to have made a great hit with it, but there +was no time, and there was so much detail and minutia that I +could not treat it right. However, after the awful possibility, +or rather certainty, that we have had to face of not getting any +story at all, I am only too thankful. I would not do it again +for ten thousand dollars. Edwin Arnold, who did it for The +Telegraph, had $25,000, and if I told you of the way Hearst +acted and Ralph interfered with impertinent cables, you would +wonder I am sane. They never sent me a cent for the cables +until it was so late that I could not get it out of the bank, +and we have spent and borrowed every penny we have. Imagine +having to write a story and to fight to be allowed a chance to +write it, and at the same time to be pressed for money for +expenses and tolls so that you were worn out by that alone. +The brightest side of the whole thing was the way everybody in +this town was fighting for me. The entire town took sides, +and even men who disliked me, and who I certainly dislike, +like C. W. and R---- of the Paris Embassy, turned in and +fought for my getting in like relations. And the women--I had +grand dukes and ambassadors and princes, whom I do not know by +sight, moving every lever, and as Stanhope of The Herald, +testified "every man, woman and child in the visiting and +resident legation is crazy on the subject of getting Davis +into the coronation." They made it a personal matter, and +when I got my little blue badge, the women kissed me and each +other, and cheered, and the men came to congratulate me, and +acted exactly as though they had got it themselves. + +It was a beautiful sight; the Czarina much more beautiful and +more sad-looking than ever before. But it was not solemn +enough, and the priests groaned and wailed and chanted and +sang, and every one stood still and listened. All that the +Czar and Czarina did was over ten minutes after they entered +the chapel, and then for three hours the priests took the +center of the stage and groaned. I was there from seven until +one. Six solid hours standing and writing on my hat. It was +a fine hat, for we were in court costume, I being a +distinguished visitor, as well as a correspondent. That was +another thing that annoyed me, because Breckinridge, who has +acted like a brick, did not think he could put me on both +lists, so I chose the correspondents' list, of course, in +hopes of seeing the ceremony, but knowing all the time that +that meant no balls or functions, so that had I lost the +ceremony I would have had nothing; but he arranged it so that +I am on both lists. Not that I care now. For I am tired to +death; and Trowbridge did not get on either list, thanks to +the damned Journal and to his using all his friends to help +me, so that I guess I will get out and go to Buda Pest and +meet you in Paris. Do not consider this too seriously, for I +am writing it just after finishing my cable and having spent +the morning on my toes in the chapel. I will feel better +tomorrow. Anyway, it is done and I am glad, as it was the +sight of the century, and I was in it, and now I can spend my +good time and money in gay Paree. Love to all. + +DICK. + + +From Moscow Richard went direct to Buda Pest, where he wrote +an article on the Hungarian Millennial. + + + +BUDA PEST + +CHAS: May 8th, 1896. + +I have just returned from the procession of the Hungarian +Nobles. It was even more beautiful and more interesting than +the Czar's entry than which I would not have believed anything +could have been more impressive-- But the first was military, +except for the carriages, which were like something out of +fairyland--to-day, the costumes were all different and +mediaeval, some nine hundred years old and none nearer than +the 15th Century. The mis en scene was also much better. +Buda is a clean, old burgh, with yellow houses rising on a +steep green hill, red roofs and towers and domes, showing out +of the trees-- It is very high but very steep and the +procession wound in and out like a fairy picture-- I sat on +the top of the hill, looking down it to the Danube, which +separates Buda from Pest-- The Emperor sat across the square +about 75 yards from our tribune in the balcony of his palace. +We sat in the Palace yard and the procession passed and turned +in front of us-- There were about 1,500 nobles, each dressed +to suit himself, in costumes that had descended for +generations--of brocade, silk, fur, and gold and silver +cloth-- Each costume averaged, with the trappings of the +horse, 5,000 dollars. Some cost $1,000, some $15,000. Some +wore complete suits of chain armor, with bearskins and great +black eagle feathers on their spears just as they were when +they invaded Rome-- Others wore gold chain armor and +leopard or wolf skins and their horses were studded with +turquoises and trappings of gold and silver and smothered +in silver coins-- It would have been ridiculous if they had +not been the real thing in every detail and if you had not +known how terribly in earnest the men were. There is no other +country in the world where men change from the most blase and +correct of beings, to fairy princes in tights and feathers and +jewelled belts and satin coats-- They were an hour in passing +and each one seemed more beautiful than the others-- I am very +glad I came although I was disappointed at missing the +accident at Moscow. It must have been more terrible than +Johnstown. I found the ----s quite converted into the most +awful snobs but the people they worship are as simple and well +bred as all gentle people are and I have had the most +delightful time with them. It is so small and quiet after +Moscow, and instead of being lost in an avalanche of embassies +and suites and missions, I have a distinct personality, as +"the American," which I share with "the" Frenchman and four +Englishmen. We are the only six strangers and they give us +the run of all that is going on-- At night we dine at the most +remarkable club in the world, on the border of the Park, where +the best of all the Gypsey musicians plays for us-- The music +is alone worth having come to hear, and the dear souls who +play it, having been told that I like it follow me all around +the terrace and sit down three feet away and fix their eyes on +you, and then proceed to pull your nerves and heart out of you +for an hour at a time-- One night a man here dipped a ten +thousand franc note in his champagne and pasted it on the +leader's violin and bowed his thanks, and the leader bowed in +return and the next morning sent him the note back in an +envelope, saying that the compliment was worth more +than the money-- The leader's name is Berchey and the +Hungarians have never allowed him to leave the country for +fear he would not be allowed to come back-- He is a fat, half +drunken looking man, with his eyes full of tears half the time +he plays. He looks just like a setter dog and he is so +terribly in earnest that when he fixes me with his eyes and +plays at me, the court ladies all get up and move their chairs +out of his way just as though he were a somnambulist-- + +I leave here Wednesday and reach Paris Friday MORNING the +eleventh-- You must try to meet me at the Cafe de la Paix at +half past nine-- Wait in the corner room if you don't wish to +sit outside and as soon as I get washed I will join you for +coffee. It will be fine to see you again and to be done with +jumping about from hotel to hotel and to be able to read the +signs and to know how to ask for food. Russian, German and +Hungarian have made French seem like my mother tongue-- + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER X + +CAMPAIGNING IN CUBA AND GREECE + + +In December, 1896, Richard and Frederic Remington, the artist, +were commissioned by the New York Journal to visit Cuba +which was then at war with Spain. It was their intention to +go from Key West in the Vamoose, a very fast but frail +steam-launch, and to make a landing at some uninhabited point +on the Cuban coast. After this their plans seem to have been +to trust to luck and the kindliness of the revolutionists. +After waiting for some time at Key West for favorable weather, +they at last started out on a dark night to make the crossing. +A few hours after the Vamoose had left Key West a heavy +storm arose--apparently much too violent for the slightly +built launch. The crew struck and the captain finally refused +to go on to Cuba and put back to Key West. Shortly after this +Remington and my brother reached Havana by a more simple and +ostentatious route. This was my brother's first effort as a +war correspondent, and I presume it was this fact and the very +indefiniteness of the original plan that caused his mother and +father so much uneasiness. And, indeed, it did prove +eventually a hazardous exploit. + + +way to Key West. +December 19, 1896. +DEAR MOTHER: + + +I hope you won't be cross with me for going off and not +letting you know, but I thought it was better +to do it that way as there was such delay in our getting +started. I am going to Cuba by way of Key West with Frederic +Remington and Michaelson, a correspondent who has been there +for six months. We are to be taken by the Vamoose the +fastest steam yacht made to Santa Clara province where the +Cubans will meet us and take us to Gomez. We will stay a +month with him, the yacht calling for copy and sketches once a +week, and finally for us in a month. I get all my expenses +and The Journal pays me $3,000 for the month's work. The +Harper's Magazine also takes a story at six hundred dollars +and Russell will reprint Remington's sketches and my story in +book form, so I shall probably clear $4,000 in the next month +or six weeks. I was a week in getting information on the +subject so I know all about it from the men who have just been +there and I want you to pay attention to what I tell you they +told me and not to listen to any stray visitor who comes in +for tea and talks without any tact or knowledge. There is no +danger in the trip except the problem of getting there and +getting away again, and that is now removed by The Journal's +yacht. I would have gone earlier had any of the periodicals +that asked me to go shown me any way to get there-- THERE IS +NO FEVER THIS TIME OF YEAR and as you know fever never +touches me. It got all the others in Central America and +never worried me at all. There is no danger of getting shot, +as the province into which we go, the Santa Clara province, is +owned and populated and patrolled by the Cubans. It is no +more Spanish than New Jersey and the Spaniards cannot get in +there. We have the strongest possible letters from the Junta, +and I have from Lamont, Bayard and Olney and credentials in +every language. We will sit around the Gomez camp and send +messengers back to the coast. It is a three days trip and as +Gomez may be moving from place to place you may not hear from us +for a month and we may not hear from you but remember it was a +much longer time than that before you heard from me when I went +to Honduras. Also keep in mind that I am going as a +correspondent only and must keep out of the way of fighting +and that I mean to do so, as Chamberlain says we want +descriptive stories not brave deeds-- Major Flint who has +arranged the trip for us was down there with Maceo as a +correspondent. He saw six fights and never shot off his gun +once because as he said it was not his business to kill people +and he has persuaded me that he is right, so I won't do +anything but look on-- I have bought at The Journal's +expense a fifty dollar field glass which is a new invention +and the best made. I have marked it so that you can see a man +five miles off and as soon as I see him I mean to begin to +ride or run the other way--no one loves himself more than I do +so you leave me to take care of myself. I wish I could give +you any idea of the contempt the four returned correspondents +who talked to me, have for the Spaniards. They have seen them +shoot 2,500 rounds without hitting men at 200 yards and they +run away if the enemy begins on them first. However, you +trust to Richard-- We have a fine escort arranged for us and +Michaelson speaks Spanish perfectly and has been six months +scouting over the country. + +DICK. + + +KEY West, December 26, 1896. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I got your letters late last night and they made me pretty +solemn. It is an awfully solemn thing to +have people care for you like that and to care for them as I +do. I can't tell you how much I love you. You don't know how +much the pain of worrying you for a month has meant to me, but +I have talked it all out with myself, and left it to God and I +am sure I am doing right. As Mrs. Crown said, "There's a +whole churchful up here praying for you," and I guess that +will pull me through. Of course, dear, dear Mother thought +she was cross with me. She could not be cross with me, and +her letter told me how much she cared, that was all, and made +me be extra careful. But I need not promise you to be +careful. You have an idea I am a wild, filibustering, +hot-headed young man. I am not. I gave the guides to +understand their duty was to keep us out of danger if we had +to walk miles to avoid it. We are men of peace, going in, as +real estate agents and coffee-planters and drummers are going +in on every steamer, to attend to our especial work and get +out again quick. I have just as strong a prejudice against +killing a man as I have against his killing me. + +Lots and lots of love. Don't get scared if you don't hear for +a month, although we will try to get our stories back once a +week, but you know we are at the convenience of the Cubans who +will pocket our despatches and money and not take the long +trip back. Thank dear Dad for his letter full of good advice. +It was excellent. Remington and Michelson are good men and I +like them immensely. Already we are firm friends. + +Love, + + + + +KEY WEST--January 1, 1897. +DEAR MOTHER: + +As you will know by my telegram we are either off on a safe +sea going boat or waiting for one. There is no turning back +from here and the only reason I thought of doing so was the +knowledge of the way you would suffer and worry. I argued it out +that it was selfish in me to weigh my getting laughed at and +paragraphed as the war correspondent that always Turned Back +against a month of uneasiness for you, but later I saw I could +not do it much as I love you for the element of danger to me is +non-existent; it is merely an exciting adventure and you will +have to believe me and not worry but be a Spartan mother. I +would not count being laughed at and the loss of my own self +respect if I really thought there was great danger, but I do not. +You will not lose me and if I go now I can sit still next time +and say "I have done better things than that." If I had not gone +it would have meant that I would have had to have done just that +much harder a stunt next time to make people forget that I had +failed in this one. Now do cheer up and believe in the luck +of Richard Harding Davis and the British Army. We have carte +blanche from The Journal to buy or lease any boat on the +coast and I rocked them for $1000 in advance payment because +of the delay over the Vamoose. + +I am so happy at thinking I am going, I could not have faced +anyone had I not, although we had nothing to do with the +failure, we tried to cross fairly in the damn tub and it was +her captain who put back. I lay out on the deck and cried +when he refused to go ahead, we had waited so long. The +Cubans and Remington and Michelson had put on all their riding +things but fortunately I had not and so was spared that +humiliation. What I don't know about the Fine Art of +Filibustering now is unnecessary. I find many friends of my +Captain Boynton or "Capt. Burke." Tonight the officers of the +Raleigh give me a grand dinner at which I wear a dress suit and +make speeches--they are the best chaps I ever met in the Navy. +Lots of love and best wishes to Dad and to Nora for a happy, +happy New Year. You know me and you know my conscience but it +would not let me go back in order to save you anxiety so you +won't think me selfish. God bless you. + +DICK. + + +KEY WEST, January 2nd, 1897. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I have learned here that the first quality needed to make a +great filibuster is Patience, it is not courage, or resources +or a knowledge of the Cuban Coast line, it is patience. +Anybody can run a boat into a dark bayou and dump rifles on +the beach and scurry away to sea again but only heroes can sit +for a month on a hotel porch or at the end of a wharf, and +wait. That is all we do and that is my life at Key West. I +get up and half dress and take a plunge in the bay and then +dress fully and have a greasy breakfast and then light a huge +Key West cigar, price three cents and sit on the hotel porch +with my feet on a rail-- Nothing happens after that except +getting one's boots polished as the two industries of this +place are blacking boots and driving cabs. I have two boys to +black mine at the same time every morning and pay the one who +does his the better of the two-- It generally ends in a fight +so that affords diversion-- Then a man comes along, any man, +and says, "Remmington's looking for you" and I get up and look +for Remington. There is only a triangle of streets where one +can find him and I call at "Josh" Curry's first and then at +Pendleton's News Store and read all the back numbers of +the Police Gazette for the hundredth time and then +call here at the Custom House and then look in at the Cable +office, where Michaelson lives sending telegrams about +anything or nothing and that brings me back to the hotel porch +again, where I have my boots shined once more and then go into +mid-day dinner. In the meanwhile Remington is looking for me +a hundred yards in the rear. He generally gets to "Josh's" as +I leave the Custom House-- In the afternoon I study Spanish +out of a text book and at three take a bicycle ride, at five I +call at the garrison to take tea with the doctor and his wife, +who is sweeter than angel's ever get to be with a miniature +angel of a baby called Martha. I wait until retreat is +sounded and the gun is fired at sunset and having commented +unfavorably on the way the soldiers let the flag drop on the +grass instead of catching it on the arms as a bluejacket does, +I ride off to the bay for another bath-- Then I take the +launch to the Raleigh and dine with the officers and rejoice +in the clean fresh paint and brass and decks and the lights +and black places of a great ship of war, than which nothing is +more splendid. We sit on the quarter-deck and smoke and play +the guitar and I go home again, in time for bed. I vary this +programme occasionally by spending the morning on the end of a +wharf watching another man fish and reading old novels and the +"Lives of Captain Walker" and "Captain Fry of the Virginius," +two great books from each of which I am going to write a short +story like the one of the Alamo or of the Jameson Raid-- The +life of Walker I found on the Raleigh and the life of +Captain Fry with all the old wood cuts and the newspaper +comments of the time at a book store here. I don't know when +we shall get away but it is no use kicking about it, Michaelson +is doing all he can and the new tug will be along in a week +anyway. I shall be so glad to get to Cuba that I will dance with +glee. +DICK. + + +MATANZAS, January 15th, 1897. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I sent you a note by Remington which he will mail in the +States-- From here I go to Sagua La Grande. It is on the +northern coast. I think from there I shall cross over to +Cienfuegos on the Southern coast and then if I can catch a +steamer go to Santiago to see my old friends, at the Juraqua +mines and MacWilliams' ore road and "the Palms"-- Everywhere I +am treated well on account of Weyler's order and I am learning +a great deal and talking very little, my Spanish being bad. +There is war here and no mistake and all the people in the +fields have been ordered in to the fortified towns where they +are starving and dying of disease. Yesterday I saw the houses +of these people burning on both sides of the track-- They gave +shelter to the insurgents and so very soon they found their +houses gone. I am so relieved at getting old Remington to go +as though I had won $5000. He was a splendid fellow but a +perfect kid and had to be humored and petted all the time. I +shall if I have luck be through with this in a few weeks but +it has had such a set back at the start that I am afraid it +can never make a book and I doubt if I can write a decent +article even. I am so anxious not to keep you worrying any +longer than is necessary and so I am hurrying along taking +only a car window view of things. Address me care of Consul +General Lee, Havana and confine your remarks to what is going +on at home. I know what is going on here. I don't believe half +I hear but I am being slowly converted. Remington is more +excitable than I am, so don't misunderstand if he starts in +violently. I am getting details and verifying things. He is +right on a big scale but every one has lied so about this island +that I do not want to say anything I do not believe is true. +This is a beautiful little city and after Jaruco, where we slept +two days ago, it is Paris. There we slept off the barnyard and +cows and chickens walked all over the floor and fleas all over +us. It was like Honduras only filthier. Speaking of Paris, tell +the Kid I expect to go over to him soon after I return to New +York. + +of love. + +DICK. + + +CARDENAS--North Coast of Cuba. + +January 16th, 1897. +DEAR MOTHER: + +It is very funny not knowing what sort of a place you are to +sleep in next and taking things out of a grab bag, as it +were-- In Europe you can always guess what the well known +towns will give you for you have a guide book, but here it is +all luck. Matanzas was a pretty city but the people were +awful, the hotel was Spanish and the proprietor insolent, +though I was spending more of Willie Hearst's money than all +of the officers spend in a week, the Consul could not talk +English or Spanish, he said he hadn't come there "to go to +school to no Spaniard" and he gloried in the fact he had been +there three years without knowing a word of the language. His +vice-Consul was worse and everything went wrong generally. +Every one I met was an Alarmist and that is polite for liar. +They asked Remington if he was the man who manufactured the +rifles and gave us the Iowa Democrat to read. To night I reached +here after a six hours ride through blazing fields of sugar cane +and stopped on my way to the hotel to ask the Consul when the +next boat went to Saqua la Grande-- I had no letter of +introduction to him as I had to the Matanzas consul, but as soon +as he saw my card he got out of his chair and shook hands again +and was as hearty and well bred and delightful as Charley himself +and unlike Chas he did not ask me 14 francs for looking on him. +He is out now chasing around to get me a train for to-morrow. +But I won't go to-morrow. My hotel looks on the plaza and the +proprietor and the whole suite of attendants are my slaves. It +is just as different as can be. My interpreter does it, he calls +himself MY VALET, although I point out to him that two +shirts and twelve collars do not constitute a wardrobe even +with a rubber coat thrown in. But he likes to play at my +being a distinguished stranger and I can't say I object. Only +when you remember the way I was invited to see Cuba and +expected to see it, and now the way I am seeing it from car +windows with A VALET. What would the new school of yellow +kid journalists say if they knew that. For the first time on +this trip I have wished you were both with me, that was to +night. I never see anything really beautiful but that it +instantly makes me feel selfish and wish you could see it too. +It has happened again and again and to night I wish you could +be here with me on this balcony. The town runs down a slope +to the bay and in the middle of it is the Plaza with me on the +balcony which lets out of my sleeping room-- "the room" so the +proprietor tells me, "reserved only for the Capitain General." +It is just like the description in that remarkable novel of +mine where Clay and Alice sit on the balcony of the restaurant. +I have the moonlight and the Cathedral with the open doors and +the bronze statue in the middle and the royal palms moving in the +breeze straight from the sea and the people walking around the +plaza below. If it was in any way as beautiful as this Clay and +Alice would have ended the novel that night. + +I got a grand lot of letters to-day which Otto, my interpreter +brought back from Havana after having conducted Remington +there in safety. I must say you are writing very cheerfully +now, but I don't wonder you worried at first but now that I am +a commercial traveller with an order from Weyler which does +everything when I find it necessary, you really must not worry +any more but just let me continue on my uneventful journey and +then come home. I shall have been gone so long and my +friends, judging from Russell and Dana and Irene's letters, +will be so glad to see me, that they will have forgotten I +went out to do other things than coast around in trains. As a +matter of fact this is a terribly big problem and most +difficult to get the truth of, I find myself growing to be the +opposite of the alarmist, whatever that is, although you would +think the picturesque and dramatic and exciting thing would be +the one I would rather believe because I want to believe it, +but I find that that is not so, I see a great deal on both +sides and I do not believe half I am told. As we used to say +at college, "it is against history," and it is against history +for men to act as I am told they are acting here-- They show +me the pueblo huddled together around the fortified towns, +living in palm huts but I know that they have always lived in +palm huts, the yellow kid reporters don't know that or +consider it, but send off word that the condition of the people +is terrible, that they have only leaves to cover them, and it +sounds very badly. That is an instance of what I mean. In a big +way there is no doubt that the process going on here is one of +extermination and ruin. Two years ago the amount of sugar +shipped from the port of Matanzas to the U. S. was valued at 11 +millions a year. This last year just over shows that sugar to +the amount of $800,000 was sent out. In '94, 154 vessels +touched at Matanzas on their way to America. In '95 there were +80 and in '96 there are 16. I always imagined that houses were +destroyed during a war because they got in the way of cannon +balls or they were burned because they might offer shelter to +the enemy, but here they are destroyed, with the purpose of +making the war horrible and hurrying up the end. The +insurgents began first by destroying the sugar mills, some of +which were worth millions of dollars in machinery, and now the +Spaniards are burning the homes of the people and herding them +in around the towns to starve out the insurgents and to leave +them without shelter or places to go for food or to hide the +wounded. So all day long where ever you look you see great +heavy columns of smoke rising into this beautiful sky above +the magnificent palms the most noble of all palms, almost of +all trees-- It is the most beautiful country I have ever +visited. I had no recollection of how beautiful it was or +else I had not the knowledge of other places with which to +compare it. Nothing out of the imagination can approach it in +its great waterfalls and mossy rocks and grand plains and +forests of white pillars with plumes waving above them. Only +man is vile here and it is cruel to see the walls of the +houses with blind eyes, with roofs gone and gardens burned, every +church but one that I have seen was a fortress with hammocks +swung from the altars and rude barricades thrown up around the +doorways-- If this is war I am of the opinion that it is a +senseless wicked institution made for soldiers, lovers and +correspondents for different reasons, and for no one else in the +world and it is too expensive for the others to keep it going to +entertain these few gentlemen-- I have seen very little of it yet +and I probably won't see much more, but I have seen all I want. +Remington had his mind satisfied even sooner--but then he is an +alarmist and exaggerates things-- The men who wear the red badge +of courage, I don't feel sorry for, they have their reward in +their bloody bandages and the little cross on their tunic but +those you meet coming back sick and dying with fever are the +ones that make fighting contemptible--poor little farmers, +poor little children with no interest in Cuba or Spain's right +to hold it, who have been sent out to die like ants before +they have learned to hold a mauser, and who are going back +again with the beards that have grown in the field hospitals +on their cheeks and their eyes hollow, and too weak to move or +speak. Six of them died while I was in Jaroco, a town as big +as Marion and that had been the average for two months, think +of that, six people dying in Marion every day through July and +August-- I didn't stay in that town any longer than the train +did-- Well I have been writing editorials here instead of +cheering you up but I guess I'm about right and when I see a +little more I'll tell it over again to The Journal-- It is +not as exciting reading as deeds of daring by our special +correspondent and I haven't changed my name or shaved my +eyebrows or done anything the other men have done but I believe I +am getting near the truth. They have shut off provisions going +or coming from the towns, they have huddled hundreds of people +who do not know what a bath means around these towns, and this is +going to happen-- As soon as the rains begin the yellow fever and +smallpox will set in and all vessels leaving Cuban ports will be +quarantined and the island will be one great plague spot. The +insurgents who are in the open fields will live and the soldiers +will die for their officers know nothing of sanitation or care +nothing. The little Consul has just been here to see me and we +have had a long talk and I got back at him. He told me he had +seen the Franco-German war as a correspondent of The Tribune and +Iasked him if he had ever met another correspondent of The +Tribune at that time a German student named Hans who cabled +the story of the battle of Gravellote and who Archibald Forbes +says was the first correspondent to use the cable. The Consul +who looks like William D. Howells wriggled around in his chair +and said "I guess you mean me but I was not a German student, +I was born and raised in Philadelphia and Forbes got my name +wrong, it is Hance." So then I got up and shook hands with +him in my turn and told him I had always wanted to meet that +correspondent and did not expect to do so in Cardenas, on the +coast of Cuba. + +Thank you all for your letters. I am glad you liked the +Jameson book. I thought you knew I was a F. R. G. S. It was +George Curzon proposed me and as he is a gold medallist of the +Society it was easy getting in. Lots of love. + +DICK. + + +Richard returned to New York from Cuba in February, 1897, but +the following month started for Florence to pay me a +long-promised visit. On his way he stopped for a few days in +London and Paris. + + + +ABASSADE DES ETATS-UNIS +59 Rue Galilee, +Paris, April 1st, 1897. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I got over here to-day after the heaviest weather I ever +tackled on this channel. Stephen Crane came with me. I gave +him a lunchon Wednesday. Anthony Hope, McCarthy, Harold +Frederic and Barrie came. Sir Evelyn Wood instead of coming +was detained at the war office and sent instead a lance +Sergeant on horseback with a huge envelope marked "On Her +Majesty's Service," which was to be delivered into my hands-- +The entire Savoy was upset and it was generally supposed that +war had been declared and that I was being ordered to the +front-- The whole hotel hung over us until I had receipted for +the package and the soldier had saluted and clanked away. I +gave Crane the letter as a souvenir. I also saw Seymour +Hicks' first night and recognized 15 American songs in it. + +The London Times offered me the position of correspondent on +the Greek frontier. Every one in London thought it an +enormous compliment and Harold Frederic, Ralph, Ballard Smith +and the rest were very envious. I told them I could not go, +but I was glad to have had the compliment paid me. Barrie has +made out a scenario of the "Soldiers" for dramatic purposes +and has asked the Haymarket management to consider it. So, +that I guess that it must be good-- + +So, I also guess I had better finish it-- I leave for Florence +to night. I am having a fine, fine time and I am so glad you +are all well. + +Lots of love, + +DICK. + + +Of the many happy days we have spent together, I do not +believe there were any much more happy than the three weeks +Richard remained with me. It was his first long visit to +Italy and from the day of his arrival he loved the old town +and its people who gave him a most friendly welcome. He had +come at a time when Florence was at its best, its narrow +quaint streets filled with sunshine and thronged with idling +natives and the scurrying tourists that always came with the +first days of spring. The Cascine and the pink-walled roads +of the environs were ablaze with wild roses and here, after +his rather strenuous experience in Cuba, Richard gave himself +up to long days of happy idleness. Together we took voyages +of discovery to many of the little walled and forgotten towns +where the tourists seldom set foot. Once we even wandered so +far as Monte Carlo, where my brother tried very hard to break +the bank and did not succeed. But the Richard Harding Davis +luck did not fail him completely and I remember I greatly +envied him the huge pile of gold and notes that represented +his winnings and which we did our very best to spend before we +left the land of the Prince of Monaco. However, having had +his first taste of war, Richard felt that he must leave the +peace and content of Florence to see how the Greeks, with whom +he had much sympathy, were faring with their enemies the +Turks. As it happened, this expedition proved but a short +interruption, and in less than a month he was once more back with +his new-found friends in Florence. + + +April 28, 1897 + +On the Way to Patras on a Steamer. +DEAR FAMILY: + +It has been a week since I wrote you last, when I sent you the +Inauguration article. Since then I have been having the best +time I ever had any place ALONE. I have had more fun with a +crowd, but never have been so happy by myself. What I would +have been had I taken some other chap with me I cannot +imagine. But the people of this part of Greece have been so +kind that I cannot say I have been alone. I never met with +strangers anywhere who were so hospitable, so confiding and +polite. After that slaughter-yard and pest place of Cuba, +which is much more terrible to me now than it was when I was +there, or before I had seen that war can be conducted like any +other evil of civilization, this opera bouffe warfare is like +a duel between two gentlemen in the Bois. Cuba is like a +slave-holder beating a slave's head in with a whip. I am a +war correspondent only by a great stretch of the imagination; +I am a peace correspondent really, and all the fighting I have +seen was by cannon at long range. (I was at long range, not +the cannon.) I am doing this campaign in a personally +conducted sense with no regard to the Powers or to the London +Times. I did send them an article called "The Piping Times +of War." If they do not use it I shall illustrate it with the +photos I have taken and sell it, for five times the sum they +would give, to the Harpers who are ever with us. As I once +said in a noted work, "Greece, Mrs. Morris, restores all your +lost illusions." For the last week I have been back in the days +of Conrad, the Corsair, and "Oh, Maid of Athens, ere We Part." I +have been riding over wind-swept hills and mountains topped with +snow, and with sheep and goats and wild flowers of every color +spreading for acres, and in a land where every man dresses by +choice like a grand opera brigand, and not only for +photographic purposes. I have been on the move all the time, +chasing in the rear of armies that turn back as soon as I +approach and apologize for disappointing me of a battle, or +riding to the scene of a battle that never comes off, or +hastening to a bombardment that turns out to be an attack on +an empty fort. + +I live on brown bread and cheese and goat's milk and sleep +like a log in shepherds' huts. It is so beautiful that I +almost grudge the night. Nora and Mother could take this trip +as safely as a regiment and would see things out of fairyland. +And such adventures! Late in life I am at last having +adventures and honors heaped upon me. I was elected a captain +of a band of brigands who had been watching a mountain pass +for a month, and as it showed no signs of running away had +taken to dancing on the green. I caught them at this innocent +pastime and they allowed me to photograph them and give them +wine at eight cents a quart which we drank out of a tin +stovepipe. They drank about four feet of stovepipe or +thirty-six cents' worth, then they danced and sang for me in a +circle, old men and boys, then drilled with their carbines, +and I showed them my revolver and field-glasses and themselves +in the finder of the camera; and when I had to go they took me +on their shoulders and marched me around waving their rifles. +Then the old men kissed me on the cheek and we all embraced and +they wept, and I felt as badly as though I were parting from +fifty friends. They told my guide that if I would come back they +would get fifty more "as brave as they" and I could be captain. +I could not begin to tell you all the amusing things that have +happened in this one week. I did not want to come at all, +only a stern sense of duty made me. For I wanted to write the +play in Charley's gilded halls and get to Paris and London. +But I can never cease rejoicing that I took this trip. And it +will make the book, "A Year from a Reporter's Diary," as +complete as it can be. That was why I came. Now I have the +Coronation of the Czar, the Millennial at Hungary, the +Inauguration at Washington, the Queen's Jubilee, the War in +Cuba, and the Greco-Turkish War. That is a good year's work +and I mean to loaf after it. You will laugh and say that that +is what I always say, but if you knew how I had to kick myself +out of Florence and the Cascine to come here you would believe +me. I want a rest and I am cutting this very short. + +Don't fail to cut anything Dad and Mother don't like out of +the Inauguration article. You will have me with you this +winter on my little bicycle and going to dances and not paying +board to anyone. Remember how I used to threaten to go to +Greece when the coffee was not good. It seems too funny now, +for I never was in a better place, or had more fun or saw less +of war or the signs of war. + +DICK. + + +May 7, 1897. +10 East Twenty-Eighth Street-NIT +Sponitza. +DEAR CHAS. + +This is one of the places out of Phroso, but as you never +read Phroso I will cut all that-- I hate to say it so +soon again but this is the most beautiful country to +travel over I have seen-- It is a fairy theatrical grand opera +country where everybody dresses in petticoats and gold braided +vests and carry carbines to tend sheep with-- I rode from +Santa Maura (see map) to a spot opposite Prevesa where they +said there was going to be bombarding-- There was not of +course but I had I think the most beautiful ride of my life. +I was absolutely happy--little lambs bleated and kids butted +each other and peasants in fur cloaks without sleeves and in +tights like princes sat on rocks and played pipes and the sky +was blue, the mountains covered with snow and the fields and +hills full of purple bushes and yellow and blue flowers and +sheep-- There was a cable station of yellow adobe. It was the +only building and it looked across at Prevesa but nobody +bombarded. The general gave me cognac and the cable operator +played a guitar for me and the preyor sang a fine bass, the +corporal not to be out done gave me chocolate and the army +stood around in the sun and joined in the conversation +correcting the general and each other and taking off their +hats to all the noble sentiments we toasted. It was just like +a comic opera. After a while when I had finished a fine hunck +of cheese and hard eggs and brown bread I took a photograph of +the General and the cable operator and the officer with the +bass voice and half of the army-- The other half was then sent +to escort me to this place. It walked and I rode and there +were many halts for drinks and cigarettes. They all ran after +a stray colt and were lost for some time but we re-mobilized +and advanced with great effect into this town. I was here +taken in charge by at least fifty sailors and as many soldiers +and comic opera brigands in drawers and white petticoats, +who conducted me to a house on the hill where the +innkeeper brought me a live chicken to approve of for dinner. +Then the mayor of the town turned up in gold clothes and +Barrison Sister skirts and said the General had telegraphed +about me and that I was his-- The innkeeper wept and said he +had seen me first and the chorus of soldiers, sailors and +brigands all joined in. I kept out of it but I knew the Mayor +would win and he did. Then we went out to a man-of-war the +size of the Vagabond and were solemnly assured there would +be bombarding of Prevesa to-morrow-- I go to sleep in that +hope. We leave here at seven crossing the river and ride +after the Greeks who are approaching Prevesa from the land +side while the men-of-war bombard it from the river. At least +that is what they say. I think it is the mildest war on both +sides I ever heard of and I certainly mean to be a Times +correspondent next time I play at going to war-- After being +insulted and frightened to death all over Cuba, this is the +pleasantest picnic I was ever on-- They seriously apologized +for not bombarding while I was there and I said not to mention +it-- With lots of love, old man, and to the family + +DICK. + + +FLORENCE +May 16, 1897. +DEAR FAMILY: + +Here I am safe and sound again in the old rooms in Florence. +I was gone twenty-three days and was traveling nineteen of +them, walking, riding; in sailboats, in the cars, and on +steamers. I have had more experiences and adventures than I +ever had before in three months and quite enough to last me +for years. + +After my happy ride through Turkey and the retreat of the +Greek army in Arta, of which I wrote you last, I have been in +Thessaly where I saw the two days' battle of Velestinos from +the beginning up to the end. It was the one real battle of +the war and the Greeks fought well from the first to the last. +I left Athens on the 29th of April with John Bass, a Harvard +graduate, and a most charming and attractive youth who is, or +was, in charge of the Journal men; Stephen Crane being among +the number. He seems a genius with no responsibilities of any +sort to anyone, and I and Bass left him at Velestinos after +traveling with him for four days. Crane went to Volo, as did +every other correspondent, leaving Bass and myself in +Velestinos. As the villagers had run away, we burglarized the +house of the mayor and made it our habitation while the +courier hunted for food. It was like "The Swiss Family +Robinson," and we rejoiced over the discovery of soap and +tablecloths and stray knives and forks, just as though we had +been cast on a desert island. Bass did the cooking and I laid +the table and washed up and made the beds, which were full of +fleas. But we had been sleeping on chairs and on the floor +for a week so we did not mind much. + +The second day we were awakened by cannon and you can imagine +our joy and excitement. We had it all to ourselves for eight +hours, as it took the other correspondents that long to +arrive. It was an artillery and infantry battle and about +20,000 men were engaged on both sides. The Greeks fought from +little trenches on the hills back of the town and the Turks +advanced across a great green prairie. It was very long +range and only twice did they get to within a quarter of +a mile of our trenches. Bass and I went all over the +Greek lines, for you were just as safe in one place as in +another, which means that it wasn't safe anywhere, so we gave +up considering that and followed the fight as best we could +from the first trench, which was the only one that gave an +uninterrupted view of the Turkish forces. It was a +brilliantly clear day but opened with a hail storm, which +enabled the Turks to crawl up half a mile in the sudden +darkness. It also gave me the worst attack of sciatica I ever +had. Fortunately, it did not come on badly until I reached +Volo, when it suddenly took hold of me so that I could not +walk. The trenches were wet with the rain and we had no +clothes to change to, and two more showers kept us more or +less wet all day. We had a fine view of everything and I +learned a lot. + +We were under a heavy fire for thirteen hours and certainly +had some very close escapes. At times the firing was so +fierce that if you had raised your arm above your head, the +hand would have been instantly torn off. We had to lie on our +stomachs with our chins in the dirt and not so much as budge. +This was when the Turkish fire happened to be directed on our +trench. At such times all the other trenches would fire so as +to draw the attack away, and we would have to wait until it +was over. The shells sounded like the jarring sound of +telegraph wires when one hits the pole they hang from with a +stone; and when the shells were close they sounded like the +noise made by two trains passing in opposite directions when +the wind is driven between the cars. The bullets were much +worse than the shells as you could always hear them coming, +and the bullets slipped up and passed you in a sneaking way +with a noise like rustling silk, or if some one had torn a +silk handkerchief with a sharp pull. One shell struck +three feet from me and knocked me over with the dirt +and stones and filled my nose and mouth with pebbles. I went +back and dug it out of the ground while it was still hot and +have it as a souvenir. I swore terribly at the bullets and +Bass used to grin in a sickly way. It made your hair creep +when they came very close. One man next me got a shot through +the breast while he was ramming his cleaner down the barrel, +and there were three killed within the limits of our fifty +yards. We could not get back because there was a cross fire +that swept a place we had to pass through, just about the way +the wind comes around the City Hall in the times of a +blizzard. We called it Dead Man's Curve, after that at +Fourteenth Street and Union Square, because it was sprinkled +with dead ammunition, mules and soldiers. We came through it +the first time without knowing what we were getting into and +we had no desire to go back again. So we waited until the sun +set. I took some of the finest photographs and probably the +only ones ever taken of a battle at such close range. +Whenever the men fired, I would shoot off the camera and I +expect I have some pretty great pictures. Bass took some of +me so if there is any question as to whether I was at the +Coronation, there will be none as to whether I was at Velestinos. + +Our house was hit with two shells and bullets fell like the +gentle rain from heaven all over the courtyard, so we would +have been no safer there than behind the trenches. We sent +off the first account of the battle written by anybody by +midday, and stayed on until the next day at four when the +place was evacuated in good order because, as usual, the +Crown Prince was running away--from Pharsalia this time. + +They say in Greece "Lewes, the peasant, won the race from +Marathon, but Constantine the prince, won the race from +Larissa." + +I was all right until I got to Volo when my right leg refused +absolutely to do its act and I had to be carried on a donkey. +A Greek thought I looked funny sitting groaning on the little +donkey; which I did--I looked ridiculous. So he laughed, and +Bass and a French journalist batted him over the face and left +me clinging to the donkey's neck and howling to them to come +back and hold me up. But they preferred to fight, and a +policeman came along and arrested the unhappy Greek and beat +him over the head, just for luck, and marched him off to jail, +just for laughing. + +They took me to the hospital ship which was starting, and I +came to Athens that way with one hundred and sixteen wounded; +the man on my right had his ankles gone and the man on the +left had a bullet in his side. They groaned all night and so +did I. Then when the sun rose they sang, which was worse. I +never saw anything more beautiful than the red-cross nurses, +and I guess that is the most beautiful picture I shall ever +see--those sweet-faced girls in blue and white bending over +the dirty frightened little peasant boys and taking care of +their wounds. I made love to all of them and asked three to +marry me. I was in bed for two days after I got to Athens but +had a fine time, as all the officers from the San Francisco, +from the admiral down, came to see me, and the minister, +consul and the rest did all that could have been done. I am +now all right and was bicycling in the dear old Cascine this +morning. On the whole it was a most successful trip. +Sylvester Scovel and Phillips of The World arrived just as +it was all over, and so Bass and I are about the only two +Americans who were in it. + +The train from Brindisi stopped at Rome on the way back and I +went to see the Pages. They took me out and showed me Rome by +moonlight in one hour. It was like a cinematograph. They are +here now and coming to dinner tonight. Last night the consul +had all our friends to dinner to welcome me back, and maybe I +was not glad. I had been living on cheese and brown bread and +cold lamb for two weeks, with no tobacco, and sleeping five +hours a night on floors and sofas. Sometimes the officers and +men fought for food, and we never got anything warm to eat +except occasionally tinned things which we cooked in my kit. +It was the most satisfactory trip all round I ever had. I +have been twenty years trying to be in a battle and it will be +twenty years more before I will want to be in another. + +On the eighteenth I start for London, stopping one day in +Paris to see the Clarks and Eustises. It is going to be +bigger than the Coronation for crowds, and Mother need not +worry, I shall keep out of it. The Minister to Russia sent me +word that the Czar's prime minister has given him my article +and that the Czar said thank him very much. So that is all +right. Also Hay is to present me to the Prince at the levee +on the 3tst of May, and I shall send him a copy, too. I am +looking forward to London with such joy. Tell Mother to send +me the Bookbuyer with her article in it. I have only read +the reviews of it, and they are so enthusiastic that I must +have the whole thing quick. It was such a fine thing to do +about Poe, and to give those other two fetishes the coup de +grace. It reads splendidly and I want it all. What did Dad +think of the Inauguration article? I send you all my dearest +love and will have lots to tell you when I get back this time. + +God bless you all. +DICK. + + +Richard left Florence the latter part of May, and went to +London where he had made arrangements to report the Queen's +Jubilee. He began his round of gayeties by being presented at +Court. The Miss Groves and Miss Wather to whom he refers in +the following letter were the clerks at Cox's hotel. + + +LONDON, June 2nd, 1897. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I was a beautiful sight at the Levee. I wore a velvet suit +made especially for me but no dearer for that and steel +buttons and a beautiful steel sword and a court hat with +silver on the side and silk stockings that I wore at Moscow +and pumps with great buckles. I was too magnificent for words +and so you would have said. I waited a long time in a long +hall crowded with generals and sea captains and highlanders +and volunteers and cavalry men and judges and finally was +admitted past a rope and then past another rope and then +rushed along into the throne room where I saw beefeaters and +life guardsmen and chamberlains with white wands and I gave +one my card and he read out "R. H. D. of the United States by +the American Ambassador" and then I bowed to the Prince and +Duke of York, Connaught and Edinburgh and to the American +Ambassador and then Henry White and Spencer Eddy, the two +Secretaries and the naval attache all shook hands with me and +I went around in a hansom in the bright sunshine in hopes of +finding some one who would know me. But no one did so I went to +Cox's Hotel and showed myself to Miss Groves and Miss Wather. I +went on the Terrace yesterday with the Leiters and at O'Connor's +invitation brought them to tea. Labouchere was there and +Dillon just out of jail and it was most interesting. I am +very, very busy doing nothing and having a fine time-- + +DICK. + + +LONDON, June 21, 1897. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Words cannot tell at least not unless I am well paid for it +what London is like to-day. In the first place it is so +jammed that no one can move and it is hung with decorations so +that no one can see. Royal carriages get stuck just as do the +humble drayman or Pickford's Van and royalties are lodging in +cheap hotels with nothing but a couple of Grenadier's in +sentry boxes to show they are any better blooded than the rest +of the lodgers. I also added to the confusion by giving a +lunch to the Ambassador and Miss Hay in return for the +presentation. Lady Henry and Mrs. Asquith sat on either side +of him and Mrs. Clark had Asquith and Lord Basil Blackwood to +talk to-- There was also Anthony Hope, the beautiful Julia +Neilson and her husband Fred Terry and Lady Edward Cecil and +Lord Lester-- It went off fine and the Savoy people sent in an +American Eagle of ice, decorated with American flags and +dripping icy tears from its beak. It cost me five shillings a +head and looked as though it cost that in pounds-- To night I +dine with the Goulds and then go to a musical where Melba +sings, Padewreski plays and then walk the streets if I can +until daybreak as I think of making the night before +the procession the greater part of the story. I send you a +plan showing my seat which cost me twenty-five dollars, the +advertised price being $125. but there has been a terrible +slump in seats. Love to dear Dad and Nora. + +DICK. + + + +LONDON. +89 Jermyn Street, +June 25th, 1897. +DEAR MOTHER: + +The Jubilee turned out to be the easiest spectacle to get at +and to get away from that I ever witnessed. Experience in +choosing a place and police regulations made it so simple that +we went straight to our seats and got away again without as +much trouble as it would have taken to have gone to a matinee. +The stage management of the thing almost impressed me more +than anything else. For grandeur and show it about equalled +the procession of the Czar and in many ways it was more +interesting because it was concerned with our own people and +with our own part of the world. Next to the Queen, Lord +Roberts got all of the applause. He rode a little white pony +that had been with him in six campaigns and had carried him on +his march to Candahar. It had all the campaign medals +presented to it by the War Department and wore them in a line +on its forehead, and walked just as though he knew what a +great occasion it was. After Roberts came in popularity a +Col. Maurice Clifford with the Rhodesian Horse in sombrero's +and cartridge belts and khaki suits. He had lost his arm and +was easily recognized. Wilfred Laurier the French Premier of +Canada and the Lord Mayor were the other favourites. The scene +in front of St. Paul's was ab solutely magnificent with the sooty +pillars behind the groups of diplomats, bishops and choir boys in +white, University men in pink silk gowns, and soldiers, beef +eaters, gentlemen at arms and the two Archbishops. The best +moment was when the collected troops; negroes, Chinamen, East +Indians, West Indians, African troopers, Canadian Mounted Police, +Australians, Borneo police and English Grenadiers all sang the +doxology together in the beautiful sunshine and under the +shadow of that great facade of black and white marble. Also +when the Archbishop of Canterbury without any warning suddenly +after kissing the Queen's hand threw up his arm and cried out +so that you could have heard him a hundred yards off "Three +Cheers for Her Majesty" and the diplomats, and foreign rajahs +and bishops and Salvation Army captains waved their hats and +mortar boards and the soldiers ran their bearskins and helmets +on their bayonets and spun them around in the air. The +weather was absolutely perfect and there were no accidents. +Last night the carriages were allowed to parade the streets +and for hours the route was blocked with omnibuses hired by +private parties, coster carts, private carriages, court +carriages and the hansoms. The procession formed by these was +two hours in going one mile. They passed my windows in Jermyn +Street for three hours and a party of us sat inside and guyed +the life out of them until one in the morning. We got very +clever at it finally and very impudent and as the people were +only two yards from us my windows being on a level with the +tops of the buses and as we had a flaring illumination that +lit up the street completely we had lots of fun with them +especially with the busses, as we pretended to believe that +the advertisements referred to the people on the top, and we +would ask anxiously which lady was "Lottie Collins" and which +gentleman had been brought up on " Mellin's Food"-- We had even +more fun with the swells coming home from the Gala night at the +opera and hemmed in between costers and Pickford's vans loaded +down with women and children. + +They called on us for speeches and matches and segars and we +kept the procession supplied with food and drink. Nobody got +mad and they answered back but we were prepared with numerous +repartees and they were apparently so surprised by finding a +party of ladies and gentlemen engaged in chaffing court +officials that they would forget to reply until they had moved +on. One bus driver said "Oh, you can larff, cause your at +'ome. We are 'unting for Jensen on a North Pole Expedition. +We won't be home for three years yet--" Charley seems very +happy and he got a most hearty welcome. I shall follow him +over. I do not think I shall go when he does as that would +mean seeing people and getting settled and I must get the +Greek war done by the 12th of July and the Jubilee by the 15th +of August. I know you will not mind, but I have been terribly +interrupted by the Jubilee and by so many visitors. They are +running in all the time, so I shall try to get the Greek war +article done before I sail and also have a little peaceful +view of London. I have seen nothing of it really yet. It has +been like living in a circus, and moving about on an election +night. I am well as can be except for occasional twinges of +sciatica but I have not had to go to bed with it and some +times it disappears for a week. A little less rain and more +sun will stop it. I hope you do not mind my not returning but +we will all be together for many months this Fall and I really +feel that I have not had a quiet moment here for pleasure and +work. It has been such a rush. I do wish to see dear Dad. I am +so very sorry about his being ill, and I hope he is having lots +of fishing. Love to all at Marion--and God bless you. + +RICHARD. + + +LONDON +July 13, 1897. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today Barrie gave a copyright performance of "The Little +Minister" which Maude Adams is to play in the States. It was +advertised by a single bill in front of the Haymarket Theater +and the price of admission was five guineas. We took in +fifteen guineas, the audience being Charley Frohman, Lady +Craig and a man. Cyril Maude played the hero and Brandon +Thomas and Barrie the two low comedy parts--two Scotchmen of +Thrums. I started to play one of them, but as I insisted on +making it an aged negro with songs, Barrie and Frohman got +discouraged and let me play the villain, Lord Rintoul, in +which character I was great. Maude played his part in five +different ways and dialects so as to see which he liked best, +he said. It was a bit confusing. Then one of the actors went +up in the gallery and pretended to be a journalist critic who +had sneaked in, and he abused the play and the actors with the +exception of the man who played Whamond (himself) whom he said +he thought showed great promise. Maude pretended not to know +who he was and it fooled everybody. Mrs. Barrie played the +gipsy and danced most of the time, which she said was her +conception of the part as it was in the book. Her husband +explained that this was a play, not a book, but she did not care +and danced on and off. She played my daughter, and I had a great +scene in which I cursed her, which got rounds of applause. Lady +Lewis's daughters in beautiful Paquin dresses played Scotch +lassies, and giggled in all the sad parts, and one actress who +had made a great success as one of the "Two Vagabonds" made +everybody weep by really trying to act. At one time there were +five men on the stage all talking Scotch dialect and imitating +Irving at the same time. It was a truly remarkable performance. +Ethel Barrymore goes back on Saturday with Drew to play a +French maid in "A Marriage of Convenience." She is announced +to be engaged to Hope, I see by the papers. They are not +engaged, of course, but the papers love to make matches. Look +for me as sailing either on the 31st on the St. Louis or a +week later. With lots and lots of love. + +DICK. + + +In the late summer Richard returned to Marion and from there +went to New York. However, at this time, the lure of England +was very strong with my brother, and early December found him +back in London. + + +LONDON, December 29th, 1897. +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +I had a most exciting Christmas, most of which I spent in +Whitechapel in the London Hospital. I lunched with the +Spenders and then went down with them carrying large packages +for distribution to the sick. I expected to be terribly +bored, but thought I would feel so virtuous that I would the +better enjoy my dinner which I had promised to take with the +McCarthys-- On the contrary, I had the most amusing time and +much more fun than I had later. The patients seemed only to +be playing sick, and some of them were very humorous and +others very pathetic and I played tin soldiers with some, and +distributed rich gifts, other people had paid for, with a +lavish hand. I also sat on a little girl's cot and played +dolls for an hour. She had something wrong with her spine and +I wept most of the time, chiefly because she smiled all the +time. She went asleep holding on to my middle finger like the +baby in "The Luck of Roaring Camp." There were eighty babies +in red flannel nightgowns buttoned up the back who had pillow +fights in honor of the day and took turns in playing on a +barrel organ, those that were strong and tall enough. In the +next ward another baby in white was dying-- Its mother was a +coster girl, seventeen years old, with a big hat and plumes +like those the flower girls wear at Piccadilly Circus. The +baby was yellow like old ivory and its teeth and gums were +blue and it died while we were watching it. The mother girl +was drinking tea and crying into it out of red swollen eyes, +and twenty feet off one of the red nightgowned kids was +playing "Louisiana Lou" on the barrel organ. The nurse put +the baby's arms under the sheets and then pulled one up over +its face and took the teacup away from the mother who didn't +see what had happened and I came away while three young nurses +were comforting the girl. Most of the nurses were very +beautiful, and I neglected my duties as Santa Claus to talk to +them. They would stop talking to get down on their knees and +dust up the floor, which was most embarrassing, you couldn't +very well ask to be let to help. There was one coster who had +his broken leg in a cage which moved with the leg no matter how +much he tossed. He was like the man "who sat in jail without his +boots, admiring how the world was made," he spent all his waking +hours in wrapt admiration of the cage-- He said to me "I've been +here a fortnight now, come Monday, and I can't break my leg no +how. Yer can't do it, that's all-- Yer can twist, and kick, and +toss, and it don't do no good. Yer jest can't do it-- Now you +take notice." Then he would kick violently and the cage would +run around on trolleys and keep the broken limb straight. +"See!" he would exclaim, "Wot did I tell you-- Its no use of +trying, yer just can't do it. 'ere I've been ten days a +trying and it can't be done." + +We had a very fine Christmas dinner just Ethel, the McCarthy's +and I. Fanny, tell Charles, brought in the plum pudding with +a sprig of holly in it and blazing, and after dinner I read +them the Jackall-- About eleven I started to take Ethel to +Miss Terry's, who lives miles beyond Kensington. There was a +light fog. I said that all sorts of things ought to happen in +a fog but that no one ever did have adventures nowadays. At +that we rode straight into a bank of fog that makes those on +the fishing banks look like Spring sunshine. You could not +see the houses, nor the street, nor the horse, not even his +tail. All you could see were gas jets, but not the iron that +supported them. The cabman discovered the fact that he was +lost and turned around in circles and the horse slipped on the +asphalt which was thick with frost, and then we backed into +lamp-posts and curbs until Ethel got so scared she bit her +under lip until it bled. You could not tell whether you were +going into a house or over a precipice or into a sea. The +horse finally backed up a flight of steps, and rubbed the cabby +against a front door, and jabbed the wheels into an area railing +and fell down. That, I thought, was our cue to get out, so we +slipped into a well of yellow mist and felt around for each +'other until a square block of light suddenly opened in mid air +and four terrified women appeared in the doorway of the house +through which the cabman was endeavoring to butt himself. +They begged us to come in, and we did-- Being Christmas and +because the McCarthy's always call me "King" I had put on all +my decorations and the tin star and I also wore my beautiful +fur coat, to which I have treated myself, and a grand good +thing it is, too-- I took this off because the room was very +hot, forgetting about the decorations and remarked in the same +time to Ethel that it would be folly to try and get to +Barkston Gardens, and that we must go back to the "Duchess's" +for the night. At this Ethel answered calmly "yes, Duke," and +I became conscious of the fact that the eyes of the four women +were riveted on my fur coat and decorations. At the word +"Duke" delivered by a very pretty girl in an evening frock and +with nothing on her hair the four women disappeared and +brought back the children, the servants, and the men, who were +so overcome with awe and excitement and Christmas cheer that +they all but got down on their knees in a circle. So, we fled +out into the night followed by minute directions as to where +"Your Grace" and "Your Ladyship" should turn. For years, no +doubt, on a Christmas Day the story will be told in that +house, wherever it may be in the millions of other houses of +London, how a beautiful Countess and a wicked Duke were +pitched into their front door out of a hansom cab, and after +having partaken of their Christmas supper, disappeared again into +a sea of fog. The only direction Ethel and I could remember was +that we were to go to the right when we came to a Church, so when +by feeling our way by the walls we finally reached a church we +continued going on around it until we had encircled it five times +or it had encircled us, we were not sure which. After the fifth +lap we gave up and sat down on the steps. Ethel had on low +slippers and was shivering and coughing but intensely amused +and only scared for fear she would lose her voice for the +first night of "Peter"-- We could hear voices sometimes, like +people talking in a dream, and sometimes the sound of dance +music, and a man's voice calling "Perlice" in a discouraged +way as if he didn't much care whether the police came or not, +but regularly like a fog siren-- I don't know how long we sat +there or how long we might have sat there had not a man with a +bicycle lamp loomed up out of the mist and rescued us. He had +his mother with him and she said with great pride that her boy +could find his way anywhere. So, we clung to her boy and +followed. A cabman passed leading his horse with one of his +lamps in his other hand and I turned for an instant to speak +to him and Ethel and her friends disappeared exactly as though +the earth had opened. So, I yelled after them, and Ethel said +"Here, I am," at my elbow. It was like the chesire cat that +kept appearing and disappearing until he made Alice dizzy. We +finally found a link-boy and he finally found the McCarthy's +house, and I left them giving Ethel quinine and whiskey. They +wanted me to stay, but I could not face dressing, in the +morning. So I felt my way home and only got lost twice. The +Arch on Constitution Hill gave me much trouble. I thought it +was the Marble Arch, and hence-- In Jermyn Street I saw two +lamps burning dimly and a voice said, hearing my +footsteps "where am I? I don't know where I am no more than +nothing--" I told him he was in Jermyn Street with his horse's +head about twenty feet from St. James-- There was a long +dramatic silence and then the voice said-- "Well, I be blowed +I thought I was in Pimlico!!!" + +This has been such a long letter that I shall have to skip any +more. I have NO sciatica chiefly because of the fur coat, I +think, and I got two Christmas presents, one from Margaret +Fraser and one from the Duchess of Sutherland-- Boxing Day I +took Margaret to the matinee of the Pantomine and it lasted +five hours, until six twenty, then I dressed and dined with +the Hay's and went with them to the Barnum circus which began +at eight and lasted until twelve. It was a busy day. + +Lots of love. DICK. + + + +LONDON, March 20, 1898. +DEAR MOTHER: + +The Nellie Farren benefit was the finest thing I have seen +this year past. It was more remarkable than the Coronation, +or the Jubilee. It began at twelve o'clock on Thursday, but +at ten o'clock Wednesday night, the crowd began to gather +around Drury Lane, and spent the night on the sidewalk playing +cards and reading and sleeping. Ten hours later they were +admitted, or a few of them were, as many as the galleries +would hold. Arthur Collins, the manager of the Drury Lane and +the man who organized the benefit, could not get a stall for +his mother the day before the benefit. They were then not to +be had, the last having sold for twelve guineas. I got TWO +the morning of the benefit for three pounds each, and now +people believe that I did get into the Coronation! The people +who had stalls got there at ten o'clock, and the streets were +blocked for "blocks" up to Covent Garden with hansoms and +royal carriages and holders of tickets at fifty dollars +apiece. It lasted six hours and brought in thirty thousand +dollars. Kate Vaughan came back and danced after an absence +from the stage of twelve years. Irving recited The Dream of +Eugene Aram, Terry played Ophelia, Chevalier sang Mrs. +Hawkins, Dan Leno gave Hamlet, Marie Tempest sang The Jewel of +Asia and Hayden Coffin sang Tommy Atkins, the audience of +three thousand people joining in the chorus, and for an encore +singing "Oh, Nellie, Nellie Farren, may your love be ever +faithful, may your pals be ever true, so God bless you Nellie +Farren, here's the best of luck to you." In Trial by Jury, +Gilbert played an associate judge; the barristers were all +playwrights, the jury the principal comedians, the chorus +girls were real chorus girls from the Gaiety mixed in with +leading ladies like Miss Jeffries and Miss Hanbury, who could +not keep in step. But the best part of it was the pantomime. +Ellaline came up a trap with a diamond dress and her hair down +her back and electric lights all over her, and said, "I am the +Fairy Queen," and waved her wand, at which the "First Boy" in +the pantomime said, "Go long, now, do, we know your tricks, +you're Ellaline Terriss"; and the clown said, "You're wrong, +she's not, she's Mrs. Seymour Hicks." Then Letty Lind came on +as Columbine in black tulle, and Arthur Roberts as the +policeman, and Eddy Payne as the clown and Storey as Pantaloon. + +The rest of it brought on everybody. Sam Sothern played a +"swell" and stole a fish. Louis Freear, a housemaid, and all +the leading men appeared as policemen. No one had more than a +line to speak which just gave the audience time to recognize him +or her. The composers and orchestra leaders came on as a German +band, each playing an instrument, and they got half through the +Washington Post before the policemen beat them off. Then Marie +Lloyd and all the Music Hall stars appeared as street girls and +danced to the music of a hand-organ. Hayden Coffin, Plunkett +Greene and Ben Davies sang as street musicians and the clown beat +them with stuffed bricks. After that there was a revue of all +the burlesques and comic operas, then the curtain was raised from +the middle of the stage, and Nellie Farren was discovered +seated at a table on a high stage with all the "legitimates" +in frock-coats and walking dresses rising on benches around her. + +The set was a beautiful wood scene well lighted. Wyndham +stood on one side of her, and he said the yell that went up +when the curtain rose was worse than the rebel yell he had +heard in battles. In front of her, below the stage, were all +the people who had taken part in the revue, forming a most +interesting picture. There was no one in the group who had +not been known for a year by posters or photographs: Letty +Lind as the Geisha, Arthur Roberts as Dandy Dan. The French +Girl and all the officers from The Geisha, the ballet girls +from the pantomime, the bareback-riders from The Circus Girl; +the Empire costumes and the monks from La Poupee, and all the +Chinese and Japanese costumes from The Geisha. Everybody on +the stage cried and all the old rounders in the boxes cried. + +It was really a wonderfully dramatic spectacle to see the +clown and officers and Geisha girls weeping down their grease +paint. Nellie Farren's great song was one about a street Arab +with the words: "Let me hold your, nag, sir, carry your little +bag, sir, anything you please to give--thank'ee, sir!" She used +to close her hand, then open it and look at the palm, then touch +her cap with a very wonderful smile, and laugh when she said, +"Thank'ee, sir!" This song was reproduced for weeks before the +benefit, and played all over London, and when the curtain rose on +her, the orchestra struck into it and the people shouted as +though it was the national anthem. Wyndham made a very good +address and so did Terry, then Wyndham said he would try to get +her to speak. She has lost the use of her hands and legs and can +only walk with crutches, so he put his arm around her and her +son lifted her from the other side and then brought her to her +feet, both crying like children. You could hear the people +sobbing, it was so still. She said, "Ladies and Gentleman," +looking at the stalls and boxes, then she turned her head to +the people on the stage below her and said, "Brothers and +Sisters," then she stood looking for a long time at the +gallery gods who had been waiting there twenty hours. You +could hear a long "Ah" from the gallery when she looked up +there, and then a "hush" from all over it and there was +absolute silence. Then she smiled and raised her finger to +her bonnet and said, "Thank'ee, sir," and sank back in her +chair. It was the most dramatic thing I ever saw on a stage. +The orchestra struck up "Auld Lang Syne" and they gave three +cheers on the stage and in the house. The papers got out +special editions, and said it was the greatest theatrical +event there had ever been in London. +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR + + +When the news reached Richard that the Spanish-American War +seemed inevitable he returned at once to New York. Here he +spent a few days in arranging to act as correspondent for the +New York Herald, the London Times, and Scribner's +Magazine, and then started for Key West. + + +Off Key West--April 24th, 1898. +On Board Smith, Herald Yacht. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I wrote you such a cross gloomy letter that I must drop you +another to make up for it. Since I wrote that an hour ago we +have received word that war is declared and I am now on board +the Smith. She is a really fine vessel as big as Benedict's +yacht with plenty of deck room and big bunks. I have +everything I want on board and The Herald men are two old +Press men so we are good friends. If I had had another hour I +believe I could have got a berth on the flag ship for +Roosevelt telegraphed me the longest and strongest letter on +the subject a man could write instructing the Admiral to take +me on as I was writing history. Chadwick seemed willing but +then the signal to set sail came and we had to stampede. All +the ships have their sailing pennants up. It is as calm as a +mirror thank goodness but as hot as hell. We expect to be off +Havana tomorrow at sunset. Then what we do +no one knows. The crew is on strike above and the mate is +wrestling with them but as it seems to be only a question of a +few dollars it will come out all right. We expect to be back +here on Sunday but may stay out later. Don't worry if you +don't hear. It is grand to see the line of battleships five +miles out like dogs in a leash puffing and straining. Thank +God they'll let them slip any minute now. I don't know where +"Stenie" is. I am now going to take a nap while the smooth +water lasts. + +DICK. + +--Flagship New York-- +Off Havana, + +April 26, 1898. +DEAR FAMILY: + +I left Key West on the morning of the 24th in the Dolphin +with the idea of trying to get on board the flagship on the +strength of Roosevelt's letter. Stenie Bonsal got on just +before she sailed, not as a correspondent, but as a +magazine-writer for McClure's, who have given him a +commission, and because he could act as interpreter. I left +the flagship the morning of the day I arrived. The captain of +the Dolphin apologized to his officers while we were at +anchor in the harbor of Key West, because his was a "cabin" +and not a "gun" ship, and because he had to deliver the mails +at once on board the flagship and not turn out of his course +for anything, no matter how tempting a prize it might appear +to be. He then proceeded to chase every sail and column of +smoke on the horizon, so that the course was like a cat's +cradle. We first headed for a big steamer and sounded +"general quarters." It was fine to see the faces of the +apprentices as they ran to get their cutlasses and revolvers, +their eyes open and their hair on end, with the hope that they +were to board a Spanish battleship. But at the first gun she +ran up an American flag, and on getting nearer we saw she was +a Mallory steamer. An hour later we chased another steamer, +but she was already a prize, with a prize crew on board. Then +we had a chase for three hours at night; after what we +believed was the Panama, but she ran away from us. We fired +three shells after her, and she still ran and got away. The +next morning I went on board the New York with Zogbaum, the +artist. Admiral Sampson is a fine man; he impressed me very +much. He was very much bothered at the order forbidding +correspondents on the ship, but I talked like a father to him, +and he finally gave in, and was very nice about the way he did +it. Since then I have had the most interesting time and the +most novel experience of my life. We have been lying from +three to ten miles off shore. We can see Morro Castle and +houses and palms plainly without a glass, and with one we can +distinguish men and women in the villages. It is, or was, +frightfully hot, and you had to keep moving all the time to +get out of the sun. I mess with the officers, but the other +correspondents, the Associated Press and Ralph Paine of The +World and Press of Philadelphia, with the middies. Paine +got on because Scovel of The World has done so much secret +service work for the admiral, running in at night and taking +soundings, and by day making photographs of the coast, also +carrying messages to the insurgents. + +It is a wonderful ship, like a village, and as big as the +Paris. We drift around in the sun or the moonlight, and +when we see a light, chase after it. There is a band on board +that plays twice a day. It is like a luxurious yacht, with none +of the ennui of a yacht. The other night, when we were heading +off a steamer and firing six-pounders across her bows, the band +was playing the "star" song from the Meistersinger. Wagner and +War struck me as the most fin de siecle idea of war that I had +ever heard of. The nights have been perfectly beautiful, full of +moonlight, when we sit on deck and smoke. It is like looking +down from the roof of a high building. Yesterday they brought a +Spanish officer on board, he had been picked up in a schooner +with his orderly. I was in Captain Chadwick's cabin when he was +brought in, and Scovel interpreted for the captain, who was +more courteous than any Spanish Don that breathes. The +officer said he had been on his way to see his wife and newly +born baby at Matanzas, and had no knowledge that war had been +declared. I must say it did me good to see him. I remembered +the way the Spanish officers used to insult me in a language +which I, fortunately for me, could not understand, and how I +hated the sight of them, and I enjoyed seeing his red and +yellow cockade on the table before me, while I sat in a big +armchair and smoked and was in hearing of the marines drilling +on the upper deck. He was invited to go to breakfast with the +officers, and I sat next to him, and as it happened to be my +turn to treat, I had the satisfaction of pouring drinks down +his throat. I told stories about Spanish officers all the +time to the rest of the mess, pretending I was telling them +something else by making drawings on the tablecloth, so that +the unhappy officer on his other side, who was talking Spanish +to him, had a hard time not to laugh. I told Zogbaum he ought +to draw a picture of him at the mess to show how we treated +prisoners, and a companion one of the captain of the Compeliton, +who came over with us on the Dolphin, and who showed us the marks +of the ropes on his wrists and arms the Spaniards had bound him +with when he was in Cabanas for nine months. The orderly messed +with the bluejackets, who treated him in the most hospitable +manner. He was a poor little peasant boy, half starved and +hollow-eyed, and so scared that he could hardly stand, but +they took great pride in the fact that they had made him eat +three times of everything. They are, without prejudice, the +finest body of men and boys you would care to see, and as +humorous and polite and keen as any class of men I ever met. + +The war could be ended in a month so far as the island of Cuba +is concerned, if the troops were ready and brought over here. +The coast to Havana for ten miles is broad enough for them to +march along it, and the heights above could be covered the +entire time by the fleet, so that it would be absolutely +impossible for any force to withstand the awful hailstorm they +would play on it. Transports carrying the provisions would be +protected by the ships on the gulf side, and the guns at Morro +could be shut up in twenty-four hours. This is not a dream, +but the most obvious and feasible plan, and it is a disgrace +if the Washington politicians delay. As to health, this is +the healthiest part of the coast. The trade winds blow every +day of the year, and the fever talk is all nonsense. The army +certainly has delayed most scandalously in mobilizing. This +talk of waiting a month is suicide. It is a terrible expense. +It keeps the people on a strain, destroys business, and the +health of the troops at Tampa is, to my mind, in much greater +danger than it would be on the hills around Havana, where, as +Scovel says, there is as much yellow fever as there is snow. +Tell Dad to urge them to act promptly. In the meanwhile I am +having a magnificent time. I am burned and hungry and losing +about a ton of fat a day, and I sleep finely. The other night +the Porter held us up, but it was a story that never got +into the papers. I haven't missed a trick so far except not +getting on the flagship from the first, but that does not +count now since I am on board. + +I haven't written anything yet, but I am going to begin soon. +I expect to make myself rich on this campaign. I get ten +cents a word from Scribner's for everything I send them, if +it is only a thousand words, and I get four hundred dollars a +week salary from The Times, and all my expenses. I haven't +had any yet, but when I go back and join the army, I am going +to travel en suite with an assistant and the best and gentlest +ponies; a courier and a servant, a tent and a secretary and a +typewriter, so that Miles will look like a second lieutenant. + +When I came out here on the Dolphin I said I was going to +Tampa, lying just on the principle that it is no other +newspaper-man's business where you are going. So, The +Herald man at Key West, hearing this, and not knowing I WAS +GOING TO THE FLAGSHIP, called Long, making a strong kick +about the correspondents, Bonsal, Remington and Paine, who +are, or were, with the squadron. Stenie left two days ago, +hoping to get a commission on the staff of General Lee. So +yesterday Scovel told me Long had cabled in answer to The +Herald's protests to the admiral as follows: "Complaints +have been received that correspondents Paine, Remington and +Bonsal are with the squadron. Send them ashore at once. +There must be no favoritism." + +Scovel got the admiral at once to cable Long on his behalf +because of his services as a spy, but as Roosevelt had done so +much for me, I would not appeal over him, and this morning I +sent in word to the admiral that I was leaving the ship and +would like to pay my respects. Sampson is a thin man with a +gray beard. He looks like a college professor and has very +fine, gentle eyes. He asked me why I meant to leave the ship, +and I said I had heard one of the torpedo boats was going to +Key West, and I thought I would go with her if he would allow +it. He asked if I had seen the cable from Long, and I said I +had heard of it, and that I was really going so as not to +embarrass him with my presence. He said, "I have received +three different orders from the Secretary, one of them telling +me I could have such correspondents on board as were agreeable +to me. He now tells me that they must all go. You can do as +you wish. You are perfectly welcome to remain until the +conflict of orders is cleared up." I saw he was mad and that +he wanted me to stay, or at least not to go of my own wish, so +that he could have a grievance out of it--if he had to send me +away after having been told he could have those with him who +were agreeable to him. Captain Chadwick was in the cabin, and +said, "Perhaps Mr. Davis had better remain another twenty-four +hours." The admiral added, "Ships are going to Key West +daily." Then Chadwick repeated that he thought I had better +stay another day, and made a motion to me to do so. So I said +I would, and now I am waiting to see what is going to happen. +Outside, Chadwick told me that something in the way of an +experience would probably come off, so I have hopes. By this +time, of course, you know all about it. I shall finish this +later. + +We began bombarding Matanzas twenty minutes after I wrote the +above. It was great. I guess I got a beat, as The Herald +tug is the only one in sight. + +DICK. + +Flagship-Off Havana +April 30th, 1898. +DEAR FAMILY: + +You must not mind if I don't write often, but I feel that you +see The Herald every day and that tells you of what I am +seeing and doing, and I am writing so much, and what with +keeping notes and all, I haven't much time-- What you probably +want to know is that I am well and that my sciatica is not +troubling me at all--Mother always wants to know that. On the +other hand I am on the best ship from which to see things and +on the safest, as she can move quicker and is more heavily +armored than any save the battleships-- The fact that the +admiral is on board and that she is the flagship is also a +guarantee that she will not be allowed to expose herself. I +was very badly scared when I first came to Key West for fear I +should be left especially when I didn't make the flagship-- +But I have not missed a single trick so far-- Bonsal missed +the bombardment and so did Stephen Crane-- All the press boats +were away except The Herald's. I had to write the story in +fifteen minutes, so it was no good except that we had it +exclusively-- + +I am sending a short story of the first shot fired to the +Scribner's and am arranging with them to bring out a book on +the Campaign. I have asked them to announce it as it will +help me immensely here for it is as an historian and not as a +correspondent that I get on over those men who are correspondents +for papers only. I have made I think my position here very +strong and the admiral is very much my friend as are also his +staff. Crane on the other hand took the place of Paine who was +exceedingly popular with every one and it has made it hard for +Crane to get into things-- I am having a really royal time, it +is so beautiful by both night and day and there is always +color and movement and the most rigid discipline with the most +hearty good feeling-- I get on very well with the crew too, +one of them got shot by a revolver's going off and I asked the +surgeon if I might not help at the operation so that I might +learn to be useful, and to get accustomed to the sight of +wounds and surgery-- It was a wonderful thing to see, and I +was confused as to whether I admired the human body more or +the way the surgeon's understood and mastered it-- The sailor +would not give way to the ether and I had to hold him for an +hour while they took out his whole insides and laid them on +the table and felt around inside of him as though he were a +hollow watermelon. Then they put his stomach back and sewed +it in and then sewed up his skin and he was just as good as +new. We carried him over to a cot and he came to, and looked +up at us. We were all bare-armed and covered with his blood, +and then over at the operating table, which was also covered +with his blood. He was gray under his tan and his lips were +purple and his eyes were still drunk with the ether-- But he +looked at our sanguinary hands and shook his head sideways on +the pillow and smiled-- "You'se can't kill me," he said, "I'm +a New Yorker, by God--you'se can't kill me." The Herald +cabled for a story as to how the crew of the New York +behaved in action. I think I shall send them that although +there are a few things the people had better take for +granted-- Of course, we haven't been "in action" yet +but the first bombardment made me nervous until it got +well started. I think every one was rather nervous and it +was chiefly to show them there was nothing to worry about that +we fired off the U. S. guns. They talk like veterans now-- It +was much less of a strain than I had expected, there was no +standing on your toes nor keeping your mouth open or putting +wadding in your ears. I took photographs most of the time, +and they ought to be excellent--what happened was that you +were thrown up off the deck just as you are when an elevator +starts with a sharp jerk and there was an awful noise like the +worst clap of thunder you ever heard close to your ears, then +the smoke covered everything and you could hear the shot going +through the air like a giant rocket-- The shots they fired at +us did not cut any ice except a shrapnel that broke just over +the main mast and which reminded me of Greece-- The other +shots fell short-- The best thing was to see the Captains of +the Puritan and Cincinnati frantically signalling to be +allowed to fire too-- A little fort had opened on us from the +left so they plugged at that, it was a wonderful sight, the +Monitor was swept with waves and the guns seemed to come out +of the water. The Cincinnati did the best of all. Her guns +were as fast as the reports of a revolver, a self-cocking +revolver, when one holds the trigger for the whole six. We +got some copies of The Lucha on the Panama and their +accounts of what was going on in Havana were the best reading +I ever saw-- They probably reported the Matanzas bombardment +as a Spanish victory-- The firing yesterday was very tame. We +all sat about on deck and the band played all the time-- We +didn't even send the men to quarters-- I do not believe the army +intends to move for two weeks yet, so I shall stay here. They +seem to want me to do so, and I certainly want to-- But that +army is too slow for words, and we love the "Notes from the +Front" in The Tribune, telling about the troops at +Chickamauga-- I believe what will happen is that a chance shot +will kill some of our men, and the Admiral won't do a thing +but knock hell out of whatever fort does it and land a party +of marines and bluejackets-- Even if they only occupy the +place for 24 hours, it will beat that army out and that's what +I want. They'll get second money in the Campaign if they get +any, unless they brace up and come over-- I have the very luck +of the British Army, I walked into an open hatch today and +didn't stop until I caught by my arms and the back of my neck. +It was very dark and they had opened it while I was in a +cabin. The Jackie whose business it was to watch it was worse +scared than I was, and I looked up at him while still hanging +to the edges with my neck and arms and said "why didn't you +tell me?" He shook his head and said, "that's so, Sir, I +certainly should have told you, I certainly should"-- They're +exactly like children and the reason is, I think, because they +are so shut off from the contamination of the world. One of +these ships is like living in a monastery, and they are as +disciplined and gentle as monks, and as reckless as cowboys. +When I go forward and speak to one of them they all gather +round and sit on the deck in circles and we talk and they +listen and make the most interesting comments-- The middy who +fired the first gun at Matanzas is a modest alert boy about 18 +years old and crazy about his work-- So, the Captain selected +him for the honor and also because there is such jealousy between +the bow and stern guns that he decided not to risk feelings being +hurt by giving it to either-- So, Boone who was at Annapolis a +month ago was told to fire the shot-- We all took his name and he +has grown about three inches. We told him all of the United +States and England would be ringing with his name-- When I was +alone he came and sat down on a gull beside me and told me he +was very glad they had let him fire that first gun because his +mother was an invalid and he had gone into the navy against +her wish and he hoped now that she would be satisfied when she +saw his name in the papers. He was too sweet and boyish about +it for words and I am going to take a snapshot at him and put +his picture in Scribner's--"he only stands about so high--" + +DICK. + + +I enclose a souvenir of the bombardment. Please keep it +carefully for me-- It was the first shot "in anger" in thirty +years. + + +TAMPA, May 3rd, 1898. +DEAR NORA: + +We are still here and probably will be. It is a merry war, if +there were only some girls here the place would be perfect. I +don't know what's the matter with the American girl--here am +I--and Stenie and Willie Chanler and Frederick Remington and +all the boy officers of the army and not one solitary, ugly, +plain, pretty, or beautiful girl. I bought a fine pony +to-day, her name was Ellaline but I thought that was too much +glory for Ellaline so I diffused it over the whole company by +re-christening her Gaiety Girl, because she is so quiet, all +the Gaiety Girls I know are quiet. + +She never does what I tell her anyway, so it doesn't matter +what I call her. But when this cruel war is over ($6 a day +with bath room adjoining) I am going to have an oil painting +of her labelled "Gaiety Girl the Kentucky Mare that carried +the news of the fall of Havana to Matanzas, fifty miles under +fire and Richard Harding Davis." To-morrow I am going to buy +a saddle and a servant. War is a cruel thing especially to +army officers. They have to wear uniforms and are not allowed +to take off their trousers to keep cool-- They take off +everything else except their hats and sit in the dining room +without their coats or collars-- That's because it is war +time. They are terrible brave--you can see it by the way they +wear bouquets on their tunics and cigarette badges and Cuban +flags and by not saluting their officers. One General counted +today and forty enlisted men passed him without saluting. The +army will have to do a lot of fighting to make itself solid +with me. They are mounted police. We have a sentry here, he +sits in a rocking chair. Imagine one of Sampson's or Dewey's +bluejackets sitting down even on a gun carriage. Wait till I +write my book. I wouldn't say a word now but when I write +that book I'll give them large space rates. I am writing it +now, the first batch comes out in Scribner's in July. + +to you all. + +DICK. + + +During the early days of the war, Richard received the +appointment of a captaincy, but on the advice of his friends +that his services were more valuable as a correspondent, he +refused the commission. The following letter shows that at +least at the time my brother regretted the decision, but as +events turned out he succeeded in rendering splendid service not +only as a correspondent but in the field. + + +TAMPA--May 14, 1898. +DEAR CHAS. + +On reflection I am greatly troubled that I declined the +captaincy. It is unfortunate that I had not time to consider +it. We shall not have another war and I can always be a war +correspondent in other countries but never again have a chance +to serve in my own. The people here think it was the right +thing to do but the outside people won't. Not that I care +about that, but I think I was weak not to chance it. I don't +know exactly what I ought to do. When I see all these kid +militia men enlisted it makes me feel like the devil. I've no +doubt many of them look upon it as a sort of a holiday and an +outing and like it for the excitement, but it would bore me to +death. The whole thing would bore me if I thought I had to +keep at it for a year or more. That is the fault of my having +had too much excitement and freedom. It spoils me to make +sacrifices that other men can make. Whichever way it comes +out I shall be sorry and feel I did not do the right thing. +Lying around this hotel is enough to demoralize anybody. We +are much more out of it than you are, and one gets cynical and +loses interest. On the other hand I would be miserable to go +back and have done nothing. It is a question of character +entirely and I don't feel I've played the part at all. It's +all very well to say you are doing more by writing, but are +you? It's an easy game to look on and pat the other chaps on +the back with a few paragraphs, that is cheap patriotism. +They're taking chances and you're not and when the war's over +they'll be happy and I won't. The man that enlists or volunteers +even if he doesn't get further than Chickamauga or Gretna Green +and the man who doesn't enlist at all but minds his own business +is much better off than I will be writing about what other men +do and not doing it myself, especially as I had a chance of a +life time, and declined it. I'll always feel I lost in +character by not sticking to it whether I had to go to Arizona +or Governor's Island. I was unfortunate in having Lee and +Remington to advise me. We talked for two hours in Fred's +bedroom and they were both dead against it and Lee composed my +telegram to the president. Now, I feel sure I did wrong. +Shafter did not care and the other officers were delighted and +said it was very honorable and manly giving me credit for +motives I didn't have. I just didn't think it was good enough +although I wanted it too and I missed something I can never +get again. I am very sad about it. I know all the arguments +for not taking it but as a matter of fact I should have done +so. I would have made a good aide, and had I got a chance I +certainly would have won out and been promoted. That there +are fools appointed with me is no answer. I wouldn't have +stayed in their class long. + +DICK. + +TAMPA, May 29, 1898. +DEAR CHAS.: + + +The cigars came; they are O. K. and a great treat after Tampa +products. Captain Lee and I went out to the volunteer camps +today: Florida, Alabama, Ohio and Michigan, General Lee's +push, and it has depressed me very much. I have been so right +about so many things these last five years, and was laughed at +for making much of them. Now all I urged is proved to be +correct; nothing our men wear is right. The shoes, the hats, the +coats, all are dangerous to health and comfort; one-third of +the men cannot wear the regulation shoe because it cuts the +instep, and buy their own, and the volunteers are like the +Cuban army in appearance. The Greek army, at which I made +such sport, is a fine organization in comparison as far as +outfit goes; of course, there is no comparison in the spirit +of the men. One colonel of the Florida regiment told us that +one-third of his men had never fired a gun. They live on the +ground; there are no rain trenches around the tents, or +gutters along the company streets; the latrines are dug to +windward of the camp, and all the refuse is burned to +WINDWARD. + +Half of the men have no uniforms nor shoes. I pointed out +some of the unnecessary discomforts the men were undergoing +through ignorance, and one colonel, a Michigan politician, +said, "Oh, well, they'll learn. It will be a good lesson for +them." Instead of telling them, or telling their captains, he +thinks it best that they should find things out by suffering. +I cannot decide whether to write anything about it or not. I +cannot see where it could do any good, for it is the system +that is wrong--the whole volunteer system, I mean. Captain +Lee happened to be in Washington when the first Manila outfit +was starting from San Francisco, and it was on his +representations that they gave the men hammocks, and took a +store of Mexican dollars. They did not know that Mexican +dollars are the only currency of the East, and were expecting +to pay the men in drafts on New York. + +Isn't that a pitiable situation when a captain of an English +company happens to stray into the war office, and happens to +have a good heart and busies himself to see that our own men +are supplied with hammocks and spending money. None of our +officers had ever seen khaki until they saw Lee's, nor a cork +helmet until they saw mine and his; now, naturally, they won't +have anything else, and there is not another one in the +country. The helmets our troops wear would be smashed in one +tropical storm, and they are so light that the sun beats +through them. They are also a glaring white, and are cheap +and nasty and made of pasteboard. The felt hats are just as +bad; the brim is not broad enough to protect them from the sun +or to keep the rain off their necks, and they are made of such +cheap cotton stuff that they grow hard when they are wet and +heavy, instead of shedding the rain as good felt would do. +They have always urged that our uniforms, though not smart nor +"for show," were for use. The truth is, as they all admit, +that for the tropics they are worse than useless, and that in +any climate they are cheap and poor. + +I could go on for pages, but it has to be written later; now +they would only think it was an attack on the army. But it is +sickening to see men being sacrificed as these men will be. +This is the worst season of all in the Philippines. The +season of typhoons and rainstorms and hurricanes, and they +would have sent the men off without anything to sleep on but +the wet ground and a wet blanket. It has been a great lesson +for me, and I have rubber tents, rubber blankets, rubber coats +and hammocks enough for an army corps. I have written nothing +for the paper, because, if I started to tell the truth at all, it +would do no good, and it would open up a hell of an outcry from +all the families of the boys who have volunteered. Of course, +the only answer is a standing army of a hundred thousand, and no +more calling on the patriotism of men unfitted and untrained. +It is the sacrifice of the innocents. The incompetence and, +unreadiness of the French in 1870 was no worse than our own is +now. It is a terrible and pathetic spectacle, and the +readiness of the volunteers to be sacrificed is all the more +pathetic. It seems almost providential that we had this +false-alarm call with Spain to show the people how utterly +helpless they are. + +love, + +DICK. + + +TAMPA, June 9th, 1898. + +Well, here we are again. Talk of the "Retreat from Ottawa" +I've retreated more in this war than the Greeks did. If they +don't brace up soon, I'll go North and refuse to "recognize" +the war. I feel I deserve a pension and a medal as it is. We +had everything on board and our cabins assigned us and our +"war kits" in which we set forth taken off, and were in +yachting flannels ready for the five days cruise. I had the +devil of a time getting out to the flagship, as they call the +headquarters boat. I went out early in the morning of the +night when I last wrote you. I stayed up all that night +watching troops arrive and lending a helping hand and a word +of cheer to dispirited mules and men, also segars and cool +drinks, none of them had had food for twenty-four hours and +the yellow Florida people having robbed them all day had shut +up and wouldn't open their miserable shops. They even put +sentries over the drinking water of the express company which is +only making about a million a day out of the soldiers. So their +soldiers slept along the platform and trucks rolled by them all +night, shaking the boards on which they lay by an inch or two. +About four we heard that Shafter was coming and an officer +arrived to have his luggage placed on the Seguranca. I left them +all on the pier carrying their own baggage and sweating and +dripping and no one having slept. Their special train had been +three hours in coming nine miles. I hired a small boat and went +off to the flagship alone but the small boat began to leak and I +bailed and the colored boy pulled and the men on the +transports cheered us on. Just at the sinking point I hailed +a catboat and we transferred the Admiral's flag to her and +also my luggage. The rest of the day we spent on the +transport. We left it this morning. Some are still on it but +as they are unloading all the horses and mules from the other +transports fifteen having died from the heat below deck and as +they cannot put them on again under a day, I am up here to get +cool and to stretch my legs. The transport is all right if it +were not so awfully crowded. I am glad I held out to go with +the Headquarter staff. I would have died on the regular press +boat, as it is the men are interesting on our boat. We have +all the military attaches and Lee, Remington, Whitney and +Bonsal. The reason we did not go was because last night the +Eagle and Resolute saw two Spanish cruisers and two +torpedo boats laying for us outside, only five miles away. +What they need with fourteen ships of war to guard a bottled +up fleet and by leaving twenty-six transports some of them +with 1,400 men on them without any protection but a small +cruiser and one gun boat is beyond me. The whole thing is +beyond me. It is the most awful picnic that +ever happened, you wouldn't credit the mistakes that are made. +It is worse than the French at Sedan a million times. We are +just amateurs at war and about like the Indians Columbus +discovered. I am exceedingly pleased with myself at taking it +so good naturedly. I would have thought I would have gone mad +or gone home long ago. Bonsal and Remington threaten to go +every minute. Miles tells me we shall have to wait until +those cruisers are located or bottled up. I'm tired of +bottling up fleets. I like the way Dewey bottles them. What +a story that would have made. Twenty-six transports with as +many thousand men sunk five miles out and two-thirds of them +drowned. Remember the Maine indeed! they'd better remember +the Main and brace up. If we wait until they catch those +boats I may be here for another month as we cannot dare go +away for long or far. If we decide to go with a convoy which +is what we ought to do, we may start in a day or two. Nothing +you read in the papers is correct. Did I tell you that Miles +sent Dorst after me the other night and made me a long speech, +saying he thought I had done so well in refusing the +commission. I was glad he felt that way about it. Well, lots +of love. I'm now going to take a bath. God bless you, this +is a "merry war." + +RICHARD. + + +In sight of Santiago-- +June 26th, 1898. +DEAR CHAS.: + +We have come to a halt here in a camp along the trail to +Santiago. You can see it by climbing a hill. Instead of +which I am now sitting by a fine stream on a cool rock. I +have discovered that you really enjoy things more when you are +not getting many comforts than you do when you have all you +want. That sounds dull but it is most consoling. I had a bath +this morning in these rocks that I would not have given up for +all the good dinners I ever had at the Waldorf, or the Savoy. It +just went up and down my spine and sent thrills all over me. It +is most interesting now and all the troubles of the dull days of +waiting at Tampa and that awful time on the troopship are +over. The army is stretched out along the trail from the +coast for six miles. Santiago lies about five miles ahead of +us. I am very happy and content and the book for Scribners +ought to be an interesting one. It is really very hard that +my despatches are limited to 100 words for there are lots of +chances. The fault lies with the army people at Washington, +who give credentials to any one who asks. To The +Independent and other periodicals--in no sense newspapers, +and they give seven to one paper, consequently we as a class +are a pest to the officers and to each other. Fortunately, +the survival of the fittest is the test and only the best men +in every sense get to the front. There are fifty others at +the base who keep the wire loaded with rumors, so when after +great difficulty we get the correct news back to Daiquire a +Siboney there is no room for it. Some of the "war +correspondents" have absolutely nothing but the clothes they +stand in, and the others had to take up subscriptions for +them. They gambled all the time on the transports and are +ensconced now at the base with cards and counters and nothing +else. Whitney has turned out great at the work and I am glad +he is not on a daily paper or he would share everything with +me. John Fox, Whitney and I are living on Wood's rough +riders. We are very welcome and Roosevelt has us at +Headquarters but, of course, we see the men we know all the time. +You get more news with the other regiments but the +officers, even the Generals, are such narrow minded +slipshod men that we only visit them to pick up information. +Whitney and I were the only correspondents that saw the fight +at Guasimas. He was with the regulars but I had the luck to +be with Roosevelt. He is sore but still he saw more than any +one else and is proportionally happy. Still he naturally +would have liked to have been with our push. We were within +thirty yards of the Spaniards and his crowd were not nearer +than a quarter of a mile which was near enough as they had +nearly as many killed. Gen. Chaffee told me to-day that it +was Wood's charge that won the day, without it the tenth could +not have driven the Spaniards back-- Wood is a great young +man, he has only one idea or rather all his ideas run in one +direction, his regiment, he eats and talks nothing else. He +never sleeps more than four hours and all the rest of the time +he is moving about among the tents-- Between you and me and +the policeman, it was a very hot time-- Maybe if I drew you a +map you would understand why. + +Wood and Gen. Young, by agreement the night before and without +orders from anybody decided to advance at daybreak and +dislodge the Spaniards from Las Guasimas. They went by two +narrow trails single file, the two trails were along the +crests of a line of hills with a valley between. The dotted +line is the trail we should have taken had the Cubans told us +it existed, if we had done so we would have had the Spaniards +in the frontband rear as General Young would have caught them +where they expected him to come, and we would have caught them +where they were not looking for us. Of course, the Cubans who +are worthless in every way never told us of this trail until +we had had the meeting. No one knew we were near Spaniards +until both columns were on the place where the two trails +meet. Then our scouts came back and reported them and the +companies were scattered out as you see them in the little +dots. The Spaniards were absolutely hidden not over 25 per +cent of the men saw one of them for two hours-- I ran out with +the company on the right of the dotted line, marked "our +position." I thought it was a false alarm and none of us +believed there were any Spaniards this side of Santiago. The +ground was covered with high grass and cactus and vines so +that you could not see twenty feet ahead, the men had to beat +the vines with their carbines to get through them. We had not +run fifty yards through the jungle before they opened on us +with a quick firing gun at a hundred yards. I saw the enemy +on the hill across the valley and got six sharp shooters and +began on them, then the fire got so hot that we had to lie on +our faces and crawl back to the rear. I had a wounded man to +carry and was in a very bad way because I had sciatica, +Two of his men took him off while I stopped to help a worse +wounded trooper, but I found he was dead. When I had come +back for him in an hour, the vultures had eaten out his eyes +and lips. In the meanwhile a trooper stood up on the crest +with a guidon and waved it at the opposite trail to find out +if the firing there was from Spaniards or Len Young's negroes. +He was hit in three places but established the fact that Young +was up on the trail on our right across the valley for they +cheered. He was a man who had run on the Gold Ticket for +Congress in Arizona, and consequently, as some one said, +naturally should have led a forlorn hope. A blackguard had +just run past telling them that Wood was killed and that he +had been ordered to Siboney for reinforcements. That was how +the report spread that we were cut to pieces-- A reporter who +ran away from Young's column was responsible for the story +that I was killed. He meant Marshall who was on the left of +the line and who was shot through the spine-- There was a lot +of wounded at the base and the fighting in front was fearful +to hear. It was as fast as a hard football match and you must +remember it lasted two full hours; during that time the men +were on their feet all the time or crawling on their hands-- +Not one of them, with the exception of ----, and a Sergeant +who threw away his gun and ran, went a step back. It was like +playing blindman's buff and you were it. I got separated once +and was scared until I saw the line again, as my leg was very +bad and I could not get about over the rough ground. I went +down the trail and I found Capron dying and the whole place +littered with discarded blankets and haversacks. I also found +Fish and pulled him under cover--he was quite dead-- Then I +borrowed a carbine and joined Capron's troop, a second +lieutenant and his Sergeant were in command. The man next me +in line got a bullet through his sleeve and one through his +shirt and you could see where it went in and came out without +touching the skin. The firing was very high and we were in no +danger so I told the lieutenant to let us charge across an +open place and take a tin shack which was held by the +Spaniards' rear guard, for they were open in retreat. +Roosevelt ordered his men to do the same thing and we ran +forward cheering across the open and then dropped in the grass +and fired. I guess I fired about twenty rounds and then +formed into a strategy board and went off down the trail to +scout. I got lonely and was coming back when I met another +trooper who sat down and said he was too hot to run in any +direction Spaniard or no Spaniard. So we sat down and panted. +At last he asked me if I was R. H. D. and I said I was and he +said "I'm Dean, I met you in Harvard in the racquet court." +Then we embraced--the tenth came up then and it was all over. +My leg, thank goodness, is all right again and has been so for +three days. It was only the running about that caused it. I +won't have to run again as I have a horse now and there will +be no more ambushes and moreover we have 12,000 men around +us-- Being together that way in a tight place has made us all +friends and I guess I'll stick to the regiment. Send this to +dear Mother and tell her I was not born to be killed. I ought +to tell you more of the charming side of the life--we are all +dirty and hungry and sleep on the ground and have grand talks +on every subject around the headquarters tent. I was never +more happy and content and never so well. It is hot but at +night it is quite cool and there has been no rain only a few +showers. `No one is ill and there have been no cases of fever. I +have not heard from you or any one since the 14th, which is not +really long but so much goes on that it seems so. Lots of +love to you all. + +DICK. + + +After reading this over I ought perhaps to say that the +position of the real correspondents is absolutely the very +best. No one confounds us with the men at the base, and +nothing they have they deny us. We are treated immeasurably +better than the poor attaches who are still on the ship and +who if they were spies could not be treated worse. But for +Whitney, Remington and myself nothing is too good. Generals +fight to have us on their staffs and all that sort of thing, +so I really cannot complain, except about the fact that our +real news is crowded out by the faker in the rear. + + +SANTIAGO. + +Headquarters +Cavalry Division, U. S. Army. +Headqrs. Wood's Rough Riders. + +June 29th, 1898. +DEAR DAD: + +I suppose you are back from Marion now and I have missed you. +I can't tell you how sorry I am. I wanted to see you coming +up the street this summer in your knickerbockers and with no +fish, but still happy. Never mind, we shall do the theatres +this Fall, and have good walks downtown. I hope Mother will +come up and visit me this September, at Marion and sit on +Allen's and on the Clarks' porch and we can have Chas. too. I +suppose he will have had his holiday but he can come up for a +Sunday. We expect to move up on Santiago the day after +to-morrow, and it's about time, for the trail will not be +passable much longer. It rains every day at three o'clock for an +hour and such rain you never guessed. It is three inches high +for an hour. Then we all go out naked and dig trenches to get it +out of the way. It is very rough living. I have to confess that +I never knew how well off I was until I got to smoking Durham +tobacco and I've only half a bag of that left. The enlisted men +are smoking dried horse droppings, grass, roots and tea. Some of +them can't sleep they are so nervous for the want of it, but +to-day a lot came up and all will be well for them. I've had a +steady ration of coffee, bacon and hard tack for a week and +one mango, to night we had beans. Of course, what they ought +to serve is rice and beans as fried bacon is impossible in +this heat. Still, every one is well. This is the best crowd +to be with--they are so well educated and so interesting. The +regular army men are very dull and narrow and would bore one +to death. We have Wood, Roosevelt, Lee, the British Attache, +Whitney and a Doctor Church, a friend of mine from Princeton, +who is quite the most cheerful soul and the funniest I ever +met. He carried four men from the firing line the other day +back half a mile to the hospital tent. He spends most of his +time coming around headquarters in an undershirt of mine and a +gold bracelet fighting tarantulas. I woke up the other +morning with one seven inches long and as hairy as your head +reposing on my pillow. My sciatica bothers me but has not +prevented me seeing everything and I can dig rain gutters and +cut wood with any of them. It is very funny to see Larned, the +tennis champion, whose every movement at Newport was applauded by +hundreds of young women, marching up and down in the wet +grass. Whitney and I guy him. To-day a sentry on post was +reading "As You Like It" and whenever I go down the line half +the men want to know who won the boat race-- To-day Wood sent +me out with a detail on a pretense of scouting but really to +give them a chance to see the country. They were all college +boys, with Willie Tiffany as sergeant and we had a fine time +and could see the Spanish sentries quite plainly without a +glass. I hope you will not worry over this long separation. +I don't know of any experience I have had which has done me so +much good, and being with such a fine lot of fellows is a +great pleasure. The scenery is very beautiful when it is not +raining. I have a cot raised off the ground in the Colonel's +tent and am very well off. If Chaffee or Lawton, who are the +finest type of officers I ever saw, were in command, we would +have been fighting every day and would probably have been in +by this time. This weather shows that Havana must be put off +after Porto Rico. They cannot campaign in this mud. + +DICK. + + +SANTIAGO, July 1898. +DEAR FAMILY: + +This is just to reassure you that I am all right. I and +Marshall were the only correspondents with Roosevelt. We were +caught in a clear case of ambush. Every precaution had been +taken, but the natives knew the ground and our men did not. +It was the hottest, nastiest fight I ever imagined. We never +saw the enemy except glimpses. Our men fell all over the +place, shouting to the others not to mind them, but +to go on. I got excited and took a carbine and charged the +sugar house, which was what is called the key to the position. +If the men had been regulars I would have sat in the rear as +B---- did, but I knew every other one of them, had played +football, and all that sort of thing, with them, so I thought +as an American I ought to help. The officers were falling all +over the shop, and after it was all over Roosevelt made me a +long speech before some of the men, and offered me a captaincy +in the regiment any time I wanted it. He told the Associated +Press man that there was no officer in his regiment who had +"been of more help or shown more courage" than your humble +servant, so that's all right. After this I keep quiet. I +promise I keep quiet. Love to you all. + +RICHARD. + + +From Cuba Richard sailed with our forces to Porto Rico, where +his experiences in the Spanish-American war came to an end, +and he returned to Marion. He spent the fall in New York, and +early in 1899 went to London. + +One of the most interesting, certainly the most widely talked +of, "sporting events" for which Richard was responsible was +the sending of an English district-messenger boy from London +to Chicago. The idea was inspired by my brother's general +admiration of the London messenger service and his particular +belief in one William Thomas Jaggers, a fourteen-year-old lad +whom Richard had frequently employed to carry notes and run +errands. One day, during a casual luncheon conversation at +the Savoy with his friend Somers Somerset, Richard said that he +believed that if Jaggers were asked to carry a message to New +York that he could not only do it but would express no surprise +at the commission. This conversation resulted in the bet +described in the following letters. The boy slipped quietly +away from London, but a few days later the bet became public +and the newspapers were filled with speculation as to whether +Jaggers could beat the mails. The messenger carried three +letters, one to my sister, one to Miss Cecil Clark of Chicago, +whom Richard married a few months later, and one to myself. +As a matter of fact, Jaggers delivered his notes several hours +before letters travelling by the same boat reached the same +destinations. The newspapers not only printed long accounts +of Jaggers's triumphal progress from New York to Chicago and +back again, but used the success of his undertaking as a text +for many editorials against the dilatory methods of our +foreign-mail service. Jaggers left London on March 11, 1899, +and was back again on the 29th, having travelled nearly +eighty-four hundred miles in eighteen days. On his return he +was received literally by a crowd of thousands, and his feat +was given official recognition by a gold medal pinned on his +youthful chest by the Duchess of Rutland. Also, later on, at +a garden fete he was presented to the Queen, and incidentally, +still later, returned to the United States as "buttons" to my +brother's household. + + +Bachelors' Club, +Piccadilly, W. +March 15th, 1899. +DEAR CHAS. + +I hope you are not annoyed about Jaggers. When he started no +one knew of it but three people and I had no idea anyone else +would, but the company sent it to The Mail without my name +but describing me as "an American gentleman"-- Instantly the +foreign correspondents went to them to find out who I was and to +whom I was sending the letter-- I told the company it was none of +their damned business--that I employed the boy by the week and +that I could send him where-ever I chose. Then the boy's father +got proud and wrote to The Mail about his age and so they got the +boy's name. Mine, however, is still out of it, but in America +they are sure to know as the people on the steamer are crazy +about him and Kinsey the Purser knows he is sent by me. After +he gets back from Chicago and Philadelphia, you can do with +him as you like until the steamer sails. If the thing is +taken up as it is here and the fat is in the fire, then you +can do as you please-- I mean you can tell the papers about it +or not-- Somerset holds one end of the bets and I the other. +There are two bets: one that he will beat the mail to Chicago, +Somerset agreeing to consider the letter you give him to +Bruce, as equivalent to one coming from here. The other bet +is that he will deliver and get receipts from you, Nora and +Bruce, and return here by the 5th of April-- You and Bobby +ought to be able to do well by him if it becomes, as I say, so +far public that there is no possibility of further +concealment-- You have my permission to do what you please-- +He is coming into my employ as soon as he gets back and as +soon as the company give him a medal. + +Over here there is the greatest possible interest in the +matter-- At the Clubs I go to, the waiters all wait on me in +order to have the latest developments and when it was cabled +over here that the Customs' people intended stopping him, +indignation raged at the Foreign office. + +of love, + +DICK. + + +89 Jermyn Street, S. W. + +March--1899 +DEAR NORA: + +This is to be handed to you by my special messenger, who is to +assure you that I am in the best of health and spirits-- Keep +him for a few hours and then send him on to Chicago-- As he is +doing this on a bet, do not give him any written instructions +only verbal ones. I am very well and happy and send you all +my love-- Jaggers has been running errands for me ever since I +came here, and a most loyal servitor when I was ill-- On his +return I want to keep him on as a buttons. See that he gets +plenty to eat-- If he comes back alive he will have broken the +messenger boy service record by three thousand miles. +Personally, it does not cost me anything to speak of. The +dramatization of the Soldiers continues briskly, and Maude is +sending Grundy back the Jackal, to have a second go at it. +Maude insists on its being done--so I stand to win a lot. +RICHARD. + + +Beefsteak Club, 9, Green Street, +Leicester Square, W. C. Tuesday. +March--1899. +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +The faithful Jaggers should have arrived to-day, or will do so +this evening-- I am sure you will make the poor little chap +comfortable-- I do regret having sent him on such a journey +especially since the papers here made such an infernal row +over it-- However, neither of us will lose by it in the end-- + +I dined with Lady Clarke last night and met Lord Castleton +there and he invited me up to Dublin for the Punchtown Races-- +I have a great mind to go and write a story on them-- Castleton +is a great sport and very popular at home and in England and it +would be a pleasant experience. Kuhne Beveridge is doing a bust +of me in khaki outfit for the Academy and also for a private +exhibition of her own works, which includes the Prince of Wales, +and the Little Queen of Holland. + +Hays Hammond has invited me down to South Africa again, with a +promise of making my fortune, but I am not going as it takes +too long. +DICK. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BOER WAR + + +On May 4, 1899, at Marion, Massachusetts, Richard was married +to Cecil Clark, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Clark of +Chicago. After the marriage Richard and his wife spent a few +weeks in Marion and the remainder of the summer in London and +Aix-les-Bains. + + +MARION, May 28th, 1899. +DEAR MOTHER: + +You sent me such a good letter about the visit of the three +selected chorus girls. But what was best, was about your +wishing to see me. Of course, you know that I feel that too. +I would have it so that we all lived here, so that Dad could +fish, and Nora and Cecil could discuss life, and you and I +could just take walks and chat. But because that cannot be, +we are no further away than we ever were and when the pain to +see you comes, I don't let it hurt and I don't kill it either +for it is the sweetest pain I can feel. If sons will go off +and marry, or be war-correspondents, or managers, it does not +mean that Home is any the less Home. You can't wipe out +history by changing the name of a boulevard, as somebody said +of the French, and if I were able to be in two places at once, +I know in which two places I would be here with Cecil at +Marion, and at Home in the Library with you and Dad and The +Evening Telegraph, and Nora and Van Bibber. You will never +know how much I love you all and you must never give up trying to +comprehend it. God bless you and keep you, and my love to you +every minute and always. + +DICK. + + +Late in January, 1900, Richard and his wife started on their +first great adventure together to the Boer War. Arriving at +Cape Town, Richard left his wife there and, acting as +correspondent with the British forces for the New York +Herald and London Mail, saw the relief of Ladysmith. +After this he returned to Cape Town, with the intention of +joining Lord Roberts in his advance on Pretoria. But on +arriving at Cape Town he learned that Lord Roberts did not +intend to move for three weeks, and so decided to say farewell +to the British army and to return to London in a leisurely and +sightseeing fashion along the east coast. It was after they +were well started on this return voyage that Richard conceived +the idea of leaving the ship at Durban, going to Pretoria, +and, as he expressed it, "watch the Boers fighting the same +men I had just seen fighting them." + + +R. M. S. Scot +February 4th, 1900. +DEAR MOTHER: + +A great change has come since I wrote you from Madeira. We +are now on Summer seas and have regulated the days so that +they pass very pleasantly--not that we do not want to be on +land-- I never so much wanted it-- Somers is with us and is +such a comfort. He is even younger than he used to be and so +quick and courteous and good tempered. He is like a boy off +on a holiday-- I think he is very much in love +with his wife, but in spite of himself he is glad to get a +holiday, and like all of us he will be so much more glad when +he is homeward bound. They threatened to shut us out of our +only chance of putting foot on land at Madeira-- In the first +place, we were so delayed by the storm that we arrived at +eight o'clock at night, so that we missed seeing it in its +beauty of flowers and palms. And then it was so rough that +they said it was most unsafe for us to attempt to go ashore. +It was a great disappointment but I urged that every one loved +his own life, and if the natives were willing to risk theirs +to sell us photographs and wicker baskets it was probably +safer than it looked-- So we agreed to die together, and with +Somers got our rain coats, and the three of us leaped into a +row boat pulled by two Portugese pirates and started off +toward a row of lamps on a quay that seemed much lower than +the waves. The remainder on the ship watched us disappear +with ominus warnings-- We really had a most adventurous +passage--towards shore the waves tossed us about like a +lobster pot and we just missed being run down by a coal barge +and escaped an upset over the bow anchor chain of a ship. It +was so close that both Somers and I had our coats off and I +told Cecil to grab the chain-- But we weathered it and landed +at a high gangway cut in the solid rock the first three steps +of which were swamped by the waves. A rope and chain hung +from the top of the wharf and a man swung his weight on this +and yanked us out to the steps as the boat was on the wave. +The rain beat and the wind roared and beautiful palms lashed +the air with their fronds-- It was grand to get on shore once +again-- At the end of the wharf we were hustled into a sled on +steel runners, like a hearse with curtains around it and drawn by +bullocks-- The streets were all of mosaic, thousands of little +stones being packed together like corn on a cob. Over this the +heavy sledge was drawn by the bullocks while a small boy ran +ahead through the narrow streets to clear the way-- He had a +feather duster made of horse's tail as a badge of authority and +he yelled some strange cry at the empty streets and closed +houses. Another little boy in a striped jersey ran beside and +assured us he was a guide. It was like a page out of a fairy +story. The strange cart sliding and slipping over the stones +which were as smooth as ice, and the colored house fronts and the +palms and strange plants. The darkness made it all the more +unreal-- There was a governor's palace buttressed and guarded +by sentinels in a strange uniform and queer little cafe's +under vines--and terraces of cannon, and at last a funny, +pathetic little casino. It was such a queer imitation of Aix +and Monte Carlo-- There were chasseurs and footmen in +magnificent livery and stucco white walls ornamented with silk +SHAWLS. Also a very good band and a new roulette table-- +Coming in out of the night and the rain it was like a theatre +after the "dark scene" has just passed-- There were some most +dignified croupiers and three English women and a few sad +English men and some very wicked looking natives in diamonds +and white waistcoats. We had only fifteen minutes to spare so +we began playing briskly with two shilling pieces Cecil with +indifferent fortune and Somers losing-- But I won every time +and the croupiers gave me strange notes of the Bonco de +Portugal which I put back on the board only to get more of a +larger number-- I felt greatly embarrassed as I was not a real +member of the club and I hated to blow in out of a hurricane +and take their money and sail away again-- So I appealed to +one of the sad eyed Englishmen and he assured me it was all +right, that they welcomed the people from the passing steamers +who generally left a few pounds each with the bank. But the +more I spread the money the more I won until finally the whole +room gathered around. Then I sent out and ordered champagne +for everybody and spare gold to all the waiters and still +cashed in seventy-five dollars in English money. It was +pretty good for fifteen minutes and we went out leaving the +people open-eyed, and hitting the champagne bottles-- It was +all a part of the fun especially as with all our gold we could +get nothing for supper but "huevos frite" which was all the +Spanish I could remember and which meant fried eggs-- But we +were very wet and hungry and we got the eggs and some fruit +and real Madeira wine and then rowed out again rejoicing. The +pirates demanded their pay half way to the boat while we were +on the high seas but they had struck the very wrong men, and I +never saw a mutiny quelled so abruptly-- Somers and I told +them we'd throw them overboard and row ourselves and they +understood remarkably well-- The next day we were the admired +and envied of those who had not had the nerve "to dare to +attempt." It was one of the best experiences altogether we +ever had and I shall certainly put Madeira on my silver cup. + +RICHARD. + + +After their arrival at Cape Town, where Richard arranged for +his wife to stay during his absence at the British front, he +started for Ladysmith, sailing on the same vessel on which he +had left England. + + +February 18th, 1900 +board Scot. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I got off yesterday and am hoping to get to Buller before +Ladysmith is relieved. I could not get to go with Roberts +because Ralph has been here four months and has borne the heat +and burden of the day, so although I only came in order to be +with Roberts and Kitchener I could not ask to have Ralph +recalled-- They wanted me with Roberts and I wanted it but +none of us could make up our minds to turn down Ralph. So I +am going up on this side track on the chance of seeing +Ladysmith relieved and of joining Roberts with Buller later. +I shall be satisfied if I see Ladysmith fall. Fortunately I +am to do a great deal of cabling for The Mail every day and +that counts much more with the reading public than letters-- + +Cape Town is a dusty, wind ridden western town with a mountain +back of it which one man said was a badly painted back drop-- +The only attractive thing about the town is this mountain and +a hotel situated at its base in perfectly beautiful gardens. +Here Cecil is settled. I got her a sitting room and a big +bedroom and The Mail agent or Pryor pays her $150 a week and +will take good care of her. It really is a beautiful and +comfortable hotel and grounds and she has made many friends, +and also I forced a pitch battle with a woman who was rude to +her when we visited the hospital-- So, as the hospital people +were very keen to have me see and praise their hospital they +have taken up arms against the unfortunate little bounder and +championed Cecil and me. Cecil had really nothing to do with +it as you can imagine-- She only laughed but I gave the lady +lots to remember. + +On the other hand every one is as kind and interested in Cecil +as can be. Mrs. Waldron whose son is Secretary to Milner and +his secretary were more than polite to each of us. Milner +spent the whole evening we were there talking to Cecil and not +to the lady we had had the row with, which was a pleasing +triumph. He sent me unsolicited a most flattering personal +letter to the Governor of Natal, saying that I had come to him +with my strong letters but that he had so enjoyed meeting me +that he wished to pass me on on his own account. Cecil asked +me what it was I had talked so much to him about and I asked +her if it were possible she couldn't guess that of course I +would be telling him how to run the colony. My advice was to +bombard Cape Town and make martial law, for the Cape Towners +are the most rotten, cowardly lot of rebels I ever imagined as +being possible. He seemed so glad to find any one who +appreciated that it was a queen's colony in name only and +said, "Mr. Davis, it is as bad as this--I can take a stroll +with you from these gardens (we were at the back of the +Government House) and at the end of our stroll we will be in +hostile territory." + +We spent the last day after I had got my orders to join Buller +(who seemed very pleased to have me) calling on the officials +for passes together and they were in a great state falling +into their coats and dressing guard for her and were all so +friendly and hearty. The Censor seems to think I am a sort of +Matthew Arnold and should be wrapped in cotton, so does Pryor +The Mail agent who apologizes for asking me to cable, which +is just what I want to do. They are very generous and are +spending money like fresh air. I am to cable letters to Cape +Town, only to save three days. So, now all that is needed is for +something to happen. Everything else is arranged. All I want is +to see three or four good fights and a big story like the relief +of Ladysmith and I am ready and anxious to get home. I shall +observe them from behind an ant hill--I don't say this to please +you but because I mean it. This is not my war and all I want is +to earn the very generous sums I have been offered and get home. +We are just off Port Elizabeth. I will go on shore and post +this there. With all love. +DICK. + + +Deal's Central Hotel, East London. +February 20th, 1900. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are stopping at every port now, as though the Scot were a +ferry boat. We came over the side to get here in baskets with +a neat door in the side and were bumped to the deck of the +tender in all untenderness. This is more like Africa than any +place I have seen. The cactus and palms abound and the +Kaffirs wear brass anklets and bracelets. A man at lunch at +this hotel asked me if I was R. H. D. and said he was an +American who had got a commission in Brabants horse-- He gave +me the grandest sort of a segar and apparently on his +representation the hotel brought me two books to sign, marked +"Autographs of Celebrities of the Boer War." It seemed in my +case at least to be premature and hopeful. + +Good luck and God bless you. This will be the last letter you +will get for ten days or two weeks, as I am now going directly +away from steamers. This one reaches you by a spy gentleman +who is to give it to Rene Bull of The Graphic and who will +post it in Cape Town-- He and all the other correspondents are +abandoning Buller for Roberts. Let 'em all go. The fewer the +better, I say. My luck will keep I hope. +DICK. + + +Imperial Hotel, +Maritzburg, Natal. +Feb. 23rd, 1900. +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +I reached Durban yesterday. They paraded the band in my +honour and played Yankee Doodle indefinitely-- I had corrupted +them by giving them drinks to play the "Belle of New York" +nightly. The English officers thought Yankee Doodle was our +national anthem and stood with their hats off in a hurricane +balancing on the deck of the tender on one foot-- The city of +Durban is the best I have seen. It was as picturesque as the +Midway at the Fair-- There were Persians, Malay, Hindoo, +Babu's Kaffirs, Zulu's and soldiers and sailors. I went on +board the Maine to see the American doctors--one of them +said he had met me on Walnut Street, when he had nearly run me +down with his ambulance from the Penna Hospital. Lady +Randolph took me over the ship and was very much puzzled when +all the hospital stewards called me by name and made +complimentary remarks. It impressed her so much apparently +that she and the American nurses I hadn't met on board came to +see me off at the station, which was very friendly. I have +had a horrible day here and got up against the British officer +in uniform and on duty bent-- The chief trouble was that none +of them knew what authority he had to do anything--and I had +to sit down and tell them. I wonder with intelligence like +theirs that their Intelligence Department did not tell them the +Boers fought with war clubs and spears. I bought a ripping pony +and my plan is to cut away from all my magnificent equipment and +try to overtake Buller before he reaches Ladysmith and send +back for the heavy things later. It is just a question of +minutes really and it seems hard to have come 1500 miles and +then to miss it by an hour-- I arrive at Chievely tomorrow at +five--that is only ten miles from where Buller is to night, so +were it not for their d----d regulations I could ride across +country and join them by midday but I bet they won't let me +and I also bet I'll get there in time. Of course you'll, know +before you see this. Marelsburg is the capital and its chief +industry is rickshaw's pulled by wild Kaffi's, with beads and +snake skins around them and holes in their ears into which +they stick segars and horn spoons for dipping snuff. The +women wear less than the men and have their hair done up in +red fungus. + +Well, love to you all, to Nora and Dad and Chas, +and God bless you. + +DICK. + + +1900. +DEAR DEAR MOTHER:-- + +I am here at last and counting the days when I shall get away. +War does not soothe my savage breast. I find I want Cecil, +and Jaggers, and Macklin to write, and plays to rehearse. +Without Cecil bored to death at Cape Town, I would not mind it +at all. I know how to be comfortable and on my second day I +beat all these men who have been here three months in getting +my news on the wire. For I am a news man now, and have to +collect horrid facts and hosts of casualties and to find out +whether it was the Dubblins +or the Durbans that did it and what it was they did. I was in +terrible fear that I would be too late to see the relief of +Ladysmith but I was well in time and saw a fight the first few +hours I arrived. It is terribly big and overwhelming like +eighty of Barnum circuses all going at once in eighty rings +and very hard to understand the geography. The Tugela is like +a snake and crosses itself every three feet so that you never +know whether you have crossed it yourself or not. Every one +is most kind and I am as comfortable as can be. Indeed I like +my tent so much that I am going to take it to Marion. It has +windows in it and the most amusing trap doors and pockets in +the walls and clothes lines and hooks and ventilators-- It is +colored a lovely green-- I have also two chairs that fold up +and a table that does nothing else and a bed and two lanterns, +3 ponies, one a Boer pony I bought for $12. from a Tommy who +had stolen it. I had to pay $125 each for the other two and +one had a sore back and the other gets lost in my saddle. But +war as these people do it bores one to destruction. They are +terribly dull souls. They cannot give an order intelligently. +The real test of a soldier is the way he gives an order. I +heard a Colonel with eight ribbons for eight campaigns scold a +private for five minutes because he could not see a signal +flag, and no one else could. It is not becoming that a +Colonel should scold for five minutes. Friday they charged a +hill with one of their "frontal" attacks and lost three +Colonels and 500 men. In the morning--it was a night +attack--when the roll was called only five officers answered. +The proper number is 24. A Captain now commands the regiment. +It is sheer straight waste of life through dogged stupidity. +I haven't seen a Boer yet except some poor devils of prisoners +but you can see every English who is on a hill. They walk along +the skyline like ships on the horizon. It must be said for them +that it is the most awful country to attack in the world. It is +impossible to give any idea of its difficulties. However I can +tell you that when I get back to the center of civilization. Do +you know I haven't heard from you since I left New York on the +St. Louis. All your letters to London went astray. What +lots you will have to tell me but don't let Charley worry. I +won't talk about the war this time. I never want to hear of +it again. + +DICK. + + +LADYSMITH. March 1st, 1899. +DEAR CHAS: + +This is just a line to say I got in here with the first after +a gallop of twelve miles. Keep this for me and the envelope. +With my love and best wishes-- + +DICK. + + +LADYSMITH, March 3, 1900. +DEAR MOTHER: + +The column came into town today, 2200 men, guns, cavalry, +ambulances, lancers, navy guns and oxen. It was a most cruel +assault upon one's feelings. The garrison lined the streets +as a saluting guard of honor but only one regiment could stand +it and the others all sat down on the curb only rising to +cheer the head of each new regiment. They are yellow with +fever, their teeth protruding and the skin drawn tight over +their skeletons. The incoming army had had fourteen days hard +fighting at the end of three months campaigning but were +robust and tanned ragged and caked with mud. As they came in +they cheered and the garrison tried to cheer back but it was like +a whisper. + +Winston Churchill and I stood in front of Gen. White and cried +for an hour. For the time you forgot Boers and the cause, or +the lack of cause of it all, and saw only the side of it that +was before you, the starving garrison relieved by men who had +lost almost one out of every three in trying to help them. I +was rather too previous in getting in and like every-one else +who came from outside gave away everything I had so that now +I'm as badly off as the rest of them. Yesterday my rations +for the day were four biscuits and an ounce of coffee and of +tea, with corn which they call mealies which I could not eat +but which saved my horse's life. He is a Boer pony I bought +from a Tommy for two pounds ten and he's worth both of the +other two for which I paid $125 a piece. Tomorrow the wagon +carrying my supplies will be in and I can get millions of +things. It almost apalls me to think how many. Especially +clean clothes. I've slept in these for four days. I got off +some stories which I hope will read well. I can't complain +now that I saw the raising of this siege. But I hope we don't +stay still. I want to see a lot quickly and get out. This is +very safe warfare. You sit on a hill and the army does the +rest. My sciatica is not troubling me at all. Love to you +all and God bless you. + +DICK. + + +LADYSMITH, March 4th, 1900. +DEAR, DEAR MOTHER: + +Today I got the first letter I have had from you since we left +home. It was such happiness to see your dear sweet handwriting +again. It was just like seeing you for a glimpse, or hearing you +speak. I am so hungry for news of Nora and Chas and you all. I +know you've written, but the letters have missed somehow. I sent +yours right back to Cecil who is very lonely at present. +Somerset has gone to the front and Jim--home--Blessed word! A +little middy rode up to me today and began by saying "I'm going +home. I'm ORDERED there. Home-- To England!" He seemed to +think I would not understand. He prattled on like a child saying +what luck he had had, that he had been besieged in Ladysmith and +seen lots of fighting and would get a medal and all the while he +was "just a middy." "But isn't it awful to think of our chaps +that were left on the ship" he said quite miserably. It is a +beastly dull war. The whole thing is so "class" and full of +"form" and tradition and worrying over "putties" and etiquette +and rank. It is the most wonderful organization I ever +imagined but it is like a beautiful locomotive without an +engineer. + +The Boers outplay them in intelligence every day. The whole +army is officered by one class and that the dull one. It is +like the House of Peers. You would not believe the mistakes +they make, the awful way in which they sacrifice the lives of +officers and men. And they let the Boers escape. I watched +the Boers for four hours the other day escaping after the +battle of Pieters and I asked, not because I wanted them +captured but just as a military proposition "Why don't you +send out your cavalry and light artillery and take those +wagons?" The staff officer giggled and said "They might kill +us." I don't know what he meant; neither did he. However, +I'm sick of it but there's nothing else to talk of. I hate +all the people about me and this dirty town and I wish I was +back. And I'm going too. I'll have started by the time you get +this. + +I mean to cut out of this soon but don't imagine I'm in any +danger. I'm taking d---d good care to keep out of danger. No +one is more determined on that than I am. Dear Mother, this +is such a dull letter but you must forgive me. I was never so +homesick and bored in my life. It will be better when I go +out tomorrow in my green tent and leave this beastly hole. I +like the tent life, and the horses and being clean. I've +really starved here for four days and haven't had a clean +thing on me. God bless you all and dear Nora God bless her +and Chas and the Lone Fisherman. + +DICK. + + +Outside Ladysmith. +5th March, 1900. +DEAREST MOTHER: + +I was a brute to write as I did last night. But I was so blue +in that miserable town!!! It was so foul and dirty. The town +smelt as bad as Johnstown. My room in the so called hotel +stunk, the dirt was all over the floor and the servants had to +be paid to do everything even to bring you a towel--and then I +had no place to write or be alone, and nothing to eat-- The +poor souls at my table who had been in the siege, when they +got a little bit of sugar or a can of condensed milk would +carry it off from the table as though it were a diamond +diadem-- I did the same thing myself for I couldn't eat what +they gave me and so I corrupted the canteen dealer and bought +tin things-- I've really never wanted tobacco so much +and food as I have here--to give away I mean, for it was +something wonderful to see what it meant to them. Three +troopers came into the dining room yesterday and asked if they +could buy some tea and were turned out so rudely that it +seemed to hurt them much more than the fact that they were +hungry: I followed them out and begged them to come back to +my verandah and have tea with me but they at first would not +because they knew I had witnessed what had happened in the +hotel. They belonged to a very good regiment and they had +been starved for four months. But in spite of their +independence I got them to my porch. I had just purchased at +awful prices a few delicacies like sugar and tobacco, +marmalade and a bottle of whiskey. So I gave them to them and +I never enjoyed anything so much-- The poor yellow faced +skeletons ate in absolute silence still fighting with their +pride until I told them I was an American and was a canteen +contractor's friend-- Then I gave them segars and it was too +pitiful-- In our column, if you give a man something extra he +says a lot and swears it's the best drink or the best segar or +that you're the best chap he ever met-- Just as I say it to +them when they give me things. But these starved bodies tried +to be very polite and conversational on every subject except +food--when I offered them the segars which could only be got +then at a dollar twenty-five a piece (they had not cost me +that as I had bought them in Cape Town for two cents apiece!) +What has Dad to say to that for economy? They accepted them +quite as though it was in Havana--and then leaned back and +went off into opium dreams-- Imagine the first segar after +three months. I am out here now on a bluff, with two trees in +front and great hills with names historical of the +siege of Ladysmith--names which I refuse to learn or +remember--I am perfectly comfortable and were it not +for Cecil perfectly content-- If she were only here it would +be perfectly magnificent-- I have a retinue that would do +credit to the Warringtons in the Virginians-- Three Kaffir +boys who refuse to yield to my sense of the picturesque and go +naked like their less effete brothers, two oxen and three +ponies, a little puppy I found starved in Ladysmith and fed on +compressed beef tablets. I call her Ladysmith and she sleeps +beside my cot and in my lap when I am reading--I have also a +beautiful tent with tape window panes, ventilators, pockets +inside, doors that loop up and red knobs; also, it is green so +that the ants won't eat it. Also two tables, two chairs, a +bath tub, two lanterns, and a cape cart--and a folding bed-- +In Cuba I had two saddle bags and was just as clean and just +as happy. One boy does nothing but polish my boots and +gaiters and harness, so that I look as well as the officers +who are not much good at anything but that. I must tell you +what I think is the saddest story of the siege-- They could +not feed the horses, so they kept part of them for scouting, +part to eat and drove 3,000 of them towards the Boers. Being, +well trained cavalry horses, they did not know how to eat +grass, so at bugle call the whole 3,000 came trotting back +again and sentries were placed at every street to stampede +them back into the veldt-- One horse from one battery met out +in the prairie another horse that had been its gun mate in an +artillery regiment five years before in India and the two poor +things came galloping back side by side and passed the +sentries and into the lines and drew up beside their battery. +Another horse found its rider acting as sentry and +when the man tried to drive it away it thought he was playing +with it and kept coming back and finally the man brought it in +to the colonel and cried and asked if it might have half of +his rations of corn. Good night and God bless you all with +all my love. +DICK. + + +March 15th, 1900. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I am on my way back to Cape Town. This seemed better than +staying with Buller who will not move for two or three weeks. +I shall either go straight up to Roberts, or we will return to +London. I have seen the relief of Ladysmith and got a very +good idea of it all, and I do not know but what I shall quit +now. I started in too late to do much with it and as it is I +have seen a great deal. It is neither an interesting country +nor an interesting war. But I don't have to stay here to +oblige anybody. If I do go up to Roberts it will only be to +stay for three weeks at the most and only then if there is +fighting. I won't go if he is resting as Buller is. So this +will explain why we start home so soon. I am very glad I +came. I would have been very sorry always if I had not, but +my heart is not in it as, of course, it was in our war. +Sometimes they fight all day using seven or eight regiments +and kill a terrible lot of fine soldiers and capture forty +Boer farmers and two women. It is not the kind of war I care +to report. "Nor mean to!" I cannot make a book out of what +little I've seen but I will come out about even. It has been +very rough on Cecil. Today I went to the Maine and asked +Lady Randolph to give me a lift down to Cape Town as +the ship gets there two days ahead of the Castle Steamer. +So, they were apparently very glad to have me and I +am going on Saturday. I like it on the ship where I have been +spending the day as it is fun taking care of the wounded and +listening to their stories. I am to write an article for her +next Anglo Saxon magazine on the Passing of the War +Correspondent. The idea is that he must either disappear +altogether like the Vivandiere or be allowed to do his work. +As it is now the Government forces him upon the Generals +against their will and so they get back by taking it out of +him. Either they should persuade the Government that their +objections to him are weighty and suppress him altogether, or +recognize him as a part of the outfit. I don't much care +which as I certainly would never again go with an English +army. I am sorry the letters home have been so dull but I +have had rather hard luck straight through, and the distances +are so very great and the time spent in covering them seems +very wasteful. I shall be glad I saw it because it is the +biggest thing as to scale that I ever saw of the sort, and I +could not have afforded to have missed being in it. It is the +first big modern war and all the conditions and weapons are +new. I don't think the English have learned anything by it, +because the fault lies entirely with their officers who are +all or nearly all of one class. + +DICK. + + +March 25th, 1900. +Cape Town. + +This is just to explain our plans and as they take a bit of +explaining this is meant for the Houses of Clark and of Davis. +So, pass it on-- After Ladysmith was relieved Buller decided +he would not move for a month, so I came back to join Roberts. I +could not do that on first arriving because there was a Mail man +with him. I meant to do it later as a Herald man, and to let +The Mail go. But on arriving here, having spent a week in +coming and having sold all my outfit at a loss, I found that +Roberts did not intend to move for three weeks either. So I +decided I had seen enough to justify my returning. There were +other reasons, the chief one being that the English irritated +me and I had so little sympathy with them that I could not +write with any pleasure of their work. My sporting blood +refused to boil at the spectacle of such a monster Empire +getting the worst of it from an untrained band of farmers-- I +found I admired the farmers. So we decided to chuck it and go +to London. I would not have missed it for anything. I would +never have been satisfied, if we had not come. I have seen +much of the country and the people, and of the army and its +wonderful organization and discipline. I enjoyed two +battles--and the relief of Ladysmith is one of the things to +have seen, almost the best, if not the best. Every officer +and correspondent agrees that I got the pick of the fighting +and the "best story." By the way, I beat all the London +papers in getting out the news by one day. At least, so +Pryor, The Mail manager tells me. The paper was very much +pleased. We have now decided to come home by the East Coast. +It was Cecil's idea and wish and I was only too glad to do it. +She says we certainly will never come to this country again. +God help us if we do--and that it would be criminal to spend +seventeen blank days on the West coast when we could fill in +the entire trip North on the East Coast at many ports. It is +a rather complicated trip as one has to change frequently but +it will be a great thing to have seen. Cecil has really seen +nothing at Cape Town and on this trip she will be paid for all +the boredom that has gone before. I have been over part of it +and am sure. Durban alone is one of the most curious cities I +ever saw. It is like the Midway at the Fair. I want her to +have some fun out of this. She has been so unselfish and fine +all through and I hope I can make the rest of the adventure to +her liking-- It is sure to be for after Delagoa Bay it is all +real Africa not the shoddy "colonial" shopkeepers' paradise +that we have here. And we are going to stop off at Zanzibar +for some time where we have letters to everybody and where +Cecil is to draw the Sultan and I am to play him the "Typical +Tune of Zanzibar." You will see by our route that we spend +two days or a day at many places and so shall get a good idea +of the country. The Konig is a 5,000 ton ship and we have +two cabins-- From Port Said we will run up to Cairo to get a +dinner and then over to Constantinople to see Lloyd Griscom +and the city which Cecil has never visited. Then to Paris by +way of the Orient Express. Then London and back with Charley +to Aix. I feel sure that one more course there will cure my +leg for always. As it is it has not touched me once even +during the campaign when I was wet and had to climb hills, and +at Ladysmith, where I had no food for a week. Of course, if +we get tired on the way up we may go straight on from Port +Said to Marseilles and so to London. It seems funny to look +upon Port Said as being at home, but from this distance it +seems as near New York as Boston-- You will get this when we +reach Zanzibar or later and we will cable when we can. + +DICK. + + +It was said at the time that Richard left the British forces +because the censors would not permit him to send out the truth +about Buller's advance, and that the English officials +resented his going to report the war from the Boer side. The +first statement my brother flatly denied, and the fact that it +was through the direct intervention of Sir Alfred Milner, +assisted by the efforts of our consul Adelbert S. Hay at +Pretoria, that Richard was enabled to reach the Boer capital +seems to prove the latter charge equally false. Although +throughout the war my brother's sympathies were with the +Boers, and in spite of the fact that the papers he represented +wanted him to report the war from the Boer side, he persisted +in going at first with the British forces. His reasons were +that he wished to see a great army, with all modern equipment +in action, and that practically all of his English friends +were with the British army. "My only reason for leaving it", +he wrote, "was the fact that I found myself facing a month of +idleness. Had General Buller continued his advance +immediately after his relief of Ladysmith I would have gone +with his column and would probably have never seen a Boer, +except a Boer prisoner." + +Royal Hotel, + + +Durban, Natal. +April 5th, 1900. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We arrived here to-day and got off in a special tug together. +We did the basket trick all right, although the next time it +came down a swell raised the tug and fractured every one in +the basket except Sangree and Rogers, the two New York +correspondents who were hanging on by the upper edges. Cecil +loved the place which is the Midway Plaisance of cities and we +had a good lunch and managed to get into the hotel where there +are over twenty cots in the reading room, and hall. The +Commandant objected to our going to Praetoria and seemed inclined +to refuse us passes to leave Durban for Delagoa Bay. He also was +rather fresh to Cecil, so I called him down very hard, and +told him if he couldn't make up his mind whether we would go +or not, I'd wire to some others who would help him to make up +his mind quickly. He said I was at liberty to do that, so I +went out and burned wires over all of South Africa. As he +reads all the telegrams he naturally read mine and the next +morning he was as humble and white as a head waiter. But by +ten o'clock my wires began to bear fruit and he began to catch +it. Milner wired him to send us on at once and apologized to +us by another wire so all is well and we go vouched for by the +High Commissioner. + +DICK. + + +PRETORIA, May 18th, 1900. + +DEAR DAD--AND OTHERS OF THE CLARK AND DAVIS FAMILIES: + +I have not had time to write such a long letter as this one +must be, as I have been working on my Ledger and Scribner +stories. + +Cecil and I started to the "front," which was then May 4th, at +Brandfort with Captain Von Loosberg, a German baron who +married in New Orleans and became an American citizen and who +is now in command of Loosberg's Artillery in the Free State. +The night we left, the English took Brandfort, so we decided +to go only as far as Winburg. The next morning +the train despatcher informed us Winburg was taken, so we +decided to go to Smalldeel, but that went during the +afternoon, so we stopped at Kronstad. From there, after a +day's rest, we went to Ventersberg station, and rode across to +Ventersberg town, about two hours away, and put up in Jones's +Hotel. The next day we went down to the Boer laagers on the +Sand river and met President Steyn on the way. He got out of +his Cape Cart and gave Cecil a rose and Loosberg his field +glasses, which Cecil took from Loosberg in exchange for her +own Zeiss glass, and he gave me a drink and an interview. He +also gave us a letter to St. Reid, who had established an +ambulance base on Cronje's farm, telling him to give Cecil +something to sleep upon. The, Boers were very polite to Cecil +and as she rode through the different camps every man took off +his hat. We went back to Ventersberg that night and about two +o'clock Cecil came to my room and woke me up with the +intelligence that the British were only two hours away. She +had heard the commandant informing the landlady, a grand low +comedy character from Brooklyn, who had the room next to +Cecil's. I interviewed the landlady who was sitting up in bed +in curl papers, and with a Webley revolver. She was quite +hysterical so I aroused Loosberg who was too sleepy to +understand. The commandant could be heard in the distance +offering his kingdom for a horse and a Cape cart. Cecil and I +decided our horses were done up and that we were too ignorant +of the trail to know where to run. So we decided to go to +sleep. In the morning we confessed that each had been afraid +the other would want to escape, and each wanted only to be +allowed to go to sleep again. Loosberg's Cape Cart and five +mules having arrived we packed our things on it and started again +for the Sand River where we spent the night on Cronje's farm. +Mrs. Cronje had taken away all the bedding but Dr. Reid gave +Cecil his field mattress and I made one out of rugs and piano +covers. In the morning I found that the iron straps of the +mattress had marked me for life like a grilled beefsteak. There +were only Reid and his assistant surgeon in the farmhouse and +they were greatly excited at having a woman to look after. + +We bade farewell to Loosberg who had found his artillery push, +and started off in his Cape Cart which he wished us to use and +take back for him for safety to Del Hay at Pretoria. Our +objective point was the railroad bridge over the sand. The +Boers were on one bank, the British about seven miles back on +the other, the trail ran along the British side of the river +which was sad of it. However, we drove on, I riding and Cecil +and Christian, the Kaffir, in the Cart. We saw no one for +several hours except some Kaffir Kraals and we almost ran into +two herds of deer. I counted twenty-six in one herd, they +were about a quarter of a mile away. We came to a cross road +and I decided to put back as we had lost track of the river +and were bearing straight into the English lines. Just as we +found the river again and had got across a drift cannon opened +on our right. We then knew we were in between the Boers and +the English but we had no other knowledge of our geographical +position. Such being the case we decided to outspan and lunch. +Out-spanning is setting the mules and horses at liberty, +in-spanning trying to catch them again. It takes five minutes to +out-span, and three hours to in-span. We had Armour's corned +beef and Libby's canned bacon. Cecil cooked the bacon on a stick +and we ate it with biscuits captured by our Boer friends at +Cronje's farm from the English Tommies. About three o'clock we +started off again, and were captured by three Boers. I was +riding behind the cart and threw up my hands "that quick," but +Cecil could not hear me yelling at her to stop on account of the +noise of the cart. I knew if I rode after her they would +shoot at me, and that if she didn't stop, as they were +shouting at her to do, they would shoot her. Under these +trying circumstances I sat still. It caused quite a coolness +on Cecil's part. However the Boers could see I was trying to +get her to halt so they only rode around and headed her off. +We were so glad to see them that they could not be suspicious. +Still, as we had come directly from the English lines they had +doubts. We told them we had lost ourselves and the more they +threatened to take us to the commandant the more satisfied we +were. I insisted on taking photos of them reading Cecil's +passport. It annoyed them that we refused to be serious, we +assured them we had never met anyone we were so glad to see. +They finally believed us, and our passports which describe +Cecil as my "frau," and artist of Harper's Weekly, an idea +of Loosberg's. We all smoked and then shook hands and they +went back to their positions. We next met Christian De Vet +one of the two big generals who is a grand character. Nothing +could match the wonderful picturesqueness of his camp spread +out over the side of a hill with the bearded fine featured old +Van Dyck and Hugonot heads under great sombreros. De Vet made +us a long speech saying it was only to be expected that the +Great Republic would send men to help the little Republics, +but he had not hoped that the women would show their sympathy +by coming too. All this with the most simple earnest courtesy. +He said "No English woman would dare do what you are doing." He +showed us a farin house on a kopje about five miles off where he +said we could get shelter and where we would be near the fighting +on the morrow. We rode in the moonlight for some time but when +we reached the house it was filthy and the people were in such +terror that we decided to camp out in the veldt. We found a +grove of trees near by and a stream of water running beside it so +we made a fire there. We had only one biscuit left but several +cans of bacon and tea. It was great fun and we sat up as late as +we could around the fire on account of the cold. We could see +the Boer fires in the moonlight on the hills and across the +Sand, the English flashlights signalling all night. We put a +rubber blanket on the grass and wrapped up in steamer rugs but +both of us died several times of cold and even sitting on the +fire failed to warm me. We were awakened out of a cold +storage sort of sleep by pom-poms going off right over our +They sounded just as disturbing I found from the rear +as when you are in front of them. They are the most effective +of all the small guns for causing your nerves to riot. We +climbed up the hill and saw the English coming in their usual +solid formation stretching out for three miles. We went back +and got the cart and drove to a nearer kopje, but just as we +reached it the Boers abandoned it. Roberts's column was now +much nearer. We then drove on still further in the direction +of the bridge. I kept telling Cecil that the firing was all +from the Boers as I did not want Christian to bolt and run +away with the cart and mules. But Cecil remembered the +pictures in Harper's Weekly showing the shrapnel smoke +making rings in the air and as she saw these floating over our +head, she knew the English were firing on us, but said nothing +for fear of scaring Christian. I had promised to get her under +fire which was her one wish so I said that she was now well under +fire for the first and the last time. To which she replied +"Pshaw!" I never saw any one show such self possession. We +halted the cart behind a deserted farm house, and saddled her +pony. The shells were now falling all over the shop, and I +was scared to distraction. But she took about five minutes to +see that her saddle was properly tightened and then we rode up +to the hill. Again the Boers were leaving and only a few +remained. They warned her to keep back but we dismounted and +walked up to the hill. It was a very hot place but Cecil was +quite unmoved. We showed her the shells striking back of her +and around her but she refused to be impressed with the +danger. She went among the Boers begging them to make a stand +very quietly and like one man to another and they took it just +in that way and said "But we are very tired. We have been +driven back for three days. We are only a thousand, they are +twenty thousand." Some of them only sat still too proud to +run, too sick to fight! When the British got within five +hundred yards of the artillery I told her she must run. At +the same moment Botha's men a mile on our right broke away in +a mad gallop, as though the lancers were after them. I +finally got her on her pony and we raced for Ventersberg with +Christian a good first. He had lost all desire to out-span. + +At Ventersberg we found every one harnessing up in the street +and abandoning everything. We again felt this untimely desire +for food, and had lunch at Jones's hotel on scraps and Cecil went +off to see if she could loot the cook, as everyone but her had +left the hotel and as we needed one in Pretoria. A +despatch-rider came running to me as I was smoking in the garden +and shouted that the "Roinekes" were coming in force over the +hill. I ran out in the street and saw their shells falling all +over the edge of the village. They were only a quarter of an +hour behind us. I yelled for Cecil who was helping the looted +cook pack up her own things and anyone else's she could find in a +sheet. I gathered up a dog and a kitten Cecil wanted and left a +note for the next English officer who occupied my room with the +inscription "I'd leave my happy home for you." We then put +the cook, the kitten, the dog and Cecil in the cart and I got +on the horse and we let out for Kronstad at a gallop. We +raced the thirty miles in five hours without one halt. That +was not our cruelty to animals but Christian's who whenever I +ordered him to halt and let us rest, yelled that the Englesses +were after us and galloped on. The retreat was a terribly +pathetic spectacle; for hours we passed through group after +group of the broken and dispirited Boers. At Kronstad +President Steyn whom I went to see on arriving ordered a +special car for me, and sent us off at once. We reached here +the next morning, Christian arriving a day later having killed +one mule and one pony in his eagerness to escape. We are +going back again as soon as Roberts reaches the Vaal. There +there must be a stand. Love and best wishes to you all---- + +DICK. + + +June 8th, 1900. +On board the Kausler. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We engaged our passage on this ship some weeks ago not +thinking we would have the English near Pretoria until +August. But as it happened they came so near +that we did not know whether or not to wait over and see them +enter the capital. I decided not, first, because after that +one event, there would be nothing for us to see or do. We +could not leave until the 2nd of July and a month under +British martial law was very distasteful to me. Besides I did +not care much to see them enter, or to be forced to witness +their rejoicing. As soon as we got under way and about half +the distance to the coast, it is a two days' trip. We heard +so many rumors of Roberts's communication having been cut off +and that the war was not over, that we thought perhaps we +ought to go back-- As we have no news since except that the +British are in Pretoria we still do not know what to think. +Personally I am glad I came away as I can do just as much for +the Boers at home now as there where the British censor would +have shut me off from cabling and mails are so slow. With the +local knowledge I have, I hope to keep at it until it is over. +But when I consider the magnitude of the misrepresentation +about the burghers I feel appalled at the idea of going up +against it. One is really afraid to tell all the truth about +the Boer because no one would believe you-- It is almost +better to go mildly and then you may have some chance. But +personally I know no class of men I admire as much or who +to-day preserve the best and oldest ideas of charity, fairness +and good-will to men. + +DICK. + + +June 29th, 1900. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are now just off Crete, and our next sight of the blue land +will be Europe. It means so many things; being alone with +Cecil again, instead of on a raft touching elbows with so +many strangers, and it means a shop where +you can buy collars, and where they put starch in your linen. +Also many beautiful ladies one does not know and men in +evening dress one does not know and green tables covered with +gold and little green and red bits of ivory where one passes +among the tables and wonders what they would think if they +knew we two had found our greatest friends in the Boer +farmers, in Dutch Station Masters who gave us a corner under +the telegraph table in which to sleep, with Nelson who kept +the Transvaal Steam Laundry, Col. Lynch of the steerage who +comes to the dividing line to beg French books from Cecil, and +that we had cooked our food on sticks, drunk out of the same +cups with Kaffir servants and slept on the ground when there +was frost on it. It will be so strange to find that there are +millions of people who do not know Komali poort, who have +thought of anything else except burghers and roor-i-neks-- It +seems almost disloyal to the Boers to be glad to see +newspapers only an hour old instead of six weeks old, and to +welcome all the tyranny of collar buttons, scarf pins, watch +chains, walking sticks and gloves even. I love them both and +I can hardly believe it is true that we are to go to a real +hotel with a lift and a chasseur, where you cannot smoke in +the dining-room. As for Aix, that I cannot believe will ever +happen-- It was just a part of one's honeymoon and I refuse to +cheat myself into thinking that within a week I will be riding +through the lanes of the little villages, drinking red wine at +Burget, watching Chas spread cheese over great hunks of bread +and listening to three bands at one time. And then the joy to +follow of Home and America and all that is American. Even the +Custom House holds nothing but joy for me--and then "mine own +people!" It has been six weeks since we have heard from you +or longer, nearly two months and how I miss you and want you. +It will be a happy day when Dad meets me at the wharf and I +can see his blue and white tie again and his dear face under +the white hat--where you and Nora will be I cannot tell, but I +will seek you out. We will be happy together--so happy-- It +has been the longest separation we have known and such a lot +of things have happened. It will be such peace to see you and +hold you once again. + +DICK. + + +AIX--LES--BAINS. +July 6th, 1900. +DEAR FAMILY: + +Cecil and I arrived last night tired and about worn out--we +had had a month on board ship and two days in the cars and +when we got out at Aix and found our rooms ready and Francois +waiting, we shouted and cheered. It was never so beautiful as +it looked in the moonlight and we walked all over it, through +the silent streets chortling with glee. They could not give +us our same rooms but we got the suite just above them, which +is just as good. They were so extremely friendly and glad to +see us and had flowers in all the rooms. We have not heard a +word about Chas yet, as our mail has not arrived from Paris, +but I will cable in a minute and hear. We cannot wait any +longer for news of him. I got up at seven this morning so +excited that I could not sleep and have been to the baths, +where I was received like the President of the Republic. In +fact everybody seems to have only the kindest recollections of +us and to be glad to have us back. + +Such a rest as it is and so clean and bright and good--Only I +have absolutely nothing to wear except a two pound flannel +suit I bought at Lorenzo Marquez until I get some built by a +French tailor. I must wear a bath robe or a bicycle suit +until evening. We have not been to the haunts of evil yet but +we are dining there to night and all will be well. Cecil +sends her love to you all-- Goodbye and God bless you. + + + + +Richard and his wife returned to America in the early fall of +1900 and, after a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Clark at Marion, +settled for the winter in New York. They took a house in East +Fifty-eighth Street where they did much entertaining and lived +a very social existence, but I do not imagine that either of +them regarded the winter as a success. Richard was unable to +do his usual amount of work, and both he and his wife were too +fond of the country to enjoy an entire winter in town. In the +spring they went back to Marion. + + +MARION, +MASSACHUSETTS. May, 1901. + + +We arrived here last night in a glowing sunset which was +followed by a grand moon. The house was warm and clean and +bright, with red curtains and open fires and everything was +just as we had left it, so that it seemed as though we had +just come out of a tortuous bad dream of asphalt and L. roads +and bad air. I was never so glad to get away from New York. + +Outside it is brisk and fine and smells of earth and melting +snow and there is a grand breeze from the bay. We took a long +walk to-day, with the three dogs, and it was pitiful to +see how glad they were to be free of the cellar +and a back yard and at large among grass and rocks and roots +of trees. I wanted to bottle up some of the air and send it +to all of my friends in New York. It is so much better to +smell than hot-house violets. Seaton came on with us to +handle the dogs and to unpack and so to-day we are nearly +settled already with silver, pictures, clothes and easels and +writing things all in place. The gramophone is whirling madly +and all is well-- Lots and lots of love. + +DICK. + + +The following was written by Richard to his mother on her birthday: + +MARION, MASSACHUSFTTS. +June 27th, 1901. +DEAR MOTHER: + +In those wonderful years of yours you never thought of the +blessing you were to us, only of what good you could find in +us. All that time, you were helping us and others, and making +us better, happier, even nobler people. From the day you +struck the first blow for labor, in The Iron Mills on to the +editorials in The Tribune, The Youth's Companion and The +Independent, with all the good the novels, the stories +brought to people, you were always year after year making the +ways straighter, lifting up people, making them happier and +better. No woman ever did better for her time than you and no +shrieking suffragette will ever understand the influence you +wielded, greater than hundreds of thousands of women's votes. + +We love you dear, dear mother, and we KNOW you and may your +coming years be many and as full of happiness for yourself as +they are for us. + +RICHARD. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH CORONATIONS + +Interrupted by frequent brief visits to New York Philadelphia, +and Boston, Richard and his wife remained in Marion from May, +1901, until the early spring of 1902. During this year +Richard accomplished a great deal of work and lived an ideal +existence. In the summer months there were golf and tennis +and an army of visitors, and during the winter many of their +friends came from New York to enjoy a most charming +hospitality and the best of duck shooting and all kinds of +winter sports. + +Late in April, they sailed for Gibraltar on their way to +Madrid, where Richard was to report the coronation ceremonies, +and from Madrid they went to Paris and then to London to see +the coronation of King Edward. It was while on a visit to the +Rudyard Kiplings that they heard the news that Edward had been +suddenly stricken with a serious illness and that the ceremony +had been postponed. + + +11, St. James's Place, +St. James's Street, S. W. +London. +June, 1902. +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +This is only to say that at the Kipling's we heard the news, +and being two newspaper men, refused to believe it and went to +the postoffice of the little village to call up Brighton on +the 'phone. It was very dramatic, the real laureate of the +British Empire asking if the King were really in such danger that +he could not be crowned, while the small boy in charge of the +grocery shop, where the postoffice was, wept with his elbows on +the counter. They sent me my ticket--unasked--for the Abbey, +early this morning, and while I was undecided whether to keep +it--or send it back, this came. So, now, I shall frame it as a +souvenir of one of the most unhappy occasions I ever witnessed. +You can form no idea of what a change it has made. It really +seems to have stunned every one--that is the usual and accepted +word, but this time it describes it perfectly. + +Goodbye, + +DICK. + + +During the summer of 1903 my mother and father occupied a +cottage at Marion, and every morning Richard started the day +by a visit to them. My brother had already bought his +Crossroads Farm at Mount Kisco, and the new house was one of +the favorite topics of their talk. The following letter was +written by my mother to Richard, after her return to Philadelphia. + + +September, 1903. + +Here we are in the old library and breakfast over. There +seemed an awful blank in the world as I sat down just now, and +I said to Dad "Its Dick--he must come THIS morning." + +You don't know how my heart used to give a thump when you and +Bob came in that old door. It has been such a good +month--everybody was so friendly--and Dad was so well and +happy--but your visits were the core of it all. And our good +drives! Well we'll have lots of drives at the Crossroads. +You'll call at our cottage every morning and I'm going to train +the peacocks to run before the trap and I'll be just like Juno. + +There isn't a scrap of news. It is delightfully cool here. + +M. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE JAPANESE-RUSSIAN WAR + + +During the fall and early winter of 1903 Richard and his wife +lingered on in Marion, but came to New York after the +Christmas holidays. The success of his farce "The Dictator" +had been a source of the greatest pleasure to Richard, and he +settled down to playwriting with the same intense zeal he put +into all of his work. However, for several years Robert J. +Collier and my brother had been very close friends, and +Richard had written many articles and stories for Collier's +Weekly, so that when Collier urged my brother to go to the +Japanese-Russian War as correspondent with the Japanese +forces, Richard promptly gave up his playwriting and returned +to his old love--the role of reporter. Accompanied by his +wife, Richard left New York for San Francisco in February. + + +February, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are really off on the "long trail" bound for the boundless +East. We have a charming drawing-room, a sympathetic porter +and a courtly conductor descended from one of the first +Spanish conquerors of California. We arranged the being late +for lunch problem by having dinner at five and cutting the +lunch out. Bruce and Nan came over for dinner and we had a +very jolly time. They all asked after you all, and drank to +our re-union at Marion in July. Later they all tried to +come with us on the train. It looked so attractive with +electric lights in each seat, and observation car and library. +A reporter interviewed us and Mr. Clark gave us a box of +segars and a bottle of whiskey. But they will not last, as +will Dad's razors and your housewife. I've used Dad's razors +twice a day, and they still are perfect. It's snowing again, +but we don't care. They all came to the station to see us off +but no one cried this time as they did when we went to South +Africa. Somehow we cannot take this trip seriously. It is +such a holiday trip all through not grim and human like the +Boer war. Just quaint and queer. A trip of cherry blossoms +and Geisha girls. I send all my love to you. + +DICK. + + +SAN FRANCISCO, February 26th. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We got in here last night at midnight just as easily as though +we were coming into Jersey City. Before we knew it we had +seen the Golden Gate, and were snug in this hotel. Today as +soon as we learned we could not sail we started in to see +sights and we made a record and hung it up high. We went to +the Cliff House and saw the seals on the rocks below, to the +Park, the military reservation, Chinatown, and the Poodle Dog +Restaurant. We also saw the Lotta monument, the Stevenson +monument, the Spreckles band stand, the place where the +Vigilance Committee hung the unruly, and tonight I went to a +dinner the Bohemian Club gave to the War correspondents. I +made a darned good speech. Think of ME making a speech of +any sort, but I did, and I had sense enough not to talk about +the war but the "glorious climate of +California" instead and of all the wonders of Frisco. So, I +made a great hit. It certainly is one of the few cities that +lives up to it's reputation in every way. I should call it +the most interesting city, with more character back of it than +any city on this continent. There are only four deck rooms +and we each have one. The boat is small, but in spite of the +crowd that is going on her, will I think be comfortable. I +know it will be that, and it may be luxurious. + +DICK. + + +On way to Japan. +March 13th, 1904. + +About four this afternoon we saw an irregular line of purple +mountains against a yellow sky, and it was Japan. In spite of +the Sunday papers, and the interminable talk on board, the +guide books and maps which had made Japan nauseous to me, I +saw the land of the Rising Sun with just as much of a shock +and thrill as I first saw the coast of Africa. We forgot +entirely we had been twenty days at sea and remembered only +that we were ten miles from Japan, only as far as New Bedford +is from Marion. We are at anchor now, waiting to go in in the +morning. Were it not for war we could go in now but we must +wait to be piloted over the sunken mines. That and the +flashlights moving from the cruisers ten miles away gave us +our first idea of war. To-morrow early we will be off for +Tokio, as it is only forty miles from Yokohama. Of course, I +may get all sorts of news before we land, but that is what we +expect to do. It will be good to feel solid earth, and to see +the kimonos and temples and geishas and cherry blossoms. I am +almost hoping the Government won't let us go to the +front and that for a week at least Cecil and I can sit in tea +houses with our shoes off while the nesans bring us tea and +the geishas rub their knees and make bows to us. I am sending +you through Harper's, a book on Hawaii and one of Japan that I +have read and like and which I think will help you to keep in +touch with the wanderers. With all my love to all. + +DICK. + + +TOKYO, March 22nd, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +The "situation" here continues to remain in such doubt that I +cannot tell of it, as it changes hourly. There are three +"columns," so far existing only in imagination. That is, so +far as they concern the correspondents. The first lot have +chosen themselves, and so have the second lot. But the first +lot are no nearer starting than they were two weeks ago. I +may be kept waiting here for weeks and weeks. I do not like +to turn out Palmer, although I very much want to go with the +first bunch. On the other hand I am paid pretty well to get +to the front, and I am uncertain as to what I ought to do. If +the second column were to start immediately after the first, +we then would have two men in the field, but if it does not, +then Collier will be paying $1000. a week for stories of tea +houses and "festivals." Palmer threatens to resign if I take +his place in the first column and that would be a loss to the +paper that I do not feel I could make up. If it gets any more +complicated I'll wire Collier to decide. + +Meanwhile, we are going out to dinners and festivals and we +ride. I have a good pony the paper paid for Cecil has hired +another and we find it delightful to scamper out into the +country. We have three rooms in a row. One we use for a sitting +room. They look very welland as it is still cold we keep them +cheerful with open fires. We have a table in the dining-room to +ourselves and to which we can ask our friends. The food is +extremely good. Griscom and the Secretaries have all called and +sent pots of flowers, and we are dining out every other night. +In the day we shop and ride. But all day and all night we the +correspondents plot and slave and intrigue over the places on the +columns. I got mine on the second column all right but no one +knows if it ever will move. So, naturally, I want to be on the +first. The rows are so engrossing that I have not enjoyed the +country as I expected. Still, I am everlastingly glad we came. +It is an entirely new life and aspect. It completes so much that +we have read and seen. In spite of the bother over the war +passes I learn things daily and we see beautiful and curious +things, and are educated as to the East, as no books could +have done it for us. John Bass who was my comrade in arms in +Greece and his wife are here. They are the very best. Also +we see Lloyd daily, and the hotel is full of amusing men, who +are trying to get to the front. Of course, we know less of +the war than you do. None of the news from Cheefoo, none of +the "unauthorized" news reaches us. Were it not for our own +squabbles we would not know not only that the country was at +war but not even that war existed ANYWHERE in the world. We +are here entirely en tourist and it cannot be helped. The men +who tried to go with the Russians are equally unfortunate. +Think of us as wandering around each with a copy of Murray +seeing sights. That is all we really do, All my love. + +DICK. + + +YOKOHAMA--April 2, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I just got your letter dated the 28th of February and the days +following in which you worried over me in the ice coated +trenches of Korea. I read it in a rickshaw in a warm sun on +my way to buy favors for a dinner to Griscom. We have had +three warm days and no doubt the sun will be out soon. The +loss of the sun, though, is no great one. We have lots of +pleasures and lots of troubles in spite of the Sun. Yesterday +the first batch of correspondents were sent on their way. I +doubt if they will get any further than Chemulpo but their +going cheered the atmosphere like a storm in summer. The +diplomats and Japanese were glad to get rid of them, they were +delighted to be off. Some had been here 58 days, and we all +looked at it as a good sign as it now puts us "next." But +after they had gone it was pretty blue for some of them were +as good friends as I want. I know few men I like as well as I +do John Bass. Many of them were intensely interesting. It +was, by all odds, the crowd one would have wished to go with. +As it is, I suspect we all will meet again and that the two +columns will be merged on the Yalu. None of the attaches have +been allowed to go, so it really is great luck for the +correspondents. Tell Chas I still am buying my Kit. It's +pretty nearly ready now. I began in New York and kept on in +Boston, San Francisco, and here. It always was my boast that +I had the most complete kit in the world, and in spite of +Charley's jeers at my lack of preparedness everybody here +voted it the greatest ever seen. For the last ten days all +the Jap saddlers, tent makers and tinsmiths have been copying it. + +DICK. + + +TOKIO--May 2, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +Today, we walked into our new house and tomorrow we will +settle down there. We rented the furniture for the two +unfurnished rooms; knives, forks, spoons, china for the table +and extras for 35 dollars gold for two months. It took six +men to bring the things in carts. They got nothing. +Yesterday, I took two rickshaw men from half past twelve to +half past five. Out of that time they ran and pushed me for +two solid hours. Their price for the five hours was eighty +cents gold. What you would pay a cabman to drive you from the +Waldorf to Martin's. I wish you could see our menage. Such +beautiful persons in grey silk kimonos who bow, and bow and +slip and slide in spotless torn white stockings with one big +toe. They make you ashamed of yourself for walking on your +own carpet in your own shoes. Today we got the first news of +the battle on the Yalu, the battle of April 26-30th. I +suppose Palmer and Bass saw it; and I try to be glad I did +what was right by Collier's instead of for myself. But I +don't want to love another paper. I suppose there will be +other fights but that one was the first, and it must have been +wonderful. On the 4th we expect to be on our way to Kioto +with Lloyd and his wife and John Fox. By that time we expect +to be settled in the new house. + +DICK. + + +TOKIO, May 22nd, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +You will be glad to hear that the correspondents at the front +are not allowed within two and a half miles of the firing line. +This I am sure you will approve. Their tales of woe have just +been received here, and they certainly are having a hard time. +The one thing they all hope for is that the Japs will order them +home. My temper is vile to-day, as I cannot enjoy the gentle +pleasures of this town any longer and with this long trip to +Port Arthur before I can turn towards home. I am as cross as +a sick bear. We were at Yokohama when your last letters came +and they were a great pleasure. I got splendid news of The +Dictator. Yesterday we all went to Yokohama. There are four +wild American boys here just out of Harvard who started the +cry of "Ping Yang" for the "Ping Yannigans" they being the +"Yannigans." They help to make things very lively and are +affectionately regarded by all classes. Yesterday, they and +Fox and Cecil and I went to the races, with five ricksha boys +each, and everybody lost his money except myself. But it was +great fun. It rained like a seive, and all the gentlemen +riders fell off, and every time we won money our thirty +ricksha men who would tell when we won by watching at which +window we had bet, would cheer us and salaam until to save our +faces we had to scatter largesses. Egan turned up in the +evening and dined with John and Cecil and me in the Grand +Hotel and told us first of all the story the correspondents +had brought back to Kobbe for which every one from the +Government down has been waiting. It would make lively +reading if any of us dared to write it. To-day he made his +protests to Fukushima as we mapped them out last night and the +second lot will I expect be treated better. But, as the first +lot were the important men representing the important +syndicates the harm, for the Japs, has been done. Of course, +much they do is through not knowing our points of view. To +them none of us is of any consequence except that he is a +nuisance, and while they are conversationally perfect in +politeness, the regulations they inflict are too insulting. +However, you don't care about that, and neither do I. I am going +to earn my money if I possibly can, and come home. + +DICK. + + +TOKIO, June 13th, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We gave a farewell dinner last night to the Ping Yannigans two +of whom left on the Navy expedition and another one to-morrow +for God's country. There were eight men and we had new +lanterns painted with the arms of Corea and the motto of the +Ping Yannigans. Also many flags. All but the Japanese flag. +One of them with a side glance at the servants said, "Gentle- + +man and Lady: I propose a toast, Japan for the Japanese and +the Japanese for Japan." We all knew what he meant but the +servants were greatly pleased. Jack London turned up to-day +on his way home. I liked him very much. He is very simple +and modest and gave you a tremendous impression of vitality +and power. He is very bitter against the wonderful little +people and says he carries away with him only a feeling of +irritation. But I told him that probably would soon wear off +and he would remember only the pleasant things. I did envy +him so, going home after having seen a fight and I not yet +started. Still THIS TIME we may get off. Yokoyama the +contractor takes our stuff on the 16th, and so we feel it is +encouraging to have our luggage at the front even if we are +here. + +DICK. + + +YOKOHAMA, July 26th, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We gave in our passes to-day, and sail to-morrow at five. +They say we are not to see Port Arthur fall but are to be +taken up to Oku's army. That means we miss the "popular" +story, and may have to wait around several weeks before we see +the other big fight. They promised us Port Arthur but that is +reason enough for believing they do not intend we shall see it +at all. John and I are here at a Japanese hotel, the one Li +Hung Chang occupied when he came over to arrange the treaty +between China and Japan. It is a very beautiful house, the +best I have seen of real Japanese and the garden and view of +the harbor is magnificent. I wish Cecil could see it too, but +I know she would not care for a room which is as free to the +public view as the porch at Marion. It has 48 mats and as a +mat is 3 x 5 you can work it out. We eat, sleep and dress in +this room and it is like trying to be at home on top of a +Chickering Grand. But it is very beautiful and the moonlight +is fine and saddening. No one of us has the least interest in +the war or in what we may see or be kept from seeing. We have +been "over trained" and not even a siege of London could hold +our thoughts from home. I have just missed the mail which +would have told me you were at Marion. I should so love to +have heard from you from there. I do not think you will find +the Church house uncomfortable; and you can always run across +the road when the traffic is not too great, and chat with +Benjamin. I do hope that Dad will have got such good health +from Marion and such lashers of fish. I got a good letter +from Charles and I certainly feel guilty at putting extra work +on a man as busy as he. Had I known he was the real judge of +those prize stories I would have sent him one myself and given +him the name of it. Well, goodbye for a little time. We go on +board in a few hours, and after that everything I write you is +read by the Censor so I shall not say anything that would gratify +their curiosity. They think it is unmanly to write from the +field to one's family and the young princes forbade their +imperial spouses from writing them until the war is over. +However, not being an imperial Samaari but a home loving, family +loving American, I shall miss not hearing very much, and not +being able to tell you all how I love you. + +DICK. + + + +DALNY, July 27th, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + + +We left Shimonoseki three days ago and have had very pleasant +going on the Heijo Maru a small but well run ship of 1,500 +tons. Fox and I got one of the two best rooms and I have been +very comfortable. We are at anchor now at a place of no +interest except for its sunsets. + +We have just been told as the anchor is being lowered that we +can send letters back by the Island, so I can just dash this +off before leaving. We have reached Dalny and I have just +heard the first shot fired which was to send me home. All the +others came and bid John and me a farewell as soon as we were +sure it was the sound of cannon. However, as it is 20 miles +away I'll have to hang on until I get a little nearer. We +have had a very pleasant trip even though we were delayed two +days by fog and a slow convoy. Now we are here at Dalny. It +looks not at all like its pictures, which, as I remember them +were all taken in winter. It is a perfectly new, good brick +barracks-like town. I am landing now. The two servants seem very +satisfactory and I am in excellent health. Today Cecil has been +four days at Hong Kong. Please send the gist of this letter dull +as it is to Mrs. Clark. When I began it I thought I would have +plenty of time to finish it on shore. Of course, after this all +I write and this too, I suppose will be censored. So, there +will not be much liveliness. I have no taste to expose my +affections to the Japanese staff. So, goodbye. + +R. + + + +July 31st, 1904. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We have been met here with a bitter disappointment. We are +all to be sent north, although only 18 hours away. We can +hear the guns at Port Arthur the fall of which they promised +us we would see. To night we are camping out in one of the +Russian barracks. To-morrow we go, partly by horse and partly +by train. A week must elapse before we can get near +headquarters. And then we have no guarantee that we will see +any fighting. This means for me a long delay. It is very +disappointing and the worst of the many we have suffered in +the last four months. I have written Cecil asking her to +seriously think of going home but I am afraid she will not. +Were it not for that and the disappointment one feels in +travelling a week's journey away from the sound of guns I +would be content. My horse is well and so am I. It is good +to get back to drawing water, and carrying baggage and +skirmishing about for yourself. The contractor gave us a good +meal and the servants are efficient but I like doing things +myself and skirmishing for them. We make a short ride this +morning of six miles to Kin Chow and then 30 miles by rail. +"Headquarters" is about a five days ride distant. Tell Chas my +outfit seems nearly complete. Maybe I can buy a few things I +forgot in Boston at Kin Chow. Fox and I will get out just as +soon as we see fighting but before you get this you will probably +hear by cable from me. If not, it will mean we still are waiting +for a fight. The only mistake I made was in not going home the +first time they deceived us instead of waiting for this and +worst of all. + +to you all. + +DICK. + + +MANCHURIA, August 14, 1904. + +We have been riding through Manchuria for eleven days. Nine +days we rode then two days we rested. By losing the trail we +managed to average about 20 miles a day. I kept well and +enjoyed it very much. As I had to leave my servant behind +with a sick horse, I had to take care of my mule and pony +myself and hunt fodder for them, so I was pretty busy. Saiki +did all he could, but he is not a servant and sooner than ask +him I did things myself. We passed through a very beautiful +country, sleeping at railway stations and saw two battle +fields of recent fights. Now we are in a Chinese City and +waiting to see what should be the biggest fight since Sedan. +The Russians are about ten miles from us, so we are not +allowed outside the gates of the city without a guide. Of +course, we have none of that freedom we have enjoyed in other +wars, but apart from that they treat us very well indeed. And +in a day or two they promise us much fighting, which we will +be allowed to witness from a hill. This is a +very queer old city but the towns and country are all very +primitive and we depend upon ourselves for our entertainment. +I expect soon to see you at home. In three more days I shall +have been out here five months and that is too long. Good +luck to you all. + +R. H. D. + + +MANCHURIA, August 18th, 1904. + + +We still are inside this old Chinese town. It has rained for +five days, and this one is the first in which we could go +abroad. Unless you swim very well it is not safe to cross one +of these streets. We have found an old temple and some of us +are in it now. It is such a relief to escape from that +compound and the rain. This place is full of weeds and pine +trees, cooing doves and butterflies. The temples are closed +and no one is in charge but an aged Chinaman. We did not come +here to sit in temples, so John and I will leave in a week, +battle or no battle. The argument that having waited so long +one might as well wait a little longer does not touch us. It +was that argument that kept us in Tokio when we knew we were +being deceived weekly, and the same man who deceived us there, +is in charge here. It is impossible to believe anything he +tells his subordinates to tell us, so, we will be on our way +back when you get this. I am well, and only disappointed. +Had they not broken faith with us about Port Arthur we would +by now have seen fighting. As it is we will have wasted six +months. + +Love to Dad, and Chas and Nora and you. + +DICK. + + In writing of his decision to leave the Japanese army, +Richard, after his return to the United States, said: + +"On the receipt of Oku's answer to the Correspondents we left +the army. Other correspondents would have quit then, as most +of them did ten days later, but that their work and Kuroki, so +far from being fifty miles north toward Mukden, as Okabe said +he was, was twenty miles to the east on our right preparing +for the, closing-in movement which was just about to begin. +Three days after we had left the army, the greatest battle +since Sedan was waged for six days. + +"So, our half-year of time and money, of dreary waiting, of +daily humiliations at the hands of officers with minds +diseased by suspicion, all of which would have been made up to +us by the sight of this one great spectacle, was to the end +absolutely lost to us. Perhaps we made a mistake in judgment. +As the cards fell we certainly did. + +"The only proposition before us was this: There was small +chance of any immediate fighting. If there were fighting we +would not see it. Confronted with the same conditions again, +I would decide in exactly the same manner. Our misfortune lay +in the fact that our experience with other armies had led us +to believe that officers and gentlemen speak the truth, that +men with titles of nobility, and with the higher titles of +General and Major-General, do not lie. In that we were +mistaken." + +Greatly disappointed at his failure to see really anything of +the war, much embittered at the Japanese over their treatment +of the correspondents, Richard reached Vancouver in October. +As my father was seriously ill he came to Philadelphia at once +and divided the next two months between our old home and +Marion. + +On December 14, 1904, my father died, and it was +the first tragedy that had come into Richard's life, as it was +in that of my sister or myself. As an editorial writer, most +of my father's work had been anonymous, but his influence had +been as far-reaching as it had been ever for all that was just +and fine. All of his life he had worked unremittingly for +good causes and, in spite of the heavy burdens which of his +own will he had taken upon his none too strong shoulders, I +have never met with a nature so calm , so simple, so +sympathetic with those who were weak--weak in body or soul. +As all newspaper men must, he had been brought in constant +contact with the worst elements of machine politics, as indeed +he had with the lowest strata of the life common to any great +city. But in his own life he was as unsophisticated; his +ideals of high living, his belief in the possibilities of good +in all men and in all women, remained as unruffled as if he +had never left his father's farm where he had spent his +childhood. When my father died Richard lost his "kindest and +severest critic" as he also lost one of his very closest +friends and companions. + +During the short illness that preceded my brother's death, +although quite unconscious that the end was so near, his +thoughts constantly turned back to the days of his home in +Philadelphia, and he got out the letters which as a boy and as +a young man he had written to his family. After reading a +number of them he said: "I know now why we were such a happy +It was because we were always, all of us, of the same age." + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MOUNT KISCO + + +During my brother's life there were four centres from which he +set forth on his travels and to which he returned to finish +the articles for which he had collected the material, or +perhaps to write a novel, a few short stories, or occasionally +a play, but unlike most of the followers of his craft, never +to rest. Indeed during the last twenty-five years of his life +I do not recall two consecutive days when Richard did not +devote a number of hours to literary work. The centres of +which I speak were first Philadelphia, then New York, then +Marion, and lastly Mount Kisco. Happy as Richard had been at +Marion, the quaint little village, especially in winter, was +rather inaccessible, and he realized that to be in touch with +the numerous affairs in which he was interested that his +headquarters should be in or near New York. In addition to +this he had for long wanted a home of his very own, and so +located that he could have his family and his friends +constantly about him. Some years, however, elapsed between +this dream and its realization. In 1903 he took the first +step by purchasing a farm situated in the Westchester Hills, +five miles from Mount Kisco, New York. He began by building a +lake at the foot of the hill on which the home was to stand, +then a water-tower, and finally the house itself. The plans +to the minutest detail had been laid out on the lawn at Marion +and, as the architect himself said, there was nothing left for +him to do but to design the cellar. + +Richard and his wife moved into their new home in July, 1905, +and called it Crossroads Farm, keeping the original name of +the place. In later years Richard added various adjoining +parcels of land to his first purchase, and the property +eventually included nearly three hundred acres. The house +itself was very large, very comfortable, and there were many +guest-rooms which every week-end for long were filled by the +jolliest of house-parties. In his novel "The Blind Spot," +Justus Miles Forman gives the following very charming picture +of the place: + +"It was a broad terrace paved with red brick that was stained +and a little mossy, so that it looked much older than it had +any right to, and along its outer border there were bay-trees +set in big Italian terracotta jars; but the bay-trees were +placed far apart so that they should not mask the view, and +that was wise, for it was a fine view. It is rugged country +in that part of Westchester County--like a choppy sea: all +broken, twisted ridges, and abrupt little hills, and piled-up +boulders, and hollow, cup-like depressions among them. The +Grey house sat, as it were, upon the lip of a cup, and from +the southward terrace you looked across a mile or two of +hollow bottom, with a little lake at your feet, to sloping +pastures where there were cattle browsing, and to the far, +high hills beyond. + +"There was no magnificence about the outlook--nothing to make +you catch your breath; but it was a good view with plenty of +elbow room and no sign of a neighbor--no huddling--only the +water of the little lake, the brown November hillsides, and +the clean blue sky above. The distant cattle looked like scenic +cattle painted on their green-bronze pasture to give an aspect +of husbandry to the scene." + +Although Richard was now comfortably settled, he had of late +years acquired a great dread of cold weather. As soon as +winter set in his mind turned to the tropics, and whenever it +was possible he went to Cuba or some other land where he was +sure of plenty of heat and sunshine. The early part of 1906 +found him at Havana, this time on a visit to the Hon. E. V. +Morgan, who was then our minister to Cuba. From Havana he +went to the Isle of Pines. + + +ISLE OF PINES, March 26th, 1906. +DEAR MOTHER:-- + +We are just returning from the Isle of Pines. We reached +there after a day on the water at about six on Wednesday, +22nd. They dropped us at a woodshed in a mangrove swamp, +where a Mr. Mason met us with two mules. I must have said I +was going to the island because every one was expecting me. +Until the night before we had really no idea when we would go, +so, to be welcomed wherever we went, was confusing. For four +days we were cut off from the world, and in that time, five +days in all, we covered the entire island pretty thoroughly-- +It was one of the most interesting trips I ever took and Cecil +enjoyed it as much as I did. The island is a curious mixture +of palm and pines, one minute it looks like Venezuela and the +next like Florida and Lakewood. It is divided into two +parties of Americans, the "moderates" and the +"revolutionists." The Cubans are very few and are all +employed by the Americans, who own nine-tenths of the Island. +Of course, they all want the U. S. to take it, they differ +only as to how to persuade the senators +to do it. I had to change all my opinions about the +situation. I thought it was owned by land speculators +who did not live there, nor wish to live there, but instead I +found every one I met had built a home and was cultivating the +land. We gave each land company a turn at me, and we had to +admire orange groves and pineapples, grapefruit and coffee +until we cried for help. With all this was the most romantic +history of the island before the "gringos" came. It was a +famous place for pirates and buried treasures and slave pens. +It was a sort of clearing house for slaves where they were +fattened. I do not believe people take much interest in or +know anything about it, but I am going to try and make an +interesting story of it for Collier. It was queer to be so +completely cut off from the world. There was a wireless but +they would not let me use it. It is not yet opened to the +public. I talked to every one I met and saw much that was +pathetic and human. It was the first pioneer settlement Cecil +had ever seen and the American making the ways straight is +very curious. He certainly does not adorn whatever he +touches. But never have I met so many enthusiastics and such +pride in locality. To-night we reach the Hotel Louvre, thank +heaven! where I can get Spanish food again, and not American +ginger bread, and, "the pie like mother used to make." We now +are on a wretched Spanish tug boat with every one, myself +included, very seasick and babies howling and roosters +crowing. But soon that will be over, and, after a short ride +of thirty miles through a beautiful part of the island, we +will be in Havana in time for a fine dinner, with ice. What +next we will do I am not sure. After living in that beautiful +palace of Morgan's, it just needed five days of the "Pinero's" +to make us enjoy life at a hotel-- If we can make connections, I +think I will go over to Santo Domingo, and study up that subject, +too. But, even if we go no where else the trip to the I. of P. +was alone well worth our long journey. I don't know when I have +seen anything as curious, and as complicated a political +existence. Love to all of you dear ones. + +DICK. + + +HAVANA--April 9, 1906. +ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE, ESQ. +MY DEAR MAURICE: + +I have just read about myself, in the April Bookman, which I +would be very ungrateful if I did not write and tell you how +much it pleased me. That sounds as though what pleased me +was, obviously, that what you said was so kind. But what I +really mean, and that for which I thank you, was your picking +out things that I myself liked, and that I would like to think +others liked. I know that the men make "breaks," and am sorry +for it, but, I forget to be sorry when you please me by +pointing out the good qualities in "Laquerre," and the bull +terrier. Nothing ever hurt me so much as the line used by +many reviewers of "Macklin" that "Mr. Davis' hero is a cad, +and Mr. Davis cannot see it." Macklin I always thought was +the best thing I ever did, and it was the one over which I +took the most time and care. Its failure was what as Maggie +Cline used to say, "drove me into this business" of play +writing. All that ever was said of it was that it was "A book +to read on railroad trains and in a hammock." That was the +verdict as delivered to me by Romeike from 300 reviewers, and +it drove me to farces. So, I was especially glad +when you liked "Royal Macklin." I tried to make a "hero" who +was vain, theatrical, boasting and selfconscious, but, still +likable. But, I did not succeed in making him of interest, +and it always has hurt me. Also, your liking the "Derelict" +and the "Fever Ship" gave me much pleasure. You see what I +mean, it was your selecting the things upon which I had +worked, and with which I had made every effort, that has both +encouraged and delighted me. Being entirely unprejudiced, I +think it is a fine article, and as soon as I stamp this, I +will read it over again. So, thank you very much, indeed, for +to say what you did seriously, over your own name, took a lot +of courage, and for that daring, and for liking the same +things I do, I thank you many times. + +Sincerely yours, + +RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. + + +In reading this over, I find all I seem to have done in it is +to complain because no one, but yourself and myself liked +"Macklin." What I wanted to say is, that I am very grateful +for the article, for the appreciation, although I don't +deserve it, and for your temerity in saying so many kind +things. Nothing that has been written about what I have +written has ever pleased me so much. + +R. H. D. + + +In the spring of 1906 while Richard was on a visit to +Providence, R. I., Henry W. Savage produced a play by Jesse +Lynch Williams and my brother was asked to assist at +rehearsals, a pastime in which he found an enormous amount of +pleasure. The "McCloy" mentioned in the following letter was +the city editor of The Evening Sun when my brother first joined +the staff of that paper as a reporter. + + +NEW YORK, May 4,1906. +DEAR NORA: + +I left Providence Tuesday night and came on to New York +yesterday. Savage and Williams and all were very nice about +the help they said I had given them, and I had as much fun as +though it had been a success I had made myself, and I didn't +have to make a speech, either. + +Yesterday I spent in the newspaper offices gathering material +from their envelopes on Winston Churchill, M. P. who is to be +one of my real Soldiers of Fortune. He will make a splendid +one, in four wars, twice made a question; before he was 21 +years old, in Parliament, and a leader in BOTH parties +before he was 36. In the newspaper offices they had a lot of +fun with me. When I came into the city room of The Eve. +Sun, McCloy was at his desk in his shirt spiking copy. He +just raised his eyes and went on with his blue pencil. I said +"There's nothing in that story, sir, the man will get well, +and the woman is his wife." + +"Make two sticks of it," said McCloy, "and then go back to the +Jefferson police court." + +When I sat down at my old desk, and began to write the copy +boy came and stood beside me and when I had finished the first +page, snatched it. I had to explain I was only taking notes. + +At The Journal, Sam Chamberlain who used to pay me $500 a +story, touched me on the shoulder as I was scribbling down +notes, and said "Hearst says to take you back at $17 a week." +I said "I'm worth $18 and I can't come for less." +So he brought up the business manager and had a long wrangle +with him as to whether I should get $18. The business +manager, a Jew gentleman, didn't know me from Adam, and +seriously tried to save the paper a dollar a week. When the +reporters and typewriter girls began to laugh, he got very +mad. It was very funny how soothing was the noise of the +presses, and the bells and typewriters and men yelling "Copy!" +and "Damn the boy!" I could write better than if I had been in +the silence of the farm. It was like being able to sleep as +soon as the screw starts. + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER XVI +THE CONGO + +During the winter of 1907 the world rang with the reports of +the atrocities in the Congo, and Robert J. Collier, of Collier's +Weekly, asked Richard to go to the Congo and make +an investigation. I do not believe that my brother was ever +in much sympathy with the commission, as he did not feel that +he could afford the time that a thorough investigation demanded. +However, with his wife he sailed for Liverpool on +January 5, 1907, and three weeks later started for Africa. +Regarding this trip, in addition to the letters he wrote to +his family, I also quote from a diary which he had just +started and which he conscientiously continued until his death. + + +From diary of January 24th, 1907. +Last day in London. Margaret Frazer offered me gun from a +Captain Jenkins of Nigeria. Instead bought Winchester +repeating, hoping, if need it, get one coast. Lunched +Savoy-Lynch, Mrs. Lynch, her sister--very beautiful girl. In +afternoon Sam Sothern and Margaret came in to say "Good bye." +Dined at Anthony Hope's--Barrie and Mrs. Barrie and Jim +Whigham. Mrs. Barrie looking very well, Barrie not so well. +As silent as ever, only talked once during dinner when he told +us about the first of his series of cricket matches between +authors and artists. Did not have eleven authors, so going +along road picked up utter strangers one a soldier in front of +embracing two girls. Said he would come if girls came +too--all put in brake. Mrs. Barrie said the Llewellen Davis' +were the originals for the Darlings and their children in Peter +Pan. They played a strange game of billiards suggested by Barrie +who won as no one else knew the rules and they claimed he +invented them to suit his case. Sat up until three writing +and packing. The dinner was best have had this trip in London. + + +Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo. + +S. S. February 11th, 1907. + + +To-morrow, we will be in Banana, which is the first port in +the Congo. When I remember how far away the Congo seemed from +New York and London, it is impossible to believe we are less +than a day from it. I am so very glad I came. The people who +have lived here for years agree about it in no one fact, so, +it is a go-as-you-please for any one so far as accurate +information is concerned, and I am as likely to be right as +any one else. It has been a pleasant trip and for us will not +be over until some days, for at Matadi, which is up the river, +we will probably live on the steamer as the shore does not +sound attractive. Then I shall probably go on up the river +and after a month or six weeks come back again. At Boma I am +to see the Governor, one of the inspectors on board is to +introduce me, and I have an idea they will make me as +comfortable as possible, so that I may not see anything. Not +that I would be likely to see anything hidden under a year. +Yesterday was the crossing of the Equator. The night before +Neptune, one of the crew, and his wife, the ship's butcher, and a +kroo boy, as black as coal for the heir apparent came over the +side and proclaimed that those who never before had crossed +the Equator must be baptized. We had crossed but I was +perfectly willing to go through it for the fun. The Belgians +went at it as seriously as children, and worked up a grand +succession of events. First we had gymkana races among the +kroo boys. The most remarkable was their placing franc pieces +in tubs of white and red flour, for which the boys dived, they +then dug for more money into a big basket fitted with feathers +and when they came out they were the most awful sights +imaginable. You can picture their naked black bodies and +faces spotted with white and pink and stuck like chickens with +feathers. Then the next day we were all hauled before a court +and judged, and having all been found guilty were condemned to +be shaved and bathed publicly at four. Meantime the Italians, +is it not the picture of them, had organized a revolution +against the Tribunal, with the object of ducking them. They +went into this as though it were a real conspiracy and had +signs and passwords. At four o'clock, in turn they sat us on +the edge of the great tank on the well deck and splashed us +over with paste and then tilted us in. I tried to carry the +Frenchman who was acting as barber, with me but only got him +half in. But Milani, one of the Italians, swung him over his +head plumb into the water. The Frenchman is a rich elephant +hunter who is not very popular. When the revolution broke +loose we all yelled "A bas le Tribunal" "Vivela Revolution"! +and there was awful rough house. I made for the Frenchman and +went in with him and nearly drowned him, and everybody was +being thrown into the tank or held in front of a fire cross. +After dinner there was a grand ceremony, the fourth, in which +certificates were presented by an Inspecteur d'Etat who is on +board, and is a Deputy Governor of a district. Then there was +much champagne and a concert and Cecil and I sat with the +Captain, the Bishop, in his robes and berretta and the two +inspectors and they were very charming to both of us. + +DICK. + + + +Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo. +S. S. February 13th, 1907. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We reached Banana yesterday morning, and the mouth of the +Congo, and as the soldier said when he reached the top of San +Juan Hill, "Hell! well here we are!" Banana looks like one of +the dozen little islands in the West Indies, where we would +stop to take on some "brands of bananas," instead of the port +to a country as big as Europe. We went ashore and wandered +around under the palm trees, and took photos, and watched some +men fishing in the lagoons, and we saw a strange fish that +leaps on the top of the water just as a frog jumps on land. +It is certainly hot. Milani and I went in swimming in the +ocean, and got finely cool. Then we paddled the canoe back to +the ship to show the blacks how good we were, and got very +hot, and the blacks charged us a franc for the voyage. +To-morrow we will be in Boma, the capital, which is much of a +place with shops and a lawn tennis court. + + +BOMA, February 15th. + +Boma is more or less laid out and contains the official +residences of the Government. I walked all over it in an +hour, and here you walk very slow. There are +three or four big trading stores AND a tennis court. It is, +however, a dreary place. We called on the missionary and his +wife, but she does not speak English and their point of view +of everything was not cheerful or instructive. Cecil plans to +remain on board while at Matadi and return with this same +boat to Boma. I want her to go home in this boat or in some +other, as I believe Boma most unhealthy and I know it to be +most uncomfortable. She would have to go to a hotel which is +very hot and rough, although it is clean and well run. I am +undecided whether to go up the river for ten days, to where it +crosses the equator, or to leave the upper Congo and go up the +Kasai river. This is off the beaten track, and one may see +something of interest. I will know better what I will do in +an hour, when I get to Matadi. + + +MATADI--Feby. 21. + +We are now at Matadi. The Captain invited us to stop on board +and it is well he did. We dine on deck where the wind blows +but the rest of the ship is being cleaned and painted for the +trip North. Four hatches are discharging cargo all at once, +from four in the morning until midnight. Officers and kroo +boys get four hours sleep out of the twenty-four, but I sleep +right through it, so does Cecil. Sometimes they take out iron +rails and then zinc roofs and steel boats, 6000 cases of gin +and 1000 tons of coal. Still, it is much better than in the +Hotel Africa on shore. Matadi is a hill of red iron and the +heat is grand. Everything in this country is grand. The +river is, in places, seven miles wide, the sunsets are like +nothing earthly, and the black people are like brooding +shadows of lost souls, that is, if souls have shadows. Most +of the blacks in this town are "prisoners" with a steel ring +around the neck, and chained in long lines. I leave on the 23d +to go up the Kasai River, because that is where the atrocities +come from and up there there are many missionaries. I don't want +you to think I say this to "calm your fears," but I say it +because it is as true of this place as of every other one in +the world, and that is, that it is as easy to get about here +as it is in Rhode Island. It is not half as dangerous as +automobiling. I have not even felt feverish, neither has +Cecil. I never felt better. Cecil stays on board and goes +back to Boma. There she stops a week and then takes another +ship back to London. She will not wait at Boma for me, at +least, I hope not and cannot imagine her doing so. In any +event, after I start, there will be no way for us to +communicate, and I will act on the understanding that she has +started North. + +I have two very good boys and both speak English, and are from +Sierra Leone. I take a two-day trip of 200 miles by rail, +then four days by boat up the Kasai and then I may come back +by boat or walk. It depends on how I like it, how long I +stay, for I can hope to see very little, as under a year it +would be impossible to write with authority of this country. +But I'll see more of it than some at home, and I'll hear what +those who have lived here for years have to say. It is +awfully interesting, absolutely different and more uncivilized +than anything I ever saw. But all the time you are depressed +with how little you know and can know of it. I will be here +six weeks or two months and then should get up the coast to +London about the middle of May or sooner. + +DICK. + + +From diary of February 22nd, 1907. + +Spent about the worst night of my life. No mattress, no +pillow. Not space enough for my own cot. Every insect in the +world ate me. After a bath and coffee felt better. It rained +heavily until three P. M. Read Pendennis, and loved it. The +picture of life at Clavering and Fairoaks, and Dr. Portman and +Foker are wonderful. I do not know when I have enjoyed and +admired a work so much. For some reason it is all entirely +new again. I will read them all now in turn. After rain +cleared took my slaves and went after "supplies." Met a King. +I thought he was a witch doctor, and the boys said he was a +dancing man. All his suite, wives and subjects followed, +singing a song that made your flesh creep. At Hatton and +Cookson's bought "plenty chop" for "boys" who were much +pleased. Also a sparklet bottle, some whiskey and two pints +of champagne at 7 francs the pint. Blush to own it was demi +Sec. Also bacon, jam, milk, envelopes, a pillow. Saw some +ivory State had seized and returned. 15 Kilo's. Some taken +from Gomez across street not returned until he gave up half. +No reason given Taylor agent H. & C. why returned Apparently +when called will come down on the ivory question. Cuthbert +Malet, coffee planter, came call on me. Only Englishman still +in Service State. Had much to say which did not want printed +until he out of country which will be in month or two. +Anstrossi has given me side of cabin where there is room for +my cot, so expect to sleep. + + +STANLEY POOL, Feb. 22nd, 1907. +DEAR MOTHER: + +When you get this, I will be on my way to London. +The rest of my stay here will be on board two boats, +touching at the banks of the Kasai river. One I now am on +takes me up and another takes me down. I will see a great +deal that is strange and it is very interesting. Yesterday, +for example, only an hour before our train reached Gongolo +Station, there were three elephants that wandered across the +track. We were very disappointed not to have seen them. At +the mission house on the way up, I brought the first ice the +mission boys had seen and when I put a piece in the hand of +one, he yelled and danced about as though it were a coal. The +higher up you go the tougher it gets. Back in the jungle, one +can only imagine what it is like. Here all the white men have +black wives, and the way the whip is used on the men is very +different from the lower congo. The boat is about as large as +a touring car, with all the machinery exposed. I am very +comfortable though, with my bed and camp chair, and, books to +read, when one gets tired of this great, dirty river. I, +expect to see hippopotamuses and many crocodiles and to learn +something of the "atrocities" by hearsay. To see for oneself, +would take months. I return from the Kasai district by a boat +like this one, burning wood and with a stern wheel, reaching +Leopoldville, this place, about the 12th of March, and sailing +on the Albertville for Southampton on the 19th of March. So +I should be in London and so very near you by the 8th of +April. Of course, if I take a later boat from here, I will be +just that much later. I am perfectly well, never better. No +fever, no "tired feeling" good appetite, in spite of awful +tough food. From this place money cannot be used and I carry +a bag of salt and rolls of cloth. For a bottle of salt you +get a fowl or a turkey, for a tablespoonful an egg, or a bunch +of fruit. When you write be sure and tell me +ALL your plans for the summer; that is, after you have been +to see us. My dearest love to you all. + +DICK. + + +From diary of February 27th, 1907. + +Saw two hippos. Thought Anstrossi said they were buffalo. So +was glad when I found out what they were. I did not want to +go home without having seen only two dead ones. In a few +minutes I saw two more. Anstrossi fired at them but I did +not, as thought it not the game when one could not recover +them. Before noon saw six in a bunch--and then what I thought +was a spit of rock with a hippo lying on the end of it, turned +out to be fifteen hippos in a line! Burnham has told he had +seen eleven in the Volta in one day. Before one o'clock, I +had seen twenty-six, and, later in the day Anstrossi fired at +another, and shot a hole in the awning. That made +twenty-seven in one day. Also some monkeys. +The hippos were delightful. They seemed so aristocratic, like +gouty old gentlemen, puffing and blowing and yawning, as +though everything bored them. + +From diary of February 28th, 1907. + +When just going up for coffee, saw what was so big, looking at +it against horizon, thought it must be an elephant. Was a +young hippo. Captain Jensen brought boat within eighty yards +of him, and both Anstrossi and I fired, apparently knocking +him off his legs, for he rolled on his side as though his back +was broken. I missed him the second shot, which struck the +water just in front of him. The other three shots caught him +in the head, in the mouth and ear. He +lay quite still, and the boys rushed out a gang plank and +surrounded him singing and shouting and cutting his tail to +make him bleed and weaken him. They don't die for an hour but +he seemed dead enough, so I went to my cabin to re-load my gun +and my camera. In three minutes I came out, and found the +hippo still quiet. Then he began to toss his head and I shot +him again, to put him out of pain. In return for which he +rolled over into the water and got away. I was mad. Later +saw four more. Just at sunset while taking bath another was +seen on shore. We got within sixty yards of him and all of us +missed him or at least did not hurt him. He then trotted for +the river with his head up and again I must have missed, +although at one place he was but fifty yards away, when he +entered the water, a hundred. I stepped it off later in the +sand. I followed him up and hit him or some one of us hit him +and he stood up on his hind legs. But he put back to land for +the third time. Captain said wait until moon came out. But +though we hunted up to our waists saw none. One came quite +close at dinner. Seven on the day. + + +CONGO RIVER--March 1, 1907. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I have been up the Congo as far as the Kasai river, and up +that to a place called Dima. There I found myself in a sort +of cul de sac. I found that the rubber plantations I had come +to see, were nine days journey distant. In this land where +time and distance are so differently regarded than with us, a +man tells you to go to Dima to see rubber. He means after +getting to Dima, you must catch a steamer that leaves every +two weeks and travel for five days. But he forgets that +that fact is important to visitors. As he is under contract +to stay here three years, it does not much matter to him how +he spends a month, or so. Dima was two hundred yards square, +and then the jungle. In half an hour, I saw it all, and met +every one in it. They gave me a grand reception, but I could +not spend ten days in Dima. The only other thing I could do +was to take a canoe to the Jesuit Mission where the Fathers +promised me shooting, or, try to catch the boat back to +England that stops at interesting ports. Sooner than stop in +Boma, I urged Cecil to take that boat. So, if I catch it, we +will return together. It is a five weeks journey, and rather +long to spend alone. In any event my letters will go by a +faster boat. I have had a most wonderfully interesting visit, +at least, to me. I hope I can make it readable. But, much of +its pleasure was personal. + +I have just had to stop writing this, for what when I get back +to New York will seem a perfectly good reason for interrupting +a letter to even you. A large hippopotamus has just pushed +past us with five baby hippos in front of her. She is shoving +them up stream, and the papa hippo is in the wake puffing and +blowing. They are very plenty here and on the way up stream, +I saw a great many, and every morning and evening went hunting +for them on shore. I wanted the head of a hippopotamus +awfully keenly for the farm. But of the only two I saw on +land, both got away from me. I did not shoot at any I saw in +the water, although the other idiot on board did, because if +you kill them, you cannot recover them, and it seems most +unsportsmanlike. Besides, I was so grateful to them for being +so proud and pompous, and real aristocrats dating back from +the flood. But I was terribly disappointed at losing both of +those I saw on land. One I dropped at the first shot, and the +other I missed, as he was running, to get back into the water. +The one I shot, and that everyone thought was dead, AFTER THE +"BOYS" BEGAN TO CUT HIM UP, decided he was not going to stand for +that, and to our helpless dismay suddenly rolled himself into the +water. If that is not hard luck, I don't know it. All I got was +a bad photograph of him, and I had already decided where I would +hang his head, and how much I would tip the crew for cutting +him up. It was a really wonderful journey. I loved every +minute of it and never was I in better health. + +If I only could have known that you knew that I was all right, +but instead you were worrying. The nights were bright +moonlight, and the days were beautiful; full of strange people +and animals, birds and views. We three sat in the little +bridge of the tinpot boat, and smoked pipes and watched the +great muddy river rushing between wonderful banks. There was +the Danish Captain, an Italian officer and the engineer was +from Finland. The Italian spoke French and the two others +English, and I acted as interpreter!! Can you imagine it? I +am now really a daring French linguist. People who understand +me, get quick promotion. If I only could have been able to +tell you all was well and not to be worried. At Kwarmouth I +have just received a wire from Cecil saying she expects to +leave by the slow boat but will stay if I wish it. So, now we +can both go by the slow boat if I can catch it. I hope so. +must have found Boma as bad as it looked. God bless you all. + +DICK. + + + +On April 13, Richard was back in London and in his diary of +that date he writes, "Never so glad to get anywhere. Went to +sleep to the music of motorcars. Nothing ever made me feel so +content and comfortable and secure as their `honk, honk.'" + +From diary of April 22nd, 1907. + +A blackmailer named H---- called, with photos of atrocities +and letters and films. He wanted 30 Pounds for the lot. I +gave him 3 Pounds for three photos. One letter he showed me +signed Bullinger, an Englishman, said he had put the fear of +God in their hearts by sticking up the chief's head on a pole, +and saying, "Now, make rubber, or you will look like that." +Went to lunch with Pearson but it was the wrong day, and so +missed getting a free feed. Thinking he would turn up, I +ordered a most expensive lunch. I paid for it. Evening went +Patience, which liked immensely and then Duchess of +Sutherland's party to Premiers. Saw Churchill and each +explained his share of the Real Soldiers row. + + +From diary of April 28th, 1907. + +We went down by train to Cliveden going by Taplow to +Maidenhead where Astor had sent his car to meet us. It is a +wonderful place and the view of the Thames is a beautiful one. +They had been making alterations, bathrooms, and putting white +enamel tiles throughout the dungeons. If Dukes lived no more +comfortably than those who owned Cliveden, I am glad I was not +a Duke. What was most amusing was the servant's room which +was quite as smart as any library or study, with fine +paintings, arm chairs and writing material. Nannie and Astor +were exceedingly friendly and we walked all over the place. +It was good to get one's feet on turf again. They sent us +back by motor, so we arrived most comfortably. I gave a +dinner to the Hopes, Wyndham, Miss Mary Moore, +Ashmead-Bartlett and Margaret. Websters could not come. +Later, came on here, and had a chat, the Websters coming too. +I read Thaw trial. + + +Early in May Richard and his wife returned to Mount Kisco and +my brother at once started in to change his farce "The +Galloper" into a musical comedy. It was produced on August +12, at the Astor Theatre, under the title of the "Yankee +Tourist," with Raymond Hitchcock as the star. The following I +quote from Richard's diary of that date: + + +Monday, August 12th, 1907. + +Was to have lunched with Ned Stone but he was in court. Met +Whigham in street. Impulsively asked him to lunch. Ethel and +Jack turned up at Martin's; asked them to lunch. Ethel and I +drove around town doing errands, mine being the purchase of +tickets for numerous friends. Called on Miss Trusdale to +inquire about Harden-Hickey. She wants her to go to the +country. Cecil arrived at six. We had a suite of eighty-nine +rooms. We dined at Sherry's with Ethel and Jack, Ethel being +host. Taft was there. Hottest night ever. I sat with Jack. +In spite of weather, play went well. Bonsals, Ethel, Arthur +Brisbane were in Cecil's box. Booth Tarkington in Irwin's. +Surprise of performance was "Hello, Bill" which Raymond had +learned only that morning. Helen Hale helped him greatly with +dance. People came to supper at Waldorf, and things went all +wrong. Next time I have a first Night I want no friends during +or after. Missed the executive ability of Charles Belmont +greatly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII +A LONDON WINTER + +From the fall of 1907 to that of 1908 Richard divided his time +between Mount Kisco, Marion, and Cuba. In December of 1908 he +sailed for London where he took Turner the artist's old house +in Chelsea for the winter. + +Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. +December 25. Christmas Day. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We are settled here in Darkest Chelsea as though we had been +born here. I am thinking of putting in my time of exile by +running for Mayor. Meanwhile, it is a wonderful place in +which to write the last chapters of "Once Upon a Time." The +house is quite wonderful. In Spring and Summer it must be +rarely beautiful. It has trees in front and a yard and a +garden and a squash court: a sort of tennis you play against +the angles of walls covered smooth with cement. Also a studio +as large as a theatre. Outside the trees beat on the windows +and birds chirp there. The river flows only forty feet away, +with great brown barges on it, and gulls whimper and cry, and +aeroplane all day. I have a fine room, and about the only one +you can keep as warm as toast SHOULD be, and in England +never is. + +Cecil has engaged a teacher, and a model and he is coming +here to work. He is twenty years old, and called the +"boy Sargent." So, as soon as the British public +gets sober, we will begin life in earnest, and both +work hard. I need not tell you how glad I am to be at it. I +was with you all in heart last night and recited as much as I +could remember of "Twas the Night Before Christmas," which +always means Dad to me, as he used to read it to us. How much +he made the day mean to us. I wish I could just slip in for a +kiss, and a hug. But tonight we will all drink to you, and a +few hours later you will drink to us. God bless you all. + +DICK. + + +December 29th. +DEAR MOTHER: + +A blizzard has swept over London. The last one cost the City +Corporation $25,000!! The last man who contracted to clean +New York of snow was cleaned out by two days of it, to the +tune of $200,000. Still, in spite of our alleged superiority +in all things, one inch of snow in Chelsea can do more to +drive one to drink and suicide than a foot of it "on the +farm." At the farm we threw a ton of coal against it, and lit +log fires and oil lamps, and were warm. Here, they try to +fight it with two buckets of soft chocolate cake called Welch +coal, and the result is you freeze. Cecil's studio is like +one vast summer hotel at Portland Maine in January. You +cannot go near it except in rubber boots, fur coats and woolen +gloves. My room still is the only one that is livable. It is +four feet square, heavily panelled in oak and the coal fire +makes it as warm as a stoke hole. So, I am all right and can +work nicely. Janet Sothern came to lunch today and Cecil and +she in furs went picture gazing. Tomorrow we have Capt. Chule +to dinner. He came up the West coast with us and is accustomed +to a temperature of 120 degrees. + +New Year's eve we spend with Lady Lewis where we dine and keep +it up until four in the morning. We will easily be able to +get back here but how we can get a hansom from here to the +great city, I can't imagine. I have seen none in five days. +It is fine to be surrounded by busts of Carlyle, Whistler, +Rosetti and Turner's own, but occasionally you wish for a +taxicab. Tomorrow I am going on a spree to the great city of +London. The novel goes on smoothly, and all is well. I am +still running for Mayor of Chelsea. + +Love to you all. + +DICK. + + +LONDON--January 1, 1909. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I drank your health and Noll's and Charley's last night and so +we all came into the New Year together. I hope it will be as +good for me as the last. Certainly Chas. is coming on well +with another book. It is splendid. I am so very, very glad. +Some of the very best stories anybody has written will be in +his next book. + +We dined at the Lewis's. There were 150 at dinner and as we +live in Chelsea now--one might as well be in Brooklyn--we were +a half hour late. Fancy feeling you were keeping 150 people +hungry. I sat at Lady Lewis's table with some interesting men +and one beautiful woman all dressed in glass over pink silk, +and pearls, and pearls and then, pearls. She said "Who am I" +and I said "You look like a girl in America, who used to stand +under a green paper lamp shade up in a farm house in New +Hampshire and play a violin." Whereat there was much applause, +because it seemed she was that girl, the daughter of a Mrs. Van +S----, who wrote short stories. Her daughter was L---- Van S---- +now the wife of a baronet and worth five million dollars. The +board we paid then was eight dollars a week. Now, we are dining +with her next Monday and as I insisted on gold plate she said +"Very well, I'll get out the gold plate." But wasn't it dramatic +of me to remember her after twenty two years? + +DICK. + + +LONDON-February 23, 1909. +DEAR MOTHER: + +George Washington's health was celebrated by drinking it at +dinner. I had been asked to speak at a banquet but for some +strange reason could not see myself in the part. The great +Frohman arrived last night and we are all agitated until he +speaks. If he would only like my plays as some of the actors +do, I would be passing rich. Barrie asked himself to lunch +yesterday and was very entertaining. He told us of a letter +he received from Guy DuMaurier who wrote "An Englishman's +Home" which has made a sensation second to nothing in ten +years. He is an officer stationed at a small post in South +Africa. He wrote Barrie he was at home, very blue and +homesick, and outside it was raining. Then came Barrie's long +cable, at 75 cents a word, saying his play was the success of +the year. He did not know even it had been ACCEPTED. He +shouted to his wife, and they tried to dance but the hut was +too small, so they ran out into the compound and danced in the +rain. Then he sent the Kaffir boys to the mess to bring all +the officers and all the champagne and they did not go to bed +at all. The next day cables, still at three shillings a word +came from papers and magazines and publishers, managers, +syndicates. And, in his letter he says, still not appreciating +what a fuss it has made, "I suppose all it needs now is to be +made a question in the House," when already it has been the text +of half a dozen speeches by Cabinet Ministers, and three +companies are playing it in the provinces. What fun to have a +success come in such a way, not even to know it was being +rehearsed. Today Sargent is here to see what is wrong with +Cecil's picture of Janet. He came early and said he couldn't +tell until he saw Janet, so now he is back again, and both Janet +and Cecil are shaking with excitement. He is the most simple, +kindly genius I ever met. He says the head is very fine and I +guess Cecil suspected that, before she called him in. He says +she must send it to the Royal Academy. I am now going out to +hear more words fall from the great man, and so farewell. +Seymour and I began work yesterday on the Dictator. It went very +smooth. All my love to Noll and to you. + +DICK. + + +Read the other letter first and then, let me tell you that +when I went out to see Sargent, I found Cecil complaining that +she could not understand just how it was he wanted Janet to +pose. Whereat she handed him a piece of chalk and he made a +sketch of Janet as exquisite as the morning and rubbed his +hands of the charcoal and left it there! It's only worth a +hundred pounds! Can you imagine the nerve of Cecil. I was so +shocked I could only gasp. But, he was quite charming and +begged her to call him next time she got in a scrape, and gave +her his private telephone number. + +Fancy having Sargent waiting to be called up to make sketches +for you. I left Janet and Cecil giggling with happiness. +Janet because she had been sketched by him and Cecil because +she has the sketch. It's a three fourths length three feet +high, and he did it in ten minutes. I am now going to ask her +to invite the chef of the Ritz in, to give us a sketch of +cooking a dinner. + +DICK. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII +MILITARY MANOEUVRES + +In August, 1909, Richard and his wife left Mount Kisco for a +visit to Mr. and Mrs. Clark at Marion. While there my brother +attended and later on wrote an article on the war manoeuvres +held at Middleboro, Massachusetts. + + +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. +August 16th, 1909. +DEAR MOTHER: + +We had a splendid day to day. I arranged to have Cecil meet +me at eleven at Headquarters in the woods below Middleboro, +and I spent the morning locating different regiments. Then, +after I "met up" with her, I took her in my car. Both she and +Hiller were awfully keen over it, so, we got on splendidly. +And, of course, Hiller's knowledge of the country was +wonderfully convenient. We had great luck in seeing the only +fight of the day, the first one of the war. Indeed, I think +we caused it. There was a troop of cavalry with a Captain who +was afraid to advance. I chided him into doing something, the +umpire having confided to me, he would mark him, if he did +not. But, he did it wrong. Anyway, he charged a barn with 36 +troopers and lost every fourth man. In real warfare he would +have lost all his men and all his horses. Cecil and Hiller +pursued in the car at the very heels of the cavalry, and I ran +ahead with the bicycle scouts. It was most exciting. I am going +out again to-morrow. Lots of Love to you all. + +DICK. + + +MARION, MASSACHUSETTS. +August 19th, 1909. +DEAR MOTHER: + +I got in last night too late to write and I am sorry. To-day, +the war came to an end with our army, the Red one, with the +road to Boston open before it. Indeed, when the end came, +they were fighting with their backs to that City, and could +have entered it to-night. I begged both Bliss and Wood to +send in the cavalry just for the moral effect, but they were +afraid of the feeling, that was quite strong. I had much fun, +never more, and saw all that was worth seeing. I was glad to +see I am in such good shape physically, but with the tramping +I do over the farm, it is no wonder. I could take all the +stone walls at a jump, while the others were tearing them +down. I also met hundreds of men I knew and every one was +most friendly, especially the correspondents. Just as I liked +to be on a story with a "star" man when I was a reporter, they +liked having a real "war" correspondent, take it seriously. +They were always wanting to know if it were like the Real +Thing, and as I assured them it was, they were satisfied. +Some incidents were very funny. I met a troop of cavalry this +morning, riding away from the battle, down a crossroad, and +thinking it was a flanking manoeuvre, started to follow them +with the car. "Where are you going?" I asked the Captain. +"Nowhere," he said, "We are dead." An Umpire was charging in +advance of two troops of the 10th down a state road, when one +trooper of the enemy who were flying, turned back and alone +charged the two troops. "You idiot"! yelled the Umpire, +"don't you know you and your horse are shot to pieces?" +"Sure, I know it," yelled the trooper "but, this ---- horse +don't know it." + +RICHARD. + + +Early in the fall of 1909 Richard returned from Marion to New +York and went to Crossroads, where for the next three years he +remained a greater part of the time. They were years of great +and serious changes for him. An estrangement of long standing +between him and his wife had ended in their separation early +in 1910, to be followed later by their divorce. In September +of that year my mother died while on a visit to Crossroads. + +After my father's death life to her became only a period of +waiting until the moment came when she would rejoin +him--because her faith was implicit and infinite. She could +not well set about preparing herself because all of her life +she had done that and, so, smiling and with a splendid bravery +and patience she lived on, finding her happiness in bringing +cheer and hope and happiness to all who came into the presence +of her wonderful personality. The old home in Philadelphia +was just the same as it had been through her long married +life--that is with one great difference, but on account of +this difference I knew that she was glad to spend her last +days with Richard at Crossroads. And surely nothing that +could be done for a mother by a son had been left undone by +him. Through these last long summer days she sat on the +terrace surrounded by the flowers and the sunshine that she so +loved. Little children came to play at her knee, and old +friends travelled from afar to pay her court. + +In the winter of 1910-11 my brother visited Aiken, where he +spent several months. The following June he went to London at +the time of King George's coronation, but did not write about +it. Again, in November, 1911, he visited my sister in London, +but returned to New York in January, 1912, and spent a part of +the winter in Aiken and Cuba. At Aiken he found at least +peace and the devotion of loving friends that he so craved, +but in London and Cuba, which once had meant so much to him, +he seemed to have lost interest entirely. But not once during +these years did he cease working, and working hard. On almost +every page of his diary at this period I find such expressions +as "wrote 500 words for discipline." And again "Satisfaction +in work of last years when writing for existence, has been up +to any I ever wrote." + +And in spite of all of the trouble of these days, he not only +wrote incessantly but did some of his very finest work. +Personally I have never seen a man make a more courageous +fight. To quote again from his diary of this time: "Early +going to my room saw red sunrise and gold moon. I seemed to +stop worrying about money. With such free pleasures I found I +could not worry. Every day God gives me greater delight in +good things, in beauty, and in every simple exercise and +amusement." + +Twice during these difficult days he went to visit Gouverneur +Morris and his wife at Aiken, and after Richard's death his +old friend wrote of the first of these visits: + +"It was in our little house at Aiken, in South Carolina, that +he was with us most and we learned to know him best, and that +he and I became dependent upon each other in many ways. +"Events, into which I shall not go, had made his life very +difficult and complicated. And he who had given so much +friendship to so many people needed a little friendship in +return, and perhaps, too, he needed for a time to live in a +house whose master and mistress loved each other, and where +there were children. Before he came that first year our house +had no name. Now it is called `Let's Pretend.' + +"Now the chimney in the living-room draws, but in those first +days of the built-over house it didn't. At least, it didn't +draw all the time, but we pretended that it did, and with much +pretense came faith. From the fireplace that smoked to the +serious things of life we extended our pretendings, until real +troubles went down before them--down and out. + +"It was one of Aiken's very best winters, and the earliest +spring I ever lived anywhere. R. H. D. came shortly after +Christmas. The spiraeas were in bloom, and the monthly roses; +you could always find a sweet violet or two somewhere in the +yard; here and there splotches of deep pink against gray cabin +walls proved that precocious peach-trees were in bloom. It +never rained. At night it was cold enough for fires. In the +middle of the day it was hot. The wind never blew, and every +morning we had a four for tennis and every afternoon we rode +in the woods. And every night we sat in front of the fire +(that didn't smoke because of pretending) and talked until the +next morning. + +"He was one of those rarely gifted men who find their chiefest +pleasure not in looking backward or forward, but in what is +going on at the moment. Weeks did not have to pass before it +was forced upon his knowledge that Tuesday, the fourteenth +(let us say), had been a good Tuesday. He knew it the moment +he waked at 7 A. M., and perceived the Tuesday sunshine making +patterns of bright light upon the floor. The sunshine +rejoiced him and the knowledge that even before breakfast +there was vouchsafed to him a whole hour of life. That day +began with attentions to his physical well-being. There were +exercises conducted with great vigor and rejoicing, followed +by a tub, artesian cold, and a loud and joyous singing of +ballads. + +"The singing over, silence reigned. But if you had listened +at his door you must have heard a pen going, swiftly and +boldly. He was hard at work, doing unto others what others +had done unto him. You were a stranger to him; some magazine +had accepted a story that you had written and published it. +R. H. D. had found something to like and admire in that story +(very little perhaps), and it was his duty and pleasure to +tell you so. If he had liked the story very much he would +send you instead of a note a telegram. Or it might be that +you had drawn a picture, or, as a cub reporter, had shown +golden promise in a half column of unsigned print, R. H. D. +would find you out, and find time to praise you and help you. +So it was that when he emerged from his room at sharp eight +o'clock, he was wide-awake and happy and hungry, and whistled +and double-shuffled with his feet, out of excessive energy, +and carried in his hands a whole sheaf of notes and letters +and telegrams. + +"Breakfast with him was not the usual American breakfast, a +sullen, dyspeptic gathering of persons who only the night +before had rejoiced in each other's society. With him it was +the time when the mind is, or ought to be, at its best, the +body at its freshest and hungriest. Discussions of the latest +plays and novels, the doings and undoings of statesmen, laughter +and sentiment--to him, at breakfast, these things were as +important as sausages and thick cream. + +"Breakfast over, there was no dawdling and putting off of the +day's work (else how, at eleven sharp, could tennis be played +with a free conscience?). Loving, as he did, everything +connected with a newspaper, he would now pass by those on the +hall-table with never so much as a wistful glance, and hurry +to his workroom. + +"He wrote sitting down. He wrote standing up. And, almost +you may say, he wrote walking up and down. Some people, +accustomed to the delicious ease and clarity of his style, +imagine that he wrote very easily. He did and he didn't. +Letters, easy, clear, to the point, and gorgeously human, +flowed from him without let or hindrance. That masterpiece of +corresponding, the German March through Brussels, was probably +written almost as fast as he could talk (next to Phillips +Brooks, he was the fastest talker I ever heard), but when it +came to fiction he had no facility at all. Perhaps I should +say that he held in contempt any facility that he may have +had. It was owing to his incomparable energy and Joblike +patience that he ever gave us any fiction at all. Every +phrase in his fiction was, of all the myriad phrases he could +think of, the fittest in his relentless judgment to survive. +Phrases, paragraphs, pages, whole stories even, were written +over and over again. He worked upon a principle of elimination. +If he wished to describe an automobile turning in at a gate, he +made first a long and elaborate description from which there +was omitted no detail, which the most observant pair of eyes +in Christendom had ever noted with reference to just such +a turning. Thereupon he would begin a process of +omitting one by one those details which he had been at such +pains to recall; and after each omission he would ask himself, +`Does the picture remain?' If it did not, he restored the +detail which he had just omitted, and experimented with the +sacrifice of some other, and so on, and so on, until after +Herculean labor there remained for the reader one of those +swiftly flashed ice-clear pictures (complete in every detail) +with which his tales and romances are so delightfully and +continuously adorned. + +"But it is quarter to eleven, and this being a time of +holiday, R. H. D. emerges from his workroom happy to think +that he has placed one hundred and seven words between himself +and the wolf who hangs about every writer's door. He isn't +satisfied with those hundred and seven words. He never was in +the least satisfied with anything that he wrote, but he has +searched his mind and his conscience and he believes that +under the circumstances they are the very best that he can do. +Anyway, they can stand in their present order until--after +lunch. + +"A sign of his youth was the fact that to the day of his death +he had denied himself the luxury and slothfulness of habits. +I have never seen him smoke automatically as most men do. He +had too much respect for his own powers of enjoyment and for +the sensibilities, perhaps, of the best Havana tobacco. At a +time of his own deliberate choosing, often after many hours of +hankering and renunciation, he smoked his cigar. He smoked it +with delight, with a sense of being rewarded, and he used all +the smoke there was in it. + +"He dearly loved the best food, the best champagne, and the +best Scotch whiskey. But these things were +friends to him, and not enemies. He had toward food and drink +the continental attitude; namely, that quality is far more +important than quantity; and he got his exhilaration from the +fact that he was drinking champagne and not from the +champagne. Perhaps I shall do well to say that on questions +of right and wrong he had a will of iron. All his life he +moved resolutely in whichever direction his conscience +pointed; and although that ever present and never obtrusive +conscience of his made mistakes of judgment now and then, as +must all consciences, I think it can never once have tricked +him into any action that was impure or unclean. Some critics +maintain that the heroes and heroines of his books are +impossibly pure and innocent young people. R. H. D. never +called upon his characters for any trait of virtue, or +renunciation, or self-mastery of which his own life could not +furnish examples." + +In June of 1912 Richard reported the Republican convention at +Chicago. Shortly after this, on July 8, he married at +Greenwich, Connecticut, Miss Elizabeth Genevieve McEvoy, known +on the stage as Bessie McCoy, with whom he had first become +acquainted in 1908 after the estrangement from his wife. + +Richard and his wife made their home at Crossroads, where he +devoted most of his working hours to the writing of short +stories. In August of that year my brother, accompanied by +his wife, returned to Chicago to report the Progressive +convention. During the year 1913 he wrote and produced the +farce "Who's Who," of which William Collier was the star, and +in the fall of the same year spent a month in Cuba, with +Augustus Thomas, where they produced a film version of +"Soldiers of Fortune." In referring to this trip, Thomas wrote at +the time of Richard's death: + +"In 1914 a motion-picture company arranged to make a feature +film of the play, and Dick and I went with their outfit to +Santiago de Cuba, where, twenty years earlier, he had found +the inspiration for his story and out of which city and its +environs he had fashioned his supposititious republic of +Olancho. On that trip he was the idol of the company. With +the men in the smoking-room of the steamer there were the +numberless playful stories, in the rough, of the experiences +on all five continents and seven seas that were the +backgrounds of his published tales. + +"At Santiago, if an official was to be persuaded to consent to +some unprecedented seizure of the streets, or a diplomat +invoked for the assistance of the Army or the Navy, it was the +experience and good judgment of Dick Davis that controlled the +task. In the field there were his helpful suggestions of work +and make up to the actors, and on the boat and train and in +hotel and camp the lady members met in him an easy courtesy +and understanding at once fraternal and impersonal. + +"The element that he could not put into the account and which +is particularly pertinent to this page, is the author of +`Soldiers of Fortune' as he revealed himself to me both with +intention and unconsciously in the presence of the familiar +scenes. + +"For three weeks, with the exception of one or two occasions +when some local dignitary captured the revisiting lion, he and +I spent our evenings together at a cafe table overlooking `The +Great Square,' which he sketches so deftly in its atmosphere +when Clay and the Langhams and Stuart dine there. At one end +of the plaza the President's band was playing native waltzes +that came throbbing through the trees and beating softly above +the rustling skirts and clinking spurs of the senoritas and +officers sweeping by in two opposite circles around the edges +of the tessellated pavements. Above the palms around the +square arose the dim, white facade of the Cathedral, with the +bronze statue of Anduella the liberator of Olancho, who +answered with his upraised arm and cocked hat the cheers of an +imaginary populace. + +"Twenty years had gone by since Dick had received the +impression that wrote those lines, and now sometimes after +dinner half a long cigar would burn out as he mused over the +picture and the dreams that had gone between. From one long +silence he said: `I think I'll come back here this winter and +bring Mrs. Davis with me--stay a couple of months.' What a +fine compliment to a wife to have the thought of her and that +plan emerge from that deep and romantic background. + +"The picture people began their film with a showing of the +`mountains which jutted out into the ocean and suggested +roughly the five knuckles of a giant's hand clenched and lying +flat upon the surface of the water.' That formation of the +sea wall is just outside of Santiago. `The waves tunnelled +their way easily enough until they ran up against those five +mountains and then they had to fall back.' How natural for one +of us to be unimpressed by such a feature of the landscape and +yet how characteristic of Dick Davis to see the elemental +fight that it recorded and get the hint for the whole of the +engineering struggle that is so much of his book. + +"We went over those mountains together, where +two decades before he had planted his banner of romance. We +visited the mines and the railroads and everywhere found some +superintendent or foreman or engineer who remembered Davis. +He had guessed at nothing. Everywhere he had overlaid the +facts with adventure and with beauty, but he had been on sure +footing all the time. His prototype of MacWilliams was dead. +Together we visited the wooden cross with which the miners had +marked his grave. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX +VERA CRUZ AND THE GREAT WAR + +Late in April, 1914, when war between the United States and +Mexico seemed inevitable Richard once more left the peace and +content of Crossroads and started for Vera Cruz, arriving +there on April 29. He had arranged to act as correspondent +for a syndicate of newspapers, and as he had for long been +opposed to the administration's policy of "watchful waiting" +was greatly disappointed on his arrival at the border to learn +of the President's plan of mediation. He wrote to his wife: + + +CRUZ, April 24, 1914. +DEAREST ONE: + +We left today at 5.30. It was a splendid scene, except for +the children crying, and the wives of the officers and +enlisted men trying not to cry. I got a stateroom to myself. +With the electric fan on and the airport open, it is about as +cool as a blast furnace. But I was given a seat on the left +of General Funston, who is commanding this brigade, and the +other officers at the table are all good fellows. As long as +I was going, I certainly had luck in getting away as sharply +as I did. One day's delay would have made me miss this +transport, which will be the first to land troops. + + +April 25th. + +A dreadnaught joined us today, the Louisiana. I wirelessed +the Admiral asking permission to send a press despatch via his +battleship, and he was polite in reply, but firm. He said "No." +There are four transports and three torpedo boats and the +battleship. We go very slowly, because we must keep up with one +of the troop ships with broken engines. At night it is very +pretty seeing the ships in line, and the torpedo boats winking +their signals at each other. I am writing all the time or +reading up things about the army I forget and getting the new +dope. Also I am brushing up my Spanish. Jack London is on +board, and three other correspondents, two of whom I have met on +other trips, and one "cub" correspondent. He was sitting beside +London and me busily turning out copy, and I asked him what he +found to write about. He said, "Well, maybe I see things you +fellows don't see." What he meant was that what was old to us +was new to him, but he got guyed unmercifully. + +April 27, 1914. + +The censor reads all I write, and so do some half-dozen +Mexican cable clerks and 60 (sixty) correspondents. So when I +cable "love," it MEANS devotion, adoration, and worship; +loyalty, fidelity and truth, wanting you, needing you, unhappy +for you. It means ALL that. + +RICHARD. + + +VERA CRUZ, April 30, 1914. + +This heat--humid and moist--would sweat water out of a chilled +steel safe; so imagine what it does to me with all the awful +winter's accumulation of fat. I hate to say it, but I LIKE +these Mexicans--much better than Cubans, or Central Americans. +They are human, kindly; it is only the politicians and bandits +like Villa who give them a bad name. But, though they ought to +hate us, whenever I stop to ask my way they invite me to come in +and have "coffee" and say, "My house is yours, senor," which +certainly is kind after people have taken your town away from +you and given you another flag and knocked your head off if +you did not salute it. I now have a fine room. The Navy +moved out today and I got the room of the paymaster. It faces +the plaza and the cathedral. I burned a candle there today +for our soon meeting. The priests all had run away, so I had +to hunt up the candle, and pay the money into the box marked +for that purpose, but the Lord does not run away, and He will +see we soon meet. + + +May 2nd. + +Yesterday I went out on the train that brings in refugees and +saw the Mexicans. They had on three thousand cartridges, much +hair, hats as high as church steeples, and lots of dirt. The +Selig Moving Picture folks took many pictures of us and +several "stills," in which the war correspondent was shown +giving cigarettes to the brigands. Also, I had a wonderful +bath in the ocean off the aviation camp. I borrowed a suit +from one of the aviators, and splashed and swam around for an +hour. My! it was good. It reminded me of my dear Bessie, +because the last time I was in the ocean was with her. + +Maybe you know what is going on, but we do not. So I just +hustle around all day trying to find news as I did when I was +a reporter. It is hot enough here even for me, and I have +lost about eight pounds of that fat I laid in during our North +Pole winter! + +VFRA CRUZ-May 8, 1914. + +DEAR CHAS.: + +Today, when Wilson ordered Huerta not to blockade Tampico +which was an insult to Mediators and the act of a bully and a +coward, AND a declaration of war, we all got on our ponies +to "advance." Then came word Huerta would not blockade. It +is like living in a mad house. We all are hoping mediators +refuse to continue negotiations. If they have self respect +that is what they will do. Tonight if Wilson and Huerta ran +for President, Huerta would get all our votes. He may be an +uneducated Indian, but at least he is a man. However, that +makes no never mind so far as to my getting back. The reason +I cannot return is because I have "credentials." It is not +that they want ME here, but they want my credentials here. +The administration is using, as I see it, the privilege of +having a correspondent at the front as a club. It says until +war is declared it won't issue any more. So those syndicates +who have no correspondent and the papers forming them, are +afraid to attack or to criticise the administration for fear +they will be blacklisted. And those who have a correspondent +with his three thousand dollar signed and sealed pass in his +pocket aren't taking any chance on losing him. So, I see +before me an endless existence in Vera Cruz. + +RICHARD. + + +On May 7 Richard started for Mexico City where, if possible, +he intended to interview Huerta. At Pasco de Macho he was +arrested, but afterward was allowed to proceed to Mexico City. +Here he was again arrested, and without being allowed to +interview Huerta was sent back the day after his arrival to +Vera Cruz. + +Of this Vera Cruz experience John N. Wheeler, a friend of +Richard's and the manager of the syndicate which sent him to +Mexico, wrote the following after my brother's death: + +"Richard Harding Davis went to Vera Cruz for a newspaper +syndicate, and after the first sharp engagement in the Mexican +seaport there was nothing for the correspondent to do but kill +time on that barren, low lying strip of Gulf coast, hemmed in +on all sides by Mexicans and the sea, and time is hard to kill +there. Yet there was a story to be got, but it required nerve +to go after it. + +"In Mexico City was Gen. Huerta, the dictator of Mexico. If a +newspaper could get an interview with him it would be a +`scoop,' but the work was inclined to be dangerous for the +interviewer, since Americans were being murdered rather +profusely in Mexico at the time in spite of the astute +assurances of Mr. Bryan, and no matter how substantial his +references the correspondent was likely to meet some +temperamental and touchy soldier with a loaded rifle who would +shoot first and afterward carry his papers to some one who +could read them. + +"One of the newspapers taking the stories by Mr. Davis from +the syndicate had a staff man at Vera Cruz as well, and +thought to `scoop' the country by sending this representative +to see Huerta, in this way `beating' even the other +subscribers to the Davis service. An interview in Mexico City +was consequently arranged and the staff man was cabled and +asked to make the trip. He promptly cabled his refusal, this +young man preferring to take no such chances. It was then +suggested that Mr. Davis should attempt it. By pulling some +wires at Washington it was arranged, through the +Brazilian and English Ambassadors at the Mexican capital, for +Mr. Davis to interview President Huerta, with safe conduct +(this being about as safe as nonskid tires) to Mexico City. +Mr. Davis was asked if he would make the trip. In less than +two hours back came this laconic cable: + +"`Leaving Mexico City to-morrow afternoon at 3 o'clock.' + +"That was Richard Harding Davis--no hesitancy, no vacillation. +He was always willing to go, to take any chance, to endure +discomfort and all if he had a fighting opportunity to get the +news. The public now knows that Davis was arrested on this +trip, that Huerta refused to make good on the interview, and +that it was only through the good efforts of the British +Ambassador at the Mexican capital he was released. But Davis +went. + +"There was an echo of this journey to the Mexican capital +several months later after the conflict in Europe had been +raging for a few weeks. Lord Kitchener announced at one stage +of the proceedings he would permit a single correspondent, +selected and indorsed by the United States Government, to +accompany the British army to the front. Of course, all the +swarm of American correspondents in London at the time were +eager for the desirable indorsement. Mr. Davis cabled back +the conditions of his acceptance. Immediately Secretary of +State Bryan was called in Washington on the long-distance +telephone. + +"`Lord Kitchener has announced,' the Secretary of State was +told, `that he will accept one correspondent with the British +troops in the field, if he is indorsed by the United States +Government. Richard Harding Davis, who is in London, +represents a string of the strongest newspapers in the United +States for this syndicate, and we desire the indorsement of the +State Department so he can obtain this appointment.' + +"`Mr. Davis made us some trouble when he was in Mexico,' +answered Mr. Bryan. `He proceeded to the Mexican capital +without our consent and I will have to consider the matter +very carefully before indorsing him. His Mexican escapade +caused us some diplomatic efforts and embarrassment.' (What +the Secretary of State did to bring about Mr. Davis's release +on the occasion of his Mexican arrest is still a secret of the +Department.) + +"Mr. Bryan did not indorse Mr. Davis finally, which was well, +since Lord Kitchener of Khartum kept the selected list of +correspondents loafing around London on one pretext or another +so long they all became disgusted and went without an official +pass from `K. of K.' As soon as Mr. Davis was told he would +not be appointed he proceeded to Belgium and returned some of +the most thrilling stories written on this conflict at great +personal risk." + + +May 13, 1914. +MY DEAREST ONE: + +DO NOT BLAME me for this long delay in writing. God knows I +wanted every day to "talk" to you. But we were on the +"suspect" list, and to make even a note was risky. The way I +did it was to exclaim over the beauty of some flower or tree, +and then ask the Mexican nearest me to write the name of it +HIMSELF in MY notebook. Then I would say, "In English +that would be----" and I would pretend to write beside it the +English equivalent, but really would write the word that was +the key to what I wished to remember. So, +you see, a letter at that rate of progress was impossible. It +was a case of "Can't get away to cable you today; police won't +let me!" However, we are all safe at home again. As a matter +of fact, I had a most exciting time, and am dying to tell you +the "insie" story. But the one I sent the papers must serve. +I promised myself I would give the FIRST soldier, marine and +sailor I met on returning a cigar, and the first sailor was +the CHAPLAIN OF THE FLEET, Father Reany. But he took the +cigar and gave me his blessing. I am now burning candles to +St. Rita. What worried me the MOST was how worried YOU +would be; and I begged Palmer not to send the story of our +first arrest. But other people told of it, and he had to +forward it. You certainly made the wires BURN! and had the +army guessing. One officer said to me, "I'm awfully sorry to +see you back. If you'd only have stayed in jail another day +your wife would have had us all on our way to Mexico." And +the censor said, "My God! I'm glad you're safe! Your wife has +MADE OUR LIVES HELL!" And quite right, too, bless you! +None of us knows anything, but it looks to me that NOTHING +will induce Wilson to go to war. But the Mexicans think we +ARE at war, and act accordingly. They may bring on a +conflict. That is why I am making ready in case we advance +and that is why I cabled today for the rest of my kit. I have +a fine little pony, and a little messenger boy who speaks +Spanish, to look after the horse, and me. + +And now, as to your LETTERS, they came to-day, five of them, +COUNT 'EM, and the pictures did make me laugh. I showed +those of the soldier commandeering the vegetables to Funston +and he laughed. And, I did love the flowers you sent no +matter HOW homesick they made me! (Oh). I do not want a camera. + +I have one, and those fancy cameras I don't understand. + +The letters you forwarded were wonderfully well selected. I +mean, those from other people. One of them was from Senator +Root telling me Bryan is going to reward our three heroic +officers who jumped into the ocean. I know you will be glad. +There are NO mosquitoes! Haven't met up with but three and +THEY are not COMING BACK. + +I send you a picture of my room from the outside. From the +inside the view is so "pretty." Across the square is the +cathedral and the trees are filled with birds that sing all +night, and statues, and pretty globes. The band plays every +night and when it plays "Hello, Winter Time," I CRY for you. +I paid the band-master $20 to play it, and it is WORTH IT. +I sit on the balcony and think of you and know just what you +are doing, for there is only an hour and a half difference. +That is, when with you it is ten o'clock with me it is +eight-thirty. So when you and Louise are at dinner you can +know I am just coming in from my horseback ride to bathe and +"nap." And when at eight-thirty you are playing the Victor, I +am drinking a cocktail to you, and shooing away the Colonels +and Admirals who interfere with my ceremony of drinking to my +dear wife. + + + +VERA CRUZ, May 20th, 1914. +DEAREST WIFE: + +I got SUCH a bully letter yesterday from you, written long +ago from the Webster. It said you missed me, and it said you +loved me, and there were funny pictures of you reading the war +and peace news each with a different expression, and you told +me about Padrigh and how he runs down the road. It made me +very sad and homesick, but very glad to feel I was so missed. +Also you told me cheerful falsehoods about my Tribune +stories. I know they are no good, and as they are no good, +the shorter the better, but I like to be told they are good. +Anyway, I sat down at once and wrote a long screed on Vera +Cruz and the sleepy people that five here. + +We all live on the sidewalk under the stone porch. Every +night a table is reserved and by my orders ALL chairs, +except mine, are removed. So no one can sit down and bore me +while I am dining. Another trick I have to be left alone is +to carry a big roll of cable blanks, and I pretend to write +out cables if anyone tries to talk. Then I beckon the +messenger (he always sits in the plaza) and say "File that!" +and he goes once around the block and reports back that it is +"filed." If the bore renews the attack I write another cable, +and the unhappy messenger makes another tour. The band plays +from seven to eight every night. There are five bands, and I +saw no reason why there should not be music every evening. +After a day in this dirty hotel or dirty city a lively band +helps. Funston agreed, but forgot, until after three nights +with no band, I wrote him a letter. It was signed by fake +names, asking if he couldn't get nineteen German musicians +into a bandstand how could he hope to get ten thousand +soldiers into Mexico City. So now we have a band each night. +That is all my day. After dinner I sit at table and the men +bring up chairs, or else I go to some other table. There are +some damn fool women here who are a nuisance, and they now +have dancing in the hotel adjoining, but I don't know them, +except to bow, and I approve of the tango parties because it +keeps them away from the sidewalk. They ire "refugees," the +sort of folks you meet at Ocean Grove, or rather DON'T meet! +All love to you, and give Patrigh a pat from his Uncle Richard +for looking after you and looking for me, and remember me to +Louise and Shu and everything at home. I love you so. + +RICHARD. + + +VERA CRUZ, May 28, 1914. + +I want to be home to see the daisy field with you. That knee +you nearly busted tobogganing when the daisy field was an +iceberg is now recovered. + +The one and all came this morning and as I expected it was all +full of love from you. I DID get happiness out of the +thought you put in it. And all done in an hour. The +underclothes made me weep. I could get none here. Not +because Mexicans are not as large as I am, but because no +Mexican of any size would wear 'em. So I've had to wash the +few that the washer-woman didn't destroy myself. And when I +saw the lot you sent! It was like a white sale! Also the +quinine which I tasted just for luck, and the soap in the +little violet wrapper made me quite homesick. Especially was +I glad to get socks and pongee suits, and shirts. I really +was getting desperate. God knows what I would have done +without them. + +I want to see you so much, and I want to see you in the same +setting of other days, I want to walk with you in the daisy +field, and in the laurel blossoms, and clip roses. But to be +with you I'd be willing to walk on broken glass. Not you, +too. Just me. + +RICHARD. + + + +VERA CRUZ--June 4, 1914. +DEAR OLD MAN: + +I am awfully sorry for your sake, you could not get away. Of +course for myself I am glad that I am to see you and Dai. At +least, I hope I am. God alone knows when we will get out of +here. I am sick of it. Next time I go to war both armies must +fight for two months before I will believe they mean it, and +BEFORE I WILL BUDGE. + +It is true I am getting good money, but also there is +absolutely NOTHING to write about. Bryan doesn't know that +unless he talks by code every radio on sixteen ships can read +every message he sends to these waters. And the State +Department saying it could not understand the Hyranga giving +up her cargo is a damn silly lie. No one is so foolish as to +think the Chester and Tacomah let her land those arms +under their guns unless they had been told to submit to it. +And yet today, we get papers of the 29th in which Bryan says +he has twice cabled Badger for information, when for a week +Badger has been reading Bryan's orders to consuls to let the +arms be landed. Can you beat that? This is an awful place, +and if I don't write it is because I hate to harrow your +feelings. It is a town of flies, filth and heat. John +McCutcheon is the only friend I have seen, and he sensibly +lives on a warship. I can't do that, as cables come all the +time suggesting specials, and I am not paid to loaf. John is +here on a vacation, and can do as he pleases. But I ride +around like any cub reporter. And there is no news. Since I +left home I have not talked five minutes to a woman "or mean +to!" The Mexican women are a cross between apes and squaws. +Of all I have seen here nothing has impressed me so as the +hideousness of the women, girls, children, widows, +grandmothers. And the refugees, as Collier would say it, are +"terrible!" I live a very lonely existence. I find it works +out that way best. And at the same time all the correspondents +are good friends, and I don't find that there is +one of them who does not go out of his way to SHOW he is +friendly. What I CAN'T understand is why no one at home +never guesses I might like to read some of my own stories. . . . + +DICK. + + +Of these days in Vera Cruz John T. McCutcheon wrote the +following shortly after Richard's death: + +"Davis was a conspicuous figure in Vera Cruz, as he inevitably +had been in all such situations. Wherever he went, he was +pointed out. His distinction of appearance, together with a +distinction in dress, which, whether from habit or policy, was +a valuable asset in his work, made him a marked man. He +dressed and looked the `war correspondent,' such a one as he +would describe in one of his stories. He fulfilled the +popular ideal of what a member of that fascinating profession +should look like. His code of life and habits was as fixed as +that of the Briton who takes his habits and customs and games +and tea wherever he goes, no matter how benighted or remote +the spot may be. + +"He was just as loyal to his code as is the Briton. He +carried his bath-tub, his immaculate linen, his evening +clothes, his war equipment--in which he had the pride of a +connoisseur--wherever he went, and, what is more, he had the +courage to use the evening clothes at times when their use was +conspicuous. He was the only man who wore a dinner coat in +Vera Cruz, and each night, at his particular table in the +crowded `Portales,' at the Hotel Diligencia, he was to be +seen, as fresh and clean as though he were in a New York or +London restaurant. + +Each day he was up early to take the train out to the `gap,' +across which came arrivals from Mexico City. Sometimes a good +`story' would come down, as when the long-heralded and +long-expected arrival of Consul Silliman gave a first-page +`feature' to all the American papers. + +"In the afternoon he would play water polo over at the navy +aviation camp, and always at a certain time of the day his +`striker' would bring him his horse and for an hour or more he +would ride out along the beach roads within the American lines." + + . . . . . . . . . + + +On June 15 Richard sailed on the Utah for New York, arriving +there on the 22d. For a few weeks after his return he +remained at Mount Kisco completing his articles on the Mexican +situation but at the outbreak of the Great War he at once +started for Europe, sailing with his wife on August 4, the day +war was declared between England and Germany. + + + +On Lusitania--August 8, 1914. +DEAR CHAS: + +We got off in a great rush, as the Cunard people received +orders to sail so soon after the Government had told them to +cancel all passengers, that no one expected to leave by her, +and had secured passage on the Lorraine and St. Paul. + +They gave me a "regal" suite which at other times costs $1,000 +and it is so darned regal that I hate to leave it. I get +sleepy walking from one end of it to the other; and we have +open fires in each of the three rooms. Generally when one goes +to war it is in a transport or a troop train and the person of +the least importance is the correspondent. So, this way of going +to war I like. We now are a cruiser and are slowly being painted +grey, and as soon as they got word England was at war all +lights were put out and to find your way you light matches. +You can imagine the effect of this Ritz Carlton idea of a ship +wrapped in darkness. Gerald Morgan is on board, he is also +accredited to The Tribune, and Frederick Palmer. I do not +expect to be allowed to see anything but will try to join a +French army. I will leave Bessie near London with Louise at +some quiet place like Oxford or a village on the Thames. We +can "take" wireless, but not send it, so as no one is sending +and as we don't care to expose our position, we get no news. +We are running far North and it is bitterly cold. I think +Peary will sue us for infringing his copyrights. + +I will try to get in touch with Nora. I am worried lest she +cannot get at her money. As British subjects no other thing +should upset them. Address me American Embassy, London. +I send such love to you both. God bless you. +DICK. + + + +Richard arrived in Liverpool August 13, and made arrangements +for his wife to remain in London. Unable to obtain +credentials from the English authorities, he started for +Brussels and arrived there in time to see the entry of the +German troops, which he afterward described so graphically. +Indeed this article is considered by many to be one of the +finest pieces of descriptive writing the Great War has +produced. + +For several days after Brussels had come under the +control of the Germans Richard remained there and then +decided to go to Paris as the siege of the French +capital at the time seemed imminent. He and his friend +Gerald Morgan, who was acting as the correspondent of the +London Daily Telegraph, decided to drive to Hal and from +there to continue on foot until they had reached the English +or French armies where they knew they would be among friends. +At Hal they were stopped by the German officials and Morgan +wisely returned to Brussels. However, Richard having decided +to continue on his way, was promptly seized by the Germans and +held as an English spy. For a few days he had a most exciting +series of adventures with the German military authorities and +his life was frequently in danger. It was finally due to my +brother's own strategy and the prompt action of our Ambassador +to Belgium, Brand Whitlock, that he was returned to Brussels +and received his official release. + +On August 27, Richard left Brussels for Paris on a train +carrying English prisoners and German wounded, and en route +saw much of the burning and destruction of Louvain. + + + +BRUSSELS, August 17, 1914. +DEAREST: + +Write me soon and often! All is well here so long as I know +you are all right, so do not fail to tell me all, and keep me +in touch. If _I_ do not write much it is because letters do +not get through always, and are read. But you know I love +you, and you know twice each day I pray for you and wish for +you all the time. I feel as though I had been gone a month. +Gerald Morgan and I got in last night; this is a splendid new +hotel; for $2.50 I get a room and bath like yours on the +"royal suite," only bigger. This morning the minister did +everything he could for us. There are about twenty Americans who +want credentials. They say they will take no Americans, but to +our minister they said they would make exception in favor of +three, so I guess the three will be John McCutcheon, Palmer and +myself. John and I, if anyone gets a pass, are sure. With the +passes we had, Gerald and I started out in a yellow motor, +covered with flags of the Allies, and saw a great deal. How I +wished you were with me, you would so have loved it. The country +is absolutely beautiful. We were stopped every quarter mile to +show our passes and we got a working idea of how it will be. +Tonight I dined with Mr. Whitlock, the minister, and John +McCutcheon came in and Irving Cobb. John and I will get together +and go out. All you need is a motor car and you can go pretty +much everywhere, EXCEPT near where there is fighting. So what I +am to do to earn my wages I don't know. I am now going to bed +and I send my darlin' all love. Today I sent you a wire. If +it got to you let me know. Take such good care of yourself. +Remember me to Louise, and, WRITE ME. All love, DEAR, DEAR +one. My wife and my sweetheart. + +Your husband, + +RICHARD. + +The following is the last letter that got through. + + + +BRUSSELS, August 21, 1914. +DEAREST ONE: + +I cannot say much, as I doubt if this will be opened by you. +The German army came in and there was no fighting and I am +very well. I am only distressed at not being able to get +letters from you, and not being able to send them. I will write +a long one, and hold it until I am sure of some way by which it +can reach you. + +YOU KNOW WHAT I WOULD SAY. + + + + + +Mrs. Davis had waited in London to meet Richard on his return +from the war, but a misunderstanding as to the date of his +return, coupled with her strong sense of duty to his interests +at home, gave occasion for the letter which follows: + + +LONDON, August 31, 1914. +DEAREST ONE: + +Not since the Herald Square days have I had such a blow as +when I drove up to 10 Clarges, and found you gone! IT WAS +NOBODY'S FAULT! YOU WERE SO RIGHT to go; and I COULD NOT +COME. I am so distressed lest it was my cable saying I could +not get back that decided you to go before the fifth. But +Ashford says it was not. He tells me the cable came at +THREE in the morning and that you had arranged to be called +at six-thirty in order to leave for Scotland. So, for sending +that cable I need not blame myself too much. I sent you so +many messages I do not know which got through. But I think it +must have been one saying I could not return in time to see +you before the fifth. THEN, no trains were running. The +very NEXT DAY the Germans started a troop train, and I took +it. The reason I could not come by automobile was because I +had a falling out with the "mad dogs" and they would not give +me a pass. So Evans, with whom I was to motor to Holland, got +through Friday afternoon and sent the cable. As soon as I +reached Holland, I cabled I was coming and kept on +telegraphing every step of the journey, which lasted three +days. + +I telegraphed last from Folkestone; even telling you what to +have for my supper. As you directed, Ashford opened the +cables, and when I drove up, he was at the door in tears. He +had made a light in your rooms and, of course, as I looked up +I thought you still were in them. When they told me I was a +day late, I cried, too. It was the bitterest disappointment I +ever knew. I had taken the very first train out of Brussels, +the one with the wounded, and for three days had been having +one hell of a time. But I kept thinking of seeing you, and +hearing your dear voice. So the trip did not matter. I was +only thinking of SEEING YOU, and thanking God I was shut of +the dirty Germans. We had nothing to eat, and we slept on the +floor of the train, the Germans kept us locked in, and, all +through even Holland, we were under arrest. But nothing +mattered, because I was so happy at thought of meeting you. +As I said neither of us was at fault. You just HAD to go, +and I could NOT COME. But, you can feel how I felt to learn +you were at sea. + +I was so glad I could use your old rooms. I went to the table +where you used to write and was so glad I could at least be as +near to you as that. No other place in London could have held +me that night. Not Buckingham Palace. I found little things +you had left. I loved even the funny pictures on the wall +because we had talked of them together. It was ROTTEN, +ROTTEN luck. But only the Germans and their hellish war were +to blame. I drove straight to the cable office, and tried to +wireless you, knowing you would feel glad to know I was well, +and safe and sound. But the cable people could not send my +message. You were then out of reach of wireless, on the Irish +coast. And for nine days there was no way to tell you I had +come back as fast as trains and boats and the dirty Germans +would let me. Oh, my dear, dear one, HOW I LOVE you. If +only I could have seen you for just five minutes. As it was, +I thought for five days more we would be together. What I +shall do now, I don't know. I must go back with either the +French or the English until my contract expires, and then, I +can join you. Tomorrow I am trying to see Asquith and +Churchill to get with the army. And I will at once return +across the channel. But, do not worry! I will never again +let a German come within ONE MILE of me! After this, +between me and the Germans, there will be some hundreds of +thousands of English or French. So after this reaches you I +will soon be on my way HOME. Don't worry. Get James back +and Amelia and everyone else who can make you comfortable, and +trust in the good Lord. I have your cross and St. Rita around +my neck, and in spite of what the Kaiser says, God is looking +after other people than Germans. Certainly he has taken good +care of me. And he will guard you, and our "blessed" one. +And in a little time, dear, DEAR heart, I will be back, and +I will become a grocer. God love you and keep you, as he +does. And you will never know HOW I LOVE YOU! Good night, +dearest, sweetheart and wife! I am writing this at your +table, and, thanking God you are going to the farm, and to +peace and happiness. I SEND YOU ALL THE LOVE IN ALL THE WORLD. + +RICHARD. + + +LONDON, September 3rd. +MY DEAREST ONE: + +It was a full moon again tonight and I think you were on deck +and saw it, because by now, you have passed the four days at sea +and should be in the St. Lawrence. So I knew you saw the moon, +too, and I sent you a kiss, via it. It was just over St. James +Palace but also it was just over you. + +Today has been a day of worries. Wheeler cabled that the +papers wanted me to be "neutral" and not write against the +Germans. As I am not interested in the German vote, or in +advertising of German breweries (such a hard word to SAY) I +thought, considering the EXCLUSIVE stories I had sent them, +instead of kicking, they ought to be sending me a few +bouquets. Especially, as I got cables from Gouvey, Whigham, +Scribner's and others congratulating me on the anti-German +stories. So I cabled Wheeler to tell papers of his syndicate, +dictation from them as to what I should write was +"unexpected," that they could go to name-of-place censored and +that if he wished I would release him from his contract +tonight. Considering that without credentials I was with +French, Belgian and German armies and saw entry of Germans +into Brussels and sacking of Louvain and got arrested as a +spy, they were a bit ungrateful. I am now wondering WHAT I +would have seen HAD I HAD credentials. + +I saw Anthony Hope at the club last night. He had to go back +to the country, so I dined alone on English oysters. Fancy +anyone being NEUTRAL in this war! Germany dropping bombs in +Paris and Antwerp on women and churches and scattering mines +in the channel where they blow up fishermen and burning the +cathedrals! A man who now would be neutral would be a coward. +Good night, NEAR, DEAR, DEAR one. It has been several weeks +since I had sleep, so if I rave and wander in my letters +forgive me. You know how I am thinking of you. God bless you. +God keep you for me. + +Your husband who loves you SO! + + +LONDON, September 7th. +DEAREST: + +I just got your cable saying you were at the farm, and well! +HOW HAPPY IT MADE ME! I cabled you to Quebec, and to Mt. +Kisco, and when two days passed and I heard nothing, today I +was scared, so I cabled Gouvey to look after you, and also to +Wheeler. I went to the Brompton Oratory today, which is the +second most important church here (the cardinal lives at +Westminster) and burned the BIGGEST CANDLE they had for you +and the "blessing." A big woman all in black was kneeling in +the little chapel and when I could not get the candle to stand +up, she beckoned to one of the priests, and he ran and fixed +it. Then she went on praying. And WHO do you think she +was? Queen Amelie of Portugal, you see her pictures in the +Tattler and Sphere opening bazaars. So she must be very +good or she would not be saying her prayers all alone with the +poor people and seeing that my Bessie's candle was burning. I +have been waiting here hoping to get some sort of credentials +from Kitchener. But though Winston Churchill has urged him, +and tomorrow is going to urge him again, they give me no hope. +So I'll just go over "on my own" and I bet I'll see more than +anyone else. I have fine papers, anyhow. I am now writing +Scribner article, so THAT is off my mind. And now that +you are home, I have no "worries." I wish I had got your cable +earlier. I would have had oysters and champagne in +BATH TUBS. Give my love to all the flowers, and to Shea and +Paedrig, and Tom, and Louise, and Gouvey and the lake. And +take SUCH good care of yourself, and love me, and be happy +for I do so love you dear one. I DO SO LOVE YOU. + +YOUR HUSBAND. + + +September 15th. +DEAREST: + +Tonight I got your cable in answer to mine asking if you were +well. All things considered twenty-four hours was not so long +for them to get the answer to me. You BET I will be +careful. I don't want to get nearer to a German than twenty +miles. At the battlefield I collected five German spiked +helmets but at the Paris gate they took ALL of them from me. +I WAS mad! I wanted to keep them in my "gym," and pound +them with Indian clubs. I wrote all day yesterday, so today I +did not work. There is nothing more here to do. And as soon +as my contract is up October 1st, I will make towards YOU! +Seeing the big battle was great luck. So far I have seen more +than anyone. I have had no credentials; and yet have been +with ALL the armies. Now I am just beating time, until I +can get home. The fighting is too far away even if I could go +to it. But I can't without being arrested. And I am fed up +on being arrested. Today all the little children came out of +doors. They have been locked up for fear of airships. It was +fine to see them playing in the Champs Elysees and making +forts out of pebbles, and rolling hoops. + +God loves you, dear one, and I trust in Him. But I am awful +sick for a sight of you. What a lot we will have to tell each +other. One thing I never have to tell you, but it makes me +happy when I can. It is this: I LOVE YOU! And every minute +I think of you. + +With all my love. + +Your + +RICHARD. + + + +PARIS, September 15th, 1914. +DEAR CHAS.: + +I got this morning your letter of August 25th. In it you say +kind things about my account of the Germans entering Brussels. +Nothing so much pleases me as to get praise from you or to +know my work pleases you. Since the Germans were pushed in +every one here is breathing again. But for me it was bad as +now the armies are too far to reach by taxicab, and if you are +caught anywhere outside the city you are arrested and as a +punishment sent to Tours. Eight correspondents, among them +two Times men and John Reed and Bobby Dunn, were sent to +Tours Sunday. I had another piece of luck that day with +Gerald Morgan. I taxicabed out to Soissons and saw a wonderful +battle. So, now I can go home in peace. Had I been +forced to return without seeing any fighting I never would +have lived it down. I am in my old rooms of years ago. I got +the whole imperial suite for eight francs a day. It used to +be 49 francs a day. Of course, Paris that closes tight at +nine is hardly Paris, but the beauty of the city never so much +impressed me. There is no fool running about to take your +mind off the gardens and buildings. What MOST makes me know +I am in Paris, though, are the packages of segars lying on the +dressing table. Give my love to Dai, and tell her I hope soon +to see you. The war correspondent is dead. My only chance +was to get with the English who will take one American and +asked Bryan to choose, he passed it to the Press Association +and they chose Palmer. But I don't believe the official +correspondents will be allowed to see much. I saw the Germans +enter Brussels, the burning of Louvain and the Battle of +Soissons and had a very serious run in with the Germans and +nearly got shot. But now if you go out, every man is after +you, and even the gendarmes try to arrest you. It is +sickening. For never, of course, was there such a chance to +describe things that everyone wants to read about. Again my +love to Dai and you. I will see you soon. + +RICHARD. + + +In October Richard returned to the United States and settled +down to complete his first book on the war. During this +period and indeed until the hour of his death my brother +devoted the greater part of his time to the cause of the +Allies. He had always believed that the United States should +have entered the war when the Germans first outraged Belgium, +and to this effect he wrote many letters to the newspapers. +In addition to this he was most active in various of the +charities devoted to the causes of the Allies, wrote a number +of appeals, and contributed money out of all proportion to his +means. The following appeal he wrote for the Secours +National: + +"You are invited to help women, children and old people in +Paris and in France, wherever the war has brought desolation +and distress. To France you owe a debt. It is not alone the +debt you incurred when your great grandfathers fought for +liberty, and to help them, France sent soldiers, ships and two +great generals, Rochambeau and La Fayette. You owe France +for that, but since then you have incurred other debts. + +"Though you may never have visited France, her art, +literature, her discoveries in Science, her sense of what is +beautiful, whether in a bonnet, a boulevard or a triumphal +arch, have visited you. For them you are the happier; and for +them also, to France you are in debt. + +"If you have visited Paris, then your debt is increased a +hundred fold. For to whatever part of France you journeyed, +there you found courtesy, kindness, your visit became a +holiday, you departed with a sense of renunciation; you were +determined to return. And when after the war, you do revisit +France, if your debt is unpaid, can you without embarrassment +sink into debt still deeper? What you sought Paris gave you +freely. Was it to study art or to learn history, for the +history of France is the history of the world; was it to dine +under the trees or to rob the Rue de la Paix of a new model; +was it for weeks to motor on the white roads or at a cafe +table watch the world pass? Whatever you sought, you found. +Now, as in 1776 we fought, to-day France fights for freedom, +and in behalf of all the world, against militarism that is +`made in Germany.' + +"Her men are in the trenches; her women are working in the +fields, sweeping the Paris boulevards, lighting the street +lamps. They are undaunted, independent, magnificently +capable. They ask no charity. But from those districts the +war has wrecked, there are hundreds of thousands of women and +little children without work, shelter or food. To them +throughout the war zone the Secours National gives instant +relief. In one day in Paris alone it provides 80,000 +free meals. Six cents pays for one of these meals. One +dollar from you will for a week keep a woman or child alive. + +"The story is that one man said, `In this war the women and +children suffer most. I'm awfully sorry for them!' and the +other man said, `Yes I'm five dollars sorry. How sorry are +you?' + +"If ever you intend paying that debt you owe to France do not +wait until the war is ended. Now, while you still owe it, do +not again impose yourself upon her hospitality, her courtesy, +her friendship. + +"But, pay the debt now. + +"And then, when next in Paris you sit at your favorite table +and your favorite waiter hands you the menu, will you not the +more enjoy your dinner if you know that while he was fighting +on the Aisne, it was your privilege to help a little in +keeping his wife and child alive." + +The winter of 1914-15 Richard and his wife spent in New York, +and on January 4, 1915, their baby, Hope, was born. No event +in my brother's life had ever brought him such infinite +happiness, and during the short fifteen months that remained +to him she was seldom, if ever, from his thoughts, and no +father ever planned more carefully for a child's future than +Richard did for his little daughter. + +On April 11 my brother and his wife took Hope to Crossroads +for the first time. In his diary of this time he writes, +"Only home in the world is the one I own. Everything belongs. +It is so comfortable and the lake and the streams in the woods +where you can get your feet wet. The thrill of thinking a +stump is a trespasser! You can't do that on ten acres." + +A cause in which Richard was enormously interested +at this time was that of the preparedness of his own country, +and for it he worked unremittingly. In August, 1915, he went +to Plattsburg, where he took a month of military training. + + +PLATTSBTTRG, N. Y. + +August, 1915. +DEAR OLD MAN: + +This is a very real thing, and STRENUOUS. I know now why +God invented Sunday. The first two days were mighty hard, and +I had to work extra to catch up. I don't know a darned thing, +and after watching soldiers for years, find that I have picked +up nothing that they have to learn. The only things I have +learned don't count here, as they might under marching +conditions. My riding I find is quite good, and so is my +rifle shooting. As you could always beat me at that you can +see the conditions are not high. But being used to the army +saddle helps me a lot. I have a steeple chaser on one side +and a M. F. H. on the other, and they can't keep in the +saddle, and hate it with bitter oaths. The camp commander +told me that was a curious development; that the best +gentlemen jockeys and polo players on account of the saddle, +were sore, in every sense. Yesterday I rose at 5-30, +assembled for breakfast at six, took down tent to ventilate +it, when a cloud meanly appeared, and I had to put it up +again. Then in heavy marching order we drilled two hours as +skirmishers, running and hurling ourselves at the earth, like +falling on the ball, and I always seemed to fall where the +cinder path crossed the parade ground. We got back in time to +clean ourselves for dinner at noon. And then practised firing +at targets. At two we were drilled as cavalry in extended +order. We galloped to a point, advanced on foot, were driven +back by an imaginary enemy, and remounted. We galloped as a +squadron, and the sight was really remarkable when you think the +men had been together only four days. But the horses had been +doing it for years. All I had to do to mine was to keep on. He +knew what was wanted as well as did the Captain. After that +we put on our packs and paraded at retreat to the band. Then +had supper and listened to a lecture. I ache in every bone, +muscle, and joint. But the riding has not bothered me. It is +only hurling the damned rifle at myself. At nine I am sound +asleep. It certainly is a great experience, and, all the men +are helping each other and the spirit is splendid. The most +curious meetings come off and all kinds of men are at it from +college kids to several who are great grand fathers. Russell +Colt turned up and was very funny over his experiences. He +said he saluted everybody and one man he thought was a general +and stood at attention to salute was a Pullman car conductor. +The food is all you want, and very good. I've had nothing to +drink, but sarsaparilla, but with the thirst we get it is the +best drink I know. I have asked to have no letters forwarded +and if I don't write I hope you will understand as during the +day there is not a minute you are your own boss and at night I +am too stiff and sleepy to write. + +All love to you. + +DICK. + + + +DEAREST: + +It is now seven-thirty, and I have had twelve busy hours. +They made me pass an examination as though for Sing Sing, then +a man gave me a gun that at first weighed eight pounds and +then twenty. He made me do all sorts of things with it, such as +sentries used to do to me. Then I was given the gun to keep, and +packs, beds, blankets, and I made myself at home in a tent; then +I was moved to another tent with five other men. Then I got a +horse and they galloped us up and down a field for two hours. I +lost ten pounds. Then we were marched around to a band. I +had a sergeant on either side of me, so I did not go wrong, +OFTEN. Then, aching in every bone and with my head filled +with orders and commands, I got into the lake and escaped. +You can believe I enjoyed that bath. It certainly is a fine +thing, and I am glad I enrolled (for every one has been as +nice as could be), but I miss you and Hope terribly. It seems +years since I saw you. I am going to my cot quick. It is now +eight o'clock, and I feel like I had been beaten in a stone +crusher. Kiss Hope's foot for me. + +Your loving husband, + +DICK. + + +Monday. +DEAREST ONE: + +I got such a beautiful letter from you! With pictures of +Hope playing with the Bunny. It is the best picture yet. I +carry it next to my heart because you made it, because it is +of her. And she sits up now? Well, I will miss the big +clothes-basket. I loved to see her in it. Years ago, when I +left home, she was trying to crawl out of it. What you tell +me of her--knowing what you mean when you say "Kitty" and +"Bunny"--is wonderful. How good it will be! You must come +close under my arm, and tell me every little thing. I feel so +much better now that we have broken into the last week, and +are on the home stretch. We have broken the backbone of the +long absence, and, the first thing you know, I'll be telephoning +to have you meet me at White Plains. + +This is me sewing up a hole in my breeches. The socks are +drying on the line, my rubber bath is on the right. I am now +going to Canada. But I'll be back in half an hour; it's only +200 yards distant. All the folks here are French, and the +signs are in French. Last place we halted I bought +lumberman's socks to wear at night. I sleep very well, for I +buy my raincoat full of hay from the nearest farmer, and sleep +on that. Today we had another "battle." It began at 7.30 +and ended at one o'clock. We were kept going all that time, +taking "cover" behind railroad embankments and stone walls and +in plowed fields, finally ending with a bayonet charge. I +killed so many I stopped counting. + +Don't let Hope forget her father. Better put on a wrist-watch +and my horn spectacles, and hold her the wrong way, so she +will be reminded of her Dad. + +Good-night, my dearest one. You will never know how terribly +I miss you and love you, and want you in my arms, and you +holding Hope so that I can have all my happiness in one big +armful of all that is good. + +YOUR LOVING HUSBAND. + + + +Wednesday. +DEAREST ONE: + +The Vitagraph people came today. They have a great film to +stir people to preparedness called "The Battle Cry of Peace." +It shows New York destroyed by Germans. They took pictures of +several of the better-known men showing "them" preparing. I +was taken cleaning my rifle, and, as the captain was passing, +I asked him to get in the picture with me and be shown +instructing me. He was delighted, but right in the middle of +the picture he "inspected" my barrel. I had not cleaned it, +and he forgot the camera, and gave me the devil. You can +imagine how the crowd roared, and the camera director man was +delighted. I wanted it retaken showing the captain patting me +on the back. + +Roosevelt turned up today, and was very nice. Martin Egan +came with him and the British Naval Attache, and they have +asked me to dine at a real table at Hotel Champlain with two +other men. It will be fine to eat off china. The "hike" +begins Friday, and we sleep each night on the ground, but the +country we march through is beautiful. All that counts is +getting the days behind me and getting you in my arms. Doing +one's "bit" for one's country is right, but as the man said, +"God knows I love my country and want to fight for her, but I +hope to God I never love another country." Good-night, dear, +dear one! How wonderful it will be to see and hear you again. +Kiss Hope for her Dad. + +RICHARD. + + +Saturday. +DEAREST: + +This is writing with all the love, but with difficulties. I +am sitting on a log and the light is a candle. Today we had +our first fight. It happened the squad of eight men I am in +was sent in advance, and I was 100 yards in front, so I was +the first to come in touch with the scouts of the Red Army, +and I killed a lot. My squad was so brave that we all got +killed THREE TIMES. But as soon as the umpire rode away we +would come to life, and go on fighting. Finally, he took us +prisoners, and made us sit down and look on at the battle. As we +had been running around and each carrying a forty-pound pack, we +were glad to remain dead. But we have declared that nothing +can kill us tomorrow but asphyxiating gas. I have terrible +nightmares for fear something has happened to one of you, and +then I trust in the good Lord, and pray him to make the time +pass swiftly. + +Good-night, and all the love and kisses for you both. + +RICHARD. + + +On October 19, 1915, Richard sailed on the Chicago for +France and his second visit to the Great War. He arrived at +Paris on October 30, and shortly afterward visited the Western +front at Amiens and Artois. He also interviewed Poincare, and +through him the French President sent a message to the +American people. At this time my brother had received +permission from the authorities to visit all of the twelve +sectors of the French front under particularly advantageous +conditions, and was naturally most anxious to do so. However, +through a misunderstanding between the syndicate he +represented and certain of the newspapers using its service, +he found it advisable, even although against his own judgment, +to go to Greece, and to postpone his visit to the sectors of +the French front he had not already seen. On November 13 he +left Paris bound for Salonica. + + +On Way to France, Oct. 18, 1915. +DEAREST ONE: + +You are much more brave than I am. Anyway, you are much +better behaved. For all the time you were talking I was +crying, not with my eyes only, but with ALL of me. I am so sad. +I love you so, and I will miss you so. I want you to keep saying +to yourself all the time, "This is the most serious effort he +ever made, because the chances of seeing anything are so SMALL, +and because never had he such a chance to HELP. But, all the +time, every minute he thinks of me. He wants me. He misses my +voice, my eyes, my presence at his side when he walks or +sleeps. He never loved me so greatly, or at leaving me was so +unhappy as he is now." + +Goodby, dear heart. My God-given one! Would it not be +wonderful, if tonight when I am up among the boats on the top +deck that girl in the Pierrot suit, and in her arms Hope, +came, and I took them and held them both? You will walk with +her at five, and I will walk and think of you and love you and +long for you. + +God keep you, dearest of wives, and mothers. + +RICHARD. + + +October 24. +MY DEAR DAUGHTER: + +So many weeks have passed since I saw you that by now you are +able to read this without your mother looking over your +shoulder and helping you with the big words. I have six sets +of pictures of you. Every day I take them down and change +them. Those your dear mother put in glass frames I do not +change. Also, I have all the sweet fruits and chocolates and +red bananas. How good of you to think of just the things your +father likes. Some of them I gave to a little boy and girl. +I play with them because soon my daughter will be as big. +They have no mother like you, OF COURSE; they have no mother +like YOURS--for except my mother there never was a mother like +yours; so loving, so tender, so unselfish and thoughtful. If she +is reading this, kiss her for me. These little children have a +little father. He dresses them and bathes them himself. He +is afraid of the cold; and sits in the sun; and coughs and +shivers. His children and I play hide-and-seek, and, as you +will know some day, for that game there is no such place as a +steamer, with boats and ventilators and masts and alleyways. +Some day we will play that game hiding behind the rocks and +trees and rose bushes. Every day I watch the sun set, and +know that you and your pretty mother are watching it, too. +And all day I think of you both. + +Be very good. Do not bump yourself. Do not eat matches. Do +not play with scissors or cats. Do not forget your dad. +Sleep when your mother wishes it. Love us both. Try to know +how we love you. THAT you will never learn. Good-night and +God keep you, and bless you. + +YOUR DAD. + + +PARIS, November 1. +DEAREST ONE: + +Today is "moving" day, and I feel like ---- censored word, at +the thought of your having the moving to direct and manage by +yourself. I can picture Barney and Burke loading, and +unloading, and coal and wood being stored, and provisions and +ice, and finally Hope brought down to take her +third--no--fourth motor ride. And God will see she makes it +all safely, and that in her new house you are comfortable. + +Last night I dreamed about Hope and you, a long dream, and it +made me so happy. Something happened today that you will like +to hear. When the war came the French students at the Beaux +Arts had to go to fight. The wives and children had nothing to +live on. So, the American students, about a dozen of them, +organized a relief league. The Beaux Arts is in a most wonderful +palace built by Cardinal Richelieu and decorated later by +Napoleon. In this they were gathering socks, asphyxiating masks, +warm clothes. They were hand painting postcards for fifty cents +apiece. The "masters" as they call their teachers, also were +painting them. I gave them some money which was received +politely, but, as it would not go far, without much +enthusiasm. As I was going, I said, "I'll be back tomorrow to +get some facts and I'll write a story about what you're doing." +This is the part that is embarrassing to write, but you will +understand. They gave a cheer and a yell just as though I had +said, "Peace is declared" or "I will give you Carnegie's +fortune." And they danced around, and shook hands, and +Whitney Warren, who is at the head of it, all but cried. +Later, he told me the letter I had written for his wife's fund +for orphans by the war had brought in $5000, that was why they +were so pleased. So we, you and I, will try to look at it +that way, and try to believe that from this separation, which +is cruel for us, others may get some benefit. Tomorrow, I am +to be received at the Elysee by the President, and I am going +to try to make him say something that will draw money from +America for the French hospitals. If he will only ask, I know +our people will give. In a day or two, I think I will be +allowed to see something, but, that you will know best by +reading The Times. + +Your loving husband is lonely for you, and so it will be always. + +RICHARD. + + +November 17th. +DEAR SWEETHEART: + +My last letter was such a complaining one that I am ashamed. +But, not leaving me to decide what was best for the papers, +made me mad. Since I wrote, I ought to be madder, for I have +been to the trenches outside of Rheims in Champagne; and, had +they not deviled the spirit out of me with cables, I believe I +could have written such a lot of stories of France that no one +else has had the opportunity to write. Believe me no one has +yet told the story of the trench war. Anyway, in spite of all +the photographs and articles, to me it was all new. I was +allowed to go alone, and given carte blanche to see whatever +I wished. I saw everything, but it would not be possible to +write of it yet. It was wonderful. I was in the three lines, +reaching the FIRST line by moonlight. No one spoke above a +whisper. The Germans were only 300 to 400 yards distant. But +worst of all were the rats. They ran over my feet and I was a +darned sight more afraid of them than the Germans. I saw the +Cathedral, and the only hotel open (from which I sent you and +Hope a postal) was the same one in which we stopped a year +ago. I had sent the hotel my book in which I said +complimentary things, and I got a great welcome. They even +gave me a room with a fire in it, and so I was warm for the +first time since I left the Crossroads. And this morning it +SNOWED. On my way back to Paris, I stopped to tell the +General what I had seen and to thank him. He said, "Oh, that +is nothing. When you return, I will take you out myself, and +I will show you something worth while." I am going to carry a +rat-trap, and two terriers on a leash. Tonight, when I got +back, there was a letter from you, but no writing, +but there was a photo of Her, and me holding her. How is it +possible that any living thing is so beautiful as my child? +How fat, and wonderful, and dear, and lovable, and how +terribly I want to hold her as I am holding her in the +picture, and how much better as I really don't need my left +arm to hold such a mite), if I had you close to me in it. I +miss you so, and love you so! I told Wheeler before I left as +I was not going to waste time traveling I would not go to +Servia. So, as soon as I arrived, I was fretted with cables +to go. I cabled to stop giving me advice, that I had a much +better chance in France than anyone could have anywhere else. +Maybe, before I arrive, the Greeks will have joined the +Germans, in which case, I WON'T LEAVE THE SHIP. I'll come +straight back on her to the Allies. + +RICHARD. + + +November 20th. + +This is the way Hope's cat looks, "My whiskers!" she says, "I +never knew I was to be let in for anything like this!" When I +told her about the big rats in the trenches she wanted to go +with me next time, but, today when I told her that the Crown +Prince of Servia made his servants eat live mice (he is no +longer Crown Prince), she looked just as she does in the +picture. "Then, what do _I_ eat in Servia?" she said, and I +told her both of us would live on goat's milk. + +You will be glad when I tell you I have been, warm. We came +pretty far south in two days, and, the damp chill of Paris is +gone. On the train a funny thing happened. An English +officer and I got talking and he was press censor at Salonica +where I am going after Athens. I asked him to look over the +many letters I had and tell me if any of them would be likely +to get me in bad, being addressed to pro-Germans, for example. +He said, "Well, THIS chap is all right anyway. I'll vouch +for him, because this letter is addressed to me." + +SEE THE CAT! +HOPE GAVE THE CAT TO HER DAD. +IS THE CAT SAD? +YES +IS THE DAD SAD? +VERY!! +WHY IS THE CAT AND THE DAD SAD? +THEY WANT HOME AND HOPE. +DO THEY LOVE HOPE? +DON'T MAKE THEM LAUGH! + + + +We leave, the Basses, the English officer and +I, in a small tub of a boat for Patras, and train to Athens. +I will try to go at once to Servia. Harjes, who are the Paris +house of J. P. Morgan, gave me a "mission" to try and organize +for the Servians the same form of relief as has been arranged +for the Belgians. He gave me permission if I saw the need for +help was imminent (and it will be) to cable him for whatever I +thought the Serbs most needed. So, it is a chance to do much. +To get out news will be impossible. However, here I am and +tomorrow I'll be good and seasick. + +I have your charm around my neck, and all the pictures, and +the luck-bringing cat, and the scapular, and the love you give me +to keep me well and bring us soon together. That is the one +thing I want. God bless you both, Hope's dad and your husband. + + + +ATHENS, + +November 26th. +DEAR HEART: + +I am off tonight for Salonica. I am not very cheerful for I +miss you very, very terribly, and the further I go, the worse +I feel. But now I am nearly as far as I can get, and when you +receive this I will--thank God--be turned back to Paris, and +London, and HOME! I thought so often of you this morning +when I took a holiday and climbed the Acropolis. On the top +of it I picked a dandelion for you. It was growing between +the blocks of marble that have been there since 400 years +before our Lord: before St. Paul preached to the Athenians. I +was all alone on the rock, and could see over the AEgean Sea, +Corinth, Mount Olympus, where the Gods used to sit, and the +Sphinx lay in wait for travelers with her famous riddle. It +takes two days and one night to go to Salonica, and the boats +are so awful no one undresses but sleeps in his clothes on top +of the bed. + +Goodby, sweetheart, and give SUCH a kiss to my precious +daughter. How beautiful she is. Even the waiter who brought +me a card stopped to exclaim about her picture. So, of +course, being not at all proud I showed him her in my arms. I +want you both so and I love you both SO. And, I wanted you +so this morning as I always do when there is a beautiful +landscape, or flowers, or palms. I know how you love them. +The dandelion is very modest and I hope the censor won't lose +it out, for she has a long way to go and carries a burden of +love. I wish I was bringing them in the door of the Scribner +cottage at this very minute. + +RICHARD. + + +VOLO, November 27. + +I got here today, after the darnedest voyage of two days in a +small steamer. We ran through a snow storm and there was no +way to warm the boat. So, I DIED. You know how cold +affects me--well--this was the coldest cold I ever died of. I +poured alcohol in me, and it was like drinking iced tea. Now, +I am on shore in a cafe near a stove. We continue on to +Salonica at midnight. There are 24 men and one woman, Mrs. +Bass, on board. I am much too homesick to write more than to +say I love you, and I miss you and Hope so, that I don't look +at the photos. Did you get the cable I sent +Thanksgiving--from Athens, it read: "Am giving thanks for +Hope and you." I hope the censor let that get by him. The +boat I was on was a refrigerator ship; it was also peculiar in +that the captain dealt baccarat all day with the passengers. +It was a sort of floating gambling house. This is certainly a +strange land. Snow and roses and oranges, all at once. I +must stop. I'm froze. Give the kiss I want to give to Her, +and know, oh! how I love and love and love her mother--NEVER +SO MUCH AS NOW. + + +SALONICA November 30th, 1915. +DEAR OLD MAN: + +I got here to night and found it the most picturesque spot I +ever visited. I am glad I came. It was impossible to get a +room but I found John McCutcheon and two other men occupying a +grand suite and they have had a cot put in for me. To-morrow +I hope to get a room. The place is filled with every nation +except Germans and even they are here out of uniforms. We had +a strange time coming. The trip from Athens should have taken +two nights and a day but we took four. The Captain of the +boat anchored and played baccarat whenever he thought there +were enough passengers not seasick to make it worth his while. +He played from eleven in the morning until four in the +morning. I don't know now who ran the ship. It is so cold +when you bathe, the steam runs off you. I never have suffered +so. But, it looked as though every one else was singing "Its +going to be a hard, hard winter" from the way they, dress. +Tomorrow I am going to buy fur pants. You can't believe what +a picture it is. Servians, French, Greeks, Scots in kilts, +London motor cars, Turks, wounded and bandaged Tommies and +millions of them fighting for food, for drink, for a place at +the "movies," and more "rumors" than there are words in the +directory. To-morrow, I present my letters and hope to get to +the "front." I only hope the front doesn't come to us. But, +it ought to be a place for great stories. All love to you old +man, and bless you both. How I look forward to our first +lunch in your wonderful home! And to sit in front of your +fire, and hear all the news. All love to you both. + +RICHARD. + + +December 6, 1915. +DEAREST ONE: + +I have been away so could not write. They took us to the +French and English "front" and away from Greece; we were in +Bulgaria and Servia. It was at a place where the three +boundaries met. We saw remarkable mountain ranges and deep +snow, and some fine artillery. But throwing shells into that +bleak, white jumble of snow and rocks--there was fifty miles of +it--was like throwing a baseball at the Rocky Mountains. Still, +it was seeing something. Now, I have a room, and a very +wonderful one. I had to bribe everyone in the hotel to get +it; and I have something to write and, no more moving about I +hope, for at least a week. I am able to see the ships at +anchor for miles, and the landing stage for all the warships +is just under my window. As near as McCoy Rock from the +terrace. It is like a moving picture all the time. I bought +myself an oil stove and a can of Standard oil, and, instead of +trying to warm the hotel with my body, I let George do it. +But it is a very small stove, and to really get the good of +it, I have to sit with it between my legs. Still, it is such +a relief to be alone, and not to pack all the time. +McCutcheon and Bass, Hare and Shepherd are fine, but I felt +like the devil, imposing on them, and working four in a room +is no joke. We dine together each night. Except them, I see +no one, but have been writing. Also, I have been collecting +facts about Servian relief. Harjes, Morgan's representative +in Paris, gave me carte blanche to call on him for money or +supplies; but I waited until today to cable, so as to be sure +where help was most needed. It is still cold, but that +AWFUL cold spell was quite unprecedented and is not likely +to come again. I NEVER suffered so from cold, and, as you +know, I suffer considerable. All the English officers who had +hunted in cold places, said neither had they ever felt such +cold. Seven hundred Tommies were frost bitten and toes and +fingers fell off. I do not say anything about how awful it is +not to hear. But, if I had had your letters forwarded to this +dump of the Levant, I never would have got them. Now, I have to +wait for them until I get to Paris, but there I will surely get +them. Cables, of course, can reach me, but no cables mean to me +that you are all right. Nor do I want to "talk" about Christmas. + +You know how I feel about that, and about missing the first one +SHE has had. But it will be the LAST one we will know apart. +Never again! + +I want you in my arms and to hear you laugh and see your eyes. +I am in need of you to make a fuss over me. McCutcheon and +Co. don't care whether I have cold hands or not. You do. +Your ointment and gloves saved my fingers from falling off +like the soldiers' did. And your "housewife" I use to put on +buttons, and, your scapular and medal keep me well. But your +love is what really lifts me up and consoles me. When I think +how you and I care for each other, then, I am scared, for it +is very beautiful. And we must not ever be away from each +other again. God keep you my beloved, and both my blessings. +I cannot bear it--when I think of all I am missing of her, +and, all that she is doing. God guard you both. My darling +and dear wife and mother of Hope. + +Your husband, + +RICHARD. + + +SALONICA, December 18th. + +DEAREST WIFE AND SWEETHEART: + +I am very blue tonight, and NEVER was so homesick. +Yesterday just to feel I was in touch with you I sent a cable +through the fog, it said, "Well, homesick, all love to you +both." I did not ask if you and Hope were well, because I +KNOW the good Lord will not let any harm come to you. I am +certainly caught by the heels this time. And it will be the last +time. As you know, I meant only to go to France where no time +would be wasted in travel, and I would be able to get back soon. +But the blockade held up the ship and on the other one the +captain stayed at anchor, and, then when I got here, the Allies +retreated, and I had to stay on to cover what is to come next. +What that is, or whether nothing happens, you will know by the +time this reaches you. So, here I am. For TEN days until +this morning we have never seen the sun. In sixty years +nothing like it has happened. The Salonicans said the English +transports brought the fog with them. Anyway, I got it. My +room is right on the harbor. I never thought I would LOVE +an oil stove. I always thought they were ill-smelling, +air-destroying. But this one saved my life. I wrote with it +between my knees, I dry my laundry on it, and use the tin pan +on top of it to take the dampness out of the bed. The fog +kept everything like a sponge. Coal is thirty dollars a ton. +To get wood for firewood the boatmen row miles out, and wait +below the transports to get the boxes they throw overboard. I +go around asking EVERYBODY if this place is not now a dead +duck for news. But they all give me no encouragement. They +say it is the news center of the world. I hope it chokes. I +try to comfort myself by thinking you are happy, because you +have Hope, and I have nobody, except John McCutcheon and Bass +and Jimmie Hare, and they are as blue as I am, and no one can +get any money. I cabled today to Wheeler for some via the +State Department. I went to the Servian camp for the little +orphans whose fathers have been killed, and they all knelt and +kissed my hands. It was awful. I thought of Hope, and hugged +a few and carried them around in my arms and felt much better. +Today for the first time, I quit work and went to see an American +film at the cinema to cheer me. But when I saw the streetcars, +and "ready to wear" clothes, and the policemen I got suicidal. I +went back and told the others and they all rushed off to see +"home" things, and are there now. This is a yell of a letter, +but it's the only kind I can write. My stories and cables are +rotten, too. I have seen nothing--just traveled and waited for +something to happen. Goodnight, dearest one. I love you so. +You will never know how much I love you. Kiss my darling for +me, and, think only of the good days when we will be together +again. Such good days. Goodnight again--all love. + +RICHARD. + + +HARBOR SALONICA, December 19th. + +I am a happy man tonight! And that is the first time I have +been able to say so since I left you. The backbone of the +trip is broken! and my face is turned West--toward you and +Hope. John McCutcheon gave me a farewell dinner tonight of +which I got one half, as the police made me go on board at +nine, although we do not sail until five in the morning. So +there was time for only one toast, as I was making for the +door. Was it to your husband? It was not. It was to Hope +Davis, two weeks yet of being one year old, and being toasted +by the war correspondents in Salonica. They knew it would +please me. And I went away very choken and happy. SUCH a +boat as this is! I have a sofa in the dining-room, and at +present it is jammed with refugees and all smoking and not an +air port open. What a relief it will be to once more get +among clean people. We must help the Servians, and God knows +they need help. But, if they would help each other, or +themselves, I would like them better. I am now on deck under the +cargo light and, on the top floor of the Olympus Hotel, can see +John's dinner growing gayer and gayer. It is like the man who +went on a honeymoon alone. I am so happy tonight. You seem so +near now that I am coming West. + +How terribly I have missed you, and wanted you, and longed for +your voice and LAUGH, and to have you open the door of my +writing room, and say, "A lady is coming to call on you," and +then enter the dearest wife and dearest baby in the world! + +God bless you, and all my love. + +RICHARD. + + +ROME, +Christmas Eve, + +1915. +MY DEAREST, DEAREST, DEAREST: + +I planned to get to Paris late Christmas night. I cabled +Frazier at the Embassy, to have all my letters at the Hotel de +l'Empire. I MEANT to spend the night reading of you and +Hope. I made a record trip from Salonica. By leaving the +second steamer at Messina and taking an eighteen-hour trip +across Italy I saved ten hours. But when I got here I found +the French Consul had taken a holiday, AND WAS OUT BUYING +CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! So, I could not get permission to enter +France. With some Red Cross Americans, I raged around the +French Consulate, but it was no use. So I am here, and cannot +leave UNTIL MIDNIGHT CHRISTMAS. When I found I could not +get away, I told Cook's to give me their rapid-fire guide, and +I set out to SEE ROME. The Manager of Cook's was the same +man who, 19 years ago, sold me tickets to the Greek war in +Florence, when the American Consulate was in the same building +with Cook's, and Charley was Consul. So he gave me a great +guide. We began at ten this morning and we stopped at six. +They say it takes five years to see Rome, but when I let the +rapid-fire guide escape, he said he had to compliment me; we +climbed more stairways and hills than there are in all New +York and Westchester County; and there is just one idea in my +mind, and that is that you and I must see this sacred place +together. On all this trip I have wanted YOU, but NEVER +so as today. And I particularly inquired about the milk. It +is said to be excellent. So we will come here, and you, with +all your love of what is fine and beautiful, will be very +happy, and Hope will learn Italian, and to know what is best +in art, and statues and churches. I have seen 2900 churches, +and all of them built by Michael Angelo and decorated by Raphael; +and it was so wonderful I cried. I bought candles and +prayers, and I am afraid Christian Science had a dull day. +Tomorrow we start at nine, and go to high mass at St. Peter's, +and then into the country to the catacombs, where the early +Christians hid from the Romans. It is not what you would call +an English Christmas, but it is so beautiful and wonderful +that you BOTH ARE VERY NEAR. + +I sent you a cable, the second one, because it is not sure +they are forwarded, and I hung up a stocking for Hope. One of +the peasant women made in Salonica. I am bringing it with me. +And the cat is on my window--still looking out on the Romans. +The green leaf I got in the forum, where Mark Antony made his +speech over Caesar's body. It is the plant that gave Pericles +the idea of the Corinthian column. You remember. It was +growing under a tile some one had laid over it--and the yellow +flower was on my table at dinner, so I send it, that we may know +on Christmas Eve we dined together. + +Good-night, now, and God bless you. I am off to bed now, in a +bed with sheets. The first in six days. How I LOVE you, +and LOVE you. Such good wishes I send you, and such love to +you both. May the good Lord bless you as he has blessed +me--with the best of women, with the best of daughters. I am +a proud husband and a proud father; and soon I will be a +HAPPY husband and a HAPPY father. + +Good-night, dear heart. + +RICHARD. + + +PARIS, December 28th, 1915. +DEAR OLD MAN: + +Hurrah for the Dictator! He has been a great good friend to +me. I will know to-day about whether I can go back to the +French front. If not I will try the Belgians and then London, +and home. I spent Christmas day in Rome in the catacombs. I +could not wear my heart upon my sleeve for duchesses to peck +at. It is just as you say, Dad and Mother made the day so +dear and beautiful. I did not know how glad I would be to be +back here for while the trip East led to no news value, to me +personally it was interesting. But I am terribly tired after +the last nine days, sleeping on sofas, decks, a different deck +each night and writing all the time and such poor stuff. But, +oh! when I saw Paris I knew how glad I was! WHAT a +beautiful place, what a kind courteous people. We will all be +here some day. Tell Dai she must be my interpreter. All love +to her, and you, and good luck to the syndicate. YOUR +syndicate. I have not heard from mine for six +weeks. They have not sent me a single clipping of anything, +so I don't know whether anything got through or not, and I +have nothing to show these people here that might encourage +them to send me out again. They certainly have made it hard +hoeing. Tell Guvey his letter about the toys was a great +success here, and copied into several papers. + +Goodbye, and God bless you, and good luck to you. + +DICK. + + +PARIS, December 31st, 1915. +DEAR OLD MAN: + +To wish you and Dai a Happy New Year. It will mean a lot to +us when we can get together, and take it together, good and +bad. I am awfully pleased over the novel coming out by the +Harper's and, in landing so much for me out of The Dictator. +You have started the New Year for me splendidly. I expect I +will be back around the first of February. I am now trying to +"get back," but, I need more time. I can only put the trip +down to the wrong side of the ledger. Personally, I got a lot +out of it, but I am not sent over here to improve my knowledge +of Europe, but to furnish news and stories and that has not +happened. + +I am constantly running against folks who knew you in +Florence, and I regret to say most of them are in business at +the Chatham bar. What a story they make; the M----'s and the +like, who know Paris only from the cocktail side. One of our +attaches told me to-day he had been lunching for the last 18 +months at the grill room of the Chatham, where the "mixed +grill" was as good as in New York. He had no knowledge of any +other place to eat. The Hotel de l'Empire is a terrible +tragedy. They are so poor, that I believe it is my eight francs +a day keeps them going; nothing else is in sight. But, it is the +exception. Never did a people take a war as the French take this +worst of all wars. They really are the most splendid of people. +I only wish I could have had one of them for a grandfather or +grandmother. Bessie writes that Hope is growing wonderfully and +beautifully, and I am sick for a sight of her, and for you. Good +night and God bless you and the happiest of New Years to you both. + +Your loving brother, + +DICK. + + +These postcards are "originals" painted by students of the +Beaux-Arts to keep alive, and to keep those students in the +trenches. They are for Dai. + + +PARIS, December 31, 1915. +DEAREST ONE: + +The old year, the dear, old year that brought us Hope, is very +near the end. I am not going to watch him go. I have drunk +to the New Year and to my wife and daughter, and before there +is "a new step on the floor, and a new face at the door," I +will be asleep. Of all my many years, the old year, that is +so soon to pass away, has been the best, for it has brought +you to me with a closer tie, has added to the love I have for +every breath you breathe, for your laugh and your smile, and +deep concern, that comes if you think your worthless husband +is worried, or cross, or dismayed. Each year I love you more; +for I know you more, and to know more of the lovely soul you +are, is to love more. Just now we are in a hard place. I am +sure you cannot comprehend how her father, her "Dad" and your +husband can keep away. Neither do I understand. + +But, for both your sakes, I want, before I own up that this +adventure has been a failure, to try and pull something out of +the wreck. If the government says I CAN, then I still may +be able to do something. If it says, "NO," then it's Home, +boys, Home, and that's where I want to be. It's home, boys, +home, in the old countree. 'Neath the ash, and the oak, and +the spreading maple tree, it's home, boys, home, to mine own +countree! This is Hope and you. So know, that in getting to +you I have not thrown away a minute. I have been a +slave-driver, to others as well as to myself. But you cannot +get favors with a whip; and, the French war office has other +matters to occupy it, that it considers of more importance +than an impatient war correspondent. So long as you +understand, it will not matter. Nothing hurts, except that +you may not understand. The moment I see you, and you see me, +you will understand. So, goodnight, and God bless you, you, +my two blessings. Here is to our own year of 1915, your year +and Hope's year, and, because I have you both, my year. I +send you all the love in all the world. +RICHARD. + + +January 5, 1916. +MY DEAREST ONE: + +WHAT PICTURES! WHAT HAPPINESS! What a proud Richard! On +top of my writing yesterday that I had had no sketches of +yours, and no kodaks of Hope, eight came to-night, and oh! I +am so proud, so homesick. What a wonderful nurse and mother +you are! Was ever there anything so lovable? And that she +should be ours, to hold and to love, and to make happy. These +last eight days in Paris, in and out, have made me so homesick +for those I love, that you will never know what the delays meant. +I felt just the way poor women feel who kidnap babies. In the +parks I know the nurse-maids are afraid of me. I stick my head +under the hoods of the baby carriages, and stop and stand +watching them at play. And tonight when all these beautiful +pictures came, I was the happiest father anywhere. + +The delay was no one's fault, not mine anyway, nor can I blame +anyone. These people are splendid. They are willing to do +anything for one, but it takes time. When they are fighting +for their lives and have not seen their own babies in a year, +that you want to see yours is only natural and to oblige you +they can't see why they should upset the whole war. But now +it looks less as though I would have to call it a failure. +And Hope may be proud of me, and you may be proud of me, and I +will have enough ammunition to draw on for many articles and +letters, and another book. + +It has been a cruel time; and when I tell you how I worked to +get it over, and to be back with you, you will understand many +things. The most important of all will be how I love you. +Only wait until I can lay eyes on you, you will just take one +look and know that it couldn't be helped, that the delay was +the work of others, that, all I wanted was my Bessie and my +Hope. + +How heavy she will be, if she is anything like the picture of +her on the coverlet, she is a prize baby. And if she is +anything like as beautiful as in the baby carriage she is an +angel straight from God. I want to sit in the green chair and +have you on one knee and her majesty on the other, and have +her climb over me, and pull my hair and bang my nose, and in +time to know how I love you both. + +Goodnight, dear heart, I wish you had had yourself in the +picture. I have three in the summer time with you holding her +and that is the way I like to see you, that is the way I think +of you. I love you, and I love her for making you so happy, +and I love her for her sake, and because she is OURS: and +has tied us tighter and closer even than it has ever been. I +love you so that I can't write about it, and I am going to do +nothing all spring but just sit around, and be in everybody's +way, watching you together. + +How jealous I am of you, and homesick for you. Of course, she +knows "mamma" is YOU; and to look at you when they ask, +"Where's mother?" Who else could be her mother BUT THE +DEAREST WOMAN IN THE WORLD, and the one who loves her so, and +in so wonderful a way. She is beautiful beyond all things +human I know. If ever a woman deserved a beautiful daughter, +YOU DO, for you are the best of mothers, and you know how +"to care greatly." + +Good-night, my precious, dear one, and God keep you, as He +will, and help me to keep you both happy. What you give me +you never will know. + +RICHARD. + + + +CHAPTER XX +THE LAST DAYS + +After a short visit to London, Richard returned to New York in +February, 1916. During his absence his wife and Hope had +occupied the Scribner cottage at Mount Kisco, about two miles +from Crossroads. Here my brother finished his second book on +the war, and wrote numerous articles and letters urging the +immediate necessity for preparedness in this country. As to +Richard's usefulness to his country at this time, I quote in +part from two appreciations written after my brother's death +by the two most prominent exponents of preparedness. + +Theodore Roosevelt said: + +"He was as good an American as ever lived, and his heart +flamed against cruelty and injustice. His writings form a +text-book of Americanism which all our people would do well to +read at the present time." + +Major-General Leonard Wood said: + +"The death of Richard Harding Davis was a real loss to the +movement for preparedness. Mr. Davis had an extensive +experience as a military observer, and thoroughly appreciated +the need of a general training system like that of Australia +or Switzerland and of thorough organization of our industrial +resources in, order to establish a condition of reasonable +preparedness in this country. A few days before his death he +came to Governors Island for the purpose of ascertaining in +what line of work he could be most useful in building up +sound public opinion in favor of such preparedness +as would give us a real peace insurance. His mind was bent on +devoting his energies and abilities to the work of public +education on this vitally important subject, and few men were +better qualified to do so, for he had served as a military +observer in many campaigns. + +"Throughout the Cuban campaign he was attached to the +headquarters of my regiment in Cuba as a military observer. +He was with the advanced party at the opening of the fight at +Las Guasiinas, and was distinguished throughout the fight by +coolness and good conduct. He also participated in the battle +of San Juan and the siege of Santiago, and as an observer was +always where duty called him. He was a delightful companion, +cheerful, resourceful, and thoughtful of the interests and +wishes of others. His reports of the game were valuable and +among the best and most accurate. + +"The Plattsburg movement took a very strong hold of him. He +saw in this a great instrument for building up a sound +knowledge concerning our military history and policy, also a +very practical way of training men for the duties of junior +officers. He realized fully that we should need in case of +war tens of thousands of officers with our newly raised +troops, and that it would be utterly impossible to prepare +them in the hurry and confusion of the onrush of modern war. +His heart was filled with a desire to serve his country to the +best of his ability. His recent experience in Europe pointed +out to him the absolute madness of longer disregarding the +need of doing those things which reasonable preparedness +dictates, the things which cannot be accomplished after +trouble is upon us. He had in mind at the time of his death a +series of articles to be written especially to build up interest +in universal military training through conveying to our people an +understanding of what organization as it exists to-day means, and +how vitally important it is for our people to do in time of peace +those things which modern war does not permit done once it is +under way. + +"Davis was a loyal friend, a thoroughgoing American devoted to +the best interests of his country, courageous, sympathetic, +and true. His loss has been a very real one to all of us who +knew and appreciated him, and in his death the cause of +preparedness has lost an able worker and the country a devoted +and loyal citizen." + +Although suffering from his strenuous experiences in France, +and more particularly from those in Greece, Richard continued +to accomplish his usual enormous amount of work, and during +these weeks wrote his last short story, "The Deserter." + +The following letter was written to me while I was in the +Bahamas and was in reference to a novel which I had dedicated +to Hope: + + +MOUNT KISCO--February 28, 1916. +DEAR OLD MAN: + +No word yet of the book, except the advts. I enclose. I will +send you the notices as soon as they begin to appear. I am so +happy over the dedication, and, very proud. So, Hope will be +when she knows. As I have not read the novel it all will come +as a splendid and pleasant surprise. I am looking forward to +sitting down to it with all the pleasure in the world. + +You chose the right moment to elope. Never was weather so cold, +cruel and bitter. Hope is the only one who goes out of doors. + +I start the fires in the Big House tomorrow and the plumbers +and paper hangers, painters enter the day after. + +The attack on Verdun makes me sick. I was there six weeks ago +in one of the forts but of course could not then nor can I now +write of it. I don't believe the drive ever can get through. +For two reasons, and the unmilitary one is that I believe in a +just God. Give my love to Dai, and for you always + +DICK. + +P. S. I am happy you are both so happy, but those post cards +with the palms were cruelty to animals. + + +On the 21st of March, 1916, Richard and his wife and daughter +moved from the Scribner cottage to Crossroads, and a few days +later he was attacked by the illness that ended in his death +on April 11. He had dined with his wife and afterward had +worked on an article on preparedness, written some letters and +telegrams concerning the same subject and, while repeating one +of the latter over the telephone, was stricken. Within a week +of his fifty-third year, just one year from the day he had +first brought his baby daughter to her real home, doing the +best and finest work of his career in the cause of the Allies +and preparedness, quite unconscious that the end was near, he +left us. In those fifty-two years he had crowded the work, +the pleasures, the kind, chivalrous deeds of many men, and he +died just as I am sure he would have wished to die, working +into the night for a great cause, and although ill and tired, +still fretful for the morning that he might again take up the fight. + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Adventures and Letters +of Richard Harding Davis + + + diff --git a/old/alrhd10.zip b/old/alrhd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..52193bc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/alrhd10.zip |