In These Days
Practically All English Novels And Most English Comedies Play Up
Lord Northcliffe As The Central Figure.
Almost invariably the
young English writer chooses him for the axis about which his plot
shall revolve.
English journalists who have been discharged from
one of Northcliffe's publications make him their villian, and
English journalists who hope to secure jobs on one of his publications
make him their hero. The literature of a land is in perilous case
when it depends on the personality of one man. One shudders to
think what the future of English fiction would be should anything
happen to his Lordship!
Business of shuddering!
Chapter XVIII
Guyed or Guided?
During our scientific explorations in the Eastern Hemisphere, we
met two guides who had served the late Samuel L. Clemens, one who
had served the late J. Pierpont Morgan, and one who had acted as
courier to ex-President Theodore Roosevelt. After inquiry among
persons who were also lately abroad, I have come to the conclusion
that my experience in this regard was remarkable, not because I
met so many as four of the guides who had attended these distinguished
Americans, but because I met so few as four of them. One man with
whom I discussed the matter told of having encountered, in the
course of a brief scurry across Europe, five members in good
standing of the International Association of Former Guides to Mark
Twain. All of them had union cards to prove it too. Others said
that in practically every city of any size visited by them there
was a guide who told of his deep attachment to the memory of Mr.
Morgan, and described how Mr. Morgan had hired him without inquiring
in advance what his rate for professional services a day would be;
and how - lingering with wistful emphasis on the words along here
and looking meaningly the while at the present patron - how very,
very generous Mr. Morgan had been in bestowing gratuities on parting.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 245 of 341
Words from 66470 to 66802
of 93169
