THE WORLD'S WRITERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2045, 4 May 1893, Page 49

THE WORLD'S WRITERS.

A SERIES OP INTERESTING SKETCHES AND CRITICISMS OF PROMINENT LITERARY PEOPLE. Compiled from Various Sources Fob the Witness by T. L. M. VI —MR JEROME K. JEROME (Editor and humourist.) Mrs Moulfcon tells us that Mr Jerome was born "on the fringe of the Black Country " in 1861, and is at present only 32 years old, though ha is the successful author of books and i-lajs too numerous to enumerate, as the auction advertisements put it. His father, the owner of a coal mine, was pecuniarily ruined in 1865 by an inundation, and had to come to London a poor man and begin life over again. The author of the "Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow " was accubtomed from his very earliest ye irs to the buffet of fortune. He was only 14 when he lost both bis parents, and from that time on he had hia own way to make in the world, armed with little beyond the bright wit that has never failed him, and the s'rong will that has never faltered. He began life with a clerkship at the head office of the Northwestern railway ; but he hated the business, and presently secured an engagement at Astley's Theatre, which lasted for nine months. Among other achievements at Astley's he had the pleasure of playing four i parts in the one melodrama of " Mazeppa," and of being put to death twice during each performance. For 12 months more he played in various provincial companies, living as best be could on a salary of a few shillings a week. In "On the Stage and Off " he tells how he came finally to leave the theatre. On that departure followed a series of employments too numerous to enumerate. During these varying tilts with fortune he never lost sight of his underlying purpose to devote himself to literature. He sent forth tales and sketches that came back to him like homing doves. Meanwhile he contributed small paragraphs to weekly journals for the liberal consideration of threehalfpence a line. Contrast this, if you please, with his present prices of, say, £50 for a short story of 3000 words, or £1000 for the serial rights of a one- volume book 1 He presently got tired of paragraphing, and tried the calling of schoolmaster for six months or so. " Did you like it 1 " somebody asked him. " No," he replied, " and no more did the boys." School keeping paid scarcely better than paragraphing, so he tried shorthand, reporting, and canvassing for advertisements. At this last calling lam sure he onght to have succeeded, for the most £ tonyhearted of persons could hardly resist his kind eyes, his persuasive voice, or the charm of bis genial and winning manner. But canvassing contented him no more than schoolteaching had done ; and he finally became a solicitor's clerk and remained for some time in that capacity. Meanwhile J. K. J. had never abandoned his literary struggles, and bis reward came at last. After various vicissitudes, "On the Stage and Off " was accepted and published and its swift and brilliant success launched its author upon a career that he is not likely to abandon. About this time he found a wise and helpful friend in F. W. Robinson, the novelist, and the editor of Home Chimes, i who knows clever and promising work when he sees it as well as any man in London. •• Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow " appeared serially in Home Chimes, and was afterwards published as a book, meeting with instantaneous and cordial recognition from both press and public. Other of Mr Jerome's books are: "Three Men in a Boat" — peshaps the most widely read of them all— " Stage Land," and " The Diary of a Pilgrimage." Last year he established the Idler, a monthly magazine, which, despite its innumerable rivals, at once secured its own audience, and has already proved that it has " come to stay," and is as good as a fortune to its proprietor, who is also its editor. Mr Jerome has also achieved great fame as a dramatist. " Barbara," a really charming one-act play, had been rejected by half the managers in London before it was finally | accepted by Mr Hawtrey and brought out at | the Comedy Theatre, where it gave so great satisfaction that it was placed on the regular bill. " Sunset " followed it, and then " Fennel"; and then "Woodbarrow Farm," Mr Jerome's first tbree-act play, was produced, and was a triumphant success, as indeed it well deserved to be. " New Lamps for Old " was brought out at Terry's Theatre, where it ran, to begin with, for 100 nights. Truly there are some men for whom the very stars in their course fight, and Jerome K. Jerome i 3 one of tbem. At 14 years of age a penniless orphan — at 32 he finds himself dowered with a three-fold success as author, dramatist, and publisher, living happily in his pleasant house near Regent's Park, with a wife so slight and dainty that he might almost put her in his pocket.