THE PREACHER NOVELIST.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11231, 21 March 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PREACHER NOVELIST.

SIAX WHO HAS OVKR TWO -MILLION KEADETiS. Everybody knows who is meant bv t-lio preacher" novelist, far the name of the Rev. Silas K. Hocking is known the world over ; his books tire read wherever the English language is spoken.^ The re:ison for this is simple. Silas K. Hocking writes for the people, and he much prefers to -write ii hook th.it will appeal to t-ens of thousands of ordinary men and women rather than to a hundred experts in literature. Mr Hocking does not write to please the critics, and that is why he, more than any other writer, has received both praise and blame- .in- goodly, share. Those who have heard Mr Hocking preach have never been able to find an empty pew. Among the Free Churches lie is undoubtedly "the king of anniversary. preachers." ' His Sundays are all booked months ahead, and the late Dr Parker when away from the City. Temple called upon Silas K. Hocking to take his place more frequently than any other man. THE PEN v. THE. PULPIT. Dr Parker wa s a, hard hitter, and he admired tho directness and strength of Mr' Hocking' s pen. and of his* voice in the pulpit. , Mr. HockingV stories ' are too well known to need description. More than two million copies of his books have been' sold, and their power may be realised when it i s stated that special editions "are -.printed for the .great- P.S.A.'s and brotherhoods that have been formed by the Churches in. all. parts of v the country for the working-men. Working men value the books of Mr Hocking,, for they deal with the ambitions, the struggles, and the life of the people./ - "I believe," once said ., Mr Hocking, "that the pen is more powerful than the ptilpit. • This is not n mere opinion, but i s backed by my own experience, for I have had far more testimonials" to good wrought by my work as a fiction writer than by my work as a preacher. , "For one thing, I reach- u& many who cannot be induced to enter a place of worship, and to whom all pulpit appeals are vain. "Then I get what every preacher wants, the oar. of the butsiue public. Ij believe that, the influence of a good work of fiction is on -.the whole more abiding than that of a- sermon. You have a. better opportunity of bringing home the lessons of the .'superiority of right over . wrong, and of its sure victory in the end." HOW HE BEGAN TO WRITE. The story of how Mr Hocking started to write is interesting. Talking. of his boyhood days, he says : "In those days we had fires on. the hearth, and in the long winter evenings we used to sit in the open, chimney armwid .the crackling logs* and listen to my mother's stories about fairies and pixies, smugglers^ and wrecks, so that i early in. my life my mind was imbued with -Tomantie ideas. , "Books w-ere not very .■numerous t» en > and both my father and mother had a stroncr objection ' to ..novels*. In early life, however. I got hold of the 'Arabian Nights,' 'Robinson Crusoe,' and 'Pen Quixote,' which* -\I read with avidity, though I had to read them by stealth. "I attempted my first story at ' the early ago of fifteen. I never completed it, how ever, and I often wonder what becairte- of that 'manuscript of eight or ten pages. / ; "When I entered the ministry. I put a curb upon, my desire to.be a 'writer .of fiction and it wa-s not ■ until I had been preaching about six or seven years th.it .almost by accident I started to write another story. , "Having been prevented from going out one afternoon by a 'drenching downpour ef vain, and having nothing el&e in particular to do, I- took up my pen, and without any preconceived plot in my mind,- I began to write casually in, the fust person, and to weave in some incidents in. tho life of an old seafaring uncle of .mine." ~ ■ "The story grew from page to page, and- so. without any intention of writyig «■ story at the beginning, my first. bo,6k, 'Alec Green,' was completed. "This was published in a local paper asj a s?rial, for which I received no payment, .but it pleased ihe people so well that I was induced to send it to a wellknown .firm 'of publishers, who accepted it." . : Earlv in his career Mr Hocking wrote "Her Benny,", a book that still pells in thousands every year, for it has a standard reputation like "Christie's Old Or'znn" and "Jessica's First Prayer." "Her B-0T1I1Y" is probably the most papular prize" book for Sunday schools in 'the world. .. "