| Show will Mr Ingalls Write a Novel NEW YORE Feb 9Iu a recent interview inter-view Senator Ingalls for the first time admitted ad-mitted that he had been at work for some years upon a political novel A report had spread abroad some three or four years ago that the senator was busily engaged upon a piece of fictionbut while he did not then absolutely deny the report he would not admit its truth He now says that he spent such leisure time a he could command for I nearly two years in the writing of a political I polit-ical romance or a romance in which national na-tional politics played an incidental part But to his deep sorrow the manuscript was destroyed when his house was burned The senator intimates however that we shall be likely to have the novel within a year as he proposes to rewrite it as soon a his senatorial term i over He can enter upon the task with far more enthusiasm and confidence than usually accompany the writer of fiction who is making his first effort For Mr Ingalls himself says that he has already been offered a very large sum for the manuscript by two publishers pub-lishers but as he has a very keen business head he is going t wait until his story i before he closes completed close any bargain A story by John James Ingalls is bound to have the peculiar individual flavor which has made him so distinguished in public life and which i not an eccentricity eccentric-ity but the suggestion of originality of intellect I I Ingalls writes fiction as well a he tells anecdotes his book will b a very great success Notwithstanding his reputation for acerbity and his capa city for saying things that cut like a dagger dag-ger thrust Mr Ingalls is really one of the most delightful of men in private life and no congressman since the days of Tom Corwin has been or is his equal as a storyteller story-teller among friends He has the capacity to describe an individual with a single picturesque sentence His sense of humor is very great and many of his speeches which read so bitter were when uttered I accompanied by a manner which suggested suggest-ed to those who heard them that the senator sena-tor was really in a humorous vein and was enjoying his speech and its effect with a sly suggestion of mischief For this reason rea-son he made no personal enemies in the senate Very many men have gone from public life to their libraries and taken up the pen One waiter of fiction James K Paulding was called to the cabinet of a president after h had made a name with his novels George William Curtis who wrote two novels in his early manhood has been several times invited to take prominent political office but has declined When Thomas H Benton quitted the senate sen-ate after a service of thirty years he sought solace in his declining days by writing his memoirs and the work has become a standard in our literature Henry A Wise the eccentric but able politician of Virginia Vir-ginia also wrote some interesting memoirs Mr Blaines Twenty Years in Congress Is well known One of the last of the literary works of the late Sunset Cox was u book of reminiscences called Union Disunion Reunion And William H Seward after a life of political activity covering nearly forty years went t the delightful repose of his home in Auburn N Y and wrote a most interesting volume I Mr Ingalls saw fit to write 3 book en titled fO instance Politics as I Have Found It he would be sure t furnish something which had not only value as a reminiscence and a discussion but would also possess the finest literary charm It is quite likely however that in his novel political incidents will be introduced which will give him abundant opportunity to say those delightful and incisive things which his senator have made hi repute as a E J EDWARDS |
