Mr. John Russell Young gave the doctor a luncheon at the Union League
Club at one o’clock, at which were a number of Philadelphia’s most
distinguished men as guests. At the right of Mr. Young at the table was
Dr. Watson; at his left, Archbishop Ryan. Next to Dr. Watson was John
Wanamaker. I don’t think that any party has ever been privileged to
listen to a more delightful theological discussion than that which took
place between the Catholic archbishop and the Presbyterian Scotch
minister. It was quite a display of wit and historical knowledge, which
made the occasion intensely interesting. It was a protracted luncheon.
We did not get up from the table until half-past three. Then the doctor
went to the New Century Club for a reception. At least Pierce called it
a reception. There was a large auditorium, every seat of which was
occupied. The doctor was led out upon the stage and introduced to the
audience. He gave there one of the brightest and most interesting
lectures of his whole tour, not finishing until five o’clock. He was
unprepared for a speech and was obliged to work out his salvation by
thinking on his feet. He was equal to the occasion, and made his best
speech in America there. He took a carriage direct to the station and
went out to Pottstown, where he gave a lecture under the auspices of the
Hill School, returning at midnight to Philadelphia. The following Sunday
he preached in Germantown, Philadelphia, in the morning. In the
afternoon, with John Wanamaker, he was introduced to many Sunday
schools and saw the working of John Wanamaker’s famous system for the
Sunday religious instruction of the young. In addition to these duties
the doctor had been interviewed by all the reporters in Philadelphia,
and his face and his name were the prominent features in all the daily
papers.
At one of his interviews, speaking of the manner in which his short
stories were written, Dr. Watson said:
“Each one was turned over in my mind for months before I put pen to
paper. It took a prodigious amount of mental labor before I even had a
story formed in my head. Then I blocked it out at one sitting. Then the
thing was put aside, while I went over and over in my mind each
detail,--each line of dialogue, each touch of description,--determining
on the proper place, attitude, share, color, and quality of each bit, so
that the whole might in the end be a unit, not a bundle of parts. By and
by came the actual writing, with the revision and the correction which
accompanies and follows. The actual composition of ‘The Bonnie Briar
Bush’ stories occupied fifteen months. They were the more difficult,
because in every case the character is revealed in dialogue exclusively.
It is different where the writer has a plot--a murder, for
instance--because then there is something definite to hold the
attention, and one can dash ahead compared with the slow progress I was
forced to make.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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