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1 A HJ SU DAY
1930
Kenneth L. oberts, o Wrot Arundel, Was First ~ncouraged To Write Book By C Roose Was E~thusiastically Urged To Lay Aside ·\V.ork And Start At Once Upon The Great Undertaking
"Arundel" was really launched lDl,llY years ago while Mr, Roberts was -1'ftb Life and Puck. It is a.n 1ntereatlnl story and should appeal to the bun• dreds of Maine people who are now reading the baok. It seems that one day Mr. Roberts came across an interview ~tq. Theodore Roosevelt 1n which the President spoke of some rea.dlng he had recently done. "I got a. whole lot ot entertainment out of one other book," Roosevelt 11ald in the interview, "the title of which I ha.te forgotten . I can't reca.11 even the author's na.me, but the at.ory was mighty good." Verses Addreaed to Booeevelt ~ / After rea.dlng those rema.rkl, Milt Robert.s wrote aome verses addrealled "To Col. Rooeevelt: A Letter of 'ftrotest." I had intended, ~tr, to write A book-a novel, say-this Bummer: Something exciting, gripping, bright: , In short, a. hummer. But, sir, your statements in the news Have filled my heart with hesita.tlon And made me think I'd better choose A new vocation.
fact to a.It us writer chaJII Who'd fa.in be Tarktngtena or Trol• lopes. . . ' Your words a.re wone tha.n thunder• claps Or numbing wa.llops. Fpr how can we preserve our poise And keep undimmed the flame Ambition If we're to be denied the joys Of recognition?
No book can possibly succeed Unless the public knows its title And a.uthor too. These things, indeed, Are alm~t vita.I. For with h1a book unsought, unsold, The author ca.nnot know Fame's blessing; And that, combined with lack of piW, Is most dlstreaaln~ ballll"I'!~ . that
Kenneth L. Roberts, staff corree "Saturday Evening Post" and author of ovel of early Maine, is an adopted son of this th his neighbor and friend, Booth Tarkington. fact s, Mr. Roberts was borri at Kennebunk about 45 go and save for his exteQsive journalistic and war ramhas al ays lived in that vicinity. At the present tirn~, Italy, he maintains a home at Kennebunk Beach ummer finds him . : : . ~ - -......U<&..._.............=..:.;.;=:...:.:: there or some lace · M ine.
And if you. 11lr. forget these things, Won't letsser minds forget them aJi;o? Indeed tht!y wm ! 'Tia tha.t which stings, And stirs mr gall 1i0t So. spea.king f1>r the writing crew,
I pray that henceforth heeding The a11thor and the O! wha.t yo1fi.Jl';o;,!'III~.,.
you'll be
verses appeared 1n the New un o A r I 14 181
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