THE STARTING POINT. Mr. Kline is not sure of his beginnings; perhaps
it came to him out of the ether “or whatever it is that niggardly
generates ideas.” “If it had any starting point, perhaps it was in a
talk I remember once having with Braithwaite. I kicked because the
embattled farmers and others of New England never seemed to fire a
shot but some ready recorder was instantly on hand to jot it down in a
paean of praise; while Pennsylvania, with pretty good history of its
own, too, and full of legend and lore, had gone totally unreported by
comparison. Maybe I started out to hunt up its legends.”
After this pleasant admission, Mr. Kline confesses that “The Caller in
the Night” is no rendering of an actual legend. “So far as I know there
never was a Screamer Moll, and no skeletons. The thunderstorm probably
happened. The rest is all made up.”
The statements are invaluable to one who sets out to judge a piece of
work with due regard to the author’s purpose. His motive, in brief, is
comparable to that of Washington Irving. Father Knickerbocker is the
“created legendary” figure in which New York will take pride forever.