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Influential journalist and writer of fiction and drama (1864–1916), remembered as an ally of Theodore Roosevelt and for his work as a war correspondent covering the Spanish–American War, the Second Boer War, and World War I. AMS signed "Richard Harding Davis, Mt. Kisco, N.Y.," 75 pages, 5.75 x 4.75, no date but published in 1914. Davis's handwritten draft for his story "The Boy Scout," the first tale in his 1914 short story collection The Boy Scout and Other Stories for Boys. Writing on bright yellow notebook paper, Davis begins: "A rule of the Boy Scouts is every day to do some one a good turn. Not because the copy-books tell you it deserves another, but in spite of that pleasing possibility. If you are a true scout, until you have performed your act of kindness your day is dark. You are as unhappy as is the grown up who has begun his day without shaving, or reading the New York Sun. But as soon as you have proved yourself you may, with a clear conscience, look the world in the face and untie the knot in your kerchief." Davis makes numerous emendations throughout, striking through and replacing numerous words. The manuscript is in fine condition: each page has been professionally inlaid into a larger 6.75 x 8.75 sheet, and custom-bound together in half-morocco; however, the front board is neatly detached at the joint.
Provenance: The Philip M. Neufeld Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Books, Christie's, April 25, 1995.
