The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-10-01
Miscel1a NY.


A SPICY CORRESPONDENTS.
The publishers of the forthcoming volume
entitled Eminent Women of the Age"
wished to include in it a biographical sketch
OF Gail Hamilton and requested Fanny Fern
to write it. Fanny reports the following cor
respondence as the result:
MY DEAR Miss DeDcE, OTHERWISE GAIL
nAMlLToN: book is in prospect. Many
,u oui wen known literary people are to
WriIe Tor 1t. Its title is to be Eminent
women OF the Age" You and are 10 be in
~. L am TO do you. Who is to serve me up
tne gods only know. Will you be good
enough 10 inform me at your earliest conven-
fence, when and where you cut your first
tooth, whether you had the measles before
Inc mumps, or the mumps before the measles
o any other interesting items about YOUR
Writing about you will be a labor of lowe
with me; for although a STRANGER TO Won. save
througn your writings, rejoice every day in
your existence.
Please send me an early answer
~ Yours, etc.,
FANNY FERN
In few DAYS I received the following re-
ply:
MY DEAR MRS. FERN: The GOODNESS n,
New Workers is astonishing You are about
to burn me at The stake, and will have the
goodness to send on the shavings and dry
wood by the next mail?
Ihank you, ma'am, [ will. .
LIFE AND sUFFERINGs OF
GAIL HAMILTON.
Written by Itself And wi,h Former, Trans
tattonS Diligently Compared and Repieed.
10 the best OF my knowledge and belief,
was porn IN The New York Independent
sometime during the last halt of the present
century, aud before The independent had
been annexed to the domains of Theodore
hlng oil A6yssinia, against whom the great
powers have just advanced an expeditton.
simultaneously, or thereabouts, | was born
IN The National Era. So l must be twins.
On mat ground it has never been satisfactory
setIieq whether am myself or Mrs Simp-
son oi ashlnSton. 1t am Mrs. Simpson,
am the vie OF an officer who to his infinite
regret. was not killed IN the late unpleasant
ness ana am hneal desceEdent of that Sim
PIE S'non, who once went fishing for to
eatcu Wnale, though all the water that he
9ad was IN his mothers pail Ii I am not
Launceiot: nor another, but only my own self,
an ike Meichlsedeck, without father, with
C ouI notner, without descent, and my enemies
rear, also, | have no end of life. On one
Poiht comments tors are agreed, that | am
not an Eminent Woman of nv time. and
.f fnetelore Lave no part nor lot in your book
Neither man nor woman ..
am neither brute nor human
II I'm ghoulr
ana all That ask is to be let alone. From
The Independent [ graduated into The Con
greSationailst, or blessed memory; and fion
Inc Era padded over into The Atlantic. |
Hourish ID immortal vigor on the cover OF
Our Young Folks, and at sundry times. and
III dlvers other manners and places. have. |
Iear, contributed to the deterioration of oasr
youth. l sadly confess, also, that am guilty
OF as many books as Mrs. Rogers had small
chlldren but being written in love, and in
the spirit OF meekneSs, they are held in high
esteem, especially of men. Whereunto / al
SO aud, Ike st. Paul, that which eometh upon
me daily, the care OF all the churches.
such, unhappy fellow-suferers, is my
thrilling story. If any one shall add unto
tnese Things, let nim tremble lest / imprecate
upon him all the plaques of the Apocalypse;
and II any person shall dare saddle any other
man or woman with the sins which / alone
nave peIpetrated, say propheticalIy to such
saddler, Lord Angus, thou hast.
Inankng you tor your friendly words,
ana rejoicing, like King David IN his great
strait, that am not TO fall into the hands OF
man, am very RESPECTFULLY,
4a1 GAIL HAMILTON.
respectfully, that is, if you respect my
rights; but shall have a lifelong quarrel
even with you, if you spread before the pub
lie anything which myself have not given
to the public. have really very strong opin-
ions on that point; and, notwithstanding its
commences, consider no crime more rad-
eahy heinous than the violation of privacy
fou must have suffered from it too severely
yourself to be surprised at any abhoTance OF
1t on my part. most heartily wish you
could find it IN your plan to leave me out in
the cold. OF course, ii you judge from my
writings that am woman, you can say
what you please about that woman, that
writer, and have neither the wish nor the
right to say you nay. So much of tie wo-
man as appears in an authors writings is
public property by her Rn free will. All the
rest belongs TO her resers ed rights. | pray
you to speak, ii speak you must, so wisely as
to make this clear Launch thunder bolts, or
sing songs, as you find 1t; but read the pre-
face OF my first book, "Country Living and
Country thinking" and govern yourself ac.
ccoTdia5ty; and shall be, without any conai-
ton, and positively the last time,
Yours, very truly,
GAIL HAMILTON.