Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-01-06

that ne did not know what she was receiving Tor
her pen-w work, but whatever it was he would
double it. She named the pay she was receiv-
ing, and he not only doubled the sum, but add
ed q handsome bonus and made it fixed salary
on q contract to write five years exclusively for
his paper. As the Ledger grew in circulation,
Mr.. Bonner literally increased her salary
before the termination Of this first contract
At this time her stories were all copied in Eng
land, and translated and copied in German and
French papers. In 1856 an agent OF the London
Journal came over to get the manuscript, and II
not advance sheets of her stories. By the liberal
consent of Mr.. Bonner she was able to make an
advantageous arrangement with the Journal
In 1859 she was invited to 60 TO England to try
to get authorship copyright there by residence,
as her stories were steadily pirated by European
publishers. She went over with her family for
this purpose, and served an injunction on q
guilty publisher, but got et ancery suit instead
Of copyright. She spent three years in Eng
land, writing during her stay for the London
Journal, but primarily for the Ledger. She took
out letters Of introduction from Mrs. Stowe to
the Duchess of Sutherland, who received her
very affectionatcly at Stafford House; and t.
Lady Noel Byron, who became one of her
warmest friends. She also had letters to
the Kingsley brothers, Charles and Henry
the Martineaus, and others of literary note
so that she had the opportunity Of spend
ing as much time in distinguished literary ana
social circles as she could spare fiom her busy
pen. The chancery. suit was finished in De
cember, 1861, adversely to her, and she wa
heartily glad to have done with the delays OF
English laws and to get home. On reaching
home in 1862, she found new work before her H.
the needs of the sick and wounded soldiers in
our hospitals, and she entered upon il with al.
the eaTnestness of her nature. IL was in this
work that she contracted the fever (varioloid
that so seriously threatened her life.
Mrs. SOuthwOrth has by her hard and upre-
hitting work with the pen reached comfortable
circumstances. She continues the leading con-
tributor to the Ledger, and Bonner the most
liberal ofemplOyers. Since she has been on the
Ledger, Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson Ed
ward Everett, George ID. Prentice, Henry Ward
Beechcr, Fanny Fern, James Parton and many
others known TO fame have written for it,
but no one OF the m, nor all together, could ever
send the circulation of that paper up at a bound
as does the announcement OF "a new story BY
Mrs. Southworth." 1t is common to account
for her success by calling her stories sensational.
but if anybody thinks it an easy matter to write
successful sensation stories, or any other kind
for twenty-siX years continuously, let them try
it-or let the m try one, even! But let any one
review the Southworth novels and he will be
surprised by the small amount of sensation mat
ter in them. No current writer in fact deals 81
little with murder and bigamy, the standard
material for modern sensation fiction, as ,loes
Mrs. Southworth.
Since Mrs. Southworth commenced writing in
1916 she has produced no less than thirty-two
novels. OF these 90 The Hidden Hand" pub
lished in 1859, is the most popular. 1t has beer
dramatized in England and America, and sill
holds the stage. Capitola hats, Capitsla fast
horses, and CapitOla schooners have been named
for its heroine; and various points about the Isl
and Of Mount Desert, down towards sun
rise, have received their appellations from tn.
same source. Mrs. Southworth s favorite, how
ever, is her story OF " Self-Made,'' founded OF
the life of William Writ, and which embrace
many interesting particulars of his career
known TO her ancestors
1t will be remembered that Charles Reade wa
accused of plagiarism in his Terrible Tempta
ton" by appropriatiDg his mad descrip
ton verbatim from a book called ILLUSTRATION
of Madness" published in 1910. simila,
charge is suggested by Mrs. Southworth in he,
preface to "Fair Play, or the Test of the Lon,
Isle" on its appearance in book form. Her story
which bears 80 much resemblance to Reade's
Foul Play" as might lead any reader of both
novels to suspect plagiarism on the one side OF
the other, was first published in the New York
Logger, and copied in the London Journal in 1856
and 1866. Foul Play" was published in 1868.
Mrs. Southworth in person is quite unlike thu.
ideal OF sensation writer" Tallish in
figure with full forehead, well.balanced head
thoughtful gray eyes and a face denoting intel
lect Of the deliberate reasoning kind, she seem
likelier TO be writer of the Martineau ordel
than of the imaginative style. She has two
children, DIR. Richard j. Southworth, a much
esteemed physician of Georgetown, and Char
lOtte Emma Lawrence, the wife of DIR. James V
Lawrence, an officer in the United States army
- But we are at the end Of our space, and oui
sketch matter Of the authors Of Washington
must "be continued"