St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-04-20
ANAUTHoREss AT HOME.
Where the Venerable NoreIist, Hrs. A,an s.
Stephens, Lires.


Stephens, Lires.
The outside of the house where lives Mrs.
Ann S. Stephens is, like all the rest of the
houses in the block, handsome but unpre-
tentious, but as soon as the door opens the
visitor feels the strong individuality of the
owner as evinced by the surroundings.
Plain but elegant, rich without ostentation,
and comfortable above all, with an air of
womanly taste, is everything about her. The
halls are of polished wood, carved and fur
nished with soft carpets and sculptured racks
and chairs The parlors have squares of
Persian carpets laid over the polished inlaid
floors, and the chairs and sofas are each a
work of quaint art in carving and decoration.
Bookcases filed with volumes stand in every
room and little tables hold sets of priceless
porcelain and other pottery, and cabinet
near the windows is filed with rare old Etru-
scan vases and other articles, each having a
history of its own. On the walls hang two
pictures which once belonged to Aaron Burr
1 think one is of Mary Woodstonecraft
Another picture is a portrait of child by
Gilbert Stuart. There is but little of the
fashionable bric-a-brac around, yet what few
articles there are out-value whole rooms full
of such as is seen elsewhere.
Back of the two parlors is the cheerful din
ing room on the same level, furnished in the
same quiet but elegant taste. No pictures
of game or fruit disfgure the walls nor de
stroy the appetite in this pleasant room.
The private studio of Mrs. Stephens, where
| she passes the most of her time, is on the
|
peacefulness reigns. A comfortable lounge
with soft cushions stands between a high and
overlooking bookcase and her writing-desk,
and large, easy leather-covered chairs stand
! about the room. Three windows make it
| light and cheerful. The chimney holds few
pieces of rare pottery, and smaller writing
| desk stands on one side, while an ebony
cabinet fills the other vacant space and holds
several works of art, small but exceedingly
meritOrious.
Several paintings adorn the wall, most of
them painted by artist friends and given her
as souvenirs. Among them is pretty little
piece painted by the late Frank Leslie. Over
the sofa is an almost life-sized portrait of
Mrs. Stephens in her thirtieth year.
She is now seventy-four and the most care
less observer can trace the resemblance to
her as she is now. She has changed from
youth to age; the brown .curls are now
snowywhite, but the dark blue eyes are as
full of fire and intelligence and the forehead
shows few wrinkles, yet the complexion is
as fair and though the color has left her
cheeks her lips are full and red and her
| hands and wrists still exquistely modelled
| and fair. Nobility speaks through every fea-
| ture and movement and her intellect was
never clearer nor more active than now. She
| IL l.
lace at neck and wrists.
| Mrs. Stephens has commanding presence
and manner at once dignified and simple.
She is tall and wen built, and has preserved
not only her mental brilliancy, but also her
physical attractions to very great extent.
A lady and her two pretty daughters called
upon Mrs. Stephens while 1 was there, and
! there arose a charming conversation on things
in general, which soon drifted towards the
youthful days of the venerable lady, and she
chatted like girl as she told how she had
been born in one of the 'down eastern''
states, Connecticut or Vermont, 1 forget
which, and said that when she was six years
old she wrote her first poem. She had been
shut in her room for having teased a red
haired boy, who had been adopted into their
family, and while in solitary confinement
wrote verse calling the boy a Ounce, and
then she pinnedit on the outside of the door
so that whoever came to release her might
find it. Then from time to time she wrote
little sketches, but not for publication, until
she was about twenty-four, when she took her
position before the world as novelist.
She edited and managed Frank Leslie's
magazine for some years and rendered it
popular, and then she made an engagement
with Peterson Bros, of Philadelphia, and has
been with them fifty years, half century, and
is still writing though there has long ceased
to be any necessity of her writing. But she
loves her work and cannot bear to stop
She was married, and of that marriage
has two children, a son, and daughter
named for herself, a most devoted lovely
and lovable young girl, who is the living
picture of the portrait on the wall painted so
long ago. Mrs. Stephens speaks with the
deepest tenderness of her dead husband; and
of her thirty years of married life as one I'm
broken era of happiness. But she does not
live in the shadow of grief. Hers is ten
der sorrow as beautiful as rare.
OF the books Mrs. Stephens has written it
is needless to speak, as they are too well
known. Their intensely dramatic incidents
and clearly-drawn characters are not easily
forgotten, and her poems, though she has
published few, have had an echo in every
school-room in the land, the surest test of
the excellence Of poem. 1.-THE Polish BOy,''
and the cold Apple Tree'' have been favor
ties for public readings for forty years. She
has unpublished poems enough to make
large volume, and her daughter intends
publishing them in handsomely illustrated
volume. Mrs. Stephens also intends drama
tizing some of her books.
OF the influence this aged lady exerts for
good 1t is not necessary to speak, Kindness
and consideration towards all have been her
habit always, and there is no one in the land
who is not honored by being admitted to her
presence.
Among the renowned writer's in this
country there is none more sensitive and re-
firing nor one who has sought less for motor
iety than Mrs. Stephens. She has written
and published over forty successful books,
and has steadily declined thrusting herself
before the public in any except through the
books she wrote. None but her friends have
known all these years how she lived, looked
or acted. She has kept her personality sep
arated from her public works as few have
done, and with a modesty almost too shrink
ing has left it for her own works to ''praise
her in the gates.'' Olive Harper in n. Y.
World.
Gen. Logan's Troubles as Church Member.
Chicago Letter.
s'You have heard how Logan joined our
church by telegraph when he was candi-
date for the senate the first time, haven't !
you?' said prominant Methodist to the Sun
correspondent in the corridor of the Grand
Pacific Hotel the other day. ''But very few
people know that he came very near being
expelled from the church a few years ago for
swearing. Both General and Mrs. Logan
I,or- Of CL,1ral,