Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-10-15
"THE BAR-SINISTER."
The Question of Its Authorship
Settled.

The authorship of this book, which
appeared anonymously little over a
year ago, has been subject Of consider
able dispute here, where there is naturally
more interest felt in the characters and
the treatment they receive than there
would be elsewhere.
Many persons were quite sure the book
was written by Miss Kate Field. Others
were good enough to credit me with the
authorship, while still others, who pro-
fessed to be in the secret, asserted that
it was written by the wife of a we'll
known Senator knew did not write
it, and was almost as sure that Miss Field
did not, for it contained inaccuracies in
the matter of local descriptions that
would not have appeared in its pages if
written by one who had spent as many
months in Salt Lake as she did
Lately, | have been inclined to think
Mary j. Holmes the author, as she WIS.,
tied Salt Lake with the avowed purpose
of gathering materials for book, but the
question is set at rest by the publishers,
who advertise it as written by Mrs. Major
Walworth, the well-known Southern
authoress.
do not know whether Mrs. Walworth
has ever visited Salt Lake, but | suspect
that if she has been here at all she has
only remained a few days. Still, she
shows remarkable acquaintance with
the manner in which fanaticism does its
work in leading conscientious women to
accept polygamy as something divinely
ordered. Her pictures Of the effects OF
polygamy are also true to the life in most
respects, though | doubt if any woman
could be so stunned by the discovery OF
her husbands perfdy as to give no heed
to the dying agonies of her little child.
Many wife has lived on for her chill
dren's sake, has chung to life when it
held nothing but torture for her, be-
cause she would not abandon her little
ones to the tender mercies OF those
around her.
\ few years ago | had neighbour II
first wife, who was slowly dying OF an in
durable disease. Though so weak that
she could barely totter across the room,
she used to rise every day from her sick
bed and creep abouta the house to do
what was needful for the comfort of her
two little ones. The second wife was a
coarse, brutal woman, terror to her
family and to the neighborhood, and the
mother OF those two helpless babes used
to say:
die, that dreadful woman will get my
children"
Mothers all know what it is to put
aside their own sorrows, and think only
of their children, but no mother is so alb
hoo il a,
her children.
Two things in "The Bar-Sinister" made
me feel a natural curiosity as 10 its author.
ship. On pages 257 and 25S there are
paragraphs taken verbatim from a story
Of mine Ills Second Wife,, which APP
peared in The Continent Of September
18th, 1888. One OF the chapters is en-
titled "In the Tolls" and another CATER
Many Days." the title of the concluding
chapter oil my first book. 1t may be that
the undeserved credit of the authorship
OF the book was given me by some parties
on this account, but there is so much in
it that stamps it as the work of one whose
literary training has been superior to
mine that | have not judged any dis
claimer necessary.
1t is certainly encouraging to us to know
tiliI SutCu NOllltlil lIOul tHe OutSluG
world is willing to use her pen in our be-
half, and regard it as hopeful sign
that authors, philanthropists and states
men are turning their regards this way.
If anything have written has been OF
service to Mrs. Walworth, l am glad OF
it; and think the columns of our daily
papers, if read by writer's abroad, would
furnish them with material for books of
absorbing interest.
Without making the mistake of think
ing that "the Utah problem" is the only
question before the Nation, we feel that
it is much more than local issue, and
that it demands earnest consideration on
the part of all who have the welfare OF
our country at heart. If the multiplica-
ton Of books on this subject can help to
make the question National one, "The
Bar-Sinister" and every book written
with like purpose ought to have a
hearty welcome from us.
CoRNELIA PADDOCK.
SALT LAKE CRY, Oct. Is, 1886.