Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-29
WOMEN WHO WRITE.
Mrs oIiphant, Mrs Burnett and Few Other
Philadelphia Times.

Popular NoYelistS
Philadelphia Times.
Mrs. OIiphant, who has probably
written and edited more books than any
other woman of the century, is soon 20
publish, through the Macmillans, an adj
dition to her Little Pilgrim series in
small volume entitled 1.-THE Land OF
Darkness. - A curious thing about
Mrs. OIiphant is that though she
has been before the public so
long and continuously as 2 writer
nothing is known of her personality. She
holds herself aloof from literary people,
living quietly in the country, almost uu-
der the shadow of Windsor castle. Any
attempt TO make her speak of herself she
looks upon as an intrusion, aud has for
years baffied the newspaper interviewer
and successfully kept personal Information
concerning herself out of print Not long
ago q paragraph was started saying that
the author of ''The Little Pilgrim - was
the mother of twelve children whom she
brought up and educated herself, and
that between her visits TO the nursery and
schoolroom she found time to write her
dozens of volumes. 1t is hardly necessary
to deny this absurd yarn, the truth being
the number of children is ten too many
MS. N1A JitiAtL - A4Oh StkitlOSl StANN &c
years old. Her pleasant, motherly face
makes her visitor, if he come well recon-
mended, feel at home at once, but with
tuft hunters she has 10 patience. The
kindly, gentle nature attracts one so for
chilly that one is apt TO forget for the mo-
ment her scholarly tastes and great intel
lectuGl attainmentS. She is a hard
worker and student. keeping in her work
room the greater part of the day and
never wasting time in answering requests
for autographs or replying to any other
than business and social letters, the for
mer being more numerous than the lat
ter.
If Mrs. Frances HOdgson Burnett is q
clever and successful author, she is not
less gifted with shrewd business tact
Formerly the husband attended to his
wife 5 business affairs, but of late, with
the assistance of her secretary, Miss
Chiellini, Mrs. Burnett has taken the
reins entirely in her own hands, and
she is proving herself an exceedingly
keen business woman. She welcomes
more than ever the wide publicity
which the newspapers bring her, and re-
porters are graciOusly received where
once they were denied even glimpse of
the authoress in her home. The success
of ''Little Lord Fauntleroyi as a play
has opened to Mrs. Burnett n COMPARE
lively new field of work, which she is
certain to take advantage of and CLEAN
with the same energy she exhibits il
everything she undertakes.
She is highly susceptible-and who is
not?-to the charm of the almighty dol
lar, especially now, when the expenses of
her new house in Washington are creep
ing up, and tempting offers from two or
three theater managers suggest the pos
sibility that she may find the writing of
plays more profitable than the writing of
books hereafter. She has already
bestowed favor upon enough of
these offers to insure for
herself rs much work as would satisfy
four ordinary women. Her promises thus
far include two new novels and two new
plays, and during the progress of all
these different negotiations she kept an
eye on the two companies now producing
90 Fauntleroy - and supervises the re-
hearsals of a third, which will shortly
leave for the Pacific coast, and with what
is lef oft her attention she devotes to the
sale OF her eight or nine published books
Mrs. George +. James, the author Of
The House on the Marsh, who is better
known as Miss Florence Warden, writes
from London that she has just finished q
story which will be published in England,
the United States and Canada by the In
ternational news company. Another
tale Of the same stirring kind, - she
says, ''will be published in England next
spring in the People, ard am now en-
gagged on an exciting story, the deStina-
ton of which is not yet settled
Miss Sallie p. Mclean, the author OF
''Cape Cod Folks, - book which was
so realistic, it will be remembered, that
it took its publisher into the courts to de-
fend suit for libel brought by the Cape
Cod folks themselves, has written another
story. 1t is entitled, "Last Chance
Junction, - and is said to be looked for
with curiosity.
Mrs. Humphrey Ward is reported by
friend as being SO busy on her new novel
that she refuses to entertain all the offers
which come to her until after its CON-
pletion. The new novel is promised by
the publishers for February.
The author of 1.-THE Story of an Afri-
can Farm, - Miss Olive Schreiucr, has
new novel in hand which viii appear
within two months.