Wichita eagle., 1889-06-19
SOME LITERARY WOMEN.
fACTS ABOUT THEIR STRUGGLES,
TRIUMPHS AND IRREGULARITIES.

Women Who Were Long Thought to Be
nIen-The Bronte Sisters Early
Struggles of Authors Whose Books WIZ
Live Forever.
The history of no literary family is so RS
anarkable as that of the three sisters, Char
fotte, Emily and Anne Bronte. They lived
In secluded hamlet in the north of England,
and their first volume fell dead from the
press, making a gap Of over $3.50 in their
slender income. 1t was volume Of poems
supposed TO be the production OF three broth
ers Currer (Charlotte), Ellis Emily and
Acton (Anne) Bell Charlotte afterward
achieved popularity as the author Of "The
Professor" Jane Eyre" etc. When she
called upon her publishers they discovered
that Currer Bell, instead of being man, was
q diminutive and demure country girl, clad
in rural simplicity. They would not believe
that she was the author Of such keen studies
of social life and character until she presented
their business correspondence as q proof.
Emily, who wrote "Wuthering Heights"
though timid as a fawn in society, was a
woman of rare nerve.
9,On one occasion she was bitten by dog
supposed to be mad. She walked to the
kitchen, took hot iron from the stove and
cauterized the wound without finching, the
scar being visible upon her hand until the
day of her death. She did not tell her sisters
of the accident until weeks afterward. There
was something almost tragical about the ra-
pidity with which the three sisters followed
each other to the grave.
THE CHILD WITH HOOP.
Mrs. Lewes, whose maiden name was Mari
On c. Evans, wrote under the masculine
guise of George Eliot. She deceived the gen.
eral public, but not Charles Dickens. He
wrote to Mr.. Blackwood in praise Of her
genius, whereupon Mr.. Blackwood wrote
back that the great novelist should not say
her but his. Dickens was not to be de-
ceived, and when "Adam Bede" appeared
his suspicious were confirmed. While the
style was full of masculine power in its pene-
tration and the depths of its philosophy, the
female characters were far more ably drawn
than the male ones.
When Mr.. Jordan first saw 81. E. L."
0etitia Elizabeth Landon) he was almost as
much astonished as the publishers Of "Jane
Eyre were when they learned that Currer
Bell was woman and not man. L. E. L.
was brought into public notice by Mr. Jer-
Gazette He was struck with the delicately
passionate sentiment of her poetry, and all
he knew of her was that she was quite young
and wrote with graceful ease In little
while her poetry began to be quoted, praised
and talked about. The author was living
with some old maids who had educated her,
and one day he received an invitation to call
on her. The ladies welcomed him heartily
and had great deal to tell him about his
gifted contributor While seated at an open
window he saw little girl trundling hoop
along the gravel walks in the garden. He
noticed that her figure was petite, her face
expressive but childlike, and her eyes very
brilliant.
"Dear me-" he said, as the little creature
continued her sport, II wonder when that
little girl will stopa That play with the
hoop, ON hot day like this, must fatigue her
very much"
Little grill" exclaimed one of the elderly
ladies, bristling up. "Why that is Miss Ian
don, the young poetess of whom we are SO
proud and whom you have appeared anx-
ious to seel"
Mr.. Jordan had expected to see young
lady, but certainly not diminutive creature
not yet 16 years old.
ALICE CARY AND MISS ALCoTT
Alice Cary fought her way to success
against more than ordinary difficulties. Her
stepmother thought that all study was a
waste of time. She kept fer at household
drudgery during the day, and denied her can
dies at night. But her ambition was not to
be crushed so easily; she read and wrote un-
til midnight; a saucer of lard with rag for
q wick furnished her with light
Miss Alcott's first book, Hospital Sketch
es," which she always affirmed was the best
of her works, fell dead from the press But
she was too plucky to be disheartened She
produced Little Women" and it met with
immense favor at once, and she followed it
with the other pleasing books that brought
her royalty of about $4,000. And yet the
publisher to whom she first offered Little
Women" returned it to her with the fatherly
admonition that she had better stick to school
teaching and give up authorship.
George Sand smoked in her old days For
months before her death she suffered intense
ly without uttering the least complaint In
her last sickness of eight days she covered her
face during the deepest anguish, as the Ro-
mans used to do when they felt that their end
was drawing near.
some IelDale writer's OIL q SeQeraClOn ago,
whose first books were a success, scarcely live
in cur memories now. Among them might
be named Fanny Fern, whose Fern Leaves
reached a sale of 5000 copies; Fanny For
ester, whose "Alderbrook" reached sale Of
40,C00 copies, and Miss Cummings, author of
the lamp Lighter" of which 100000 copies
were sold.
The average longevity of literary ladies
would indicate that activity Of the brain has
the effect Of frightening their lives rather
than shortening them Mrs. Somerville and
Caroline Herschel reached the ages of go and
0S respectively. Mrs. Barbauld and Miss
died at 50. Miss Harriet Lee at
tanned 95 and Mrs. Marcel So Jane Porter
died at "a, Hannah Moore at SIS, Miss Milford
Mt 90 and Mrs Radcliffe at SO. The average
longevity Of tho ten ladies named was 81
years.-Frank Stauffer in Detroit Free Press
Mrs. Harrison's Art Work.
In the corridor parlor on the second floor
Of the White House are displayed a number
of water colors and bits of china painted by
tdrs. Harrison-mostly flower pieces She