The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-07-05
SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 5.
LITERARY WASHINGTON.
Will the Capital Become a NatIon-
al Center of Letters.
Correspondence Of the Press.1
WASnTNnrON- -

persons as Mrs. Frances Hodgson Bur-
nett, who lives in a charming house on
Massachusetts avenue, with the families
of the chief Justice, Attorney General
Miller and any number OF senators on
either side of her. George KEENAN,, the
Russian specialist much of whose mail
from Russia and Siberia comes to Wash
ington disguised under bogus superscrip-
tions; George Bancroft, the historian;
Joaquin Miller, who used to have log
cabin on the hills overlooking the city,
and Mrs. E. d. L. N. Southworth, the
novelist, who lives in quaint old house
in quaint old Georgetown.
At one of these "Neighbors" meetings
there recently met four persons who are
engaged in writing the lives of trio of
great men of the war era-John Hay
and John E. Nicolay, authors of The
Century "Life of Lincoln;" George Cor
ham, who is engaged upon Life of
War Secretary Edwin M. Stanton" and
Mrs. Katherine Chase, who is writing
the life of her father, the great chief jus
tice. Many newspaper men may be seen
in these gatherings, among the more
conspicuous of them being Charles Nord-
hoff, of The New York Herald, who, to
his $4,000 year salary from Mr. Ben
nett, adds many thousands from his pen
A lucky man, Mr.. Nordhoff, for his
newspaper work takes but mere frag-
fnent of his time. Weeks often go by
without line from him appearing in
print but if there are diplomatic dis
turbances or international complications,
Mr.. Nordhoff is expected 20 be heard
from, and this is an expectation which is
rarely disappointed. The field of diplo-
macy is peculiarly his own.
George Alfred Townsend is often seen
with 'The Neighbors. He is the great
est newspaper correspondent which this
country has produced, 80 great that
when his work is mediocre or inferior,
as it sometimes is, of course, it sells as
readily as ever and is resm with almost
as much avidity. Townsend is one of
those correspondents who learn little
but think much; a single fact passing
through his mental hopper is broken into
fifty parts, and each one is swollen up
with the imagination to be as large as
its parent. Il am more than a telephone
between takers and readers" Townsend
said at one of "The Neighbors" meets;
l"I am photograph, into which ten
thousand men have talked, and their re-
corded conversations are a storehouse,
on which | draw at will by simply
turning the crank"
The government incidentally encour-
ages authorship. Some Of the best
writers of the day, most earnest and
best equipped specialists, are govern
ment employees. There is Librarian Spot
ford, of the great national literary mauso-
leum. He does not write much, because
he has not the time. He is one of the
busiest, one of the most remarkable men
in Washington From morning till
night he stands at his desk in the big
library, giving personal attention to the
details of work. One would think the
responsible head Of great institution
like this would content himself with
mere management; but not so with
Spofford. He will take your application
for book and either get it for you him.
self or send one of his assistants. Lucky
for YOU sometimes that Spofford is there.
center the national capital is raSddly be-
coming noted throughout the world. 1t
has no large publishing interest, other
than that maintained by the government,
but a large number of writers live and
work here. There is in Washington
little club known as "The Neighbors,"
which is distinctively literary and musi-
for of all the hundreds of thousands OF
books and pamphlets in the library there
lis not one which he does not know as
well as he knows the thoroughbred horse
which he rides every fair day. He knows
these books SO well that he can tell you
the range of their contents, the names
Of authors, date of publication, and the
comparative valne of works On a given
subject. Spofford is such complete
and infallible index to the entire library
that senators and representatives have
habit of going to him and saying:
"Nr Spofford, am looking up this or
that subject-where shall find it,"
And without moments hesitation
the librarian calls off the names Of half
dozen or dozen books, and sends for
them. The whole hbraryis before him
like the pieces on chess board, and, of
course, this is much better for the sena-
tor or representative than consulting in
deXes.
'Look in the index" exclaimed Sena-
tor Edmunds the other day, in the library;
"oh, no; not while Spofford is here. He
is the only index l want. There are no
typographical mistakes or cloudy refer
ences in him, and, besides, he is brought
down to date"
When Spofford dies, as he must some
day die-and that soon, fear, unless he
bic 1acly no I'LL
suffer a loss beside which the destruction
of hundred thousand volumes would
be Il mere trife. The hundred thousand
volumes could be replaced; Spofford
could not be.
Just now Washington literary circles
are talking about new poet that has
sprung up in their midst One of the
conceits of 1.-The Neighbors" club is an
anonymous box, in which bits of poetry
are dropped by modest authors to be read
at the next meeting. Out of this box
have come such a large number of poems
and songs that were obviously from the
same pen, all breathing the breath of
genius and singing principally of the sea,
that no little curiosity has been aroused
concerning their authorship The men,
club in search of the man or woman
whose early life had been passed within
sound of oceans roar, never suspecting
that such exquisite songs of the surf
could come from landsman. Now the
secret is out, and the author snone other
than Mrs. Springer, wife of the member
Of congress from Springfield, Ills.
At a recent meeting of 1.-THE Neigh
bors" a sketch of Mrs. Springer, dream
ing the hours away" under the sea wall
at Fortress Monroe, was presented the
club by II young artist, and Rev. w. II.
Milburn, the blind chaplain of the house
of representatives,, spoke feelingly of the
poetess ut is not strange" said he,
that one bred upon the prairies of the
west, as she was, knowing the ocean
only by hearsay for many years, should
be prepared to yield her heart to its
mighty charm. The boundless plains
Of her native land, whose gentle undula-
tions resemble cS~o
the long swell of 1c@< s3.A
the sea, their YER {SS+IStLrl
dure almost We ~ S4S&s>SS'
matching its hue, KaANG
their groves cas- WssEsYNsM
lily mistaken for ,s&s,|&M ex1
islands that like Sx%aEsss III E-1~kZS
TO rich and vari- tSS3sSl7ss8 s q &c
Gus gems inlay IN 7Tl<,S =.