Los Angeles herald., 1891-11-11
NEW ENoLAnc WRITER'S.
A Letter About Blanche Willis Howard,
Annie Louise Cary aud Others.
fSDeciaI Corresnondo,c.


Annie Louise Cary aud Others.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, Oct 26.-Some thirty odd
years ago there was developed on the New
England seacoast remarkable literary
instinct among the young women living
in that vicinity. Celia Thaxter, as a school
girl, was beginning to draw to her the eye
Of those literary powers who controlled
Fhe Atlantic Monthly. She was writing
poems, and they had delicious flavor of
the sea air in them, and suggested an
imagination stimulated by daily vision of
the ocean. Miss Sarah Orme Jewett was
also beginning to write in girlish man.
ner short sketches which contained prom
ise which she has subsequently fulfilled as
. mistress OF the art of short story telling.
Miss Edna Dean Proctor was also gaining
repute by her stirring lyrics and gentler
poems. and Louisa M. Alcott was fasci-
mating the readers of weekly story papers.
Miss Wilkins, then little schoolgirl in
short petticoats, was, with childish wis
dom and Intuition, gaining impressions of
those quaint country characters whom she
has of late immortalized in her volumes,
"A Humble Romance" and "a New Eng
land Nun" Near the coast of Maine there
was young girl who had both the literary
instinct and musical gift. She was a
frolicsome, jovial, whole souled creature,
fond of romp, and so exuberant in her
sports that her friends used sometimes to
wonder whether she was not likely to be-
come that reprehensible but not very
shocking character which is known in
New England as tomboy; but when she
sang for them, they forgave her her child
ish pranks, and when she told them the
fairy stories which she invented as they
chatted, they thought her wonderful. Mu-
sic mastered her. and afterward, when she
became famous as Americas greatest con-
tralto ON the operate stage, Annie Louise
Gary used sometimes to go to her old
Maine home by the seacoast and for few
weeks live her old, frolicsome and jovial
life over again with her companions whom
she had outgrown.
Rose Terry, down by the seashore in
eastern Connecticut, was beginning to
write for The Atlantic Monthly her de-
hghtful stories of New England life, and
Mrs. Stowe, who lived for some years near
the Maine seacoast, was writing her series
OF novels whose stories were located in that
vicinity. 1t was a period of extraordinary
development for these women who drew
physical vigor as well as intellectual
strength with every breath of sea air.
Perhaps the most interesting career OF
all has been that of Blanche Willis Howard,
and it is suggested just now when d new
novel of hers, entitled "a Battle and a
Boy" is on the press Miss Howard is the
daughter of a Maine physician, and she
did not display literary instinct until she
was well along toward the close of her
school days. Her neighbors knew her as n
whole souled, jolly girl, full of fun and de-
lighting in frolic, which characterized her
schoolgirl acquaintance Miss Cary, who
was, however, some years older
Miss Howard astonished her father, the
physician, one day nearly twenty years
ago, by declaring that she wanted to spend
summer in Europe. The father said
mo, and the daughter persisted. Then.
in order to quiet her, he declared that he
had not the money, and she laughed at
him, showing how she had by certain
feminine shrewdness earned enough to
take her on a brief trip. So the father
was persuaded, and, in company with two
or three frienHs, Miss Howard took her
summer jaunt in Europe, never dreaming
that it was the turning point in her ca
reer When she returned she collected
some of the letters she had written, re-
vised them and added to them, and took
the manuscript to a publisher. Mr. James
Ticknor Fields was delighted with the
manuscripts, and he was one of the very
few publishers who found greater joy in
discovering genius or talent than he did in |
making money The book was published |
and it was called Zone Summer" and |
Miss Howard found herself not only ia
NOUS, but with a market at her command.
1t was a gentle little story, full of wit and
o11 thnrrhtS ;,,t
tions, and it has become a classic
This story was followed with n year by |
another, which, while it did not increase
Miss Towards reputation, did not detract
from it, Desiring to spend considerable
time in Europe, Miss Howard sailed some
eight years ago for Germany, and with her
were two young girls, the daughters of
wealthy lady. To these children Miss
Howard acted as companion and guardian,
and the income which she received for so
doing enabled her to write without the
anxiety which is the lot of those who are
dependent upon their pens for their sup
port. She has lived in Stuttgart constant
~ since then.
Miss Howard also found that which is
better than literary repute in Germany,
for German nobleman, man of high
character, discovered in this American girl
3 charm which no German maiden had for
him, and she saw in him her ideal, so that
she now has domestic happiness. Blanche
Willis Howard, the frollcsome and fun
owing Maine girl, is now baroness, but
she will continue to write, for she tells her
friends that her marriage has stimulated
her literary bent, and that she believes she
Is capable of doing better work than she
ever yet has done. E. J. EDWARDS.