Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-11-19
ONCE WIDELY KNOWN.
Emerson Bennett, the Author of Stories
Enjoyed by Our Fathers.

Emerson Bennett, tho Author of Stories
Enjoyed by Our Fathers.
The name Of Emerson Bennett,
while not widely known to the rising
generation Of readers, will neverthe-
less recall q flood Of pleasant
memories to many whom he delighted
and fascinated by his fiction tales
thirty years ago. Mr.. Bennett has
not dropped out Of sight, however, for
only the other day he called at the
New York Sunday Advertiser office,
and in pleasant chat told something
Of his personal history.
: The author Of prairie Flower"
sIeni Leoti," "The Bandits Of the
Usage" over forty other tales and
twice as many sketches and poems,
is now sixty-nine years of age. He
is a large man with a smooth face,
who wears slight growth of white
whiskers directly under his chin. He
is exceedingly unassuming and gentle
in his manner, does not wear glasses
and has never earned dollar except
by his pen. Speaking of his literary
career, Mr.. Bennett said:
Il was born on a farm in Massa-
chusetts. / came to New York when
| was sixteen years old and remained
long enough to write few poems
and sketches, when l went to Phila-
delphia in 1914. The editor of the
Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper adver-
tised for prize stories and l sent him
one called THE Unknown Countess
The story did not win the prize and
/ did not hear anything from 1t FOR a
long time. / left the City of Brotherly
Love and journeyed out to the western
part Of Ohio.
"One day / heard that the story
had been republished in the Cincin-
natl Daily Commercial, and my curi-
osity led me to make trip to the
city to see how it looked in print. l
climbed the stairs to the Commercial
office, and seeing the editor, l.. G.
Curtis, sitting there, | asked him If |
could get paper containing the story.
He was grutf old fellow, and l could
get no satisfaction out Of him except
he had sold all the papers with the
story in it. | went downstairs, met
IL literary man who knew the editor
very well, and together we bearded
the lion in his den. Twas introduced
to Mr. Curtis this time, and he
couldn't do enough for me. After
that | went to work for the paper,
and 1T was while there / wrote the
prairie Flower LEM Leoti and
other books.
"In prairie Flower for instance.
the scene of the story was laid in the
unknown region beyond the Missis-
sippi. | didn't know anything about
the country, but / read up-crammed
myself full Of all the Biographies and
histories | could, and my descriptions
of the land were so accurate | was
told afterward that it was quite a
common thing for the Western hunter
and trapper to read the story by
their camp fires.
The books Of Emerson Bennett are
fiction stories Of adventure, founded
on facts and partly historical. They
are the old school stories Of life on
the plains before the country became
settled. The success of these tales
became so great that the story of
prairie Flower" alone has sold over
100,000 copies, 1t was written
twenty-eight years ago, and, although
the original plates have since been
destroyed, the story is being printed
to-day, and Mr.. Bennett is enjoying
what few authors can boast of-the
luxury of a second copyright.