The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-05-08

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the fact that she has contributed little to
Indiana publications. While some have
become well known to readers IN their
State by the frequent appearance of their
work in the local press. and by the honors
paid them by writer's associations and lit
erary clubs. Mrs. Teal has gone quietly on
her way. winning recognition IN quarters
where these others have not gained foot
hold. and remaining personally unknown
as q writer outside of her intimate circle.
On seeking her ont for the purpose of in
Producing her to the readers of the Journal
she expressed regret that circumstances
had made her q comparative stranger in
her own State.
Mrs. Teal is q native Of Wayne county.
o., but has lived since her early childhood
at kendallvlIle, In northern Indiana. She
comes OF a mixed ancestry, all her grand
parents being foreign born. On her moth
er's side they are German, lngold by
name. Her fathers father. Nicholas Gruey.
was a Dane. Some appointment under
government took him TO Paris. where. in
1893, he married q French woman named
Margaret Dcicore. They emIgrated TO Viz
Rinia. where. early in the present century.
her father. Joseph Gruey. was born.
Her love for literature ID o natural in
~heritance. She does not remember the age
atwhIch she first began to scrlbble-rhymes
being her earliest attempts. as IS so often
the case with. budding writers. Mr.. John
Dawson, OF the Fort Wayne Times, first
made room for her glrilsh poetlcal emissions,
and after the intoxicating experience of
seeing her name in print she wrote a great
deal. At the beginning of the civil war
she was q very young and uniformed girl.
but the dramatic events of that memorable
time matured and deepened her mind
greatly-an experience common to many
who were young in those historic days.
During those years she wrote poem after
poem for the Chicago Tribune. Some of
these were widely copied. One, on the re-
election Of Abraham Lincoln IN 1864.
called forth a con gratulatory letter from
the accomplished critic and translator,
George Z. Upton. Another. still earlier.
sent To the New York Tribune, brought her
o letter from Bayard Taylor. Mrs. Teal
has these letters Yet, but the poems are
Lost. She has preserved almost nothing of
oil her earlier work, and modestly ex-
presses the opinion that the larger part of
{ ismercifully hidden by the oblivion that
has been its fate-an opinion that can
hardly be accepted rs correct when the
recognition of the young writer by discrim-
mating editors and critics of the time Is
taken into account. Her first check ever
received in payment for literary work was
$50. paid by the Chicago Tribune for u car
rier's New Years address, written for that
paper 1855 and 1866.
In January, 1866. she was married to DR..
Norman Teal. an ex-army surgeon. DIR.
Teal is q member of the present legislature
of Indiana. Since her marriage her lit
erary work has been chiefly In the line
of short stories, and IL is as q story
writer that she deserves especial attention.
She has contributed to the Atlantic Month
~. Harpers Magazine, Bazaar and Young
PEOPLE. the Cosmopolitan, Wide Awake.
Boston Traveller, etc. She has had occa-
sioDsl articles in daily papers. and has
written for McClure's newspaper syndi-
cate. In 1854 Lee Il Shepard. Boston.
bought and published her novel. John
Thorn's Folks" The same firm now has In
nAn0 and NnrfhHnmIn0 N hnnE for hnUa
she has had very good success In writing
for young people, and enjoys her work in
that direction very much. Within the past
year she has had two short stories pub
lished in the New York Examiner-one en-
titled Basil" the other ION the Border of
the Bad Lands" The sam paper has
other work of hers now in hand; so also
has Wide Awake and Harper's Young
People.
Mrs. Teal does no. claim to be a profess
sional author. the demands of social aud
domestic life making continuity of effort
impossible. Having lived SO long in one
community she has. of course. n wide
circle of acquaintance. and this face
predieates a large draft upon her time.
There have been. too. the claims upon her
as the wife of a practicing physician. of
which other women know nothing. These.
together with the care of children and
home. have made her q busy woman. but
in the cTowded life of duties we'll per-
formed she has found time to write besides.
Lik others with whom this tendency to
literary production 10 genuine and not a
mere fad, she confesses to an occasional
longing. In the midst of her happy life. for
solItude-the seclusion of the proverbiaI
attic or q St Simeon Stylites tower-where
her pen might have It's way uninterrupted.
Perhaps, after all. IA this wish could be-
fulfilled she might find. as many 90, that
with leisure and opportunity she wonld
lack the stimulns and energy that limited
time sometimes gives
Mrs. TeaI's literary style Is unpretentious
and pleasing. She INDUCES in no Zine
writing" Her narrative is clear aud
Straightforward. and objective. not
analytical. In one sense she Is real