The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1892-09-22
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
A Visit TO Her NCEuc-How She Dresses
and Talks !roteGe.

Few people more forciblY remind
us with the fact that "Dook impress
sions" of another are misleading than
Ella Wheeler Wilcox. This fact be-
gins to dawn on you as soon as YOU
sink into an easy chair in the parlor of
| her st. Alban's flat. The apartment is
| decidedly commonplace-that is, it is
the regulation drawing-room with
easy Louis Ky. and corner chairs, fur
rugs and sofas and bric-a-brac, with
the addition OF large, square desk
near window. Everything is orderly.
with the exception. perhaps, of heap
OF green canvas lying in front of a pier
glass.
Esthcticism and eccentricity seem
tabooed, in spite of the fact that Mrs.
Wilcox'5 Sunday afternoons" are
noted in New York as being exceed
ingly open salon" There one is Il
little more likely to meet versifying
| clerk, a crushed tragcdian or an un-
successful artist than commonplace
celebrity OF the day. ANY body who
knows anybody else who is going can
get a card. In the midst of this mot
ley assamblage moves the hostess, re-
ceiying the most abject homage, and
resplcndent in the style of costume
which caused her and staid Jenny
June to fall out. Mrs. Wilcox has as
much pride in her shoulders and arms
as the fair widow in Quick or Dead, ;"
and thereby hung the quarrel which
has eXHed her from the elder writer's
receptions.
Rnt bpra tha fI11 4
by tall companion. They have been
shopping. and IS Mrs. Wilcox seats
herself she is as much of surprise as
her apartment. OF ordinary height
and slender build, she is gowned in
Lincoln-green serge made with a bell
skirt and high girdle over a guimpe of
sage-green silk. Sleeves and neck are
full and baggy. AS she removes her
veil and turns questioningly YOU see
she is not startlingly like her picture.
This generally unites with her pensive
air drOOp of the head, which dis
guiscs and harmonizes her features.
Mrs. Wilcox's face is rather thin, full
at the corners of the month, and
Slightly underjawed. Her large mouth
closes complacently, and she has,
without qualification, the ugliest smile
ever saw. Instead of stretching in
the good old style from ear to ear, the
lower lip gets tense and the upper one
relaxes into satiric curl. The effect
of the mouth in tragic Greek mass is
produced. The windows of her soul
are far from soulful, being rather
small, light and restricted ut the cor
ners, as if shortsighted. Her hsir is
L. I =.
isn't necessary to believe that, her
eyes being blue and complexion pink.
In manner she is neither ELUSIVE nor
brusque as her poems appear, but
quiet and practical. To familiar
friends she is exceedingly if not injn-
diciously frank as regards her domes-
tic life.
Mrs. Wilcox is about bringing out
"An Erring Woman's Love" and, as
she quietly talked, she went over the
illustrations which her publishers have
just sent up for her to approve or alfix
quotations to. They are full-pa@ed.
fine epgravings by Louise Mears and
W. Il. Hooper and she observed, as she
caressingly handled the final one:
The morning found the erring woman
dead" bT Miss Mears, Il like this best.
| like women's work. They seize an
idea quicker and handle it more svm-
pathetically than men" This poem.
which will Shortly be issued in book
form with number of short poems
and volume Of short stories, is ali
her work on hand.
Apropos her early efforts Mrs. VIII
con said: Il think ability and patience
always win its way. Though west
ern woman | made my first success
with eastern magazines. You know
the old proverb about the prophet. l
had published my first volume, Poems
of Passion, before | ever met one of
Gl} editors. think ,n8 bic magazines
Just as fair - any. Why. in Co4tary
this month there is 4 marvellous l}oem
perfectly marvellous by a perfectly
new writer. whom certainly never
heard of before. M; do not write
regularly and do prose OH order, as
| don't care for il. | advise young
writer's to write ahead. Never mind
what any one says. didn't. | never
wrote for newspapers before | made
my home and settled in New York. !
think the short story the most endur-
ing form Of literature, but don't
think ono can be done in less than g.
80 words. | don't like to write for
syndicates. | stopped as soon as |
found Mr.. Box owned my poems, Dc
YOU want card to my Sunday? All,
YOU won't be here. Darling, that mix
liner obeyed my orders to 3 r" And
she was at opcn immersed in millincr's
creations and milliners' bills with a
niece who lives with her
Fanny Edgar Thomas, known some
what through syndicate york, is one
Of Mrs. WilcoN's proteges and resides
with her, 1t is said that this is done
to afford her prestige for the start
which She has Gaen waiting. loi these
two years, and that in return she is
the slave OF the successful poet. Just
what duties slaves to fashionable poets
have to perform does not appear. Miss
Thomas is tall and Hehraic, dresses
faShionably and has rather nervous.
affected mannor. She IS newspaper
woman. Rather contrary to her pat
ron's liberal belief in New York, she
seemed 10 have the idea that 10 go
west" Is far as pittsburg should afford
her the opportunities she failed to run
across in the metropolis. - PitS5nrg
Times.