The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-18


manuscripts that have been sent to her.
So young authors would better save their
postage stamps, since they purchase only
disappointment aud the grief of Mrs. Bur
nett that she cannot comply with their
wishes.
'.John Ward. Preacher" was the most
widely discussed book written in Amer
lea in the year 1sss. It was Mrs. Mar
care. w. Deiand's first prose work, but It
placed her at once in the front rank OF
American novelists.
Although Mrs. Deiand began to write
childish stories about as soon as she could
make words with pen. 1t was not until
she had been married three or four years
that she entertained any thought of writ
ing for publication, and even then the
thought was not her own. She was born
in country place near Pittsburg, Pa,
but was of English descent and was
reared under English traditions-that is
TO say, she was taught She strictest obedi-
ance and the utmost seif-etfacement- Even
to this day ii amazes her TO see girls with
opinions and to hear them express them.
Some three wears after her marriage to
Mr. Lorin +, Deland, of Boston. Mrs. De-
land made the acquaintance OF her good
genius. lady Of exquisite taste and tire
less energy She Is the friend sy the way
Old Garden, is very appropriately dedi'
Gated. One day Mrs. Deland was out in .
snowstorm and was so enchanted by 1t
that she wrote q letter TO her friend
about it.
~ gushed good deal. suppose" she
sa Wi., th.v mo. ...;, n. friend asked
her Why she did not write poetry. Mrs.
Deland thought her friend was poking fun
at her, but the good friend assured her
that the "snow letter. needed only
rhythm to make it n beautiful poem. A
few days later Mrs. Deland wrote her f1rst
poem, 1.-THE Morning Glory" Not long
after that she was marketing, and as she
walked among the butchers blocks and
grocers' baskets, verses were running in
her head. On her way home she stopped
to call on her friend. ard while waiting
for her in the drawing room wrote 1.-THE
Succory" on bit of wrapping paper on
which she had made memoranda from her
mornings purchases. She waited only
few moments, but when her friend came
Mrs. Deiand read the verses to her. The
friend took them, copied them and sent
them to Harper's. Mrs. Deland believed
that the bias of friendship had made her
verses seem better than they were.
but when she received gen.
erous check from tha Harpers she
realized that there must he some merit in
her work. Thus encouraged she went to
work with an enthusiasm little short of
madness, producing sometimes two or
three poems day, which the friend scat
tered among the magazines. When
enough had been written to make q vol
ume the friend-alwavs the friend-took
the result that in 1886 Mrs. Deland's first
book of poems was issued. In ten days
the first edition was sold and the book has
had steady sale ever since.
But there was nothing dramatic in any.
thing she had written. nothing to suggest
the future novelist. Still. the friend be-
lieved in Mrs. Deland's power to write a
novel, and frequently urged her to make
the attempt. At last one dav she came
bundling into Mrs. Deland's house with
prodigious package of paper, six bottles OF
ink and six penholders.
'.There!" said she. snow you are to
write your novel;"
The next day "John Ward, Preacher"
was begun.
Nobody could have more favorable en-
vironment than that in which Mrs. Deland
sat during the writing of this book. There
was the friend with her faultless taste, her
energetic encouragement and her unset
fish devotion; and here was Mr.. Deland, a
refined critic with manly views and that
knowledge of the world which his gifted
wife had not. Every day when he came
home to lunch his first question was about
her mornings work, and when she had
read it to him he passed calm judgment
upon 1t. Once, when she had carried Gift
ford through scene which particularly
pleased her. Mr.. Deland told her that no
man would tolerate such a prig. SO she
promptly slaughtered Clifford and made
him all over.
Some of her characters were 30 self
willed that she could not control them.
For instance, she says she meant DIR.
Howe to he saint, veritable example of
the devout rector, but he wouldn't be 8
saint, and In spite of her became worldly
and fond of cultured ease. Lois. too, was
to be model of wisdom aid discretion,
but became frivolous against every re-
monstrance the author could make.
As much discussion has teen INDUCED
in regarding the motive Of this book it is
interesting to have Mrs. Deland's own
opinion on the subject.
The motive was not theological
one," she saws. 1.-THE whole PURPOSE of
the story was to show the power of love-"
And she adds: ITO my mind John
Wards love was deeper thar Heleu's, be-
cause to intlict pain on the beloved is the
hardest thing love can do. To bear pain
is easy in comparison. To save Heien's
soul John was willing not only to suffer
himself. but to make her suffer-"
1t took year and a half to write "John
Ward. Preacher" Nearly every chapter
was rewritten five or six times, and the
proofs were carefully corrected twice or
thrice.
II can do little more than make a skele-
ton at the first writing" says Mrs. De-
land. cit seems to me only the dry bones.
Then begin clothing II"
Miss Mary +. wilkins, whose short
stories of rural life in New England have
caused her name to be set up beside that
of Guy de Maupassant. impresses q visitor
as a character who might have stepped out
of one of her own stories, and, indeed, she
does put herself into her stories. for.
though she is set down as one of the most
real of realists, she never consciously
writes Of real characters, and has never but
once attempted the description of real
scene. Her characters are all wrought In
her imagination and are as real to her as
if they literally stood for their portraits.
Unlike the characters created by Mrs.
Deiand, MIS-, wilkins people never sur
prise her. When she has once grasped
character she knows 1t shrough and
through. and can tell instantly whether it
would do this or that thing under certain
circumstances.
Miss Wilkins does not read stories much
she is so sensitive to external influences
that she unconsciousiy initiates, or, to be
more precise. she unconsciously takes on
the character OF the author whom she
reads. This phase OF Miss wilkins mind
would make an interesting study. One
day she was answering a letter of lady
whose daughter was visiting Miss Will
kins. The daughter CHANGED 10 look over
her hostess shoulder ana was am azed To
lsx- [