The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-10-30

b. s:H5 ,SNEEHs
MISS MARIETTA HoLLEY.
the publication of a book Of that character,
for it has hitherto been conspicuous in pub
fishing circles for books which bear its i'm
print dealing with social, economic, tenn
perance and political questions, as we'll as
some biographies.
The other unusual incident is the fact
that this book of humor is the work of a
woman, who, SO far as pecuniary profits are
concerned, has probably earned more by
the humorous productions of her pen than
any American humorist excepting Mark
Twain, for the greater part Of Artemus
Wards fortune was gained from his lee
lures rather than from his sketches.
This very successful humorist is Miss
Marietta Holley. and she has been able to
disprove the opinion expressed by many
critics that while women have an apprecia-
ton of wit and some command of it they
are unable to give literary expression to
genuine humor. The popularity which has
attended the sale of Miss Holley's works
reveals that her humortouches a responsive
chord to be found among the great middle
classes at least of Americans, and touched
that chord so successfully that she is now
able to command her WI price for her
works and has reaped such profits On those
already written as to make her a compare
lively wealthy woman.
She is probably richer than Mrs. Burnett,
has earned more with her pen than Miss
Murfree or Amelie Rives-Chanler, has
received more for her work than those
novelists who have been very successful in
painting the so called aristocratic society of
New York city-Mrs. Van Rensselaer, Cru
ger and Mrs. Burton Harrison-and it is
probable hat no other American woman
has earned SO much with the pen rs she has,
excepting Mrs. Stowe and the late Louisa
NJ. Alcott. There are of course American
women writer's whose income may be larger
than Miss Holley's, for a number receive
yearly salaries of $1,000, and one or two may
gain even more than that, but in these
cases there is regular desk employment and
service paid for by salary, while Miss Holley
receives her honorarium from publishers
and royalties.
Miss HolIey was not the first, however,
of American women humorists, and there
are many good critics who claim that the
first was not only the best, but in some re-
spects the best of all American humorists,
man or woman. That one was the author Of
the widow Bedott Papers" a shrinking,
sensitive, timid woman amazed to find that
the outburst of native humor, which not be-
ing able to control she committed to manu-
script and sent anonymously to the pub
Usher of a weekly newspaper, was received
everywhere in America with such evidences
of delight as only Dickens in England,
Mark Twain, Bret Harte and Artcmus
Ward in this country nave called forth.
The author of the "Widow Bedott Papers"
was a country girl living in central New
York, who married soon after she had
gained this unexpected success and died
before the great promise which this now
almost classic work gave had opportunity
of fulfllment. She would have achieved
high fame if she had been able to maintain
that native, true and spontaneous humor
which was contained in these papers.
Miss Holley is also a New York girl, hav-
ing been born and dwelling all her life near
the western foothills of the Adirondacks.
She was, according to common report, a
schoolteacher when she made her first re-
pute as a genuine humorist. Her friends
knew that the soul of gentle humor was in
her, and they were delighted in the days
before she became famous with many de-
licious revelations.
The critics have said that Miss Hollcy
was stimulated by the widow BedotU Pa
pers," which when she was a young girl she
read with the keenest sense OF appreciation,
but when she first read them she never
dreamed that she would gain a reputation
for humor which was to be fully as popular
as that secured by the creator of the Wild
DIV Bedott, although the best critics are in
clined to think that there is less literary
charm, less fidelity to life, more of cXagger-
alton and caricature with tendency to bur
1,e1,,n IN Mice Jlo11,p,, .r,,;ts,,, tl.. =,
those of the earlier humorists of her sex.
Miss Holley's first book set forth the cx-
periences of Josiah Aliens wife, and very
soon after this creation was revealed that
wonderful creature became as great a ia
vorite in many American homes as any
humorous creation ever was. There are
lovers of humor who enjoy the quaint say
ings and the deliciously funny experiences
of Josiah Aliens wife as greatly as were
the antics and comicalities of Sam Wei
Ter when he was first revealed to the world.
1t was said when the author of widow
Bedott" died that she was sui generis, Il
curious literary freak, and that there would
never be another who would gain such re-
pute as was hers, and it was nearly 20years
after the Widow Bedott Papers" were
published before it was demonstrated that
those who made these prophecies were in
correct. Josiah Aliens Wife, is the legiti-
mate successor of 1.-THE Widow Bedott''
and might be called the first cousin of Mrs.
Darlington, who was, however, the literary
creation of Il man, the late Il. Z. Shillaber.
Since the appearance of Miss Holley's first
book her work has been in constant de-
ma.,d, until 10Y she has been able to ask
and receive a price which has only been
exceeded by the sum pealized by Mark
Tw ain for his "Innocents Abroad"
L. J. EDWARDS.