The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-01-30

81 am looking forward to writing a
history of life in the United States,
the work upon which l have been en|
gagged for the greater part Of thirteen
years-yes. more than thirteen years" I"
HAS there not been some talk of q
new novel from your pen?"
ST wrote on my novel when / was in
Indiana because was away from all
of my historical material, and sup
pose the novel will take shape when
again get in similar place"
81 remember that you spoke of your
return from the west-you had made
something of an extended visit there?"
Il stayed two months in Madison,
Ind. 1t was my first long visit to In,
diana in thirty-eight years. 1 was
born twenty miles further up the
river, but had lived in Madison as a
boy"
''Well, I suppose you found good
many changes there?"
''Yes. very great changes-not sc
much in Madison as in the western
part of Indiana-the changes there
have been very great"
Gould you give brief description
of these changes, doctor?''
''The early illiteracy of the country
has largely disappeared and with it the
rude pioneer manners that described
as existing there in the '40's. Teachers
Institutes are held in the very school.
house from which many of the scenes
in The Hoosier Schoolmaster' were
derived; and generally Indiana, to-
day, ranks with the New England
states in the matter of literacy. having
made the most rapid progress, perhaps,
of any state in the union in that
regard. This progress was largely
made between 1850 and 1870"
what has been the principal cause
of this progress?"
"a large part of the decrease IN IL
literacy in southern Indiana came from
the rapid migration, further west, of
the poor whites after 1650.''
''Then, instead of these people being
educated up to certain standard,
other people came imp
Both processes went on. Education
and emigration have raised the stand
ard in southern Indiana. To illustrate
the present interest in such matters
will say that in the village where
was born there is very prosperous
literary club called by my own name.
/ was at first rather unpopular in the
village for having satirized the life
there, but they have outgrown this. 1
lectured for the benefit of that club
while in Indiana, and they gave me a
reception which was attended by
about two hundred of the most culti-
waited people from both sides of the
Ohio river.
Madison, Ind, was always a place
of culture. In my boyhood they had
library association; that library is now
free, and is used by the people gener.
ally-a prosperous free library associa-
tion in town of nine thousand peo.
pie. l gave them a lecture, selected
books and provided money as an en-.
couragement.
SIT is true that the town people-the
urban people along the Ohio-have al.
ways been cultivated class. 1t was
not my purpose to describe that elias.
in my early rustic books, but such q
class has always existed; they came
from Virginia, Philadelphia and other
places.
Il have been accused of giving q
false impression of the country by de-
scribing only one class. the popular,
instead of the cultured; but it suited
my literary purposes best"
This cultured class you speak OF
only existed in the larger towns?"
''ln the larger towns, and to small
degree i. the smaller towns, but it has
greatly increased. The first and the