The Washington times., 1894-07-15
The Writer Of "The Quick or the
Dead" as She Is.
NOW A TAILOR-MADE POETESS
Her Sylph-Like Form Has Given Way to a
Matronly Beauty-Is the Fire Of Her
Genius Cool-Great Contrast to the Young
Girl Of Albemarle.


pearance? The book inspires one to recall
the tabled Sappho, whose burning love songs,
uncooled by ages, incomplete as they are, stir
the heart with emotion and create new long
ings and impulses. 1t was only few years
ago that this young author, unknown in the
seciusion of Albemarle county, Virginia,
wrote the novel which brought her fame and
| criticism. 1t seemed incredible that one so
young could feel so much and In words depict
the apotheosis of passion.
HAS the fire OF her genius cooled? Has
| the flash of her eyes lost its potent spell and
has youth said farewell to symmetry and am
| bition?' These were the questions that rap
idly formed in my mind while waiting to see
Mrs. Amelie Rives-Chanler in the cool par
lor of the Everett House. Somehow glanced
at a marble-top mantelpiece. expecting to see
| the cigar stump that stirred to the utmost
depths the soul of Barbara, the heroine in
Mrs. Chambers most noted novel, Then |
expected to hear the frou-irou of silk and in
blaze of diamonds the authoress would ap-
| pear.
| rather petite woman. attired in hand
some tailor-made suit entered and put an end
| to fancifui pictures. The first bloom of bud
ding youth has gone, but it has passed lightly
and left its farewell echoes. Her cheeks are
| full and rosy with health and her blue eyes
have dreamy. tranee-like look. They
seemed to be awake to visual, objective things,
but the fiery glance of soul passion which
Barbara occasionally had for Jack Deering
was not discernibe. She gaZed at the scene
in Union Square spread out before the hotel
like green oasis in desert of buildings.
Her outline. as she stood near the window,
was clearly limned against the mingling en-
eralds of the tree boughs and the tall struc-
lures beyond. The symmetry OF poetry. the
sylph-like form OF the young girl of Abe
MARIE had disappeared, and in its place had
come the full, but graceful, lines of the ma
tron.
"Wha. was passing in her mind in that gaze
TO the outer world?" | could only speculate.
for those who have tasted the sweet breath OF
fame and have been crowned with the tri-
umphs of success. it is said, ever afterward
live in retrospection and chafe at the tickle
world having new idols and new sensations.
Perhaps she saw in the retina of her memory
the dreaming, ambitious girl then unknown
in the ancestral home IN far away Virginia.
The light from the window shone full upon
her hair somewhat luNuriant and blonde.
1t was coilTured in the conventional style
But she saw it flying in wild disorder over
her shapely shoulders, along the rural roads
where her girlhood days were spent in
unrestrained, healthful freedom. She was
the queen of the feudal domain and darkies.
not in bondage, responded TO her beck and
call 1t was then she felt and wrote
1.-THE Quick or the Dead?' Her dreams then
ended. and the reality OF romance began.
The cold world melted and acknowledged her
genius. From that time seclUsion became an
impossibity. and Barbara's every action was
noted and made the subject of pleasing com
ment. Jack Deering appeared on the scene.
and the quick won III the contest OF the |
heart
Mrs. Chanler has a strong face. regular in !
features and with q chin of firmness. Her |
nose is little inclined TO be beaked, some |
what like her fathers. Her complexion is |
healthy and indicates vitality. There is the |
patrcian air about her tempered with gentle |
ness. One forgets in her presence that she |
could write a book throbbing with human |
passions that at times reach a paroxysm of |
frenzy greater in intensity than anything |
Dante has ever written. In one less gifted it |
would have been considered pueriie senti- |
ment run mad. This handsome matron, |
still in the prime of "A glorious womanhood. |
has all that wealth give. But has she |
reached the zenith of her aspirations, or does |
she still dream tnat she will write book |
which will create more comment and mo-e |
criticism than the "Quick or the Dead?'
No one can fathom that question by gazing |
at her handsome face. Her life abroad and |
the homage that has been paid her have |
robbed her OF the ingenious girlhood ways |
which her friends knew and loved so well in |
her rural home That is not saying that she |
is not sincere and not rs friendly as ever. 1t |
means that she has had TO meet society and |
learn its diplomatic politeness.
No authoress who has succeeded in the |
same measure as Amelie RiyesChaner has |
remained truer to her home Lares and PEN |
ates and has cherished more fondlythe scenes |
that helped to inspire her in her first efforts.
Wherever she goes she is accompanied by a |
type, who is as black as the Duke of Hades'
dyspeptic frown. and who is as homely rs |
a Zulu queen. This maid servant can be J
seen with the authoress ere s'ing Union !
Square in the afternoons when the woman |
triumphs over the writer and little shop |
ping has 10 be done. 1t is paradoxical that
the author of ''Asmodeus. the little poem |
which sold for $1,000, should care to shop, |
but after all one hint OF dress makes all |
womankind kin. When Mrs. Chanler spends |
months at a time in Paris this ebon-hued |
handmaiden. veritable bodyguard for the |
petite authoress. is always with her.
When in this country she has an encourage |
that reminds one of feudal days. when retain
ers were in vogue. Her luggage, her car |
riage, and all the petty details of travelling |
attended to by red-headed Virginia |
Irishman. who has Il face redder than the |
veteran turkey gobbler's gorge. He comes on
to New York from Castle Hill, Albemarie |
y.
to Europe He speaks English with south
ern dialect and an Irish brogue. but he is
trained and devoted to the house of R;ves
MIS-. Chanler has no children, and yet, it is
said. she is devotedly fond of them. Many
think she is wrapped up entirely in the chill
dren OF her imagination. but those who know
her best always speak of her attachment for
children. She has three younger sisters, who
were in the city recently to see her just before
she departed for Europe. She went alone,
with the exception Of her Zulu handmaiden.
Her husband. John Armstrong Chanler, is
proud of his wife and rich. He is of n ner-
vous temperament, and it is reported he
often labors under the impression that people
are trying to fleece him just because he lras
wealth. In the Winter he remains more in
New York than his gifted wife. He is not
literary in his tastes, but he admires those
who have the creative faculties. Some think
that he is the hero in 1.-The Quick or the
Dead"
This depression has carried me away from
the subject under focus near the window.
was trying TO discern the satiricai pranks
played by time upon one of the authoresses
OF the nineteenth century who has not had
her picture Illuminating the outside covers of
her novels. Yet she is beautiful. If she
were taller her matronly maturity would
make her more like a Greek maiden, but
plumpness disregards height.
No Theophile Gautier could rave over her
beauty in poetical lines for she is not of the
dazzling type. But somehow her novels have
cast glamor over her, and her bright career
has won her staunch admirers and not a few
friends. She is not 10 be compared to the
II. 4