St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-22
NOTED WOMEN At HOME.
rlargaret e. Sangster, the Ed
itor of "Harper's Bazaar
Her Pleasant Home i'm BrO0kIyn-HOw
She Achieved success A Gracious
and Charming Woman.

'tHad Cinderella lived In these days." said
a woman editor with whom was conversing
lately, ssshe would have wished her fairy
godmother to turn her into poetess, instead
of princess; and not .poetess of passion
either. but practical, kindly thing with just
touch of the Parnassian fire and bright
imagination, well under rein. so that she
might scamper and romp discreetly through
the meadows of the enchanted land in which
all poets love to roam
ttJust Gke'-I began to interrogate.
''No! moi" was the laughing reply, "I'm
not going to make comparisons; but do you
know that it has remained for America, with
its intense utilitarianism, to discover what
we may call the practical poet? It's quite
true that some other poets over the sea have
written what we might term poems Of the
commonplace as when Cowper penned his
rhymes in praise of a leg of mutton. You re-
call the lines which read:
Gently stir and blow the fire,
Lay the mutton down to roast,
Turn it promptly, I desire,
! In the dripping put toast.
When hunger would remove
Mutton is the meat love.
"Ridiculousl" exclaimed !; "that's not
poetry!" ...... =: . ..;.lz.
No? Then let me tell you secret. It
takes practical mind to tell what real poetry
is. A child of the muses. is generally a lame
critic and wretched Judge of other peoples
productions. Her literary value increases in
exact ratio to the proportion her poetry bears
to her common-sense.
No doubt my friend was right, although it
does seem trifle lowering to the dignity of
genius to harness it relentlessly to practical
ity; yet this furnishes the key to the success
of most of the brightest women writer's in
our country to-day. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps,
after much fitting about, found her true
field in prose, studied it and became almost
incompatible in it. Sweet Lucy Larcom, the
girl protege of Whittier-master and pupil
both now passed to the land of silent song
was helped to success by his practical hand
and voice; and it was doubtless the strong
streak of practically in the character of Mar
garet E. Sangster that aided her to so high
a rank in poetry appealing more especially to
the household and home affections that she
might almost be called the Mrs. Hemans of
America.
Mrs. Sangster is Brooklyn woman.
hedreu III CITY Ol cHuTcueS anu SurTOunQcQ
on every side by churchly influences, it was
notsurprising that her first effort in the liter
airy field, made in her teens, should have
been made in the form of religious verse.
At that time there seemed to be dearth of
such literary material; for the publisher to
whom she offered her collection of poems
accepted them eagerly and paid her well.
Ever since then, she has wholly supported
herself by her pen. Although almost all of
her poems have a strong religious tone,
many are SO delightfully."- domestic and appeal
SO directly to the home life, that their popu-
larity is unbounded, and they are copied
everywhere, both in the religious and secu-
lar press. Besides her productions in verse,
which have been compiled in volume en-
titled "Poems Of the Household she has
written number Of books mainly for young
people, that have had remarkable success
both here and in England. Among them are
"Hcurs with Girls, +" "May Stanhope and her
Friends" splendid Times" and "Five Hap
Ply Weeks"
On the death of Miss Mary L. Booth, editor
of Hapa's Bazar, some years ago, Mrs.
Sangster, who bad long been q contributor to
that paper. was rendered the vacant editor