St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-04-19

1 do not know whether I shall ever
write again. I have had novel more
than half-finished for the last ten
years. How can I tell whether I shall
ever feel the impulse to finish it? Why
should any one write who has nothing
in particular to say?"
But Mrs. Martin has scarcely given
up writing. By her own confession
she was at it only the other day. Her
early school compositions, which she
claims to have so detested, were al
most invariably written in verse as
the easiest method of expressing her
self.
She values highly the letter received
from Emerson. When he came to AL
bany to lecture and called at her home,
he confided to her that he was always
greatly pleased when any one admired
his poetry, for he would prefer to be a
poet above all things. When he wrote
new poem; he said, he would wander
through the woods repeating it to
himself and think it very fine, but aft
er it had been laid aside for a while,
he would come to the conclusion that
it was no better than the others.
After the article on Drum Taps
appeared in the Saturday Press, E. c..
Stedman came to see Mrs. Martin at
her husbands studio, for she was then
in New York, and advised her not to
waste herf1ideas by condensing so
much; butTasl1e replied that she didn't
condense; She wrote things as she saw
them.
Besides her novels, two short stories
taken from life have appeared, one in
Harper's Weekly and one in Lfppin-
colts. She has contributed book re-
views to the Galaxy of New York, but
her latest work in this line has been
for the Catholic World, in which she
wrote the Talk About New Books"
for several years, dropping it soon
after she came to Minnesota some
three years ago.
Within recent years Mrs. Martin has
translated great many French works
The language is easier for her, per-
haps, as French blood flows in her
veins, though she did not really learn
the language until after going abroad
In 1882. In addition to thirteen or
fourteen volumes Of French Women
Of the French Court" by Imbert de
Saint Amand, and Constants Memoirs
Of Napoleon's Private Life" mentioned
before, she has translated "Abelard
and the Rise Of the Universities in
the Middle Ages" from the manuscript
of Gabriel Compare, rector Of the
Academic Of Poitiers of the Univer-
sity Of France, for Charles Scribner's
Great Educator series, and work on
French Illustrators" from the manu-
script of Louis NORM, fo. Scribner's
also. The memoirs were translated
only last summer for the first time.
Here is a clipping from one Of her
early book reviews, 1.-THE Morgesons::"
"a thoroughly good novel of the kind
which has for it's aim the analysis of
character, is In many respects more
valuable reading than genuine auto
biography. Let a man set out with
never so valiant a determination to
tell the whole and exact truth about
himself, and in spite Of himself, and
in spite of his resolution, small vani-
ties will creep in; facts will shade off
at the edges; prejudice will assert it
self in spite of his judgment; he will
detail incidents and barely indicate
motives. In many essential points his
DOCK Will US llCI1ltOQS ll1tH pIO-
fessed fiction. The novelist may, if he
please, escape the irresistible tempta-
ton which leads to this result, and
make his characters so faithfully true
in action, thought and speech that they
shall become absolute realities to the
reader touching that sympathetic
chord whose response is the test to
which we finally refer all such works
There can be no better psychological
study than George Eliot's delineation
of the influences brought to bear on
Maggie Tulliver-the gradual develop
ment of her character, and it's absolute
truth and consistency with itself
throughout. Such portrayals are the
highest achievement of the novelist;
it is as he approaches them that his
work becomes of value. Intricate plots
are q kind of mental gymnastics of
which one soon tires; the course of
true love is in itself an old and not
particularly interesting story. Human
nature alone is always new, and how
life shapes the individual is study
always worth attention"