The age-herald., 1897-08-08
BOOKS THAT ARE READ

100000, should never have been interview ed But this was one of Miss Ingelow s distinctions.
 Probably this resulted from the nor TOT of publicity which had always pre- vented her from appearing in gatherings of notable persons. It is said that she would not even accept invitations to dir ners at which the company was likely to be made up too much of well-known per- sons. There was one series of entertain- ments in which she indulged herself for many years. Three times week she in- vitd to dipnr at her house the poor people lately discharged from the hospitals in the neighborhocd, and it is said that in her own view of the world the dinrsr ta- ble was a place much more adapted to such practical charity than to poetry. Her acqua intance was not limited, how ever, to persons so distant from her own sphsre. Many eminent literary men of the time were among her intimate friends. Ruskin was ore of thess-,and he is said to have taken particular pleasure in her socfsity--Lord Tennyson was another, and her personal set had included Dante Gabriel Rosetti James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Homes, and many others of almost equal fame.
 Miss Ingelow was bern in small town in Lincolnshire. where her father was a banker. and, although she had lived for mary years previous to her dea h in K n- sinsi5cE. 1t, said that her shy, modest manners never lost the quality that her early life in the country had given them. She was neveF a beauty. al Though her face was wonderfufly attractive in its sweetness ard yaria bil3ty of expression to the perscTS who knew her. Although as a child of she had shown a wonder ful sensftiyer,-ss to rhyt thm. her first po- ems were nS- published un-il she was 43 years old. The book was published anonymously at her own expense. When the small edition was exfga uSt:d, her pub fisher advised her lthlaIt fit would not be wise to attempt the experiment. of an- o.her issue, Bri1 the great popularity that her work sudd nly achieved proved the ia llacy of tqBat counsel. She became suddenly famous, and it was not long be- fore all the eminent writers of the day had made aherA-acquah1tance. She and her mother had 4noyed to KerEing on and this sudden ex tension of her acquaintance was ntIi w1thuut its embarrassment to 0 woman whose previous life had been so quiet. s@s @>-e ..see.,s
 She had rot read a great deal before she begun, her career, as a poet, and she attributed much of the freshness of her verse to this circumstance. The success or her first Voulle was never repeated
 The pubfc would never be attrae4ed to her succeeding works sra it had been 70 the verses thet made tn ir appearance so modesEly in 1S63 For many years before her deata she had known nothing of the deligpts lbhat he golden years of lr,r fame-years limited to little more than decade1lb had Drought so unexpectedly to her. Brit it Is said that her geIi ie. op- tfmiStic sraturl never showed amy reserit- m$snt ar Jhk,fttiifferepue ofthe public She was emfnently hopsful, comtented, and de- aermined to take the sunnieSt vF-rw of life Her natural Exposition luckily made this ttitude l.lhe easiest for her She was never heard to complain of the ficlSf ness of the ppblic taste which for mary years had left her quite out of its thoughts.