The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-28
An Untitled Queen.

n tONtiN tLotOtS VI III o0IAllS
the colonial period brings out the curious
fact that at one period Of its history the
colony was owned and governed by a
m The original charter or grant of
Pennsylvania was made to William Penn
in 1851 in liquidation Of a debt of $3.50 900
which the British government owed his
father, 4 famous naval officer of that peri
cd. Penn was then thirty-seven years old.
The charter embraced over forty thousand
square miles OF land, and was the largest
ever granted in America to a single indi-
vidual. The charter made Penn sole pro-
prietor and governor of the province, and
1T was his original intention to live and die
there, but circumstances prevented. He
only visited the colonyltwo or three times.
and governed 1t by deputies. The so-called
colonial Governors of Pennsylvania We're
simply his agents. He held all the land in
fee simple, and disposed of it at his pleas
ure, and his descendants continued to en-
joy the income from it until the revolution
airy war. Penn died in Ills, and by his will
bequeathed the province of Pennsylvania
to his widow, in trust, to pay certain leg
acies TO two children by a former wife, and,
after that. to convey the remainder to five
children by the second wife. Some litiga-
ton followed. pentsag which the death of
the oldest son led to a compromise, by
which Mrs. Penn. as executrix Of the will
and guardian of the minor children, became
sole owner, proprietor and Governor of the
colony. She held this relation sixteen
years, from III till 1893. during which,
through successive agents appointed by her
and designated governors, she administered
the colony wisely and successfully. Though
she had no title and was plain Widow Penn,
she had the powers and prerogatives of a
queen, and, towards the last, an almost
royal income. Her case is the only instance
in history of a woman occupying the feudal
office of lord proprietor of a great province.
The New York Authors Club gave a din
ner or Thursday night in honor of Richard
Henry Stoddard. Many well-known literary
men were present and the speakers OF the
occasion showered the old gentleman with
compliments, expressing their profound ad-
miration for him as a poet and critic. Mr..
Stoddard is, no doubt, deserving of honor
on account of his age, his industry as a
hack writer and his respectable life. but his
rank as a poet is not high outside of his
immediate circle. His fame has. indeed,
not extended as far west as Indiana, for
tAlOoSt ans AAaAA( - hAO 1AIo NOuso DlOD-
ably be recited glibly by high school stu
dents in the list. of living American au-
thors. it would, perhaps, be less easy for
them to mention any poem written by him,
and what is true OF high school students
may be safely asserted as an extreme prob
ability in regard to more advanced literary
circles. This lack of knowledge may pos
sibly be Indiana's loss, but great poems
do penetrate to these wilds and the fame
of certain writer's is recognized as great
and well earned. and there is at least room
for suspicion that the products of Mr.. Stod-
dard's pen fell of their own weight before
crossing the Alleghenies. 1t would be in
teresting to know, indeed, how many men,
bers of the Authors Club are familiar with
his works. 1t is kind OF his associates 20
testify TO their appreciation Of the venerable
writer's merits, the more so that he has
not himself been kind, for his literary criti-
cisms as they have appeared in New York
papers have been marked by an asperity
and bitterness from which a reviewer of
other mems work. of all others. should be
free. II the Authors Club wishes either to
be a mutual admiration society or is moved
on this occasion by an amiable desire to
please its oldest member, that is its own af-
fair: but it must not expect the outside
world TO accept its eulogies without due
allowance.