Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-02-05

ana It's description and discuss,o,s war.
hkn'y interesting. DIR. Mitchell lent a
70 me rev. Pr. Ftirncss, and he thin,,.
ny u would be read with interest nv
ne if'ehd Edward Everett Hale sent
- 10 MN. DIR. Hale was at that time
connected with The Atlantic Nontblv,
,''u MS framed eyo at once noted the
800 VI .hh paper as u contribution to
ne pefiouicai. 1t seemed of such value.
'hueeu' mat the leading article for tho
NUMBER then about to 10 TO press was
iiItea out Of the forms ana sTho Case
OF deorge Dedlow" was hurriediv am.
STUFFED. 1t was published anonymous
W ana DR.. Mitchell's first intimatIon
OF the fact was afforded by the recen.
'ion OIL a letter from DR.. Hale inclosinp.
WIN the proof. a liberal check and
coihpiimenting the author on the fresb-
ness unconventionality and power of
ms WORK. Some of my readers may re-
'heinper the sketch. 1t was written in
such realistic fashion as to cause sub
scripuons to be raised for the imagi-
nary GEORGE Dedlow's support and COM
tort. An extended discussion of the
| case foiiowed In the newspapers, and
u was some time before It was under
$1,000 That no such armless. legless Ded-
low really existed.
DIR. Mitchell did not in any sense
ABANDON medicine when he took up the
| writer's pen. He still attends to his
practice with all his old time vigor. nor
mas he ceased writing on scientific
topics.
HIS literary output includes several
| novels, a number OF short stories, four
volumes of poems and q book OF fairy
tales. His poems have not attracted as
much attention as his other literary
writings. but this may be because the
public has been chary of giving atten-
ton to the metrlcal productions of a
writer known for years as a profession
al man only. At all events the "Hill of
Stones" THE Masque,v 1.-The Cup of
Youth" 1.-THE Mother and other of his
poems are full of power, Imagination
and true poetic grace.
1t is interesting to note that he has
introduced n distinct pathological por-
traiture into every one OF his novels
Thus In Hugh Wynne" he has traced
with unerring hand the progress of the
crumbling of the intellectual powers
caused by senile decay, in Far In
the Forest" prominent character suf-
fers from homicidal melancholia, in
Roland Blake" the disease thus de-
picted is hysteria, and In the story now
appearing in Century another form OF
mental maiady is portrayed. in which
the person affected is subject to al
ternate fits of intense elation and mel
ancholy.
1t Is manifest that no writer who has
not passed through professional expert
ences somewhat like DIR. MITCHELL q could
successfully introduce such portraitures
into fiction and that his long profes-
slonal career has given him advantages
in writing certainly az important as
any he may have missed by postponins
his entrance to the literary arena Sc
many years.
DR.. Mitchell does his literary writing
in the summer time. On June / he
leaves Philadelphia and goes to Cana
da, where he fishes for salmon on some
of the Canadian rivers. Then he goes
to his summer home at Bar Harbor. II
Is there that he writes, when he feels
inclined, in the mornings until he is
ready to return to Philadelphia. He
does all of his writings with the pen
He never dictates this work. and 1t l.
well known that he puts an unusua
amount of labor on his stories. Though
he writes rapidly and with ease he
seems never satisfied with his work as
first written. 1t Is stated that there is
not n chapter OF Importance In "Hugf
Wynne," for instance, that was moi
written at least twice before 1t was
sent TO the printer and that some chap.
ters were thus dealt with three times