The times., 1899-03-12
LITERARY NOTES.

LITERARY NOTES.
Elizabeth C. Jordan. who claims TO nave
had experience in newspaper work, and has
published volume of clever little stories
along that line. has been writing for the
Ladies' Home journal about the woman
reporter. and she makes this astonishing
statement:
There is no reason why the woman reporters
income should not bc $50 SI5 week at the
end Of the second year. hfier She has worked
in New York FIVE years she should be earning at
least $50 week.
Anyone at all acquainted with the condi-
tIOns OF newspaper life knows that nothing
of this sort is true, but even if it were, 1t
should not be published in paper like
that of Mr.. Box without a careful explain
alton OF the comparative cost of life in
New York and in smaller cities, or in the
country. The extra expenses of life in
great city reduce down TO bare living
wages salary which seems princely to the
country girl. AS a matter OF fact, the ay-
erage woman reporter earns about Slo a
week. and if she makes S25 she is doing re-
markably well. For every woman who
achieves this moderate success there are
scores who fail, or who struggle along on
an income below the cost of living. The
person who makes a statement like this IN
the Ladies' Home journal, with It's large
class of readers in the country and in small
towns and villages. is in danger OF the re-
buke administered to those who lead cap
tive silly women
Kennan, in his new book, Campaigning
in Cuba makes the statement that after
the battle of Guasimas, the medical officers
OF the Red Cross, which Kennan repre-
sented as vice president, went ashore and
found the wounded soldiers lying on the
bare floor of an abandoned Spanish house
that had neither been cleaned nor disin-
fected. DR.. Lesser and five nurses went
ashore next morning with boat load OF
cots. blankets. pillows, disinfectants and
hospital supplies, Offering TO ameliorate
the terrible condition of our wounded. They
were informed that their aid was not
needed. Mr.. Kennan says:
Then nurses went to the Cuban hospital in
ncighborns building, where their services were
accepted, not only with cagerness, but with
| grateful appreciation Before night they had
| swept, dsiufccted, and scrubbed out that hos
| pital with soap and water, and had bathed the
| Cuban patients, fed them, and put them into
| clean. fresh cotbeds. Our own soldiers at the
same time were lying without blankets or pillows
! on the floor in a building which DR. Winter and
| his assistants had neither cleaned nor attempted
| 10 clean.
The death of Archibald Lampman must
| be considered a distinct loss to literature.
This brilliant Canadian has been called
| the American Wordsworth, and his po-
etry certainly expressed the pure love OF
nature more accurately than any other
work in contemporary literature. He was
! born in Western Ontario in 1861, his IA
ther being a clergyman of the Church OF
| England His work has something in
common with that of Charles G. ID. Rob
erts. but his nature poems are of a wider
range and more finished in form. Some
of his sonnets are most exquisite pictures
of the moods of nature; and he has baen
| known to American literature for some
twelve or fifteen years. His poems are
comparatively few in number, the pub
lished volumes being Among the Millet,
and Other Poems,' and Lyrics of
Earth 1t is rather curious that the
three poets of today who have shown the
| most subtle and sympathetic comprehen-
| sion of nature are all Canadians-Archi-
| bald Lampman, c. G. ID. Roberts, ami
| Bliss Carman. Is there something in the
| atmosphere of the North which favors
/ that solitude in which alone one can study
! the shy life of the woods and fields? 1t
| almost seems So Yet Sidney Lanier, who
| came from the hill country OF Georgia,
was a passionate lover of nature, and one
| or two of the poets of the Middle West
| have done their best work in this line.
| Perhaps after all, it is a matter of tenn
perament rather than of climate.
Susan Hartley SWEET, who, with her sis
ter. Sophie SWEET, has been a frequent
| contributor to st. Nicholas and other
| juvenile publications, has just published
volume of stories called Field
Glover and Beach Grass" AS the title in
dicates, they are stories of the country,
and full of individuality and quiet humor.
| The authors fiower-pictures in verse are
] . -r-l
ever done for st. Nicholas, and If the
stories are half as clever and delightful
they should be well worth reading.
THE Writer" of Boston. has this to
say of Evaleen Stein, whose first book OF
verse was reviewed in The Times last
year:
Evaleen Stein. author Of the story. ''The Page
| Of Count Rcynaurd," in st. Nicholas for De
cembcr. was born and has always lived in her
present home, Lafayette, Ind. For several years
she has been engaged in decorative designing.
Illuminating, and similar work, and the things
She has written have been chiefly verses contrib
uted to the indianapolis Journal \ year ago
last November Copeland & Day, OF Boston,
brought ont a small selection OF these. under
the title. Zone Way to the Woods and the
book went into second edition the following
January. Miss STEMS story, The Page OF Count
Reynaurd,' is her first attempt al anything OF
the kind. She thought She would try what she
|
the manuscript 10 ''St. Nicholas
Some time ago a clever little book en-
titled Tales from the Land OF Manana
was reviewed in these columns. The au
thor. G. Cunningham Cunningham, dis
PLAYED n remarkable comprehension Of
Mexican life. and the stories were writ
ten in a terse and vigorous style which
suggested that new Kipliug might make
his appearance from the fruitful field to
the south of US. 1t was somewhat sur
prisng TO learn that the writer of these
tales 5 a Southern girl now employed as
| stenOgrapher for a business firm in the
| City of Mexico. Miss Cunningham has
been a regular contributor to the "Argo-
naut" of San Francisco. and has a thor
ough knowledge of the life of the English
and American residents of Mexico and
what is more, of that of the native.
Nothing like her stories has appeared
since Janvier published Fray Antonio of
the Gardens and other romances of the
same type. Although Miss Cunningham
is still very young. and this was her first
book. some of the work in it indicates
that her grasp and power are unusual.
and there seems no reason why she should
not make brilliant career for herself in
depicting the life of Spanish American
races.
The Chicago Post" says:
II Is only within a very few years that the
world generally mas come to have knowledge OF
| q language called Iiddish. In fact, it has come
mainly into prominence through Zangwill's sto-
| ries Of the Ghetto aud other Jewish tales. The
| Century Dictionary calls Nid and Niddishcr
London slang, meaning jew and Jewish, but
I IL. 49,