The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1900-10-20
M0DERNSTORYWRlTER.
STORY OF HALLE RIvEs, WRIT
TEN BY ONE WHO HAS KNOWN Z
HER FOR YEARS.
How the Authoress of a
Furnace of Earth" Rose
and Won Fame and Fed
on Notoriety = A Ken
lucky Girl Whose Book il
the Sensation of the Day
in the Literary World. e

-
the Sensation of the Dal
in the Literary World.
Miss Halle Erminie Riycs,
kentucky girl, who has received
more free advertising than an,
authoress or actress of moderI
times, has issued another volume
says the Memphis Commercial
It is u novel, q sex-problem dis
cussion, Of which tho Prince oi
Wales said: 81 should be afrait
to cut the leaves; they woulC
bleed" Her publisher is care.
full to state that His Royal High.
ness bad applied for proofs In
advance of publication. "a Fur.
nance of Earth" is the title OF
this warm and sanguinary number
The career of this young women
is more interesting and surprising
than anything she has ever writ.
ten or is ever likely to write. II
may be said of her that she made
the newspapers make her. She
was bred in old Kentucky, moi
where the meadow gras, is blue
down in Christian county, where
the soil is dark and rich and to.
bacco Is the king of the fields
Her father is a modest and enll.
nently respectable man, who
fought in the Confederate army
Until his erratic only daughter
was seized with the mania For see.
ing things from her pen in print
it had never been asserted thar
they were related to the Virgins
family whence sprung the autho-
rcss Of The Quick or the Dead
Halle Erminie herself did moi
assert it until after she had yisite,
New York. The yellow Journals
called her Amelia's eccentric
cousin, which she was careful not
to deny. Those who knew well
the genealogy of the Kentucky
family smiled in a significant way
and shook their hoads dubiously
for, as her publishers tell us
.Kentucky has watched her4awitt
curiosity, tinctured with appre,
hension. She was always doing
unheard of things That is very
true. The apprehension is tine.
ure with other emotions.
AS has been intimated, Mis-,
Riyes, is a creation of the newspa.
pers. But don't censure the news.
paper too harshly. 1t may be
that she will vet do something
useful. Miss Rivers thirst for
notoriety is unquestionable. She
made up her mind when a girl tC
be famous. She had no inherent
|fondness for literature. but liter
ature offered an avenue, and
cheap fame was the quickest. She
read some books and wrote some
rot. She acquired a smatterinl
Of information on q variety OF
subjects and ar cal knowledge oi
nothing in letters. She was q
girl of rare personal beauty, with
a queenly carriage, peerless fig
ure and a wealth of tawny hair
that the poets write about and ar
lists strive to copy. She was not
insenslble to her charms. Possess
ing tact and knowing human ma.
ture, she did not expose her shal.
lowness among the really cultured
while passing for one of immense
accomplishments among those af.
fecting culture.
She got some Of her weak dilu
tions into print, retouched some,
times BY a friendly and suscepti
BILE editor accompanied by edito
rial paragraphs of pleasant ma
ture. Then she began to attent
the annual meetings of the Ken
lucky Press Association, Wheth
er the meeting was at Middlesbo
70. in the mountains, or at Padu
cab in the purpose she would b.
there. She went with the Ken
ttucky editors on all their jaunt
aud excursions. She loved tn,
society of well-informed people
and by absorption her scope 0,
knowledge broadened. She ac
lquired good anecdotes, love ant
legend by listening. The editor
would always have somethin,
pheasant to say of her, If by in
advertance it was omitted sh'
didn't mind reminding them o
the oversight. She had such
winning way of telling what sh
wanted said of her that her bound
less presumption was lost sight of
She never hesitated to declare sh
was going to make her nam
! known. "Falson' apostrophize,
her as one Of his prose poems;
Chicago composer set to musi,
Henry /. Stanton's malaga
Mobile and dedicated it to her an,
her class profile adorned its it'll
page. She was gaining a sort o
fame that was pleasing to her
She knew how to utilize he
1 friends. Here is an incident tha
lshows her method at the outset 0
| her so-called literary career:
There was young newspape
Imam in Kentucky, whom she liked
She made him her literary censo
and insisted upon his reading he
manuscript, and for q time h
was pleased aud battered. H
| would call her attention to sue
anachronisms as repeating rife
latthe Slcilian Vespers, and tel