The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-07-08
LITERARY WOMEN.
Gossip About Their Fads ana Fer
sonaI Peculia rifles.

Miss Alice French-Octave Thanet-
confesses TO taking keen pleasure in car
pentry. II love the very planning and
saving and measuring and squaring. To
De sure. my carpentry is mostly done by
the light Of nature and there Is nothing
me about 1t, except the tools. but with
assistance have made two picket fences,
one heavy and three light wire fences
ana nine or ten gates, all OF which can
shut Another lady who wields a saw
ana plane with as much skill as her pen
Is Beatrice Harraden. While living on
ranch In California for her mothers sake
she became quite an expert as a carpen-
Ter. helping upon occasions TO build
renee. or fences She set out with her
own hands, small orchard and attend
ed TO the grating and pruning. IL was
also her proud boast that she could har-
ness horse as well as any cowboy.
Very musical. a composer of music
and skilled player on the vioioncello,
Miss Harraden was the life of the ranch.
She Is an ardent sufYragist. Although
ships That Pass in the Night" brought
her fame. IL added but little to her for
tune. as she sold the book outright for
trifiing sum. The story was rejected
by Mr.. Blackwood, of Blackwood's Mag
azine, In which her first published story.
The Umbrella Member" appeared He
said that the story was too sad to suit
the public taste. Octave Thanets first
published story, Communist and Capt
talist.' was published In Iippincott's
and brought the writer exactly si2. her
FIRST check for literary work.
One of Mary +. wilkins recreations
Is letter writing. although her penman-
ship she herself pronounces shocking"
Once upon a time she made the odd dis
covery that In writing TO her friends
she distinctively Initiated the writing of
the person she was addressing-a queer
circumstance which suggests strange
possibilities. II IL pleasant 10 know that
Miss wilkins was successful from the
nrst. There were no long. heart-rending
struggles on bread and water diet for
her. Her first publication was poem:
her first "grown-up' story Two Old
Lovers"
II you ask Mrs Margaret Sangster
her Pet recreation or diversion whether
music, reading, the opera. etc-she re-
plies; Writing essays" Her first work
was collection of religious essays and
poems. and was published without
though OF pecuniary gain. but simply as
a means Of enabling her to make a few
holiday presents.
Mrs. f. ID. +. N. Southworth used to
declare that her chief claim to distinc-
ton was having been born In house
In which Washington had lived. and In
the very room which had been his Her
INST sioINs ftttTlDut1Ou. published in
1870. In the National era. Is said to have
been the first novel published serially in
this country. In public libraries her
novels are rebound oftener than any
other works OF fiction
Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin Riggs chief
aversion before her marriage to Mr.
Riggs was being addressed as Mrs. Wig
gins-the -" tackled TO her name being
most obnoxious TO her. Imagine her
feelings. therefore, when the postmaster
at her home In Bronxville announced to
her with an easy eision that both pre-
hNed and suffixed the IS" "Weu. I'VE
been reading some OF your books. Mrs.
5. Virgins"
Madame Blancs-"The Bentzon--the
French writer. pet annoyance Is coming
across an English translation OF one OF
her own stories They are so badly done
that she has never had the courage to
read many Her first published story.
divorce" was novel which attracted
immediate attention. OF divorce she
wrote feelingly, for, married at Is she
was divorced at 49,