The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-02-17
OUR CATHOLIC WRITERS
THIS ARRAY PROVES CATHOLIC
LITERATURE IS NOT WANING.
Men and Women Who Have Done
Much to Advance the Cause of
Catholic Letters In United States.

That Catholic literature has become
decadent, as a writer in the Church
/ Progress of st. Louis said some time
ago, and is fast waning, is very far
| from true. There are now quite as
many excellent writer's as there ever
We're; but it seems that the great body
of Catholics in this country do not
| recognize them for what they are
worth. They do not accept them as
great until the world outside has
stamped them as great; and they are
the last to discover this, their chosen
sign of approval. Permit me to men,
tion some of the writer's OF Catholic
literature with the books they have
written writes G.. b. in the Washing
ton Catholic News.
Foremost among them is Eleanor c..
Donnelly. Miss Donnelly was born in
Philadelphia, which has always been
| her home. Besides being a constant
contributor to current literature, She
has published some dozen volumes of
poems. Her Life of Father Barbelin.
5. j." won from the press most fiat
tering comment: and she has eXcelled
in religious compilations. such as "Lig-
ouri Leaflets, Pearls from the Cas-
ket of the Sacred Heart, Little Com
pliments of the Season.. Among her
latest works are Poems" "A Tuscan
Magdalen and Other Legends and Po-
ems, The Lost Christmas Tree" 1t
is claimed that one of Miss Donnellys
poems, The Vision of the Monk Ga
briel" furnished Mr. Longfellow with
the theme of his Beautiful Legend. 5"
written eight years later 1t is most
interesting to compare the one with
the other to bring out the beauties and
the spirit of both.
A GIFTED FAMILY.
Miss Donnelly comes of a gifted fam
lily Her father was welI-known ply
sician of Philadelphia and her mother
a woman of remarkable intelligence.
Her brother is the eminent BaConian
Hon. Ignatius Donnelly Mrs DonneI-
ly, in the seventies, began those famous
Saturday Night" "-noctes ambrosiae-
which her daughters have continued.
Among the writer's now we'll known
who frequented tins delightful salon
were Agnes Repplier, 5. Weir Mitchell,
author Of THE Falcon of Langeac"
and Fer the Lilies of France" and
many other authors. The music was
always first rate and the feature of the
evening was a little comedy acted by
the young people
Miss Donnelly's latest book, Lot
Leslies Folk is in prose. 1t is thrill
ing record of adventures among the
French and Indians, and the critics
insist, that it has all the charm of
Cooper, without COoper's verbosity 1t
reminds one of that charming prose
poem of Mrs. Dorsey's, "Coana." but
it is of a different species, yet it has
something of the glow of that Amer
lean classic. Mrs. Donnelly still con-
tinues to reside in the ancestral home
in Pine street, in the old part of Phila-
delphia. Her summer house is at Sea
Isle City. One of her most attached
friends was the late Miss Sara j. Smith.
whose collected works are in course of
preparation.
CHRISTIAN REID.
Mrs. Frances c. Tiernan, whose pen
name, Christian Reid, is familiar to a
large circle of readers, was born at
Salisbury, N. c., where her people have
lived from the first settlement of the
country Long after her fathers death
she lived a lonely life in the Fisher
homestead, an oldfashioned house set
in a grove of old oaks and cedars. Miss
Fisher began to write when very young.
and the success of her first novel, va
lerie Aylmer" which appeared in 1870.
spared her the difficulties which beset
most authors in their early efforts.
Thereafter she wrote constantly for
several years, publishing many books.
of which Morton House" "A Question
of Honor and Heart of Steel were
received as the most successful.
In 1887 she was married to Mr.. James
NJ. Tiernan. and since that time has
resided chiefly in Mexico This was
good fortune for many of her readers.
for she sent back to them charming
stories of Mexican life. The best
known of these are THE Land of the
SUM-, Picture of Las Cruces" and
"Carmela." Besides these, Mrs Tier
nan has also written "A Cast for For
tune Mabel Lee Garments Inher-
itance, Hearts and Hands," "The
Land of the Sky" "A Summer Idyn"
and Miss Churchill" The list of all
her books is a very long one.
Since the death of her husband. Mrs.
Tiernan has lived in New York. Her
best book is, no doubt, Heart of
Steel. Mrs. Tiernan knows the So
ciety of the south by heart She never
descends to dialect. The real grande
dame is depicted by her to the life, and |
it has been truly said of her that any
girl who wants to know the tone of |
the best southern society will do we'll |
to live for awhile with her heroines. |
She is not popular writer, because
popular taste has become brutaized. |
If mothers had thought or time TO give |
TO the reading of their daughters they |
would soon produce a better era The |
slangy, the fast the irresponsible. /
the misunderstanding girl does not ex-
lst in Christian Reid's novels. Mrs. |