Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-11-11

article IN the Cosmopolitan Magazine,
entitled My Autobiography, describes
as follows her early life and literary
career:
Someone asked me not long ago
when it was that first conceived the
idea Of literary profession and at
what age first found myself some
thing of a celebrity. I do not remem-
Der when / did not expect to be a
writer, and 7 was a neighborhood
celebrity at the age of 8. The young
est of my m3ther's children, seemed
TO have had my career arranged for
me by conditions before my birth
1t has always been my belief that
children inherit the suppressed ten
t8ncies of their parents. A clergy
mans son frequently shows abnormal
ta stes for the pleasures that his father
denied himsR lf, and talent is quite
often the full-blown flower of a little
shoot which circumstance has crushed
under its hee IN a former generation.
So at the age of 8 / began to com
pose prose and rhyme because the lit
erary tendencies of my mother had
never been gratifed. The poetical
gift was no doubt greatly the result
Of her having accidental access to a
library of the poets, for the first time
in her life, the year previous to my
advent and the haggiest and most
hopeful year of her life.
Until reached the age of IA the
neighborhood and the school satisfied
me as an audience hailed compost
dOn-day witt an eagerness equaled
only by my terror of an examination
in mathematics. 1t is human to love
to shine and equally human to dislike
being humiIi lated in our fellow-beings'
eyes, One of the most depressing
days in my life was when I stood 20
in a scale of 100 in mathematics.
My early outlook was not one which
would encourage most aspirants. My
family had left a comfortable, even a
luxurious, home for those days in yer-
mont to seek fortune in the new west
-WiscOnsin-be before the year of my
birth.
My father had been music teacher
all his life, and when he attempted to
become a business man and speculator
he made a failure of it. By the time
NWas a year or two old he had lost the
little competence he brought west
with him and the family 1.-TWO parents
and four children, including myself,
was obliged to begin life anew, at the
foot of the ladder, upon a western
prairie, distant IL miles from the
nearest tow m This town was Madison,
Wlsconsin'$ capital.
No Literary Advisers.
had no literary advisers or
coachers. My parents were intellect
ual; my mother was great reader of
whatever anne in her way and was
possessed Of a wonderful memory. The
elder children were excellent scholars,
and a grammatical error was treated
as cardinal sin in the household. But
no one knew anything about the
methods of getting into print and we
had no literary associates. We were
in truth while poor 4 in worldly goods
and knowledge and customs, the intel
lectual aristocrats Of the locality.
We had few books and only week
Iy newspaper In an old red chest
upstairs were reigiously preserved
copies of The Arabian Nights, Guilt
ver's Travels, John GiIpin's Ride and
a few of Shakespeares plays. The
New York Ledger and the New York
Mercury were sent to us by relatives
for several years, and the first literary
feasts l INDUCED in were the weekly
serial stories of Mrs. Southworth and
Nay Agnes Felming. They were like
tobacco sauce to the appetite exciting
but not healthful They gave me
false ideas of life and added to my
discomfort with my lonely environ
ment- There was nothing in my situa-
ton to cultivate poetIcal talent, and
no doubt owe my early development
as poet to that fact-paradoxical as
the statement may seem.
Born with intense cravings for
pleasure. / should have been the veri-
est amusement-seeker in my youth
had not necessity stood at my elbow.
Whatever genuine talent we possess
must reveal itself in time, but my
early start in my profession was due
to my desire to change and enlarge my
horizon and better the conditions of
the home, where no one was cOntented.
At the age of l completed a novel
of II chapters, headed with original
rhymes (I have it still, bound in paper
which | took from loose panel on the
kitchen WALL.
It was soon after this period that /
saw nv first editor. He came from
Madison with a railroad official to ask
for subscriptions for some proposed
new line Of railroad. He came in q
covered carriage'-my idea Of ele-
gance and wealth, as I rarely saw
anything better than lumber wagons or
runabOuts. 1 came from school, a
long mile walk, on hot summer after
noon, tired and curious to know who
was within. AS / entered the room
some member of the family presented
saae and the editor took me on his knee.