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

of a happy disposition. | had my moods
of depression, veritable luxuries of
misery.
There was continual worry at home.
No one was resigned or philosophical.
My mother hated her Woodworking lot,
for which she was totally untitled, and
constantly rebelled against it, like a
Gagged animal beating against iron
bars; while she did her distasteful
tasks with Spartan-like adherence to
duty, doubling the dominance Of an all
wise ruler who could condemn her to
such a lot. Like thousands of others
in the world, she had not learned that
through love and faith only do condi-
lions change for the better.
The home was pervaded by an
atmosphere Of discomfort and fatigue
From reincarnated sources and
through prenatal causes / was born
with unquenchable hope and unfalter-
ing faith in God and guardian spirits.
I often wept myself to sleep after a
day of disappointments and worries,
but woke in the morning singing aloud
with the joy Of life.
/ | always expected wonderful things
to happen to me.
In some of the hardest days, when
everything went wrong with everybody
at home and all my manuscripts came
back for six weeks at a time without
one acceptance, [ recall looking out of
my little north window upon the lone
ly road bordered with lonelier Lom-
hardy poplars, and thinking, before
night something beautiful will hap
pen to change everything" There
was so much | wanted! / wanted to
bestow comfort, ease and pleasure on
everybody at home. | wanted lovely
gowns-ah how I wanted themi-
and travel and accomplishments.
wanted summers by the seattle sea
which | had read of, but had never
seen-and on moonlight nights these
Ilongings grew SO aggressive [ often
pinned the curtain down and shut out
the rays that seemed to intensity my
loneliness, and I would creep into my
little couch under the sloping caves,
musing, Another beautiful night of
!
waken happy in spite of myself and
put all my previous melancholy into
verses-and dollars.
Once I read a sentence which be-
came life-motto for me: "If you
haven't what you like, try to like what
you have"
The elder children married and had
/ nf 7
for them-missing the beautiful things
knew life held.
Slowly, so slowly, it seemd to me,
my work and my income increased.
longed for sudden success, for sudden
wealth. 1t was so hard to wait
there was so much to be done. There
was a gentle hill south of the house;
often on summer evenings, after writ
ing all day, l climbed this ascent at
sunset and looked eastward, wondering
what lay for me beyond the horizon.
| always had the idea that my future
would be associated with the far west,
yet it was to the east | invariably
looked. My knowledge of the east was
bounded by Milwaukee and Chicago
| luC SOdI VI udppJ Flolio I"O VI IhACS
times a year.
Sometimes / walked through the
pasture and young woods, half mile,
to call on Emma, the one friend who
knew and sympathized with all the
family troubles. And Emma would
walk back with me, and we would
] wonder how many years longer these
| H. Il fGY
u.s. would tell her of my successes in
my work, and she and her gentle
mother rejoiced in them as if they
were their own personal triumph.
Such restful walks and talks they al
ways were. Dear Emma!
Created Sensation.
When publishing Maurine l had pur
poseIy omitted more than twoscore
poems of very romantic nature in
order to save the volume from too
much sentiment. Letters began to
come to me requesting copies of these
verses-ardent love-songs which had
appeared in various periodicals. This
suggested to me the idea of issuing a
| book of love-poems to be called" Poems
of Passion" To think was to do--for
I possessed more activity than caution
in those days.
| AS just related, every poem in the
book had been published in various
periodicals and had brought forth no
criticism. My amazement can hardly
be imagined, therefore, when Jansen
& McClurg returned the manuscript of
my volume, intimating that it was i'm
moral. I told the contents of their
letter to friends in Milwaukee, and it
reached the ears of a sensational
morning newspaper. The next day a
column article appeared with large
headlines:
''Too Loud for Chicago.
The Scarlet City by the Lake Shocked.
By Badger Girl. Whose Verses out
Swinburne Swinburne and out
! Whitman Whitman"
Every newspaper in the land caught
up the story, and | found myself an OBJ