The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-03
NOT A BIT LIKE HER HEROES.
The Unpicturesque Man Mary VIII
kins is Engaged To.
New York Herald,


book world at large and the social world
OF two little communities, Randolph
Mass, and Metuchen, y. j., are wonder
ing and wondering whether Mary L. VIII
Charles NJ freeman. doctor eo5rS II The i'' last
ume either of the principals in this mt /
IInpSiiS TS toplc was IN november lhsn Z
he and She are past the period of ro-
mantle attachmeIts- he is a settled bus /
his senior, In her books her heroes have
Deen cavaliers whose blood tingled at the
bare mention of femlninity. DIR. Freeman
IS sedate and in no way picturesque.
He has performed no heroic deeds, en-
dured no agontzing trials. He is just an
| ordinary man. Miss wilkins heroes have
ali been poor men; DR.. Freeman inherited
considerable means and lucrative bust
ness Her leading men characters have
been young; Dr. Freeman appears II
[ tar past youth Her men have invariably
been comely; DR.. Freeman is not what IS
usually called handsome, though by no
means unprepossessing.
The ostensible reason for the delay in
consummating their betrothal has been
that Miss wilkins has been immersed in
her most ambitious work: that she could
not divert her thoughts to personal mat
ters until she had written ''Finis'' and
She is a methOdical worker in that she
devotes harsalf 70 i5a gf1 ono
/ her for several hours, but she does not
set up the outlines of her story and then
fill in the skeletonZed structure. She has
more or less distinct mental pictures OF
/ the climaXes OF her chapters. out nos al
/ ways a perfectly clear conception OF the
| finale when she begins to write.
| Randolph, where Miss Wilkins has re-
sided in the same old dwelling for al
/ most twenty years, is close by the great
! eastern factory towns, where strikers and
/ lockouts, arbitration boards and labor ar
( bitratOrs may be studied under q micro
J scope. Hence, say her friends, Miss VII
/ kins absorption in her book, which treats
| of labor conditions.
But the authoress is not a clustered
I nun by any means The Hub is distant
only a pleasant ride by trolley, via South
| Braintree or Milton, and many afternoons
| find Miss wilkins and the devoted chum
! or her schooldays whlsklng OF TO tea or
! reception in Boston. Her companion has
| gained, the sobriquet of Cerberus." Miss
! Wiiklns has a kindly regard Tor al ner
neighbOrS, who, while not permitting
! themselves to lionfze the celebrity that IS
in their midst, yet like her genuinely For
instance, when L called on recent sun
day AFTERNOON, heard upstairs steady
What, is Miss Wilkins using type
! writer here in Puritan New England, al
| crattry on d Sabbath afternoon l ejac-
| .Cerberus'' laughed Yes. and worse.
| The work is being done tor preachers
subsequently 1 heard that Miss wilkins
I had offered to go over TO a monologue
that the young daughter OF a neighbering
minister was tc reclte, at churcn enter
tainment few days thereafter.
We had chatted on multitude of top
/
curious, big, gnarly elm, whose branches
| seemed to beckOn to us from her study
the s2nb sBssbed IT'S trunk and limbs
in specl1ied beauty, and l was not sur
prised that this ardent student of nature
/ intimated that she contemplated writing
a monograph upon trees
After I'm married III keep dogs" re-
marked Miss Wilkins once. DR. Freeman
cares nothing for dogs, but he likes TO
drive a sound. speedy horse. Miss VII
thought that their tastes and attributes
be as far apart as the poles. let 1t be set
down here that both love gOod literature,
and he finds delight in golf, while she
| finds her SupremeSt happiness Almost In
rural walks, studying nature.
Miss Wilkins is blonde. Her complex
| ion is beautiful. Her eyes are bright ana
! of a lovely blue Though the corners of
her mouth turn downward, she is not \
/ pessimist, nor sombre in any way.
Thoughtful she is, undoubtedly, but her
upon her as a clever woman of the world
rather than typical New England spin
She began to write when she was a..
| sending her first contributions 10 the BOs-
ton Budget- IL was story paseu on teL
child,s play rainy afternoons with her
paper dolls and the shadow pictures she
used to throw on the wall, sitting curled
| up before the blazing hearthStOne.
Miss Wilkins is not married, she does
not keep dogs, but she possesses cat,
berus,' I'VE rented a monkey. Yes. really.
You know Miss wilkins likes 10 write
| animal stories. and we Just had to have a
monkey Why. once we went to see Pro-
fessor Garner. who has studied monkeys,
/ you recOllect. at short range in Africa.
Well, one couldn't gather anything of real
interest from mis- conversation. We wo-
men didn't positively need a monkey for
couldn't. Then we decided to rent one.
The animal dealer hesitated about that,
but at last he said If we returned the
monkey in as good condition as we got
him he'd let US have one. He gave us
minute directions about that monkey S
dict-milk and bananas and so on.
In a week that monkey tyrannized this
[ household. He reveled in goodies ana
Perched wheresoever he would: No he
didn't have gJut-prObably simians es-
:, cape that-but he certainly must have
been bilious when we returned him to the
: enabled to get the local color the real
| lists talk about
The Lathrop homestead. where Miss
r Wilkins and her school girl chGm and the
years, is lis years old a century old the
/ ceilings are low, the beams and timberS
huge and solid. Steam radiators mitiga Il
the cold winds that sweep across the
? | broad res of the homestead Bits OF
! bric-a- ." gathered by Miss Wilkins
while a. I'd, piano, quaint old engrav-
- ings ana arge modern platinum prints
are scatter d about.
Without the white house. with greer
! | blinds, small porch and ampIed side door
! description fits the LathrOp homestead
as aptly as any of its neighbors,
n his bride is smaller, jus- a. Metuchen /.
. smaller than Randolph. l. is modern
= without and within. 1t was at the homt
, Of Henry NJ Alden. at Metuchen, thai
Miss Wilkins and Dr. Freeman met. Sub
sequentiy he saw her at Plymouth. Mass
II where the authOress and ner vigiIan
d guardian had a cottage last summer, anC
r later the Wooer found his way to Sc
cluded Randolph. He does not appear L
have been an impetuous WOOer-that
y would be quite foreign to his nature, ant
- yet Miss Wilkins does not wear her hear
on her sleeve But he did win her favor
] When il came to setting the day there
was hitch. Both believed it best t
have her literary chef d oeuvre finished
first.
she is rapid writer said DR.. Free
man. Sometimes she does $500 words II
a day, but she does not map out he
stories ana modifies or expands them a.
the circumstances develop one phase o.
another So postponements occurred am
the snug house at Metuchen is still un
occupied.