The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-12-28

0A IA
try will behold in her not only
the brilliant, distinguished au-
thor, but England's most ia
nous new oma She may
also be taken as representa-
tive of the best type and herald of the
new woman the world over. With an
intellectually so strong and striking
that when it obtained outlet in literary
composition it placed her among the
first Of living novelists, with convic-
lions the most intense and radical as TO
the emancipation of woman. she yet
possesses a personality so rarely sweet
and winning that Sarah Grand is quite
as fascinating in social life as "neh
she takes up her authors pen.
In private life she is Mrs.
She dresses carefully, handsomely and
in exquisite taste, which is no more
than every woman should do. At the
same time she is an athlete, likewise a
cycling enthusiast, which shows at
once her good sense and physical sound
ness. But she believes in wearing al
ways a dress suitable to the occasion
Therefore she devised a bicycle cos
tune which, though entirely pretty,
convenient and artistic, fairly curdled
the blood of the s'pruneS and pr1Smsf
propriety of old England, and it is not
s~training the point to say it would have
done the same in the United States.
Mme. Sarah Grand's cycling costume
was a modified form of the double and
hose worn by Shakespeare's fascinating
Rosalind in ssAs You Like It." Sarah
wore it and learned the bitter lesson
that mankin are neither free nor civ
ilized-not yet, not yet
An incident out of the common is told
of the publication of one of her first
stories. Her experiences in trying to
get her work published were for years
extremely trying and discouraging. No
writer's early history is more instruc-
tive or inspiring than hers. 1t was like
the spider of Tamerlane that tried to
spin its web between two points seven
ty-seven times. Seventy-six times it
failed; the seventy-seventh it succeed
ed.
So Sarah Grand had tried and tried
and tried and tried to get her stories
printed. Nobody would have them
Publishers wastebasketed her sketches
without even taking the trouble to
write and say they did not want her eff
fusions. At last. discouraged, she ask
ID herself seriously one day whether 1T
was worth while to attempt literature
any more. She had come to that state
which acts on an authors mind like a
death chill, the state wherein he asks
himself: After all. have / mistaken my
gifts? Have. I, after all. no talent for
writing? 2" Sarah Grand, as many wo-
men and some men have done in strait
places, essayed Bibliomancy. She took
a Bible and opened it at random for a
text that would guide her. She saw
this, The stone which the builders re-
jected will become the head of the cor
ner," Prophecy or not, it gave her a
brace up to send out her manuscript
once more, and that time it was ac-
cepted. That gave her again a power
full brace up, and she d~espaired no
more.
Even then, though, it was years before
her first pronounced success, THE
Heavenly Twins" was achieved. That
story, too, though it was the literary
sensation of two seasons, was rejected
by nearly every publisher in London.
One firm gravely wrote her that if they
should issue the story 1T would give
great pain" to their lady readers. The
author met this argument with a re-
mark truly Grandian. IF that's the
case" she said. .it proves that The
Heavenly Twins is just the book that
lady readers ought to read. 1t will
make them think. 1 will publish it my
self"
Nevertheless, with a fine, brave trust
in her sisters of the Pioneer Woman's
club of London she read aloud to them
what the publishers considered the
parts most to be tabooed in 1.-The Heav-
emily Twins" The new women of the
Pioneer club favored the publication.
She had the story printed at her own
expense and was proceeding to get it
before the people as best she might
when at last a publisher took the task
off the plucky woman's hands and
made her famous and put money in his
own purse. Now, after the victory is
won, it may be incidentally observed
that the most Miss Nancyish publishers
on two continents are 'tumbling over