Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-07

| William r. Lighton, author of a new
novel, THE Ultimate Moment" which
the Harpers are publishing, is a Penn
| syiVanlan. He was born i'm Williams
port, and his parents moved West when
ne was young boy. He has made the
| west with which he performed perforcr
an intimate acquaintance, the subject OF
many articles and short stories. OF tn"
| early ones he says: Il have them yet
| and look them over now and that when
l think my spirit needs Christening.
Mr.. Lighton studied law and was ad-
| mitted to the bar. OF this step he has
also something TO say:
II don't know why l did it. Six
months of practice gave me to under
stand distinctly that having was not for
lne. But there was a vast fund of ma
teriaF in law Office and court room,
and at every chance l tried to get this
material into shape on paper. I drifted
around over the Far West for a time
in Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona and
California. One winter | tried teaching
school in the heart of the New Mexican
desert, hundred miles back from no.
where. Eut ! found that school teach
ing demanded genius and quit it. Then
spent five or six years in court report
ing, enjoying it immensely-not for the
work itself, but for the matchless OPP
portunity it gave for studying men
and affairs"
The author of 'In the Sixties" q
novel published recently by the Abbey
Press, New York, is q Maine woman,
Mrs. Sarah b. Kicker of Livermore
Falls. This is Mrs. Rickers first pub
jsh"d book, and gives evidence of much
literary ability.
MY Devon Year" is the title of the
1eW book by Eden Phillpotts. which the
Macmillan Company will publish next
week. 1t is not a novel but a book of
rambling, discursive chapters dcscrib- |
ing country sights and sounds, the sun
rises and the vanshings of the mist, |
md other beautiful changes Of nature i
as Mr.. Phillpotts has observed thenl!I
Turing the year 1t may be described
as a sort of modern Whites "Selborne,"
.xcept that Mr.. Philpotts. describes all
sorts and kinds of natural Appearances
+ The list of books published on Satur
comprises the following: A general sur
vey of The Great Poets of Italy" by |
Professor Oscar Kuhns, with translated |
selections and portraits of the more
.amous authors; a romance of early |
New Orleans. entitled The Little Chev- |
ahcr," by Mrs. NJ E.. M. Davis; "A
Touch of Sun and Other Stories" of the |
West, by Mary Hallock Foote; THE |
Life and Letters of Margaret J. Pres
ION, :, one of the most prominent of our |
Southern poets, by Elizabeth Preston |
Allan; a suggestive study of THE New |
Epoch as developed by the Manufacture
of Power" by George S. Morrison; "The
Passing Show" five short plays in
blank verse, by Harriet Monroe, and
revised edition of "Connecticut' in the
American Commonwealth series.
Il. +. Benson, author of The Relent-
less City, is known to some of his
friends as "Dodo" Benson, because OF
his first story, Dodo, which, although
written when he was a young Cam
bridge graduate, achieved immediate
success and made it's author famous.
IN The Relentless city, Mr.. Benson
gives free expression to his opinions of
certain phases of city life, using New
York as a target for his clever shafts.
The author lives up to his con-
victions, and spends most of his time
in the quiet Cathedral city of Winchcs-
ter, Where he has his own bachelor es-
Enlistment and runs things as he likes.
His ftvorite room is no room at all, |
but half of his little garden, with a
roof over it. and the carpet of grass. |
Here are books and tables and comfort |
able chairs and even electric lights, so |
that he can live almost every hour in |
The outdoor air he loves. 'Thcsc are !
the best conditions for work that /
know" Mr.. Benson said to a friend |
recently visiting him. They beat any
thing that London can give"
Mrs Mary f. Wilkins-Freeman, whose
stories are known far and wide among
tho best in the language, has had some
curious psychological experiences in
writing them. For instance, she once
wrote a story of a man who sat on the
church steps because he had a
grievance. and was too angry
to enter. After it was published
the author was informed, to her
surprise, that such an incident had
actually occurred. Then again wheE
Mrs Wilkins Freeman wrote Silence,
which is Il story of the Deertield mas
sacre, she learned after its appearance
that q woman named Silence had act
ually lived in Deerfield at the time, and
one of her descendants asked Mrs Will
kins il the story had been written of
her; but the author had known nothing
about her Another still more uncanny
example was the following: In The
Little Maid in the Door a short story
of tie Salem witchcraft period. Mrs
wilkins Freeman had placed a turn in
the road at a certain house described III
the story, and afterwards discovered
that there was a turn in the old road at
that identical point.
The famous lost waters OF home
play an important part in Mr.. Marion
CraMford's latest novel. THE Heart OF
Rome These mysterious waters, ice
cold. and crystal clear, traverse 'he