Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-03

scenes, personages and often the very
words that lie within.-St. Nicholas.
When DR.. Henry Van Dykes 1.-The
Story of the Other Wise Man" was
translated into Turkish, it was sub
mitted, in the usual course, to the CEN
sor. That worthy approved all the
book except its title, which he said
would not do.
why will it not do?" the publisher
asked.
Because it is not true" was the
solemn answer.
The publisher was puzzled. Not
true ?" he asked. I'm what respect is it
not true?"
Because" explained the censor,
there is no Wise Man but Mahomet."
The title was accordingly changed to
one which, if translated freely into
English, would read, How the Other
Scientist Got Left Behind
Hundreds of people have INDUCED in
fruitless speculation as to the reason
for the choice of pen names by so
many of the authors of the past and
present day. Why, it has been asked,
should the late Charles Kingsley s
talented daughter choose to be known
as Lucas Malet? According to her own
confession, her modesty was the motive
which induced her to conceal her
identity, SO that any failure on her part
should not dim the luster of her faith
er's name. For this reason she COM
bined the names of two clever women
in her family one of whom was Mary
Lucas, the maiden name of her faith
er's mother, and the other Alice Malet,
the grandmother's aunt, both of which
names she has thus rescued from OBJ
| livion.
| With women writer's the fear of fam
| lily criticism seems to have been re-
sponsible for many assumed names
Mrs. Alexander, for instance, the au-
thor of The Wooing OF and other
delightful novels. adopted the Christian
name of her husband, Alexander Hec-
tor. and under this mask won her fame
| before he was even aware that she had
| written a line. and Madame Sarah
Grand, knowing that her husband, Sur
geon McFall, did not approve of her
views, concealed her identity under the
name now so widely known, and which
she chose on account of it's plainness.
1t is curious, by the way, how many
woman authors have selected unattrac-
tive and even ugly pen names. Olive
| Schreiner won her laurels under the
almost repellant name of Ralph Iron;
| Mrs. Craigie chose to be known as John
| Oliver Hobbies, deliberately selecting
| the least attractive name she could
| think of, 50 that it might not be re-
| cognized as a woman's choice, and thai
| it might warn her against any yielding
| to womanly sentimentality in her writ
| ing; and for similar reasons Mrs. Ar
thur Stannard presented herself 20 the
public as John Strange Winter, as un-
| effeminate a name as one could easily
conceive.
, Many writer's have reduced the myS-
| terry Of their MONS de plume to the ut
most. by simply using their Christian
names, as: Mrs. Thomas Anstey Guth-
RE, who chose to be known as F. Ans
tey; Forbes Phillips, as Athol Forbes;
Anthony Hope Hawkins, as Anthony
Hope; and A. r. Hope MOncrief, as
| Ascot r. Hope. 1t is curious to OBJ
serve how almost invariably the per
| names of women writer's are either
avowedly masculine or without indica-
ton to sex, as George Eliot, Maxwell
Grey, and G. II. Hutton (Mrs. Mona
| Caird.)
Mrs. Ada Ellen Bayly arrived at the
name Edna Lyall, now so familiar tC
us, by the simple process of transpos-
| ing some of the letters of her own
name; and Mile De La Rance as is
known, adopted her public appellatior
| "Ouila," which was the nearest APP
| proach very youthful sister coulo
make to the pronunciation of hel
| Christian name, Louisa. Some per
names have distinctly humorous or
igin, as Luke Sharp, which suggests
the obvious meaning that occurred tC
its owner. Robert Barr, Mostyn r
| Piggott preserves his initials in the
amusing form of Medium Tom Plum
! The name of Mark Twain, was. as
is pretty generally known, suggested
to Mr. Clemens by the cry of the leads
man on a Mississippi boat, when the
lead indicated that the boat was in
shallow water; Rev. John Watson ar
rived at Ian Maclaren: and Max O'Rell
made combination of his grandfath-
ers Christian name, Maxine and his
grandmother's patronymic, O'Reilly to
| the familiar Max ORell.-Allan Suth-
| erland in New York Observer.