The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-07

English press, in the dark days before
the Union of Hearts, she met in a rail
way carriage the Rev. Whitwell Ell
win, the famous editor of Pope. They
made friends, and he brought her
poems to the notice of Lord LyttOn,
"Owen Meredith whom he was on
his way to visit at KnebwOrth in Hert-
fOrdshire. Lord Lytton wrote her i'm
menSely long and immensely gener-
Gus letters, and asked her on a visit
to Knebworth. That, however, owing
to her own modesty, never came to
pass. That autumn, too, she visited
the Rossettis, and spent more than
one afternoon with the sanity Chris
tiana and her beautiful old mother in
the house at Torrington square.
Coming back to Ireland she found
herself welcomed into a literary circle
Of which w. B. Yeats, "a. E." Rus
sell and Douglas Hyde were members.
They met at the house of DR.. Siger-
son, John and Ellen O'Leary, the old
Fenian chief and his sister, Johnston
CT BallykiIbeg, whose children were
BuddhiSts and revOlterS in every way
against the parental bitterness of
creed, which never for a moment was
bitterness of the heart. She had a
close and intimate friendship with w
B. Yeats and his family. Perhaps
hardly any one else, she thinks, knows
as much of Mr.. w B. Yeats of that
time as she. A delightful personality
it was; boyish, simple, humble in a
way, devoured with the passion for
beauty, quite patient and tolerant
with those who were intolerant of his
absorption in dreams and visions. The
most generous of critics. How many
a winter Sunday has he come striding
over the snow, under a Wintry moon,
to sit with her in the pretty work
room her fathers love and pride had
given her, to read poetry or listen to
it till midnight if he might
What gatherings that pretty room
witnessed The Piatts, Louise Imogen
Alfred Perceval Graves; many a one
known and to be known came
there on Sundays In 1889 she was in
London with the Meynells. Chief
among her events then she remem-
bers that historic evening at Lord
RusselI's house in Harley street when
Gladstone, Lord Randolph Churchill,
and Mr.. ParneH were met together
the rehabilitation of Mr.. Parneu after
the suicide of Pigott-a rehabilitation
accepted with a certain scornfuI toll
erance. She could tell how Mr.
Gladstone buried himself in a corner
with an elderly lady, an cid ,crOny of
his, and Lord Randolph. disappear
early, and Mr.. Parneu turned from
the adulation of the crowd to flash
pleased surprise at sight of one young
always will. That summer too she
visited Mr. Wilfred and Lady Anne
Blunt, at Crabbet Park. She stayed
at the houses of dons at Oxford and
Cambridge, at the former for COM
memoration. Fine doings for coun-
try mouse, indeed.
About this time she began to write
prose. She wrote for the Speaker,
and for the Scots, and National OBJ
server. How proud she was of Hen
! ley's praise. He gave her ''The Song
of the Sword" with the inscription
Katharine lyman, Sorori in Arte, ,"
and others of his books down to
Hawthorn and Lavender Her next
friend was Jane Barlow, and that
happily is friendship that survives.
In 1892 she was married most hap
PLY.
In 1894 her first novel was pub
| lished. She has to her credit now
nearly a score of novels, seven books
/ of verse, besides short stories. a vol
/ ume of biography and a good deal of
/ editing. Her biggest feat in editing is
/ the four volume Cabinet of Irish
/ Literature" She has been a reviewer
and has done a deal of miscellaneous
/ journalism. She had a special delight
and pride in working for the Pail Mall
/ Gazette, under the brilliant edftorship
of Mr. Henry Gust, NJ. P. She has con-
tributed to almost every magazine in
London and a good many elsewhere
In 1901 she published a collected vol
urne of poems inscribed to Mr.. George
! Wyndham, the chief secretary for Ire
land. the great-grandson of Lord Ed
ward Fitzgerald.
In this country her most successful
novels have been THAT Sweet En-
envy, Red, Red Rose" and the new
story, THE French Wife,