The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-31

"Sometimes I have actually been de
 ,eribed by certain newspapers as sit
 ting at my white enameled desk, with a
 gold pen In my hand. writing my beauti-
 ful-poemsfs
 Helen Hay Whitney laughed heartily.
 q never had white enameled desk in my nfe-naturally-and most assuredly l wouldn't touch it if I had. When l write at all 1t Is more apt to be with some old stub of a pencil than any gold pen" Mrs Whitney met the interviewer fankly.
 'I really haven't anything else whatever to tell though" she exclaimed. "I have never been interviewed in my life, and l don't know in the least what to say. Then besides, you see have only pulp lished three very little books, and one never likes to tall-or can talk sensibly about ones own work she hesitated moment. Especially if one loves to do it" she added She leaned forward and involuntarlly picked up three fallen pe- tals of a La France rose from the little mahogany table, and tenderly placed them back in the vase.
 "Their color is so delicate" she said quietly, what strange and eternal witchery flowers-roses-have over us. What must the tropics bel Oh yes al- ways, ever since can remember, I have been fascinated by that very word-the tropics. the sense of the deep rich color that 1t means, the abundance and the perfume. My Romance Of the South Seas a delight to write? Oh, yes, every minute of it. No, have never been to the south seas myself, but l have dreamed 1t all so much. Then l know so by heart those exquisite south sea idylls by Charles War ren Stoddard and the rare descriptions by Pierre Lott and Robert Louis Stevenson. For years I have fairly drunk them in. Then when decided to take one of those fairy islands for my first long romance poem, of course I had to gather much more material-yes, the cold, concise facts for the posts and the foundation stones So, not being able to fly off to Tahiti on a magic carpet" Mrs Whitney had a It, tie roguish glimpse in her brown eyes, 'T went to the library of the state de- pertinent instead and studied all the en- cyclopedias and missionary and traveller accounts that I could get hold of-for months-and this was five years ago. They were as dry as dust and" Mrs. Whitney paused, lawfully hard to make poetry out of, don't you know, but finally I finished that Herculean labor, planted my posts, an" again the little humorous twinkle, "and successfully established connections with Parnassus.'
 The daughter of John Hay paused, a naive smile playing over her face, then she looked up quickly
 And write from - the hilltop ever Hlnce" an earnest expression came quick ly to her eyes, "Oh, that is kind of you!' she cried 'T will tell you-I write be- cause I love to write. It is one of the happiest hours of the day to me when l can. I can write best yust at evening before the lights are turned on, when 1t is growing gray and dark outside-only the last of the sunset glow. l come In after my rounds of social duties, and have just time perhaps before I dress for dinner to write Just one little verse. Oh, no, I never stop to count the rythm or meter. l don't even know what tro- chee means. And as for an iambie foot or an anapast dear me, I could never in the world write two lines of verse if had to keeep thinking of all those dread full things. Just imagine, sitting down to write poetry and counting feet with such awful ,hames and rythm and meter l cn1la' never do 1t. When write 1t Is lightning streak. The words come at fever heat, and I let them out and there's an end to it. I never correct or go over, or rewrite--I wish l could-per- haps I will in time. Now with that long poem of the South Seas, father thought I published it entirely too soon. He thinks should keep things-oh, even for n year-and look at them through per- Epective as 1t were-but then you would zee so many things that oughtn't to be there don't you know? Why you would get too disglsted to do anything at all, and then besides, 1t is sucn jolly fun to have proof sheets coming fn-big lots of proof sheets Don't you think so7
 '"The time? Social duties a bore? Not at all. It may seem odd to say 1t, but they really are a pleasure to me and give rather an incentive than other wise. Then I have a part of the morning after breakfast very often fin which to write if l feel like 1t, and those dear little minutes in the evening that I long for nn day long. I find, in fact, to write is a good deal of Q relaxation. can al- ways do more in winter during the season than ever can during these days here in the country think one always dream more in summer and In the country-it makes one lazy. Our old home in New Hamphire. where I spent my girlhood- oh, that was a beautiful place. and what B tomboy I was in those days-my sister and l. We used to ride horseback, walk, row and swim and fairly live out In the woods and fields Yes, that was where I became so well acquainted with Mr. Kipling. I had always tried to write more or less I suppose, and when I was studying music in Paris and had not much R-FN of 1t. Then when I returned in the sum mers to New Hampshire I used to write quite regularly. MT. Kipling's place ad- joined ours-just over the line into Yer mont and used to run over and show him the little bits I wrote and he would criticise them. He was the first person