The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-03
hooks AND AUTHORS

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Kate Douglas Wiggin IL a woman Of enc
less resources and infinite variety, a. those
who do not know her personally may learn
! from q. triend . acooppt ~ tha. LaGiSl, Home
| JourndL The w!nseT u given over 10 en-
! tertaining and being entertained In New
York, with no thought Of literary work.
Her summers are spent at Quilloote, Hollis,
Me-, In huge. rambling colonial house
set In dignifed isolation upon the Saco
River As long as Mrs. WigEin fingers Ia
the country she plays the church organ for
tho Sunday morning service, and she and
| her sister, Miss Nora Smith, lend their voices
10 the choir, Once a year Mrs. Wlggin gives
reading from her own works for the church
fund, a thing which she will do nowhere
else and for no other cause, and she lends
her aid to every church enterprise. There
Is no fence around Quillcote and there are
exquisite order and generous hospitality
within It's spacious sunny rooms, kept up
with all the old fashioned housekeeping
| perfection, but Il Is here she does much Of
her literary work-lteraTy work that might
be more abundant. perhaps, and even rise
10 the dignity OF the serious novel, II she
wore not 20 responsive TO all the artistic in
terests Of life-musio, nature, pictures-nor
80 indulgent Of her time to the thousand
claims made upon II. Between the New
| York winter and the New England summer
| Mrs. Wiggin makes an annual journey
across the ocean, spending a third Of every
year on the other side. Mrs Wiggin wrote
| her first story when she was young girl
and received $50 for II from a children's
magazine. She did not write another word
until the needs OF the free kindergarten In
spired Patsy and the rest has followed.
Generous and gracious and witty, she talks
as she writes, only better, and Is in herself
! the proof that a woman may do the world
service in creative and helpful ways and
| lose nothing Of the charm which constitutes
true wOmanliness.
Following the example OF his literary
forbears Maxim Gorky has devoted the
hours Of his imprisonment TO the writ
ing Of a play which he considers his
masterpiece. Bunyan, confined In Bedford
jail for voicing the convictions Of his con-
science, wrote THE Pilgrims Progress.
Raleigh passed the weary days in the Tower
by preparing his History Of the World
According TO the Academy 'the imprison-
ment Of Gorly's body has only served to
give his mind a wider and more powerful
range, and the net result OF this official
policy Of suppression is a piece OF work
which will in all probability be the gospel
of New Russia The new play evolved
behind the bars Of the prison house, THE
Children Of the SUM- deals with the revo-
lutionary movement and Ia overlooking
with resentment against the Russian Gov
eminent and its oppression, with sorrow
for his people and their wrongs.
Mr.. Jacob Hoyoake, In his new book,
sByRones Worth Remembering, among
"reminiscences OF his career az an agitator
and champion Of the working classes, tells
the following little anecdote Of himself,
illust rating the gentle character Of the
man. Zone day. he says, as was walk
ing briskly along Fleet st rect a person in
greater haste than myself, running down
Johnson's Court, collided with me, and both
Of US fell to the ground. On rising, ! said,
II you knocked me down, never mind;
il ! Knocked you down, beg your pardon"
An interesting volume Of letters by Count
Paul Hat zfeldt, the late German Ambassa-
dor to London. will appear in the Dutton
spring list. The letters are written by the
Count from the headquarters Of the King Of
Prussia during the period OF the Franco
Prussian war, and are addressedto his wife.
Some dissenters from The Critics list OF !
The Six Best Books have expressed their !
disapproval by letter and suggested that |
The Garden OF Allah and The Paths OF |
Judgment" deserve equal honor with those |
mentioned. The readers who prepared the |
first list now announce the six Best Books
written since it was compiled TO be The |
autobiography Of Andrew d. White
Adventures Among Books Notes from |
a Diary by Sir Mountstuart Grant-Duff,
sThe Orchid DE Profundis' and Con |
stance Trescott'
y. As opposed to these the selection Of the |
average Reader represented by the six |
Best Sellers- OF the month, Is interesting |
and includes: "The Marriage Of William |
Ashe,' sThe Cansman. THE Return of |
Sherlock Holmes The Masquerader,' |
THE Princess Passes and THE Man on |
the Box" II Il also interesting 10 note |
that publishers no longer print the number |
Of copies sold Of a popular book, but the |
number Of editions published-a wholesale /
sort Of value, more dignihed and legitimate |
than any retail term, however eItravagant. |
DR.. Oslers theory considered In its re-
lation to literature IL the inspiration Of an |
article in the Book Ne1s, in which Ernest |
Renan Is quoted as having entertained a |
precisely opposite opinion to DR.. Osler, |
az the French author believed that no man |
should begin to write at least until after he |
had passed the forty year mark. Pride |
and Prejudice" was written when Jane |
Austen was yet in her teens. Joseph |
Andrews' was not begun until some time |
after Fielding was forty. II Shelley and |
Byron had waited until they we're forty |
before they began to write there would have |
been no 'Childe Harold no Queen Nab" |
no sAdonais' II Milton had ceased TO 7,
write at forty there would have been no |
Paradise Lost" II Goethe had embraced |
the Osler theory he never would have !
finished Faust,
Mr.. > Theodore Stanton, writing from