The San Francisco call., 1906-08-10

mondeley, it is safe to say, will
not be found clamoring for a
copyright law to protect her titles, as
her fellow-authoress, Rita" is at
present. A new novel from her pen,
entitled Prisoners" is to be issued
next month. Probably that title has
been used score of times before by
authors of the unknown class There
is nothing remotely suggestive of
originality about it. But Miss Chol-
mondeley's name is sufficient guaran-
tee that anything she writes, whatever
title it may bear, will be worth read
ing. She does not glitter on the
forehead of popular magazines, and
she is not given either to interviews
or paragraphs.
When she publishes a book, then
you hear of her; not at other times.
She is too busy She is one of the
most painstaking and conscientious of
modern writers. The book that first
brought her into prominence, Diana
Tempest" took her three and a half
years to write and on revising the tale
she reduced it by sixth of its length.
Red Pottage" occupied her almost as
long as Diana" and it is not sur
pr1slng to learn that her new novel has
also taken her years to complete. The
opening scenes are laid in Italy and
the scene is afterward transferred to
England The theme is the revival
of an early love affair by the heroine,
after her marriage
NO has = IfAra
conscience than Miss Cholmondeley
No offer can tempt her to publish
anything that she is not satisfied rep
resents the best that she is capable.
When her father, the Rev R. H. Chol-
mondeley, was compelled some ten
years ago, because of ill-health, to re-
sign his living and sell Condover Hall.
the stately Elizabethan mansion in
Shropshire, in which she had been
reared, she burned all her early man
uscripts lest she should be tempted
to publish them" Lest she should
be tempted! Most modern authors
would regard such an act as flying
in the face of Providence, which
has ordained that when a writer has
achieved fame anything that bears his
name will sell-for a time They
would eagerly have avai1ed themselves
of the opportunity to get square with
the publishers who had rejected their
earlier efforts.
There is something of the "noblesse
oblige" in Miss Cholmondeley's
blood. She belongs to the younger
branch of that aristocratic house-a
branch which separated from the Mar
quis of Cholmondeley in the reign of
James l. Bishop Heber, the great
hymn writer, is one OF her forbears.
A nearer ancestor went to America
In 1854 and become an intimate friend
of Thoreau. She began writing In the
nursery. Before she was fifteen she
had compiled history of Greece and
half of England's history Her first
romance. "The Danvers Jewels" the
scene of which is laid in Condover
Hall, was published anonymously
when she was not long out of her
teens. 1t was Miss Rhoda. Broughton
who persuaded her to publish it.
To return, however, to "Rita's"
grievance, which, Rita-like, she is
ventilating Two years ago Rita"
published a novel on which she be-
slowed the title, THE Silent Woman. "
Previously to this publication she
serialized it in several weekly jour
cover edition. In its earlier forms it
was extensively advertised and re-
viewed. From which, she argues, the
title could not we'll have escaped the
notice of those who deal in literary
wares.
Despite this. to her sorrow and