The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-09-23

| daughter choose to be known as Luz
cas- Malet2 According to her own
| confession her modesty was the no
| ton which induced her to conceal her
| identity so that any failure on her
part should not dim the luster of
| her fathers fame For this reason she
combined the names of two clever
women in her family, one of whom
was Miss Mary Lucas, the maiden
name of her fathers mother, and the
other, Alice Malet, her grandmother's
aunt, both of which names she has
thus rescued from oblivion
With women writer's the fear of
family criticism seems to have been
responsible for many assumed names
Mrs. Alexandria, for instance, the au-
thor of 1.-The Wooing or and other
delightful novels, adopted the chris
tian name of her husband, Mr.. Alex
ander Hector, and under this mark
won her fame before she was ever
aware that she had written a line
And Nine. Sarah Grand knowing that
her husband, Surgeon McFall, did not
approve of her views, concealed her
identity under the name now so wildly
known and which she chose on ac-
count of its plainness.
1t is curious, by the way how
many authoIesses have selected unat-
tractive and even ugly pen names.
Olive Schreiner won her IaureIs I'M
der the almost repellant name of
known as John Oliver Hobbies, DELHI
name she could think of, SO that it
might not be recognized as a womans
choice. and that it might warn her
against any yielding to womanly SEN
timentality in her writings; and for
similar reasons Mrs. Arthur Stannard
presented herself to the public as John
Strang Winter, as unfeminate a name
as one could easily conceive.
Many writer's have reduced the mys-
terry of their non de plume to the ut
most by simply using their christian
name, as: Mrs. Thomas Ansty
Guthrie, who chose to be known as
F. Anstey; Mr. Forbes Phillips as
Athol Forbes; Mr.. Anthony Hope
as Anthony Hope, and Mr.
A. r. Hope Moncrieff as Ascot R.
Hope.
1t is curious to observe how almost
invariably pen names of women writ |
ers are either avowedly masculine or
without indication of sex. as George
Elliott, Maxwell Gray and G.. NJ Hut |
ton (Mrs. Mona Caird.
Miss Ada Allan Bailey arrived at |
the name Edna Lyall, now so familiar |
to us. by the simple process of trans |
posing some of the letters of her |
is known, adopted as her public ap-
pellation, Quida, which was the near
EST approach very youthful sister |
could make to the pronunciation of
her christian name, Louisa.
Some pen names have a distinctly
humorous origin, as Luke Sharpe, |
which suggested the obvious meaning
hat occurred to its owner, Robert |
Barr Mr. Morton J. Piggott pre-
serves his initials in the amusing
form of Medium Tom Plum. The |
name Mark Twain was, as is pretty |
generally known, suggested to Mr.
Clements by the cry of the 1eadsman
On Mississippi river boat when the
edQ lnQ1cdted tnaC the boat was IN
shallow and consequently dangerous
water. The Rev John Watson arriv-
I'd at Ian Maclaren by using the
Gaelic form of John and adding his
maiden name of Maclaren,
md Max O'Rell made a combination
If his grandfather's Christian name
Maxine. and his grandmother's pat
'Onymic. O'Reilly, abbreviating Max
ne O'Reilly into the familiar Max
)'Rell.