The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1907-12-26
Literary News and Notes.

Hortense G. Gregg, a Norway girl, il
publishing book, Camping for Girls, y
which she not only wrote, but illus
trated, put it in type and ran the print
ing press herself. Miss Gregg is 9
typical outdoor girl. She has had much
experience in camp and outdoor sports
She has taught class of young girls il
nature studies, especially wild flowers
can paddle canoe, swim, snow shoe
walk without fatigue 20 miles or more
in day, ride horseback, hunt or fish.
The page poem by William Dear
Howells in the Christmas number Of
Harper's Weekly is noticeable con
tribution to the holiday literature. Il
is called "The Face at the Window
and opens:
We had gone down at Christmas where oul
Had opened up his house ION the Maine
| coast
and it then goes on for an eutire page.
The party had come down to Maine
''for the weeks holidays" and the host
entertained them, as they were seated
round the hearth by relating a ghost
story that was true-all about Capt.
Gilroy and fishing at the Bay Shaloor,
as they liked better to pronounce it
down this way. In this poem Mr..
Howells is at his best and the page is
far too brief a compass for story so
full of common life down on the Maine
coast.
When Christmas is safely out of the
way for another eleven months, every
woman is justified in turning her atten-
ton to her own needs, and especially to
ha oil cid Of
January is the best month for home
sewing and especially appropriate to
the white month is the making of I'M
derwear. Every woman likes to know
the latest innovations in dainty lingerie.
and she will find a great deal OF useful
information in the regular fashion ar
tcle in the New Idea WOman's Maya
zine for January, which is devoted en-
tirely to this subject this month. A
new and practical device for the sewing
corner is illustrated and described, and
there are many helpful suggestions for
the home seamstreSs. The needleWork
department offers many pretty novel
ties, and the glove question, as we'll as
good taste in handkerchiefs, is also dis
cussed. Dressing Baby DolP' will
help many reader in time for Christ
mas. as the January magazine reaches
you ten days before the great festival.
We have received from the publish
ers, The C. M. Clark Publishing Co. OF
Boston, copy of Southern Buds and
Sons of War;" by DR.. William "a. Wins
low, author of ''The Sea Letter." "Cruis-
ing and Blockading," etc. We hardly
need say to our readers that DIR. Wins
low is a Belfast boy who was an Of
ficer of the navy during the Civil war,
until of late an enthusiastic yachtsman
and contributor to Forest & Stream
and other periodicals. All the incidents
in his latest story are founded on facts,
and the narrative is historically correct.
1t is nom partisan, and describes the
personalities and actions of many OF
the distinguished officers of both the
Confederate and Federal armies. 1t
presents a realistic picture of life IN
Georgia during the closing year of the
war, on the great plantations, in the
besieged cities, and in army and navy.
The fortunes of love are SO lntertWlned
with the fortunes of war AS to lend a
charming flavor of romance to the tale.
The book is attractively bound and
printed and is illustrated.
Mary Agnes Thicker, native of
Ellsworth, died in Dorchester, Mass,
last week. She was the daughter of
the late Hon. Richard Thicker and Me-
hitabel (Jellison) Thicker and was
widely known for her literary work.
Miss Thicker was educated i'll the pub
lie schools of Ellsworth and in the
academy at Buehill. AS early as thlr-
teen years of age she began to teach,
later becoming a teacher in a Catholic
parochial school She began to write
anonymously when about fifteen years
OF age, and soon gave up teaching to
devote her entire time to writing.
During the Civil war she volunteered
AS a nurse and was in service in Wash
ington, d. C. In the early seventies
Miss Thicker went abroad, where she
lived for nearly fifteen years, chiefly in
Italy, with visits also to Spain, France
and England Some of her works which
have been best known are: ''The
House of Yorke,' "a Winged Wore" "
Grapes and Thorns,'' six Sunny
Months" ''Signor Monaldini's Niece"
"By the Tiber," "The Jewel in the
LOTUS" "Aurora," 1.-TWO Comets, >"
''San Salvador" and Autumn Leaves"
Miss Thicker was a member of the
Society of the Arcadia in Rome, Italy;
of the Society of American Authors,
and the American Academy of Political
and Social Science.