Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-03-14
NOTES

DR.. Rappaport. in "The Curse of the
Romanovs," which was recently pub
lished In this country by the Mcclure
company, supports the theory that the
Car Alexander, who Is supposed to
have died in the year 1926. inreality
only abdicated at that date and lived
on as u hermit till 1864. He points out
that when the supposed body of the
car was brought from Taganrog To
Tsarskes Selo, all the officers on duty
In the chapel were dismissed before the
coffin was opened, and that, though
for several days the closed coffin was
exposed in the Kazan cathedral, the
inhabitants begged in vain that the
face OF the dead czar be disclosed,
Never once throughout the funeral
proceedings was the body seen eX-
cept by members of the Imperial fam
lily. ION Jan. 20, 1864" writes the au-
thor, there died in Tomsk, at the age
of 81. hermit named Feeder Kou-
smitsh. He was of tall stature and
imposing demeanor. and eye-witnesses
who had known Alexander maintained
that the sanity hermit was none other
than the autocrat of all the Russias."
II her publishers are not careful.
Mrs Bprnett's shuttle" win he taken
from her by people who, admiring the
book. inadvertently attribute it's au-
thorshiD TO some one else When this
now we'll known International novel
was first published, 1.-THE WeaVers,
by Sir Gilbert Parker, also made Its
appearance. The confusion OF these
books was, of course. inevitable from
the similarity Of their titles.
But now through u review there
comes another unwilling claimant. Mrs.
Kate Douglas Wiggin, who needs not
the fictitious prestige OF another's
books, was recently chronicled In the
columns of a daily paper as "the author
of that wonderful book, The Shuttle
which is bound to live" This confusion
calls to mind Bret Harte's remark To
the gushing lady, who, his neighbor
one evening AT dinner, complimented
him on the late John Hays poem Lit
tie Brooches" Mao am" bowed tho
westerner. you've put Little Breeches'
on the wrong man"
Mrs. Burnett, Mrs. Wiggin and sir
Gilbert Parker would naturally be far
more content with their own books
than with other authors, II only peo-
pie would render unto them the things
that are theirs.
Emphatlcally more exotic than the
ordinary has been the recent environ
ment of Halle Erminie Rives, and
from this fact has sprung a curious
story concerning the way In which her
exciting novel, Satan Sanderson,"
came into existence. The story oil
Satan Sanderson" took shape in the
mind of Miss Rives at time when She
was deeply interested I'm Oriental lit
erature. Strong as this interest was,
however, no evidence Of it crept into
the pages OF the book, which deals
with modern American life only. The
author was conscious, however that the
manuscript grew more rapidly after
she had been delvng into the lore OF
the east. and that the most thrilling
passages Invariably followed upon the
reading of Japanese stories. A re-
markable explanation was advanced
months later Following the publica-
tion of the book Miss Rives became the
wife of George Post Wheeler, third sec
rotary of the American embassy to
Japan, and the Wheclers took up their
residence In Toxic. Here Mrs. Wheeler
purchased one day, Ia curio dealers
shop, a single-leaf screen Usuitate). on
which was painted the background
which the Japanese portrait painter
usually adopted when wishing to show
that his sitter Is person engaged in
literary pursuits. The UNIQUE feature
portion WIS blank, the background
merely marking the outline OF a wo-
man. The dealer explained that the
screen had formerly borne Hichlgawa
1<ichibei's portrait OF Murasaki no Shl-
kihu, famous I'm Japanese history as the
country's most distinguished woman
novelist The dealer had been aston