The Washington herald., 1908-02-02

/ take up literature seriously. But # was
not until 1893 that she got into the best
selling class with 1.-The House of Mirth. d"
Some critics have been unkind enough
to suggest that the book became a "best
seller" only because il is a novel about
New York society folk by one of them
and the general public was curiOs to
know how an iHsider would delineate the
-Four Hundred" However that may be,
the last report had it that Mrs. Whar-
ton and secured some $4,000 as pin money
out Of the troubles of Lily Bart.
Two other women who have written
recent best seIlers''-as many women as
men these days are successful in turning
out this kind of iiteTature-are May
Sinclair usually called I'm her native
England 'the little old maid who wrote
THE Divine Fire" and Miriam Michel
son.
Seven Years Writing Book.
Miss Sinclair, who gained a wide edu-
cation by reading. she having spent only
two years under sch0Olm2sters. was seven
years writing her best seller" which was
not recognized in England until after it
had become popular here. She has spent
her lifetime writing; she began at nine
years.
Before her big novel appeared she had
written three others, but none Of them
hit, and at several stages of her career
She had been compelled to DO trauslations
and criticisms for her daily bread and
butter. She is what might be called a
Seli-made woman. She has no fortune
or family of influence TO faH back on,
and in seeking a living she had made her
home in nearly every part Of England
Critics declare her knowledge Of human
nature IS deep. she says she uncon-
sciously absorbed this knowledge while
being knocked about England
Like quite a number Of men writer's Of
best sellers Miriam Nicholson was a
newspaper woman before she was a pro-
duCcr of books. She has written up
Hawaii and the country from san Fran
cisco, where she began her newspaper
career, to New York and from the Lakes
to the Gulf. Her first book was evolved
from a short story she sent to a maga-
le just before she went abroad for a
st when the strain Of newspaper work
lad begun to tell on her nerves. The
head Of a publishing house read the
tory, liked il, asked her to amplify il to
Cd book. and In the Bishops Carriage"
resulted
HOw Harrington Got His Fame.
S.-1 0f the men writer's of best sell
ers" Uao graduated from newspaper Of
fees are Irving Bachelor, whose "Eben
Holden" caught the popular fancy hard
shortly after the voyage Of David Har-
UNI had set in George Barr McCutcheon.
whose "Graustark." " his first book, is said
10 have netted him 100000. Richard Hard !
ing Davis. Sir Gilbert Parker. who wan
dered over the South Seas for an Aus
uaiian newspaper. and Meredith Mich |
olson. one OF lndiana's noble string OF /
best seller writer's. Marion Crawford. !
whose books have had large though not /
sales. like Kipling. edited |
a paper In Indiana Winston Churchill
perhaps the most successful from a /
monetary standpoint Of all the American /
1Hthors of best sellers" served an ap- /
)Tentices iip on @ service" magazine. he /
having oeen graduated from the Naval /
Academy Later he experienced the trou- |
)les that were the portion of every man
who was toolharcy enough 10 try to edit
IOhn BTisben Walkers magazine for him.
There IS popular impression that the
author OF David Harum" was a news
PAPER man, As a matter of fact. he be-
gan his business life as bank clerk
hen becme head OF a firm OF bankers
md brokers, ending up as registrar and
financial expert Of the Syracuse. \ Y.
water commission. Another mistaken