The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-12
VERGILIA BOOUE
ANSWERS CRITICS
Resents Charge of Youth as
Though Suffering From
Lasting Disgrace
By MsARY .ASHE MlLLER

w fate and an editor thrust upon
ne a small, second handed sort
of greatness by making me the medium
through which literary ladies carry on
their war of words?'
Yesterday morning 1 confded to the
public just what Mrs Philip yerrill
Mighels thought of Miss vergilia
Bogue's book, The Strength to Yield"
Today l am called upon to convey to
the readers of The Call Miss Bogues
response. Bearing the white flag of
journalistic truce 1 am trotting meekly
back and forth carrying the messages
of criticism and counter criticism
Upon considering the remarks of the
two authors 1 find that the battle is not
really so much over Miss Bogue's book
as over Miss Bogue's age. Mrs.
Mighels harked back again and again
to the extreme youth of the newswriter,
and in her response the latter seemed
disposed to resent the charge as bit
terly and ashamedly as though it were
permanent disgrace
Mrs. Mighels was inclined to dismiss
The Strength to Yield" with little con-
sideration on that account, but Miss
Bogue with hurt, impetuous warmth,
certainly not characteristic of ex-
treme old age, asks whether literary
history shows that lack of years has
been stumbling block in all cases.
Why" asked Miss Bogue. does she
seem to think it is impossible for the
book to be good because 1 am young?
Wilde certainly achieved much before
he was 20, Chatterton died when he
was II and Byron had written two
cantos of Childe Harold before he was
20. | do not mean to compare myself
to those men, of course, but it just
shows how absurd and silly her state
ments are"
Miss Bogue confessed honestly and
emphaticaily that she was perfectly
furious when she read Mrs. MighePs
criticism of her.
Il think it is so unfair of her." she
said, so unkind to judge by the few
extracts taken from the book-and by
no means the best parts of the book
and published in paper when she
never saw the rest and can have no
idea of what it really is
AS little as 1 know of writing 1
realize that it would be impossible to
tell much about any book from so little,
because 1 know how one who writes
makes one thing depend upon another
and how the whole is needed"
She began again Indignantly: "She
seems to think the book is a long sue
cession of kisses. 1t is nothing of the
sort. There are only three kisses from
cover to cover and they are only put in
as concession to the public She
doesn't seem to consider whether the
book may not in the end teach some
lesson. She seems to take it for granted
that have tried to be wicked and
failed The book is not at all immoral
nor IN the least morbid-it is simply
departure from the old established
standards / fail to see why il is
impossible to branch off from the old
way. | suppose if 1 began my book
with sweet young heroine who met
game and carried them triumphantly
to wedding a few chapters later it
would be all right
Then the painful subject of age came
up again and Miss Bogue said:
1T seems to me that she finds fault
on all scores. Ny book is not conyen-
tional, but 1t seems to me that if it
were one of the "sweetyxsweety" kind
it would be much younger.
IF 1 am young, 1 think she NAV ac-
knowledge that have some knowledge
of the world, for l have certainly read
and Travelled very widely and a good
many people have talked to me.
i fail to see, too, why she compares
me to George Eliot. That is unfair.
certainly. George Eliot did not begin
to write until she was 80 and she was
always surrounded by more or less
literary atmosphere. AS for saying 1
could not write book because / have
been chosen queen of the Portola and
have perhaps-welI--" and Miss Bogue
had the grace to blush very prettify
and stammer a bit-"welI, because /
have among some people reputation
for having some good looks-that is
perfectly ridiculous and 1 think any
one would agree with me.
"She compared me with George
Eliot, who looked like a horse, she
said. 1 have never been told that 1
looked like any sort of an animal ex-
cept a tiger, but think if she saw me
perhaps she would not think was suf-
GENTLY beautiful to prevent my writ
! ing"
Then youth cropped up again-like a
constantly recurring theme it came in.
| just as it had with Mrs. Mighels.
II am sure" Miss Bogue meditated,
that some of the best things people
have done were in their earliest works.
For instance, my cousin, Lillian Bell.
wrote her best book. The Love Letters
of a Worldly Woman before she was
| TO- and now she simply can not write
anything worth while at all. 1t seems
to have gone out of her.
1T made me laugh to read what Mrs
/ Mighels said about Mrs Ward. Many
of the best English critics say she has
never written anything that is very
good since Robert E1smere' and
David Grieve, and certainly some of
her phrases are absurd. In Eleanor,