Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-01-04
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the degree uOcIor oI literature, ana
the laurel wreath was placed upon her
brow in the cathedral where she stood
directly beneath the tablet OF Linnaeus,
father Of botany. Then on another oc-
casion she won a literary prize Of
large sum of money from a magazine.
while Miss Lagerlof has been a sue
cessful writer for many years, it is her
recent work, The Adventures of Mis-
which was adopted as text book by
the National Teachers association and
is now in use in the folk schools of
Sweden, that carried her intimately
into the homes of her countrymen. 1t
was recognized that she had recreated
geography and natural history and had
revealed to the child heart the won
ders of nature, combining the aesthetic
and the practical in a way previously
undreamed Of The story is a fairy
tale in which are tucked away won
derfuI nuggets of information and is
interesting to young and old alike.
Miss Lagerlof is a little woman
with fair hair and expressive blue eyes
and a gentle presence. She gives read
ings from her own writings in a rich
contraIto voice. makes no gestures, but
reveals all that she means through the
infection of her voice. She is most
unassuming and modest in manner and
unconscious of herself. appreciative
and quick to see merit in others.
Shrinks From Society.
After our first meeting. when l
spent several hours in her society, l
,r-os, with Tho 70 ~
that she had not once referred to her
self, She shrinks from society and
spends most OF her time in her country
home, miles away from every one, and
there she devotes herself to her work.
"She was thirty years old before she
began to write. Her father, who is not
now living, was an army officer, ana
her mothers brother, Christian Wall
ruth, is a celebrated landscape painter.
Miss Lagerlof is a graduate of the
Teachers college of Stockholm and
was for a few years a teacher. She
lives along with her mother this win
ter in Dalecarlia.
Miss Lagerlof, while a thinker and
writer along spiritual lines, is not al
lied to any religious sect. She is dis
tinctly nonsectarian, but that she must
be an apostle of the so called new
thought is apparent from the symbolic
quality that creeps into all Of her
writings. Her Christ Legends are
rich in symbolic reference to the spir-
itual side of life Some of her other
books are Jerusalem The Miracles
OF the Antichrist,' Invisible Links
and Costa Berling'
Idealist and an Optinst.
"She is a suffragist and is a member
of the Frederick Bremen association.
a powerful woman's club for social
betterment and the Acknowledgement of
woman. While as a writer she is an
idealIst and an optirnist, 1 do not wish
to give the idea that she does not
deal with practical subjects in "A prac
teal manner. Her book Jerusalem
for example, was written after she
had journeyed to the orient to investi-
gate the conditions of the Swedish
peasants who had emigrated there and
were said to be treated badly.
"She depicts life as it is. but the
sentiment is always uplifting. Her
work has revolutionized Swedish lit
erature. She has lived in Italy. Sicily
and the Holy Land, and the Christ
Legends are the outcome of material
gathered in Egypt and in the libraries