The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-10-30
WROTE "REBECCA"
TO AID CHILDREN
KATE DOUGLAS wfGGIN TALKS OF
HER CAREER As WRITER AND
PLAYWRIGHT.
/ ONCE WORKED SLUMS
best Knows GIRLS FROM SIX TO
kXTEEN-HER CHARACTERS
NOT TAKEN FROM
REAL LIFE.

Surrounded by a wealth Of lovely
fall flowers sent by her Richmond
friends and admirers. Kate Douglas
Wiggin, the well-known writer of
stories of child life in New England.
spoke in glowing terms OF her first
Impressions of the South and Its peo-
pie when seen by a reporter for The
Virginian. who talked with her about
her literary career for a few min
utes Saturday afternoon at her apart
ment at the Jefferson. Though have
been here but twenty-four hours"
said Mrs. Wiggin, who Is known in
private life as Mrs George G.. Riggs.
Il begin to feel the long arm OF South
ern hospitality. When l met tele-
grams on my way here from New
York inviting me to receptions and
the like, l concluded that had many
| friends in Richmond of whose exist
| ence I was ignorant. Though this is
my first trip south of Washington, I
am in full grasph of the charm Of
| the South
! When asked why she chose a liter
airy career. the well-known authoress
replied that her first stories were writ
t ten to get money for free Kinder
garten in San Francisco. the first west
OF the Rocky Mountains. Il had no
a bsorbing idea Of VOCATION. said
I
use to childhood. and especially the
poor children of the sums. l won
dered whether the public would be in
| terested in The Birds Christmas
Carol. my rst story. and | made the
venture" Mrs Riggs saying she does
not write photographically books.
they are wholly the creations of a
vivid imagination. She says that when
| commencing n book. she has no clear
f.M
characters become real to her and
make their own story.
Il left New England when was
sixteen. she continued, "and perhaps
/ ] deal with girls from six to sixteen
in my stories because l feel that I
know them best. For five years.
worked among the poor of the slums
coming in daily contact with many
Young girls and ] truly feel that it
was from those years, hard and diff
ficult though they were. that | learn
ed most that has been useful to me.
| believe | have a sort of literary
habit of leaving my heroines on the
threshold sometime with my index
finger pointing to the future"
1t was from hundred Of letters. re-
questing that the Rebecca books be
dramatized that Mrs. Virgins first
conceived the idea of converting the
two books into a play. I'm Rebecca,"
wrote one admirer. there is a char
aeter. In whom If you could get her
across the footllghts so that she would
make half the appeal on the stage
that. she does on the book we would
indeed have something wholesome and
fresh" "Rebecca OF sunnybrook
Farm Is not such realism as is found
In Zola's work. but is story OF SIM
pie. real life, but reality with a touch
OF poetry" said its author In reply to
tho accusation oft brought against
her. that she is a romanticist,
It is In connection wiah the per
hformance Of Rebecca of Sunnybrools
at the Academy that Mrsf wissin Is
In Richmond. 1t Is probable that
she will remain in town until Thurs
dar and. If so, she Will address the
students of the woman's College al
fcme time during her stay. when she
Will be afforded an opportunity of
meeting Southern girls a privilege she
has not enfoyed. she says, until this
her first visit South.