The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-09

llNlillI1cSio
~ letters to her friends.
OF her choosing her p~seudonym, sne
wrote:
II chose the name Of John
It is my fathers and my sons; Ol1ver
because of the warning Cromwell, ana
Hobbies because it is homely."
Here is her explanation Of n spirit
Of her work:
my heart was broken with gr1ef
long ago, though it is oun physically.
and I ought to live by all the rules OF
the physical game, but the laws or the
spiritual game are more determined, II
more elusive.
II can walk, talk, and even reason
on certain subjects-but work, So
called. is out of the question .
That is Why am more sure or the
reality Of the next world than this;
and that is why I depend rather on
God for my support than on human
beings-no matter how kind; that IS
why my work must ever be, to a great
extent. objective, or, if you prefer 1t,
insincere. Everything / write as an
author is, in a sense, a matter or act
ing-dramatic impersOnation- 1t has
been complained that l have not found
nv true line. I am discovering 1T by
degrees. / am a writer Of histories
some one must give me the human
nature. and I will compose a COM
mentary upon it. / am not a lover or
humanity: I like souls. I understand
all sorts of purely mental things-I am
not good at the mere emotions.
Il find family talks somewhat ex-
hausting, because they are so emo
tional, Twenty interviews are not
such a nervous strain as one aunt!
And then the dread Of He said that l
said that he said that she said hang
ing over ones reason like impending
Madness"
Her views of women were not COM
plimentary:
4 have not found women at all COM
parable with men-in the talents or in
the nobler veins. I have no confidence
in the honor of the average Woman or
in her brains. The really distinguished
women have been trained and inlu-
enced by men, and a m~an-hater / dis
trust and detest-she has the worst
qualities of both sexes invariably.
women are not made for constant
fatigue. They are for crises and emer-
gencies. Ordinarily they should be
physically rather indolent. The old
sofa and couch life produced a strong
er generation Of children than the
present athletic stress and mental irri-
tatiOn.
'Girls have too much liberty. They
lose their mystery and attractiveness
by being always on the scene. A we'll
known eligible told me the other night
that it was absurd to go to balls
to meet girls when one a been meet
ing them all day long!'"
She vas the daughter Of a success
full business man, with nothing in her
environment to account for her de-
yelopnlent. A ~precocious child, she
grew up with a passion for literature,
which she satisfied as she pleased. She
was unhappy in her married life, and
her temperament, as a critic observes,
did not make for ease. IF my true
history could be written she writes
in one place. st would be the history
Of an air-bird in the water She be-
gan her literary life by sending off
stories to publishers when she was be-
tween ten and fifteen. But her first
story, called "Hew Mark Selby Won
His Public House" was accepted In
1877 by DR.. Joseph Parker. of the City
Temple. for the paper he then edited.
called The Fountain. "Women ought
to die quickly. and neatly. and early"
she wrote once. She died at thirty
eight.