The Washington herald., 1914-03-13
Who's Who
Among Women
Of Big
Achievement
~ MARY n. ,GULLErT.

- DINA FERBER went home one
spring day about four years ago
- and did something she had never
done before and has never done since. she
| tainted.
When she came to. she found herself
\ embarked on an illness which lasted Tor
months. She had been doing Newspaper
work ever since. at the age Of seventeen
she had left school, and. with her
dresses somewhat up and her hair decid-
edly down. had entered Journalism by
way Of the, little daily paper Of Apple
ton. Wis.
She used to cover all kinds of news,
| from the basket picnics OF local female
lodges to such notes of crime as seeped
out through the sheriffs ONCE. They
got to calling her Boots" at the court
house. probably because they always
knew when she was coming by the de-
termined clatter Of her heels on the loose
tagging OF the corridors.
| After two years of this sort of expert
ence she went to Milwaukee. where she
kept on with her newspaper work for
4 four more years, until that lucky spring
day when she went home to faint.
Not that she saw any luck in 1t then!
| On the contrary, she was rather more
than half certain that she'd never again
| be good for very much She knew, at
any rate, that she hadn't strength enough
/ to get back into the Newspaper game.
| But what she didn't know was that this
was precisely where her luck came In. She
says today that few years Of newspa-
| per work 10 the best sort Of training for.
| the man or the woman who wants to
write. But that at the end Of three or
four years there ought to be some sort
| Of automatic arrangement which would
forcibly remove them from journalism.
Otherwise they might stick and hang
there indefinitely.
Good Luck In Disgaise.
Her breakdown from overwork accomp-
lished this forcible removal In her own
case. And In view Of her career since
| that happened. 1t 10 easy now to look
back on II as q well-disguised piece OF
good luck.
As soon as she was well enough to feel
and to think again, she began to write
q book; as much because she wanted to
be doing something with her time and
her thoughts as for any other reason.
But the book turned out to be Dawn
O'Hara." and has gone on selling ever
since II was published. two or three years
ago-and that lever since" isn't so alb
surd as 1t sounds. since two years 10
really long life for a novel in these days
Of come-easy. go-easy literature.
While she was working at the book, she
wrote few short stories on the side. Sold
them, too. which il quite another matter.
But the first one she wrote has never
been published.
I'D forgotten all about that story"
she said the other day. II don't even
| know where II is
with that exception she has only once
known what It is to have q story de-
clined. In that case one magazine sent
Il back, but the very next one took It
So her record is remarkable. That sort
OF thing does not happen to one writer
| in ten Thousand.
One day the idea came to her that
story about a travelling saleswoman would
| be q novelty. She never had sold any
thing-except stories. She never had met
a lady drummer" She didn't even know
any travelling salesmen.
Nevertheless. Just as Minerva sprang in
full panoply from the head of Jove. so
Emma McChesney leaped ready made In
| the mind Of Edna Ferber. The name Of
the character and the very name 70 the
story. Representing T. A. Buck" came
to her In a flash.
Orisfn of Series.
| The story went to the American Maga-
zine. which had been publishing most of
the others she had written. and II did not
| take Miss Ida TarDell. OF the maRazlne
stan, long to recognize in II a genuine
| find. Here was a new character, and q
good one. too. She wrote at once to Miss
| Ferber to send on some more McChesney
stories.
That was the origin Of one Of the most
successful short-story series that have
| appeared in years: one which has made
the author known to thousands Of readers
in every corner Of the land.
OF course every commercial traveller
| reads the McChesney stories. And Of
course he talks about them to his fellow
| statesmen. his employers, his customers.
4 The consequence IL that Emma McChes-
| ney is one OF the most real Of modern
| fiction characters. Miss Ferber has just
| signed a contract for the ramstization
of the stories. so Emma will probably be
on the stage next season.
| In the meantime Miss Ferber. who now
makes Chicago her home. has gone
abroad, taking her mother with her. And
II was Emma, by the way. that furnished
| the money for the trip.
Miss Ferber says that. unlike most sue
cessful authors. she did not dream her
| youthful dreams Of that career. The
thing she did want to do was to 60 on
| the stage. And II was because the fam
lily declined to send her to "a school Of
| dramatic expression" that she launched
| herself onto the sea Of journalism. or at
| least. that inlet Of II which may be dis
| covered at Appleton, Wis. She still says
she would rather be an actress than an
author. but that she has no idea of max
ing the change. That's good news for