The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-12-20
LANES COAT FOR
| BELGIAN REFUGEE
Famous American Authors
Generous Contribution
SOME LITERARY GOSSIP
Mrs. Humphrey Ward Nearing End of
Her New Novel-Sly Author
Talks of Her Literary
Beginnings
nr HAYDEN CHURCH

by HAYDEN CHURCH
London, November 2s-(Speeial)-ft will
not surprise me in the least IL the next
Belgian refugee | meet (they are said to
be picking up English with quite mar
velous quickness) addresses me in aston
ishingly phrased sentences, each couple
of hundreds yords In length and neces-
stating long breath before 1t is begun
and the sense of which. owing to its very
length and the multiplicity of imaginary
commas. semicolons, parentheses and
dashes which it contains. becomes. some-
where about the middle. decidedly OBJ
scure to say the least. CThat one is a
good example. by the byeD
No. shall not gasp with establishment,
for ! shall apprehend in a twinkling the
reason of this verbosity. 1t will be clear
to me that this refugee is merely the vic
tim Of his dress, that in fact. he is wear
ing a cast-off overeoat that formerly
encircled the well-nourished form of
Henry Jamesi
Really it is quite terrifying. IL, as Marx
Twain asserted and as one fancies j.
Anstey also maintains, articles of apparel
do acquire some of the characteristics of
their wearers, to think of the possible
effects which the "second-hands" of some
of our most eminent men of letters may
have on the Belgian victims of German
oppression who are wearing them! One
giant among the latter, as | told you
recently, is now arrayed in former habili-
ments of G. X. Chesterton, and | under
stand that II. G. Wells Arnold Bennett and
Jerome X. Jerome, to mention only few
have also given of their superfluous ward
robes to help rig out our Belgian guests
As for Henry James. | understand that
he has been led to take particular in
terest in the Belgian artists, both big and
little. who are now more or less stranded
in our midst, largely through Derwent
Wood, who is doing bust of him for the
Chantry bequest. AS a result the famous
Anglo-American author recently drew a
tidy check, and also came along with the
aforementioned overcoat, quite smart
one, which he declared he would gladly
spare. expressing at the same time the
wish that he could help some Belgian
artist into it himself
His check meanwhile, has gone to swell
the fund which the Chelsea Arts club is
raising to help these, their fellow paint
ers, help that will take the form not only
OF providing the means of existence, but
also the provision of studios, canvas,
paints, etc, fund, by the way, to which
hear most of the leading London firms
Of art dealers and color merchants have
contributed generously, both In cash and
kind"
Everybody Wants to Help
One of the most striking things to be OBJ
served in England In connection with the
war is the way In which, imbued with
the universal desire to help a lot of
distinguished men and women who. in
ordinary times persistently shun publicity,
and have real and not mock adherence
of the lmelight, are coming forward with
modestly expressed ideas as to how things
could be made better or done better in
some way or another.
One of these is Miss Mary Cholmon-
deley, author of "Red Pottage," Moth
and Rust and Diana Tempest" and
whose latest book, Notwithstanding, -
came out only a few months ago. Miss
Chomondeley is On every sense) the anti
thesis of feminine writer's like Miss
Marie $500. and Mrs. Elinor ........, as
the censor would probably have II, to
whom advertisement is as the breath OF
life. The daughter of country clergy
man, she is shyness personified. Compared
with her Sir James M. Barrie is veritable
George Bernard Shaw In the matter of
counting the spotlight" man.
Previous to the war one could not have
imagined her setting to work to write a
popular" pamphlet and letting 1t be
known that it could be obtained from her
at the price of four copies for l cent Cor
hardly the cost of printing it,, but this
she has just done, the title of 1t being
| Economical Foods In Wartime" This
little leaflet was written to urge the i'm
portance of economy In food and to sug-
gest simple methods of cooking. 1t seems
that In her early years this now famous
novelist was brought closely in touch with
the lives of poor folk. Her experiences
left her with the impression that in poor
homes there Is good deal of waste and
extravaganza in the matter of food and
cooking which little advice and guild
ance might obviate. So she went to the
trouble of getting expert help from many
sources and then wrote her pamphlet
which. it Is agreeable to record, is selling
In thousands.
Wrote While Very Young
Miss Cholmondeley reminds one of the
Bronte sisters In several ways, one OF
them. of course. being the fact that she
was born in an English country rectory
Her father, the Rev. r. II. Cholmonde-
ley, was for many years rector of Hold.
net, in Shropshire. There her somewhat
delicate girlhood was spent. and there
she wrote tremendously, among Other
things complete history of Greece ant
a history of England as far as Elizabeth
This was done before she was a. fol-
the purpose of fixing history in her mind
Her first three books were written anony
mously while she was still at Hodnet. A
| month after she came to live in Londol
she began RED Pottage," her best know
| novel, and finished it three years later. /
had an enormous vogue. 1t passes
through 10 editions, and was then pub
lished in sixpenny edition. and again
| quite recently, in 2-shilling edition.
At present she is writing PRACTICAL,
nothing. II find 1t impossible to do an,
| imaginary work in this terrible time" sh
| said, In response to my question. =
think that we shall not have much goo,
| literature of an imaginative until the wa
| is over"
You have written nothing blu
stories?
II have been working at play. On,
play I have written was to be staged
In Paris before the war broke out, bu
1t has had, Of course, to be postponed
I. Lately I have been asked to writ
stories for the cinema films. That Ii
a very difficult thing to do. Their.
1 is an immense amount of work in II
much more than people who see the fin