The Washington herald., 1914-01-21
ny MARY =. BULLErT.

Eleanor Gates has been doing interest
ing things ever since. as little girl. she
herded Dakota cattle and read Sir Walter
scout at one and the same time. From
DAKOTA cattle ranch to the field of the
drama may seem q long jump. But no
one can deny that Miss Gates has neeo-
tiated 1t successfully.
Within the last year her first two plays
| nave been produced in New York One
OF these, The Poor Little Rich Girl" Is
still running In this country. and Is also
making hit in London. But before Miss
Gates put into that play the story of the
lonely city child. she had written . book
telling the story Of the lonely child Of the
plains-and that story was largely her
own experience.
Her father was a grandson Of Richard
Henry Dana of Boston, and her mother
was an English woman When her father
went out West and started q cattle ranch
ne took with him an excellent library.
So when his little daughter used to ride
around on her pony. keeping an eye on
the grazing herd and at the same time
using the pommel of her saddle as q
reading desk, she had plenty Of books
with which to satisfy her literary appe-
tite. Before she was nine years old she
had read all of Scott's novels. and most
Of that reading was done in the saddle.
II was a boys saddle up 10 the time
she was eight. Then her English mother.
feeling that her notion Of the proprieties
must be observed. bought the child red
velvet side saddle with. as Miss Gates
still vividly remembers, three horns. But
whether astride or aside. she continued
her reading. Until she was twelve years
old she had not gone to school more than
two or three months. Her father and her
books were her only teachers.
Moved West.
When she was twelve the family moved
to California, and the young girl then
had two or three years at school. But her
earlier teachers must have done their
work well, for when she was 90 young
that she had to evade questions as to her
fore she was twenty she was doing news
paper work in San Francisco and taking
special courses at the university across
the bay.
Life moved rapidly with Eleanor Gates.
She had an enormous capacity for activ-
ity and managed to write q book while
she was doing enough other work TO
have kept two ordinary girls fairly
busy. Having finished her novel she put
the manuscript in her trunk, went to
New York. promptly sold the novel. and
sat down TO write another. She has
been keeping up that gait ever since
She wrote THE Poor Little Rich Girl
in hfty-one days. put II on, made big
success with II. and wrote her second
play. We Are Seven"-all inside Of
twelve months. incidentally she wrote
few short stories. too, and began a
third play. Evidently the habit OF do
ing two things at once. acquired when
she was herding cattle and reading
books at the same time. Is one that per
sists in spite of changed conditions
Both of her plays deal with children.
In the second, which she describes as
"a whimsical farce" she has taken a
ard treated IL with just enough light
ness to enable her. as she says, to put
II across" In I'VE Are Seven she
tries to teach girls; to think of their
own possible children and of what will
contribute to their highest good She
wants girls to think of and plan for
their dream babies" as she calls them.
Founded on Experience.
The idea is one founded on her own
experience, for she has always had. in
imagination. her own. dream son
standing beside her. He has been so
real to her that he even had name.
Peter" and she has given the same
name to one OF the dream children in
her play.
Her interest in children is far more
however. pay VI
imagination might indicate. 1t has
prompted her TO undertake one Of the
most original and important schemes that
have been devised for the conservation
of family life. She is planning the cree,
ton in New York City of hotel for
mothers who have been left with children
to care for and who are Obliged to earn
the money for their support.
As things are now. these mothers are
compelled to leave their children alone. |
generally in wretched tenement homes, |
while they 20 out to work. 1t Is no un- |
common thing for little children to be left |
to take care of themselves from morning
until night. Even when the mother |
comes home she is too tired to cook them |
a decent meal or to give them the care |
and companionship they need.
Miss Gates Is planning a hotel where |
these families can live as cheaply as they |
do now in the tenements. The meals will |
be cooked in the hotel kitchen by hotel
employees. The mothers will get from the
kitchen the meals for themselves and
their children. and take them on trays to
l