The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-11-07
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

In the death OF Ella Wheeler Wilcox this country has lost one
OF its most remarkable women.
A country girl, born and reared III poverty that appropriated
squaor, she fought and won her way to competence, comfort ana
independence
As her weapon she chose the pen, She first shocked the coun-
Try, then entertained and instructed it. Her first considerable ef
fort was her Poems of Passion" a small volume that caused her
TO be talked about, and not always in a complimentary way
Truth TO tell, the passion was chiefly in the title. The lines con-
tanned nothing suggestive or lascivious, and were remarkable
chiefly because written by a young girl,
In her autobiography she tells that the first money she re-
ceived was used to put new shingles on her humble home. The
roof leaked every time il rained, making it necessary to move the
furniture here ant. there to find a dry spot.
She soon developed, and her writings were in demand by the
better class OF magazines, She became serious and philosoph-
ieal, and whatever she wrote had meat in il.
Marrying young, she lost her first and only child, which was
a terrible blow to her. She surrendered the body to the earth,
but tried to cling to the spirit, and in this way was drawn into the
10 establish communication with her offspring in the other
world she investigated spirtualism. This was during its early
days, when there was much fraud and charlstanism practced by
professional mediums over the country, who brought spiritualisrn
into disrcpute,
Nowadays the leading scientists and thinkers Of the wo.ld
arc giving the study serious consideration, and some have become
ardent votanes Of mysticism.
In her maturer years she wrote on all kinds Of subjects, put.
ing into her lines her own personality. She was never what is
y called scholarly, and while she gave expression to radical and.
strange ideas now and then, she did so in a manner that appealed
to the average reader, and for years before the end came she had
as many readers as any writer of her day.
She wrote down to the level Of her clientele, and never at.
tempted to soar above it, Her writings were syndicated and ap-
peared in hundreds OF daily newspapers simultaneously. This
Iaue hl HdThe d aouSehold Woru, ana exalted her 10 an entnencc
that it is the fortune of few writer's to reach. She disappointed
her early critics, who, because OF her first volume, expected her to
develop into a modern MeSsaina. Instead, her lie was most
exemplary, a loyal and prudent wife, a factor in every movement
that was for the good and uplftof humanity. BY her advice and
counsel she helped many thousands through her public writings
and private correspondence.
She travelled much and knew the world better than most PEG.
pie, and wherever she went she made friends and found admirers.
She was an i~ndefatigable worker, aud her rewards were gener-
Gus.
She left the world better than she found it, and hence her life
was a success from both a moral and financial point Of view.
She was a great friend of the late Walter Malone. who re-
garded her as one OF the great minds OF her day, and a woman
with few equals.
Moralists may say that she committed srievous error in Oh,
beginning Of her career, but these were not as numerous nor y,
fagitious as many people think, nor as the record which she has
left behind her justifies.
A great, good woman, the world that Mas enioved her and
which has been benefited by her will sadly miss her, and will
unite in the prayerful hope that the world to which She has bee,
called will be as beautiful and as happy as the world OF her dream.
and aspirations while with US.