Evening star., 1921-08-28

about Mrs. Southworth than that she
was some sort of a writer" Some of
these youngsters will say. "She was
an authoress.'' Some will know
enough about her to say "Oh! she
wrote novels-the kind that were
when grandpa was youth and had
his thoughts all bent on courtin'-or
something Of that sort, don't you
know" And. then, the person who
has emitted this mass of Information
will probably laugh in a superior or
patronizing way as though old au-
thors could not be of much account
anyway and that we have made such
great strides in art and literature thas
it seems funny to speak of novels OF
the 40s. the Sos. the Sos. the 1os anu tae
SOS in comparison with the magnln-
cent books that roll of printing
presses as fast as unclean water
pours through sewers, and Whlcn up
to-date, books contain a weaitn oL
matter so charming and interesting
to read that It could not very we Weni j ;n
spoken In mixed company even IN
these days of knee dresses, deml-
waists and great conversational Iree-
dom" which some persons might
translate as conversational laxity
1t is likely that only oid Wasn,ms .nnis :
tion Of the work Mrs. SoutnWorsn
did They will tell you that in the
early 40s this Washington schooi
teacher, distressingly poor and un.
writers of the United States. and that
her popularity extended to England ana
France. Her fame increased throug n
the sos, and in the SOS and the !os she
was perhaps read by more people snan
any other American writer Her fame
held well through the sos. and let
us say even into the 9Os. In the sos
and sos other writer's began TO croWd
upon the literary stage, ana MRS.
Southworths place in romantic nction
Taste in reading was undergoing
change. Newspapers of the deepest
shade of yellow were floating their
banners, which to old fashioned peo-
pie looked like the flags that foated
over quarantine stations and pest
houses Many forms Of literature took
on jaundiced look and many publish
ing houses ran up the smallpox nag. Men
and women demanded literature
that made them drunk. They wanted
TO read cocktails as well as drink
them. Even this kind of literaturs did
not have a high enough alcoholic or
inf1ammatory content. They asked the
bartender and barmaid authors to
serve up literary intOxicantS raw and
straight. They asked that no sugar.
grenadine or water be added. The
old fashioned romances were scorned
as .'mushy," "insipid," "maudlin."
.'sexless' and all that. Readers began
to say that even "suggestiveness"
was too simple and childlike. They de-
manded bald, bold statements in print
which a few years before would have
sounded pretty rough on the stage of
the old Canterbury or the Theater
Comique. Empty-pated men and silly
women called this license realism"
There was nothing new In 1t. Human
emotions, human desires and human
passions were pretty well known in
the days of Chaldea., Babylon, As
syria. Phoenicia. Carthage. Greece,
Rome, Gaul. Britain and the United
States. but there was some novelty
in the idea of buying books about
these we'll known matters. spreading
them out on the parlor table and en-
couraging girls in the gumdrop and
1icorice stick age and youths not yet
about the splendid realism of the au-
thor of How Mildred Remained True
to Harold When Her Husband Was
Out of Town"
DURING the deluge of realism"
Mrs. Southworth's vogue declined.
but the older generation. or the older
generations. remained faithful to her
and her books sold well. Mrs. South
worth had furnished much entertain
ment for young and old people for
more than fifty years, but there came
a time when age forced her to restrict
her output. At least two of her now
els were published after her death.
and durinG her life and after its close
many of her stories were republished.
and there were numerous new edi-
tions." The titles of Mrs. South
worth's books were agreeable with
public taste at the time they were