Evening star., 1922-03-19
ny MAYME OBER PEAK.


L columns as Mrs. Stanley
Rinehart," will claim Washington as
her abiding place for. the next year,
having come with her husband, Dr.
pinehart, who has been appointed for
that period Of time tuberculosis con-
.sultant In the Veterans Bureau of
the war risk.
1t was to interview Mary Roberts
Rinehart and Mrs. Stanley Rinehart
that the writer kept up five-week-
siege. The highest-paid woman writer
in the world is not easy to reach:
not only because of extreme diffi-
dence on her part to take the public
into her private life, but because
she runs on SO busy and varied
schedule. She may be here today;
tomorrow, in New York conferrlns
with her publisher, or next week on
the west coast, where she directs the
making of movies Of her stories
From a material standpoint. her
time must be worth about $50 a MIN
ute! Therefore. when the writer had
finally succeeded in getting her to
grant a brief interview and, by, rea-
son of q car-tie-up en- route, reached
her apartment thirty minutes behind
the appointed time, it was little
short of impudence to ring her door
bell.
II know Tn over thousand dol
lars late" the writer apologized. as
Mary Rinehart herself admitted her.
looking very serene. She laughed
understandingly at the breathless ex-
PLANTATION of hold-up and mad sprint
at the end. and. murmuring that she
was leisurely recovering from the
flu and hadn't been punching the
time-clock, waved the interviewer to
a comfortable couch backed with
cushions.
Mary Rinehart was dressed in a
long-waisted frock of black chiffon,
with accordion-p plated draperies
Wide black moire ribbon built a ruff
at the back of the square-cut neck
and, forming a surplice. fell below
the skirt hem. A long string of
ivory and platinum, and one-strap
pumps with silver gray hose. COM
pleted her costume. Perfectly
groomed and poised and very human
is this woman, who began her ca
reer scrubbing hospital paint and
filing hot-water bags, and who today
keeps secretary busy clipping cou-
pons, collecting royalties and answer
ing a underworld correspondence. She
is much simmer and younger looking
than her pictures indicate or a
granddaughter would lead you to be-
lieve. She exudes virility and youth
of heart. Not a gray hair shows on
her head.
Quiet forcefulness is Mary Rine-
hart's most compelling quality. Back
Of IL lies the secret of her fame-the
noShodical planning of her whole ex-
istence, vigorously followed without
waste or hurry. Her first novel was
written when she was twenty-seven
and her oldest boy was two years
old. She was as determined she
could write as she was that she could
make time to do it in. 1t was far
cry from the busy doctors wife and
young mother of three growing boys
to the woman who eventually left
her well ordered house in the morn
ing, motored to her office in Pitts
burgh. shut off the telephone and
worked undisturbed until time to go
home to dress for dinner and to meet
with a smile the head of the house,
the oldest, the middle and the young
est son of all.
Ask her what her career has cost
her and what her success means to
her today, and she will not wax eIo-
quent on the zest she has found in
her struggles, on the elation and
thrills which come with the realiza-
tion that SO many people are reading
what she has written, talking about
her newest play or picture, or point
ing her out and kotowing to her as
one who has arrived. Nor will she
speak Of the material comforts she
has achieved.
The writer put the inevitable ques-
tion: Els it worth it?"
What has been worth more than
anything else to me-" she said, "is
the human contact I have had, the
wonderful friends it has brought me
from all over the world. Mine was
the horizon Of the country mouse.
While now" here he voice trailed
off as though conjuring up visions
of the seas she has travelled, mine
swept, or gloriied by tropical
moon; the lands she has traversed,
from cities to forests and snow-cap-
ped mountain top; the congenial
spirits she has met, grouped round a
campfire, or in the saddle or isolation
of desert or plain. Generals and buck
privates: the famous and the un-
known; rich and poor.
Success Is very humbling," she
continued. Mine came SO gradually
and was paid for with such an agon-
izine amount Of hard work that I
feel very much like the man who
scrimped and saved for years to buy
an automobile and then could not
enjoy It after he got it for thinking
about what it had cost him."
TN choosing a career" the inter-
viewer asked, how would you sug-
gest going about it?'
II think 1t is generally the career
that does the choosing" Mary Rine-
hart replied. 'If one has talent or
big ambition, there is no difficulty in
finding the proper outlet and oppor-
funity. What we want to do most
we always find a way to do. And
next to knowing what that Is, the
r,oat Important requisite is self-con-