The man who stands before the world as Canada’s most distinguished statesman is Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of the Dominion. Sir Wilfrid has very broad and very optimistic ideas as to the destiny of Canada, and these he expresses with a poetic eloquence which never fails to arouse enthusiasm. His oratory takes lofty flights.
Sir Wilfrid was born in the Province of Quebec in 1841. French was the language of his childhood. He went to school in his native parish, and later took the classical course at L’Assomption College. He began in 1860 to study law in the office of the late Hon. R. Laflamme, Q. C., who was Minister of Justice for the Dominion and one of Sir Wilfrid’s colleagues at Ottawa, when the latter became a member of Parliament. He was admitted to the bar in 1864. Eager to succeed, he devoted himself so zealously to his legal work that after three years of practice his health gave way, and he was forced to retire to the country. In the town of L’Avena he became editor ofLe Defrecheur, a journal devoted to political and social reform. It was in this work that he first actively interested himself in politics. His articles in the journal were full of the earnestness, enthusiasm and eloquence which have since brought him fame.
Country air agreed with the young lawyer and writer. He regained his health, and opened a law office at St.Cristophe, now Arthabaskaville, where he made his home until he removed to Ottawa as Prime Minister of Canada. He first held office in 1871, when he was elected to the Quebec Assembly. He resigned his seat in the general elections of 1874, was elected by the same constituency to the Dominion House of Commons, and when Parliament assembled was given the honor of seconding the address in reply to the speech from the Throne. His burst of oratory on the occasion attracted wide attention and caused prophecies to be freely made that he was destined for great things.
It was only two years afterward, in 1876, that he attained the distinction of a position in the Cabinet, being appointed Minister of the Internal Revenue in the Mackenzie administration. His constituency did not support him in the next general election, but he was returned to Parliament from Quebec East, which constituency has ever since been his political sponsor. When the Mackenzie government was defeated in the elections of 1878, Mr. Laurier, who had by this time become the acknowledged leader of the Liberal party in Quebec, joined his friends in Opposition and waited for eighteen years for his party’s return to power. This came in 1896. Mr. Laurier was then supreme in the House of Commons, and was called upon to organize a new government. Thus it was that he rose to the exalted position of Premier of Canada and found the opportunities which have given him so high a place among the world’s statesmen.
Perhaps the most important policy which he inaugurated upon his rise to power was that of a preferential tariff in favor of Great Britain. It was due to this policy, as well as to his high position in the affairs of Canada, that when he went to England upon the occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 he was received with distinguished honor. The Queen made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Oxford and Cambridge Universities conferred upon him honorary degrees. Upon a visit to the Continent of Europe during this trip abroad he was entertained by President Faure of France and was received by the Pope at Rome. When he returned to Canada he was greeted with great enthusiasm by all classes. In the general election of 1904 Sir Wilfrid’s administration gained a triumphant endorsement at the polls.
One of the foremost of Canada’s great workers is Lord Strathcona, who, as Donald Smith, was born in Scotland in 1820. He received his preliminary education in the common schools. He gave up the law, and became, when he was eighteen, an employee of the Hudson Bay Company on the bleak coast of Labrador.
Here he remained for thirteen years, becoming one of the company’s most valued traders. From Labrador he went, in 1851, into the wilderness of the Northwest, where he rose through the grades of trader, chief trader, factor and chief factor. In 1869 he reached the top rung of the ladder in the Hudson Bay Company, receiving the appointment of resident governor.
He established himself in Montreal, but when the half breeds and Indians under the leadership of Louis Riel rose in rebellion against the project of transferring to the Crown the vast tracts of territory belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, Donald Smith again utilized his remarkable skill and experience in dealing with these children of nature. He went to the seatof the trouble at Red River Settlement, where he was made a prisoner and threatened with death. He obtained his liberty, and through his strong but adroit attitude toward the rebels was able to keep them in check until the arrival of troops. As a reward for this achievement he was elected to the Dominion House of Commons, and became a zealous supporter of the administration of Sir John McDonald.
In the early seventies Donald Smith undertook to raise the very large amount of capital necessary for the new Canadian Pacific railroad across the continent. On more than one occasion the enterprise threatened ruin for those connected with it, but Donald Smith eventually triumphed, and in 1885 the road was completed to the Pacific. The man who had commenced life as an humble trader had become by this time a celebrated and very important man in Canada, and in recognition of his services Queen Victoria bestowed on him in 1886 the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Upon the occasion of the Queen’s Jubilee in 1897, being then Lord High Commissioner of Canada, Sir Donald was raised to the peerage, and became Lord Strathcona. In commemoration of the Jubilee he gave in the same year, jointly with Lord Mount Stephen, the sum of one million dollars to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, and eight hundred thousand dollars more to endow the institution, which, through his generosity, has become one of the best equipped hospitals on the continent. Lord Strathcona has also given at least a million dollars to education in Canada, most of the money going to McGill University. He has also contributed largely to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Women in Montreal. Lord Strathcona’s philanthropy is made the more notable by the fact that while he has large means, he does not possess the immense wealth of some of the American financiers. In addition to his railway and numerous other interests in Canada, he is president of the Bank of Montreal, which is one of the largest banking institutions in the world.
At the outbreak of the war between Great Britain and the Boers Lord Strathcona further increased his usefulness to Canada and the Empire by the organization of a body of mounted troops called “the Strathcona Horse.” These men, many of whom were recruited from the Northwest, and who represented the flower of Canadian horsemanship and valor, went to South Africa, and greatly distinguished themselves in the service of the Queen. Their work at the front was not as important, however, as was their influence in the direction of solidifying the union between the mother country and the colony.
In spite of the fact that he is now eighty-four years old, Lord Strathcona is still a restless and energetic spirit. He has residences in Montreal, Winnipeg, Nova Scotia, Scotland and London, and divides his time between them. In London he is fond of entertaining the leaders in political and commercial life. He spends much of his time in Canada, however, and often makes trips across the continent. In many respects he is Canada’s most remarkable citizen.
Among the American mural decorators who have achieved a reputation which is not confined to the land of their birth, is William de Leftwich Dodge. Some of the principal decorations of the Boston public library and the capitol of Washington are the outcome of his genius. He has also executed a number of private commissions, and in each and every instance has given evidence of fertile imagination and forceful execution. It is perhaps too much to say that Mr. Dodge has inaugurated or suggested a new school of mural art, but it is certain that he has so modified accepted methods that the results are practically without precedent as far as his special line of work is concerned. He was born in Liberty, Virginia, and, after a preliminary art education in this country, studied in Paris and Munich. He began his career proper as an illustrator, but it was not long before he realized that his future lay along the lines of decoration rather than in the pages of publications, and, as has been intimated, his successes have vindicated the wisdom of his decision. He has been awarded the third medal of the Concours d’Atelier, Paris; the gold medal, Prize Fund exposition, 1886; three medals Cours Yvon, 1887; Prix d’Atelier, 1888, and medal of the Columbian exposition, 1893.
Charles Mente, a popular illustrator, comes of a musical family, and so narrowly escaped being a musician instead of an artist. He was born in New York city, educated in the public schools and afterward learned wood-carving, making figureheads and ornamental work on furniture. This work was not to his taste, however, so he entered the credit department of A. T. Stewart’s store, New York city. This was even more distasteful, and, resigning, he spent his evenings attending Cooper institute art classes, and later the art students’ league. At that time all illustrations were drawn on wood. Mr. Mente’s first drawing was for Harper & Brothers, and was successful, and for two years he worked for that firm. By the end of that period he had managed to save about $1,500, with which he went abroad to study in Munich at the Royal academy. There he received a medal, with honorable mention. Coming back to New York, he was engaged as a teacher of painting at the Gotham art students’ league, but gave up this position to devote himself to painting and illustration. He has received first prize at the exposition of the Chicago society of artists, a gold medal of the Art club of Philadelphia in 1895, and a diploma of excellence and silver medal at the Cotton States’ international exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1895. Mr. Mente’s reputation rests to a great extent on his pictures based on inspirational subjects.
The vigor of the work of Thure de Thulstrup is known to the reading public mainly through his illustrations in metropolitan magazines, but he has also painted a number of canvases which show that he is as much at home with the brush as with the crayon or pencil. Thulstrup was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and, after graduating from the Royal Swedish military academy, was commissioned a lieutenant of artillery in the army of that country. But being ofan adventurous spirit, he went to Algiers, where he enlisted in the First Zouave Regiment of the French army, saw some service in Northern Africa, and was afterward given a commission in the Foreign Legion. While a member of that body, he took part in the Franco-German war of 1870-’71, and also assisted in crushing the Commune in Paris. In 1872 he set sail for Canada, where he obtained a position as civil engineer. From his boyhood he had delighted in sketching, and it was about this time that he determined to put his artistic gifts to practical use. His début as an illustrator was with the New York Daily Graphic in the 70’s. Subsequently he became connected with the Frank Leslie Magazine and with Harper & Brothers, and it was his work with the last named firm that established his reputation as an illustrator. He has painted a number of military pictures, including a series of twelve which have to do with stirring events of the Civil war in this country. Recently he has been engaged on canvases which illustrate cavalier life in Virginia in the middle of the eighteenth century. He has drawn the pictures of a number of books.
One of the artists whose purpose in life seems to be smile-breeding is T. S. Allen. Well known in connection with his work in the columns of the New York American, his studies of and contingent jokes on “tough” youngsters under the caption of “Just Kids” are full of genuine humor. Mr. Allen was born in 1869, in Lexington, Kentucky, and was educated at Transylvania university, of that state. After some years spent in writing jokes, jingles, etc., for local and New York newspapers, he began to illustrate the same in a manner which quickly caught the attention of editors. To-day he has an established reputation as a graphic humorist, and his work finds a ready and remunerative market.
Charles G. Bush, the cartoonist of the New York World, is an example of success achieved comparatively late in life. His early work consisted for the most part of magazine illustrations of a serious nature. After studying in Paris, under Bonnat, he, on his return to America, endeavored to follow a career of painting, but fate willed it otherwise. In 1895 Mr. Bush drew a cartoon in which David B. Hill was the principal figure. The New York Herald accepted the picture, and the next morning Mr. Bush woke up to find himself famous as a cartoonist. From thence on his career has been one of more or less constant successes.
Louis Dalrymple, the illustrator and cartoonist, was born at Cambridge, Illinois, January 19, 1861. After receiving a common school education, he entered the Pennsylvania academy of fine arts, graduated from it with credit and later studied at the art students’ league of New York. Subsequently he branched out for himself and began to submit drawings to the metropolitan comic publications and newspapers. Work of this kind secures immediate recognition for anartist who can comply with the public demands of the moment. Mr. Dalrymple being not only clever but shrewd, it came about that within a very short time he was kept busy in executing commissions. His work is characterized by a delicacy and acumen that prove that he thinks as well as he draws.
When the modern daily newspaper began to add to its news columns the so-called supplement, there was a coincident demand for artists who had the gift of humor. Sydney B. Griffin was one of such, and for some years past his supply of unique ideas seems to have been inexhaustible. He was born October 15, 1854, of English and Scotch parents, attended public schools at Detroit, Michigan, and, in 1888, came to New York. When his first ideas were presented to Puck they were declined, but upon his taking them to Judge they were accepted forthwith. Mr. Griffin took the trouble to inform the Puck people of his success with their rivals, whereupon he was told that his work had been refused for the simple reason that it was so excellent that it was feared that it was not original. However, Puck made the amende honorable by engaging him forthwith. Mr. Griffin’s style is bold and slashing and his drawings are full of point and power.
In the world of illustrators, the man who can originate an idea which excites the laughter and holds the attention of the public is indeed fortunate. Such an individual is R. F. Outcault, the artistic father of the “Buster Brown” series which appear in the Sunday New York Herald. He is also the author of the “Yellow Kid” and “Hogan’s Alley” pictures of the Sunday New York World, and of equally laughable creations in the New York American and other publications. Born in Lancaster, Ohio, January 14, 1853, he was educated in that town. In 1888 he secured a position with Edison, and went to Paris in the inventor’s employ. Returning to this country, he illustrated for some time with a fair degree of success, but it was not until 1894 that he made his first distinctive hit as a comic artist. Mr. Outcault’s personal description of his daily life is interesting. He says: “I have flowers, a garden, a dog and a cat, good music, good books, light stories, draw pictures, smoke a pipe, talk single tax theories, am a member of a couple of clubs, lead the Simple Life.”
Humor, strenuous and wholesome, marks the work of Carl E. Schultze. His name is literally a household word in this country by reason of that quaint conceit, “Foxy Grandpa,” of which he is the creator. He was born on May 25, 1866, Lexington, New York, and was educated in the public schools of that town and at Cassel, Germany. On his return to America he studied art under Walter Satterlee, of New York. For some time later he seems to have been undecided as to how to apply his gifts, but an accidental sketch submitted to a Chicago paper, resulted in his being forthwith engaged by that publication. After remaining in Chicago on several newspapers for some years, he took a trip to California, doing further artistic work in San Francisco. At length he determined to beard the metropolitan journalist lions in their dens. After a struggle, during which he did work on Judge and other New York publications, he became a member of the staff of the Herald, where, thanks to an accidentalinspiration, “Foxy Grandpa” came into existence. Later he became connected with the New York American. Mr. Schultze is a man of magnificent physique, and is held in high esteem by those who know him. He is the author of several works of comic drawings, and “Foxy Grandpa” has been dramatized.
Eugene Zimmerman’s cartoons in Judge are characterized by an insight into the political questions of the hour which is assisted rather than hindered by the sheer humor of his work. He was born at Basel, Switzerland, May 25, 1862. While yet a baby his parents came to the United States and settled at Paterson, New Jersey, where he received his education in the public schools. After leaving school, he was in turn a farmer’s boy, an errand boy in a store, a fish peddler, a baker and a sign painter, but sketched and drew continuously. In 1882 he secured a position in the art rooms of Puck, and after doing considerable work for that publication left it in order to join Judge. He has also illustrated books and articles by Bill Nye and James Whitcomb Riley. As a caricaturist pure and proper he is almost without a rival in this country.
George Ade has an established reputation among those who are lovers of wholesome humor. His sketches, given in a picturesque dialect, are characterized by a freshness of observation which is aided rather than marred by the so-called slang in which they are written. Born at Kentland, Newton county, Indiana, February 9, 1866, he graduated from the University of Lafayette, Indiana, and subsequently became reporter and telegraph editor on the Lafayette Evening Call. In 1891 he went to Chicago, as a member of the staff of the Daily News of that city, and afterward joined the forces of the Tribune. After establishing a reputation as a humorist, he turned playwright and has scored several metropolitan successes. His Fables in Slang, issued in 1899, and More Fables are the best known of his pen products.
John Kendrick Bangs occupies a distinctive position in the domain of humor. To use the vernacular, he is in a class by himself, and so the products of his pen can hardly be referred to or compared with that of any other of the writers of to-day. He was born in Yonkers, New York, May 27, 1862, his father being Francis N. Bangs, who for many years was the president of the Bar association of New York. Mr. Bangs graduated from Columbia university in 1883 and entered his father’s office, but his humor would not down, and so it was that he shortly deserted the law in order to become the associate editor of Life. This was in 1884. Since that time he has held many responsible journalistic positions in New York, and in his present capacity as editor of Harper’s Weekly has added much to the reputation which is deservedly his.
Samuel L. Clemens, who is better known as “Mark Twain,” was born in Monroe county, Missouri, November30, 1835, and received his education at the village schools. On his father’s death, which took place when he was twelve years of age, he went to work in order to contribute to the support of his mother and little brothers and sisters. As an apprentice in the office of the Hannibal (Missouri) Courier, he laid the foundations of his reputation as author and journalist. Within the following twenty-five years he was steamboat pilot, soldier, miner and editor. His first contributions under his famous nom-de-plume appeared in 1862, in the newspaper, The Virginia City Enterprise. Since 1872 he has devoted himself to literary work, lecturing occasionally, and making frequent trips to Europe. It is said that nearly a million copies of his works have been sold. Space will not permit of a full list of them, but Roughing It, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and Pudden-Head Wilson are classics whose popularity bids fair to last as long as American literature itself.
The author of the immortal “Mr. Dooley” is Finley Peter Dunne, who began life as a Chicago reporter, but is now under contract to Harper Brothers to write exclusively for their publications. He was born at Chicago, July 10, 1867, was educated in local public schools and began his reportorial life in 1885. After serving on the staffs of several Chicago papers he became editor of the Journal of that city in 1897. It was about this time that he conceived “Mr. Dooley.” The reputation which that unique character brought him resulted in his being engaged to contribute to a syndicate of New York, Chicago and San Francisco newspapers, and later to form his current connection with the Harpers.
Simeon Ford, the after-dinner speaker and raconteur who, so it is said, can look more sad and at the same time talk more humorously than any other man before the American public, was born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1856. After an education received in the public schools of the town of his birth he studied law, but finding that there was but little merriment in Blackstone and briefs, abandoned his first intentions, and after plunges into various businesses, drifted to New York, where, in 1883, he fell in love with and married Julia Shaw, the daughter of the proprietor of the Grand Union hotel. He forthwith became a partner with his father-in-law, and from thence on has been as successful as a hotel manager as he is famous as an after-dinner speaker.
Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, whose nom-de-plume is “Dorothy Dix,” was born in Montgomery county, Tennessee, November 18, 1870. She was married November 21, 1888, to George O. Gilmer. In 1896 she became the editor of the woman’s department of the New Orleans Picayune, and contributed to that paper a series of articles called Dorothy Dix Talks, which won her immediate recognition as a humorist. In 1900 she joined the New York American and Journal staff as a writer on special topics, which she treats in a breezy, snappy fashion.
George V. Hobart, the humorist and librettist, who is well known to the newspaper public under his nom-de-plume of Dinkelspiel, was born atCape Breton, Nova Scotia. When a boy he studied telegraphy and obtained a position as an operator on one of the Cumberland (Maryland) newspapers. One day between the clicks of his instrument he wrote a humorous story, and handed it to the editor, who remarked, “I want more of that.” That was the beginning of the famous Dinkelspiel sketches. Mr. W. R. Hearst, of the New York American, saw Hobart’s work, called him to New York. He is the author of several comedies and books of musical productions.
Melvin De Lancy Landon, “Eli Perkins,” was born at Eaton, New York, September 7, 1839. After a course of preparation in the public schools he entered Union college and graduated in 1861. One week later he received an appointment from the United States treasury, but soon resigned his position to enlist in the Union army to take part in the Civil war. He left the army, in 1864, with the rank of major. Next he became a cotton planter in Arkansas and Louisiana. Later he traveled in Europe and was secretary of the United States legation at St. Petersburg. In 1877 he was married to Emily Louise Smith. He has written copiously for magazines and other publications. But it is his books, Wit, Humor and Pathos, Franco-Prussian War, Wit and Humor of the Age, Kings of Platform and Pulpit, and Thirty Years of Wit, upon which his reputation as a humorist rests.
A most industrious contributor to magazines and writer of short stories is Stephen Bonsal. He was born in Virginia in 1863, and educated in St. Paul’s school, Concord, New Hampshire. After finishing his studies in this country he went to Gottingen and Heidelberg, Germany. Returning to this country, he entered journalism. In this connection he is best known as representing the New York Herald during the Bulgarian-Servian war. In the service of that newspaper, he also went to Macedonia, Morocco and Cuba. Leaving newspaper work, he next entered the United States diplomatic service and was secretary of legation and chargé d’affaires in Pekin, Madrid, Tokio and Corea from 1890 to 1896. Besides his magazine work, he is the author of several books, including Morocco As It Is and The Real Condition of Cuba.
Like many other authors, Richard Harding Davis comes of literary stock, his father being S. Clark Davis, editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and his mother Rebecca Harding Davis, whose works of fiction have brought her a certain amount of public notice. After graduating from the Lehigh university of Pennsylvania, Mr. Davis made a reputation for himself in newspaper circles in his native city. He is a versatile writer and prefers fiction to fact. He first attained prominence through the medium of his Van Bibber Sketches. War correspondent as well as novelist, his life has been filled with stirring incident. Mr. Davis has been charged with egotism by his critics, but every man who is conscious of his individuality is subject to such attacks. Married Cecil Clark, daughter of J. M. Clark, of Chicago, April 4, 1899.
One of the best-known makers of magazine literature is Hamlin Garland, who was born in West Salem, Wisconsin, September 16, 1860, of English-Dutch parentage. In 1881 his studies were completed in Cedar Valley seminary, Wisconsin, and he next spent some years in traveling and teaching in the east. Later he took the lecture platform, was an occasional writer of sketches and short stories, and spent some time in Boston studying and teaching. He is an ardent advocate of the single tax doctrine and several of his works have to do with the struggles of the poor against existing conditions. He has also written a number of books of fiction.
David G. Phillips, one of the latest of American authors to achieve a measurable success and to give promises of a literary future, was born in Indianapolis in 1866, his father being a banker in that city. After a season spent in the local public schools and a preparatory collegiate course, Mr. Phillips went to Yale, and while there determined to become either a journalist or an author. On graduating he decided to go into newspaper work and so became a member of the reportorial staff of the New York World. It was not long before he attracted the attention of Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, the proprietor of the World. Mr. Phillips was in consequence given an editorial position. After some time spent in the service of the World, Mr. Phillips resigned in order to turn his attention to novel writing. Of his books A Golden Fleece and The Great God Success have been fairly well received, but his last work, The Confessions of a Crœsus, is distinctly the best thing that he has done in the way of pure literature.
C. G. D. Roberts inherited his literary instinct. His father was the Rev. G. Goodrich Roberts, and he is a cousin of Bliss Carman, the poet, while several of his ancestors were professors in English universities. He was born in Canada in 1860. Graduating from the university of Brunswick, in 1879, he afterward and for several years taught in educational establishments in Canada, but in 1895 devoted himself exclusively to literary work. In 1897 he became associate editor of the Illustrated American, but is best known as a writer of nature stories, several of which have passed through two or three editions.
William T. Stead, the founder of the Review of Reviews, and a constant contributor to a number of American newspapers, was born on July 3, 1849, at Embleton, England, being the son of the Rev. W. Stead, a Congregational minister. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to a merchant at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, and began to contribute to local newspapers. His journalistic promptings at length became so imperative that he deserted the commercial world, and after a preliminary struggle became assistant editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. Later he founded the Review of Reviews, and subsequently the American Review of Reviews. He takes an active interest in the larger questions of the day, such as international arbitration, psychological problems, etc. Mr. Stead has a place in his generation and fills it admirably.
Vance Thompson, a well known journalist, author and playwright, was born on April 17, 1863. He graduated from Princeton in 1883, andwas subsequently a student of the University of Jena in Germany. He is well known in metropolitan journalism, having held the position of dramatic critic for more than one New York newspaper, and he has also contributed liberally to leading magazines and daily publications in general. He is also known as a musical critic. Mr. Thompson founded a fortnightly publication entitled Madamoiselle New York, which was characteristic of both him and his, and is the author of several plays, pantomimes and books. In 1890 he married Lillian Spencer, of New York.
Stewart Edward White, the author, was born at Grand Rapids, Michigan, March 2, 1873. He studied at the high school of the town of his birth and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1895. Subsequently he came east and took a course in the Columbia law school. Mr. White is still a bachelor, is a fruitful contributor to magazines, and has written some novels which have been given a respectful hearing, these including The Westerners and The Claim Jumpers.
Owen Wister, who is best known to the public through the medium of his novel, The Virginian, was born at Philadelphia July 14, 1860. He prepared for college at St. Paul’s school, Concord, New Hampshire, and was graduated from Harvard in 1892, being admitted to the Philadelphia bar some years later. Instead of following the profession of a lawyer, however, he engaged in literary work. Apart from his novels, he has been a prolific contributor to magazines and other periodicals. His books are eminently readable, if they are nothing else.
Judging from “The Story of a Bad Boy,” which is partly autobiographical, Thomas Bailey Aldrich spent his boyhood just as all wholesome-minded, healthy boys do, in having a good time. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836. While he was still a baby, his family went to New Orleans, but he was sent back to his native town to be educated. After a common school course, he prepared to enter Harvard, but his father failed in business and soon afterward died. Although young Aldrich’s relatives were prepared to pay the expenses of his college course, he preferred to be independent and decided to begin a business career. So it came about that he entered the offices of his uncle in New York city at the age of sixteen. About this time he began to contribute articles in prose and verse to Putnam’s Magazine, The Knickerbocker Magazine and other periodicals. His literary ability finally got him a place in a publishing house as reader of manuscripts and of proof. His first book, The Bells, did not attract much attention, but in 1856 he published The Ballad of Baby Bell and Other Poems, which struck the popular fancy. About the year 1860 he became an independent writer, contributing to various publications, but chiefly to the Atlantic Monthly. In 1870 he became editor of Every Saturday, a high-class literary weekly, which was founded in Boston andeffectively edited, yet only lived four years. In 1881 he succeeded Mr. Howells in the editorial chair of the Atlantic Monthly. In this same year both Mr. Howells and Mr. Aldrich received from Yale university the degree of LL.D. Mr. Aldrich retired from the Atlantic Monthly in 1890. In 1865 he was married to Miss Lillian Woodman, of New York city. Several children were born to him.
Bliss Carman is a native of New Brunswick and began life as a civil engineer and school teacher. The muse won him, however, almost from boyhood, and he has written steadily, slowly and safely, which is equivalent to saying that he has written progressively. Like many of the Canadian writers, he came to the United States to seek recognition. Here he met three other Canadians—C. G. D. Roberts, James Clarence Harvey and the late Richard Hovey. They formed a talented quartet of struggling poets, and their little world known as “Vagabondia,” was one of the most fascinating centers of American Bohemianism of the better type. Literary and artistic people coveted the privilege of entering therein. Mr. Carman and Mr. Hovey published several volumes of songs from “Vagabondia.” The subject of this sketch is best known by his Coronation Ode and his Sapphic Fragments. There is a fine and tender quality in Mr. Carman’s poems that accounts for their popularity among people possessing that which is known as the “artistic temperament.”
Richard Le Gallienne, who has a personality which accords with that of the traditional poet, is an Irishman by birth. In spite of his critics, his place in the world of letters is assured, mainly by reason of his poems, of which he has issued three volumes. Robert Louis Stevenson, an Elegy, is one of the best known of Mr. Le Gallienne’s works, and ranks among the classic elegies of the English language. It is not too much to say that it compares favorably with Gray’s Elegy in a Country Churchyard, Swinburne’s Ave Et Vale, and Morris’ Wordsworth’s Grave. In Mr. Le Gallienne’s verses, love, romance and dainty imagery are effectively mingled, and, as a rule, the results appeal to both heart and ear. His more ambitious works are those that have to do with literary criticism. He has also written books on Kipling and Meredith, which for vivid, close-range studies of the lives and purposes of two writers whose ideals are diametrically opposed, have rarely been equalled. The output of so-called literary criticism is so voluminous that it “tires by vastness,” yet the demand for the product of Mr. Le Gallienne’s pen still exists. He is also the author of a number of novels. That he is of industrious habits is proven by the fact that, while only thirty-six years of age, he has produced thirty works, the last being an English rendition of the odes of the Persian poet, Hafiz. Mr. Le Gallienne is an example of the possibilities that are inherent in every man, who, having determined on a given line of work, proceeds to follow it to success. He has never been to college, but has educated himself and so possesses all that belongs to a college curriculum. He has undergone the disappointments, deferred hopes, and all the rest of the unpleasant things that belong to the struggling literary man, and has conquered. The moral is obvious.
Robert Mackay, who is one of theyoungest, but none the less promising of America’s poets, was born in Virginia City, Nevada, 1871. His father, who is among the oldest of the living “Comstockers,” settled in Nevada over fifty years ago, when the state was practically unknown to white men. The subject of this sketch began his literary work when a mere boy as a reporter on the San Francisco Chronicle. Subsequently he was editor and assistant editor of several papers on the Pacific coast. In 1895 he determined to travel over the world. The trip occupied the greater portion of five years, during which period he visited lands where white men were seldom seen. Naturally he gathered many experiences, and much valuable data. While Mr. Mackay has written a great many poems he has never compiled them in book form. He has a theory that too many young writers throw themselves on the mercy of a public which do not know them and necessarily do not care for their callow wares. He therefore proposes to mature his work until he is satisfied that it has a fighting chance for public favor. Nevertheless he is by no means a stranger to the public. Those poems of his that have appeared in a number of periodicals have made him many friends. Mr. Mackay’s verses are finely fibered. Technically correct, they are acceptable to those critics who place mechanism on the same plane with motive. But they are more than finished specimens of the verse-maker’s art. With deft and tender fingers he plays upon the heart chords of humanity, and these ring responsive to his sympathetic touch. His themes are those that are as old as the race, and as imperishable. Mother love, wedded love, patriotism, the eternal yearning for the higher life, the eternal problem of the hereafter—such they are—and they are treated by him with a facile sincerity that marks him as a true poet—one who writes not for the sake of writing, but because of inner spiritual promptings that will not be denied.
The personality of Cincinnatus Heine Miller, better known as “Joaquin” Miller, is as picturesque as has been his career. In turn a miner, lawyer, express rider, editor, poet and newspaper man, Mr. Miller has amassed a fund of experiences such as rarely falls to the lot of the ordinary individual. That his literary gifts enable him to reproduce in vivid fashion many of these same happenings is a matter for self-congratulation on the part of the reading public. What is yet more fortunate is that he preserves in his poems the breath of the prairie, the air of the mountains and the “tang” of that west that is rapidly passing into nothingness. The poet was born in the Wabash district of Indiana, November 10, 1841. In 1850 his parents removed to Oregon, and there is but little doubt that the wild and beautiful scenery amid which he spent his childhood had had much to do with fostering his then undeveloped poetical instincts. When the famous rush of gold seekers to the Pacific coast took place in 1859, young Miller was among the Argonauts. He does not appear to have been particularly successful in his hunt for gold, and returned to Oregon in 1860. Then he began to study law, supporting himself in the meantime by acting as express rider in Idaho. In 1863 he started the Eugene (Ore.) Democratic Register, which, however, had a brief existence. Later he opened a law office in Canon City, and in 1866 went to London, where he remained until 1870. It was in that city that he published his first book of poems.It received a most favorable reception, and established him as a poet of a unique type and quality. Returning to this country, he did some years of newspaper work in Washington, D. C., but finally drifted back to the Pacific coast, and devoted himself entirely to literature. In 1897, acting as correspondent for the New York newspaper, he visited the Klondike to compare modern miners with those of ’59. Some of his best known books of poems are Songs of the Sierras, Pacific Palms, The One Fair Woman, Songs of the Sunland, etc. He is also a playwright. One of the most important and successful of his dramas is The Danites. He lives in a picturesque home, known as the Heights, at Oakland, California.
“Life is an arrow; therefore you must knowWhat mark to aim at and how to use the bow,Then draw it to the head and let it go.”
“Life is an arrow; therefore you must knowWhat mark to aim at and how to use the bow,Then draw it to the head and let it go.”
“Life is an arrow; therefore you must knowWhat mark to aim at and how to use the bow,Then draw it to the head and let it go.”
“Life is an arrow; therefore you must know
What mark to aim at and how to use the bow,
Then draw it to the head and let it go.”
These words, as well as the career of the well-known author and clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, emphasize the fact that he has successfully pursued his all-absorbing ideal. He was born at Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1852, his father being the Rev. Henry Jackson Van Dyke, who is of Dutch colonial blood. At the age of sixteen, and after graduating from the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, young Van Dyke entered Princeton college and received the degree of A.B., with highest honors, in 1873. While an undergraduate he was awarded the junior oration prize and senior prize in English literature. He was also reception orator on class day, and on commencement delivered the salutatory and belles lettres. Upon graduating in the theological course from Princeton seminary, in 1876, he delivered the master oration. Later he went to Germany to pursue his studies in divinity at the University of Berlin, and, in 1878, returned to the United States, becoming pastor of the United Congregational church, Newport, Rhode Island, and remained there for four years. In 1882 he accepted a call to the Old Brick Presbyterian church, Fifth avenue and Thirty-seventh street, New York, which was founded in 1767. At that time the church membership was small and its financial condition far from satisfactory. But, thanks to the untiring efforts of the new pastor, it became one of importance, spiritually and in other ways. Since 1900 he has been professor in English literature at Princeton university. He is the author of numerous books of wide circulation.
The most eminent medical man of Canada, and perhaps of the world, is Dr. William Osler, who has recently been appointed by King Edward to the exalted position of Regis Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, England. This means that Dr. Osler will be the chairman of the faculty of this great university. He will be its head. No greater distinction than this could come to any medical man. Aside from the honor of his appointment and the salary of $10,000 per year, his position will bring Dr. Osler a private practice which will make him one of the most highly compensated physicians in the world.
Dr. Osler was born at Bondhead, Ontario, July 12, 1849. His fatherwas a minister of the Church of England. Dr. Osler went to school at Port Hope, Ont., and afterward entered Trinity University in Toronto, where he received his academic degree. The only distinction he attained at college was the reputation of being a hard student. He followed out then the injunction which he has since often made to students of his own, namely, “love to labor.”
After leaving the University, Dr. Osler entered the office of Dr. Bonell in Toronto as an assistant. Here he studied three years and then entered McGill University at Montreal, where he was graduated in 1872. He then went abroad, and returning to Canada in 1875 was elected to the chair of Institute of Medicine at McGill. Some remarks of his apropos of his first plunging into teaching are worth quoting. “My first appearance before the class filled me with tremulous uneasiness and an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. I soon forgot this, however, in my interest in the work. Whatever success I achieved then and throughout my subsequent career has been due to enthusiasm and constitutional energy.”
Four years after Dr. Osler became connected with McGill he was appointed a member of the visiting staff of the Montreal General Hospital. In 1883 he was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, England.
Dr. Osler became in 1884 professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was invited in 1889 to create the chair of Professor of the Practice and Principles of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Medical School at Baltimore. It was his work here that lifted him into world-wide prominence as a physician. In 1890 he was elected dean of the medical faculty of Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile he had built up a very large private practice, and was one of the doctors called upon to treat President McKinley after he had been shot in Buffalo.
In spite of the fact that Dr. Osler’s great powers of concentration have been one of the factors in his remarkable success in his profession, he is a strong believer in having a broad outlook, and avoiding too great an absorption in any one line of work. He has said in an address to students:
“Do not become so absorbed in your profession as to exclude all outside interests. Success in my profession depends as much upon the man as upon the physician. The more you see of life, outside the circle of your work, the better equipped you will be for the struggle. While medicine is to be your calling, see to it that you have also some intellectual task which will keep you in touch with the world of art and letters. When tired of anatomy refresh your mind with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Keats, Shelley and Shakespeare.
“I advise you to have no ambition higher than to join the noble band of general practitioners. These are generous hearted men, with well balanced, cool heads, who are not scientific always, but are learned in the wisdom of the sick room. No man can stand higher in the love and respect of the community, and wield a more potent influence, than the family doctor....
“As to your work, I have a single bit of advice which I give with the earnest conviction of its paramount influence in any success which may have attended my efforts in life: Take no thought of the morrow. Live neither in the past nor the future, but let each day’s work absorb your entire energy and satisfy your widest ambition.”
A high and representative type of the Scotchmen who have done so much for Canada is Sir George Alexander Drummond, who for many years has been very actively identified with the best elements in Canadian commercial and social life. Sir George was born in Edinburgh in 1829, and in 1854, after graduation from Edinburgh University, came to Canada to assume the management of the extensive sugar refinery which had been established in Montreal by the late John Redpath. Though the refinery was for some years very successful under the direction of Sir George, it was closed in 1874 because of the appalling effects of a high tariff. It was reopened, however, in 1879, when Sir George founded the Canadian Sugar Refining Company, which has exerted a strong influence in the upbuilding of the prosperity of the Dominion. Sir George steadily grew in commercial power. He became a director of the Bank of Montreal in 1882 and vice-president of the institution in 1887. For two years he was president of the Montreal Board of Trade. He also assumed the presidency of the company which owns very valuable coal and iron mining properties at Londonderry, Nova Scotia, and he has been connected with many other enterprises of importance.
His activities, however, have been by no means confined to commerce. He has been president of the Art Association of Montreal, and possesses one of the finest art collections on the continent. He is an enthusiastic golfer and has been president of the Canada Golf Association. He has busied himself with philanthropic projects and was made one of the trustees of Victoria Order of Nurses in 1897. He was called to the Senate of Canada by the Marquis of Lorne and was knighted by the Queen.
Among the many literary lights which the south has given us is James Lane Allen. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1849, and comes of one of the old Virginia families. Shortly after the Civil war broke out Mr. Allen’s father lost his fortune, and James in consequence had to work and attend school simultaneously. He graduated with honors from the Transylvania university, Lexington, in 1872. Then he began to teach for a livelihood. Subsequently he was called to a professorship in Transylvania university, and later was a professor of Latin and higher English at Bethany college, West Virginia. In 1884 he went to New York to make literature his profession. He was then unknown in that city, but soon gained recognition as one of the most poetic and dramatic of American novelists. Of his many books The Choir Invisible, A Summer in Arcady, and Aftermath, are perhaps the most in demand by the reading public.
A novelist who works on original lines is George W. Cable. He was born in New Orleans, October 12, 1844. At the age of fourteen necessity compelled him to seek employment in a store. In 1863 he joined the Confederate army, serving until the close of the war. Returning to New Orleans, he became an employee of a mercantile house, and later studied civil engineering. It was at this time that he began to contribute tothe New Orleans Picayune and was at length given a position on its editorial staff. He returned to business life, writing in the meantime, however, for Scribner’s and other magazines. His sketches of Creole life were so well received that he finally decided to devote himself to literature. He has produced a number of works whose chief characters are almost all of the Creole type, is a successful lecturer, and takes an active interest in religious affairs.
Winston Churchill, the novelist, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, November 10, 1871. He received his early education at the Smith academy in that city, and when seventeen years of age was appointed a cadet of the United States naval academy at Annapolis. Graduating therefrom in 1891, he joined the cruiser San Francisco, but his tastes being more literary than naval he resigned and became a member of the staff of the Army and Navy Journal, of New York. In 1895 he was made editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine, but a few months later resolved to identify himself with independent work on original lines. His first book, The Celebrity, won recognition and a certain amount of popularity. Mr. Churchill’s reputation as a novelist rests for the most part on Richard Carvel and its sequel, The Crisis, which is hardly less popular than was its predecessor.
A clever and popular writer is Francis M. Crawford, who was born at Bagni-di-Lucca, Italy, August 2, 1854. He is a son of Thomas Crawford, the sculptor, and comes of a long line of literary and artistic ancestors. Francis was educated in New York schools, subsequently entering Harvard, but did not complete his course there. He was also a student at Cambridge university, England, and at the universities of Karlsruhe and Heidelberg, Germany, and the university of Rome, where he gave special attention to Sanscrit. In 1873 Mr. Crawford was compelled by circumstances to adopt journalism as a means of livelihood. Some years later he turned his attention to literature proper, his first book, Mr. Isaacs, appearing in 1882. Among his other well-known works are A Cigarette Maker’s Romance, The Three Fates, Zoroaster, etc. He is also an artist of considerable ability and has traveled extensively. He and his wife and children live near Sorrento, Italy.
Rudyard Kipling, the poet and novelist who, perhaps more than any other writer of this generation, has voiced the militant spirit of the British empire, was born at Bombay, India, December 30, 1865. His father was John Lockwood Kipling. Rudyard was educated at the United Services college, Devonshire, England. Returning to India at the end of his school days, he became the assistant editor of the Civil-Military Gazette, and subsequently was connected with the staff of the Pioneer, a prominent newspaper of the country. The well-known Soldiers Three series and those other of his works which have to do with army life in India were the outcome of his Pioneer experiences. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier at Brattleboro, Vermont. Mr. Kipling has not only a marvelous faculty of describing things as they actually are, but he also has the prophetic instinct of the true poet. As a case in point may be cited his famous Recessional, written at the end of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. The full significance of the poem was onlyrealized by the British during the disastrous and humiliating periods of the Boer war. In prose and poetry he has been alike fruitful.
Thomas N. Page was born in Oakland, Hanover county, Virginia, April 23, 1853. The Civil war interfered with his education, and left the Page family in an impoverished condition. Nevertheless he, during this period, was gathering material which resulted in the production of those two delightful books of his, Marse Chan and Meh Lady. Later he managed to secure a course at Washington and Lee university. At the law school of the University of Virginia he secured his degree in a year, and, after being admitted to the bar, practiced in Richmond from 1875 to 1893. During his leisure hours he did work which placed him on a high eminence as lecturer and literary man. His books are many, and for the most part have to do with the war between north and south and the reconstruction period following its close.
Charles Major, the novelist, was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, July 25, 1856. He was educated at the common schools at Shelbyville and Indianapolis, after which he studied law and engaged in practice at Shelbyville. But his literary tastes were stronger than his legal inclinations, and he began to contribute to magazines and to write novels. His most famous book, When Knighthood was in Flower, was issued in 1898, and reached an edition of several hundred thousand. In 1885 he was married to Alice Shaw.
One of the most vivid and entertaining interpreters of the complex characteristics of American womanhood is the versatile and entertaining writer, Gertrude Franklin Atherton. She was born on Rincon Hill, San Francisco, California, October 30, 1859, daughter of Thomas Lyman Horn, of German descent, and on her mother’s side descended from a brother of Benjamin Franklin. She was educated at St. Mary’s Hall, Benicia, California, also at Sayre Institute, Lexington, Kentucky, and by private tutors. In addition to this, she had obtained a good foundation in the classics, English especially, from the teachings of her grandfather. Before leaving school she was married to George Henry Bowen Atherton, a native of Valparaiso, Chili. After his death, in 1888, Mrs. Atherton went directly to New York city, beginning literary work in earnest. As she never received courteous treatment from the press of her own country, she settled in London in 1895, and there met with gratifying recognition. Some of her most important works are: “The Doomswoman,” 1902; “Patience Sparhawk and Her Times,” 1897; “His Fortunate Grace,” 1897; “American Wives and English Husbands,” 1898; “The Californians,” 1898; “A Daughter of the Vine,” 1899; “Senator North,” 1900. The latter is the first attempt in American fiction at a purely national novel, disregarding section. The Leeds Mercury styled “The Californians” an oasis in fiction, while the British Weekly declared Mrs. Atherton to be the ablest writer of fiction now living. The brilliancy of her portraiture and thehumor and freshness of her dialogues are undeniable. A western writer says, “The early days of the missions and Spanish rule have given her a most congenial field, and she has successfully reproduced their atmosphere in her best novels; against the background of their romantic traditions she paints the world, old, strong of passion, vague, dreamy, idyllic, yet strong and elemental.”
Amelia Edith Barr was born at Ulverton, Lancashire, England, March 29, 1831. She was the daughter of the Rev. William Huddleston. Her mother’s family were among the followers of the noted evangelist, George Fox. She was educated in several good schools and colleges and was graduated, at the age of nineteen, from Glasgow high school. In 1850 she was married to Robert Barr, son of a minister of the Scottish Free Kirk. In 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Barr came to America, settling at Austin, and later at Galveston, Texas. Her husband and three sons died in 1857 of yellow fever and Mrs. Barr was obliged to support herself and three daughters with her pen. Two years after Mr. Barr’s death she came to New York city and received immediate encouragement from Mr. Beecher, of the Christian Union, and Robert Bonner, of the New York Ledger. She taught school for two years, meanwhile writing various sketches and miscellaneous articles for magazines and newspapers. The work which gave her the greatest fame, “A Bow of Orange Ribbon,” appeared in serial form in the Ledger. Since 1884 she has devoted her time almost entirely to the writing of novels and short stories.
There are very few who are not acquainted with “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” one of the sweetest children’s stories ever written, but not so many perhaps are acquainted with the interesting life story of its author, Frances Hodgson Burnett. She was born November 24, 1849, in Manchester, England, and while yet attending school she developed a talent for writing short stories and poems and even novels. When her father died her mother brought the family to America in 1865, settling at Newmarket, but a year later removing to Knoxville, Tennessee. She then completed a story which was planned in her thirteenth year, and succeeded in disposing of it to Godey’s Lady’s Book, in which it was published in 1867. Other interesting short stories followed in this and in Peterson’s Magazine, but the turning point of her literary success was “Surly Tim’s Trouble,” which appeared in Scribner’s Monthly in 1872, attracting a great deal of attention. At the invitation of the editor more of her publications were published in Scribner’s, one of the most popular being “That Lass o’ Lowries,” which appeared later in 1877 in book form. Mrs. Hodgson has been twice married, the first time, in 1873, to Dr. Swan M. Burnett, from whom she obtained a divorce in 1898, and the second time, in 1900, to Stephen Townsend, an English author. Mrs. Burnett, by winning a suit against the unauthorized dramatization of “Fauntleroy,” secured for authors of England the control of dramatic rights in their stories, for which Reade and Dickens had spent thousands of pounds in vain.
The authoress, Pearl Mary Theresa Craigie, more familiarly known as John Oliver Hobbes, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, November 3,1867, daughter of John Morgan and Laura Hortense (Arnold) Richards. She is descended from early settlers of New York. After being educated under private tutors, Miss Richards, in 1883, went to Europe, continuing her studies in Paris. In 1887 she was enrolled as a student at University College, London, where, under the tuition of Professor Goodwin, she obtained an adequate knowledge of the classics and philosophy. In early childhood she was fond of writing. One of her first stories, entitled “Lost, A Dog,” appeared in Dr. Joseph Parker’s paper, The Fountain. This story was signed Pearl Richards, aged nine. Another of her stories, entitled “How Mark Puddler Became an Innkeeper,” appeared in The Fountain of February 10, 1881. At the age of eighteen she decided to make literature her profession and immediately took up a special study of style, especially dramatic dialogues. Her first book, entitled “Some Emotions and a Moral,” 1891, is an excellent example of success under difficulties. This book was composed during months of weary illness and amid the strain of domestic anxiety, but its success was immediate, for over eighty thousand copies were sold in a short time. Since then she has written several other novels.
“Wonderful in concentrated intensity, tremendous in power,” this record of the heart tragedies of a dozen men and women is not surpassed in our literature for its beauty of style, the delicacy of its character delineations, and the enthralling interest of its narrative. It is the praise merited by “Pembroke,” the greatest work that has come from the pen of the author, Mary Eleanor Wilkins. She was born of Puritan ancestors January 7, 1862, in Randolph, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, and received her early education in Randolph, later removing to Brattleboro, Vermont. She afterward attended Mount Holyoke seminary, South Hadley, Massachusetts, but previous to this she had already begun her literary work, writing poems and then prose for Youth’s Companion, St. Nicholas, Harper’s Bazar and finally for Harper’s Magazine. “A Humble Romance and Other Stories,” 1887, placed Miss Wilkins in the class with Mrs. Stowe, Miss Jewett and other conspicuous authors as a delineator of New England character. The simplicity and the astonishing reality of her story brought a new revelation to New England itself. Her literary style displays a fearlessness of the critic and the dominating thought to be true to her ideal. “The Pot of Gold and Other Stories,” 1891, and “Young Lucretia,” 1892, are among her popular juveniles. “The New England Nun and Other Stories,” called forth the most lavish praise. Her next work of importance, as well as her first novel, was “Jane Field,” 1892. When “Pembroke” appeared, in 1894, it was praised almost indiscriminately in England, some critics even venturing to say that George Eliot had never produced anything finer.
The simple stories and poems, written in her childhood, were the beginning of the career of the authoress, Anna Katherine Greene, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, November 11, 1846, daughter of James Wilson and Anna Katherine Greene. Her early education was obtained in the public schools of New York city and Buffalo, and she completed her course of study in Ripley Female College, Poultney, Vermont, graduating in 1867. Returning toher native city, she engaged in literary work, and, in 1878, produced her first important novel, “The Leavenworth Case.” She attracted immediate attention in literary circles. It had been carefully prepared and was given to the public only after repeated revisions. It had a phenomenal sale—already, in 1894, exceeding seven hundred and fifty thousand copies. From that time on there was a great demand from the publishers for books from her pen, and during the next seventeen years she wrote and published fifteen novels. The story of “The Leavenworth Case” was dramatized and produced during the season of 1891 and 1892, her husband, Charles Rohlfs, to whom she had been married in 1884, sustaining the leading part, Harwell. The book is also used as a text-book in Yale university to demonstrate the fallacy of circumstantial evidence.
A writer paid a just tribute to the subject of this sketch when she wrote: “The secret of Sarah Jewett’s great success outside of its artistic perfection, is the spirit of loving kindness and tender mercy that pervades it.” She was born at South Berwick, Maine, September 3, 1849, daughter of Theodore Herman Jewett. Her parents were both descendants of early English emigrants to Massachusetts. Sarah, owing to delicate health in childhood, spent much of her time communing with nature, where she received material and the inspiration that eventually made her such a popular writer. She was educated at Berwick academy, in her native city. When a mere girl she began her career as an author by contributing to Riverside Magazine and Our Young Folks. At nineteen she sent a story to the Atlantic Monthly, and has been averaging nearly a book a year ever since. Miss Jewett adopted the pseudonym “Alice Elliott” in 1881, but after that she used her own name instead.
Constance Cary Harrison, who is better known to the reading public as Mrs. Burton Harrison, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, April 25, 1846. She was educated by private governesses, and while under their tuition gave proofs of being the possessor of literary ability. During the Civil war she lived with her family in Richmond, Virginia. At the end of the conflict she went abroad with her mother to complete her studies in music and languages. Mrs. Harrison has traveled much and has lived in nearly all of the continental capitals. She married Burton Harrison, a well-known New York lawyer, and since her union to him has resided in the metropolis. Her works are many and range from children’s fairy stories to works on social questions, and again from small comedies to books on municipal problems.