| Show LITERARY LEAVES Among the Bright Minds of the Nation ABOUT IOOKS AND AUTHORS airs Burnetts SuccessAuthors and Copyright An Actors Literary Liter-ary Exporlniot tNotes P Special Correspondence of THE HERALD NEW YORK March 28 That many of the most brilliant men and women in American literature are far advanced in years and caunot hope for many more years of active work is recalled by the death of Amos Bronson Alcott Some of these are so thoroughly thor-oughly of the past that by the modern reader it is almost forgotten that they are still living Caroline Gilman for example brilliant as a novelist and whose love for Harriet Martineau never wavered is a resident of Jamacia Plains Mass totally bind and bedridden with chronic rheumatism befriended by Miss Elizabeth P Peabody the educator edu-cator who herself has passed the eightieth eight-ieth milestone Elizabeth OakesSmith renowned in her day for her rare beauty and superb literary receptions at which Poe Willis Bryant Margaret Fuller the Cary sister and a host of others were ever welcome guests is now quietly passing her declining years in the obscure village of Hollywood N C Although nearly eightytwo vears of age she still retains much of the beauty 01 face and form which distinguished her in early life and her mind is still remarkably clear filled with anecdotes of her celebrated husband Seba Smith MajorJack Downing who died in 1868 at tue age of seventysix Joel T Head ley Washingtons historian is now seventyfour years old and a resident of Newburg N Y where he lives a retired re-tired life exhibiting to visitors the relics stored at the Washingtons Headquarters Headquart-ers of that city on the banks of the Hudson Benjamin P Shillaber whose deplumeofMrs Partingtongave him a national fame is now seventy five surrounded by an interesting familv at his Chelsea homestead George Bancroft the historian as all the world knows is eightyeight years old Parke Godwin is seventytwo Herman Melville once a delightful marine writer but now almost forgotten forgot-ten by the world is seventy Mrs Anna Charlotte Lvnch Botta is nearing three score years and tenand dwells in a taahionable residence in New York City Francis Parkman the historian is also far advanced in life as are George William Wil-liam Cur as Augusta Evam Wilson and Margaret J Preston while all the world knows that Dr Holmes and Mr Whittier are no longer young in years while young at heart Of educators Theodore D Woolsey is eightyseven Andrew P Peabody and Noah Porter and James McCosh are all seventy seven and Frederick A P Barnard seventy nine AN ACTORS LITERARY EXPERIMENT Mr ilicbard Mansfield has tried an interesting literary experiment with considerable success and which now will doubtless be copied whenever circumstances cir-cumstances will allow When the announcement an-nouncement was first made that the actor would present DrJekyll and Mr Hyde on the stage the publishers of the authorized American edition of the story suggested to Mr Mansfield that I the book be used by him as the librettos of an operasold between the acts in I the toatre Mr Mansfield l thought over the matter for some days Slid I finally concluded that the experiment might be made He accordingly purchased pur-chased a number of the books and When the play was produced several young boys distributed themselves throughput the theatre between each ACt offprint the hook for sale It re required quired but a few evenings to show that the publishers had shown a shrewd knowledge and what was tried as an experiment became at once a success Since that time the story has been sold L at every theatre where Mansfield has I played under his managers direction The result has proved most lucrative and the actor has already sold several thousands of copies and the other day r saw an order from him for several hundred books to be sent to different theatres en route Mansfield gets avery a-very neat margin of profit on each book and from this source alone his income has been materially increased The tragedian Bandmann who has just brought out a version of his own of the story is following in Mansfields footsteps foot-steps and is also selling the books at all his performances with marked success The most agreeable part of the transaction transac-tion is that on each copy of this edition sold the author receives a royalty from the publishers This of course would not have been the case had one of the many pirated editions been selected MRS BURNETTS SUCCESS Modern literature presents but few instances such pronounced success as the case Frances Hodgson Barnett since the happy thought of writing Little Lord Fauntlerov occurred to her No story ever written by her has done so much for her Mrs Burnetts reputation as a writer was built upon her clever story ot That Lass o I Lowries and she made thousands of dollars from the sales of it But Fauntleroy did more for Mrs Bur nett than all her other books combined It is only in rare instances that a pub lisher will be hazardous enough to pnb lish a juvenile book in the spring Tradition among publishers points to the fact that a juvenile can only be placed on the market with any degree de-gree of success in the fall Yet month or > six weeks ago the Scribners issued Mrs Burnetts Sara Crewe and per laps for the first time in publishing annals has such a venture been success ful Already some 13000 copies of the story have been sold and the book is selling steadily In the meantime Little Lord Fauntleroy keeps up its popularity with an excellent prospect that the fiftieth thousand will be cached before the fall trade opens All this shows the remarkable hold which Mrs Burnett has suddenly acquired ac-quired as a juvenile writer In England thousands of copies of Fauntleroy have been sold in Berlin the story is being published serially in a newspaper with marked success while an Italian edition has just been nublished in Rome And now we are to have the story in drama form An unauthorized version has been presented in England but was justly cned down Mrs Burnett is herself her-self dramatizing the story however and in the fall we may confidently expect a notable presentation of the little Lord on the boards of our theatres Surely the ways ot the author are mighty pleasant pleas-ant bat how many find them so We are not all Frances Hodgson Burnets or Louisa Alcotts AUTHORS AND COPYRIGHT Aside from the great principle involved invol-ved in the copyright question it is to be hoped for the sake of the authors themselves who have put so much hard j work thi season I in i advancing the project pro-ject that the Chaos bill becomes a lawn law-n is the allabsorbing topic with every author you meet and there will be avery a-very keen disapointment in many quarters quar-ters should the bill be defeated or fail of receiving action this yea 1 know of not one or two but fully a dozen authors who have turned from lucrativa engagements en-gagements to devote their time and add their strength to the copyright agitation agita-tion Never has a single profession been so thoroughly imbued with an idea and the reward if it be secured will come deservedly and as a recompense recom-pense for much hard work Said a prominentautbor to me the other evening even-ing We are all exerting our strongest strong-est efforts in this attempt Not only authors but those who ever expect to be are interested and thus our ranks are materially strengthened Every worker on the press daily weekly and monthly is affected bv this measure as everyone expects to be an author just as every soldier in the army cf Napoleon Na-poleon Bonaparte carried a FieldWar shays baton in his knapsack And so it is that hundreds of eyes are turned on Washington today watching everything every-thing that occurs in connection with the copyright question and hundreds will take it as a personal disappointment if the justice so long denied the American Amer-ican author is now again withheld from him But never have the prospects looked so bright and the general belief here in literary circles is that before I many more days pass the brainwork of our authors will receive legal protection protec-tion ABOUT BOOKS AND AUTHORS That really clever little work Dont has been translated I learn into the I modern Greek under the most flattering flatter-ing auspices The lOUt thousand of the little manual is announced in this country while in Germany the 30th thousand has just been passed Certainly Mr O 15 Bunco conceived a happy idea when he compiled this small but famous treasure house of compact wisdom London as a Literary Centre will be the title of a paper written by Mr B R Bowker for the May number of Harpers Har-pers Magazine General Lew Wallaces new novel is still far from completon The General writes as slow as a glacier moves writes his wife Lester Wallacks Recollections of an Actor will be first published serially in magazine form The complete book will be published in the fall Robert Louis Stevenson was paid 8 000 for his latest novel Who says that authorship is unprofitable f A new novel is engaging all the attention atten-tion and taking up all the leisure time of Mrs Oliphaut Augusta EvansWilson declares that f he has written her last ambitious work for the public Scribners is now sold regularly in Australia and having large sales Critics are pronouncing George W Cables Bonaventure to be the best work ever written by that author Mr Gladstone is to be paid 1000 fcr a single article of 1000 words to be published in a i syndicate of American newspapers next winter I Poems of Pleasure r uniform in styl with Poems of Passion is to be the title of Ella Wheeler Wilcoxs next collection I col-lection of poems It will contain all the poems written by the authores since her marriage A new fortnightly periodical called I the Ocean rvSetnbling Life in its general makeup is to begin in New York on April 1 It will be devoted to tourists crossing the ocean and if successful will be changed to a weekly paper WILLIAM J BOK |
