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Show ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS; AUTHOR OF "GATES AJAR." <br><br> She finished her school life at the age of 19, but her literary activity had begun the year before she entered the institute, in the shape of various newspaper contributions. Her first great popular success was "The Gates Ajar." which at once gave her an international reputation. An edition of 20,000 was speedily exhausted; the demand continued unabated, and the book still has a large and steady sale. In England its circulation rivalled [rivaled] that in America. It was brought out by various publishers, and was also printed in cheap popular editions at 6d. a copy. It was also translated into French and German and Dutch. "The Gates Ajar" was preceded by ten taking juvenile books published from 1801 to 1867; a proof of Miss Phelps' remarkable industry. In 1877 "The Story of Avis" was published. This book has been the subject of many diverse criticisms, few, if any, of which have denied its power, the great question having been on the truth of its conclusions. Miss Phelps herself regards the book more affectionately than any of its predecessors, and holds [unreadable lines]father's house, for she has learned, she says, "like the ministers who study in their churches, or the carpenters who go to their benches, the value of a workshop out of the house." Therefore, for several years past, she has had her study in an old building next door, one of the oldest at the hill; a low walled chamber with picturesque and tasteful fittings - pictures, draperies, books, easy chairs, tables and a hammock swung from large beams in the ceiling. This building has just been sold and moved away in sections to make room for a large house building for a new professor. Miss Phelps now has her study temporarily in a brown house down Main street, below the college yard, but will probably build a new one before long. <br><br> For several years she has spent her summers in East Gloucester, where she has built a quaint little cottage in a charming spot close to the water's edge, at the mouth of the gorge opening in the wild rocky shore of Gloucester harbor. With her intense love for the sea she has a thorough liking for seafaring people, whom she regards as the kindliest, most large-hearted and most honest class of folks. A Cape Cod boy once told her that there were two things a sailor would die to defend; a fair lady and a fine ship. - Boston Herald. |