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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1920)
6 TITE SUXDAT OREGOXIAN, PORTIiAJfD, JULY 25, 1920 MARY ROBERTS RUSTEHART TALKS OF BABIES AND FIRES As the Author Talked of Her Granddaughter a Blaze Brought the Engines Boom ing by the Set Interview Went Bang! But What an Intimate Glimpse of Herself v. a t 1 . MART . ROBERTS RINEHART has just passed a psychologi cal milestone; her oldest boy, who married last year, has made her a grandmother at the age of 43. "I'm quite conscious of having passed this milestone," she declared feelingly, "but I passed It with great pride." In the meantime, little Mary Rob erta Rinehart, second, familiarly known In the family as "Babs," al though she has turned, a mother Into a grandmother, is resting quite undis turbed by this fact, as well as by the honor of bearing so distinguished a name. Like her small grand-daughter, the dignity and responsibility of her position and added honor Bit lightly on the shoulders of this popular writer. It was all there In. her voice and I was quite impressed by her manner until clang! down the street thundered a fire engine. Like light ning came the metamorphosis. Up she sprang, up went the window and out went tier head! "Why, I do believe it's really a fire!" she exclaimed delightedly. "Come look." sh called. As far out as she could lean, unmindful of any possible injury to gown or person, she was oblivious of everything but the volumes of smoke from the nearby building and the clatter in the street below. "Why don't the firemen hurry?" she asked excitedly. "I suppose each action tells though" to herself. "Oh, look at the men coming up through that trapdoor!" she cried, completely lost in the spirit of the moment. Interviewers were, for the time being, quite forgot. Had she said "grandmother" or had X dreamed ltT No, it was certainly true; but I had learned one thing, that love and pride enter mostly into the make-up of some grandmothers and that a feeling of age and too much dignity are not necessary, are only handicaps. Roads to babies' hearts are very straight for grandmothers when love and pride lead the way. Back she turned from the window with a eigh (the fire had not come up to ex pectatlons), but the sigh quickly be came a smue as sue dropped into a chair and said: - - "A racing fire engine or a circus pa raae always takes me back to my Childhood. The single dramatic mo merit of the whole day, then, was When I heard the fire engine and saw it tearing down the street. It represented excitement, romance and adventure, and all the rest of child hood's dreams. The circus came less often, but was almost as thrilling. I remember, several years ago, 1 1 must have rather stunned a dignified publisher, who came to eee me at my apartment in New York. But he was a good sport, as you will see. It was evening. He was talking very inter estingly about fire engines, when out the window I saw a. brlgnt red glare. I jumped up. " 'I'm awfully sorry," I said, 'but I have to go to this fire!' So he picked up his high silk hat and went with me. I'm not bloodthirsty, but when there is a fire I have to be there." . After '15 years of hard work Mrs. -Kinetiart finds it hard to relax. At present she is trying to eliminate the short work with which she usually fills in her year. Her new novel, "The Poor Wise Man," to be published in October, she began last August and 'worked steadily on till the middle of January straight ahead every day. She wrote the book In longhand with pen and Ink and then rewrote it after it had been typed, making a total of 300,000 words. "I still have not recovered from the strain, sne told me. "While I was working on the book," she continued, "I had some fear of writer's cramp and endeavored to use the typewriter, but I found myself so busy looking at the letters on the machine I could think of nothing to say." Every morning about 8 o'clock, after giving her orders for the day, sh 'leaves her home In Sewickley and mo tors into Pittsburg to her city of fice. Sewickley is 12 miles from PlttSs- burg and it has been her home for many years. - "1 never have been able to wait for a time to write. Automatically, as " soon as I reach my office, I pick up my pen and go to Work. Concentra tion comes easy. When I am working on a novel I am apt for a few months to put everything out of my life, but -tbe work I am engaged on. Except an occasional dinner I don't go out so cially, just write steadily from six to eight hours a day." "Do you find it easier to write now than when you first began?" I asked the novelist. "Yes, It is easier to write," she an swered, "but I myself am more critical of my work. I work harder all the time, but am less satisfied with the result. Writing with me is infinite labor and great discouragement. I used to read book reviews for. criti cism of my work, but I found that opinions were so diverse it was im possible to get any idea of a real es timate. One praised; another tore down. I stopped reading them a year ago. "While I do not read book reviews, do read with immense care all the mall that comes to my desk every day and answer all letters, good, bad and Indifferent; for I insist .that people who write to me must have a reply. With the development of my business with the theater and the moving pictures being added to my other work my mail has grown to the point where I am unable to answer It per sonally. My husband is now my busi ness manager and has taken over the correspondence. It covers all sub jects. All sorts of questions are asked me intimate personal ones, abstract inquiries on economics and politics, requests for autographs, autograph books and photographs and always a certain percentage of begging letters. Also there are always a number of fine and encouraging letters, which keep me busy answering them and living up in my work to the ideals and standards they have set for me." From a novelist to a playwright is an easy transition, at least Mrs. Rine hart found it so. She has just fin ished her fifth play. This last one is in collaboration with Avery Hopwood and the rehearsals for it are now well under way. "I have to break In on these re hearsals and run to California to cut and write the titles of my new 'mov ing picture,' a comedy photoplay called 'It's a Great Life.' This is my second photoplay. The first one is .called 'Dangerous Days," recently finished In New York, and I am now at work on the third. Since I began writing for the screen and more recently putting on my own productions, we have had a 'moving picture' projector installed in our home. I find it a good way to see and study picture production at II'- ' -a - Jkt -- " ! - l 1 r i j I ' v . : - .-. - . . -. 1 close range. The "moving picture' ad dition to my work necessitates my going to the coast about three times a year. "'"'How do I playT Well, I never have been able to take my play with my work. I must play all at once. It is always hard for me to relax, so when I take a vacation it must be a real one. Long horseback trips with my family are the best recre ation I know anything about, and until the war broke In on them it was a family habit to go west every sum mer. Since the war we have not been, able to get back the hab!t. This year, however, my husband and my two younger boys and I plan to ride In the Rockies in July and August, prob ably taking our usual camp outfit. Each night we camp in' a new place. preferably on the banks of a trout stream or lake. If the Ashing is good we stay several days." "Tell me how a business woman like yourself keeps house." I asked, "and does the servant problem bother you?" "I never had a servant problem In my life," she replied, tapping wood. "I have no particular secret. I have had my servants a long time and re gard them as part of my business or ganization. ' Unless my house is run ning smoothly I cannot work. The personal equation enters Into the ser vant problem more than in almost any other in which employment Is in volved. In the first place, I have to like the people who are in my house; then, for success, the feeling must be I reciprocal they must like me. That achieved, there is no longer any question of grudging service. My servants are well paid, well housed well fed and have proper hours for recreation and. because I do appreci ate the efforts they make, I believe in showing them appreciation." "Like every other housewife, I am facing the problem of the high cost of living. We all know that 43 cents is all a dollar is worth, and I do not look for any decrease of prices. There must be an increase all along the lines, in salaries, to meet the rising demands. After the civil war prices never went back to what they were before, although they lowered some what. The difficulty today seems to be that, while employers of labor have recognized the dollar at 43 cents, employers of people In salaried po- QUILLCOTE, COLONIAL FARMHOUSE HOME OF KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN, ' DECORATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH HER IDEAS BY NOTED ARTISTS Walls Painted With Woodland Scenes, Lighted With CreamColored Batiste Hangings, Charming in Design, Representing Wheat, Apples, Corn, and Showing Delicate Tracery of Rashes and Climbing Vines Fire Dogs Are of Iron, Representing Owls Only Morning Given to Writing. "It. I kit: iVSj .' ': isSiiiiS W: --f IP- ----- 3! $iK'-Zkx-fc' fis-Sfc-lw :- . . hwuasa vi -Dim BY MARY HARROD NORTHEND. UIlLCO'TE," the summer home I I of Kate Douglas Wiggin, is charmingly situated at Hollis, Maine, not many miles from the rail road station. The name signifies "home of a quill driver," most appro priate for one who has written so many charming stories as she has. Here during the summer months she spends the season with her moth er and writer sister, Miss Nora Smith. Originally, Sh occupied the house al most directly opposite, but within the last few years she has purchased this old homestead and remodeled it to suit her needs, using the old barn at the rear for muslcales, tea parties and many good times. During a recent call she told me that she loved to come here where all her writing Is done and that she takes up her pen and resumes her work just as readily as if It had never been dropped. Then when fall comes and she steals away for nine months of social life she lets her brain lie fal low. This, she claims, is the reason why she has had such great success in her work. The outside of the house shows sim ply a colonial farmhouse, the remodel ing being done by her own towns people, but Inside the decoration has been by her order worked out by noted artists. This Is particularly true in her workshop, where the pre vailing tone is forest green. The walls are papered with woodland scenes lighted with cream-colored batiste hangings. This is charming in design, representing wheat, apples. corn, and showing a delicate tracery of rushes and climbing vines. Here in this her den she spends her morn ing, either resting in front of the fireplace, where the fire dogs are of iron, representing owls, or seated at her writing table in the alcove, bring ing forth quaint betrayals of the joys and sorrows of childhood that have ade such an appeal to the hearts of not only the English-speaking people but the countries overseas. Mornings are given up to writing. but as she is not-very robust the af ternoons and evenings' are left open for social purposes. It is a very com mon sight to find her mother, Mrs. Rlggs, and her writer sister, Miss Nora Smith, sitting under the trees in the pine grove, listening to the rustle of the leaves and the song of the birds perched high up in the branches, while the active brain. Is busy plan ning what shall come next in the book. She is the Idol of the country folk. who come for miles around that they maytalk over old times and learn what- has happened since they last met. The barn at the rear of the house is a feature that should be visited. It Is in reality a large music room with a rustic platform at one end. A new floor was laid and many windows in serted that it might be used for so clal purposes, and when the church was done over a few old-fashioned settles of weathered wood, toned by time to a silvery hue, were added. Nothing else was touched. There still remain the ancient rafters and walla just as they were a century ego. The lighting le by lanterns, soma of them very curious, being espeoially painted for the owner by the Japanese, and they bear the crest or coat-of-arms of the artist. The door at the rear frames a on the guitar, and has composed many she continued, "one must follow one's songs with words for both kinds of instruments. Unlike many writers Kate Douglas Wiggin sets herself a daily task and at times turns out 20,000 words in 10 days, or rather one-half that time, as charming picture showing a field ot she never works afternoons. In re- daisies and buttercups with arching elms as a background. Here the village folks are invited several times a year for a dance and a spread, the old harness room having been filled with shelves on which resta the old china used for such pur poses as this. The old Buxton meeting house in the Village is of special in terest to her. She attends church there regularly and in payment for the same opens the barn for an annu al author's reading and concert, charging'a small admittance fee. - One cannot mention the old Tory meeting house without mentioning "the old Peabody pew," In which the friendly intimate relations of the au thor and the villagers are brought out. She says: "We have worked to gether to make our little corner of the great universe a pleasanter place to live in and so we know not only one another's names but something of their joys and sorrows." Both the author-and her sister are fond of mu sic and each of them plays and sings. Every Sunday they help out In the choir, Mrs. Wiggin playing the organ, and when the evening service Is held In her barn she takes the place at the piano, where she shows her skill. These two are not' the only instru menu she plaays, for she Is an expert ply to a query as to whether she con sidered it more profitable to write magazine articles or books, the an swer came, "Without doubt, books, for they give you an Income even whi)a you are resting; but magazine arrfolea have to be written all the time in order to make good. Still." star in writing and do the work one feels Impelled to J0." And as she was never robust, busy all the time does not appeal to her. It is well known that in addition to her story writing she Is an enthusi astic supporter of the kindergarten having always retained her first inter est in its expansion and. improvement. She is today vice-president of the Free Kindergarten association of New York, and she is constantly devising ways and means from the time she leaves "Quillcote" in September until the time ehe returns, in May or June. Growth of Population Presents Problem Scientists Wonder Whether Han ger Will Overtake Unman Race. EVERY so often, sociologists and statisticians begin to "view with alarm" the rapid increase in the world's population and to predict world catastrophe as an Inevitable re sult. Recently the statistician for the commonwealth of Australia, O. H. Knibbs, in a monograph on popula tion, stated some significant facts and estimates in regard to the present and future population of the earth. Knibbs puts the pupulation of the earth for the year 1914 at 1,649.000,000 or about 39,000,000,000 In excess of the estimate of Jaraschek, the French statistician, for 1910. The annual rate of increase In the world's population for the five year period, 190 to 1911, Knibbs es timates at 0.01169 or 1.159 per cent of the population. Should such a rate of increase be continued, it must result iiw a severe Strain on the resources of nature, in the opinion of a writer in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Knibbs asks whether medical men in future will take a stand in favor of so colossal a population that the masses will scarcely be provided with the bare necessaries of life, or will they favor birth control and limitation of births in such a manner that the pop ulation of the earth shall never be greater than can be adequately pro vlded for on a high plane of physical. mental and moral existence? Fertilizer Boosts Spud Yield. ST. JOHN. N. B. At the annual meeting of the Canadian Fertilizer as sociation at Guelph, Ont., It was stated that the yield of potatoes in New Brunswick had been increased by 100 per cent in eight years through the judicious use of fertiliser. sltlons have not yet done so. I do wish that women would begin to train their daughters In some useful pro fession. No matter how remote the possibility of their ever needing to earn their living, it Is a wise thing to equip a girl should this necessity arise. . That Is why I am interested in the case of Bryn Mawr college." "Would you tell me something about your Ideas In regard to clothes, and the way a business woman should dress?" I asked again, and Mrs. Rinehart very quickly replied that the way a business woman buys . clothes and the way other women buy Is, In her opinion, a very "different proposition." "I never have developed the shop ping habit," she told me. "Women who have the time and don't know what to do with It go shopping, and this accounts for big bills from de partment stores, utterly unnecessary. My system In replenishing my ward robe consists In going to New York three times a, year, and knowing In advance just what things I need, I go to the best dressmakers and they do the rest. After that, aside from seeing things are kept in order, I forget about clothes entirely. I never shop. In any sense of the word, at all. I believe a business woman should be as well dressed as possible. In quiet. well-made clothes, absolutely Incon spicuous." Many of Mary Roberts Rlneharfs war experiences are still fresh in our memory, but perhaps we do not remember it was as a trained nurse, as well as a writer, she was permitted to go into the war zone. 'The fact that I was a graduate . trained nurse." she said, "made me hope that, although my boy was In service, they would still accept my help and let me go across. At first this request was denied, but subse quently, in 1913, I was permitted to go and had a wonderfully interesting experience, spending some time at every front of the army." (She was decorated by .the queen of Belgians for services to Belgium and inter viewed the 'queens of Belgium and England for the Saturday Evening Post, also General Fcch.) "I got to France that year by 'stowaway' across the channel. It was arranged that I should be met at Calais by an officer of the Belgian army, but when I got to Folkestone to take the boat I found it had been forbidden to carry passengers across the channel, as word had just reached England the Germans had announced they would sink all ships going in that direction. What should I do? Go back and face defeat? Not if I could help it. Two boats were tied up at the quay. One was the Bou logne boat ready to sail, but the Calais boat was dark. I made an ap peal to the captain of the Calais boat to take me across, but he refused. It was 3 o'clock In the morning and rain ing heavily. There seemed a slim chance that by taking advantage of the night, the darkened boat and tbe confusion of departure I might Do able to slip in unobserved. I deter- mined to try. So I stood at the end of the quay and waited for my oppor tunity, which came sooner than I. ex pected. Reaching the cabin unob served. I locked myself in and went to sleep. The boat was tied up at the wharf at Calais when I awakened. It was a gray dawn and still raining. I got off without being noticed, was met by the Belgian officer, who took me directly to the front. Of course later on. when precautions were more rigid, this 'stowaway crossing' would not have been possible, but it suc ceeded beautifully then." "Succeeding beautifully" has now become a habit with this writer. You can hardly call it luck nor altogether talent, for good hard work and much common sense has had something to do with results. She works and plays nnntlv hard ani fAra hAr m1ttnna 1 unafraid.
