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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
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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.
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:- . . 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.