Part 33 (1/2)

[5] Country Life in America, October, 1902.

Mrs. Bertha M. Shambaugh's _Midland_ sketch of ”Amana Colony; a Glimpse of the Community of True Inspiration,”[6] suggested something more than ”a glimpse,” and in 1908 appeared an exhaustive study of that ”peculiar people,” ent.i.tled ”Amana, the Community of True Inspiration,” a valuable contribution to Iowa history.

[6] In the Midland Monthly, v. 6, p. 27.

Professor Selden L. Whitcomb, of Grinnell, had previously published several outlines for the study of literature, but his first volume of ”Lyrical Verse” appeared in 1898. Two other books of poems followed, one in 1912, the other in 1914. His verse is marked by delicacy of poetical suggestion and perfection of rhyme and rhythm.

George Meason Whicher, of New York, whose name is now often seen in _The Continent_ of Chicago, is the author of ”From Muscatine and Other Poems” and of recent prose with Italian and Latin background. Mr.

Whicher is the author of four poems in the _Midland_, all harking back to the poet's boyhood days in Muscatine, Iowa.

Dr. Frank Irving Herriott, dean of sociology at Drake University, a voluminous writer on historical and sociological themes, has a long list of works to his credit, all bearing twentieth century dates except one published by the American Academy which appeared in 1892.

He wrote for the _Midland_ a strong plea for public libraries, a plea which, doubtless, had its influence in inaugurating the library movement in Iowa beginning with the new century.

Another scholar in the sociological field who has made his impression upon thousands of students and adult readers is Dr. Frank L. McVey, president of the University of North Dakota. His historical sketch in the _Midland_, ”The Contest in the Maumee Valley,” was followed by other published papers and these by several books on sociological themes, among them ”Modern Industrialism” and ”The Making of a Town.”

There are few more scholarly literary critics than Welker Given, of Clinton, Iowa. His Shakespearean and cla.s.sical studies have won for him an enviable place among students of the cla.s.sics.

Mrs. Anna Howell Clarkson, of New York, wife of Hon. J. S. Clarkson, long prominent in Iowa journalism and in national politics, followed up her _Midland_ article on ”The Evolution of Iowa Politics” with a book ent.i.tled ”A Beautiful Life and Its a.s.sociations,” a tribute of loving regard to a former teacher and friend, Mrs. Drusilla Alden Stoddard.

A _critique_ on ”Our Later Literature and Robert Browning” in the Iowa magazine in April, 1897, may, or may not, have turned the current of Lewis Worthington Smith's whole life; but its critical power made friends for the Nebraska professor and warmed the welcome given him when, in 1902, he took up his work in the English department of Drake University of Des Moines. While Professor Smith has published several works on language and literature and an acting drama ent.i.tled ”The Art of Life,” his literary reputation rests mainly upon his poetry. Since the opening of the new century, volume has followed volume; first ”G.o.d's Sunlight,” then ”In the Furrow,” and, in 1916, ”The English Tongue,” and ”s.h.i.+ps in Port.” Many of the poems in the two last named evince the impact of the World War upon a soul of strong sensibilities. Tempted to quote whole poems, as showing the wide range of this poet's vision, I will limit myself to the first stanza of ”The English Tongue”:

”Words that have tumbled and tossed from the Avon and Clyde On to where Indus and Ganges pour down to the tide.

Words that have lived, that have felt, that have gathered and grown.

Words! Is it nothing that no other people have known Speech of such myriad voices, so full and so free, Song by the fireside and crash of the thunders at sea?”

Jessie Welborn Smith, wife of Professor Smith, is a frequent contributor of short stories and sketches to popular magazines.

The late Henry Wallace, though for many years an agricultural editor in Iowa, modestly began his contribution to general literature in the _Midland_ with a pen-picture of the Scotch-Irish in America.

Subsequently he wrote his ”Uncle Henry's Letters to a Farm Boy,” which has run through many editions; also ”Trusts and How to Deal With Them”

and ”Letters to the Farm-Folk.”

Eugene Secor, of Forest City, published poems in the _Midland_ which were followed by ”Verses for Little Folk and Others,” ”A Glimpse of Elysium” and ”Voices of the Trees.”

Helen Hoyt Sherman's modest ”Village Romance” led to a long list of popular books, published since her marriage and under her married name, Helen Sherman Griffiths. Born in Des Moines, her present home is in Cincinnati.

Herbert Bashford, born in Sioux City, now living in Was.h.i.+ngton and California, contributed to the _Midland_ a half-dozen poems of much promise. Mr. Bashford is now literary editor of the _San Francis...o...b..lletin_ and has several books of poems and several popular dramas to his credit.

Mrs. Ella Hamilton Durley, of Los Angeles, formerly of Des Moines, a pioneer president of our Press and Authors' Club, and a prolific writer for the press, followed her journal and magazine successes with two novels, ”My Soldier Lady” and ”Standpatter,” a novel of Southern California love and politics.

Caroline M. Sheldon, Professor of Romance Languages in Grinnell College, has followed up her _Midland_ study of American poetry with ”Princess and Pilgrim in England,” and a translation and study of Echegary's play, ”The Great Galeoto.”

Many still recall with interest the realistic serial which ran in the _Midland_, ent.i.tled ”The Young Homesteaders,” also a number of short sketches and stories of pioneer life in the West, by Frank Welles Calkins, then of Spencer, Iowa, now a Minnesotan. Mr. Calkins has since become a frequent contributor to magazines, and a writer of books of outdoor life and adventure. His latest novel, ”The Wooing of Takala,” appeared in 1907.

One of the marked successes in the world of books and periodicals is Julia Ellen Rogers, long a teacher of science in Iowa high schools.

While a resident of Des Moines she contributed to the _Midland_ a descriptive article, ”Camping and Climbing in the Big Horn,” which evinced her love of ”all outdoors” and her ability to describe what she saw. Her editorial connection with _Country Life in America_ and her popular series of nature studies, ”Among Green Trees,” ”Trees Every Child Should Know,” ”Earth and Sky,” ”Wild Animals Every Child Should Know,” have given their author and her books a warm welcome from Maine to California.

One of the bright particular stars in our firmament, remaining almost undiscovered until near the close of the century's first decade, is Arthur Davison Ficke, of Davenport. Circ.u.mstances--his father's eminence at the bar--conspired to make the young poet a lawyer; but he could not--long at a time--close his ears to the wooing of the muse, and off he went, at frequent intervals, in hot pursuit of the elusive Euterpe. Though still a lawyer of record, the inward call of the soul must soon become too strong to be resisted. _Poeta nascitur._ I can see the young lawyer-poet in his own ”Dream Harbor,” and can feel his glad response to the call from the dream-world:

”Winds of the South from the sunny beaches Under the headland call to me; And I am sick for the purple reaches, Olive-fringed, by an idle sea.