Writing under Difficulties.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 515, 7 October 1890, Page 3

Writing under Difficulties.

Db Abnold, of Rugby, used to write in his study where hie wife was sewing and his Children playing. Sir Walter Scott wrote page after page of romance with a child on one knee and the head of his large deerhound on the other. But wonderful as were these feats they pale before what Mrs Stowe once did in the way of writing under difficulties. The story is told in her Life by the friend who was present when literary and domestic work were combined, The friend, having promised an editor to get from Mrs Stowe a story which she had begun, called on that lady and found her tending a baby, watching two children who were unable to walk, and thinking about a great baking in the kitchen which the “ new girl” could not manage without the mistress’s presence. By persistent persuasion Mrs Stowe was coaxed into a seat at the kitchen tab’e, on which were fljur, rolling pin ginger, and lard. The oven was heating, and a dark-skinned girl, named Mina, was waiting orders. An atlas, serving as a desk, was on Mrs Stowe’s lap and the inkstand stood on the top of the tea kettle The friend read from a sheet of paper the last paragraph of the unfinished story, and Mrs Stowe was musing, trying to pick np the thread, when Mina asked Ma’am, shall I put the pork on the top of the beans ’ We must give up the writing for to day. said Mrs Stowe. No, no, replied the friend j you dictate and I will write. When you left off you were describing the scene between Eliza and her lover—what shall I wri'e next ’ Mina pour a little milk into this pearlash, said Mrs Stowe. Come, said the friend, what next after ‘ Her frame shook with convulsive sobs ?’ Mrs Stowe looked out of the window. You may write, said she. Her over wept with her-Mina, roll that crust a little thinner-’ She spoke in soothing tones,— Mina, poke the coals in the oven ' Let me direct Mina, said the friend, and you write. Mrs Stowe took the pen and wrote two pages. Then Mina required her aid. and the. friend again became the amanuensis, saying, The last sentence is, ‘ What is this life to one who has suffered as I have?’ What next . Shall ! put in the brown or the white bread first? asked Mina. The brown answered the mistress, and, brushing the flour off her apron, ahe began dictating. M i a , m ,’/ ha ‘ L put B' n « er in thiß pumpkin 1 asked Mina. No, let that alone just now, and the mistress continued dictating. Ma'am, what shall I do with these eggshell, and all this ttuck ? asked Mina. Put them m the pail by you. • The breaking heart of a wife still pleads a little longer, a little longer- How much longer must this gingerbread stay in? asked Mina. ‘Five minutes’ —-snd both ladies burst into a laugh. Thus with cooking, writing, nursing, and laughing the story Was finished and sent to -the editor,