LADIES' COLUMN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7701, 9 May 1903, Page 3

LADIES' COLUMN.

A NOTED AUSTRALASIAN

AUTHORESS.

Ethel Turner.

(By J. A. HAMPSHIRE, in "Ac New

Idea.")

" ' Charming stories written for and about children,' there is hardly necessity," ifc has been said, "to define Ethel Turner's work better. 'Even her books more especially designed for ol^er readers might be included in the sam* definition. For though her charm never leaves her, ifc is only her childish characters who are fully realised — made lifelike, genuine, convincing. Ethel Turner's 'grown-ups' are still childish characters — have some quaint air of de-. lightful boys and girls masquerading ,m their elders' clothes. She ha 9 the key of the children's paradise."

The story of Ethel Turner's literary career is delightfully spiced with romance. Written out in something like consecutive detail,, ifc would make a volume as charming as anything that has been, published above, below, or after her name. "I edited a school magazine," said the popular authoress, "and it was nofc an honour thafc had been thrust on me. The editor of the schoel paper proper evidently considered the-aspiring contributions I used to drop into her box as beneath contempt, so in a wrathful moment I rallied rhy particular friends around me* and started a rival paper, that ran an exciting course until I left.

" Then what a blank in my life ! "No more 'editorials' tp write, no more chances of fruifc for my starry-eyed heroines and proud, cynical heroes, for my highly moral essays on 'Friendship' and 'Ambition' — for my beautiful verses, 'To a Moss Rose,', and ' Sea Whispers,' and ' Songs of Spring.' There was nothing left to do but attack an editor of a real paper.

"I sat me down, just out of school,; and with my hair still in a plait, I wrote an article that would have occupied four pages of a daily paper if it had been printed. At this distance of time I do not remember the subject^ but it was probably on ' The Hidden Meaning of Pagan Myths,' or 'The Great Ideals of Modern Thought,' and it was doubtless written as Mr .f otts wrote, bis article on ' Chinese Metaphysics.' You remember, he looked up the word 'China,' under the letter 0, and ' Metaphysics ' under the letter M, and combined ins information.

"Ifc was a bitter blow when" no notice whatever was taken of the effusion by the big paper to which it had been posted ; and the MS. did 'not even come back, ' Declined with thanks.' We repeated tne school experiences, my sister andi. "Since no 'real paper' would print us, we resolved to print ourselves, and started a monthly magazine, which, our classics fresh in our mind, we called Dy the highsounding title of the ' Parthenon,' and found we had to explain, even to our well-read friends, that it meant, 'Of the Virgins.' We kept this up for three years ; it cost) £25 a month to print, and the months the canvasser ( did not get enough advertisements and subscribers to cover this frightful sura, ou rhair nsed to almost turn grey.

"Then good months would come along, the advertisement sheets would be filled, and as much as £10 be left for the hardworking editors to divide between themselves. For we were hard-working ; there was no money to pay contributors, and the result was we had occasionally to fill the magazine from cover to cover ourselves — poems, stories, editorials, erudite articles, cookery, 'and answers to correspondents, signing each with a different nome-de-plume, to show the size of our staff. " But ifc came to an end. Sydney bad been- ver)' kind to ifc ; wonderfully kfnd. At this distance of time I feel quite touched tp think of the 1500 people (2000 was our monthly edition; but then tbere were free .copies, . returns, and so on) who had paid • their sixpence a copy, their six shillings a .year, for the poor Uttie sheet; touched to' /think of the insurance offices, the banks, ! the big firms, that advertised cheerfully month after month, and received — how much increase of husiness ? . -But an end came ; the wcrk and responsibility were too much, and tbere came a month when the always unpunctual paper failed to come oufc afc all; the heroine who w?s drawing her noble figure up to its full height is probably doing so still. "After that I tried the 'real paper' again, and, having worked off a surprising amount of youthful nonsense in that paper where there was no one to. ' decline with thanks,' this time several' things were accepted — which sent me headlong, of course, to try a book. SEVEN LITTLE AUSTRALIANS. ' "I took a big work in hand — I. think ib was a Spanish tragedy, or some such thing. But at "tho same tune, for relaxation, I had a little work, too. The latter was a children's story. Being the younger of the two editors of the dead paper, I had always been apportioned the ' Children's Page,' among other matters, and the stuff came easily after such practice.

" The big work came back. No one would touch it with a pitchfork. The. little work— l had called ib Seven Little Australians — was accepted.

"My pleasure, ui the latter fact was not quite without alloy. ■ Tf it had been the big work", now The 'Spanish Tragedy' is still unaccepted.

Tn such, fashion tid Ethel Turner woo tbe literary goddess* SuccesSj and win. I knew her afar oH in those early days; that, is to say, ,1 did business witb the " Parthenon " printer. We handed our copy over the same counter. The same little .printers devil carried ifc upstairs to the foreman. I was attracted by the maidenly enthusiasm of the sister-editors, and tbe earnestness ■with which they catered for the suffrages of the reading public. Then I was led- to invest my sixpence in the sparkling little monthly, which I regarded as good value fpr tne money ; and in due coufse, along with hundreds of others I : fell to missing it when the postman failed to leave the " Parthenon " afc ihe appointed times.

'•'Yes," said Mrs Curlewis-— for she is no longer Ethel Turner, except tp the reading public — when I mentioned some of these facts, in the course of a pleasant interview, accorded at her pretty home, . Avenel, on the shores of Middle Harbour— r" Yes, the ' Parthenon ' used up all our earlier efforts, and ifc ga^ye us a great deal of trouble. It ran' for three years, and paid its way comfortably. That is to say, when everything was done it left us aboufc £50 a year. "I discovered my peuvhanfc. for writing while at. the Girls' High School, Sydney. There were two rival magazines afc the school. Mrs Creed (Miss Louise Mack) edited one, and my sister Lilian and I the other. Ifc was after we left school that tbe 'Parthenon' was started.

"'Seven Little Australians ' had been written before the 'Parthenon' was given up. Since then I have published a new book nearly every year, and the success has increased as I went along. "What is the total circulation of all my books? Mr Steele, the manager for Ward, Lock and Co., tells" me that 250,000 copies have so far been sold. xes; that includes the 8 translations, which comprise Dutch, Danish, one or two into German and Swedish. " With the exception of • The Wonder Child,' which was published - by the Religious Tract Society, War<k Lock and Co. have published all my books. THE MOST POPULAR BOOK. " 'Seven Little . Australians ' has sold, perhaps, the best. The 'next best, I believe, has been ' Three Little Maids.' Which is my own favourite? Oh, I like the 'Wonder Child' the best, and I think it is my best." Like most other popular writers, Ethel Turner had to find her truest vocation. "I used to try to write ( a very' different class of story-— more ambitious— but I found that people liked the little children stories better. .-•-■. ';"'*"' " No, I don't tiunk I haye such a thing as a method in; my work.' I used to come and write fori two vor three hours every morning, but' aow I iirrite. when the mind

seizes me, or I can find the time. I have done very little during the past year. No, the characters in my books have not been drawn from life, though, of course, they show a close study of life, .particularly child-life. 'Three Little Maids' is largely biographical. I get a lot of letters asking me questions about my characters. One boy, who has fallen in love with ' Poppet,' for instance, particularly wants to know if that is a real little girl '"

Ethel Turner is not, strictly speaking, an Australian. She is English, and was born near the famous racing town of Doncaster, in Yorkshire, but she came to Australia as a veTy small girl of nine. She has just a faint recollection of being brought across the sea in a big ship.