Margaret Morrison Carnegie School for Women
Rev. W. G. Mackay wrote tales of history under the title of "The Skein of Life." Father Morgan M. Sheedy and Rev. Dr. George Hodges, who used to strive together in Pittsburgh to surpass each other in tearing down the walls of religious prejudice that keep people out of the Kingdom of Heaven, have each given us several books on social and religious topics composed on the broad and generous lines of thought which only such sensible teachers know how to employ. Among Dr. Hodges' books are "Christianity between Sundays," the "Heresy of Cain," and "Faith and Social Service"; while Father Sheedy has published "Social Topics."
That devoted student of nature, Dr. Benjamin Cutler Jillson, wrote a book called "Home Geology," and another, "River Terraces In and Near Pittsburgh," which carry the fancy into far-off antiquity. Professor Daniel Carhart, of the University of Pittsburgh, has given us "Field Work for Civil Engineers" and "Treatise on Plane Surveying." From J. Heron Foster we have "A Full Account of the Great Fire at Pittsburgh in 1845." Adelaide M. Nevin published "Social Mirror," and Robert P. Nevin "Poems," a book with mood and feeling. Dr. Stephen A. Hunter, a clergyman, is the author of an erudite work entitled "Manual of Therapeutics and Pharmacy in the Chinese Language."
Walter Scott, who, after taking a course at the University of Edinburgh, came to Pittsburgh in 1826, was a very distinguished preacher and author. His greatest reputation was gained in his work in association with Alexander Campbell in establishing the principles of the now mighty congregation known as the Christian, or Disciples, Church. His books are: "The Gospel Restored," "The Great Demonstration," and "The Union of Christians."
A memoir of Professor John L. Lincoln, by his son, W. L. Lincoln, gives a record of a life so spent that many men were truly made better thereby. Father Andrew A. Lambing, President of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, has written useful monographs on the early history of this region, and he is one of the first authorities in that field. He has also composed books on religious subjects. E. W. Duckwell wrote "Bacteriology Applied to the Canning and Preserving of Food Products."
Richard Realf was a poet "whose songs gushed from his heart," and some of them hold a place in literature. His "Monarch of the Forges" breathes the deep spirit of industrial life as he found it in Pittsburgh.
Mr. Lee S. Smith, now (1908) president of the Chamber of Commerce, has published an interesting book entitled "Through Egypt to Palestine," describing his travels in the Orient.
Our men who have written most knowingly on industrial topics are James M. Swank and Joseph D. Weeks. A young writer, Francis Hill, has published a very readable boys' story, "Outlaws of Horseshoe Hole," and Arthur Sanwood Pier has published "The Pedagogues," a novel satirizing the Harvard Summer School.
Rev. Henry C. McCook's very successful novel, "The Latimers," is an engaging study of the whisky insurrection of early Pittsburgh days. Thomas B. Plimpton is remembered by some as a writer of verse. Judge J. E. Parke and Judge Joseph Mellon have written historical essays. Josiah Copley wrote "Gathering Beulah." Logan Conway is the author of "Money and Banking." He has also written a series of essays on "Evolution." Miss Cara Reese has published a little story entitled "And She Got All That." Miss Willa Sibert Cather has just published her "Poems." Charles McKnight's "Old Fort Duquesne; or Captain Jack the Scout" is a stirring book that has fired the hearts of many boys who love a good tale. William Harvey Brown's story, "On the South African Frontier," was written and published while he was a curator in the Carnegie Museum.
Pittsburgh has produced a group of standard schoolbooks—always of the very first importance in the literature of any country. Among these are the books by Andrew Burt and Milton B. Goff, and a series of readers by Lucius Osgood.