George Washington Cable.
A novelist who works on original lines is George W. Cable. He was born in New Orleans, October 12, 1844. At the age of fourteen necessity compelled him to seek employment in a store. In 1863 he joined the Confederate army, serving until the close of the war. Returning to New Orleans, he became an employee of a mercantile house, and later studied civil engineering. It was at this time that he began to contribute to the New Orleans Picayune and was at length given a position on its editorial staff. He returned to business life, writing in the meantime, however, for Scribner’s and other magazines. His sketches of Creole life were so well received that he finally decided to devote himself to literature. He has produced a number of works whose chief characters are almost all of the Creole type, is a successful lecturer, and takes an active interest in religious affairs.
Winston Churchill.
Winston Churchill, the novelist, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, November 10, 1871. He received his early education at the Smith academy in that city, and when seventeen years of age was appointed a cadet of the United States naval academy at Annapolis. Graduating therefrom in 1891, he joined the cruiser San Francisco, but his tastes being more literary than naval he resigned and became a member of the staff of the Army and Navy Journal, of New York. In 1895 he was made editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine, but a few months later resolved to identify himself with independent work on original lines. His first book, The Celebrity, won recognition and a certain amount of popularity. Mr. Churchill’s reputation as a novelist rests for the most part on Richard Carvel and its sequel, The Crisis, which is hardly less popular than was its predecessor.
Francis Marion Crawford.
A clever and popular writer is Francis M. Crawford, who was born at Bagni-di-Lucca, Italy, August 2, 1854. He is a son of Thomas Crawford, the sculptor, and comes of a long line of literary and artistic ancestors. Francis was educated in New York schools, subsequently entering Harvard, but did not complete his course there. He was also a student at Cambridge university, England, and at the universities of Karlsruhe and Heidelberg, Germany, and the university of Rome, where he gave special attention to Sanscrit. In 1873 Mr. Crawford was compelled by circumstances to adopt journalism as a means of livelihood. Some years later he turned his attention to literature proper, his first book, Mr. Isaacs, appearing in 1882. Among his other well-known works are A Cigarette Maker’s Romance, The Three Fates, Zoroaster, etc. He is also an artist of considerable ability and has traveled extensively. He and his wife and children live near Sorrento, Italy.
Rudyard Kipling.
Rudyard Kipling, the poet and novelist who, perhaps more than any other writer of this generation, has voiced the militant spirit of the British empire, was born at Bombay, India, December 30, 1865. His father was John Lockwood Kipling. Rudyard was educated at the United Services college, Devonshire, England. Returning to India at the end of his school days, he became the assistant editor of the Civil-Military Gazette, and subsequently was connected with the staff of the Pioneer, a prominent newspaper of the country. The well-known Soldiers Three series and those other of his works which have to do with army life in India were the outcome of his Pioneer experiences. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier at Brattleboro, Vermont. Mr. Kipling has not only a marvelous faculty of describing things as they actually are, but he also has the prophetic instinct of the true poet. As a case in point may be cited his famous Recessional, written at the end of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. The full significance of the poem was only realized by the British during the disastrous and humiliating periods of the Boer war. In prose and poetry he has been alike fruitful.
Thomas Nelson Page.
Thomas N. Page was born in Oakland, Hanover county, Virginia, April 23, 1853. The Civil war interfered with his education, and left the Page family in an impoverished condition. Nevertheless he, during this period, was gathering material which resulted in the production of those two delightful books of his, Marse Chan and Meh Lady. Later he managed to secure a course at Washington and Lee university. At the law school of the University of Virginia he secured his degree in a year, and, after being admitted to the bar, practiced in Richmond from 1875 to 1893. During his leisure hours he did work which placed him on a high eminence as lecturer and literary man. His books are many, and for the most part have to do with the war between north and south and the reconstruction period following its close.