Polly Olivers Problem | Page 4

and separated much of the year from her special work in California, threw herself eagerly into the kindergarten movement in New York, and it was in this interest that she was drawn into the semi-public reading of her own stories. Her interpretation of them is full of exquisite taste and feeling, but she has declared most characteristically that she would rather write a story for the love of doing it, than be paid by the public for reading it; hence her readings have always been given purely for philanthropic purposes, especially for the introduction of kindergartens, a cause which she warmly advocates, and with which she has most generously identified herself.
I may say that there is an old meeting-house in Hollis in which she has been interested since her childhood. Each succeeding summer the whole countryside within a radius of many miles gathers there to hear her bright, sympathetic readings of her manuscript stories, sometimes before even her publishers have a peep at them. These occasions are rare events that are much talked over and planned for, as I learned soon after reaching that neighborhood. During the summer of 1895 she read one of her manuscript stories--The Ride of the Midnight Cry (now published in The Village Watch Tower)--to a group of elderly ladies in the neighborhood of Quillcote, who are deeply interested in all she writes. The story takes its title from an ancient stage-coach well known throughout that region in its day, and known only by the suggestive if not euphonious name of "The Midnight Cry."
Mrs. Wiggin possesses rare musical taste and ability, and enthusiastically loves music as an art. It is simply a recreation and delight to her to compose and adapt whatever pleases her fancy to her own flow of harmony. She is the possessor of some very rare and interesting foreign instruments; among this collection is a Hawaiian guitar, the tiniest of stringed instruments, and also one of curious Portuguese workmanship.
In the early months of 1895 she was married to George C. Riggs, of New York, but she prefers to retain in literature the name with which she first won distinction. I will speak of her New York winter home only to say that it is the gathering-place of some of the most eminent authors and artists in the country. She goes abroad yearly, and Maine levies a heavy claim on her by right of home ties and affection, for the 'Pine Tree State' is proud to claim this gifted daughter, not only for her genius but her beauty of character and true womanliness.
Mrs. Wiggin's work is characterized by a delicious flow of humor, depth of pathos, and a delicate play of fancy. Her greatest charm as a writer is simplicity of style. It enables us to come in perfect touch with her characterizations, which are so full of human nature that, as some one has said, "we feel them made of good flesh and blood like ourselves, with whom we have something, be it ever so little, that keeps us from being alien one to another." Her keen but sympathetic penetration attains some of the happiest results in the wholesome realism of her child characters; her children become real to us, creep into our hearts, and we love them, and in sympathy with this sentiment springs up a spontaneous reawakening of interest in the child-world about us.
EMMA SHERMAN ECHOLS.

POLLY OLIVER'S PROBLEM
A STORY FOR GIRLS

"What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
GOETHE.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE II. FORECASTING THE FUTURE III. THE DOCTOR GIVES POLLY A PRESCRIPTION IV. THE BOARDERS STAY, AND THE OLIVERS GO V. TOLD IN LETTERS VI. POLLY TRIES A LITTLE MISSIONARY WORK VII. "WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS" VIII. TWO FIRESIDE CHATS IX. HARD TIMES X. EDGAR GOES TO CONFESSION XI. THE LADY IN BLACK XII. THE GREAT SILENCE XIII. A GARDEN FLOWER, OR A BANIAN-TREE XIV. EDGAR DISCOURSES OF SCARLET RUNNERS XV. LIFE IN THE BIRDS' NEST XVI. THE CANDLE CALLED PATIENCE XVII. POLLY LAUNCHES HER SHIPS XVIII. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR: REPORTED IN A LETTER BY AN EYE-WITNESS

ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF MRS. WIGGIN . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
MRS. OLIVER AND POLLY
"IT IS SOME OF THE STUDENTS"
"SHE OPENED THE BOOK AND READ"
[Transcriber's note: The second illustration was missing from the original book.]

POLLY OLIVER'S PROBLEM.
"Pretty Polly Oliver, my hope and my fear, Pretty Polly Oliver, I've loved you so dear!" DINAH MARIA MULOCK.
CHAPTER I.
A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
"I have determined only one thing definitely," said Polly Oliver; "and that is, the boarders must go. Oh, how charming that sounds! I 've been thinking it ever since I was old enough to think, but I never cast it in such an attractive, decisive form before. 'The Boarders Must Go!' To a California girl