- Title:
- One way to the woods
- Author:
- Stein, Evaleen, 1863-1923.
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STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923.
Evaleen Stein, artist, poet and writer of stories for children, was born at Lafayette, Ind., on Oct. 12, 1863. Her father, John Andrew Stein, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Lafayette in 1851 at the age of nineteen, became a successful lawyer and participated prominently in public affairs. He was a member of the Indiana Senate in 1869, where he introduced the act that established Purdue University. Later he became a trustee of that institution and was secretary of the board during its formative years. Miss Stein's mother was Virginia Tomlinson of Logansport, a cultured woman, and both she and her husband wrote verse, essays and stories that were published in local newspapers. A brother, Orth Harper Stein, also had considerable literary gifts, which he exercised in the field of journalism. He is credited with being one of the first to obtain extensive fame as a columnist.
Miss Stein was educated in the local schools, graduating from the Lafayette High School at the age of seventeen. Later she attended classes at the Chicago Art Institute, as her first interest was in this field, and she became an able illuminator, a form of decorative design then much in vogue. Just when she began to turn her attention to poetry is not certainly known, but her first verses appeared in print in 1886, chiefly in Indianapolis and Lafayette newspapers. Her first book of verse appeared early in 1897 and was entitled One Way to the Woods. Five years later it was followed by Among the Trees dyain. Her only other volume of original verse, the collection called Child Sonys of Cheer, appeared in 1918.
She wrote also a long narrative poem commemorating the Battle of Tippecanoe (1911) and in 1916 the centennial ode entitled Indiana. There also exist a few unpublished poems. Two other volumes of verse consist of English versions of poems by foreign authors, Poems of Giovanni Pascoli, 1923, from the Italian, and Little Poems from Japanese dntholoyies, 1922.
Her original poetry deals largely with nature, of which she was a keen and accurate observer, describing with meticulous detail its varying moods and the great variety of form and color the seasons bring. She confined herself to traditional forms of rhythm and rhyme and made extensive use of alliteration. She could, on occasion, stir the deeper emotions or take the mind on broad flights of fancy, but for the most part she preferred to portray the softer and less spectacular features of nature and of human life. She was remarkably skilled in versification, on a lower level and for her friends only, turning out with the greatest of ease verses on anniversaries, accompanying or in acknowledgement of gifts, or giving humorous descriptions of current news and events. She was also an effective reader of her own poetry and that of others.
James Whitcomb Riley was an admirer of her poetry and gave both advice and encouragement. In May 1907 he, together with George Ade, Meredith Nicholson and Charles Major, gave a benefit reading for Miss Stein on the campus of Purdue University. The proceeds of this reading, together with other gifts from friends, enabled her and her mother to spend several happy months in her beloved France, visiting the scenes and reliving the events which she used with such effect in her stories. She left an unpublished manuscript on her travels describing her visits to various scenes and shrines in romantic France.
While continuing throughout her life to compose in verse, she developed about 1900 a third talent which was to become her major interest, namely story telling for children. This first took the form of short stories, which were published in 1903 under the title of Troubadour Tales. From that time until her death a new story appeared on the average of every two years. They were not novels but rather long short stories. They took their subject matter and their atmosphere chiefly from European sources and mainly from those romantic regions of France, Normandy and Provence. The most successful of her stories were Gabriel and the Hour Book, The Little Count of Normandy and the Christmas Porrinyer. Three books appeared after her death, Pepin: d Tale of Twelfth Niyht, Children's Stories and The Circus Dwarf Stories.
In her poetry Miss Stein was realistic and spontaneous. Her phrasing and choice of words were remarkable, and she showed great descriptive power. Her observations of nature were of necessity colored by human emotions and attitudes, but they remained essentially and even scientifically true, being sometimes almost microscopic in their accuracy. But she preferred nature in its higher, more peaceful and joyous manifestations and for the most part ignored the "tooth and claw" aspects.
As a story teller, however, she chose to live in an unreal world. She was fascinated by the romantic tales and legends of periods remote in time and of places remote in space from those in which she lived. In this she was a part of that romantic movement in literature that in Indiana produced Ben HuG When Kniyhthood Was In Flower, Monsieur Beaucaire and other popular works. In the case of other writers this was but a phase through which they passed or was a case of making the supply meet the demand. But with Miss Stein it was not a passing mood but amounted almost to a consecration of her powers to the re-creation for modern readers of the far distant past. Her stories have a vital and imaginative quality that sustains the interest of the reader. Perhaps one must admit that her books are about children rather than for children, as they are equally suited for adult reading. They are not great stories, but they produce an effect of reality and are true to the circumstances of the times and the people about whom they were written.
Miss Stein was not one of the top flight authors of Indiana, but her talents were of a high order and her fame has not been commensurate with the quality of her output. She died at Lafayette on Dec. 11, 1923. Good collections of her books may be found at the Indiana State Library, the Lafayette Public Library and the Tippecanoe County Historical Museum, the last two named having also considerable collections of clippings, letters, unpublished poems and other memorabilia.
By William Murray Hepburn, Librarian Emeritus, Purdue University.
- One Way to the Woods. Boston,
1897.
Search "One Way to the Woods" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Among the Trees Again.
Indianapolis, n.d. [1902]
Search "Among the Trees Again" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Troubadour Tales. Boston, n.d.
[1903].
Search "Troubadour Tales" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Gabriel and the Hour Book.
Boston, 1906.
Search "Gabriel and the Hour Book" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - A Little Shepherd of Provence.
Boston, 1910.
Search "A Little Shepherd of Provence" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - The Little Count of Normandy; or, the Story of Raoul.
Boston, 1911.
Search "The Little Count of Normandy; or, the Story of Raoul" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - The Christmas Porringer. Boston,
1914.
Search "The Christmas Porringer" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Our Little Norman Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of
Normandy in the Time of William the Conqueror.
Boston, 1915.
Search "Our Little Norman Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of Normandy in the Time of William the Conqueror" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Our Little Frankish Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of
Rainolf, a Boy in the Court of Charlemagne.
Boston, 1917.
Search "Our Little Frankish Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of Rainolf, a Boy in the Court of Charlemagne" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Rosechen and the Wicked Magpie.
Boston, n.d. [1917].
Search "Rosechen and the Wicked Magpie" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Child Songs of Cheer. Boston,
n.d. [1918].
Search "Child Songs of Cheer" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Our Little Celtic Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of
Ferdiad, a Boy of Ireland, in the Time of Brian Born.
Boston, 1918.
Search "Our Little Celtic Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of Ferdiad, a Boy of Ireland, in the Time of Brian Born" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of
Hugh, the Page to King Richard of England, in the Third Crusade.
Boston, 1921.
Search "Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago; Being the Story of Hugh, the Page to King Richard of England, in the Third Crusade" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - When Fairies Were Friendly.
Boston, 1922.
Search "When Fairies Were Friendly" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Pepin: a Tale of Twelfth Night.
Boston, 1924.
Search "Pepin: a Tale of Twelfth Night" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - Children's Stories.
Boston, n.d. [1926].
Search "Children's Stories" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X - The Circus Dwarf Stories.
Boston, n.d. [1927].
Search "The Circus Dwarf Stories" by STEIN, EVALEEN: 1863-1923. in:
Close X
- One Way to the Woods. Boston,
1897.
- Publication Year:
- 1897
- Source:
- Boston: Copeland and Day, 1897. 72 p. ; 15 cm.
- Bookmark:
- https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/inauthors/VAB1842
OATEN STOP SERIES
VII
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ONE WAY TO
THE WOODS
BY
EVALEEN STEIN
BOSTON
COPELAND AND DAY
MDCCCXCVII
COPYRIGHT 1897 BY COPELAND AND DAY
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TO THE MEMORY OF MY
DEAR FATHER
JOHN A. STEIN
I LOVINGLY
DEDICATE
THIS MY FIRST BOOK
CONTENTS
- One Way to the Woods 1
- The March Frosts 5
- Feast of Palms 6
- Budding-Time too Brief 8
- In Mexico 9
- January 11
- Unfamiliar 14
- Heart Song 15
- The Marshes 16
- The Drought 18
- Hyacinths 19
- The Bayou 20
- In Youth 26
- Midsummer 26
- Mistral's Poem "Mirèio" 27
- The Hill Pasture 28
- The Mist 29
- October Song 31
- Conscience 33
- Evening down the "Long Drift" 34
-
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- Baffled 38
- Earth Voices 39
- A Little Cascade 40
- Persistent 41
- Flood-Time on the Marshes 42
- July 44
- Autumn Cobwebs 45
- The Old Garden, in September 47
- Presentiment 53
- The Exiles 54
- In Mid-October 55
- Present Joy 58
- November Morning 59
- Christmas Eve in the Cathedral 60
- Christmas Chant Royal to the King of Kings
of Kings 61 - The Marsh Mist 65
- Envoy 70
