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Large Audience Welcomes
Mrs. Peattie "Back Home"

Former Omaha Newspaper Woman, Now Famous
Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, Reads
Two of Her Plays at Fontenelle - Will Be
Guest at Numerous Social Functions.

When Mrs. Elia W. Peattie, former
Omaha newspaper woman, and novelist,
dramatist, and literary critic
of national fame read two of her
original one-act plays, "Family Reunion"
and "Wander Weed," Friday
afternoon at the Fontenelle, under
auspices of the Omaha Woman's
Press club, the occasion was vastly
more than just a literary reading.
It was a homecoming, and in that audience
of 500 women and a few men
were many old neighbors, whose
children had played with her little
sons, Edward, Roderick and Donald,
and the only daughter, Barbara, in
the long-gone days of a quarter-century
ago, when Mr. and Mrs. Peattie
were residents of Omaha.

Robert Peattie was, in the earlier
days, managing editor of the old
"Herald," and later was employed on
the World-Herald. Mrs. Peattie insists
that during the eight years she
worked on the World-Herald, she
filled every kind of assignment that
a designing city editor could think
of, and she traveled Nebraska from
end to end on all kinds of news adventures.

Miss Eva Mahoney, president of
the Omaha Woman's Press club, introduced
Mrs. Peattie to the audience,
which stood in recognition of
the old neighbor, and now successful
dramatist.

"I have not," said Mrs. Peattie,
"had time to look about the town,
but my short drive from the station
a few minutes ago convinces me that
Omaha has grown amazingly. It is
twenty-five years since I was your
neighbor. I see faces, and old
friends. In the eight years I worked
in Omaha I am certain the tang of
sagebrush perfumed the air. The
Omahas and the Pawnee Indians often
conferred with Dr. George L.
Miller, prominent in newspaper circles.

Tells of Her Work.

"The little play I shall read first
is "Family Reunion," It's a sardonic
play, but what's the use of living
in the world, if one cannot have a
little fun with it? It's not my own
kind of family life," and then in witticisms
and philosophy, she portrayed
the affairs of a widowed
mother, shelved by her thoughtless
children, but far outstripping them
all in the end.

In contrast to her life, it was stirring
and convincing. Mrs. Peattie
has even run on before her children
in fame and recognition. Her son
Edward is a business man in New
York: Roderick is a professor at
Ohio State university, and Donald is
an economic botanist for the government.

The second little play was built on
the lore and superstition of the
south. The "Wander Weed," according
to tradition, if stepped on, would
send one wandering away, an irresponsible
creature. The little tale
unwound in language of the poor
whites, and became a symbolic of faith
in good deeds.

"As for the writing game," said
Mrs. Peattie after the readings, "the
play is the best with which to hold
the story. The play gives little chance
for description. The characters
stand out as individuals purely
through their conversation.

Asked how she finds material for
her dramas, if she seeks out subject
matter, Mrs. Peattie explained that
every thing comes to her. She
makes no conscious effort to gather
notes. The actual life, the quaint
colloquialisms of the mountain folk,
and the old traditions give ample inspiration
to picture family affairs
among an interesting people, the real
Americans, backward only because
of isolation from their neighbors in
the hill country of the Old South.

"I write from impulse, when I feel
I have something to tell," she said.
Mrs. Peattie believes herself to
have been the first newspaper woman
in Omaha. For twenty years, in
the quarter-century since leaving
Omaha, Mrs. Peattie was book review
editor of the Chicago Tribune.
With her husband she has spent
some time in New York. The Peatties
have occupied "Dunwandrin" for
the last three years, a place described
by its mistress as "a little
house and a big garden."

Will Be Entertained.

During her stay in Omaha Mrs.
Peattie is receiving many social
courtesies. On Friday night she was
the dinner guest of Senator-elect and
Mrs. R. Beecher Howell at the Blackstone.
This afternoon she will be
honored with a tea at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Doorly, when
the Omaha Woman's Press club will
attend. Mrs. C. E. Johannes, president
of the Omaha Woman's club,
will be hostess to Mrs. Peattie Monday,
and Monday afternoon she will
speak before the Omaha Woman's
club, of which she was a charter
member almost thirty years ago.
Following the Friday program, old
friends flocked to greet the distinguished
visitor. When Mrs. G. W.
Covell appeared, Mrs. Peattie exclaimed,
"Oh yes, I used to use your
telephone, when there were not a
half-dozen in the town"

As for the Omaha Woman's Press
club, the proceeds of the program
will be used for the annual literary
contest prizes next winter, helping
to set other ambitious women on the
high road to literary fame.