The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Cable, George Washington

CABLE, George Washington, American novelist and miscellaneous writer: b. New Orleans, La., 12 Oct. 1844. His father died when he was 14 years of age, and he had to leave school and seek employment as a clerk in order to assist in the support of his mother and sisters. In 1863 he joined the Confederate army as soldier in a cavalry regiment, and served till the conclusion of the Civil War, when he returned to New Orleans and again took to commercial life. But in 1879, being by this time a practised writer, and having had considerable success with his literary ventures, he decided to devote himself entirely to authorship. In 1884 he took up his residence in Massachusetts, where he has originated a system of “home culture clubs,” since developed into the People's Institute. Mr. Cable is a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His first important book, ‘Old Creole Days’ (1879), appeared originally in Scribner's Magazine; and since its publication he has written ‘The Grandissimes’ (1880); ‘Madame Delphine’ (1881); ‘The Creoles of Louisiana’ (1884), a history; ‘Dr. Sevier’ (1884); ‘The Silent South’ (1885), a plea for the negro; ‘Bonaventure’ (1888); ‘The Negro Question’ (1888); ‘Strange True Stories of Louisiana’ (1889); ‘John March’ (1894); ‘Strong Hearts’; ‘The Cavalier’ (1901); ‘Bylow Hill’ (1902); ‘Kincaid's Battery’ (1908); ‘Posson Jone’ and ‘Père Raphael’ (1909); ‘Gideon's Band’ (1914); ‘The Amateur Garden’ (1914). The chief interest of Mr. Cable's novels lies in their excellent descriptions of Creole life, a subject which he may be said to have introduced into literature. His pictures of negro life are equally effective, and he handles dialect in a masterly manner. See Grandissimes, The; Old Creole Days.