The Woman's Story, As Told by Twenty American Women;

i a 3= S 11 I |ai ^ <G133NV-SOV^ s I i I % ^OF-CA! c: S S > S oI = IS IVrz All ^ * a =? 01 I lOS-Af i | a IZB I VM vvlOSANGElfr;* ^F'CAI!FO% i i -n 5<-;> i 1 % s z S 1 1 O 11... iiim ^J O j f^i<L ^3AINlT3\\v s^lOSANCFlfx/ c 1 I I TV) I 3 l^L/I s ! s I THE WO MAN'S STORY AS TOLD BY TWENTY AMERICAN WOMEN PORTRAITS, AND SKETCHES OF THE AUTHORS BY LAURA C. HOLLOWAY " Author of The Ladies of the IVTiite House," "An Hour with " Charlotte Bronte," Adelaide Nvilson" "The Hiailh- stone," "Mothers of Great Men and Women," "Howard, the Christian Hero," "The Home in Poetry," etc. NEW YORK JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER 1889 Copyright, 1888, BT LAURA C. HOLLOWAY,, 607 CONTENTS. Preface v Harriet Beecher Stowe Portrait and Biographical Sketcli ix Uncle Lot. By Harriet Beecher Stowe 1 Prescott Portrait and ^Harriet Spofford. Biographical Sketch 33 Old Madame. By Harriet Prescott Spofford 37 Rebecca Harding Davis. Biographical Sketch 69 Tirar y Soult. By Rebecca Harding Davis 73 Edna Dean Proctor. Portrait and Biographical Sketcli. 97 Tom Foster's Wife. By Edna Dean Proctor 99 Marietta Holley. Portrait and Biographical Sketcli. .113 Fourth of July in Jonesville. By Marietta Holley. 115 Nora Perry. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 133 Dorothy. By Nora Perry 135 Augusta Evans Wilson. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 151 The Trial of Beryl. By Augusta Evans Wilson 157 Louise Chandler Moulton. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 243 * " Nan." By Louise Chandler Moulton 247 Celia Thaxter. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 263 A Memorable Murder. By Celia Thaxter 267 Mrs. Sara J.Lippincott. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 299 A Cup of Cold Water. By Sara J. Lippincott 301 A.bba Gould Woolson. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 311 A.n Evening's Adventure. By Abba Gould Woolson. .315 tfary J. Holmes. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 333 A-dam Floyd. By Mary J. Holmes 335 CONTENTS. Margaret E. Sangster. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 371 My Borrowing Neighbor. By Margaret E. Sangster. .373 Olive Thome Miller. Portrait and Biographical Sketch.. 389 The Girls' Sketching Camp. By Olive Thorne Miller 391 Elizabeth W. Chatnpney. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 417 A Crisis. By Elizabeth W. Champney 419 Julia C. R. Dorr. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 435 Meg. By Julia C. R. Dorr 437 Marion Harland. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 457 A Confederate Idyl. By Marion Harland 459 Louisa May Alcott. Portrait and Biographical Sketch ..483 Transcendental Wild Oats. By Louisa May Alcott 485 Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Portrait and Biographical Sketch 509 Daves Wife. 3y Ella Wheeler Wilcox 511 Roso Terry Cooke. Portrait and Biographical Sketch.. .531 The Deacon's Week. By Rose Terry Cooke 533 PREFACE. THE woman's story as told by twenty American women is a composite picture of the representative fiction work of the female writers of the republic. It is one which depicts the types and characteristics of people who unitedly compose our young nation. The is full of fire of composite woman's picture patriotic ; the fervor and faith of free institutions, and is distin- guished by a zealous allegiance to the domestic quali- ties of the people, which have found widest expression under our form of government. The differences in the varieties of the broad population ; classes, and distinctions in local coloring are vividly exhibited in the annals of American fiction, the largest contributors to which are women. The compilation represents the field of fiction, from the appearance of the first great American novel to the present day. Mrs. Stowe's sketch of New England life, which opens the volume, was the forerunner of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and is as graphic a pen-picture of the phase of life it represents as was her famous novel of Miss Alcott's " " slavery. Transcendental Wild Oats is the truest delineation of the salient features of the Transcendental movement yet made, and is as striking in its faithfulness as is Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Lot." Both these sketches were selected by their authors for this as volume, were each and every one in it, and in every case the writers pronounced them to be their best sketch work. They are as a whole a representative collection, and portray the ideality, graceful diction, and marked individuality of our national liter- ature. For their use in this form, I am gratefully indebted to Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, Harper Bros., Roberts Bros., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Charles Dillingham, The American Publishing Company, and The Century Company. UNCLE LOT, BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, the daughter of the Rev. Lyman Beecher, was born at Litchfield, Conn., in 1812, and was one of the most gifted of the brilliant children of that remarkable New England divine. She was a precocious child, and was at the age of five a fluent reader. Her mother died when she was four years of age, and her brother Henry was the baby of the house- hold. When she was seven she was sent as a pupil to the seminary at Litchfield, then under the management of one of the leading educators of his time, Mr. Brace. At twelve years she was writing compositions on such " topics as, Can the immortality of the soul be proved " by light of nature ? This was the theme of her essay for the annual exhibition and she says of it : "I re- member the scene to me so eventful. The hall was crowded with all the literati of Litchfield. Before them all our compositions were read aloud. When mine was read, I noticed that father, who was sitting on the right of Mr. Brace, brightened, and looked in- " terested, and at the close I heard him say, Who wrote " " that composition ? Your daughter, sir," was the answer. It was the proudest moment of my life. There was no mistaking father's face when he was pleased, and to have interested him was past all juve- nile triumphs." In 1836 she became the wife of the Rev. Dr. E. C. Stowe, and for a number of years resided in Cincin- nati, where he was a professor in the Lane Theological Seminary. She wrote sketches for periodicals and Sunday-school books, thus trying to add to her slender resources, for, with a growing family her husband's limited income did not suffice to allow of any luxuries. I asked her recently to tell me which of the short stories she had written she considered her best, and " ' 1 ^he answered : The New England story, Uncle Lot, ur X HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. was the first story I ever wrote, and I still think it the ' best of the collected stories published in the May- flower.' It was written primarily for a literary circle ' called the Semicolon,' which had its weekly sessions at the home of S. E. Foote then it was my uncle, ; published by Judge Hall in his monthly magazine." Mrs. Stowe is the typical New England representative of fiction among women, and is the foremost American writer of her day, hence her story has the place of " honor in this collection. Her "Uncle Tom's Cabin was the most successful book published in the world in this century. It has been translated into nineteen different languages, and has had an enormous sale throughout the civilized world. While she was residing in Cincinnati, Mrs. Stowe visited Kentucky and there came in direct contact with the institution she abhorred. The result of her acquaintance was that she was more than ever con- firmed in her hostility, and as the subject of slavery was uppermost in the public mind she naturally thought and talked much of it among her New Eng- land friends. Her husband was one of the professors of Bowdoin College, and she came in contact with the educators of that and other institutions where the question of abolition was often the topic of conversa- tion. The anti-slavery paper in Washington at that time was the National Era, and the editors of it invited Mrs. Stowe to write them a serial story. She con- sulted her brother Henry and he advised her to accept the offer made. That was the beginning of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." When it was finished the author was completely used up, and was sick in bed for several days. The chapters were written from week to week and -ead to the family every night. Mrs. Stowe always spertks of this book as having been revealed to her, and very recently she declared that she did not write it, that God gave it to her. " " The authorship of Uncle Tom's Cabin was for a time attributed to Mr. Beecher. He very wittily said that he could never stop the scandalous story until he " " wrote his novel, Norwood ; that ended the matter. Mrs. Stowe's "Minister's Wooing" is considered the best of her works after "Uncle Tom's Cabin,"' xi HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. From a literary point of view it is superior to her " famous story. Mr. Gladstone wrote her that he considered it one of the most charming pictures of Puritan life possible." It graphically portrays the Calvinistic side of New England life, and will occupy a perma- nent place in American fiction. In 1853 Mrs. Stowe travelled in Europe and wrote " an account of her tour in a volume entitled Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands." Other works of hers " " are a Tale of the Great Dismal Dred, Swamp ; " " " " " Oldtown Folks Wife and I The Pearl " ; My ; of " Orr's Island ; and Palmetto Sketches." For several Mrs.

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