The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-12-19

authors future. i he volume enus Win Oeautl-
full tribute to friend.
But we do not intend now TO write q mere no
tiee Of these beautiful verses, either TO detect
faults of execution where their author has per-
haps already discovered more than We, or to par
ticulnrze beauties which, truly as we enjoy them,
delight us as much for their promise OF. things
more beautiful as by their own merit. We would
rather, from the materials afforded by these two
volumes, attempt an estimate Of the quality and
power of their authors mind.
Ii cannot be regarded an act of critical injus
tce to do this for now, by issuing her prose and
verse in separate publications, Grace Greenwood
has taken place as a decided force in American
Literature She can no longer expect to be
judged only by the rules that apply to those who
write TO fill magazine pages from the ordinary
motives 1t is now her privilege to be treated as
an author of books. Neither can she demand
that the peculiar circumstances of her euvioble
social position shall either absolve her from the
obligations or shield her from the exposures ola
& Literary Woman Ii is certainly great COM
fort to her friends that she is not 5He;" yet II
she were, public expectation could be no more
exactng than it must now be towards one who,
in the odd moments of life crowded with home
duties and travel, and disturbed by the kindness
of inuumerable friends, has contriyed, at an age
when most authors begin to print, to write two
of the most readable Of American books. There
fore we do not apologize for telling ell about her
which we can find scattered through these pages
OF herself too, for Grace Greenwood cannot be
separated from her words, she is the background
haf nd re wOrthlIV
treated only when regarded as an expression
more or less complete of her large and versatile
nature
A <! zcsS :. sAs1 ~ i- ,N - .--- .het .heis
author has written no single work which. may be
taken as a complete expression Of herself All
the articles prnse and poefical bear unmistake-
able signs - .ae circumstances OK thctr birth
and their place of destination. They were most
ly written to answer the calls of periodical
literature, and are the offspring OF thousand
moods-attempts ut embodyng thoughts and feel
ings often too oyermastering TO yield to the wri-
ter's power of utterance. We find indignant
defamation against social evils, whose laws Of
origin and extrpation were not very clearly seen,
while the heart was aching with a sense Of their
terrible enormity; the effervescence Of glad ami
NAL spirits, frolcking amid the common joys of
life, or stimulated into rebelious mirth by the
excitement Of travel and an acute enjoyment of
the pleasures of sightseeing; the generous out
pouring of q warm heart towards friends in whom
she trusts with an affection as strong and sustain
ing as it is free and childlike attempts to wrench
from the canvass the marble, or the pages of good
books, or Nature, the secret of that beauty which
has subdued her, and give it in a few glowing and
concentrated sentences to the world; half de-
spsiring essays to climb those calm ideal heights
of religious contemplation which always tower
along her horizon crowned with sunbeams though
separated from her by CULTS and floods or half
devout alf-passionate dreams Of that love which
is at once human and divine, solving the problem
of this life aud opening long vstas into the life
to come-the Joy, the sorrow, and the consecra-
ton of the soul-all this, and more, we find in
these books Yet no one Of these spiritual states
has been written out with great accuracy or the
highest artistic effect. "A certain haste and in
completeness is a general characteristic OF the
articles They have been thrown off at a white
heat from the forge, and with few quick strokes
! of the hammer, rather than fashioned over the
slow intense fires and by the delicate handling
with which the great poets, who are masters of
their own inspiration, have produced immortal
works These pages are record in shorthand,
| of a life rich in varied experiences. In them we
see the authoress bounding through meadows and
woods over hills and across cultivated fields too
| intent upon things TO care greatly for her own
| limitations of them, and silencing the clamor of
numerous friends" for specimens" by tossing
| to them now wild flower maple bough, or
| golden sheaf of corn, or saucly drenching the
face Of her pursuer in a shower of spray, as she
spurs her horse over brook, or rides into line
of breakers. II in these hurried salutations she
has now and then thrown us weed clutched with
a handful of flowers and has not been careful to
use her scissors upon the thorns lurking amid her
clusters of roses, perhaps the fault Is as much
| in those who have worried and teazed her into
haste, as in herself
However this may be, we see nothing here to
justify any special imputation Of lightncss in the
assumption of literary responsibilities. Few
| women become authors deliberately; and the
choice of circumstances which draws young girl
from the enclosure of home into the arena of let
tiers, is rarely known to those who confidently
pronounce upon her motives and success We
should never accuse Grace Greenwood of intel
lectua frvolity Truly she is not quite so anx-
ious as some young ladies we know, to make pic
lures of herself in interesting, sentimental pos
lures. We should say, that she oflener tried
gallop among the hills, dance, or chat, or In
the event Of failure there, strong effort at
" choking down. as a cure for those vapors which
will come over the best of us, than doleful hex
ameters on the torture of pairs Of imaginary
lovers, through ten mortal pages Of Cooley or
| Grahala We like her all the better that she
| does not invite us to be the con6dant Of those
| moods which every true man or woman conquers
! in hours Of retirement, or by the side OF the
| hearts best friend But we can read out Of her
pages An earnestness of purpose, longing for
| excellence a reverence for truth and love and
beauty. Even her humor, in its widest freaks,
is often but the head Of foam that rides dark,
rushing current She is no stranger to that sad
| ness which Expresses every genuine soul, as 1t
looks around, within, and above itself, and which
enyelops the noblest characters like pensive at
mosphere of interviewer light and shadow Her
fun as often leaves tears upon her cheeks as her
pathos. u may be all the better that she has
| written 80 long in her peculiar dashing moods;
that she has been content TO extend herself on
every side, to make essays of her power 10 a hun
dred directions aud grow up to large and gene
rous womanhood, before she presumed TO embody
in more ambitious works those thoughts and SEN
timents which can hardly he seen in all their vide
relations by girls or boys on the sunny side Of
twenty-five Beneath her apparent levity may
| be discovered more intelligent earnestness, and
ulster appreciation Of the difficulties in the way
Of successful authorship, than under the large
profession and mesger performance Of many shall
lower and more conventional natures
So much, in justice to the circumstances and
peculiar intellectual conformation Of this writer,
must be admitted. And II is with all this in our
mind that we now proceed briefly to estimate her
power, and remind her OF the claims 10 which IL
legitimately exposes her.
IL is matter of oongratuation, both to Grace
Greenwood and her readers, that the finest and
strongest element Of her genius Is that which che
possesses in common with every true woman.
The s.rongholds of her power are her quick, In.
tense, and far-resching sympathes Endowed
with great, warm heart she is capable Of depth
Of feeling known to few And yet the range OF
her affections Is proportionally great While
others cling to few objects Of thought and feel
ing, fearing to trust themselves away from their
influence, she, with an energy and versatility as
refreshing as remarkable, embraces thousand