The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-02-11
Constance Eenimore Wools0n.

Writing 10 a friend last November, she
savs. 81 sometimes think that II ! live,
and liv. here. 1 MAJ write d little volume
NOT aoout Venice, but on the Islands OF
the Iasoons. But ! may neither live nor
live mere" IN the same letter there is
the expression Of a feeling or homeless
ness. which had grown upon her after
ouch wandering ald 'hercuiean labors
with strange rooms and temporary iods-
inqs"-a feeling which she thinks she
cannot endure much longer. Tine WofId
has never produced a more home-loNInS
woman than / am, yet by a strange tate
] have been homeless Tor twenty years
and with an appearance OF playluihess
that scarcely vels the earnest lohsihs,
she suggests as an epitaph to be placed
upon her tombstone, Tone 10 looh A'
a home elsewhere.
These expressions. which seem almost
too sacred for publication, are here given
thus unreservedly because they show that,
though so wide a wanderer, Miss Woolson
was not IN love with "A wandering life.
The nomadic habit. which was noticeable
also i'm the characters Of the heroes and
heroines Of her novels, began in her
youth. when with her father, whose
health began to fail. she made long eX-
clrsions I'm Ohio and into the %neighbor-
ing States. n was I'm one Of these jour
neys that she found the material for her
first contribution 10 Harpers Magazine
DULY, 1870. entitled. THE Happy Valley.
the success Of which. she said. determined
her pursuit OF a literary career. After
her fathers death, in 1860. and until
she was thirty years Of age, she was
the constant companion of her mother
Ga niece Of James Fcninore Cooper, and
with her she spent the summers
in the North. frequently at Coop
erstown on Otsego Lake, n the
winters IN Ashcyilie, y. c.. and
in Florida. These shifting
soiourns gave her the material for all
her novels and fOr nearly all her short
stDrios-naterial, however. so transformed
IN the aIembic Of her sasasination. so
trarsflsed in its association with the
living world OF her creation, that any
| one attempting TO trace her literary land
marks would fnd tsen perhaps in sea
and SKY and IN local color. but for the
most part they would elude him, escap-
irg definition. for bliss Woolson's stories
never lack the Illusion which belongs
to life itself.
After her mothers death. IN 1879, Miss
Woolson went abroad. and the wander
ing habit was continued. She was not
alone. Her sister. si-s. Benedict, spent a
good part Of every year with her in Italy,
Switzerland. Austria. or England, ac-
complaining her also In her recent east
ern travels. and a beloved niece was with
her in her last n0v-s.
Her long residence abroad did not make
Miss Woolson less an American I'm hei
interests or IN her writings. Even in
her Italian stories the most striking char
acters are American. She often said thai
our civil war was the great romance OF
her Ife. The southern life after the wal
| appealed to her very strongly, and she
gave il form and voice before the South
had produced writers OF its own lkt
cable and Page, and Harriss and Miss
King. To the last, Florida and the Car
olinas retained heir spell over her, as
is shown in Jupiter Lights and Horace
Chase. aer most recent novels, though
these we're written abroad.-Harper's
Weekly.