Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-03-30
MARGARET J. PRESTON.

Mrs. Margaret y. fitH'Oh' WIN wv" o.
the hor& OF her son. in Baltimore Sun
day. was one Of the South's sweetest
unrest and most gifted singers, and du-
ring her NE wove 10 her own memory
an unfadinR anthology. Mrs. Preston
was born in Pennsylvania. but her every
impulse. her every inspiration. was Viz
einian and southern. She was daugh-
ter of the late Rev. Dr. George Junkin,
Presbyterian minister. who was at one
time president OF Washington college,
now Washington and Lee University, ana
the second wife and widow OF Colonel }.
r. l.. Preston. OF the Virginia Military
Institute and OF "Stonewall' Jackson s
staff.
Mrs. Preston's early education was
largely on the lines OF that given the
college youth of those days, and to that
extent was a departure from the curricu-
lum of the female seminary. 1t was con-
Quoted by her father and by private tu-
tors. and long before she reached wo-
manhood she was proficient classical
scholar and thoroughly familiar with the
Greek and Latin poets. Her training In
this respect. though in great measure
self-imposed. was severe, and stood her
good stead in her career as poetess, as
is shown In her regard for the laws of YER
sification. Yet her education and environ
ments never led her to the pedantic. and
never made her in anything she wrote or
in any of her relations in life aught but
truly womanly.
Mrs. Preston, when a mere girl, de-
veloped exceptional literary talent, and
her most ambitious work before her mar
riage was "Silverwood,' a novel, which
appeared anonymously. This romance at
tracted considerable attention. both on
account of it's own merits and in It's
promise as 10 the future Of the au-
thoress, but no amount Of persuasion
could induce the young writer to allow
her name to be made public. And the
same mQdesty, the same shrinking from
notoriety, characterized Mrs. Preston to
the day Of her death. Application after
application to her for details Of her life,
in order to the publication OF her biogra-
ply. met with gentle but firm refusal. She
always spoke of herself AS one of the
minor poetesses, and she was thoroughly
sincere in so doing.
The civil war afforded Mrs. Preston a
fresh and new inspiration. Heart and
soul she was welded to the southern
cause, and she struck the Tyre to stimu-
late to nobler deeds those I'm the field and
to comfort and strengthen the hopes of
those at home. "Beechenbrook. a Rhyme
of the War" gave her perhaps her great
est reputation during that eventful pc
Rod, and this, with many of her fugitive
productions, embalming scenes and Incl
dents of the conflict, would have ensured
her enduring fame If she had written
nothing else. In these productions the
pathos, the grandeur. the suffering, the
glory, the self-denial the horrors of war
are all described. and through all runs,
like the thematic strain we sometimes
hear in an orchestral composition, the as
surance Of God overhead"
Mrs. Preston's imagery was always
clear, her metre was never forced, and
she never resorted to redundancy in order
TO secure rhythmic jingle. Her impress
sions were vivid her nature was musi-
cal, and her literary art true She loved
the beautiful, she sympathized with the
tender and pure, she was thrilled by
heroism. and her faith as a Christian
was sublime. All this we read in the
rich legacy to southern literature she
has left US. Among her later works were
her Book of Monograms,' Cartoon"
For Loves Sake" Colonial Ballads"
and aunt Dorothy" Paul II. Hayne
pronounced Mrs Preston one of the finest
/ sonnet writer's in America. During her
| later years Mrs. Preston was Athlete
with defect Of vision that caused her at
! times to suffer intensely and interfered
| seriously with her literary work Yet
this had been season of introspection
with her-a season Of soul communion.
| The result Of that communion was a
series of spiritual poems, dealing princi-
pally with faith and hope, and which
are among her noblest conceptions. OFT
in these years Of darkness her
Spirit, let loose from mortal bars.
! And somewhere away among the stars"
seemed to catch the light supernal.