Birmingham state herald., 1897-02-07
SOUTHERN WOMEN
 IN THE MAGAZINES.

The advent of the southern women in the magazines is of recent date, but she fills no second place in American litera- ture.
 5 English novelists have given us pictures of English life with English ideas. pref erences and prejudices, perfect revela- tions by the imagination. Northern Wilt CTS in magazines, in novels and in history have favored the south with literature that is impressive and far-famed com- pared to that of the south, but in litera- ture, as in everything else, the southern woman is fervidly patriotic.
 The old south is endeared to her from her earliest childhood and from the causes and consequences that formed the new south, that her writings are an em- bodiment of the ideal and the real.
 She is identically southern in ideas and expression.
 It has never been said of the old south it lacked genius, but reclining upon the couch of luxury it was too indolent to exercise. Genius, it is said, is often rocked in the cradle of poverty. Yet 1t was not altogether the lack Of diversity that proved an impetus to the pen of the new south; rather was 1t an outgrowth of a. new state of affairs that has pro- duced thought that has given vent to expressions which have been received by a generous though critical public.
 That the south is rich in tradition, none can deny, and it has been against this tradition that the southern woman has fought with heroism unknown in any other but a southern woman.
 Her pride in and love for the south is beyond the conception of the outer world. It is with her a religion sustaining her in her struggles in every avenue open to women. But it is in the field of litera- ture she has made the greatest progress
 Through the northern magazines which have rewarded and encouraged her she has forged her way to the front and today the south boasts with a pride that is pardonable that the foremost woman writer in America is a southern woman.
 Mary Mailles Murphree, better known as Charles Egbert Craddock, star In galaxy of stars and one that will never cease to shine. Near Where the Bat tie Was Fought"' she lived few years ago alone with her genius, isolated from , the world by circumstances over which she had no control Strong in her asso- citations of home, how better 1t would have been to her proud nature to see her childhoods home pass into the hands Of <the stranger and to have to take the taunts of those who, not understanding her, could not appreciate her. We can imagine her standing at the winuoW or her once elegant home watching The Star in the Valley" drinking in the scenery which she so beautifully paints in her stories. She has given valuable . contributions to American literature Depicting in a sympathetic manner the characteristics of her people and describ- ing with faithfulnesS her native state.
 It is an earnest and loving hand that guides the pen that tells of the fierce pas sions and the routine of the daily life of the mountaineers of East Tennessee. In her fiction are sombre shadows, tragedy and tears, but when the clouds seem heaviest these become such brilliant rays of sunlight as to dispel all gloomy forebodngs. In all of her writings there is an undercurrent that now and then bubbles up showing purpose we can not but distinctly feel.
 She was first known to the public through The Atlantic Monthly. Her ef- forts have been crowned with success beyond the expectation of but few writ CTS. which has enabled her to restore to her family their ancestral home.
 Following in her footsteps is Will Allen Dromgoole, writing of her country, the people she has lived among and loves.
 Virginia has given the south her great est poetess, Margaret Preston, and Am lie Rives. one of the most prominent writ CTS of the day, one widely read and much discussed.
 She has given us stories, poems and dramas, showing an extraordinary ge- nius. She has been severely criticized for her crude ideas.
 Recognizing her brain power, vigor originality and wealth of imagination. she seemed to be wanting in the art of knowing how to shape her ideas as best to convey their meaning. But MT Edgar Fawcett says: Tn literature, as Tn life, the candor of innocence is often mistaken for intentional impurity."
 Mrs. Burton Harrison Is a writer that to the thousands of cfan-loving south erners who hold dear the blood of an- cestors. who never tire of their idolatry of their lineage, will appeal to. Her childhood was passed in the atmosphere of all that is most typical of Virginia allegiance to tradition. At an early age she began contributing to the maga- zines. All readers of Harper's and the Century are familiar with her writings. She is living in New York City. and in her salon are often gathered the literary lights of the metropolis.
 Mollie Elliot Sewell has given us some of the most delicious work that ever got into type. The sun, the softness. the sensuous charm of the south breathe from every page of her writing.
 Julia Magruder Is another Virginian who is winning praise and money by her pen.
 ! Grace King, New Orleans girl, few years ago flashed like meteor before the public In a short story, which placed her in the front rank of story writers. Her associates from her earlier child hood were with the French and creole of her native city. It is of them and their characteristics she writes. Orig inality of conception shows her to be gift ed. The romantic and passionate and the different phases of creole, negro and quadroon life she depicts with delicate touch of humor and pathos. In reading her stories, one seems to inhale the per- fume of the magnolia, to hear the strains of the mockingbird from the shadowy swamps where the gray moss drapes with wierd fringes the southern oaks.
 Octave Thanet wrote "Expiation." That a woman could write such a story is marvel; that 1t has been almost ignored is a greater wonder. Her powers of description are not excelled by any writ CT. male or female north or south.