New-York tribune., 1922-06-04
MariOnHarland.'
For Is Years an
Author, Is Dead
Mrs. Tcrhunc, Better Known
Under Her Pen Name,
Came Into Fame as Writer
at the Age of Sixteen

Mrs. Mary Virginia Terhune. whose
writings have been known by the pub
lie for sovonty-hve years and who
was better known herself by her pen
name. Marion HarlRnd. died early yes
terday morning az her home. 3ii West
Nincty-hfth Street Her first story
was published when she was sixteen
years old
Her daughters. Virginia Terhune
Van De Water and Christine Terhune
Hcrrick. were with Mrs Torhunc
when she dicd. Besides her daughter,
she is survived hy son. Albert
payson Tcrhunc. six grandchildren and
FIVE rrcatgrandchildrcn Funeral SER
vices will be- held az 10 n. m. TUESDAY
Mrs Torhune was ninety-one years
old and for tho last year had been live
Ing only because of her determination
not 90 die. Several times she seemed
AZ tho very point OF death but won
back 10 life Twice her family was
summoned TO her bedside In the belief
that death was no hand.
Each time Mrs. Terhune rallied her
fading energy and recovered She was
not oppressed hy such struggles. Her
spirit was unconquernble. When she
was secure In life again she had the
same keen interest in persons and
events which characterized her long
career. Tho afternoon before her
death she chattod ohccrfully with Mrs.
Frederic =. Van de Water, her grand
sons wife
Learned TypcwritinE at SIS.
Difficulties never dauntcd her, When
she was cigh,y-eight years old. A
writer who had used only pen or pen
eli in more than seventy years Of writ
ing. Mrs Tcrhune broke her right
wrist. The joint failed 90 become as
ncxible after healing as u had been
before. but Mrs. Tcrhunc did not per
NIT it 90 interfere with her writing.
She learned 90 use a typewriter.
Alone" may now be out Of print,
and Moss Side" surely has not for
many year ranked among the best
sellers. Yet there arc men and women
who kceniy remember them when they
we're among the most popular new
novels Of tho day and who are not
ashamed 20 remember, too, that they
greatly enjoyed them. perhaps FAR
more than in later years they have
been able 90 enjoy the supor-sophisti
Gated "naturailsm" which has been
substituted FOR the ingenious senti-
mental.sm Of generation or two ago.
10 is no light tribute 10 those work.
and 90 their author 20 record that they
more than held their own amid a
group of hectic and sensational COM
pe;itors "Rutlcdge," and "St Elmo,
and "Tricotrn" and the rest. contrast
ing strangely with the wholesome
h0mchkencss OF Marion Harland 81
stories.
Author at Sixteen
i. is almost startling TO be reminded
I that this gifted writer. who only the
other day was still proftably busy with
+ her pen, had become well known 10 the
reading public many years before the
Civil War Yet such was the case.
Mary Virginia llawes was born IN
Amelia County. Va. on December 2l
/ 1880. and sixteen years later had writ
/ ten story which won the distinction
/ Of being translated into a foreign Ian
I guago Tor republication IN the Oll
I World. Her parents, Samuel Pierce
! Hawcs and Judith Anna Smith.
Hawcs. were New Englandcrs, tenn
porarilv established In Virginia. wher'
her father was n merchant. She wal
educated by govcrncsses and tutor.
and M a private school and early ex
hibitod not only cacocthes scribendi
but also something much like a genius
| FOR writing.
A. fourteen she was writing for the
| Richmond press. which IN those days
rs since, had a high literary standard
A. sixteen she wrote Marriage
Through Prudential Motives" which
was reprinted In Paris. IN French. az a
typical piece Of higher American lit
orature. French readers Of u presum-
ably did not know that 10 was the work
Of a Purtanically brought-up girl in
her mid-tcens who had not yet more
than dreamed of so much as an engage
ment 20 marry.
She waited. indeed, until the mature
age Of twcnty-siX before. in September,
1866. she was married 70 the Rev Ed
ward Payson Terhune. he came Of the
old Dutch stock of New Jersey and had
an eminent career as preacher and
writer In Newark. Brooklyn and else
where. Their happy married life lasted
Tor more than half century, ending
with his death in 1907
But married life and fulh. lment Of
the duties % maternity and domestieity
did not in the least interfere with
Marian Harland's literary labofs. A