790 WOOLSON, CONSTANCE FENIMORE. 



WYOMING. 



results in the shape of a number of short stories 

 and sketches of life in that district, and the 

 scenes of all her novels except "Anne" are 

 chiefly laid in the same region. A collection of 

 stories entitled " Rodman the Keeper : Southern 

 Sketches " appeared in 1880. 



The death of Miss Woolson's mother, in Feb- 

 ruary, 1879, caused a complete change in her 

 plans, and the same year she sailed for England. 

 The serial publication of her first novel, " Anne," 

 began in "Harper's" this year also. She de- 

 voted the greater part of three years to its writ- 

 ing, from 1875 to 1878, and it remains her 

 masterpiece. It was brought out in book form 

 in 1882, and placed her at once in the front 

 rank of American writers. Miss Woolson con- 

 sidered the works of Charlotte Bronte, George 

 Eliot, George Sand, Charles Dickens, and after 

 them these of Bret Harte, to have had the most 

 influence in shaping her literary style. She also 

 read Daudet, and as many more of the modern 

 French novelists as she could obtain. At the 

 same time she remained intensely American. 

 All her novels deal with the life and adventures 

 of Americans in their own country, though of 

 widely differing types and in widely separated 

 districts. They were all written in Europe, 

 with one exception, as Miss Woolson did not re- 

 turn to the United States, save for a single short 

 visit, after 1879. Her winters were passed 

 chiefly at Florence, Rome, Sorrento, and Venice, 

 at which places she established successive homes. 

 At Rome, in 1881 and afterward, she occupied a 

 sort of " Hilda's Tower," with a vine-covered roof 

 loggia looking out over the Campagna and to 

 Soracte. Her next home, at Venice, was on the 

 third floor of an old Italian palace. In 1887 she 

 rented the Villa Brichieri, just outside the 

 Roman gate of Florence, the same locality that 

 is mentioned in Mrs. Browning's " Aurora 

 Leigh " 



I found a house at Florence on the hill 



Of Bellosguardo 



and where Hawthorne wrote " The Marble 

 Faun." At Florence she became acquainted with 

 Miss Violet Paget (Vernon Lee), Miss A. Mary 

 F. Robinson, and many other literary residents 

 and visitors. She remained there until the au- 

 tumn of 1891, when, after a winter in Oxford, 

 England, she again removed to the apartments 

 in Venice, where she died. Her summers during 

 this period were chiefly passed at resorts in 

 Switzerland and Germany, with an occasional 

 trip to England. It was her declared intention 

 to return to the United States permanently, 

 establishing a winter home in Florida and a 

 summer home at Cooperstown, but this intention 

 was never carried out, nor does it seem likely 

 that it would have been if she had lived longer. 

 Miss Woolson was accustomed to say that she 

 had lived her life before going abroad, and she 

 appeared contented to pass her time quietly in 

 foreign cities, closely occupied with her literary 

 work, on which she was largely dependent for 

 her income. 



" Anne " was followed by " For the Major " 

 (1883) ; " East Angels " (1886) ; " Jupiter Lights " 

 (1890) ; and " Horace Chase" (1894). The quali- 

 ties of self-reliance and independence were espe- 

 cially prominent in Miss Woolson's character, 

 although hidden beneath a charming personality. 



She was conservative as to woman's position in 

 the world, believing that she should have per- 

 fect liberty in her " allotted space." 



Miss Woolson's position in literature is among 

 the realists, with a strong reservation as to the 

 present interpretation of the word. She thought 

 Turgenieff the greatest novelist of the period, 

 but she found the field of fiction too wide, with 

 the enormous production of French, Russian, 

 Spanish, Italian, and even Norwegian writers, 

 to be much of a partisan about anything, and 

 believed there was something good in all. In 

 regard to latter-day "realism," she expressed 

 herself very plainly in a letter to the writer : 

 " As to being a ' realist ' (I mean my being one), 

 I meant that all I write is founded, and intended 

 to be founded, upon actual realities ; I have no 

 interest in anything else. But I contend that 

 real every-day life shows us not infrequently 

 very noble characters the noblest. I myself 

 have known such, and if any one else has not, I 

 can only say that I am sorry for him (or her) ; 

 it does not do away with my better fortune. 

 Nine men out of ten whom we meet are com- 

 monplace. Very likely. But if ten in a hundred 

 are not, a description of one of these ten is as 

 'real' a thing as a description of the nine who 

 are commonplace. I can not admit that a 

 ' realistic ' story should mean one that is limited 

 to commonplace people, or to the brutal, or 

 the vile." Miss Woolson's literary effort was 

 chiefly exerted while abroad upon her novels. 

 The short stories printed during that time, 

 mostly recounting the experiences of Americans 

 in Europe, while carefully written, do not show 

 the freshness and literary skill that character- 

 ized her tales of the lake region and the South. 

 These later stories have not yet been published 

 in book form. So many reports have been cir- 

 culated concerning the manner in which Miss 

 Woolson met her death, that an authoritative ac- 

 count by her niece, who was at Venice at the 

 time, may be inserted : " Aunt Constance had 

 severe influenza (grip), which resulted, as it 

 often does, in high fever. The night nurse left 

 her for a moment for something which was 

 needed. During her short absence, in a sudden 

 access of delirium, she arose from her bed, and, 

 while apparently wandering about the room, fell 

 through the open window to the street below. 

 She was picked up immediately, and lived a 

 short time, but never regained consciousness." 



WYOMING, a Northwestern State, admitted 

 to the Union July 10, 1890 ; area, 97,890 square 

 miles. Population in 1890, 60,705. Capital, 

 Cheyenne. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, J. E. Osborne, 

 Populist; Secretary of State, Amos W. Barber; 

 Auditor and Insurance Commissioner, Charles 

 W. Burdick; Treasurer, Otto Grumm ; Attor- 

 ney-General, Charles N. Potter; Adjutant Gen- 

 eral, F. A. Stitzer ; Chief Justice, H. V. S. Groes- 

 beck ; Clerk of the Supreme Court, R. II. Re- 

 path ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 T. Farwell ; State Engineer, Elwood Mead. 



Finances. The Auditor's report gives the 

 following information as to the financial condi- 

 tion of the State : Balance in the treasury, Sept. 

 30, 1893, $107,090.82: money from all sources 

 received during the year ending Sept. 30, 1894, 



