these faculties by men calling themselves practical men, they are powerful agents in the human system which no man can neglect or abuse with impunity. Preoccupy, preoccupy the minds of the young with the tender, the beautiful, the rhythmical, the magnificent, the sublime, which God in his bounty, and wisdom too, has poured out so profusely into the minds of his evangelists and prophets! Nowhere can be found such varieties of the beautiful and sublime, the magnificent and simple, the tender and terrific. And all this is brought to our doors and offered to our daily eye. If the mind of the youth, girl, and boy is not preoccupied by what is moral, virtuous, and religious, the world is ready to attack the fancy and imagination with all the splendor and seductions of sense and sin. Their minds will have the food for imagination and fancy, and if they are not led to the Psalms, and Isaiah, and Job, and the Apocalypse, and the narratives and parables, they will find it in Shelley, Byron, Rousseau, and George Sand, and the feebler and more debased novels of the modern press of France. ANNA CORA MOWATT. ANNA CORA, the daughter of Samuel G. Ogden, a New York merchant, was born in Bordeaux, France, during her father's residence in that city. Her early years were passed in a fine old chateau in its neighborhood, called La Castagne. One of its apartments was fitted up as a theatre, in which the numerous children of the family, of which the future Mrs. Mowatt was the tenth, amused themselves with dramatic entertainments, for which several of them evinced decided talent. The family removed a few years after to New York. While yet a school girl, Anna, in her fifteenth year, became the wife of Mr. James Mowatt, a lawyer of New York. The story of her first acquaintance with her lover, who soon began to escort her to and from school, gallantly bearing her satchel, and the courtship and run-away match which speedily followed, are very pleasantly told in the lady's autobiography. The only reason for the elopement being the unwillingness of the couple to wait until the lady had passed seventeen summers, they soon received the paternal pardon, and retired to a country residence at Flatbush, Long Island. Here the education of the "child-wife," as she was prettily styled, was continued by the husband, several years the senior. Some pleasant years were passed in Sunday-school teaching, fortune-telling at fancy fairs, "shooting swallows on the wing," in sportsman tramps through the woods, private theatricals, and the composition of an epic poem, Pelayo, or the Cavern of Covadonga, in five cantos, which was published by the Harpers, and followed by a satire entitled Reviewers Reviewed, directed against the critics who had taken the liberty to cut up the poem. Both appeared as the work of "Isabel." Mrs. Mowatt's health failing, she accompanied a newly married sister and brother in a tour to Europe. She wrote a play, Gulzara, or the Persian Slave, during her absence, had appropriate scenes and dresses made in Paris for its representation, and soon after her return produced the piece with great applause at a party at her residence, in honor of her father's birthday. Meanwhile Mr. Mowatt had taken part in the speculations of the day, and a commercial revulsion occurring, was "utterly ruined"-a weakness in Anna Cora Mowat The elder Vandenhoff had just before met with great success in a course of dramatic readings, and the wife, casting about for ways and means of support, determined to bring her dramatic talents into account in this manner. She gained her husband's consent with some difficulty, and, preferring the verdict of a stranger audience, gave her first reading at Boston, and with decided success. She soon after appeared in New York, where she read to large audiences, but the tacit disapproval of friends and the exertions required brought on a fit of sickness, from which she suffered for the two following years. She next, her husband having become a publisher, turned her attention to literature, and wrote a number of stories for the magazines with the signature of "Helen Berkley." These were followed by a longer story, The Fortune Hunter, and by the five act comedy of Fashion, which was written for the stage, and produced at the Park Theatre, March, 1845. It met with success there and at theatres in other cities, and emboldened its author, forced by the failure of her husband in the publishing business, to contribute to their joint support, to try her fortune as an actress. She made her first appearance on the classic boards of the Park Theatre, June, 1845, as Pauline in the Lady of Lyons, and played a number of nights with such approval that engagements followed in other cities, and she became one of the most successful of "stars." She appeared in her own play of Fashion, and in 1847 wrote and performed a new five act drama, Armand. In 1847 Mrs. Mowatt visited England with her husband, and made her first bow to an English audience in the month of December, at Manchester. She was successful, and remained in England several years. In February, 1851, Mr. Mowatt died. After a temporary retirement, his widow went through a round of farewell performances, and returned in July to her native land. In August she appeared MARY E. MOORE was born in Malden, Massachusetts. After her father's death her mother removed to Boston, where the daughter remained until her marriage with the late Mr. James L. Hewitt. She has since resided in the city of New York. In 1845 Mrs. Hewitt published Songs of our Land and Other Poems, a selection from her contributions to various periodicals. In 1850 she edited The Gem of the Western World, a holiday volume, and The Memorial, a volume of contributions by the authors of the day, designed as a mark of respect to the memory of Mrs. Osgood. Mrs. Hewitt was lately married to Mr. Stebbins, of New York. Her poems are marked by their good sense, hearty expression, and natural feeling. GOD BLESS THE MARINER. God's blessing on the Mariner! A venturous life leads he- The landsman sits within his home, God bless the hardy Mariner! A homely garb wears he, He hath piped the loud " ay, ay, sir!" O'er the voices of the main, Till his deep tones have the hoarseness Of the rising hurricane. His seamed and honest visage The sun and wind have tanned, And hard as iron gauntlet Is his broad and sinewy hand. But oh! a spirit looketh From out his clear, blue eye, A venturous life the sailor leads But when the hour of dread is past, A merrier who, than he? He knows that by the rudder bands TO MARY. Thine eye is like the violet, Thou hast the lily's grace; That to memory hath clung, The green graves of my people, In my heart her joys to wake, EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH. MRS. SOUTHWORTH is descended, both on the father's and mother's side, from families of high rank, who emigrated to America in 1632, and settled at St. Mary's, where they have continued to reside for two centuries. She was born in the city of Washington, in the house and room once occupied by General Washington, on the 26th of December, 1818. Her father, who had married in 1816 a young lady of fifteen, died in 1822, leaving his family straitened in resources, in consequence of losses previously incurred by the French spoliations on American commerce. Her mother afterwards married Mr. Joshua L. Henshaw, of Boston, by whom Miss Nevitte was educated. Emma D.E. N. Southworth In 1841 she became Mrs. Southworth. Thrown upon her own resources in 1843, with two infants to support, a dreary interval in her life succeeded, which was broken by the successful publication of her first novel, Retribution, in 1849. She had previously published, in 1846, an anonymous sketch in the National Era, with which the editor, Dr. Bailey, was so well pleased, that he sought out the writer, and induced her to write other sketches and tales of a similar kind. Retribution was commenced as one of these, and was intended to be concluded in two numbers, but the subject grew under the author's hand. Every week she supplied a portion to the paper, "until weeks grew into months, and months into quarters, before it was finished." During its composition she was supporting herself as a teacher in a public school, and in addition to the entire charge of eighty boys and girls thus imposed upon her, and of one of her children who was extremely ill, was forced by the meagreness of her pecuniary resources to give close attention to her household affairs. Her health broke down under the pressure of these complicated labors and sorrows. Meanwhile her novel reached its termination, and was published complete by Harper and Brothers. The author, to use her own words, "found herself born, as it were, into a new life; found independence, sympathy, friendship, and honor, and an occupation in which she could delight. All this came very suddenly, as after a terrible storm a sunburst." Her child recovered, and her own malady disappeared. The successful novel was rapidly followed by others. The Deserted Wife was published in 1850; Shannondale and The Mother-in-Law in 1851; Children of the Isle and The Foster Sisters in 1852; The Curse of Clifton; Old Neighborhoods and New Settlements, and Mark Sutherland in 1853, The Lost Heiress in 1854, and Hickory Hall, in 1855. These novels display strong dramatic power, and contain many excellent descriptive passages of the Southern life and scenery to which they are chiefly devoted. SUSAN WARNER-ANNA B. WARNER. MISS WARNER is the daughter of Mr. Henry Warner, a member of the bar of the city of New York. She has for some years resided with the remainder of her father's family on Constitution Island, near West Point, in the finest portion of the Hudson highlands. Amsen lamen Miss Warner made a sudden step into eminence as a writer, by the publication in 1849 of The Wide, Wide World, a novel, in two volumes. It is a story of American domestic life, written in an easy and somewhat diffuse style. Her second novel, Queechy, appeared in 1852. It is similar in size and general plan to The Wide, Wide World, and contains a number of agreeable passages descriptive of rural life. The heroine, Fleda, is introduced to us as a little girl. Her sprightly, natural manner, and shrewd American common sense, contribute greatly to the attractions of the book. The "help" at the farin, VOL. II. 40 male and female, are pleasantly hit off, and give a seasoning of humor to the volumes. Miss Warner is also the author of The Law and the Testimony, a theological work of research and merit, and of a prize essay on the Duties of American Women. MISS ANNA B. WARNER, a younger sister of Miss Susan Warner, is the author of Dollars and Cents, a novel, as its title indicates, of practical American life, published in 1853, and of a series of juvenile tales, Anna Montgomery's Book Shelf, three volumes of which, Mr. Rutherford's Children and Carl Krinken, have appeared. CHESTNUT GATHERING-FROM QUEECHY. In a hollow, rather a deep hollow, behind the crest of the hill, as Fleda had said, they came at last to a noble group of large hickory trees, with one or two chestnuts, standing in attendance on the outskirts. And also as Fleda had said, or hoped, the place was so far from convenient access that nobody had visited them; they were thick hung with fruit. If the spirit of the game had been wanting or failing in Mr. Carleton, it must have roused again into full life at the joyous heartiness of Fleda's exclamations. At any rate no boy could have taken to the business better. He cut, with her permission, a stout long pole in the woods; and swinging himself lightly into one of the trees showed that he was a master in the art of whipping them. Fleda was delighted but not surprised; for from the first moment of Mr. Carleton's proposing to go with her she had been privately sure that he would not prove an inactive or inefficient ally. By whatever slight tokens she might read this, in whatsoever fine characters of the eye, or speech, or manner, she knew it; and knew it just as well before they reached the hickory trees as she did afterwards. When one of the trees was well stripped the young gentleman mounted into another, while Fleda set herself to hull and gather up the nuts under the one first beaten. She could make but little headway, however, compared with her companion; the nuts fell a great deal faster than she could put them in her basket. The trees were heavy laden, and Mr. Carleton seemed determined to have the whole crop; from the second tree he went to the third. Fleda was bewildered with her happiness; this was doing business in style. She tried to calculate what the whole quantity would be, but it went beyond her; one basketful would not take it, nor two, nor three, it wouldn't begin to, Fleda said to herself. She went on hulling and gathering with all possible industry. After the third tree was finished Mr. Carleton threw down his pole, and resting himself upon the ground at the foot, told Fleda he would wait a few moments before he began again. Fleda thereupon left off her work too, and going for her little tin pail presently offered it to him temptingly, stocked with pieces of apple-pie. When he had smilingly taken one, she next brought him a sheet of white paper with slices of young cheese. 66 No, thank you," said he. "Cheese is very good with apple-pie," said Fleda, competently. "Is it?" said he, laughing. "Well-upon thatI think you would teach me a good many things, Miss Fleda, if I were to stay here long enough." "I wish you would stay and try, sir," said Fleda, who did not know exactly what to make of the shade of seriousness which crossed his face. It was gone almost instantly. "I think anything is better eaten out in the woods than it is at home," said Fleda. "Well, I don't know," said her friend. "I have no doubt that is the case with cheese and apple-pie, and especially under hickory trees which one has been contending with pretty sharply. If a touch of your wand, Fairy, could transform one of these shells into a goblet of Lafitte or Amontillado we should have nothing to wish for." 'Amontillado' was Hebrew to Fleda, but 'goblet' was intelligible. "I am sorry," she said, "I don't know where there is any spring up here, but we shall come to one going down the mountain." "Do you know where all the springs are?" "No, not all, I suppose," said Fleda, "but I know a good many. I have gone about through the woods so much, and I always look for the springs." They descended the mountain now with hasty step, for the day was wearing well on. At the spot where he had stood so long when they went up, Mr. Carleton paused again for a minute. In mountain scenery every hour makes a change. The sun was lower now, the lights and shadows more strongly contrasted, the sky of a yet calmer blue, cool and clear towards the horizon. The scene said still the same that it had said a few hours before, with a touch more of sadness; it seemed to whisper "All things have an end-thy time may not be for ever -do what thou wouldest do- while ye have light believe in the light that ye may be children of the light." Whether Mr. Carleton read it so or not, he stood for a minute motionless, and went down the mountain looking so grave that Fleda did not venture to speak to him, till they reached the neighborhood of the spring. "What are you searching for, Miss Fleda?" said her friend. She was making a busy quest here and there by the side of the little stream. "I was looking to see if I could find a mullein leaf," said Fleda. He stooped to the bright little stream, and filled his rural goblet several times. "I never knew what it was to have a fairy for my cup-bearer before," said he. "That was better than anything Bordeaux or Xeres ever sent forth." He seemed to have swallowed his seriousness, or thrown it away with the mullein leaf. It was quite gone. "This is the best spring in all grandpa's ground," said Fleda. "The water is as good as can be." "How come you to be such a wood and water spirit? you must live out of doors. Do the trees ever talk to you? I sometimes think they do to me." "I don't know-I think I talk to them," said Fleda. "It's the same thing," said her companion, smiling. "Such beautiful woods!" "Were you never in the country before in the fall, sir?" "Not here-in my own country often enoughbut the woods in England do not put on such a gay face, Miss Fleda, when they are going to be strippel of their summer dress-they look sober upon itthe leaves wither and grow brown, and the woods have a dull russet color. Your trees are true Yankees they never say die!'" 6 EMILY C. JUDSON. MISS EMILY CHUBBUCK was born at Morrisville, a town of Central New York. Soon after ceasing to be a school girl, with a view of adding to the limited means of her family and increasing ber own knowledge, she became a teacher in a female seminary at Utica. It was with similar views that she commenced her literary career by writing a few poems for the Knickerbocker Magazine, and some little books for children, of a religious character, for the American Baptist Publication Society. In 1844 she sent a cominunication to the New York Weekly Mirror, with the signature of Fanny Forester." Mr. Willis, the editor, wrote warmly in favor of the writer, who soon became a frequent contributor to his paper. 66 Fanny Forester While passing the winter at Philadelphia with a clerical friend, the Rev. Mr. Gillette, Miss Chubbuck became acquainted with Dr. Judson, the celebrated Baptist missionary. He had recently lost his second wife, and applied to the young author to write her biography. Intimacy in the preparation of the work led to such mutual liking that the pair were married not long after, in July, 1846, and sailed immediately for India. They arrived at the missionaries' residence at Maulmain, where they resided until Dr. Judson fell sick, and was ordered home by his physicians. His wife was unable to accompany him, and he embarked in a very weak state in the early part of 1850 for America. He died at sea on the twelfth of April of the same year. His widow returned not long after, her own health impaired by an Eastern climate, and after lingering a few months, died on the first of June, 1854. Mrs. Judson was the author of Alderbrook, a Collection of Fanny Forester's Village Sketches and Poems, in two volumes, published in 1846. A Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Sarah B. Judson, 1849. An Olio of Domestic Verses, 1852, a collection of her poems; How to be Great, Good, and Happy, a volume designed for children; a small prose volume, My Two Sisters, a Sketch from Memory, and a number of other poems and prose sketches for various periodicals. The sprightliness and tenderness of Mrs. Judson's early sketches gained her a reputation which was rapidly extended by her subsequent publications, especially by those embodying, in a simple and unostentatious manner, her wider experiences of life as the wife of a missionary. The modest title of her collection of poems is an indication of her character, but should not be suffered to overshadow the merits of the choice contents of the book. One of the latest productions of Mrs. Judson's pen was an admirable letter in defence of her children's property in her deceased husband's literary remains. His papers had been placed in the hands of President Wayland, and incorporated by him in a life of their author, when a rival and unauthorized work from the same materials was announced, and finally published. The letter of Mrs. Judson was addressed to the publisher of the last named volume, and came before the public in the evidence produced on the trial of the alleged invasion of copyright. It deserves to be remembered not only from the interest connected with the circumstances which called it forth, but as a spirited and well reasoned assertion of the rights of literary property. Of golden-nested birds in heaven were singing; And with a lulling sound The music floats around, And drops like balm into the drowsy ear; Of the Sepoy's distant drum, The lizard with his mouse-like eyes, At such strange quiet after day's harsh din; ANNE CHARLOTTE BOTTA. ANNE C. LYNCH was born at Bennington, Vermont. Her father, at the age of sixteen, joined the United Irishmen of his native country, and was an active participant in the rebellion of 1798. He was offered pardon and a commission in the English army on the condition of swearing allegiance to the British government. On his refusal, he was imprisoned for four years, and then banished. He came to America, married, and died in Cuba during a journey undertaken for the benefit of his health, a few years after the birth of his daughter. After receiving an excellent education at a ladies' seminary in Albany, Miss Lynch removed to Providence, where she edited, in 1841, the Rhode Island Book, a tasteful selection from the writings of the authors of that state. She soon after came to the city of New York, where she has since resided. A collection of Miss Lynch's poems has been published in an elegant volume, illustrated by Durand, Huntington, Darley, and other leading American artists. Miss Lynch is also favorably known as a prose writer by her contributions of essays and tales to the magazines of the day. In 1855, iss Lynch was married to Mr. Vin. |