JULIA MAGRUDER [1854-1907] JULIA ELIZABETH W. P. LOMAX ULIA MAGRUDER was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, September 14, 1854. She was the daughter of Allen B. Magruder, a man of distinction both in law and in letters, and a niece of General John Bankhead Magruder, an officer of note both in the Army of the United States and that of the Confederate States. General Magruder, widely known in England and in America as "Prince John," became the darling of barrack and boudoir because of his skill as a raconteur of innumerable stories. After the Virginia household was closed, Miss Magruder's home was for some years with her sister, Mrs. Gibson, in North Carolina. Later in life she maintained an attractive home in Washington, D.C., though much of her time was spent abroad. She traveled extensively, but found time for long periods of rest with her friends. In Paris she was the guest of Madame Bunau-Varilla; in Scotland she visited at Inverlocky Castle in the North of Scotland, the home of her cousin, Lady Abinger, daughter of her uncle, George Magruder, who had formerly been a captain in the United States Navy; in Italy she sojourned with delight on beautiful Lake Maggiore, where her Virginia friend, the Princess Troubetskoy, had a summer home. It was on her native soil, however, that she died. This sad event occurred in St. Luke's Hospital, Richmond, Virginia, June 9, 1907; her body was brought to Charlottesville, Virginia, for burial; and after her wide wanderings over the earth, she sleeps not far from the spot where she was cradled. Death is but life's renewal, but the pause, From early girlhood she had written sketches and short-stories for magazines and newspapers, and was but seventeen years old when she made her initial success at literary work by winning a first prize for the best serial story in a competition inaugurated by the Baltimore Sun. It is said that no author can be understood until he creates his own atmosphere. Miss Magruder created hers in 1885, when her first serious work, 'Across the Chasm,' was published anonymously by the Scribners. This book was full of clever comedy, but it followed too close upon the fearful tragedy of civil conflict to elicit impartial judgment from North or South. Speaking of it, she herself once said: "The people of the North and the South look at things so differently." A British review, which had a long article on the subject under the head of American fiction, says: "It is a study of social conditions, perhaps one had better say of social conventions. And it is just. Rarely does one meet a book in which so burning a question is treated so fairly." Following the publication of 'Across the Chasm,' half a score of novels came from Miss Magruder's pen. She had learned the art of writing with unvarying regularity and thereby of producing copy very rapidly. 'At Anchor,' 'Honored in the Breach,' 'A Magnificent Plebeian,' 'The Violet,' 'A Beautiful Alien,' 'A Realized Ideal,' 'A Manifest Destiny,' and 'The Thousandth Woman' followed each other in rapid succession. In the preparation of these books she made but one copy of the manuscript, writing for the printer in her own hand. Her next book, 'The Princess Sonia,' was written at the rate of three hours a day for eighteen days and completed in fifty-four hours of work. Mr. Gilder of The Century Magazine requested that a copy of this manuscript be made for safety before he examined it. It was written in Paris while the author was on a visit to Amélie Rives, and was published first serially and afterward in book form by the Century Company. By many this is considered her strongest achievement in literature. As an offset to what she termed her "unpardonable rapid production," there were long periods, extending sometimes from a half to two thirds of a year, in which she did not write at all. Not long after 'The Princess Sonia' appeared, 'Dead Selves' and 'Struan,' the latter a favorite with the author, were written. Of 'Dead Selves' the London Saturday Review said in an article upon recent fiction: "It is so hard for the modern novelist of manners to bring originality into the drawing-room that we are not inclined. to be grudging in our praise of Miss Magruder's very original. and powerful story, which clearly proves her right to be included in the scanty handful of competent American novelists. The story she has to tell is one of entirely spiritual conflict and development, and it is by no means a compliment to her skill to say that she has told it without the smallest suggestion of sanctimonious sentiment. The moral intention of the book is obviously high, but Miss Magruder's art as a story-teller is so considerable that her book is a really remarkable instance of good intention joined to competent execution." As a writer of short stories Miss Magruder was thought by many to be at her best. A collection of these, published under the title of 'Miss Ayr of Virginia,' shows unusual versatility and artistic finish. The title of one of the sketches in this selection, "A New Thing Under the Sun," was suggested by Mr. F. Marion Crawford, who, in company with Miss Magruder, Amélie Rives, and others, visited Oberammergau in 1890. The facts upon which this story was based were related by Miss Magruder, whereupon Mr. Crawford responded: "Well, that is a new thing under the sun." As a writer of stories for children she was particularly successful in 'Child Sketches from George Eliot,' 'A Labor of Love,' 'The Child Amy,' etc. Miss Magruder was widely known in the United States as a woman of letters, and justly so, because of her painstaking care in whatever she was writing-novel, sonnet, sketch, or essay. She read and re-read the best authors, studying their writings with the keenest critical acumen, and gave to her own work her very best efforts. Her sane, sound, and wholesome personality was helpful to all with whom she came in intimate contact, and she delighted them by her accomplished conversation, instinct with a keen sense of the humorous, with ready wit, and with a catholic appreciation of the good, beautiful, and true wherever she found it. Her generosity to those in distress was unbounded, and her philosophy was that of high optimism. As her years advanced she became of a more serious and thoughtful nature and gave more time to the problems of the day. She manifested particular interest in the educational problems of the South and in the child-labor situation in North Carolina, a State she defended in a series of articles contributed to Collier's Weekly. During her last illness she completed the manuscript of a book, as yet unpublished, called, I think, 'The Mystery of a Man.' This she regarded as the mature work of her best years. About a year previous to her death, the French Government nominated Miss Magruder to the French Academy for the Order of Palms, a decoration bestowed upon those distinguished in the literary world and very rarely granted to any American writer. After a long delay, due to a change of cabinet in the French Administration, this decoration reached her in the last week of her life, and her last public act was in acknowledgment of its receipt. Shisabeth W. P. Comax BIBLIOGRAPHY Across the Chasm. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885. A Magnificent Plebeian. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1887. At Anchor. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1887. The Princess Sonia. New York, The Century Company, 1895. The Violet. New York, Longmans, Green and Company, 1895. Miss Ayr of Virginia and Other Stories. New York and Chicago, H. S. Stone and Company, 1896. A Realized Ideal. New York and Chicago, H. S. Stone and Company, 1898. Struan. Boston, Richard G. Badger and Company, 1898. A Labor of Love. Boston, Lothrop Publishing Company, 1898. A Beautiful Alien. Boston, Richard G. Badger, 1899. Honored in the Breach. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company. Dead Selves. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company. The Thousandth Woman. A Manifest Destiny. A STUDY OF SOCIAL CONVENTIONS From 'Across the Chasm.' Copyright, Charles Scribner's Sons, and used here by permission of the publishers. ON Christmas-eve, after dinner, as General and Mrs. Gaston, Miss Trevennon and Mr. Louis Gaston were seated around the drawing-room fire, a card of invitation was brought in by Thomas, and delivered to General Gaston. As he took it and scanned it through his glasses, a perceptible gleam of satisfaction came into his eyes, and he handed it to Mrs. Gaston, saying: "A card for General Morton's supper.' "Indeed!" returned his wife, with a reflection of his gratified expression. "Really, this is very kind." As she took the card and looked at it, Margaret surveyed her wonderingly. Turning her eyes away from her cousin's face, an instant later, she saw that Louis Gaston was regarding her with a sort of deprecating amusement. He was seated near to her, and so he alone distinguished her words, when she murmured, in an undertone: "How strange are the customs of France'!" She smiled as she said it, and Cousin Eugenia, who saw the smile, but missed the words she had uttered, said explainingly : "This supper of General Morton's is an annual affair. He has given one on New Year's night ever since he has been in Washington. They are limited to twenty-five gentlemen, and of course these are carefully selected. It is always the most recherché stag-party of the season, and one is sure of meeting there the most distinguished and agreeable people the city will afford. He has always been so kind in asking Edward, though of course the invitations are greatly in demand, and residents cannot always expect to receive them." Nothing further was said about the matter just then, but it was evident that this attention from General Morton had put Mrs. Gaston in unusually high spirits, and her husband, on his part, was scarcely less elated. A little later, when Louis and Margaret happened to be alone, the former said: "I wish you would tell me what it was that amused you |