History of American Literature Part 47

Humorist. _Farmers' Allminax_, _Every Boddy's Friend_, _Josh Billings'

Spice Box_.

SHEA, JOHN DAWSON GILMARY (1824-1892), b. New York, N. Y. Editor, historian. _Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley_, _History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the United States_, _History of the Catholic Church in the United States_, and many other historical and religious studies.

SHERMAN, FRANK DEMPSTER (1860-1916), b. Peekskill, N.Y. Professor of architecture, poet. _Madrigals and Catches_, _Lyrics for a Lute_, _Lyrics of Joy_.

s.h.i.+LLABER, BENJAMIN P. ("Mrs. Partington") (1814-1890), b. Portsmouth, N.

H. Humorist of Mrs. Malaprop's style, mistaking words of similar sounds but dissimilar sense. _Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington_, _Partingtonian Patchwork_, _Ike and his Friend_.

SMITH, SAMUEL F. (1808-1895), b. Boston, Ma.s.s. Clergyman. Author of our national poem, _America_. Of him, Holmes wrote, "Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith."

SPARKS, JARED (1789-1866), b. Willington, Conn. Unitarian minister and historian. _Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution_, _The Writings of George Was.h.i.+ngton_, _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_.

SPOFFORD, HARRIET PRESCOTT (1835- ), b. Calais, Maine. Novelist, poet.

_The Amber G.o.ds and Other Stories_, _New England Legends_, _Poems_.

STEDMAN, EDMUND CLARENCE (1833-1908), b. Hartford, Conn. Poet, critic. One of America's fairest critics. Did valuable work in compiling and criticizing modern English and American literature. _A Victorian Anthology_, _An American Anthology_, _Victorian Poets_, _Poets of America_.

Co-editor of _Library of American Literature_ in eleven large octavo volumes.

STOCKTON, FRANK R. (1834-1902), b. Philadelphia, Pa. Novelist and humorist.

His novels have a farcical humor, due to ridiculous situations and absurdities, treated in a mock-serious vein. _The Lady or the Tiger?_ _The Late Mrs. Null_, _The Casting away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Ales.h.i.+ne_, _The Hundredth Man_.

STODDARD, CHARLES WARREN (1843-1909), b. Rochester, N.Y. Author, educator, traveler. _South Sea Idyls_, _Lepers of Molokai_, _Poems_.

STODDARD, RICHARD HENRY (1825-1903), b. Hingham, Ma.s.s. Journalist, editor, poet. _Songs of Summer_, _Abraham Lincoln: a Horatian Ode_, _The Lion's Cub_.

STORY, WILLIAM WETMORE (1819-1895), b. Salem, Ma.s.s. Sculptor, author. _Roba di Roma_, or _Walks and Talks about Rome_, _Poems_, _Conversations in a Studio_, _Excursions in Art and Letters_.

SUMNER, CHAS. (1811-1874), b. Boston, Ma.s.s. Noted anti-slavery statesman.

His published speeches and orations fill fifteen volumes.

TAYLOR, BAYARD (1825-1878), b. Kennett Square, Chester Co., Pa. Extensive traveler, wrote twelve different volumes of travels, the first being _Views Afoot, or Europe Seen with Knapsack and Staff_ (1846). He wrote also much poetry. Among the best of his shorter poems are _The Bedouin Song_, _Nubia_, and _The Song of the Camp. Lars: a Pastoral of Norway_ is his best long poem. The work by which he will probably remain longest known in literature is his excellent translation of Goethe's _Faust_.

THAXTER, CELIA LAIGHTON (1836-1894), b. Portsmouth, N.H. Spent most of life upon Isles of Shoals. Artist, author. _Poems_ (Appledore Edition, 1896).

Best single poem, _The Sandpiper_.

THOMAS, EDITH MATILDA (1854- ), b. Chatham, Ohio. Poet. _A New Year's Masque, A Winter Swallow, and Other Verse, Fair Shadow Land, Lyrics and Sonnets_.

TICKNOR, GEORGE (1791-1871), b. Boston, Ma.s.s. _A History of Spanish Literature_.

TORREY, BRADFORD (1843-1912), b. Weymouth, Ma.s.s. Nature writer. _Birds in the Bush_, _The Footpath Way_, _Footing it in Franconia_. Editor of Th.o.r.eau's _Journal_.

TOURGEE, ALBION W. (1838-1905), b. Williamsfield, Ohio. Educated in New York. Soldier, judge, novelist of the reconstruction period. _A Fool's Errand_, _Bricks without Straw_.

TROWBRIDGE, JOHN TOWNSEND (1827-1916), b. Ogden, N.Y. Editor, novelist, poet, juvenile writer. _My Own Story_ (biography) Among his stories for young people are _The Drummer Boy_, _The Prize Cup_, _The Tide-Mill Stories._ Best known poem, _The Vagabonds_.

VAN d.y.k.e, HENRY (1852- ), b. Germantown, Pa. Clergyman, professor, essayist, poet. _The Builders and Other Poems_, _Fisherman's Luck and Some Other Uncertain Things_, _The Story of the Other Wise Man_. An interesting, optimistic philosopher, and lover of nature, whose works deserve the widest reading.

WARD, ARTEMUS. See BROWNE, CHARLES F.

WARD, ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS (1844-1911), b. Boston, Ma.s.s. Novelist. _The Gates Ajar_, _The Story of Avis_, _A Singular Life_.

WARNER, CHARLES DUDLEY (1829-1900), b. Plainfield, Ma.s.s. Traveler, journalist, essayist. Wrote the _Editor's Drawer_ and _Editor's Study of Harper's Magazine. My Summer in a Garden_ and _Backlog Studies_ are delightful for their subtle humor and style. He wrote many entertaining books of travel, such as _Saunerings_, _In the Levant_, _My Winter on the Nile_, _Baddeck and that Sort of Thing._ He wrote _The Gilded Age_ in collaboration with Mark Twain.

WEBSTER, NOAH (1758-1843), b. Hartford, Conn. Philologist. Published in 1783 his famous _Speller_, which superseded _The New England Primer_, and which almost deserves to be called "literature by reason of its admirable fables." More than sixty million copies of this _Speller_ have been sold.

WESTCOTT, EDWARD NOYES (1847-1898), b. Syracuse, N. Y. Banker, author of one remarkable novel which was published posthumously, _David Harum_, a story of central New York.

WHARTON, EDITH (1862- ), b. New York, N. Y. Essayist, novelist. Her fiction deals largely with modern society problems. She treats subtle psychological questions with especial skill in the short story. _The Valley of Decision_, _Crucial Instances_, _The House of Mirth_, _The Fruit of the Tree_, _Italian Backgrounds._

WHIPPLE, EDWIN PERCY (1819-1886), b. Gloucester, Ma.s.s. Critic, essayist.

_Essays and Reviews_, _American Literature and Other Papers_, _Recollections of Eminent Men._

WHITCHER, FRANCES ("Widow Bedott") (1811-1852), b. Whitestown, N. Y.

Humorist. _The Widow Bedott Papers._

WHITNEY, ADELINE b.u.t.tON TRAIN (1824-1906), b. Boston, Ma.s.s. Poet, novelist, and writer of juvenile stories. _Faith Gartney's Girlhood, We Girls, Boys at Chequa.s.set, Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life, Poems._

WIGGIN, KATE DOUGLAS (Mrs. Riggs) (1857- ), b. Philadelphia, Pa.

Novelist and writer on kindergarten subjects. Author of _The Bird's Christmas Carol, Timothy's Quest, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Penelope's Progress, A Cathedral Courts.h.i.+p._ Pathos, humor, and sympathy for the poor, the weak, and the helpless are characteristic qualities of her work. There are few better children's stories than the first two mentioned.

WILLIAMS, ROGER (1604?-1683), b. probably in London. Founder of Rhode Island. The first great preacher of "soul liberty" in America. _The b.l.o.o.d.y Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience Discussed_, _The b.l.o.o.d.y Tenent yet More b.l.o.o.d.y_.

WILLIS, N.P. (1806-1867), b. Portland, Maine. Traveler, prose writer, poet, editor. While his work has proved ephemeral, he taught many writers of his day the necessity of artistic finish in their prose. His prose _Letters from under a Bridge_, and his poems, _Parrhasius_ and _Unseen Spirits_, may be mentioned.

WINSOR, JUSTIN (1831-1897), b. Boston, Ma.s.s. Librarian at Harvard, historian, editor of _Narrative and Critical History of America_. Author of _The Mississippi Basin: the Struggle in America between England and France, 1697-1763_; _The Westward Movement, 1763-1798_; _Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution_, _Christopher Columbus_.

WINTER, WILLIAM (1836- ), b. Gloucester, Ma.s.s. Dramatic editor of the New York _Tribune_ from 1865 to 1909. Edited numbers of plays. Author of _Shakespeare's England_, _Gray Days and Gold_, _Life and Art of Edwin Booth_, _Wanderers_ (poems).

WINTHROP, THEODORE (1828-1861), b. New Haven, Conn. Novelist. His best story, _John Brent_, contains some of his western experiences.

WISTER, OWEN (1860- ), b. Philadelphia, Pa. Lawyer and novelist. Gives realistic pictures of the middle West. _New Swiss Family Robinson, The Dragon of Wantley, Red Men and White, Lin McLean, Lady Baltimore_, and _The Virginian_.

WOODBERRY, GEO. E. (1855- ), b. Beverly, Ma.s.s. Educator, author of excellent biographies of Poe, Hawthorne, and Emerson. _America in Literature_, _Poems_.

WOOLSON, CONSTANCE FENIMORE (1848-1894), b. Claremont, N. H. Novelist. Best novel, _Horace Chase_. Some of her other novels are _Castle Nowhere, Anne, East Angels, Jupiter Lights, The Old Stone House_.

SOUTHERN AUTHORS

ALSOP, GEORGE (1638-?), b. England. Published in 1666 an entertaining volume, _A Character of the Province of Maryland_.

AUDUBON, JOHN J. (1780-1851), b. near New Orleans, La. Noted ornithologist and painter of birds. Published _Birds of America_ at one thousand dollars a copy and _Ornithological Biography_ in 5 vols.

AZARIAS, BROTHER. See MULLANY, P. F.

BURNETT, FRANCES HODGSON (1849- ), b. Manchester, Eng. Anglo-American novelist. _Little Lord Fauntleroy_, _That La.s.s o' Lowrie's_, _Haworth's_, _A Fair Barbarian_, _A Lady of Quality_.

CALHOUN, JOHN C. (1782-1850), b. Abbeville District, S.C. Statesman, orator. Best work, _Disquisition on Government and Discourse on the Const.i.tution and Government of the United States_. Best speech, _Nullification and the Force Bill_ (1833).