loveliness. "Ramona," says Helen J. Cone in an essay about American literature, "stands as the most finished, though not the most striking, example that what American women have done notably in literature they have done nobly."
The various works of Constance Fenimore Woolson, a grand-niece of Fenimore Cooper, also enjoyed general approval. In her best known novels: "East Angels," "Jupiter Lights," and "Horace Chase" she attained a high standard of excellence.
Frances Hodgson Burnett created in her book "Through One Administration" a pathetic story of the intricate political life in Washington. Furthermore she gave in "Louisiana" and in "The Pretty Sister of José" charming pictures of Southern conditions.
Mrs. Burton N. Harrison and Edith Wharton delighted their many readers with highly interesting novels and short stories of New York City Life, full of local color. Of the former author's works "The Anglomaniacs," "Golden Rod," and "The Circle of a Century" show her great skill in the dialogue. Of the many novels and short stories of Miss Wharton "The House of Mirth," "The Greater Inclination," "Sanctuary." and "Crucial Instances" are perhaps the best.
Among the American novelists of our present days Margaret Deland is without question one of the most popular. Her novels "John Ward," "Sidney," "Tommy Dove," "Philip and His Wife," "The Wisdom of Fools," "Dr. Lavendar's People," and "The Awakening of Helen Richie" rank among the best in American fiction.
The literary work of Anna Katherine Green, Kate Douglas Wiggins, Molly Elliot Seawell, Ellen Glasgow, Mary Shipman Andrews, Leona Dalrymple, Margaret Sherwood, and many other woman authors, excellent as much as it is, can only be referred to summarily.
To enrol the names of those American women who since the days of Anne Bradstreet have expressed their thoughts and emotions in poetry, would be a task far exceeding the limits of this volume. Confining ourselves to the most note-worthy, we mention first the sisters Alice and Phœbe Cary, Among their many splendid poems and novels "Hualco, a Romance of the Golden Age of Tezcuco," is founded upon adventures of a young Mexican chief, as related by several Spanish historians of the time of the conquest. Of Alice Cary exist several hymns, one of which is almost a classic in the purity of its sentiment.
The poetic spirit of Julia Ward Howe found expression in "Passion Flowers" (1854) and "Lyrics" (1866). Her most memorable poem is the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," which breathes fervent patriotism and gives expression to the deep moral purpose of the Civil War.
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