Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/882

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Women in Professions
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called "Fighting Hill." Her mother was Sallie Rogers Ragland Wilson, a descendant of James Wilson, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Mrs. O'Malley has illustrated many of her husband's poems, and is a composer of music, and has written quite a number of songs. She is also author of several novels, among them "The Boys of the Prairie," "An Heir of Dreams."

MARY BOYLE O'REILLY.

Was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 18, 1873; was prison commissioner for Massachusetts at one time and trustee of the Children's Institution Department of Boston ; founder of the Guild of St. Elizabeth; contributor to the Catholic World, Harper's Magazine and New England Magazine; is editorial writer for the Boston Transcript; prominent in many of the philanthropic associations of Boston and the state of Massachusetts.

ELEANOR R. PARKER.

Was born in Bedford, Kentucky, March 2, 1874. Daughter of William and Eliza Reordan Parker. Her family was prominent in North Carolina. Her mother was a writer of some distinction, and one of the pioneers in the movement for domestic science; was one of the editors of the Woman's Home Companion for several years. She is a contributor to Donahoe's, New Orleans Times-Democrat, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Home Companion, and is the editor of the women's page in the Western Watchman.

HARRIET PRESCOTT SPOFFORD.

Born in Calais, Maine, April 3, 1835, but her parents removed, when she was quite young, to Newburyport Massachusetts which has since been her home. Her father was Joseph N. Prescott. Her essay on Hamlet when she was a student in the school at Newburyport attracted the attention of James Wentworth Higginson, who interested himself in her career. Both of her parents became helpless invalids, which made it necessary for her to early take up a literary career, and she began by contributions to the Boston papers. In 1859 her story of Parisian life, entitled "In a Cellar," brought her into immediate prominence in the literary world, and the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, James Russell Lowell, was so impressed by her ability that from that day she was a well-known contributor of both prose a.id poetry to not only the Atlantic Monthly, but the chief periodicals of the country. In 1865 she married Richard S. Spofford, a lawyer of Boston. Among her works are "Sir Rohan's Ghost," "The Amber Gods," "The Thief in the Night," "Azarian," "New England Legends," "Art Decoration Applied to Furniture," "The Marquis of Carabas," "Hester Stanley at St. Mark's," "The Servant Girl Question" and "Ballads About Authors."

AUGUSTA J. EVANS WILSON.

Mrs. Wilson won literary fame as the author of "Beulah." She was born near Columbus, Georgia, in 1836. Her family lived for a short time in Texas, and later