The Female Prose Writers of America/Caroline Gilman
CAROLINE GILMAN.
Of our living authoresses, no one has been so long before the public, and at the same time retained her place so entirely in its affections, as Mrs. Caroline Gilman.
Her first publications, which were poems, commenced as early as 1810. Among these, “Jephthah’s Rash Vow,” and “Jairus’ Daughter,” attracted particular attention. Her importance as a prose writer begins with the “Southern Rose Bud,” a weekly juvenile paper, which she began in 1832, and continued for seven years. This miscellany contains a large amount of valuable literature, and is especially rich in contributions from Mrs. Gilman’s own pen. Her other publications have been as follows: “Recollections of a New England Housekeeper,” “Recollections of a Southern Matron” (both running through a large number of editions), “Ruth Raymond; or Love’s Progress,” “Poetry of Travelling,” “Tales and Ballads,” “Letters of Eliza Wilkinson” (written during the invasion of Charleston by the British), “Verses of a Lifetime,” “The Oracles from the Poets,” “The Sibyl,” and several juvenile books now collected under the general title of “Mrs. Gilman’s Gift.”
The following graceful piece of autobiography will serve the double purpose of a specimen of her style, and a narrative of her life.