STUDIED HUMAN NATURE. Mrs. Stuart was not a student of books, but of human nature and of personalities, and was particularly alive to original types. None of her characters were subtle, but were as sharply drawn as a cameo, and she did not permit attempts at brilliancy, at "fine writing," draw her away from the truth. Comedy is the prevailing note in her writings, but it is comedy not marred by melodrama-spontaneous and liquid. Pathos is used without ovedrawing it. Her favorite type was the "new issue" negro, the class that was trying to find itself after freedom. She depicted this character always lightly and humorously, and while not ignorant of the negro's defects and shortcomings, she was careful not to ridicule either him or the humble and illiterate class of hill people she drew so faithfully. Some of her humor was close to tears, but all of it was sparkling, truthful and sympathetic. One of her critics has said that while Mrs. Stuart was not the first to treat the negro in fiction, she was probably the first to show him in his home life independent of his relations with his white neighbors. In dialect she was sure of her ground, whether writing of the negro or of the Latin-Americans of New Orleans (French, Spanish or Italians) in the days when English was & language acquired by necessity, not through choice, or of the Latin-American negro, with his jargon of French and English, both of which he mispronounced and clipped. It is a notable characteristic of the writings of Mrs. Stuart that while most of her work was done in the North, she always wrote of Southern characters, adhering generally to the types. mentioned, though in her single long story, "Babette," she wrote conventionally an idyl of Creole life in New Orleans. In "The Unlived Life of Little Mary Ellen" she adopted a style radically different from her usual writings, and this work, meritorious after a somewwhat strained fashion, does not represent the general character of her work, though it is considered by some of the foremost critics to be her best work. CRITICS PRAISE HER WORK. Before she began writing Mrs. Stuart found a wealth of literary material going to waste, and she entered the field lovingly and enthusiastically. She was adapted by nature as a short story writer, and she almost invariably subordinated plot to persons and mental latitudes. Contemporary critics have accredited her with "wide human sympathy, broad sanity, keen and delicate humor and intellectual poise. Perhaps the best loved of her works are "In Simpkinsville." "Sonny" and "Napoleon Jackson." The Simpkinsville type of the backwoodsman is charmingly drawn with quiet but sparkling humor, while the monologues of Deuteronomy Jones, father of Sonny, are a continual delight. So human was the humor of Mrs. Stuart that while we laugh about the personality of Napoleon Jackson, the gentleman of the plush rocker, we rarely laugh at that worthless personage. The published works of Mrs. Stuart consist mainly of the following: "A Golden Wedding and Other Tales," "Carlotta's Intended and Other Stories," "The Story of Babette," "Sonny, ", "In "Solomon Crow's Christmas Packet and Other Tales, Simpkinsville," Moriah's Mourning and Other Half-Hour Sketches, "The Second Wooing of Salina Sue and Other Stories, "Holly and Pizen and Other Stories," "Napoleon Jackson, the Gentleman of the Plush Rocker," "The River's Children, an Idyl of the Mississippi, "Aunt Amity's Silver Wedding and Other Tales," "The Cocoon" (her latest published work), and in verse "Ole Daddy Do-Funny's Nonsense Jingles." Mrs. Stuart has secured an abiding place in the literature of the country as a delineator of negro character and customs, as well as of those of backwoods whites-that humble but sturdy race of men who for four years carried the fortunes of a newlyborn nation on the points of their bayonets. The dialect of her stories is not only captivating, it is real, which most dialect is not. In none of her writings did she strive for effect, and while she was not a depicter of character in the sense that she was an analyst, she was a character drawer in the sense that Dickens and Mark Twain were, getting the effect by a few bold strokes rather than by studied effort and detail in drawing. In other words, she allowed her characters to present themselves to the reader and confess their own characters. Such was the man Napoleon Jackson, whose mother prenatally "marked him for rest," and such were her other characters. 'Sonny," one of the most fascinating characters in American literature, was presented in such outline by his "Hillbilly" father, Deuteronomy Jones, that the reader knew the lad's character perhaps better than he did himself. 66 During her extended visit to this city in the winter of 1913-14, Mrs. Stuart founded the Stuart Clan, the only New Orleans. club of which she was an officer. This organization, composed of over a score of intellectual women, elected Mrs. Stuart permanent president, and she presided at all the meetings of that season. and favored the sessions with original readings. The farewell luncheon given in her honor by the Stuart Clan at the new Country Club early in June, 1915, was a memorable social event in this city. On that occasion a hand-wrought and hand-carved chest was presented her by the club members to contain the degree conferred upon her contemporaneously by Tulane University. The last letter penned by the authoress during her long illness was to the vice president of the club. The club was grief-stricken over the news of their beloved president's death, and has telegraphed an order for flowers and sent dispatches of sympathy, both as an organization and individually. In New York Mrs. Stuart was identified with the Barnard, McDowell and Wednesday Afternoon clubs. ANNUAL REPORT OF TREASURER W. O. HART FOR 1917. RECEIPTS. December 31, 1916, balance cash on hand... $ 150.31 August, 1917, sundry expenses... Binding Souvenir Books for War Libraries... Total disbursements Balance cash on hand.. 56.40 .$ 53.98 65.00 21.75 140.73 $ 803.58 396.34 There were no receipts in September, October or December, and no disbursements in September, October or November. REPORT OF ROBERT GLENK, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN. At the meeting of the Society on February 21, 1917, the regular meeting date was changed from the third Wednesday to the third Tuesday of each month. During the year 1917 ten monthly meetings were held and two special lectures were given by the Society, as follows: MEETINGS AND LECTURES. January 17-Purnell M. Milner, Forgotten Treks. March 21-Miss Grace King, Boimare's Notes Bibliographiques. April 17-S. A. Trufant, Review of Banking in New Orleans, 1830-1840. May 15-Mrs. H. F. Magruder, Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Old and New, and Its People. T. P. Thompson, The U. S. Flag and the Designation of the June 19-Colonel Allison Owen, History of the Washington Ar tillery. July 17-Doctor Joseph Holt, Review of Colonel Owen's Paper on the History of the Washington Artillery. Professor Henry M. Gill, The War. October 16-Joe Mitchell Pilcher, The Story of Marksville. November 27-Miss Grace King, The True History of Philip Nolan. December 18-W. O. Hart, History of the First Protestant Church in New Orleans. J. F. C. Waldo, Story of the Unitarian Church in New Or December 21- Edward A. Parsons, In the Path of the Black Eagle. Illustrated. The Executive Committee met twelve times during the year. On January 8th, the Annual Reunion Dinner of the Louisiana Historical Society took place in the Gold Room of the Grunewald Hotel, about 130 members and friends of the Society participating. The excellent menu and well-filled program of speeches and singing were greatly enjoyed by all present. Mr. W. O. Hart was toastmaster of the occasion. On October 24th, at 1 o'clock, at the City Hall and in the Council Chamber, took place a reception and ceremonies commemorative of the ceremonies taking place this day in Paris and preliminary to the Biennial Bi-Centennial Celebration in New Orleans in April, 1918. The program, which was preceded by a concert on the City Hall gallery by the United States Naval Station Band, was as follows: The invocation, by Rev. A. Gordon Bakewell; address of welcome, by Mayor Behrman, and replied to by Mr. Gaspar Cusachs; speech, by Mr. E. Genoyer, acting Consul of French Republic, "America and France"; paper on Bienville, by Miss Grace King; outline of the Bi-Centennial program prepared for the celebration in New Orleans in April, by Mr. T. P. Thompson; song, "La Marsellaise," Miss Anita Deynoodt; song, "Joan of Arc," Miss Constance Ray; song, "The Call of the Flag," Mr. Charles Dorhauer; song, "The Star-Spangled Banner," led by Miss Rose Dirmann; Salute to the Flag, led by Mrs. C. Hamilton Tebault, and benediction, by Rev. J. B. Jeanmard. Mr. W. O. Hart was master of ceremonies. A large and brilliant gathering attended the ceremonies. The delegates sent by the City of New Orleans to Paris to attend the ceremonies taking place there on the same date were: General W. J. Behan, J. M. Vergnole, Andre Lafargue, Paul Villere. MEMBERSHIP. Seventy-nine applicants were elected to active membership in the Society-fifty-two gentlemen and twenty-seven ladies. During the year there were twenty-five resignations and seventeen deaths from among the members. The net increase in membership for 1917 is thirty-seven active members, making a total of 625 active members and thirteen honorary members on the roster of the Society on January 1, 1918. Death has removed the following esteemed members during the year 1917: DEATHS IN 1917. Mr. Dudley Avery, |