Woman of the Century/Sara Jeannette Duncan Cotes

COTES, Mrs. Sara Jeannette Duncan, author and journalist, born in Brentford, Ontario, Canada, in 1862. She is most widely known by her maiden name, Sara Jeannette Duncan. Her PHŒBE COUZINS. father, Charles Duncan, is a merchant of Brantford and a man of wide information and keen intelligence. Her mother is a quick-witted Irish woman. As a child, Miss Duncan was an earnest reader. She received her education in the public schools and collegiate institute of her native town. She fitted herself for a public school-teacher and taught in the Brentford schools for a short time; the work was not congenial, however, and she soon relinquished it. She early began to write verse and prose, and after the usual discouragements she decided to make journalism a stepping-stone to literature. Her first newspaper work was in the year of the Cotton Centennial in New Orleans, whither she went to write descriptive letters for the Toronto "Globe." the Buffalo "Courier," the Memphis "Appeal" and other newspapers. After that she went to Washington. D. C, and became a member of the editorial staff of the Washington "Post." Her newspaper experience, especially that in Washington, was of great service to her. Her "copy" was freely and even severely criticised by the editor of the "Post," with the result of improving her manner of writing. Leaving Washington, she joined the staff of the Toronto "Globe," and later that of the Montreal "Star," passing one season in Ottawa as the special correspondent of the "Star." She made a hit with her unconventional book of travels, entitled "A Social Departure; or How Orthodocia and I went Round the World by Ourselves." Her companion on that journey, whom she calls "Orthodocia," was Miss Lily Lewis, a young woman engaged in literary and journalistic work, a contributor to "Galignani" and several London journals. Her next book was "An American Girl in London." On her trip around the earth Miss Duncan met E. C. Cotes in Calcutta, India, and she became his wife within two years after their first meeting. Professor Cotes has a scientific appointment in connection with the Indian Museum, and has acquired considerable reputation in the field of his special research, Indian entomology. They make their home in Calcutta, India.