Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/810

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WRIGHT.
WRIGHT.
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sixteen, when she made a romantic marriage by running away with Hinton Wright. Mr. Wright was the son of a prominent lawyer, Judge W. F. Wright, a gentleman distinguished for his scholarly attainments. MARIE ROBINSON WRIGHT. Being a bright, ambitious girl, she studied law with her husband, and sat by his side when he passed his final examination for the bar. She was blessed with two children, a daughter and a promising son. Loss of fortune followed soon after her marriage. Reared in the greatest affluence and trained to the old-fashioned southern idea that a woman should never venture outside the shelter of home in quest of a career, it was a cruel struggle to her when she realized that she would be compelled to go out into the hard and untried world to earn a living for herself and little ones. She was too proud, as well as too delicately reared, to go into any of the few situations, mostly menial, open to women at that time. Without preparation she launched into journalism. Her first work was done for the "Sunny South," a literary weekly published in Atlanta, Ga. She was immediately engaged upon that paper, and served it with marked ability for several years. She has been in newspaper work for eight years, and has been regularly connected with the New York "World" for three years. She has used her pen so that she has earned a handsome support for herself and children. She has been a hard-working woman. Her special line, descriptive writing and articles on new sections of the country, has called for a peculiar order of mind and character. As special correspondent of the New York "World" in that department, she has traveled from the British Provinces to Mexico. One of her noteworthy achievements during 1892 was her superb descriptive article of eight pages in the "World" on Mexico, supplemented by a handsomely illustrated souvenir on that romantic and interesting country. She is a member of several press clubs and literary societies. She was sent to Paris as commissioner from the Stale of Georgia to the exposition. While she has been absorbed in her regular work, she has occasionally contributed to other papers and magazines. Her home is now in New York City.


WYLIE, Mrs. Lollie Belle, journalist and poet, was born at Bayou Coden, near Mobile, Ala. Her maiden name was Moore. From Alabama her parents moved to Arkansas. As the father died when she was five months old, she was reared by her maternal grandfather, William D. Ellis, residing always in Georgia, chiefly in Atlanta. Between that fine old gentleman and herself there existed a congeniality rare and delightful. It was he who fostered in the girl those distinguishing traits for which to-day her friends admire the woman, the tastes and culture which places upon her lifework the crown of success. At seventeen, she became the wife of Hart Wylie. During the next nine years of domestic quiet it never occurred to her that she had talents lying dormant, except for occasional verse written for her own amusement. Those beautiful years of dreaming closed sadly in the lingering illness of the young husband. Want soon thrust its shadow across the threshold of the home. What to do to protect from need those three dearest to her, husband and two baby girls, was the problem presented for solution. She could think of no talent, no gilt of hers that might be turned to account, save her little verses. The sudden thought brought help. The waifs were quickly collected, and a friendly publisher agreed to bring out the small book. Several hundred volumes were immediately sold, paying the expenses of publication and relieving the pressing necessities of the household, but the first copy was placed on the young wife's desk while the husband lay sleeping through death's earliest hour. Two days later Mr. Hoke Smith, president of the Atlanta "Journal." offered her the place of society