Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/346

 more solid order. The sisters were twin souls, and very happy together, "making out," as Charlotte Bronte says, the plan of a story or poem by their own bright fireside in winter, or under the delicious moonlight of a summer evening in Ohio. A position was offered them on a periodical in Detroit, and they removed to Michigan. This did not prove remunerative, and was abandoned. By any by came marriage, and the sisters were separated, Metta going to New York, where she led a busy life. Their husbands were brothers. Frances married Henry C. Victor, a naval engineer, who came to California under orders in 1863. Mrs. Victor accompanied him. . . . At San Francisco, she found the government paying in greenbacks. To make up for the loss of income something must be done. So she wrote for the Bulletin city editorials and a series of society articles, under the nom de plume of "Florence Fane", which were continued for nearly two years, and elicited much pleasant comment by their humorous hits, even the revered pioneers not being spared. About the time the war closed, Mr. Victor resigned and went to Oregon, where, early in 1865, Mrs. Victor followed him, and was quickly captivated by the novelty, romance, and grandeur of the wonderful north-west. Her letters in the Bulletin, articles in the Overland Monthly, and her books, All Over Oregon and Washington and The River of the West, with other writings, show how cordially she entered into the exploration of a fresh field. In 1878 she accepted a hint from me, and came readily to my assistance, with greater enthusiasm than one less acquainted with her subject could be expected to feel. In ability, conscientiousness, and never-ceasing interest and faithfulness Mrs. Victor was surpassed by none.

Joseph Gaston, who, as a writer himself of thick books of history, could sympathetically measure her ability and her energy, said of her in The Centennial History of Oregon:

Frances Fuller Victor fills a large page in Oregon history,