Page:Maria Felicia.pdf/13

 by her nation as a woman, a literary artist, and a patriot.

The most notable feature of her works is her masterly portrayal of woman craving for light and liberty. Her peasants also are portrayed to the life, for she studied them most carefully. And this suggests the origin of her pseudonym. In the village of Světlá, her husband’s early home, Madame Mužák so studied the peasants and the folk-lore that the spirit of the place has been embodied in her stories, and she so loved the place that she adopted its name. She now begins to experience the weariness and exhaustion of old age, but her spirit is cheered by the oft-expressed gratitude and admiration of her fellow patriots.