Page:Representative American plays.pdf/404



Leonora or The World's Own represents the movement in the late fifties which, under the encouragement of managers like the elder Wallack and Laura Keene, brought into the theatre pieces of significant dramatic literature. Unfortunately, this movement was checked by the Civil War, and by the system of travelling companies for which Boucicault was responsible. The play represents also the work of that group of writers, centered in Boston and distinguished in other fields, of which Mrs. Howe was a part, even although she was not of New England origin.

Julia Ward Howe was born in New York City, May 27, 1819, the daughter of Samuel Ward, a leading New York banker. Her family on both sides went back to Revolutionary stock. She was interested in plays from early childhood, writing a drama at the age of nine. Her education, nominally completed at sixteen, but really only then beginning, was wide and thorough, especially in languages. Her social life in New York was a broad one, and early in her career she was brought into relations with the New England group. In 1843 she married Samuel Gridley Howe, Director of the Perkins Institution for the Blind, the first to teach a blind deaf mute, Laura Bridgman, and a leader in the cause of Grecian independence. After a European trip, they settled in Boston, with which her future life is definitely associated. Her first volume of poems, Passion Flowers, was published in 1853, and in 1857 a second, Words for the Hour, followed. A Trip to Guha (1859) reflected her experiences there. Her greatest contribution was of course The Battle Hymn of the Republic, which appeared on the front page of the Atlantic Monthly for February, 1862. The inspiration came to her at night and, rising, she traced the lines roughly for fear they would escape. In the morning, before looking at her notes she found that every line had left her memory. Later Lyrics, her third volume of poems, appeared in 1865, and in 1867 she went to Greece to help the Cretans, studying Greek at the same time. In 1868 she helped to found the first Woman's Club in New England. In 1876 her husband died and the remainder of her long life was devoted to woman's interests and to social betterment. In 1898, her last volume of poems, From Sunset Ridge, appeared and in 1899 her Reminiscences. She died October 17, 1910.

She was dramatic by nature and her whole existence was a struggle against the oppression of others and for what she considered to be right. Her interest