Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/388

Rh and in her portraits of older people has worked for natural and at the same time slightly idealized results.

It is in her portraits of children that she especially excels: children, feeling that she understands them and sympathizes with them, are at ease with her. She sometimes uses a simple flat lighting, suggesting Boutet de Monvel's pictures of children. Her best portraits are noticeable for their unstudied pose, softness of outline, and interesting lighting, an excellent example being a picture of an old lady seated by a window, the play of light and shade over her face softening it very charmingly.

Miss Pilsbury has made a distinct advance each year in the character of her work. She is not content to stand still or to follow in one beaten track. This spirit of experiment and revolt from the conventional has made her work uneven. She has perhaps attempted more than she could carry out, for a lens has many limitations. But the mistakes she has made have been just so many encouraging signs of progress. In the end she has gained.

Miss Pilsbury is a member of the Arts and Crafts Society of Boston. She has exhibited in the Photographic Salon of Philadelphia, in the Salon of the Linked Ring in London, and in several other cities.

OSEPHINE ROACHE was born in the pretty village of Beaver River, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, in the country of Evangeline, June 25, 1845. Her father, Israel Roache, was born in Granville, N.S., being a son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Ricketson) Roache.

His father, Frederick Roache, a native and lifelong resident of Granville, died at the age of ninety on the farm that had been his home for many years. He was a man of independent opinions, taking an active interest in public affairs and in promoting the welfare of the village. His ancestors came to America from Waterford, Ireland, in the early part of the eighteenth century.

Israel Roache's mother was a refined and delicate woman. Her ancestors went to Nova Scotia from Virginia before the breaking out of the Revolution, doubtless leaving some of their kinsfolk in that State, as the name Ricketson, it is said, is still known in the South.

The maiden name of Josephine Roache's mother was Almira Corning. Her earliest ancestor in America, Samuel Corning, who arrived in Salem, Mass., as early as 1638, was among the founders of Beverly, where there is now Corning Street, named for the family. Her father, Daniel Corning, was one of the first settlers of Beaver River, having left Beverly some years before the Revolution. Her mother, Mrs. Abigail Perry Corning, also belonged to a family that went from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia before the Revolution.

Mr. and Mrs. Israel Roache, wishing to educate their children in the United States, the public school system not then having been introduced into the British Provinces, came to Salem, Mass., when Josephine, the eldest child, was six years old. At the breaking out of the Civil War Mr. Roache enlisted in the Thirty-fifth (Massachusetts) Regiment. He was in the battles and campaigns shared by the Ninth Army Corps, at South Mountain, Antietam, and later in the battles of the Wilderness; and at the battle of Cold Harbor he was taken prisoner, and, after a short confinement at Libby Prison, was sent to Andersonville, where he died in 1864.

Josephine Roache received her education in Massachusetts schools. Her first teaching was in Danversport, whither the family had removed after a few years' sojourn in Salem. Later she taught in Salem, Danvers, and Lynn, being connected over twenty years with the Lynn schools. Since leaving public school work, she has conducted classes in literature and current events in Lynn, Salem, and Danvers, and has been a prominent member in the Lynn Women's Club and the Outlook Club. She has also lectured before many clubs in New England.

From early childhood her love for good literature has increased year by year. Her influence in guiding the literary taste of the high school pupils who came under her teaching was a strong one, the result being that, as college professors have given testimony,