M' GRACE HIBBARD. RS. GRACE HIBBARD is the daughter of the late L. Porter, D. D., a Massachusetts clergyman, and a descendant of an old English family. She was born in a suburb of the city of Boston, and there received her education. Her early life was spent in New England, where, at her father's knee when still a child, she learned the Hebrew and Greek alphabet long before she learned the English. At an early age she was graduated from a young ladies' college near Boston. Soon after she was graduated her father removed to Chicago, where after a short time he died. Mrs. Hibbard has spent the last few years in Colorado and California, and she has made a number of trips to Mexico, where she studied the Mexican character, which she has portrayed in her writings. Her first literary work appeared in the Springfield, Mass., Republican, and since then she has been a contributor to many of the leading magazines and papers of America. In short stories and ballads she excels. One short sketch, "Bummer and Lazarus,” a story of San Francisco, was translated into the German and printed in one of the leading papers published in the German language. Not long ago she received for the best short poem, from a leading Eastern magazine a prize that was offered by the publishers. A unique literary effort from her pen was a complete novel of 100 words only, published in Belford's Magazine. Her short poems have won her a reputation on the Pacific Coast. One of the papers to recognize her merit as such a writer was the Morning Call of San Francisco, which did much to encourage her in developing her talent. Many of her Pacific Coast poems have been copied into the prominent papers of the United States. She is a good conversationalist. In person she is small, is fair, and has large blue eyes. About three years ago she was married at Colorado Springs, Col., to Dr. Hibbard, of Denver. O. C. A. Do you grow from seeds of bright gold That are hidden away from sight? Are you stars come down from the sky That shine in the radiant light? Are you golden cups o'erflowing With jewels of rain-drop and dew? Why are you so constant-hearted? To the State that has chosen you? With gold you carpet the meadows, Like the gold-paved "Land of the Blest." Wild poppies-the flower emblem Of the State of "The Golden West." SUSPENSE. THE sky and the sea like two nuns And like a black cross seem the masts Is it coming, coming to me This heavy black cross? Shall the hopes and joys of my life Suffer pitiful shipwreck and loss? The ship like a bird on the wing, Alas! it is coming, it tacks, Oh! thank God it is sailing away. A CIGERETTE. THE day is dying. In the western sky The sun still lingers, brightness lies on waves, A tiny thing from Egypt far, and yet, As does the vision, and-the cigarette. BLUEBELLS. THE unseen fingers of the air Set all the bluebells ringing. My thoughts like birds that homeward fly, Across the sea went winging. To "banks and braes" where bluebells grow, UP FROM THE SEA. WRAPPED in the cold, silver mist so white, Up from the sea come the silent dead; Through streets of the city with noiseless tread, They wander together-'tis All Souls' Night. One looks in the window, where long ago Beloved at the hearthstone she had a place, And she gazes long at a manly face. "I love you, my husband," she murmurs low. Men shuddering hurry along the street; They shiver at touch of the cold white mist, And they long for the morning's warm sunlight; They know not 'tis spirit they love they meet, They feel a horror they cannot resist, Forgetting, alas! it is All Souls' Night. SAFE. AT the ebb of the tide, a stately ship, On the midnight tide, it drifted away; The stars shone bright, but the night-wind wailed, "It will never come back again." The ship came back from the sunny south coast, A WHITE CHRYSANTHEMUM. LAST night beside my hearthstone She wore white autumn flowers, Like frozen stars they seemed; One flower she left, else I should think Of angels I had dreamed. MR FRANCES FULLER VICTOR. RS. FRANCES FULLER VICTOR was born in Rome, N. Y. Her father was of an old Colonial family, some of whom were among the founders of Plymouth. She has on her mother's side a long line of titled and distinguished ancestry, ascending through thirty-nine generation to Egbert, the first king of all England. When Frances was nine years of age, she wrote verses on her slate in school, and arranged plays from her imagination, assigning the parts to her mates, to whom she explained the signification. At the age of fourteen she published verses which received favorable comment, and at the age of eighteen some of her poems were copied in English journals. To her great delight her younger sister, Metta Victoria, proved to possess a genius for poetry and fiction which was of a high order, and the two sisters were much bound together by their mutual tastes and pursuits. At that time the family were living in Ohio, to which State their parenrs had removed, and it was a familiar boast of the Ohio press that the State had two pairs of poet sisters, the Carys and the Fullers. Frances and her sister Metta married brothers. The younger sister remained in the East, settling in the vicinity of New York City, and Frances followed her husband, then an officer in the naval service of the United States, to California. At the close of the Civil War he resigned and went to settle in Oregon. In that new world Mrs. Victor began to study with enthusiasm the country and its history from every point of view. She wrote stories, poems, and essays for California publications, which, if collected, would make several volumes. After the death of her husband, in 1875, she returned to California and assisted Mr. H. H. Bancroft on his series of Pacific histories, writing in all six volumes of that work, on which she was engaged for about eleven years. Subsequently she resumed book-making on her own account. Besides the great amount of literary work done by Mrs. Victor which has never been collected, the following works may be named: "Poems of Sentiment and Imagination," published in her girlhood; "The River of the West;" "The New Penelope, and Other Stories and Poems;" "All Over Oregon and Washington," and "Atlantis Arisen;" all of which, except the first volume of poems, deal with the history and the romance of the Northwest. Mrs. Victor is a woman of medium height, with fair complexion, gray eyes and hair once auburn, changing to a softer tint. Her energy and vitality are displayed in her vigorous prose. Her home is in Portland, Oregon. H.A. K. CHILDHOOD. A CHILD of Scarcely seven years, As lamps through alabaster shining, With ready mirth, and fancies light, Dashed with strange dreams of child-divining: A child in all infantile grace, Yet with the angel lingering in her face. A curious, eager, questioning child, To truth amid some odd confusions; Doubting that which she can disprove, Such graces dwell beside your hearth, And bless you in a priceless pleasure, Leaving no sweeter spot on earth Than that which holds your household treasure. No entertainments ever yet Had half the exquisite completenessThe gladness without one regret, You gather from your darling's sweetness: An angel sits beside the hearth Where e'er an innocent child is found on earth. MOONLIGHT MEMORIES. Do thy chamber windows open east, The hills on which the wan moon leans, I see your hand upon your heart- That touched us in the long-gone years; |