TEXT ` √Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins1852╨1930writerBorn on October 31, 1852, in Randolph, Massachusetts, Mary Wilkins moved with her family to Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1867. She lived at home after studying for a year in 1870╨1871 at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College), read widely on her own, and began writing children╒s stories and verse. In 1883, by which time both her parents had died, she returned to Randolph to live with friends, and in that year she published in a Boston newspaper her first story for adults. She continued to publish in newspapers and magazines, becoming a regular and favorite contributor to Harper╒s Bazar and New Monthly. Early collections of her stories included A Humble Romance, 1887, A New England Nun, 1891, The Pot of Gold, 1892, Young Lucretia, 1892, Comfort Pease and Her Gold Ring, 1895, The People of our Neighborhood, 1898, Silence, 1898, The Jamesons, 1899, The Love of Parson Lord, 1900, and Understudies, 1901. Narrated in a firm and objective manner with occasional subtle undertones of humor or irony, Freeman╒s stories were deft character studies of somehow exceptional people who, trapped by poverty or other handicaps in sterile, restrictive circumstances, react in various ways against their situations. Her use of New England village and countryside settings and dialects placed her stories in the ╥local color╙ school, and her work thereby enjoyed an added vogue; nevertheless, she avoided the sentimentality then current in popular literature. Her novels, including Jane Field, 1893, Pembroke, 1894, Madelon, 1896, Jerome, a Poor Man, 1897, and The Heart╒s Highway, 1900, were generally of less interest than her stories, serving mainly to emphasize her mastery of the shorter form. In January 1902 she married Dr. Charles M. Freeman of Metuchen, New Jersey, where she lived for the rest of her life. Later collections of her stories included Six Trees, 1903, The Wind in the Rose Bush, 1903, The Givers, 1904, The Fair Lavinia, 1907, The Winning Lady, 1909, The Green Door, 1910, The Yates Pride, 1912, The Copy-Cat, 1914, and Edgewater People, 1918. Other novels were The Portion of Labor, 1901, The Debtor, 1905, ╥Doc╙ Gordon, 1906, By the Light of the Soul, 1906, The Shoulders of Atlas, 1908, The Butterfly House, 1912, and An Alabaster Box (with F. M. Kingsley), 1917. She also wrote a play, Giles Corey, Yeoman, 1893. In 1926 she was awarded the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She died in Metuchen, New Jersey, on March 13, 1930. ■styl ` L ! ¬ 5¬ ( 5¬ 0 !I ä !I Æ !I ù !I ó !I ╧ !I ▀ !I τ !I ° !I !I !I !I % !I - !I L !I T !I r !I z !I ü !I ë !I ò !I ¥ !I ┤ !I └ !I ╠ !I ╒ 5¬ ╓ !I !I !I !I & !I . !I 5 !I = !I O !I [ !I n !I ^ 5¬ _ !I ë !I Æ !I Ü !I │ !I ╗ !I ┼ !I ═ !I ▌ !I σ !I ⌡ !I ² !I !I !I " !I * !I 6 !I B !I R !I m !I ü !I ë !I ô !I £ !I º !I » !I ╟ !I ╧ !I σ !I φ !I !I !I !I R !I e !I link `
