Francis Christian Tiernan
She was heller knoun as “Christ inn Reid”
and w as
ши»
of llie greatest writers llial I he
South ever produetMl.
Лтопц
other tilings,
she originated llie expression, “Land of
I he Sky.”
AMERICAN’ women have been
Z\ both prolific* and prominent in
# Vhc field of literature. The
“Uncle Tool's Cabin” of Harriet
Beecher Stowe is credited with hav¬
ing done more to hasten the conflict
of the Civil War than all the pliillip-
ics of politicians and all the orations
of statesmen. The "Little Women" of
Louisa M. Alcotf was for many years
a ln-st seller, and moved more than one
generation of American women to
laughter and to tears. And in our own
Sneration, such women of letters as
ary Roberts Rinehart, Edna Fer-
ber. and Edna St. Vincent Millet,
have written licet sellers in their re¬
spective field*.
Most gifted among woman authors
of Carolina was Francis Fisher Tier-
nun, who wrote under the ]K-n name
of Christian Reid, and by her pseu¬
donym I shall designate her. She lived
in ami wrote of two entirely differ¬
ent worlds. The first was the South
of ante-bellum days, of “Ole Mars ter”
and “de Missus,” crinoline, hoopskirts.
life on hospitable plantations, mint
juleps, the dancing of the minuet.
The other was the South of the renais¬
sance, emerging phoenix-like from the
ashes of reconstruction into an era
of industrialism. She heard the clarion
call of Henry W. Grady for a “New
South" hnt she remained to the
end, a rebel lions rebel of the old
South.
Of Distinguished Ancestry
She came of di-tinguished ances¬
try, numbering among her forbears
officers of the Revolution, Colonels of
militia. Congressmen and other men
in public life. Her father was Charles
F. Fisher, President of the Western
North Carolina Railroad, who, when
the war drums throbbed in *GI, hur¬
riedly raised
и
regiment and rushed
it to the front, reaching Virginia in
time to participate in the battle of
Bull Run. first great battle of the war.
There, charging against the cnemr at
the head of hi* men, the gallant Colo¬
nel was killed. This fact should he
borne in mind in any appraisal of
bis daughter's work.
She was born at the ancestral home
«»/
II. C. LAURENCE
in Salisbury in 1S-HS. In her girlhood
she typified the boyish, rough ish “Jo,"
so realistically described in “Little
Women" moody, fantastic, imagina¬
tive, romantic, with a yearning for
self-expression. When yet in her’tocn.
she took to scribbling, not with any
definite idea in view, not even in ex¬
pectation of a purely local publica¬
tion. but merely because she loved it.
and because of the “Abe” and “Oh-"
it brought from the girl friends of her
little circle.
But the close of the Civil War
found her faced with a condition of
hard realism. The head of the house
was no more; the family fortunes had
ebbed away under the stress of the
strife; the cupboard was about bare -
a “condition and not a theory" con¬
fronted her. It was then that she con¬
ceived the idea of literature as a live¬
lihood.
Her First Novel
Setting herself to her task, in IS?*»,
she produced her first novel, “Valerie
Aylmer." It immediately aroused the
interest of the literary public, and,
considering the social and economic
conditions which existed at that time,
it bad a considerable sale and sufficient
popularity to stimulate her to renewed
literary activity. In rapid succession
-be produced “Morton House." "A
Daughter of Bohemia," “A Question
of Honor,” and, above all, a slmrt
travel sketch, "The Land of the Skv."
You may In* a Carolinian; you may
know nothing of our literature: von
may never have heard of Christian
Reid ; but you have heard of the "Land
of the Sky"— and here is the woman
who gave to this beautiful region it-
lovely designation. Her striking
phrase stuck in the public mind, and
soon western Carolina had it fixed
upon it.
This little volume was originally
piiMi-licd as a -erics of travel sketches
in ApjAtUm’s Journal, and while it i-
probably the most widely known of
all her works, vet it cannot be rlaiiued
that it is a literary classic. But
somehow the folk liked it; it was
read by hundred- of thousands; and
it did more to advertise and to popu¬
larity our western region than any
other one thing.
On Pack Square in A-dicvillc, there
is an imposing monument to llie mem¬
ory of Zcbulon B. Vance. Buncombe’s
great statesman, erected bv n people
grateful for his service to that sec¬
tion. Should not common gratitude
cause the women of our mountain
metropolis, even at this late date, to
erect a monument, even if of modest
proportions, to honor the memory
оГ
this woman who did so much to make
Asheville the resort center it has since
become ?
A Broader Outlook
In 1S80 she went abroad, and up¬
on bet* return published "Hearts of
Si eel,” a most vivid and Striking de¬
scription of Italy and an exquisite por¬
trayal of life in the Eternal City. The
author was now reaching the matu¬
rity of her powers, and foreign travel
served but to broaden her outlook and
to deepen her insight, and it- result
became manifested in her future work.
In rapid succession novel- ennie from
her pen — "Armine." “Roslvn’- For¬
tune” "The Child of Mary," "Phil¬
lip-' Restitution." and "Mi— Church¬
ill," this last being rme of her be-l
works and her most remarkable con¬
tribution l<> our literature.
In 1887 she was married to lames
M. Tiernan, and removed her resi¬
dence to Mexico, where her husband
had extensive mining and other inter
с.
t>. Her marriage did not. however.
terminate he:
г
life
тагу
car*
Ч*Г
‘llkfi her
residence in
Mcx
im serve*
1 IHII lO III”
crease her |*
r»wer
9 as an
1 fllllLT ilint ivo
and descript i
she produce
< ’nice.*,” wh
ve w
1 “1
ieh i
riter of ti
’ho Piett
•njoyod
!ft ion. Here
ire of Laa
wide point-
No in France, whci
re il was repub-
i idled in the Par
,'lllnslralion and n
isian maga/ine.
| _ j. 1 1 t
• uleraMe vogue. It- -
that she undertook
however, did not pro
Other travel sketch»
1 < 'uni in ili'il on e.
3
