TALENTED IRISH WOMEN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 1, 4 May 1894, Page 31

TALENTED IRISH WOMEN.

(Eugene Davis in the Pilot.)

Faw writers have achieved such distinc ion in such a brief interval of time as Miss Jane Barlow In 1891 this youag lady was practically unknown ia literary circles. "In 1892 a collection of her poems entitled " Bog-land Studies," published b 7 a London firm, made her name famous throughout Britain and Ireland. Miss Barlow was born in Raheny, situated in the vicinity of Dublin, and is the daughter of the Rev J. W. Barlow, D.D., vicar of that village and a distinguished scholar. The first of her " Beg-Land Studies" appeared in the Dublin University Review. List year that charming book, " Irish Idyls," was ißsued from her pen, and displayed a picturesque prose style. Miss Barlow's sympathies are with the hopes and aspirations of her fellow-countrymen. Hence there are no erode caricatures of Irish life in her poems or short stories. In society she is a brilliant conversationalist, and posseses a quaint hnmour that captivates everybody. The Sigerson family, the members of which reside ia Dublin, is exclusively composed of poets. Dr Sigerson is the author of several dashing Irish lyrics, Mrs Bigerson, a cousin of the late R*lph Varian, the Cork poet, also woos the Moses ; While their two young daughters, Dora aDd Heater, have already made their mark as writers of sweet verse on both sides of the Atlantic, Another of the promising poets of the Bame city is Mrs Louisiana Murphy, wife of a very popular Dublin oitizsn, Mr James Murphy Excise officer, and daughter of Mr Hugh Keenan, who, after having practised law for some years in this country, was afterwards appointed U.S. Consul to Cork and Dublin. She is the author of an interesting play entitled " Dunmore ; or the Days of the Land League," and an ode on the Father Matthew Centenary of 1890. With the talent she poetesses, her fame is destined to widen as the years go by. In Cork City Mrs Ralph Varian's " Finola " strikes the harp with renewed vigor, although she does not publish anything nowadays. A shining luminary in the Irish poetical firmament for the past few jears is Miss Kllen Beck, better known as " Magdalen Rock " — a young lady whose sweet lyrics and rondeaux have penetrated into the leading Catholic magazines of this country. Miss Augusta Holmes was born of Irish parents in the old city of Versailles, under the shadow of the palaces of the Bourbon kings. Her father, who had previously disposed of a property in Ireland, and had left that conntry for Franc 3, was an engineer by profession. Miss Holmes developed musical tastes at an early age. Having received a thorongh training at the conservatories, she decided at first to adopt the profession of a chanteuse d'opera, but her Irish modesty would not permit her to appear before the footlights in •cant attire. So she tried her luck as a musical composer. At this «arly period of her life she was on visiting terms with two maestri whose compositions were of a diametrically opposite character Gounod and Offenbach ; but the former's genius had more influence over the tastes of Miss Holmes. After a short time she produced an oratorio which was received by the Parisian public with much enthusiasm. This success was speedily followed by a symphony entitled "Vlrlande. I was present in the Ciiqae d'Hiver on the occasion of its first representation. Its music mirrored the history of of the land of the author's forefathers. It was a maguificent entertainment. The glorious annals of Erin, when she was known bs the " island of saints and scholars," were represonted by the- peal of trumpets and a clash of cymbals, joyoue, fervid and trimphant. Aterwaids are heard the clash of arms, the Bhock of lances, the shouts of the conqueror, the cries of tbe vanquished, tbe wails of the dying. To this succeeds the period of Peual Days, in which the harps and violins in the orchestra sent forth the most wierd and pathetic melody, which was subsequently drowned in trumpet blasts, triumphant in tone, representing tbe final victory of Ireland over ncr oppressor. The audience, almost entirely French, were most enthusiastic, and cries of " Vive Vlrlande" rang through the building at tho close of the symphony. It was a great triumph for Miss Holmes. Her next success was L'lnvocation," a canuta which she was requested to write by the committee of the Paris World's Fair of 1889. She is now engaged in tbe composition of a Grand Opera which, it is anticipated, will rank this gifted woman among the great masters of to-day. An equally distinguished Irishwoman in another department i Mrs Emily Crawford, nee Johnston, a native of Balfast. Coming to Paris early in life, Bbc soon became the correspondent of London Truth and the New York Tribune, She has performed many wonderful feats of journalistic Bkill and succeeded in effecting quite a number of startling " scoopi." It is recorded of her that on one occasion she left a ball-room ia her dancing boots, and trudged through • mile's length of snow to the nearest telegraph office to wire to her paper, the London Daily Wem, an exclusive si ate secret confided to her for publication by thelUe Leon Gambetta. She is received in most eclectic salons of Paris, ani is on terms of intimacy with the Carnoie «nd other politically prominent families of the French capital.