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Show NEEDLEWOMAN WINS FAME ' France Crowns Her Booh ; MABGUBRITE AUDOUX. j Critics Declare She Has' Surpassed in Literaiy Art the Most .Renowned Authors; Masterpiece Is Produced as Result of Ten Years' Work and Stud7. i Spcclul Cable to Tho Tribune. I DAIUS, March 25. The European lilcrarj' world is still marveling aL the Renins of tho little French sewing woman. MarcuDrito Au-doux, Au-doux, who, as the result of about ten 3'cars' spare time work, wrote "Marie Claire." Not only has this story won the fivo thousand franc pri'.o of tho Academy of Women and astonished the ablest critics of tho world, but it has provided pro-vided u new view-point. Jt enables tho leisured classes to seo iho life of working- people through tho sober vision of a worker, and incitlentally conquors fresh territory for aspiring womanhood. The story of Marie Clniro herself her-self is as remarkable and improbable as any sensational novel, and gives fresh point to the old assertion that life is stranger than fiction. Losing her mother by donih and her father by desertion, she became an inmate of a convent orphanage, until a honie was providod for her with- a Sologhe farmer. Tier education was of I he poorest, and her experience too narrow lo allow of her imagination being touched by the splendid facta of life. But she hungered for .books, and whilo a shepherdess at Sologne she came to Pnris to appease this craving. In Paris she became a needlewoman, and road eagerly in her scanty leisure, but it was not until her eyesight failed that she gave way to tho ambition of writing a story herself. Marguerite 'Audniix, however, was ripe for the great effort. For five years she had been writing tho book in her thoughts, while- the actual -work of composition occupied another five years, for through her defective schooling school-ing there were faults of spelling that could only bo surmounted by tho kindly kind-ly offices of friends. Professional writers brought tip in a bookish atmosphere, and titled scribblers scrib-blers who writo for vanity's sake, aro not a little disturbod to find nn. humble needlewoman soaring at onco to a big place in tho literary firmament. firma-ment. Marguerite Audoux stands for the republican idea in fiction, and is proof of the growing consciousness of the inarticulate millions. Her lowly origin has not been put up against her, however, or made a matter of scorn, as it was in the case of Keuts. Tndeed. her .bravo battle against "tho slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" for-tune" has fostered tender regard for tho plucky little woman who has knocked on iho head the academic theorj' that culture is a necessary condition con-dition for fine literary achievement. Looking at Marguerito Audoux, you see the wistful dignity that, is bred by endurance of a hard lot, without repining or protest, and the calm of conscious strength. The remarkable beauty of her eyes gives distinction to heer face. Vet it is hard for the people who have met her to realize that she is the author of the work described by tho famous French author. Octave. Mir-bcau. Mir-bcau. in Ihc following terms: "When you havo read it. you will ask, w-ithout wishing to wound the sensibilities of anyone, who among writers and I include in-clude those who have won the greatest glory could have written this book wit li such flawless construction, such purity and such dazzling grandeur?'' |