Lawrence, Margaret (Oliver) Woods

views updated

LAWRENCE, Margaret (Oliver) Woods

Born 1813; died 1901

Wrote under: Meta Lander

Daughter of Leonard Woods; married Edward A. Lawrence

Biographical information on Margaret Woods Lawrence is slight. She wrote about children (mostly about aspects of their deaths) and Christian activists; she also wrote fiction in a romantic but moral vein. The daughter of a minister, Lawrence began writing out of her concern for children. Blossoms of Childhood by a Mother (1840), originally published by an Episcopal Sunday-school association, was reprinted at least four times over an 11-year period. The death of one of her children apparently prompted Lawrence to write The Broken Bud; or, Reminiscences of a Bereaved Mother (1851) and Fading Flowers (1860), an anthology of poetry about dying children. After the death of her son, a Christian missionary, she wrote Reminiscences of the Life and Work of Edward A. Lawrence, Jr. (1900).

The melodramatic plot of Marion Graham; or, "Higher Than Happiness" (1861) unconvincingly illustrates Carlyle's statement, "There is in man a Higher than love of happiness; …blessedness." Marion Graham loves Maurice Vinton, an atheistic doctor who lacks purpose or commitment in his life, but she sacrifices happiness to her Christian duty and belief when she refuses his proposal. Vinton travels the world, opens his heart to the plight of the wretched, and is finally converted in Jerusalem, while Marion fights off the incredibly demonic advances of the villainous Mr. Perley and finally marries her rescuer, the Reverend Henry Sunderland, when she hears of Vinton's alleged engagement. The lovers have been star-crossed by gossip and by undelivered mail, but Marion finally devotes herself to her understanding husband, who names their son after his wife's lover. Byronic pessimism is converted to Christian zeal and passion is sublimated to duty in the novel's sentimental ending: as Vinton sets off on missionary work, he takes leave of Marion, saying, "An eternity together in heaven." Her husband smiles on the separating lovers.

In Esperance (1865), the life of Hope Frazer predictably proves the soundness of her dying mother's advice: to care for her brother and sisters, to respect and please her cold and strict father, to trust in God, and to moderate her impulses and the intensity of her feelings. The first half of the novel shows how Hope's rebellion against her mother's advice further alienates her unsympathetic father, contributes to the moral neglect of her siblings, exposes Hope to decadently sensual and impulsive role models, and embitters her life.

The death of her angelic little sister and the inspiring and subduing influence of several sisterly Christian women help Hope reverse herself and begin fulfilling her mother's deathbed requests. Now dispersing sweetness and light, the plain Hope survives when her handsome but weak fiance transfers his affections to her sister, Joy; she raises up fallen women (including her stepmother) and assists their conversions to righteousness; she comforts and ministers to her broken father. At the end, Lawrence strongly hints that the deep and sudden attraction between Hope and Horatio Ferguson, a wildly romantic figure, will flourish despite geographic separation.

Both novels are devoid of any reference to slavery or the Civil War, yet the melodramatic and woodenly plotted stories affirm the importance of commitment and the validity of passion when subdued to Christian morality. Lawrence shows not only the attraction to Byronic romanticism characteristic of American audiences, but also their moral condemnation and their sublimation of this romanticism.

Other Works:

Light on the Dark River; or, Memorials of Mrs. Henrietta A. L. Hamlin, Missionary in Turkey (1853). The Tobacco Problem (1885). The Home Garden (n.d.).