Janvier

Several of her lithographs, signed "C. Drinker/*
are in the collection at the New York Public
Library. In connection with her study and teach-
ing at the Academy she wrote Practical Kera-
mics for Students (1880).

On Sept. 26, 1878, she married Thomas Alli-
bone Janvier and with him traveled widely in
Mexico, England, and France, where4 for long
periods they resided in Provence, principally at
Saint-Remy. She met Felix Gras at Saint-
Remy and in 1896 published The Reds of the
Midi, Gras's Revolutionary romance, which she
translated^rom the manuscript. The translation
was made with great success although Mrs.
Janvier refused any portion of the financial re-
turns. Subsequently she published The Terror
(1898) and The White Terror (1899), trans-
lated from the writings of the same author. In
recognition of her services to Provencal litera-
ture she was elected with her husband to honor-
ary membership in the Society of the Felibrige
with Gras, Mistral, Roumanille, and others. The
Janviers had already attracted to themselves
William Sharp who met them in New York in
1892 and corresponded with them frequently,
especially with Mrs. Janvier, until his death,
and visited them several times in Provence,
Mrs. Janvier was the first person on either side
of the Atlantic to penetrate Sharp's disguise as
Fiona Macleod, and she received a letter (Jan.
5, 1895) admitting the identity. Her promise
of secrecy was broken only after Sharp's death
when she read a paper on the subject before the
Aberdeen Branch of the Franco-Scottish Soci-
ety, June 8, 1906, the substance of which ap-
peared in the North American Review, Apr. 5,
1907, under the title "Fiona Macleod and Her
Creator William Sharp." Her other writings
include a book of pictures and verse entitled
London Mews (1904), an essay, "Cocoon-husk-
ing in Provence," Harpers Magazine, Novem-
ber 1911, and, in manuscript, "Captain Dioni-
sius," the tale of an ancient voyage rich in ar-
cheological lore. Mrs. Janvier died at the home
of her brother at Merion, Pa., and was buried
with her husband at Moorestown, N. J. Her
collection of Provencal books and some of her
letters she gave to the New York Public Library.

[The sketch was prepared with the assistance of Dr.
Henry Sturgis Drinker, Mrs. Barclay Hazard, and
Caroline Hazard, whose sketch of Mrs. Janvier's life
appeared in the N, Y. Times, Oct. i, 1922. Other
sources include: Who's Who in America, 1922-23; H.
IX Biddle, The Drinker Family in America (1893);
Cecilia Beaux, Background with Figures (1930), pp.
f?""*?» I1 J E*izabeth A. Sharp, Win. Sharp (Fiona
Uacleaź: A Memoir (1910); Public Ledger (Phila.),

A.L.B.

Janvier
JANVIER, MARGARET THOMSON (Feb-
ruary i844-February 1913), author, daughter
of Francis de Haes and Emma (Newbold) Jan-
vier and sister of Thomas Allibone Janvier
[#.#.], was born in New Orleans, La. The Jan-
viers were of Huguenot descent. Francis Jan-
vier wrote verse and compiled prose and poetry
on patriotic subjects, and his wife wrote stories
for children. Perhaps inspired by the parents'
example, the younger Janviers began to write
early. Margaret was educated at home and in
the public schools of New Orleans. From the
beginning she used the pseudonym Margaret
Vandegrift in her writing, which was almost
entirely juvenile literature, stories, and verse.
Some of her best-known works are: Clover Beach
(1880), a story of a family of children and their
doings at a summer resort; Under the Dog Star
(1881) ; Holidays at Home (1882) ; The Queen's
Body Guard (1883) J Doris and Theodora
(1884), which contains good negro dialect and a
description of Santa Cruz; Little Bell and Other
Stories (1884); The Absent-Minded Fairy
(1884); Rose Raymond's Wards (1885), a
rather tiresome story of New England family
life; Ways and Means (1886); Little Helpers
(1889); The Dead Doll and Other Verses
(1889), many of which were previously pub-
lished in St. Nicholas, Harper's Young People,
the Youth's Companion and Wide Awake] and
Umbrellas to Mend (1905), a sprightly romance
of princes and princesses, with an allegorical
element. The verse of Margaret Vandegrift,
often published in leading magazines for adults
as well as for children, has metrical vivacity and
good rhythm. It shows love of nature and a
philosophical turn of mind. One of her best
poems is To Lie in the Lew (leeward of a hedge),
published in Scribner's Magazine, April 1913,
The popular Dead Doll, supposed to be the la-
ment of a child for her doll, is inferior to much
of her other work, not childlike in thought, and
expressed in unnatural "baby talk." Her prose
style varies. In some of her earlier work it is
stilted and full of old-fashioned phrasing; in her
later work it is more easy and modern. Her sto-
ries are of simple, quiet events, with considerable
sentiment and moral instruction. Children to-
day are only moderately fond of them. In fail-
ing health for several years, Margaret Janvier
was from April 1910 to January 1913 at Christ
Church Hospital, Philadelphia. Shortly before
her death she was taken to her home in Moores-
town, N. J., where she had lived most of her
life, and there died.
[Who's Who in America, 1912-13; Woman's Who's
Who of America, 1914-15; The Home Book of