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Part of the American
History & Genealogy Project |
Sara Agnes Rice Pryor 1830 ~ 1912
Sara Agnes Rice Pryor
The Southern woman-writer has become, of
late years, an important factor in the literary life of New
York. One who is perhaps at present better known in the first
circles of society in New York than in literature, as yet, is
Mrs. Roger A. Pryor, the lovely wife of Judge Pryor, of the
Court of Common Pleas.
Mrs. Pryor is known in New York as
the writer of charming and brilliant feuilletons for the most
prominent society journal there, but she invariably publishes
over a pen-name, so that, outside the circle who penetrated the
secret of her nom-de plume, she is best known as a society
woman. She has also published many sketches and short stories. "The
Story of a Persian Rug" was copied widely in English
periodicals, and was the true story of an exquisite Persian
carpet that lies before the hearth of her pretty drawing room.
Mrs. Pryor has refused the most flattering offers from editors
to write over her own name, for probably there is no one who can
write more cleverly and authoritatively on social life in New
York than she. She has no methods of work, writing when she
feels the inclination.
Mrs. Pryor was a Southern heiress, born
to every imaginable luxury, and never a life looked more hedged
in with happiness than hers, yet, when the war wrecked and
stranded the fortunes of the family, no bourgeois housewife ever
performed heavier duties to a large family, ever sewed more
diligently on her children's little garments, than this brave
and brilliant woman in that dark period after the war when so
many great fortunes were swept away.
Through the efforts of Mrs. Pryor a
handsome sum has been added to the Mary Washington Monument
Association fund, and this is most gratifying to the Daughters
of the American Revolution, as one of the first working objects
placed before the Daughters by an early resolution of the
society was assistance to be given to this Mary Washington fund.
It is a noble cause, in which women are called upon to honor a
woman who displayed high qualities of character under
conspicuous circumstances one who combined tenderness with
strength, and dignity with simplicity, as found in the
individuality of Mary Washington.
Mrs. Pryor's services to the Society of
the Daughters of the American Revolution cannot be compassed in
this brief sketch. She was the first regent of the New York City
chapter. She organized it and led it on to success under trying
circumstances. After serving for over a year she resigned on
account of uncertain health, amid the regrets of the chapter. As
vice-president-general of the National Society, and a member of
the New York City chapter, she is still active in her efforts
for the organization. Mrs. Pryor's home in New York is a
charming place, where, in her artistic drawing-room, the
hospitable traditions of her family are maintained, and at her
weekly receptions one may meet many agreeable and eminent
persons.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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