WESTCOTT, EDWARD NOYES (1847-1898), b. Syracuse, N. Y. Banker, author of one remarkable novel which was published posthumously, David Harum, a story of central New York.
WHARTON, EDITH (1862- ), b. New York, N. Y. Essayist, novelist. Her fiction deals largely with modern society problems. She treats subtle psychological questions with especial skill in the short story. The Valley of Decision, Crucial Instances, The House of Mirth, The Fruit of the Tree, Italian Backgrounds.
WHIPPLE, EDWIN PERCY (1819-1886), b. Gloucester, Mass. Critic, essayist. Essays and Reviews, American Literature and Other Papers, Recollections of Eminent Men.
WHITCHER, FRANCES ("Widow Bedott") (1811-1852), b. Whitestown, N. Y.
Humorist. The Widow Bedott Papers.
WHITNEY, ADELINE BUTTON TRAIN (1824-1906), b. Boston, Mass. Poet, novelist, and writer of juvenile stories. Faith Gartney's Girlhood, We Girls, Boys at Chequasset, Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life, Poems.
WIGGIN, KATE DOUGLAS (Mrs. Riggs) (1857- ), b. Philadelphia, Pa. Novelist and writer on kindergarten subjects. Author of The Bird's Christmas Carol, Timothy's Quest, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Penelope's Progress, A Cathedral Courtship. Pathos, humor, and sympathy for the poor, the weak, and the helpless are characteristic qualities of her work. There are few better children's stories than the first two mentioned.
WILLIAMS, ROGER (1604?-1683), b. probably in London. Founder of Rhode
Island. The first great preacher of "soul liberty" in America. The Bloody
Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience Discussed, The Bloody
Tenent yet More Bloody.
WILLIS, N.P. (1806-1867), b. Portland, Maine. Traveler, prose writer, poet, editor. While his work has proved ephemeral, he taught many writers of his day the necessity of artistic finish in their prose. His prose Letters from under a Bridge, and his poems, Parrhasius and Unseen Spirits, may be mentioned.
WINSOR, JUSTIN (1831-1897), b. Boston, Mass. Librarian at Harvard, historian, editor of Narrative and Critical History of America. Author of The Mississippi Basin: the Struggle in America between England and France, 1697-1763; The Westward Movement, 1763-1798; Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution, Christopher Columbus.
WINTER, WILLIAM (1836- ), b. Gloucester, Mass. Dramatic editor of the
New York Tribune from 1865 to 1909. Edited numbers of plays. Author of
Shakespeare's England, Gray Days and Gold, Life and Art of Edwin
Booth, Wanderers (poems).