MILWARD, Maria G.

Born circa 1810s; death date unknown

Although there is no available biographical information about Maria G. Milward, the fact that she twice signed her stories "Mrs." suggests she was married. Her stories occur in contemporary rural and urban settings and reveal the author's familiarity with the details of both worlds. Accompanying each of Milward's stories is a note of her current residence: Macon, Georgia, in 1839; Savannah, in 1840; other places in Georgia and Alabama later. Milward's stories suggest that she had a broad education in literature and at least a familiarity with science, geography, and history. She seems to have read widely, and her comparisons reveal a knowledge of classical mythology and of the world beyond Georgia and the south.

Milward's work is consistently well-observed and elegantly composed, showing little change between 1839 and 1846. The intelligence behind the tales is quick-witted, humorous, and lively, ranging from satire to sympathy while consistently avoiding the flaws of her sentimental female contemporaries.

Milward has a fine eye for detail and characterization. "The Bachelor Beset; or, The Rival Candidates" (Southern Literary Messenger, Nov. 1839), a study of a spinster's sudden interest in a confirmed bachelor who finally eludes her by running "off to Texas," is a moving and humorous exploration of Miss Betsey Bud, of whom Milward writes: "… age seemed to have dried up every avenue to the tender passion in the heart of Miss Betsey; it was believed that the fire of her juvenile days had burnt out, and though its violence had been extreme, all now regarded her as an extinct volcano." Milward notes with similar imaginative humor the plants in Mr. Singlesides' garden—stiff boxwood, bachelor's hat, southernwood (or old man) abound, while he allots a separate area for lady slippers, maiden's blush, and heart's ease. Forced to acknowledge Miss Bud, the bachelor "waved his hand with an action somewhat resembling the motions of a dead body under the effects of a galvanic battery."

Milward also has an ear for witty and natural conversation. She even reproduces dialect convincingly in "The Yellow Blossom of Glynn" (Southern Literary Messenger, July 1840), a tale of rough rural folk and the misunderstandings that are finally resolved in several marriages.

Milward explores a young man's perspective in "The Winter Nights' Club " (Southern Literary Messenger, Jan. 1843), in which Reginald Braithwaite finally decides to tolerate no longer the offhand manner of the coquette for whom he thinks he cares. Reevaluating his view of her rival, Hortensia Hurst, he marries her with real love. Milward's understanding of young men also informs "Mrs. Sad's Private Boarding House," in which the pathetic country bumpkin, Edgar Fairchild, comes to the city to seek his fortune and fails.

Milward is at her best when writing in the first person from the point of view of a young woman with whose sensibility we sympathize but who, like Jane Austen's heroines, does not see so clearly as the reader until the end of the tale. The narrator of "Country Annals" is a realistic and compelling character whose humor and clear-sightedness obscure the story's simple plot and emphasize the vividness of the local scenes. "Country Annals"—a sustained two-part tale of sixteen chapters and Milward's finest work—may be autobiographical; its young female narrator of modest means lived with a benevolent uncle in rural comfort, observing the surrounding countryfolk and landowners, and finally marrying a wealthy gentleman from the city. Still, Milward's literary skills are such that she is able to explore various characters with affection and penetration and she need not have written directly from her own experience.

Milward finally charms the modern reader, who might, however, have difficulty locating her work, for her six stories appear only in the Southern Literary Messenger.

—CAROLINE ZILBOORG