Mary E. Wilkins Freeman - A New England Nun

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman lived during the time of the Civil War. As the war ended, she was about thirteen years old and during this time, the New England area she lived in became somewhat melancholy. As the war took lives, women were left behind without skills and many lost their will to live. However, there were those who were strong willed and became known as the New England spinsters. These women became the object of poetry writing, jokes, as well as writing music. These were the inspirations of the stories Freeman wrote. In her middle age, she married Dr. Charles Freeman from Metuchen, New Jersey.
She was a teenager when she published her first poem in 1881. By 1884, her career had officially launched and she was in heavy demand. Her main goals in her writings were to preserve the old character of New England. Her characters were written in a realistic fashion with strength, and straight forwardness.
In her story of “A New England Nun,” she writes of a woman named Louisa who has lived alone for many years as she has waited for her lover, Joe Dagget, for fifteen years to return after he had been “seeking his fortune.” As the story unfolds, Joe Dagget has been secretly seeing someone else and Louisa overhears the conversation between Joe Dagget and Lily Dyer as they discuss Lily Dyer leaving. Louisa in return breaks off the engagement and is pleased with this decision. She has spent many years alone and she is very quaint and enjoys her life of cleanliness and perfection. She spends most of her time doing needlework, gardening, obsessively cleaning and caring for her dog and canary. As the story ends, she is quite pleased with her life feeling a sense of peace in her solitude.
This was a story I really enjoyed. It was simple, yet refreshing. I like a story that I can relate to and understand. Even though Louisa was committed to Joe Dagget, she was still true to herself and done what was right. Joe Dagget was compassionate to her over their breakup and offered to stay with her if she wanted him to. This story had a lot of heart and compassion even in a moment that most of us would have been hateful and want to seek revenge. I would enjoy reading more by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.