She was flushed and felt intoxicated with the sound of her own voice and the unaccustomed taste of candor. It muddled her like wine, or like a first breath of freedom.

[She displayed] what may be described as a native aptitude for narration amounting almost to genius. Her major works were two short story collections Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). The people in her stories are usually inhabitants of Louisiana.