To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts - absolute gifts - which have not been acquired by one's own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist much possess the courageous soul.

[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.