ll aware. Her entire literary effort was directed to
describing her social life and the relation of society to life. "She
belongs to the moralists and to the writers who wrote of society and
man--social psychologists." Not poetic or artistic by nature, but
with an exceptional power of observation, she shows on every side the
influence of a pedagogical, literary, and social training; she was the
product of an artificial culture.

George Sand, on the contrary, was a product of Nature, reared in free
intercourse and unrestrained relation with her genius and Nature. A
powerful passion and a mighty fantasy made of her a poetess and an
artist. These two qualities were manifested in her intense and deep
feeling for the beauty of Nature, in her power of invention, in a
harmonious equilibrium between idealism and realism. Her fantasy
overbalanced her reason, impeding its development and thus relegating
it to a secondary role. "She is possibly the only French writer
who possessed no _esprit_ (in the sense that it is used in French
society)--that playful, epigrammatic, querulous wit of conversation."

She never enjoyed communion with others for any length of time, or the
companionship of anyone for a long period; the companions of which she
never tired were the fields and woods, birds and dogs; therefore, she
enjoyed those people most who were nearer her ideals, the peasants and
workmen, and these she best describes. Thus, her whole creation is
one of instinct rather than of reason, as it was with Mme. de Stael.
George Sand was a genius, a master-product of Nature, while Mme. de
Stael was a talent, a consummate work of the art of modern culture;
she reflects, while George Sand creates from impulse; the latter was
a true poetess, communing with Nature, while the banker's daughter was
an observing thinker, communicating with society--but both were great
writers.

Intimately associated with George Sand is Rosa Bonheur, in all
of whose canvases we find the same aim, the same spirit, the same
message, that are found in so many of the novels of George Sand.
They were two women who have contributed, through different branches,
masterworks that will be enjoyed and appreciated at all times.
"It would be difficult not to speak of _La Mare au Diable_ and the
_Meunier d'Angibault_ when recalling the fields where Rosa Bonheur
speeds the plow or places the oxen lowering their patient heads under
the yoke."

In the evening, at home, while o