SOURCE: "Charles Egbert Craddock," in Little Pilgrimages among the Women Who Have Written Famous Books, L. C. Page & Company, 1902, pp. 75-90.

In the following excerpt, the critics recount Murfree's association with the Atlantic Monthly magazine.

It was in May, 1878, during the administration of Mr. Howells, that the readers of the Atlantic were treated to a most delightful, a most refreshing surprise, a story of the Tennessee Mountains, called "The Dancin' Party at Harrison's Cove," by a new author, Charles Egbert Craddock.

The quaint and unprecedented strain was noticeable in the first colloquial sentence:

"'Fur ye see, Mis' Darley, them Harrison folks over yander ter the cove hev' determinated on a dancin' party.'"

Mr. Howells was pleased with his discovery; the Atlantic readers—then the most critical literary company in America—hailed the coming of a promising author; the professional critics hesitated at first and then echoed the...