MARGARET WARNER MORLEY 
1858-1923

Educator, Biologist, Writer

Morley, The Carolina Mountains, 1913

Margaret Morley had a special affection for western North Carolina. She came here in the early years of the twentieth century  and recorded her stay in The Carolina Mountains, published in 1913.

  The book, like many of her other works, is a combination of biological observation, travelogue, and reflections on life. A graduate of Hunter College in New York, Morley was dedicated to the education of the young. Her books written for children include the beautifully illustrated Song of Life (1891), Insect Folk (1903), Little Mitchell, the Story of a Mountain Squirrel (1904), and the Apple-Tree Sprite (1915). Many of her books were used in the classroom as texts. Her, The Renewal of Life: How and When to Tell the Story to the Young (1906), is a sensitive and frank account of procreation. The Carolina Mountains, written while Morley was in residence in Tryon, North Carolina from 1890-1920, is one of the most loving accounts of the region by a woman to be found. One chapter, "How Spring Comes in the Southern Mountains," describes the awakening

"It comes slowly, which is its unique charm. ...Here the spirit of the South prevails, and the spring gradually unfolds for three months, rising in a strong, slow tide that finally breaks over the land in a tremendous  flood of color and fragrance and song. ... Pale green creeps daintily up the ravines proclaiming the awakening of the tulip-trees. Budding hardwood trees everywhere mingle delicate shades of pink and yellow and silver-white, soft greens, and bronze-reds, with the dark green of the pines. The forest is transformed, it gives the impression of one wreathed in smiles. The tide of life is rising strongly though yet slowly ..."

She was also a photographer and and artist.. Her gentle books are filled with images, fanciful and romantic. She favored scenes from nature, the life of mountain families, typical scenic views of the western area, and rural farm life. In Carolina Mountains, her descriptions of the early settlers, of Biltmore, of early education in the mountains, Flat Rock, local speech, the Cherokee, and the Great Smoky Mountains are sensitive and thoughtful. In her closing chapter "The Holiday of  Dreams," she muses

"... the world is coming; the old-time mountaineer is going ...Social transitions are always trying, and perhaps peculiarly so here, where the awakening consciousness suddenly sees the glitter of the prize without understanding the law of exchange. But the people are sound. To native intelligence they add a rude but strong sense of honor and of justice which with the passing of time will undoubtedly mould them happily into the new conditions."

Morley re-engages us with nature, nudges us to look closely at the world around us and asks us to treat our environment with a loving spirit that will assure that the next generations will be able to pass on their inheritance.

Her papers and photographs are held by the Stowe-Day collection at Hartford, CN.

Sources: Rare Books, UNCA Ramsey Library Special Collections