Mary Constance Du Bois (March 28, 1879 - June 19, 1959) was an author. Many of her short stories, such as The Lass of the Silver Sword, have strong women figures and lesbian overtones. The Lass of the Silver Sword is set first in a girls' school, and later in a girls' camp in the Adirondacks.
Mary Constance Du Bois's first story was introduced to St. Nicholas by her cousin, sister to the poet and critic, Edmund Clarence Stedman, who was herself a friend of Mary Mapes Dodge.
Elinor Arden, Royalist (1904) was a romantic novel. Elinor Arden, the daughter of a royalist in the days of King Charles I and the Roundheads, is left an orphan and goes to live in the family and the Roundheads. Arden marries the young captain who befriends her in her desolate childhood; and the sweet Princess Henrietta Anne remembers her rescuer and shows her gratitude graciously.
The League of the Signet Ring (1910) is about boys and girls and adventures in the Adirondacks. They are the same young people who figured in 1909 The Lass of the Silver Sword. A wedding ends the book, and Carol, who is the bride, will have to play a different part in another volume.
The Girls of Old Glory (1918) is a spirited patriotic story for girls, culminating in the Great War. It contains a plot of mystery. It's about a group of students in a private school, and a girl of mystery who comes to live in a splendid old house near tho school.
Comrade Rosalie (1919) is a fine, swiftly moving story of the German advance on Paris, in which the young French girl Rosalie, her American friend Bernard and her homing pigeon, Cheero, play an interesting part, finally capturing a much sought after spy. The main figureg are Rosalie, her little sister, Florette, and her foster sister, Trinette. All of Rosalie's resourcefulness is taxed when the second German wave begins to sweep toward the Marne. Their mother had gone into hospital work and it was up to Rosalie to be the protector. Air raids, spies and plots are numerous. A young aviator and a young soldier becomes involved and they call Rosalie, of whose work they are proud, comrade.
White Fire (1923) pictures first the pre-revolutionary times and then the author carries the action into the stormy days of the war, laying her scenes both in the colonies and in France. A very good but little known idea of the attitude of the English toward King George and the colonies is given and also a very interesting account of young Lafayette.
The Girls of Old Glory (1927) is about some girls who went to a seminary in San Francisco, Calif. One of the girls who was rescued from the San Francisco earthquake, tells about her experiences.
Captaine Madeline (1928) was set during the period when Canada was known as New France, and the frontier line was pushing slowly into the Native American country, the Iroquois were the most hostile toward the French. Mary Constance Du Bois took for the plot of the novel, the life of a beautiful golden haired girl in an Indian camp. She is a captive of the Mohawk tribe of the Iroquois, and for three years lives with them and is called "daughter of the sun," the Iroquoises love her and adopt her into their tribe and try to make her forget her own race, but she is always planning to escape. One day when the warriors return from battle they have a captive, a white boy of her own nationality. She talks to the captive and they plan escape together. One night in the late fall of the year the two make their get away. The Iroquoises search for them, but they manage to get to the forks of the St Lawrence.
Mother's Story Box (1933) is a collection of daytime stories and bedtime stories. Du Bois arranged animal stories adapted from the Bible. Each tale is preceded by one woven about David and Nancy and Little Sister Joy and their trips to the zoo, the farm, or the entrance of a new pet into the family circle. In this manner the pigeons at the park may suggest Noah's dove, the camels at the zoo those that Rebekah watered at the well, or a lamb at the farm the story of David and his flocks. Black and white drawings of animals illustrate the stories.
In Patsy of the Pet Shop (1937), Patsy loved dogs so much that when she moved to New York and had to give up her animals, she got a part-time job in a pet shop. There was an Irish setter that particularly won Patsy's heart. But there seemed to be some kind of mystery about the dog. Patsy sets out to solve the riddle.
In Shadow Cove Mistery (1940), Patsy Goodwin, the engaging heroine is one of the most likeable characters ever to appear in a book for girls. Adventuresome, resourceful, full of fun and life. The story opens when Patsy arrives to spend the summer in the mountains with two other girls. Adventure comes their way immediately when they encounter a lovelv Russian girl who is very friendly but whose actions hint at some mysterious secret in her past. Patsy and her companions decide right away to help their new-found friend. By doing so, they become involved in a series of exciting adventures involving the disappearance of the Russian girl, the loss of a valuable ring, and a phantom walking in the woods, which reach their climax when Patsy goes to the aid of her friends in the fact of a raging forest fire. Inherent in the story are many fascinating bits of wood lore, information of the work of fire rangers, and other interesting facts which are woven into the narrative without halting for a minute its lively pace.
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