Gabriela Mistral was born on April 6, 1889, at Vicuna, a small town in northern Chile. Her parents were schoolteachers, but her father abandoned the family when she was 3. Taught by her mother, she began instructing in 1904, achieving success in many high schools. In 1909, her first love died. Shortly afterward her second love married someone else. In 1922 the Mexican minister of education, Jose Vasconcelos, invited her to assist in his reform program, and the peak of this career came the following year, when she was awarded the Chilean title "Teacher of the Nation". In 1925 she retired but remained active. Gabriela Mistral devoted much time to diplomatic   activity, serving as honorary consul   in Madrid, Lisbon, Nice, and Los Angeles. She also served as a representative to the United Nations. In fulfillment of these responsibilities, she visited nearly every major country in Europe and Latin America. She also continued her early literary pursuits. In 1922 Gabriela Mistral's first book, Desolation, a collection of poems previously published in newspapers and magazines, was released through the efforts of Federico de Onis, Director of the Hispanic Institute of New York. It reflected personal sorrow. Two years later her second book, Tenderness, appeared; it contained some of the poems from Desolation and several new ones. Fourteen years passed before the next, Felling, appeared. It was much happier in tone. Her last book, Wine Press, in 1954, dealt with most of the subjects previously treated but in a different manner. The winning of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1945 did not assuage   the loss of her nephew. Furthermore, by 1944 she had developed diabetes  . Gabriela Mistral went to the United States for medical aid in 1946, living in various places and, after her appointment to the United Nations, moving to Long Island. It was there that she died of cancer on Jan. 10, 1957. The theme of Gabriela Mistral's early works is   _  .
death happiness teaching life personal suffering