She came in contact with Povilas Višinskis who gave her various Lithuanian periodicals (Aušra, Varpas, and Apžvalga), and encouraged her to write and participate in the national awakening of Lithuania.

There she gave lectures to various Lithuanian-American organizations, collected funds for the victims of the war, and wrote articles for the local press.

Povilas Višinskis suggested the tale to G. Petkevičaitė-Bitė and J. Jablonskis who then published it in The True Lithuanian Farmers' Calendar for 1895 (lit.

Suggested by Jonas Jablonskis, the editors published the tale under Žemaitė pseudonym as it was written in the Samogitian dialect.

In her lifetime Žemaitė wrote about 354 tales, novelettes, essays, over a dozen of plays, stories about her childhood as well as a number of articles, correspondences.

Žemaitė wrote about peasants in a vernacular that closely resembled the language spoken by them – lively and rich in vocabulary.

Throughout her work a particular emphasis has been placed upon a woman's role in family, domestic life and society as a whole which had a significant impact on the development of feminist ideology in the region.

Simply by describing poverty, moral indecency and its effects on inter-personal and family relations, Žemaitė unravelled widespread violence against women, vulnerability of minors and the overall patriarchal nature of society at the time.

Printed at Thomas de la Rue publishing house in England, the banknote depicts a portrayal of Žemaitė which was created by an artist named Giedrius Jonaitis.