Kansas Women in Literature | Page 9

that Love came near With silken flutter of empurpled wings That wafted faint, strange fragrance from the things Abloom where age and season never sear. The joy of mating birds was in my ear, And flamed my path with dancing daffodils Whose splendor melted into greening hills Upseeking, like my spirit, to revere.''
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``Before you came, this heart of mine A fairy garden seemed With lavender and eglantine; And lovely lilies gleamed Above the purple-pansy sod Where ruthless passion never trod.''
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``If Heaven had been pleased to let you be A keeper of the sheep, a peasant me, Within a shepherd's cottage thatched with vine Now might we know the bliss of days divine.'' --``We are part of Heaven's scheme, You and I: Child of sunshine and the dew I was earthly--born as you.
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``Yet my little hour I go, Troubled maid, Even where the storm blasts blow, Unafraid; Confident that from the sod All things upward wend to God.''
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``Dear heart, the homing hour is here, The task is done. Toilers, and they who course the deer Turn, one by one, At day's demise, Where dwells a deathless glow In loving eyes. I hear them hearthward go To castle, or to cottage on the lea; But him I love comes never home to me.''
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The peaks that rift the saffron sheen Of sunset skies In purple loveliness, when seen By nearer eyes, Are bleakly bare. To brave those boulders gray No climbers dare. O, in some future may This mountain mass of unfulfilled desires Be unto me as yonder haloed spires!''
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Miss Perkins is the compiler of ``Echoes of Pawnee Rock,'' and writes short stories and poems for the magazines. Some of her verse is published in Woolard's ``Father.''

ANNA E. ARNOLD.
Anna E. Arnold, Cottonwood Falls, Superintendent of Chase County Schools, is a thorough Kansan, and a farm product. She was born at Whiting, Jackson County, but when a very small child, her parents moved to Chase and all her life since has been spent in that county. Until the last few years, she lived on a farm.
She is a graduate of the State University and has taught in the grade and high schools. In 1905, she became a candidate for Superintendent of Schools of Chase County. Her success and her unusual ability as a teacher were rewarded by a two to one majority on a close county ticket. At the second term, she had no opposition and out of 1214 votes cast, she received all but 29. The present year, after four elections, is her seventh continuous year as Superintendent of Chase County. In addition to her official duties, Miss Arnold has written two text-books. Her ``Civics and Citizenship'' in 1912 was adopted as the state text-book on civil government for use in the public schools of Kansas. It is being used by a large number of womens' clubs. Many outlines for club work on civic subjects have come from Miss Arnold's pen. Her second textbook, ``A History of Kansas,'' the first book printed under the new State Publication Law, has also been adopted by the text-book commission.
Miss Arnold is considered one of the foremost educational leaders of the state.
Topeka gives us Anna Deming Gray, a writer of negro dialect stories, stories for children, and some verse. Elizabeth Barr Arthur, has written a number of books, histories of several Kansas counties and some volumes of poems, ``Washburn Ballads.'' Mrs. Sarah E. Roby is a writer of both prose and verse.
A granddaughter, Marjory Roby, has written a number of stories and plays. Eva Bland Black contributes poems and song lyrics to the magazines. She served her apprenticeship as reporter and city editor of the Journal and Evening News of Garnett and as associate editor of the Concordia ``Magnet.'' Mrs. Isabel McArthur is a natural poet and song writer.
She has published one volume of verse, ``Every Body Loves a Lover.'' Her last song, ``When The Bloom Is On The Cherry At Sardou'' is widely sung. Edna E. Haywood is author of ``Fifty Common Birds Around the Capital.''
Mrs. Mary A. Cornelius, while a resident of Topeka, wrote four books, ``Little Wolf,'' ``Uncle Nathan's Farm,'' ``The White Flame,'' and ``Why? A Kansas Girl's Query.'' Another book is ready for publication. Mrs. Mary Worrall Hudson, wife of the late General J. K. Hudson, former editor of the Topeka Capital, is author of ``Two Little Maids And Their Friends,'' ``Esther, The Gentile,'' and many short stories and poems. Her classic prose- poem: ``In The Missouri Woods'' is considered her masterpiece. Mrs. Sara Josephine Albright, formerly of Topeka, now of Leavenworth, is a sweet singer of childlife. Her volume of verse, ``With