Kansas Women in Literature | Page 8

offering should be
one of the required books in Kansas schools. It is authentic history and
the close of the story leaves every Kansan with a greater respect and
love for the state and the heroic pioneers who stood as a living wall
between Kansas and the slave question. 1913 gave us the ``Master's
Degree,'' considered by many her best work. This year we have
``Winning The Wilderness.''
Mrs. McCarter founded the Club Member and organized the Sorosis,
serving as president seven years and two terms as president of the
Topeka Federation of Women's Clubs. Baker University, at Baldwin,
Kansas, gave her an honorary Master's Degree in 1909, its semi-
centennial anniversary.

BESSIE MAY BELLMAN. ---- JUNE BELLMAN HENTHORNE.
Bessie May Bellman and June Bellman Henthorne, her daughter, hail
from Winfield. They write both prose and verse and Mrs. Henthorne
was a reporter for years. Mrs. Bellman, when a girl, lived five years on
a cattle ranch and to those five lonely years she credits her habit of
introspection, meditation and writing. Much of her poetry and short
stories are used in platform work.
Red Leaves.
Red leaves-- Aflame in the air, aflame in the trees. Blue streams, smoky
hills-- Gold, gold the sunlight spills-- Red leaves!
Dead Leaves-- A swirl in the air-asleep 'neath the trees. Gone every
lark and swallow-- Haunting echoes bid me follow-- Dead leaves!

Bessie May Bellman--
Mrs. Henthorne's ``If'' is published in a New York reader.
``If, in a bird-heart, beating 'neath the gray There chants a song, no
matter what the day. If, in a bird-heart happy sunbeams shine, Why not
in mine?
If, in a flower-face, beat down by rain, The hope of clear skies be in
spite of pain-- If, in a flower-face a great hope shine, Why not in
mine?''

AMANDA T. JONES.
One of the few Kansas women to have a place in ``Who's Who'' was
the late Amanda T. Jones of Junction City. She was one of the most
prolific poets of Kansas.
Her ``Atlantic'' is a story of the rebellion; ``Utah and Other Poems;'' ``A
Prairie Idyl;'' ``Flowers and a Weed;'' and ``Rubaiyat of Solomon
Valley'' are volumes of verse. Her prose: ``Children's Stories,'' ``Fairy
Arrows'' and ``The White Blackbird;'' ``A Psychic Autobiography,''
published in 1908; ``Man and Priest,'' a story of psychic detection;
``Mother of Pioneers,'' and a novel ready for publication, ``A Daughter
of Wall St.''
Miss Jones originated a working women's home and patented many
inventions, mostly household necessities.
* * * *
CHARLOTTE F. WILDER.
Charlotte Frances Wilder, Manhattan, has been writing half a century
and it has won for her a place in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris,
``entitled to go down to posterity, her life- work preserved as
information for future generations.'' She has written ``Land of The

Rising Sun,'' ``Sister Ridenour's Sacrifice,'' ``Christmas Cheer In All
Lands,'' ``Easter Gladness,'' ``Mission Ships,'' ``The Child's Own Book''
and ``The Wonderful Story of Jesus.'' Her essays, alone, would make a
volume, original and interesting. She has written for the press since
sixteen years of age and has been a Bible teacher forty years.

ANNA L. JANUARY.
Osawatomie claims Anna L. January, the author of ``Historic Souvenir
of Osawatomie, Kansas,'' ``John Brown Battle Grounds,'' ``Calvin
Monument,'' and ``Lookout and Park;'' also, numerous poems.
Mrs. January is a native of Wilmington, Ohio, coming to Kansas in
1898. She taught school three years and in 1901 married D. A. January
of Osawatomie. They have one child, a son of four years. An active
worker in the Congress of Mothers and interested in temperance and
suffrage work, Mrs. January still finds time to write many short poems.
****
HATTIE HORNER LOUTHAN.
Hattie Horner Louthan, a former White Water, Kansas girl, is the
author of five books and many contributions to newspapers and first
class magazines. After graduation at the Normal School, Emporia, in
1883, Miss Horner engaged in teaching and literary work. Ten years
later, she became the wife of Overton Earl Louthan, who died in 1906.
She is editor of the Great Southwest and a member of the staff of the
Denver Republican. Her first volume of poems came out in 1885; the
next year, ``Some Reasons For Our Choice.'' ``Not At Home,'' a book
of travels, was published in 1889; ``Collection of Kansas Poetry,'' in
1891; and ``Thoughts Adrift,'' in 1902. Her work is versatile; the rhyme
easy flowing and strong.

GEORGIANA FREEMAN McCOY. ---- MARY FREEMAN
STARTZMAN.
Georgiana Freeman McCoy, Wichita, has taught music in Kansas
longer than any other teacher in the state and incidently writes verse.
She remodeled Elizabeth Browning's ``A Drama of Exile'' and wrote
the musical setting for Simon Buchhalter, the Viennese pianist and
composer. A sister, Mary Freeman Startzman, while living in Fort Scott,
wrote a volume of poems, ``Wild Flowers.''