The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-28

the school with piano and all the neces-
sary apparatus IN physics. chemistry and
astronomy In ls5S she met Miss Charlotte
! Cushman. who was playing in Memphis,
and from this meeting dates an intimacy
which lasted until the death of the ceie-
brated tragedian. Miss Cushman recog-
nized her dramatic powers and gave her
instructions. urging her 10 adopt the stage
as a profession. and promising to sustain
her in II. The tempting offer was declined,
however, and a short time afterwards
Mrs Bradford married Mr.. Leonidas
ketchum. OF Memphis Three years later
the country was plunged in civil war, and
her husband was among the first 20 offer
his services 10 the south.
AS adjutant Of the Thlrty-eighth Ten
nessee Infantry. he led the van in the bat
tie Of Shiloh. where he received a wound
which ultimately caused his death. With
this bereavement came Mrs. ketchum's
Punishment from Memphis. and again
thrown upon her own resources she open
ed normal school in Georgetown, KY.
for advanced pupils. In 1866 she returned
10 the beautiful home she had been com
PEELED to abandon to find il devastated.
Her daughter had completed her educa-
ton, but her son, six years younger-the
hero Of her poem, Benny and His Kitten
had still TO be equipped for life, and she
established a select school in Memphis
dream had been to enter the ministry,
and al Is years of age he went to Sc
vance and began the study Of theology.
Soon afterward. however, his mothers
health gave way. and leaving college
temporarily, he took a situation in Mem
phis, pursuing his studies in the evening.
In June, 1861, Mrs. Ketchum gave
Shakespearean recital in the opera house,
assisted by the pupils of her elocution
class. Her son had inherited her dra-
matte talent, and impersOnated Mare An
tony in Julius Caesar" His bOyish beau
" was enhanced by the picturesque Ro-
man costume and he played like one in
spired. over and over again he was re-
called to repeat the words in the closing
scene:
Now let it work! Mischief. thou art
afoot:
Take thou what course thou wilt"
Less than twenty-four hours later the
boy lay a corpse, victim of Asiatic
cholera. This tragic blow made Memphis
an impossible place of residence for the
sorrow-stricken mother. She lived abroad
for years, and after her return to America
settled in New York, where she is beloved
and honored by a large circle of friends.
Mrs. Ketchum still continues her work
as lecturer, and last spring gave a series
of Lenten conferences upon Ancient and
Modern Literature" in Sophie Newcomb
College, New Orleans Her first novel.
nelly Bracken," appeared in 1850 1t was
published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co,
and was denominated by the New York
Courier and Enquirer "the oasis of the
dreary desert of American female litera-
ture"
The scene was laid in the south, and
1t abounded in beautiful descriptive pass
ages, and fine touches of character. Dur
ing her sojourn abroad Mrs. Ketchum con-
tributed letters of foreign travel to the
leading American journals under the title
of Gypsying, and in these her keenness
of observation, as well as her ability as
a musical and art critic, are forcibly dem
onstrated. Her poetical works are numer-
Gus. the productions of her muse appear
ing first in the Harper periodicals, st.
Nicholas and other prominent publica-
lions, and afterward coming out in book
form. Her descriptions of scenery in some
of these are wonderful. In Dolores, par
ticularly, which was published in Har-
per's Magazine for October, 1871, her word
pictures are so vivid that her illustrator.
Mr.. Parsons, made life-like representa-
lions of Mobile Bay, Montrose, the church
of Maris Stella and other places depicted
without ever having seen them. 1t is, how
ever, the poems wrung from her by the
sorrows of her life which touch the hearts
of her readers most deeply, and through
these her fame as a poet is perhaps des-
tined longest to endure.
In addition to these miscellaneous pro-
auctions, Mrs. Ketchum is the author of
more than a hundred well-digested lee
lures which cover a wide area in liter
allure, science and art. Her botany she
considers the greatest work of her life.
Seven years were devoted to its prepara-
ton, and during half of that period the
author literally lived in the gardens and
fields of Europe and America IN intimate
association. with the plants of which she
treats. Her lessons are based upon the
inductive system and the scientific jour
nails throughout the country, as well as the
great dailies, were warm in their praises
of the work. The Illustrations which the
book contains, which, with the exception
of the engravings, were made by her
self. are another proof of the writer's
versatility.
Mrs. Ketchum has become a Roman
Catholic and a Dominican. Her health
will not permit her to subject herself to
the austerities of the cloister, but she be-
longs to that section of the Third Order
of st. Dominic-Capitalas Tertiaries-
whose members assume the same vows
as those of the Convent Tertiaries, but
who live in the world and wear a secular
dress The Dominican habit is worn upon
feast days, however, and all who belong
to the order are buried in that dress. Mrs.
Ketchum's religious name is Sister ANA
bills, a title of the Blessed Virgin, which
denotes the loving, retiring house mother.
Giberta S. Whittle.