Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-11-14

81
article in the Cosmopolitan Magazine,
entitled My Autobiography, describes
as follows her early life and literary
career:
Someone asked me not long ago
when il was that / first conceived the
idea Of literary profession and at
what age / first found myself some
thing Of a celebrity. do no& remem-
Der when | did NOT expect to be a
writer, and was a neighborhood
celebrity at the age Of g. The young
est Of my mothers children, l seemed
10 haze had my career arranged for
ne by conditions before my birth,
II has always been my belief that
children inherit the oppressed ten
tencles Of their parents. A clergy
mans son frequently shows abnormal
tastes for the pleasures that his father
denied hi.aself, and talent is quite
often the fu1lbloWn flower Of little
shoot which circumstance has crushed
under It's heel Ia a former generation.
So at the age Of 3 / began to com
pose prose and rhyme because the lit
.,yo-xy Tendencies NJ INV v,Ctbor baa
navar naon o,rattfia5 Tho noatica1
glft was no doubt greatly the resuIt
Of her having accidental access tn a
library Of the poets, for the first time
In her life, the year previous to my
advent and the haggiest and most
hopefnl wear Of her life
Until reached tho are NJ IA the
oeigbborhood ana the school satisfied
me rs an audience hailed connoef-
don-dov with an eagornass enIaInd
m mathematics # il human tn love
10 shine and equally human to dislike
being humilfatad in aur feJI0w-befngs'
ewes. One al Tho most danraesing
dave !, nv life was whom 7 e+ood On
n erale ~ 1o0 n mathematics
NJ oarIv ontlool Uag not ono which
would onroYrooa r,ogt oenir.nte NJ
far,ilv han loft !. oovofortohIo o,oI, =
l,,,,riou. homo for tboso davs T., Vor.
mont to seek fortune in the new west
Wisconsin before the wear Of my
birth
NJ father had been a music teacher
all his life and when he attempted to
become n business man and gDeculatOr
ne made n failure OF II Bv the time I
vas wear or two old ne had lost the
little coincidence he brought west
with him and fbn family 1.-TWO narents
and four children. including MYSELF
was Obliged 10 begin lie anew. at the
foot of the ladder upop a western
prairie distant II miles from the
nearest town This town was Madison,
Wisconsin's capital
No literary Advisers
hoa no tttororv oavisors or
ooaohars a., ,,aronts ,voro tnto1Iact.
-. ,,,t1,a,. No.. !, ..,,aat r1aaar -
,rbota,a,. oa,,o ~ bor vrov and wos
nossassaa If . wonderful ,pono,v The
sldor rhiIaron waro ~ caIlapt scholars
I'D . ,r,,,otf,of a,,,,,. r,,os +,oo+ad
aa,..l,,,.,1 -, :, 49, f,a,,a,,,,.T, d.
~ ono llrow anvtbing ohont tho
r,.4boa., &c aattin,r ;,,ta MINT a,a r,,o
Nj - Iita,.a,.,, as,an;a+a- We ,,,aro
: t,.,tb nil ron,. :, z.,o,.laI,, Goods
and knowledge and customs, the intel
lectual aristocrats of the locality.
W. had few hooks ana only = week
l., ,,a,,,snono. J., an o1d rod obos+
,.,.tair., i,.arl ,,l,f,rfa,,.,I,r ,,,o.o,,,,,4
a1,,i~- as M ,ro1,taa H-;,ttr ON;
-. rr,a,.,i,, Iaba Ct1ni,,,s pi,a and
fa7. - 1b,l.o os,,l, -,lars Tha
~, VII ! 80, .,a rho NJ, VII
Mercnlv were semi to MS nv relatives
for several years, and the first literary
feasts l INDUCED in were the weekly