The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-08
Betsy HdniHOn''

Before you ever laid eyes on her wouldn't you know that you'd just love a woman whose name is Betsy Hamnton?'
 It sounds so close and sweet and gentle and tender-so brim full of humor and pathos-and those who cast aside with aspersion the oft mooted question Whats in a name?" can easily be reminded that there Is much in it when 1t comes to Betsy Hamilton"
 Betsy Hamilton" who. in private life. is Mrs. Idora Mcclellan Moore, is as well known and widely read as any ether Alabama writer of South ern Character Sketches"
 All of my life I've heard of and read about Betsy Hamilton" and just a few days ago I had the pleas ure of meeting this charming. gra- cious, ''grande dame of the '60s," and let ne tell you how she impressed me:
 With her beautiful face. so gentle and kind, framed by a halo of snow white hair, she has an angelic ex- pression that beams and radiates sun shine and happiness-and when she lifts her euphonious voice in softly modulated tones, her blue eyes dancing with humor-why you just feel like you'd met an old-time friend a friend who, like the little girl Kip ling tells us about who said when she met the little "Brushwood" boy she knew he had been there al ways just waiting for her to find"
 Betsy Hamilton has written hu- morously of southern characters. and her hundreds of friends and admirers will be delighted to know that she has compiled these character studies in a lovely little volume entitled Southern Character Sketches" which has recently been published and which is tastefully bound in dark green brocade with "letterings" of gold.
 tSouthern Character Sketches" Is dedicated ITO the memory of my val ued friend of former days, Georgia's Henry Woodfin Grady, whose appre- citation and encouragement led to the publication of the Betsy Hamilton sketches in the Atlanta Constitution and later to my dear daughter, Julia Moore Smith, whose constant and loving insistence has induced me to collect the sketches in book form, this volume is affectionately dedi- catcd by the author"
 The preface is splendid intro duction in that 1t explains how the writer. came to introduce the Hill Country People," their dialect and their manner of living.
 The first sketch she wrote, pub lished In the Sunny South, literary paper in Atlanta, was, entitled Bet sy's First Trip to Town" and for several years the writer penned series of articles in the form of letters headed The Backwoods, ia miliar letters," Betsy Hamilton" to her Cousin, Saleny." Soon after this she began writing for the Constitu- tion at the suggestion of Joel Chan dler Harris Uncle Remus), and 1t was then that she abandoned the letter style and wrote character sketches, but keeping the now popu- lar nom -de-plume of Betsy Hamil- ton"
 These sketches will be read with as much interest by the people of today, and recited with as much hu- nor by the students of the schools and colleges as 10 years ago, for they are original and represent a unique type of people now found only in the remotest sections of the south Betsy Hamilton portrays the life of the Hill people in Alabama so viv- idly, truthfully and humorously as to place her in the list of the best hu- morous writers.
 Some of the most readable and at tractive sketches" contained in the Southern Character Sketches" are "The Quiltin' at Mis- Robinson's." "Pap's Bone Felon." The Old Time Camp Meetin'," "The Rivers of Ala bama," "Ketchin' Chicken" Aunt Neely's First Love-" How Sis Lindy Lost Her Job.'
 In talking with Betsy Hamilton few days ago during visit she is making to relatives in Birmingham. I was greatly impressed with the fact that Mrs. Moore, although not young in years, Is still young in heart and spirit, and always means to be.
 "The people who haven't anything to do are the people who grow old" Mrs. Moore said, her pretty eyes twinkling and sparkling with the joy of living. T have never been idle a day in my life; I am always writing, reading. working, and don't have