Kansas Women in Literature

Part 1

Produced by Mike Lough

KANSAS WOMEN IN LITERATURE

By Nettie Garmer Barker

TO MY NEAREST AND DEAREST-- MY SILENT PARTNERS-- MY HUSBAND AND MY MOTHER.

KANSAS WOMEN IN LITERATURE.

"We are proud of Kansas, the beautiful queen, And proud are we of her fields of corn; But a nobler pride than these I ween, Is our pride in her children, Kansas born!"

--Ellen P. Allerton--

--Or adopted. In this galaxy of bright women, the State has a noble pride for every name, be its owner Kansas born or adopted, is a mightier force for good than its "walls of corn."

EFFIE GRAHAM.

The last place one would expect to find romance is in arithmetic and yet--Miss Effie Graham, the head of the Department of Mathematics in the Topeka High School, has found it there and better still, in her lecture "Living Arithmetic" she has shown others the way to find it there. Miss Graham is one of the most talented women of the state. Ex-Gov. Hoch has called her "one of the most gifted women in the state noted for its brilliant women. Her heart and life are as pure as her mind is bright."

She was born and reared in Ohio, the daughter of a family of Ohio pioneers, a descendant of a Revolutionary soldier and also, of a warrior of 1812. As a student of the Ohio Northern University and later as a post-graduate worker at the University of California, Chicago University, and Harvard Summer School, she has as she says, "graduated sometimes and has a degree but never 'finished' her education."

Desiring to get the school out into the world as well as the world back to the school, she has spoken and written on "Moving Into The King Row," "Other Peoples' Children," "Spirit of the Younger Generation," "Vine Versus Oak," and "The Larger Service."

"Pictures Eight Hundred Children Selected," "Speaking of Automobiles," "The Unusual Thing," "The High Cost of Learning," and "Wanted--A Funeral of Algebraic Phraseology;" also, some verse, "The Twentieth Regiment Knight" and "Back to God's Country" are magazine work that never came back. School Science & Mathematics, a magazine to which she contributes and of which she is an associate editor, gives hers as the only woman's name on its staff of fifty editors.

Her book, "The Passin' On Party," raises the author to the rank of a classic. To quote a critic: it is "a little like 'Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch,' a little like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' but not just like either of them. She reaches right down into human breasts and grips the heart strings."

It is the busy people who find time to do things and the mother-heart of Miss Graham finds expression in her household in West Lawn, a suburb of Topeka. Among the members of her family are a niece and nephew whose High School and College education she directs.

ESTHER M. CLARK.

Every Kansan, homesick in a foreign land, knows the call of Kansas and every Kansan book lover knows Esther Clark's "Call of Kansas."

"Sweeter to me than the salt sea spray, the fragrance of summer rains: Nearer my heart than these mighty hills are the wind-swept Kansas plains: Dearer the sight of a shy, wild rose by the roadside's dusty way Than all the splendor of poppy-fields ablaze in the sun of May.

Gay as the bold poinsetta is, and the burden of pepper trees, The sunflower, tawny and gold and brown, is richer, to me, than these. And rising ever above the song of the hoarse, insistent sea, The voice of the prairie, calling, calling me.

Miss Clark was born in Neosho Co., Kansas, about twelve miles southeast of Chanute, on a farm. At seven years of age, the family moved to Chanute and her school days were spent at the old Pioneer Building, where her mother went to school before her. In 1894, she graduated here, later entering the University of Kansas for work in English.

In 1906, "Verses by a Commonplace Person" was published. "The Call of Kansas and Other Verse" came out in 1909. This volume contained "My Dear" and "Good Night" which were set to music, and "Rose O' My Heart."

"Rose o' my heart, to-day I send A rose or two, You love roses, Rose o' my heart, I love you.

Rose o' my heart, a rose is sweet And fresh as dew. Some have thorns, but, Rose o' my heart, None have you.

Rose o' my heart, this day wear My roses, do! For next to my heart, Rose o' my heart, I wear you."

"My Dear" was written for her baby brother, during an absence from home, and is Miss Clark's favorite.

She is in the office of the Extension Department at the University of Kansas, and has exclusive charge of club programs and does some work in package libraries.

Just now she is contributing prose to some of the newspapers and doing some splendid feature work.

MARY VANCE HUMPHREY.

Part 2

Mary Vance Humphrey of Junction City, Kansas, has written a series of short stories on the property rights of women in Kansas, a subject that was and is, still, of vital importance to the women of the state. "The Legal Status of Mrs. O'Rourke" and "King Lear in Kansas" are two of the series.

When young in heart and experience, Mrs. Humphrey wrote a number of poems. Her work in later years has been only prose. Her novel, "The Squatter Sovereign" is an historical romance of pioneer days, the settlement of Kansas in the fifties.

Mrs. Humphrey is one of the founders of the Kansas State Social Science Club and the Woman's Kansas Day Club and the founder of the Reading Club of Junction City. She has served as President of the State Federation and as Director of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and President of the Woman's Kansas Day Club. Her work as member of the Board of Education has done much for Junction City and her interest in libraries has done equally as much for the State of Kansas.

Of her record as an official, Margaret Hill McCarter has written: "Her whole soul is in her work. She is the genuine metal, shirking nothing, cheapening nothing, and withal happy in the enjoyment of her obligation. She stands for patriotism, progress and peace. Something of the message of the shepherds heard out beyond Bethlehem that Christmas morning long ago sounds in the chords she strikes."

As the wife of the late Judge James Humphrey, she proved herself the able companion of such a worthy man.

KATE A. APLINGTON.

The Kansas State Traveling Art Gallery owes its birth and much of its success to Kate A. Aplington, the author of that typical western story, "Pilgrims of the Plains." Since Feb., 1907, the Art Gallery has been a recognized state institution, and as its Vice-President and Superintendent and as the writer of the art lectures that accompany the work, Mrs. Aplington's broad-minded, artistic temperament and student's persistency have made the gallery truly a work of art.

At present, the Aplingtons are living at Miami, Florida, but for a quarter of a century, Council Grove, the most famous spot on the Santa Fe Trail, was their home. Special investigations and researches on the subject of the old Santa Fe Trail days and lecturers on educational and literary topics resulted from years spent in that historic place.

"Pilgrims of the Plains," which came out in Feb., 1913, is worthy of a place in the front rank of western stories. In July of this year, Grossett and Dunlap will bring it out in their "Popular Edition" of novels.

Mrs. Aplington is now working on a book on "Art-Museums of America" and judging from the comments of prominent Museum Directors, this will be as great a success as her novel. "Florida of the Reclamation," a character story with scenes laid in and around Miami, Florida, is also in preparation.

EMMA UPTON VAUGHN.

The author of that versatile little book of short stories, "The Lower Bureau Drawer" is Emma Upton Vaughn, a Kansas City, Kansas teacher. These heart stories, showing keen insight of human nature--especially woman nature--deal with every day life, each one a fascinating revelation, of character and soul.

Mrs. Vaughn was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her early life was spent in Kansas. She is a graduate of the Kansas University, and has taught in the public schools of the state.

She wrote the "Bible and the Flag in the Public Schools" and has contributed both prose and verse to the leading magazines and newspapers. Feature articles and many good essays appear over her signature. Her "Passing From Under The Partial Eclipse" did much to give Kansas City, Kansas her recognized place commercially on the map. A novel, "The Cresap Pension," exposing a great pension fraud, is ready for the press.

JESSIE WRIGHT WHITECOMB.

Jessie Wright Whitcomb, a Topeka writer of juvenile books is a lawyer in active practice with her husband, Judge George H. Whitcomb and a mother of a remarkable family of five boys and one girl. The oldest son gained his A. B. in 1910 at the age of eighteen; in 1911 was appointed Rhodes scholar for Kansas; and is now a student at Oxford. His father and mother are in England at present visiting him.

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