Kansas Women in Literature

BESSIE MAY BELLMAN. and 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?"