adapted a number of plays. She possesses histrionic talent, and, had it not been for family reasons, she probably would have gone on the stage. She is a public-spirited woman, as is shown
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EMMA TOUSSAINT.
in her active membership in six clubs, the New England Woman's Club, The New England Woman's Press Association, the Castilian Club, the
Ladies' Aid Association, the Woman's Charity Club and the Guild of the Church of our Savior, for she is an Episcopalian Her life has been spent in attendance on an invalid mother, whose death occurred five years ago. It was mainly through her efforts the English actor, Henry Neville, was the first member of his profession who was invited to give a paper of the drama before the New England Woman's Club.
TOWNE, Mrs. Belle Kellogg, author and journalist, born in Sylvania. Racine county. Wis., 1st June, 1844. She is the daughter of the late Seth H. and Electa S. Kellogg. She began at an early age to display literary talent, but it was not until her marriage with Prof. T. Martin Towne, of Chicago, Ill., the well-known musical
composer, that she was induced to embrace pen-work as a vocation. Ten years ago she was asked to take charge of the various young people's papers published by the David C. Cook Publishing Company, of Chicago. There she has found a wide field, not only for her literary gift, but executive ability.
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BELLE KELLOGG TOWNE.
The "Young People's Weekly," the most noted of the periodicals published by that firm, is ranked among the foremost of religious papers for the young. Mrs. Towne reads the numerous manuscripts contributed for all the papers in her hands, and, although charitable to the young or obscure author, she has no sympathy with a writer who has no talent, or with one who has talent, but uses it unworthily or in a slipshod manner. All her business correspondence and original composition she dictates to a stenographer, and recently she has made large use of the phonograph in her literary work. She has written much and well. She is one of the rare examples of a successful author who is an equally successful editor.
TOWNSEND, Mrs. Mary Ashley Van Voorhis, poet, born in Lyons. N. Y., in 1836. She moved to New Orleans, La., in early girlhood and
has lived there ever since, save for a short time, when she lived in the West. Her husband. Gideon Townsend, is a wealthy banker, prominently identified with the business interests of New Orleans.
Mrs. Townsend is the mother of three daughters. She has been writing since she was a young girl. Her first efforts were short stories, so popular that they went the "rounds of the press." Her first book was a novel, "The Brother Clerks: A Tale of New Orleans" (New York, 1889). In 1870 she published the well-known poem, "A Georgia Volunteer." Next came "Xarilla's Poems" (Philadelphia, 1870). This was followed by a fine dramatic poem of some length, "The Captain's Story" (Philadelphia, 1874). In 1881 she brought out " Down the Bayou and Other Poems" (Boston). Her most important single poem, "Creed." appeared first in the New Orleans "Picayune," in 1869, and at once went ringing round the land, crossed the Atlantic, made itself famous in England and has never lost the hold upon the hearts of the people which it so speedily gained. She was seeded as the writer of the poem for the New Orleans Cotton Exposition. She has made several visits to Mexico, and is a member of the Liceo Hidalgo, the foremost literary club in the city of Mexico, numbering among its members the most brilliant literary men of that country. At the time of her election she was the only American woman so honored. Her latest works are a book on Mexico and a volume of sonnets. Mrs. Townsend's life has been devoted to the highest and purest aims in literature, and her work has all been broad and
