Woman of the Century/Adelaide Day Rollston

ROLLSTON, Mrs. Adelaide Day, poet and author, was born near Paducah, Ky. Her earliest years were spent in the country, in the midst of a ADELAIDE DAY ROLLSTON. landscape of quiet, pastoral beauty. Her father was a physician of good standing. At the age of twelve years her talent for writing verse began to manifest itself in brief poems published in the local press. Later, several appeared in the defunct "Saturday Star-Journal," of New York. She was educated in St Mary's Academy, in Paducah, to which city her parents had removed when she was twelve years old, and where she still lives. After the conclusion of her school-life she continued her contributions to the neighboring press, and frequently verses over her name appeared in the "Courier-Journal" of Louisville. They attracted little or no attention, until she found a friend and helper in the veteran of the Kentucky press, Col. H. M. McCarty, who blamed when necessary and gave praise when praise was due. Still, her path upward has been one of stem struggle. "I could not explain to you, or any one else," says she, "just what difficulties I have had to fight against." In 1877 she began to contribute to the "Current," and since then she has won wide recognition as a contributor to "Once a Week," "Youth's Companion," "Godey's Lady's Book" and other eastern periodicals of high standing. She has also written several novelettes.