of the author.

Mrs. Allerton was born in Centerville. New
York, in 1835 and began writing verse at the
age of seventeen. Much as she has written,
yet writing was only a pastime. She never let it
interfere with her housework. Thoroughly
practical, she did all her own work, just
because she loved to do it. Her flowers of which
she had many, in doors and out, resulted in
many noble, inspiring lines. In 1862, she was

married to A. B. Allerton of Wisconsin, coming
to Kansas in 1865. She was best appreciated
for her social qualities and her interest
in charity--that broader charity that praises
the beauty and ignores the blemishes. Her
last poem, ``When Days Grow Dark'' is a beautiful
pen picture of her sweetness and resignation
in her growing blindness and her love
and trust in him who had been her companion
down the years.

``You take the book and pour into my ear
In accent sweet, the words I cannot see;
I listen charmed, forget my haunting fear,
And think with you as with your eyes I see.
In the world's thought, so your dear voice be left,
I still have part, I am not all bereft.