Memoirs of Anne C.L. Botta,: written by her friends. With selections from her correspondence and from her writings in prose and poetry.

3tograpbtcal Motes
Highly sensitive and refined, she was always quick
to recognize mental and moral worth, always offering a helping hand with sympathy and encouragement. Thus she was able to bring forth talents
which otherwise might never have come to light.
" It was not so much what Mrs. Botta did for literature with her own pen," says a Boston writer, "as
what she helped others to do, that will make her name
a part of the literary history of the country. If she
had done nothing beyond discovering Edith Thomas,
she would have deserved the thanks of all lovers of
real poetry. When Miss Thomas presented herself
at Mrs. Botta's door, she was entirely unknown; but
the portfolio of manuscripts she had under her arm
made it impossible for her to remain so any longer.
Mrs. Botta detected the divine spark, and passed the
poet on to that other poet, Helen Jackson (' H. H.'),
who set herself to work at once to make Miss
Thomas known to the world. The first thing she
did was to call at the' Critic' office with a poem of
Miss Thomas's in her hand, which was published in
that journal just as quickly as the compositors could
put it into type. Then'The Century' published
a page of the new poet's verses, and it was not long
before the' Atlantic' had her among its contributors, and the'Atlantic's' publishers had a volume
of her poems on their list. To-day, Edith Thomas
is recognized as the best among the living women
poets, and there are only a few men who are her
superiors. So, as I said before, if Mrs. Botta had
done nothing but discover Miss Thomas, she would
have had a proud record."
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