Author talk:Kate Masterson

Kate Masterson, the poet and humorist, thus describes the beginning of her literary career: "I was at school in Brooklyn when I first sent a poem to Judge, signing it Kittie K. It was accepted find published with an illustration, and my cup of joy was brimming. When I got a check for two dollars I effervesced. I then sent some verses to Puck, which was then edited by H. C. Bunner. They were also signed Kittie K., but were written from a masculine point of view, and as I wrote a very gentlemanly hand, Bunner evidently came to the conclusion that I was a boy. He sent me some very funny letters, and I replied, keeping up the idea that I was a very fresh, slangy boy. He accepted the verses, 'She Stood on the Stair,' and they were published in a Christmas number with a picture. As this was only the second poem I had sold in my life, you can imagine how wildly anxious I was to have it appear. I bothered Bunner with inquiries, for, of course, that was the only poem on earth to me. Just then, I recollect finally writing him, 'Do you think my poem will be published during my lifetime?' He wrote me: 'My dear boy, I cannot say if your poem will be published during your lifetime, as I do not know when you are going to die.'

—Saturday Evening Post [1]