Woman of the Century/Alice Williams Brotherton

BROTHERTON, Mrs. Alice Willams, author, born in Cambridge, Ind. Her family is of Welsh and English descent, with six generations on American soil. Her father resided in Cincinnati, Ohio, and afterward in St. Louis, Mo., then in Cambridge, Ind., and again settled in Cincinnati. She was educated mainly in the St. Louis and Cincinnati public schools, graduating in 1870 from Woodward high school, Cincinnati. In October, 1876, she was married to William Ernest Brotherton. Since then she has resided in Cincinnati. Two children, a boy and a girl, compose her family. Her oldest son, a bright boy of eleven, died in 1890. Living from her birth in an atmosphere of books, she was early trained by her mother in careful habits of composition. Her first appearance in print was in 1872. Her specialty is poetry, but she has written considerable prose in the form of essays, reviews and children's stories. From the first her success, in a pecuniary way, has been marked. Writing only when the spirit moves, in the spare moments of a busy home life, she has contributed at intervals to a variety of periodicals, the "Century." the "Atlantic," "Scribner's Monthly." the "Aldine," the "Independent," and various religious journals. Her booklet, "Beyond the Veil" (Chicago, 1886), was followed by "The Sailing of King Olaf and Other Poems" (Chicago, 1887), and by a volume of prose and verse for children, entitled "What the Wind Told the Tree-Tops" (New York. 1887). Her work shows a wide range of feeling and a deep insight into varying ALICE WILLIAMS BROTHERTON. phases of life. Many of her poems have been set to music in this country and in England.