Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/313

Rh fancy, a felicitous expression, a pretty poetic effect; but it proves an ignis-fatuus, a meteoric flash; yet who knows but these hints of genius may prove buds of promise? The fair authoress betrays a little secret in the following stanza on "Thoughts".

The Portland Library at that time did not have Mrs. Cooke's poems, but Hyland's Old Book Store was only a few blocks away. Two dollars secured the only copy of Tears and Victory in that extensive collection of second-hand volumes. Subsequently, however, it was found on dusty shelves in Birmingham and Los Angeles.

During the reading of the review in the Overland Monthly the name of Belle W. Cooke had been vaguely reminiscent. At length this uncertain recollection was recognized as having come from something about her in Dr. J. B. Horner's Oregon Literature. This did not prove to be much, when looked up again—a brief paragraph, and two poems, "Seattle" and "I Know Not", badly chosen as representative of her work.

Dr. Horner had written about Joaquin Miller, Edwin Markham, Ella Higginson, Sam. L. Simpson and Eva Emery Dye, all in high public esteem at the time and all probably interviewed in person, and obviously brought a fatigued pen and scant research to his consideration of Belle W. Cooke, then living out of the state, having only this to say about her critically and biographically:

The following poems were written by Mrs. Belle W. Cooke, of Salem, a lady who has obtained considerable dis-