“ She was reared in Terre Haute, and received a liberal education, which she supplemented by extensive reading and study. She is troubled by an optical weakness, which at times makes her unable to read or write, and her health is delicate. She was a precocious child and at an early age showed by her poetical productions that she was worthy to be ranked with the foremost of the rising authors of the Wabash Valley. MARTINA SWAFFORD. Her first literary work was stories for the Philadelphia "Saturday Evening Post." ”