Orelia Key Bell (April 8, 1864 – June 2, 1959) was an American poet and author whose work includes "Millennium Hymn" (1893) and "Poems" (1895). She lived for more than 50 years with her companion, Ida Jane Ash (1874–1948), first in Atlanta and then California, and they are buried alongside each other in the Atlanta's Historic Oakland Cemetery.

Early life

Orelia Key Bell was born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, on April 8, 1864, to Colonel Marcus Aurelius Bell (1828–1885) and Mary Jane Hulsey (1837–1901), in the Bell mansion, a stately Southern home in the heart of the city built in 1860. The house became historic soon after Bell's birth, as the headquarters of General William Sherman's engineering corps led by Captain Orlando M. Poe, and the room in which she was born and spent the first three months of her life was that used by General Sherman as a stable for his favorite colt. The house was made of "plaster-covered stone marbleized in shades of blue, yellow, and red" and thus nicknamed the "Calico House". The house was demolished in 1925.

Career

Both sides of Bell's family were from the

gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

, and she was very thoroughly educated. Even when her family lost their financial security she managed to support herself and reach the fame through her poetry. Her warmest recognition from the press came from

Richard Watson Gilder Richard Watson Gilder (February 8, 1844 – November 19, 1909) was an American poet and editor. Life and career Gilder was born on February 8, 1844 at Bordentown, New Jersey. He was the son of Jane (Nutt) Gilder and the Rev. William Henry Gi ...

of ''

The Century Magazine ''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associati ...

'', Page M. Baker of the ''

New Orleans Times-Democrat ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'',

Charles Anderson Dana Charles Anderson Dana (August 8, 1819 – October 17, 1897) was an American journalist, author, and senior government official. He was a top aide to Horace Greeley as the managing editor of the powerful Republican newspaper '' New-York Tribune ...

of the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...

'', Miriam Leslie,

Henry W. Grady Henry Woodfin Grady (May 24, 1850 – December 23, 1889) was an American journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the Confederacy (American Civil War), Confederacy into the Union (American Civil War), Union after the American C ...

, and Thaddeus E. Horton, and her own home paper, ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

''. Her poem "Maid and Matron" was used by actress Hortense Rhéa during her performances. Bell was friends with Sue Harper Mims, wife of Atlanta Mayor Livingston Mims. Sue Harper Mims was an influential teacher and lecturer in the early

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...

movement in the South and founder of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Atlanta. To her Bell owed the inspiration of her most enduring work, the International Series of Christian Science Hymns. "Millennium Hymn", published in the February 1893 issue of ''

The Christian Science Journal ''The Christian Science Journal'' is an official monthly publication of the Church of Christ, Scientist through the Christian Science Publishing Society, founded in 1883 by Mary Baker Eddy. In 1942 she collaborated with British poet

Alfred Noyes Alfred Noyes Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (16 September 188025 June 1958) was an English poet, short-story writer and playwright. Early years Noyes was born in Wolverhampton, England the son of Alfred and Amelia Adams No ...

to publish a "patriotic leaflet". Her poem, "The Tocsin Sounds" is "dedicated to President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

as Commander in Chief". Later in life, she developed the art of transcribing her poems in

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. Several works are exhibited at the Atlanta Historical Society, among other venues. She was awarded a bronze medal at the

Cotton States and International Exposition Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

in Atlanta. She was an early active member of Pasadena's

Browning Society Browning societies were groups who met to discuss the works of Robert Browning. Emerging from various reading groups, the societies indicated the poet's fame, and unusually were forming in his lifetime.Murray, H. (2002) ''Come, bright improvemen ...

, a poetry appreciation group.

Ida Ash

In 1895 Bell published ''Poems of Orelia Key Bell'', and the volume is dedicated, among others, to "Ida Ash, whose affection and encouragement have been among the chief sources of my inspiration". One poem, "Ida Ash", is under the section "The Heavenly Muse", and Ash is also named in the poem "At Mount Enota's Laurel'd Base" under the section "Melodies in Minor Key":

Ida Ash

:HOW did she come to me ? –or was it I :Who came to her? –or did we come together :Of one accord? I know nor whence nor whither :We twain were journeying was it yesterday, :Or some dim preexistence? –Destiny, :With iron tread –or Chance, blown like a feather– :Or clash of wandering stars or freak of weather, :That brought our hands to clasp in sympathy, :Our eyes to meet in music, and our souls :To leap en rapport? –Nay! as well divine :Which of two intermelting dewdrops rolls :First into the other. Whyfore seek a sign? :I only know, 'twas night: a voice: a flash :Of nereid eyes –then day– and Ida Ash.

At Mount Enota's Laurel'd Base

:AT Mount Enota's laurel'd base, :Where Hiawassee's waters flash, :'Twas there I met a mountain grace, :Beautiful Ida Ash. :As o'er the rocks, nereidianly, :She moved, with lissom step and proud, :Her eyes gleam'd like the Gemini :Beneath a shifting summer cloud. :The east-wind left its mourning cave :To nestle, dove-like, in her locks; :Tamed by her step, each madcap wave :Caress'd the conscious rocks. :The skylarks left their aery thrones :Amidst the serenading stars, :To catch her accent's Orphean tones :And beat its elegiac bars. :''Ah, I have sigh'd to rest me,'' sang :She from ''II Trovatore''; and thro' :A poet's heart the echo rang, :''Ah, I have sigh'd to rest me, too.'' :Sweet Ida Ash! life's hills are steep, :And Art a glad toil at its best; :Then rest thou in my heart, and I :Sweetly in thine will rest. :Teach me to sing as thou dost live, :A simple life of love and duty; :Then I at least to Art may give :One song of everlasting beauty. On October 12, 1895, at the closing session of the Professional Work of Women National Council's Work, a selection of poems by Bell were recited by Ash and by her pupils, Lucille Atkinson and Mamie Tolbert. A newspaper noted that Bell's "popularity in the literary world was evident from the representative number of literary people present who heard with deep appreciation the delicate expressions of her poetic mind".

Personal life

Orelia Key Bell never married and but lived with Ida Jane Ash. Newspapers tagged Ash as a lifelong friend and

amanuensis An amanuensis ( ) ( ) or scribe is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. It may also be a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In some aca ...

. They moved to Pasadena prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and later lived at 2533 Greenbriar Lane,

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...

. Bell died on June 2, 1959, and is buried at Oakland Cemetery in the Bell family plot alongside Ash.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Orelia Key 1864 births 1959 deaths Writers from Atlanta American women poets Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century