"Yes," said Emmy Lou. Then moved to confidence by the little girl's friendliness, she added, "It has reading on it." "Pooh," said the little girl, "they all have that. My mamma's been reading the long verses inside to me." "Can you show them--valentines?" asked Emmy Lou. "Of course, to grown-up people," said the little girl. The gas was lit when Emmy Lou came in. Uncle Charlie was there, and the aunties, sitting around, reading. "I got a valentine," said Emmy Lou. They all looked up. They had forgotten it was Valentine's Day, and it came to them that if Emmy Lou's mother had not gone away, never to come back, the year before, Valentine's Day would not have been forgotten. Aunt Cordelia smoothed the black dress she was wearing because of the mother who would never come back, and looked troubled. But Emmy Lou laid the blue and gold valentine on Aunt Cordelia's knee. In the valentine's center were two hands clasping. Emmy Lou's forefinger pointed to the words beneath the clasped hands. "I can read it," said Emmy Lou. They listened. Uncle Charlie put down his paper. Aunt Louise looked over Aunt Cordelia's shoulder. "B," said Emmy Lou, "e--Be." The aunties nodded. "M," said Emmy Lou, "y--my." Emmy Lou did not hesitate. "V," said Emmy Lou, "a, l, e, n, t, i, n, e--Valentine. Be my Valentine." "There!" said Aunt Cordelia. "Well!" said Aunt Katie. "At last!" said Aunt Louise. "H'm!" said Uncle Charlie. GEORGE MADDEN MARTIN In the South it is not unusual to give boys' names to girls, so it happens that George is the real name of the woman who wrote _Emmy Lou_. George Madden was born in Louisville, Kentucky, May 3, 1866. She attended the public schools in Louisville, but on account of ill health did not graduate. She married Atwood R. Martin, and they made their home at Anchorage, a suburb of Louisville. Here in an old house surrounded by great catalpa trees, with cardinals nesting in their branches, she was recovering from an illness, and to pass the time began to write a short story. The title was "How They Missed the Exposition"; when it was sent away, and a check for seventy-five dollars came in payment, she was encouraged to go on. Her next work was the series of stories entitled _Emmy Lou, Her Book and Heart_. This at once took rank as one of the classics of school-room literature. It had a wide popularity in this country, and was translated into French and German. One of the pleasant tributes paid to the book was a review in a Pittsburgh newspaper which took the form of a letter to Emmy Lou. It ran in part as follows: Dear Little Emmy Lou: