Ardelia Marie Cotton was Born July 22, 1836, in Nobleboro, Lincoln County, Maine, to Henry Page Cotton and Emeline Seiders. She married Benjamin Franklin Barton in 1872, ended up moving to California at some point, and passed on November 9, 1914, at the age of 78.
During her life, she wrote at least five books that we know of, most of them poetry collections, all of which received favorable reviews.
We are reading from Autumn Leaves, a poetry collection published in 1908. Interestingly enough, the preface to this collection states that the original manuscript perished in the great fire of April 1906. She began writing it anew on June 12, 1908, and published it in September of that same year.
According to Ardelia, "It has given me new courage, and by searching, perhaps you may find one leaf among my Autumn Leaves that you will feel was painted expressly for you, and is worthy to be pressed upon the tablet of your heart."
