![]() ![]() ![]() Watching her mother struggle to keep herself afloat by mortgaging what little furniture they had in order to feed her younger children, she realized the only way for a woman of her time to find financial security was through a man. A cousin remembered her as a “remarkably bright girl” who spent the better part of her teens trying unsuccessfully to find a relative to pay for her continued education at a time when college was considered a luxury, especially for a girl. ![]() When her father’s sudden death left her mother and six siblings in dire financial straits, Pollard was sent to live with a succession of aunts. Kentucky-born Madeline Pollard was a 17-year-old student described by classmates as plain, quiet, unobtrusive and “mouse-like.” The daughter of a saddler whose shop also sold newspapers and highbrow magazines like Harper’s, she was an avid reader and excellent student who mastered Latin, memorized Shakespeare and dreamed of a literary career. ![]()
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