DAYTON, Mrs. Elizabeth, poet and author, born in Chertsey, Surry, England, 25th December, 1848. She is best known by her pen name, " Beth Day." When a child, she moved with her
parents to Wisconsin, which has since been her home. Growing up in the intellectual atmosphere of a literary family, and endowed by nature with a peculiarly gifted and imaginative mind, she began
ELIZABETH DAYTON.
early to exercise the poetic faculty. Although Mrs. Dayton's lot has been cast among what would seem to he uncongenial associations, she has the happy faculty of idealizing common things, and some of her best work has been wrought out of material that some might deem too coarse for a poet's uses. Although burdened with the cares and duties of a farmer's wife, she has found time to send out many stories, sketches and poems, and has written for a number of years for the "Youth's Companion," Chicago "Inter-Ocean," "Godey's Lady's Book," "Demorest's Magazine," the "Weekly Wisconsin," "Home Magazine" and many other prominent periodicals. During the brief but brilliant career of "Our Continent,' edited by Judge Tourgee, she was one of its contributors. She writes for juvenile magazines, in addition to her other literary work. Her home was for some years in a pleasant spot on Fox river, near Wrightstown, Wis., but in the autumn of 1891 she removed to South Kaukauna, Wis. Up to that date Mrs. Dayton's literary work had been but the recreation of a busy woman, but now, relieved of the cares and almost endless labor of farm life, she is devoting more time to her pen.