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Elizabeth Coatsworth was born in Buffalo, New York on May 31, 1893, the daughter of William T. and Ida Coatsworth. She received her preparatory education at Buffalo Seminary, after which she received her A.B. from Vassar in 1915 and her A.M. from Columbia in 1916. She married Henry Beston of Hingham Massachusetts in 1929 and now has two children, Margaret Coatsworth, and Catherine Maurice.

Mrs. Beston is a contributor to THE DIAL, the SATURDAY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, the ATLANTIC MONTHLY, POETRY, BOOKMAN, HARPER'S, the YALE REVIEW and FORUM.

Who's Who in America, 1936-1937

[Drawing] [Beginning italic]

Jefferson's Song By Elizabeth Coatsworth

It is not easy to be President When one's alone, and when one's wife is dead, But duties still are duties, and the land Has tasks enough to tire heart and head;

To tire head and heart as one grows frail With years and ingenuities and care, Unless one keeps an inner room of peace, Unless a something still is singing there.

Jefferson has the room; its outward form Looks to the south with flowers at the sill, And a long table where his building tools And gardening tools lie waiting on his will.

His mockingbird is there, outside a cage. Why should a cage ever be bar to wings? And partly it is something in his heart, And partly it is the gray bird that sings:

"Surely the land is beautiful and proud, Be patient with its cruelties and ills. The Graces yet shall gather in its halls, The Muses yet shall walk upon its hills.

"The grapes of Greece, the pomegranates of Rome Upon wild stock shall be engrafted here. Serenity and courage are the same— A gentleman must never name his fear." [End italic]