“Her Only Son,” Four o’Clock,

Zoe Anderson Norris.

“Her Only Son,” Four o’Clock,

May 1897.

Tipped-in illustrations by Julia A. Roper.

Chicago-based Four o’Clock (1897-1902) ran this autobiographical story while Zoe’s marriage to Spencer was deteriorating. The heroine, Mrs. Leland, a restless, unloved Kansan housewife, grows impressive nasturtiums from seeds sent by her overbearing, jealous, widowed mother-in-law in the South. Mr. Leland is the widow’s only child (as was Spencer). Neighbors urge Mrs. Leland to invite the mother-in-law to Kansas; to survive those visits, Mrs. Leland longs for “the aid of an opiate” and then rips out the flowerbeds. 

From the Collection of Eve M. Kahn.