Full-length portrait of the young girl holding her hands across her waist., In The American phrenological journal, vol. 29 (Jan., 1859), p. 1., At the age of four Ella Burns was a national celebrity, renowned for her captivating public readings and poetry recitations., “Without ever having been taught spelling or the alphabet, but having herself picked up a knowledge of words by intuitive quickness of eye, [Ella] takes any book of poetry presented to her and reads verses she has never before seen, with a cadence and a pronunciation which do the fullest justice to the sense and rhythm.”--P. 2.
