Jessie Helen Scott lived surrounded by adults.  Maiden aunts, a bachelor uncle and her grandparents lovingly cared for the young girl in their big white farmhouse with green trim, in Nova Scotia.  Her mother Mattie died when she was two and her brother and father lived in Novato, California where she would eventually join them, likely in 1895, when her dad remarried. Living an Anne of Green Gables existence, as a child among older people, she developed her skills with language quickly.

In Ste. Croix,  young Jessie became a star, that concert day. She had practised for weeks and was ready with her gift for the village -  a tender poem in her own sweet voice.  To this day, the event is still talked about, how she moved the crowd and how they clapped and cheered for more until she gave an encore,  likely the first ovation she had seen.

She was a classic beauty, with golden locks and an extremely bright mind; even as a child her gentle manner left an impression not easily forgotten.  To most of the village she was known as Dill's girl, since her father, Alexander Dill Scott  grew up in the village and was well known.  Others remembered her equally beautiful Aunt Jessie Scott, after whom she had been named, and who had died at the tender age of sixteen with TB.

To those who really knew her, "Little Jessie" was her own person.  Her Aunt Annie Scott, a retired teacher, started her schooling at home and Jessie responded rapidly.  Keen to read, she was also quick with "memory work" and thus at the age of three or four she impressed everyone with reciting the three full verses of Little Boy Blue. The piece was a classic Victorian melodrama by Eugene Field written as a poem in 1888 with all the elements for popularity with an audience in 1894.  Not in the nursery rhyme category, it was a modern and complex choice for Jessie to practice.

If I close my eyes I can almost see her standing in her best dress, surrounded by family, friends and strangers. A preschooler, but mature for her age, having known personal loss at a tender age at what was perhaps her first public performance.

As her name was called out, she stepped forward, likely took a breath and started her presentation in a clear voice.  The hall became unusually silent as the little girl from California began. . .