Mae Bramhall

Mae St. John Bramhall (, Laws; after adoption, St. John; after marriage, St. John Bramhall; c. 1861 – February 1897) was a 19th-century American actress and versatile writer who contributed to many magazines and newspapers. Her mother is Cornelia Laws St. John, a poet and songwriter.

Early life and education Born Mae Laws, she was the second daughter of Joseph and Cornelia (Williams) Laws. Mae was born c. 1861, in Richmond, Indiana, By 1894, she was a resident of New York City and was writing sketches of baby life in Japan for Harper's Bazaar . She expanded them into a volume which the Harpers brought out with illustrations by Charles Dater Weldon (1844–1935). Entitled, The Wee Ones of Japan, it described the Japanese child from babyhood to their school days, including their dress, their ways, their play and study, and the customs which surround them. She also published Around the World at Leisure Letters. She suffered before her death, which occurred February 5 or 7, 1897, (According to the Indianapolis Journal (1897), Bramhall died February 5, 1897.)

"The Japanese Good Morning" A fall to the knees, A turn to the toes, A spread of the hands, And a dip of the nose. It takes all these just to say "Good-day" In Chrysanthemum-land so far away. —"The Japanese Good Morning", by Mae St. John Bramhall, in the January 1897, St. Nicholas Magazine.

Selected works Japanese Jingles (Tokyo: T. Hasegawa, 1891) The Wee Ones of Japan (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1894) Around the World at Leisure Letters