Texas Lady

The author of "What's in a Name?" (ESSAY, Aug. 18) should not play footloose with the truth. "The famous Miss Hogg" was named Ima by her father not out of cruelty but in honor of his deceased brother, who had earlier published an epic poem of the Civil War, The Fate of Marvin. The heroine was Ima, a paragon of womanhood, equally disposed to nurse the wounded soldiers of North and South. Miss Hogg did not "grow up scowling" but was a good-humored woman of gracious mien and poise, who because of her untiring benefactions to the people in education, mental health and the arts became known as "the First Lady of Texas."

William Lee Pryor

Professor of English

University of Houston

Houston

TIME regrets the error.