Susan Edmonstone Ferrier Ferrier visited Walter Scott at Ashiestiel Farm and House on the banks of the River Tweed, near Clovenfords in the Scottish Borders, and again in 1829 and 1831 at his new house, Abbotsford. They enjoyed each other's company and he wrote of her: "This gifted personage besides having great talents has conversation the least exigeant of any author, female at least..., simple, full of humour, and exceedingly ready at repartee, and all this without the least affectation of the blue stocking." He mentioned her in the same sentence as Maria Edgeworth and Frances Burney in 1825. Ferrier's account of the
On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away Dresser was a nationally-known talent who had traveled throughout the United States. While he occasionally returned to Terre Haute for performances and brief visits, Dresser's songs and letters to his friends often reminisced about Indiana and his childhood home. In the first half of 1897 Dresser began to write the song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" in remembrance of his Indiana home. He tended to compose songs over the course of months, usually in private during the evening hours. He refined his songs by playing the melody repeatedly, making changes and altering notes until it reached his