DORSET, SARAH A. 



Tho products of the fisheries in 1878 were 

 valued at $18,373,486, against $12,029,957 in 

 !>, 7. The increase took place in the takings 

 of cod, mackerel, lobster, and salmon. The 

 exports of fiah amounted to $6,929,866, an in- 

 crease of $1,055,006. 



The latest report of Canadian railway statis- 

 tics gives the length of the roads in operation 

 as 6,143 miles, of rails luid in partially con- 

 structed roads as 721, and of railways under 

 construction as 1,042; making a total length 

 of 7,906 miles, against 5,594i- miles in opera- 

 tion and 1,996} under construction at the time 

 of the preceding report. The total nominal 

 capital outlay represented is about $360,000,- 

 000: of this, $122,176,000 consists of the ordi- 

 nary share capital, $69,155,000 of preferred 

 stock, and $83,710,000 of the bonded debt. The 

 amount subscribed and guaranteed by the Gov- 

 ernment and municipal authorities was $87,- 

 456,000, which was reduced $1,887,000 by 

 paid-up securities. The aid received from the 

 Dominion Government amounted to $65,939,- 

 000, that from the provincial Governments to 

 $14,291,000, that from municipal sources to 

 $7,224,000. The capital investment per mile 

 is $45,995. Steel rails are laid on 3,583 miles. 

 The tonnage of freight handled during the year 

 ending June 30, 1878, was 7,883,472 tons, an 

 increase of 15 per cent, over the business 

 of the preceding year. The total earnings 

 amounted to $20,520,000, an increase of $1,- 

 778,000; the earnings per mile were $3,479, 

 an increase of $61. The net profits were 

 $4,419,000, an increase of 28 per cent. The 

 revenue from the canals has decreased by 

 $42,898, or 11 '38 per cent., the decrease on 

 the Welland Canal amounting to $37,959. 



DORSET, Mrs. SARAH A., died in New Or- 

 leans on Saturday, July 4th. She was the 

 daughter of Thomas G. Ellis, a planter in Mis- 

 sissippi, and was born in Natchez, February 

 16, 1829. She received a careful education, 

 and enjoyed the advantage of extended for- 

 eign travel. Her mother was the sister of the 

 poetess and novelist Mrs. Catherine Anne 

 Warfield, nee Ware, authoress of " Poems by 

 Two Sisters of the West," " The Household 

 of Bouverie," " Beauseincourt," and other ro- 

 mances marked by a certain wild, untutored 

 originality. This lady, who died in 1877, ex- 

 ercised a formative influence on her niece, who 

 became her literary executor, Mrs. Warfield 

 having left in her hands a mass of manuscript, 

 the greater part of which is still unpublished. 

 After her mother's second marriage, Sarah El- 

 lis, on January 19, 1853, married Samuel W. Dor- 

 sey of Ellicott's Mills, Maryland. At the time 

 he was practicing law and planting in Tensas 

 Parish, Louisiana. Mr. Dorsey was a man of 

 ability, wealth, ami social position, and, despite 

 disparity of years, the union proved a happy 

 one. Mrs. Dorsey was fond of society, travel, 

 and literature. Having no children, she gave 

 herself unreservedly to the indulgence of these 

 tastes. She spoke fluently several modern lan- 



guages, was a proficient in Greek and Latin, 

 and an ardent student of Sanskrit. She pub- 

 lished a biography of Governor Henry W. 

 Allen of Louisiana, and the novels " Athalie," 

 "Lucia Dare," "Agnes Graham," and "Pano- 

 la." Of these " Panola " is the latest, having 

 appeared in 1877, and " Agnes Graham " is the 

 best known. In addition she wrote a treatise 

 on the Aryan philosophy, and was an indus- 

 trious contributor to various journals and peri- 

 odicals. Mrs. Dorsey was at one time an Epis- 

 copalian with high ritualistic tendencies. She 

 built a chapel on her plantation, and devoted 

 herself to the religious instruction of her slaves. 

 Her studies of comparative theology and in- 

 vestigations of Eastern systems for a while un- 

 settled her covictions ; but these doubts passed 

 away, and during her lingering illness she was 

 sustained by the faith of her childhood. She 

 was widely known in literary circles at home 

 and abroad. She kept up an active inter- 

 change of ideas with savants in India, Germany, 

 Italy, France, and England. Among her cor- 

 respondents were the Rossettis, Dean Stanley, 

 Carlyle, Herbert Spencer, and other celebrities. 

 Mrs. Dorsey was far more distinguished as 

 a conversationalist than as a writer. Her 

 quick intellect and fervent affections gave her 

 a peculiar charm. By temperament she was a 

 hero-worshiper. She was enthusiastic and un- 

 changing in her friendships. Although her 

 means were much diminished after the war, 

 the hospitality of her home was as freely ex- 

 tended as ever. There Mr. Jefferson Davis and 

 his family were frequent and honored guests 

 during the years of poverty and misfortune 

 following the failure of the Confederacy. Mrs. 

 Dorsey made no secret of her intention to con- 

 stitute Mr. Davis or one of his children her 

 heir, and thus do her part toward repairing 

 his losses. Having given liberally to her own 

 family during her lifetime, and deriving her en- 

 tire means from her husband, she felt herself 

 entitled to make this disposition of her prop- 

 erty, and only regretted the sraallness of the 

 legacy. The appraised value of her whole 

 estate is under twenty-five thousand dollars. 

 After the death of Mr. Dorsey in 1875, she 

 removed from her plantation in Tensas Parish, 

 and resided at Beauvoir, a small place on the 

 Gulf-shore. Here she continued to employ 

 herself in literary labors, chiefly acting as 

 amanuensis to Mr. Davis, in the progress of 

 whose autobiography she felt a profound inter- 

 est. These occupations she never intermitted, 

 although suffering from the ravages of an he- 

 reditary malady, an internal cancer, which 

 would have disabled one with less powers of 

 endurance. When it became necessary, she 

 faced the alternatives of life and death with 

 composure. Removing to New Orleans, she 

 submitted calmly to a surgical operation which 

 proved unavailing. She died professing her- 

 self at peace with the world and in the Chris- 

 tian faith, and left behind her an unblemished 

 character. 



