BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXXU1 



you will receive a patent for 'Polly Cow's Island,' in the 

 river Otonabee, township of Douro. 



"It has been a great pleasure to everyone here, from the 

 highest to the lowest official, to do everything in their power 

 to do you honorable service and gratify your every wish- — 

 every one of them feeling that the most any of them can do 

 is but the smallest acknowledgment which is due to you for 

 your life-long devotion to Canada." 



The patent is beautifully engrossed by hand and is highly 

 valued by the owner. 



Another honor paid Mrs. Traill was the compliment of 

 calling a remarkable form of the fern Aspidium marginal^, 

 which she found growing near the village of Lakefield, on a 

 vacant town lot that was only partially cleared from the 

 forest trees, Mrs. Traill's Shield Fern— A. marginale (Swz.) 

 var : Traillse — is not the least valued by her. 



There have been many events in Mrs. Traill's life not men- 

 tioned in this brief biographical introduction to her book, 

 such as bereavements, in the death of two of her sons and her 

 daughter Mary — trials patiently borne and sorrows suffered 

 that had overwhelmed her but for her trust in Providence 

 and her unfailing reliance on His will. I have passed them 

 by, not because they are without interest, but because it 

 would be turning back a cloud of sorrow to dim the dear old 

 eyes with tears, and hide for awhile the silver lining that has 

 glorified her life. 



She has given such pretty glimpses of her home by the 

 Otonabee, in the sketches, that I should only spoil it were I to 

 attempt to describe it in greater detail. Anyone seeing her 

 now in the pretty sitting-room, busy with her gay patchwork, 

 stitching away at quilts for the Indian Missionary Auxiliary 

 basket, or putting down the ferns and mosses gathered last 

 summer during her visit to the island of Minnewawa, and 

 watching the light in her blue eyes, the smile on her soft old 

 face, unwrinkled by a frown, or listening to her clever con- 



