XIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



fusion and dismay, I found it had been removed. I could 

 not summon courage to question my sister about it, so said 

 nothing of my loss. A few days passed, and I began to fear 

 it had been burned, but on the next visit of our guardian, 

 Mr. Morgan, on business connected with my father's estate, 

 he said to my eldest sister, ' Eliza, I did not know that you 

 had time for story- writing.' 



"My sister looked up in surprise and asked him what he 

 meant. Taking my lost property out of his pocket he replied, 

 ' I found this manuscript open on the table, and, looking over 

 its pages, became at once interested and surprised at your 

 work.' 



" Eliza looked inquiringly at me, and though confused and 

 half frightened, I was obliged to claim the papers as mine. 



" Our kind friend then added as he rolled up the manuscript 

 and replaced it in his pocket, ' Well, Katie, I am going to 

 correct this for you,' and I, glad to escape without a rebuke 

 for waste of time or indulging in such idle fancies, thought 

 no more of my stories. A month afterwards Mr. Morgan, 

 with a smiling face, put into my" hands five golden guineas, 

 the price paid for my story by Harris the Publisher, in St. 

 Paul's Churchyard, London." 



Thus was Mrs. Traill the first of the Strickland sisters to 

 enter the ranks of literature, as she is now the last survivor 

 of that talented coterie. The unexpected success of Katie's 

 first venture no doubt induced her sisters to send their MSS. 

 to the publishers. How their work has been recognized is 

 matter of history. 



" The Blind Highland Piper, and Other Tales " was so well 

 received by the public that Katie was employed by Harris to 

 write another for his House. "Nursery Tales" proved a 

 greater success, although the remuneration she received was 

 not increased. She next wrote for the Quaker House of 

 Messrs. Darton & Harvey, !' Prejudice Reproved," "The 

 Young Emigrants," " Sketches from Nature," " Sketch Book 



