"Mrs. Anna Hanson Dorsey was born in Georgetown, D. C., on the 12th of December, 1815. She was a descendent of a distinguished colonial family of Maryland. Her father, Rev. William McKenney, was one of the first chaplains in the United States Navy. At the age of twenty-two she married Lorenzo Dorsey, the son of Judge Owen Dorsey of the Orphans Court in Baltimore, and became some years later, in 1840, a convert to the Roman Catholic faith. She outlived her husband many years, and died at her home on Washington Heights, Washington, D. C., on Christmas day, 1896, in her eighty-second year, survived by children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

"Mrs. Dorsey was the pioneer of Catholic light literature in the United States, and has been called the 'Maria Edgeworth of America.' Her labors in the interest of the Roman Catholic Church have been more than once appreciated and rewarded by the authorities of that church; among other honors that of a 'lecture medalist' has been bestowed upon her.

"Her works include dramas, novels, tales, essays, and stories for young people. Many of her stories have appeared first as serials, and when issue in book form have been reproduced in foreign countries. One of her books, 'May Brooks,' republished in Edinburg, Scotland, was the first Catholic book issued in that country since the days of John Knox. She has also written many political articles as well as sketches on national topics. During the Civil War she remained on the Union side and gave vent to her feelings in two ringing lyrics, 'They're Coming, Grandad,' a tale of East Tennessee, and 'The Men of the Land.'" -George Corbin Perine, "The Poets and Verse-writers of Maryland: With Selections from Their Works"

CONTENTS:

I.--UNCLE STILLINGHAST

II.--MAY BROOKE

III.--THE MORNING ERRAND

IV.--AUNT MABEL

V.--PAST AND PRESENT

VI.--HELEN

VII.--THINGS OF TIME AND ETERNITY

VIII.--TROUBLED WATERS

IX.--TRIALS

X.--THE WARNING

XI.--THE MIDNIGHT MESSENGER

XII.--REPENTANCE

XIII.--THE NEW WILL

XIV.--THE SECRET SIN

XV.--THE DISCOVERY

XVI.--THE DEATH DREAM

XVII.--REMORSE

XVIII.--REPENTANCE

XIX.--CONCLUSION