“My next attempt was a novel, which I called ‘Skirmishing.’ It was
destroyed in a fire, for which I have ever since felt grateful.”
Miss Constance Cary (her maiden name), next went abroad with her
widowed mother, and spent some years in traveling and in completing her
education.
“It was not until after I returned to America,” she said, “and was
married to Mr. Harrison, that I was again bold enough to take up my
pen. I wrote a little article, which I called ‘A Little Centennial
Lady.’ It was published in ‘Scribner’s Magazine,’ and had so favorable
a reception that I was encouraged to write ‘Golden Rod,’ a story of
Mount Desert, which appeared later in ‘Harper’s Magazine.’”