ld be sorted and classified.

It was fortunate indeed that the two women, who went to work so
cheerfully on that March morning, did not realize the task which was
before them, or their courage might have wavered. With the assistance of
their efficient secretary, Miss Genevieve Lel Hawley, the work went
steadily on from daylight till dark for many days, until at length the
sheep all were separated from the goats; the matter likely to be used
placed in one room, and the remainder arranged conveniently for
reference in the other. Every scrap of writing was pressed out and each
year's quota not only placed in a separate box, but arranged according
to months and days. The printed matter was carefully classified and the
scrap-books all finished, a complete set of nearly fifty years.

Then commenced the far more difficult labor of culling the most
important and interesting points from this great mass of material, and
condensing them into such space as would permit the reading of the
biography during at least an average lifetime. And thus was the task
continued, day after day, and far into the night, for much more than a
year. The snows of winter melted away; the bare branches of the tall
chestnut trees which towered above the windows put forth their buds and
burst into a wilderness of snowy blossoms; the birds built their nests
among the green leaves, reared their young and flew away with them to
warmer climes before the chill winds of approaching autumn; the
luxuriant foliage faded and dropped to the earth; again the naked
branches stretched out to a stormy sky, and the snow lay deep on the
frozen ground; while the story followed the life and work of this great
historic character through the slow unfolding out of the depths of the
past; the development from the springtime of youth into the fruitful
summer of maturity; the mellowing into the richness and beauty of
autumn; the coming at last into the snowy spotlessness of serene and
beautiful old age.

The attic workrooms were an ideal place for this long and exacting task,
secluded from all interruption and dedicated so entirely to the work
that not a book or paper ever was disturbed. A pretty description
written by Mrs. Minette Cheshire Hair, of the Rochester Democrat and
Chronicle staff, and published in a number of papers, thus began:

[Illustration: ATTIC WORK-ROOMS WHERE THE BIOGRAPHY WAS WRITTEN.]

Way up on the third floor of the cozy home at 17 Madison street,