Memoir of Annie Keary #265813

At the time of Annie's birth her father was the rector of Bilton, her mother's own early home, and it was there, on the 3rd of March, 1825 — a genial third of March as it chanced to be that year, when snow drops and violets were making glad the nooks of the rector's quiet garden — that Annie Keary was born, being the sixth child in a family which already numbered four sons and one daughter. One can fancy how she might have pictured her surroundings in after years, looking back to the small first self opening, loving, wondering eyes upon the home. At once the young Spirit, could it have been conscious of such things, would have recognised the materials out of which many of its joyous fancies were here after to be woven. First there was Annie's father.