Katie Smith was taught at home and also attended a district school. Later she went to a boarding school in Maine, after which she attended Abbot Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from which she was graduated. When Kate Smith was seventeen years old she followed her family to Santa Barbara, California, where they had gone several years before. As there was very little money in the family treasury, the elder daughter of the house felt that she must begin to help at once. A girl’s story which she had written merely to amuse herself she decided to send to a magazine editor. What was Kate’s delight to receive in payment for the story a check for one hundred and fifty dollars, which came just in time to pay some taxes! The proud young author, however, did not think of writing for a living. She decided that she did not yet know enough to write. She realized that she must live a little longer and learn more. In the meantime she decided to find some useful work to do. Years later, after she had become a successful author, she said that this decision was the most sensible act of her life. Kate Smith soon found the work that she sought. Kindergartens were still very new in America. Miss Smith studied the system and organized a free kindergarten in San Francisco, the first one to be established west of the Rockies. This young woman was very successful in bringing happiness into the lives of the little children who flocked to her kindergarten. It was for the purpose of raising money for kindergartens that the young teacher wrote two stories, _The Story of Patsy_, and _The Birds’ Christmas Carol_. She had them printed and sold at twenty-five cents a copy. Miss Smith thought that the only reason they sold well was because so many friends were anxious to help the good cause of free kindergartens. Little did she realize that these books would later bring her fame. In 1880 Kate Douglas Smith married Samuel Bradley Wiggin, who was a California lawyer. It was not until several years later that Mrs. Wiggin thought of sending a paper-covered copy of _The Birds’ Christmas Carol_ to a publisher. This charming story of the Ruggles family was accepted at once and more stories requested. From that time on Mrs. Wiggin devoted herself to writing. Girls and boys of to-day all over the world love her Rebecca, Carol, Patsy, and Timothy just as the little girl of Hollis, Maine, loved the children in Dickens’ stories. Kate Douglas Wiggin wrote often for children because she loved them and never forgot what it is like to be a child. She has also written many very entertaining books for older people. “Rebecca” is not, as some people have thought, small Katie Smith herself. However, the district school where Rebecca wrote her famous composition was the one that the author attended.