When Miss Carroll, who had hitherto been as a tower of strength to her family, was suddenly stricken down, fortune seemed to be at its lowest ebb; but again the Carroll energy and ability came to the rescue. An unmarried sister, with noble devotion, sustained the nation's benefactress. She obtained work in teaching in Baltimore and by hard daily toil provided for her support. But those were very dark days that followed. Then this same brave sister, through the influence of an eminent lady at the White House, obtained a clerkship at the Treasury, at Washington, brought her sister from Baltimore and established her in a little unpretending family home, which she has sustained to this day.
Note.--Owing to the confusion attendant upon Miss Carroll's well-nigh fatal illness and her subsequent removal to Baltimore, a trunk and box marked A. E. C. were left behind at the Tremont House, in Washington.
After the severe three years' prostration ended, Miss Carroll inquired for this trunk and box, and learned that the Tremont House had gone into other hands after the death of Mr. Hill; that all its contents had been sold off, and to this day she has sought in vain to learn what has become of that box and trunk. They contained a great number of letters, a completed history of Maryland, and her materials for several projected works.
Thus, through the cruel neglect she had experienced, the world has lost the benefit of works which, from her exceptional ability and her exceptional opportunities, would have been of inestimable value to our future literature.
If any one knows of the fate of that trunk and box they are requested to send word to Miss Carroll or to the present writer, and if ever that history of Maryland comes to light it will be claimed for Miss Carroll, as there are internal evidences which would establish its identity.
Governor Hicks a few days before his death committed to Miss Carroll all his papers with a request that she would write the history of Maryland in connection with the civil war, and the part performed by him in the maintenance of the Union.
Cassius M. Clay also sent to her his letters and papers desiring that she should write his biography.
During Miss Carroll's long and apparently hopeless illness Mr. Clay's letters were sent for and returned to him.