Victorian novel. According to Wikipedia: Kate Douglas Wiggin ( 1856 - 1923) was an American childrens author and educator. Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent . She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the Silver Street Free Kindergarten). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. She was also a writer of childrens books, the best known being The Birds Christmas Carol (1887) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).