Julia Schayer is the author of a book of short fiction, Tiger Lily and Other Stories (1883). Individual stories were published in The Atlantic Monthly, Scribner’s Monthly, and The Century Magazine. Althugh little read today, a few works have shown some staying power: one of her stories, “Molly,” was critically lauded for its sympathetic portrayal of working-class life in Appalachia; “The Major’s Appointment” was adapted into a play in 1892 by Nelson Wheatcroft and George Backus; and “Story of Two Lives,” was adapted for television and broadcast in 1953 as an episode of Your Favorite Story.
Schayer was active in DC’s literary community in the 1870s through the 1890s, during her period of greatest literary accomplishment. She became particularly close to another DC writer, Frances Hodgson Burnett. Schayer moved here with her second husband, who was appointed Deputy Recorder of Deeds. Two of her children became writers as well.
