Chapter 8
CHAPTER VIII. PART I. BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF SOME OF THE WRITERS FOR THE LOWELL OFFERING. it remains for me to give so far as i have been able to glean them the life stories of a few of the most important of these mill girl writers some of them brief indeed others perhaps of wider significance but all telling a tale of honest toil and earnest aspiration i begin with miss curtis as senior editor of the magazine harriet f curtis editor of the lowell offering
Among all the writers, Miss Curtis stands out as the pioneer and reformatory spirit. She was fearless in her convictions. She wrote in advocacy of the anti-slavery cause when the real agitation had hardly begun, and in behalf of women's right to equal pay for equal labor, five years before the first women's suffrage convention was held in this country.
She organized the first known women's club and was one of the four women editors of her time. She was the novelist par excellence of the offering and had a bold and dashing pen that would have made her fortune in these days of women reporters and interviewers.
But she was so startlingly original in her speech and in her writings that it made talk, as Samantha Allen says. So different was she from the established idea of what a female should be. but she was self-centered and bore with christian philosophy as well as with pagan silence and stoicism the slings and arrows of those who could not understand her brave and courageous nature
her mind was intensely masculine but her life had all the limitations by which the women of her time were bound and these prevented her from doing the work for which she was best fitted and from leading that life of freedom from care which is so necessary to the best literary work. Through her grandmother, Abigail Stratton Curtis, Harriet could claim direct descent from Miles Standish. She was born September 16, 1813, in Kellyvale, now Lowell, Vermont, a little post
hamlet on the Missisquire River, completely surrounded by mountain peaks. The lonely and isolated life she was obliged to lead was very distasteful to her and she early made up her mind to leave her home and seek more congenial surroundings elsewhere her father's means were limited and after exhausting what education could be obtained in the narrow circle in which she lived she determined to go to lowell to work in the factory and thus earned the money necessary
for a year's study at some private school or academy. Previous to her connection with the offering, Miss Curtis wrote many tales and sketches and also Kate in Search of a Husband, one of the first of the popular novels in this country. Her novel, The Smugglers, was begun in the offering of November 1843. Her connection with the offering lasted three years, and during the last two besides contributing and editing she also assumed that part of the business management
which necessitated her traveling and canvassing for subscribers in fact as she said she was the traveling agent for the firm and went roaming about the country in search of patrons by this means she not only helped to place the magazine on a paying basis but made the acquaintance of many distinguished persons. It was chiefly by the efforts of Miss Curtis at this time that the Lowell offering achieved an almost worldwide fame, when at home she resumed her employment in the mill
as harness knitter on the Lawrence Corporation. Mr. Thomas, in response to a letter from her asking advice with regard to the business affairs of the magazine, replies, quote, Make your terms cash. You will do well to keep constantly in remembrance that your prosperity almost entirely depends on your individual exertions.
Puffing, advertising, scolding will do little or nothing. Male agents will do little or nothing. But if you go as females with suitable brief papers signed by eminent men to show that you are not imposters, you will do well. be careful to guard against the possibility of suspicion this you can readily accomplish by
certificates from samuel lawrence john clark and a few other lowell lights countersigned if convenient by the governor daniel webster etc in her valedictory at the close of volume five miss curtis announces that she severs her connection with the offering for reasons entirely of a personal nature and as a parting benison adds quote friends patrons and foes if we have any may god bless you all with every perfect gift end quote although her connection
with the offering was severed at this date miss curtis remained in lowell until called away by the illness of her mother she continued her literary labors for a time and was a correspondent of several newspapers. Harriet was the friend and correspondent of such men as John Neill, Horace Greeley, Nathaniel P. Willis, and others well known in literary and public life. She had a taste for politics and wrote intelligently on questions that women were
not supposed to understand. She contributed to the New York Tribune, articles so clear and so caustic that readers who did not share the common delusion that H.G. wrote everything in Horace Greeley's paper thought that they must have been written by a man. She was the friend and correspondent of Warrington, William S. Robinson, and when he was editor of the Boston Daily Republican, she made a prediction worthy of a male political prophet. In a letter dated May 4,
1848 she writes quote friend r probably no doubt exists but some self-sacrificing patriot may be found to accept the office of chief magistrate but who shall be the wig candidate for this self-sacrifice seems the most prominent question a few days since i met horace greeley and as in duty bound pronounced to him my prophecy of who could not be a successful candidate although out of the numerous aspirants for the Whig nomination I could not prophecy who would
be successful will you give the public my assurance that Henry Clay cannot be president of the United States I don't care who the Democratic nominee may be I don't care how divided that party may be in action nor how great may be the unanimity and enthusiasm of the Whigs but i repeat henry clay cannot be president end quote i now enter upon the most painful part of her story and i do it with a heavy heart but i feel obliged to tell it because it illustrates
so well the lives which so many solitary women were then forced to lead lives of poverty of self-abnegation and of unselfishness and in reading in her letters to me the sad record of her struggles, I can truly say that never in all my life of over 70 years have I known of one so cruelly compelled by circumstances to hide the talent which God had given her, that she might become the angel of mercy to her suffering and needy relatives. In the heyday of her literary
career, she left the work for which she was best fitted to take the sole charge of her blind and aged mother who lived until 1858 having suffered all that mortal could suffer harriet was her constant attendant day and night vainly trying in the meanwhile to get some literary work to do at her home to help eke out the narrow income of the family extracts from her letters written to my husband and myself will give some idea of her struggles to obtain remunerative employment
quote sunny hill dray cut january 7th 1849 dear dear friends your kind letter reached me on friday and if you could imagine the heaps of good it did me you would favor me often with such medicine nobody writes to me nowadays and i am left to my despair and desolation oh dear what a world this is for poor old maids but i trust you find it quite comfortable and paradise-like for brides and bridegrooms god bless them all and more especially you young ones i wish you would show
me how i could earn anything by writing i cannot find my way only to write a book be months about it and then get a whole hundred dollars for it they don't pay enough for wear and tear of temper later in 1860 she writes from the family home in st albans vermont quote under present circumstances i do not think i could write a leader i do not know of anything until it is a week or 10 days old and my only connection with the living world is the tribune i thank you with all my heart for
your kind offer about going to new york but it would be useless greely's introduction to bonner would not do any good if i could attract notice kick up a small tempest i should feel sure of an invitation from mr bonner but without some notoriety that has created comment the angel gabriel could not get into the ledger without intellectual contact out of the world i have grown rusty a great care and increasing anxiety and most painful sympathy for the suffering
and have narrowed my thoughts. If I could get a little good luck, something to feel pleased about, I think I could wake up to anything. I could not earn a dollar here to save my life.
Greely would say, Yes, you could. There is the needle, and that is useful and wanted, though not half paid.
Mr. Greely does not know that even the resources of the poor shirt-maker is denied me. I have lost the use of my thimble finger from one of those awful things a felon and it is misshapen bent and stiffened i assure you i have
had a womanly experience you see i am off the track end quote after 1860 she ceased trying to secure either fame or money by her literary talents and thereafter for almost 30 years she continued to be the nurse and companion of the remaining invalids of the family thinking as she always had done more of their comfort than she did of the loss of fortune and fame if she had devoted all her energies to the development of her talent as a novelist
she might have earned a livelihood and been a continued success enough so at least to find a place in some of the many volumes of american biography but she had the conviction that one has no moral right to live for oneself alone and so she gave her all and spent her life in the service of those who needed her help and though often despondent and almost despairing she never lost faith in god nor in his fatherly care over the most afflicted of his children i first knew
miss curtis in about 1844 when she and miss farley lived in what was then drake hut in a little house embowered in roses which they had named shady nook the house was a sort of literary center to those who had become interested in the Lowell offering and its writers, and there were many who came from places both near and far to call on the editors and meet the girls who by their pens had made themselves quite noted. But I did not see much of her until 1848, when we became the
firm friends and correspondents that we remained until the end of her life. As I remember her at that time she was of medium height rather inclined to stoutness with small white well-shaped hands brown hair large blue eyes a small nose full red lips white teeth well divided and a head well more than a match for most of the women if not the men of her set miss curtis had many offers of marriage but she thought it wrong for a woman to marry for a home or unless she loved the man
with a love more enduring than life and stronger than death and as she did not meet such a man she could not enter into her ideal marriage but the friendships she made were warm and lasting and the friends with whom she was associated have in these pages given their loving tribute to her characteristics and her capabilities miss curtis's literary efforts may be summed up as follows first quote kate in search of a husband a novel by lady chrysalis published by j winchester new york
and twice in after years by unknown publishers the authorship of this novel was claimed by one male writer and another wrote a counterpart called philip in search of a wife kate was followed by the smugglers the scene of which was laid in her native town and truth's pilgrimage his wanderings in America and in other lands, an allegory. Both of these books were published in continued numbers in the offering, and the first named was copyrighted by a Boston firm in 1844, but was not
published. Her last novel, Jessie's Flirtations, was published first by George Monroe in 1846, and afterwards by the Harpers, and it still holds its place in their library of select novels. ss philosophy her last published book is full of pithy paragraphs containing as her friend warrington said in the lowell journal much that is sensible sound and salutary as well as some considerable that is saucy and sarcastic she was for three years co-editor of the lowell offering
In 1854 through 55, she was associate editor of the Vox Populi, a Lowell newspaper, and she also wrote for many leading journals, notably the New York Tribune, the Lowell Journal, the Lowell American, and N.P. Willis' Home Journal, New York. her nom de plume mina myrtle first used by her in the newspapers in eighteen forty seven became well known it was afterwards appropriated by another author as mini myrtle see wheeler's dictionary of the noted names of fiction during her last years miss curtis lived on a small farm in needham massachusetts with her invalid niece and was cared for and supported by her nephew george h caldwell breveted lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious service at gettysburg the battle of the wilderness and before petersburg miss curtis died in october eighteen eighty nine at the age of seventy six leaving the invalid niece who had been her charge for so many years but her affection for her Aunt Harriet was so strong that she died of no seeming disease
a few weeks after her distinguished relative. The Currier Sisters These were four sisters named Louisa, Maria, Laura, and Marcia, and at least three of them wrote for the offering. They were the daughters of Mr. John Currier of Wentworth, New Hampshire,
and members of Mr. Thomas's congregation and of his improvement circle. maria has put on record an authentic account of the first improvement circle quoted elsewhere but lura deserves the most extended mention from the fact that she as mrs whitney was the prime mover in establishing a free library in the town of haverhill new hampshire mrs whitney died before i had thought to write to her for information but i am able to quote extracts from the following
letter written by her to Mrs. E.E.T. Sawyer, her early workmate and lifelong friend, on January 19, 1885. Quote, I think I have told you about the library that I had the honor of starting here about four and a half years ago. Now we are talking about a new library building, and I think we have made a great start, as one man has given us fifteen hundred dollars towards it. as far as our library is concerned i have accomplished what no one else in this place has done before and i feel amply repaid in the perusal of some of the interesting volumes contained therein mrs whitney died april 4th 1889 eliza jane kate miss kate was the eldest daughter of captain jonathan kate who commanded a company in the war of 1812 she was born in sanbornton new hampshire in
1812 and soon achieved good rank as a pure, unaffected, and attractive writer. She was most prolific with her pen and wrote on a large variety of subjects. Her admirers called her the Edgeworth of New England. Her contributions to the offering, notably Susie L's Diary, Lights and Shadows of Factory Life, and Chapters on the Natural Sciences, were widely read and commended. Her signature was usually d she was a contributor to peterson's over the signature of by the author of susie l's diary
and wrote for sartain's and other magazines her obituary notice copied from the newspapers said quote miss kate was the author of at least eight books three of which were issued by the baptist publication society of philadelphia and two by j winchester new york and twice in after years by unknown publishers of new york she was a corresponding member of the new hampshire historical society she died in poughkeepsie new york in 1884 miss kate was retired in her manner
but was of genial and confiding nature and in her character as well as in her writings were blended moral purity with the christian graces mrs betsy chamberlain mrs chamberlain was the most original the most prolific and the most noted of all the early story writers her writings were characterized as mr thomas says by humorous incidents and sound common sense as is shown by her setting forth certain utopian schemes of right living mrs chamberlain was a widow and came to lowell
with three children from some community probably the shakers where she had not been contented She had inherited Indian blood and was proud of it. She had long straight black hair and walked very erect with great freedom of movement. One of her sons was afterwards connected with the New York Tribune. Harriet Farley, editor of the Lowell Offering and afterwards of the New England Offering. From her autobiography, published in Mrs. S. J. Hale's book, The Woman's Record,
about 1848 i am so fortunate as to be able to quote miss farley's own words with regard to some of the events of her early life before and during the time of her connection with both the lowell and the new england offering miss farley says quote my father is a congregational minister and at the time of my birth was settled in the beautiful town of claremont new hampshire my mother was descended from the moody's somewhat famous in new england history one of them was the
eccentric father moody another his son was handkerchief moody who wore so many years in the minister's veil my father was of the genuine new hampshire stock from a pious industrious agricultural people his brothers being deacons and some of his sisters married to deacons his grandmother was eminent for her medical knowledge and skill and had as much practice as is usually given to a country doctor his mother was a woman of fine character who exerted herself and sacrificed much
to secure his liberal education i was the sixth of ten children and until fourteen had not that health which promises continued life at fourteen years of age i commenced exertions to assist in my own maintenance, and have at times followed the various applications of New England girls. I have platted palm-leaf straw, bound shoes, taught school, and worked at tailoring, besides my labors as a weaver in the factory, which suited me better than any other. After my father's
removal to the little town of Atkinson, New Hampshire, he combined the labors of preceptor of one of the two oldest academies of the state with his parochial duties, and here, among a simple but intelligent people, I spent those years which give tone to the female character. I learned something of French, drawing, ornamental needlework, and the usual accomplishments, for it was the design of my friends to make me a teacher, a profession for which I had an
instinctive dislike but my own feelings were not consulted this was undoubtedly wholesome discipline but it was carried to a degree that was painful and drove me from my home i came to lowell determined that if i had my own living to obtain i would get it in my own way that i would read think and write when i could without restraint that if i did well i would have the credit of it if ill my friends should be relieved from the stigma i endeavored to reconcile them to my lot by a devotion of all my spare earnings to them and their interests i made good wages i dressed economically i assisted in the liberal education of one brother and endeavored to be the guardian angel of one lovely sister it was something so new to me to be praised and encouraged to write that i was at first overwhelmed by it
and it was with great reluctance that i consented to edit the lowell offering and was quite as unwilling at first to assist in publishing but circumstances seem to have compelled me forward as a businesswoman and i have endeavoured to do my duty I am now the proprietor of the New England offering. I do all the publishing, editing, canvassing, and as it is bound at my office, I can in a hurry help fold, cut, cover, stitch, etc.
I have a little girl to assist me in the folding, stitching, etc. The rest, after it comes from the printer's hand, is all my own work. I employ no agents and depend upon no one for assistance. My addition is four thousand. these details i trust are not tedious i have given them because i thought there was nothing remarkable about the offering but its source and the mode in which it was conducted
of her connection with mr thomas's improvement circle and the lowell offering miss farley has said to a friend the circle met in the sunday school rooms and they were not only filled but crowded there was a box placed at the entrance so that if preferred the writers could be anonymous and sometimes topics were suggested it seemed almost like an insult when mr thomas first offered payment for these little mental efforts of our leisure hours i can understand this feeling he said i was brought up a quaker and my grandfather never took pay for preaching the first money that was ever placed in my hands for this service seemed to burn in my palms there was a little pile all in gold left for our share of the profits after the first series when i first took the editorial position i left my regular place to be what is called a spare hand this gave leisure for what i had to do and there never was any difficulty about contributions A large bundle of manuscripts left by Mr. Thomas was never resorted to,
but when some short paper was wanted, to fill out a vacant space. In the printing office were Mr. Hale, Stearns, Taylor, Brown, and others, always respectful, kind, and obliging. In the outer office was Mr. W.S. Robinson, afterwards known as Warrington. These men would soon have discovered if there had been false pretenses about the writers for the magazine.
in eighteen forty seven miss farley published a selection from her writings in the offering with other material entitled shells from the strand of the sea of genius she is most fully represented in mind among the spindles in eighteen eighty she published a volume of christmas stories miss farley married mr dunleavy an inventor and they had one child inez who married mr george kyle a humorous writer and comedian and died in eighteen ninety mrs dunlavey was living in new york in eighteen o eight and of section eight part one
