Project Gutenberg's Daughters of the Puritans, by Seth Curtis Beach

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Title: Daughters of the Puritans
A Group of Brief Biographies

Author: Seth Curtis Beach

Release Date: May 24, 2008 [EBook #25582]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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DAUGHTERS
OF THE PURITANS

A Group of Brief Biographies

BY

SETH CURTIS BEACH

_Essay Index Reprint Series_

BOOKS FOR LIBRARIES PRESS, INC.
FREEPORT, NEW YORK

First published 1905
Reprinted 1967

[Illustration: THE HOME OF LYDIA MARIA CHILD AT WAYLAND,
MASSACHUSETTS]

CONTENTS

PAGE

CATHARINE MARIA SEDGWICK, 1789-1867 1

MARY LOVELL WARE, 1798-1849 43

LYDIA MARIA CHILD, 1802-1880 79

DOROTHEA LYNDE DIX, 1802-1887 123

SARAH MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI, 1810-1850 165

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, 1811-1896 209

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, 1832-1888 251

I

CATHARINE MARIA SEDGWICK

[Illustration: CATHARINE MARIA SEDGWICK]

During the first half of the nineteenth century, Miss Sedgwick would
doubtless have been considered the queen of American letters, but, in
the opinion of her friends, the beauty of her character surpassed the
merit of her books. In 1871, Miss Mary E. Dewey, her life-long
neighbor, edited a volume of Miss Sedgwick's letters, mostly to
members of her family, in compliance with the desire of those who knew
and loved her, "that some printed memorial should exist of a life so
beautiful and delightful in itself, and so beneficent in its influence
upon others." Truly a "life beautiful in itself and beneficent in its
influence," the reader will say, as he lays down this tender volume.

Catharine Maria Sedgwick was born at Stockbridge, Mass., in 1789, the
fir