Soon after his arrival Captain Reid was eagerly sought by different publishers who wished to get his name. At Newport he wrote “The Child Wife,” for which Frank Leslie’s Paper paid him 8,000 dollars for the right of first appearance in its columns. “The Child Wife” was published by Ward, Lock and Tyler, in 3 volumes, in 1868, and is now issued in one volume by Messrs Sonnenschein and Co. The proprietor of the Fireside Companion also paid 5,000 dollars to run “The Finger of Fate” in his paper. Mayne Reid had as much work for his pen as he could get through, and was now speculating upon bringing out a boys’ magazine of his own in New York.
In December, 1868, the first number of Onward, Mayne Reid’s magazine, appeared; he continued in the editorship for 14 months, doing other literary work in addition, till his health completely gave way, and the magazine was abandoned.
He was a constant sufferer from the effects of the wound in his leg, and during this brief sojourn in the United States was a patient in Saint Luke’s Hospital, New York, in 1870, suppuration of the thigh having brought him to death’s door. From the hospital he writes:
“To the Editor of the Sun.
“Sir,—I have been for some days an inmate of Saint Luke’s Hospital, a sufferer from a severe and dangerous malady. To save my life calls for the highest surgical skill, along with combination of the most favourable circumstances, among them quiet. And yet during the whole of yesterday, and part of the day before (the Lord’s Day), the air around me has been resonant with what, in the bitterness of my spirit, I pronounce a feu d’enfer. It has resembled an almost continuous fusillade of small arms, at intervals varied by a report like the bursting of a bombshell or the discharge of a cannon. I am told that this infernal fracas proceeds from a row of dwelling houses in front of this hospital, and that it is caused by the occupants of these dwellings or their children.
“Accustomed in early life to the roar of artillery, my nerves are not easily excited by concussive sounds, and, therefore, I have not been seriously affected by them. But, alas! how different with scores of my fellow-sufferers in the hospital, beside the couch of many of whom death stands waiting for his victim. I am informed by my nurses, intelligent and experienced men, that they have known several cases where death has not only been hastened, but actually caused by the nervous startling and torture inflicted by these Fourth of July celebrations. I have been also informed that the venerable and philanthropic founder of this valuable institution has done all in his power to have this cruel infliction stayed, even by personal appeal to the inhabitants of the houses in question, and that he has been met by refusal, and the reply, ‘We have a right to do as we please upon our own premises.’ I need not point out the utter falsity of this assured view of civic rights, but I would remark that the man, who, even under the sanction of long custom, and the pretence of country’s love, permits his children, through mere wanton sport, to murder annually one or more of his fellow citizens, I say that such a man is not likely to make out of these children citizens who will be distinguished either for their patriotism or humanity.
“In the name of humanity I ask you, sir, to call public attention to this great cruelty, and, if possible, have it discontinued.
“Yours very truly,
“Mayne Reid.
“Saint Luke’s Hospital, July 5th, 1870.”