“We wish herewith to express most cheerfully our confidence in their talents and moral worth, and our cordial approbation of the worthy enterprise in which they are engaged.... We wish only to witness to all to whom this may come, that Miss Harriet Farley and Miss Harriot Curtis are worthy of entire confidence, and are deserving for themselves and for their enterprise the hearty support and encouragement of every lover of his country, of every philanthropic citizen. We shall always rejoice to hear of their success.
(Signed by)
- Samuel Lawrence,
- John Clarke,
- Benj. F. French,
- Homer Bartlett,
- J. W. Warren,
- William Schouler,
- William Butterfield,
- Jacob Robbins,
- John Avery,
- George Motley,
- Alexander Wright,
- William Spencer,
- John Wright.
Lowell, Nov. 25, 1843”
It may be well to record the fact, that at this date, according to the Lowell Journal, there were only three women editors in this country besides Miss Curtis and Miss Farley. These were Cornelia W. Walter of the Boston Transcript, Mrs. Green of the Fall River Wampanoag, and Lydia Maria Child of The Anti-Slavery Standard.
In an editorial notice of all these women editors, the Journal says, “The Anti-Slavery Standard, edited by Lydia Maria Child, is one of the best papers in the country.... We do not doubt that the women will have a good influence in this new sphere, as they do in everything else;” and continuing, “The Lowell Offering must be made the instrument of great good. In glancing at its contents and reflecting upon the origin of its articles, our respect for woman and her saving and regenerating power is increased a thousand fold.”
In order to keep the continuity of the literary history of the early working-girls, it is well to speak of a contemporary publication called The Operatives’ Magazine, published in Lowell by “an association of females,” and edited by Lydia S. Hall and Abby A. Goddard, both factory-girls. The leading editorial stated that “The magazine will contain original articles on religious and literary subjects,” and added that “those which inculcate the doctrines of the Bible as understood by evangelical Christians, without their peculiarities, will be admitted.” Contributions were solicited from “operatives of both sexes.”
This magazine was published in 1841-1842, when it was merged in The Lowell Offering. Lucy Larcom and her sister Emmeline were contributors, during its existence, to The Operatives’ Magazine, which may account for the fact that Lucy Larcom did not write for The Lowell Offering (with the exception of some verses in the first series) while it was under the control of Mr. Thomas; but she became a constant contributor after that date, both to The Lowell Offering and to The New England Offering.
CHAPTER VII.
THE LOWELL OFFERING (CONTINUED).
The Lowell Offering was a small, thin magazine of about thirty pages, with one column to the page. The price of the first number was six and a quarter cents. Its title-page was plain, with a motto from Gray; the verse beginning:—