Lucretia Peabody Hale was an American journalist and writer. She is best known for her children stories.
Background
Lucretia Hale was born on September 2, 1820, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the daughter of Nathan and Sarah Preston (Everett) Hale. Her father was editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser and her mother, in spite of eleven children, was often his secretary. Writing was the usual thing in the Hale household. Members of the family were frequently called upon for emergency book reviews, essays, or translations.
Education
Lucretia attended Miss Elizabeth Peabody’s school and later George B. Emerson’s school, where she met her lifelong friend Susan Lyman (Mrs. Peter Lesley), who became the original of the Lady from Philadelphia in the Peterkin stories. Lucretia shared with her brothers and sisters lessons in dancing, painting, and music; and the social life of the Hales included attendance at the Italian opera and the best concerts and plays, as well. On Sundays the family attended the Brattle Street Church. About 1860 the Hales moved from their large house near Boston Common to a small one in Brookline, where the father died in 1863 and the mother in 1865.
Career
Lucretia’s first writing to attract attention was a story, “The Queen of the Red Chessmen, ” published in the Atlantic Monthly for February 1858. Her other writings include: Struggle for Life (1861), a religious story; The Lord’s Supper and its Observance (1866); The Service of Sorrow (1867); Six of One by Half a Dozen of the Other (1872), a novel written with several other authors, including Edward Everett Hale; Designs in Outline for Art-Needlework (1879); Point-Lace: a Guide to Lace-Work (1879); More Stitches for Decorative Embroidery (1879); The Peterkin Papers (1880); The Art of Knitting (1881); The Last of the Peterkins, with Others of their Kin (1886); and Fagots for the Fireside (1888), a collection of 150 games.
The first Peterkin story was told to amuse the daughter of her friend Mrs. Lesley, and the first publication of the earlier stories was in Our Voting Folks. The invention of the Lady from Philadelphia, whose common sense settled all the problems arising from other people’s stupidity, appealed to the satirical vein in both children and adults.
In 1867 Lucretia went with her sister Susan to Egypt, where her brother Charles was consul-general of the United States. Their stay lasted for some months and included a horseback journey in Palestine.
Two years after her return to the United States, Lucretia settled in Boston and became interested in public affairs concerning women. She taught for a time in a correspondence school, conducted private classes in history, and served at the Boston School Committee. She wished to live in a social settlement house, but because of her brother Edward’s opposition to this idea, she made her home in a small apartment, filled with books and pictures. During her last years she became blind and her mind was impaired. She died in Boston and was buried from the South Congregational Church.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
“She was the delicate member of an extremely strong and vivacious family. Her life had its short intervals of intense action, and its longer periods when she was almost an invalid. ” - Ellen Day Hale