Introduction

Biography

Sarah was the daugh­ter of Gor­don Bu­ell and Mar­tha Whit­tle­say, and wife of law­yer Da­vid Hale (1783–1822

A mem­ber of the Pro­test­ant Epis­co­pal de­no­mi­na­tion, she ed­it­ed The La­dies’ Ma­ga­zine (Boston, Mas­sa­chu­setts) from 1828, and Go­dey’s Lady’s Book (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia) from 1837.

The se­cu­lar world rem­embers her best for her po­em Ma­ry Had a Lit­tle Lamb, first pub­lished in Ju­ven­ile Mis­cel­la­ny. In ad­di­tion, dur­ing the Am­eri­can ci­vil war, she per­suad­ed Am­eri­can pre­si­dent Ab­ra­ham Lin­coln to declare Thanks­giv­ing a na­tion­al ho­li­day.

On No­vem­ber 23, 2013, a me­mo­ri­al exe­cut­ed by Fin­nish sculp­tor Ja­ri Man­nis­to was de­di­cat­ed to Hale in her home town of New­port, New Hamp­shire. It fea­tured va­ri­ous sym­bols of her achieve­ments, in­clud­ing a cor­nu­co­pia in re­cog­ni­tion of her ef­forts to es­tab­lish the Thanks­giv­ing ho­li­day.

Works

• The Ge­ni­us of Obli­vi­on; and Oth­er Orig­in­al Po­ems (Con­cord, New Hamp­shire: Ja­cob B. Moore, 1823)
• Northwood; A Tale of New Eng­land (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1827)
• Sketches of Am­eri­can Char­ac­ter (fourth edi­tion, Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Free­man Hunt, 1831)
• Flora’s In­ter­pre­ter (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Marsh, Cap­en & Lyon, 1832)
• Traits of Am­eri­can Life (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: E. L. Car­ey & A. Hart, 1835)
• The La­dies’ Wreath, ed­it­or (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts & New York: Marsh, Cap­en & Lyon; D. Ap­ple­ton, 1837)
• The Good House­keep­er (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Weeks, Jord­an, 1839)
• The Wise Boys (New York: Ed­ward Du­ni­gan, cir­ca 1842)
• Boarding Out (New York: Har­per & Bro­thers, 1846)
• Three Hours: Or, The Vi­gil of Love: and Oth­er Po­ems (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Ca­rey & Hart, 1848)
• Aunt Ma­ry’s New Sto­ries for Young Peo­ple (Bos­ton & Cam­bridge, Mas­sa­chu­setts: James Mun­roe, 1849)
• The Po­et’s Of­fer­ing for 1850 (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Grigg, El­li­ot, 1850)
• Liberia, Or Mr. Pey­ton’s Ex­pe­ri­ments (New York: Harp­er & Bro­thers, 1853)
• Woman’s Re­cord; or, Sketch­es of All Dis­ting­uished Wo­men, from the Be­gin­ning Till A.D. 1850 (New York: Harp­er & Bro­thers, 1853)
• The Bi­ble-Read­ing Book (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Lip­pin­cott, Gram­bo, 1854)
• Modern House­hold Cook­ery (Lon­don: T. Nel­son & Sons, 1854)
• Mrs. Hale’s Re­ceipts for the Mill­ion (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: T. B. Pe­ter­sen, 1857)
• A Com­plete Dic­tion­ary of Po­et­ic­al Quo­ta­tions (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: J. B. Lip­pin­cott, 1859)
• Manners; Or, Hap­py Homes and Good So­cie­ty All the Year Round (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: J. E. Til­ton, 1868)
• The Let­ters of La­dy Ma­ry Wort­ley Mon­ta­gu (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ro­berts Bro­thers, 1869)
• Lessons from Wo­men’s Lives (Lon­don: Will­iam P. Nim­mo, 1877)