Chapter VI
The Lowell Offering and Its Writers

One of the most curious phases in the life of New England, and one that must always puzzle the historian of its literature, is its sudden intellectual blossoming half a century ago.

Emerson says, “The children of New England between 1820 and 1840 were born with knives in their brains;” and this would seem to be true, since during or very near that time, were born the majority of those writers and thinkers whose lives have been so recently and so nobly rounded out, — Emerson, Bryant, Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier, John Pierpont, — they whose influence cannot be overestimated in bringing an ideal element into our hitherto prosaic New England life.

The seeds of this intellectual growth came suddenly, as if blown from some far-off cultured land, and were sown broadcast. Some found a resting-place in this little corner of New England, where were gathered together these daughters of Puritan ancestors, and they, too, feeling the intellectual impetus, were impelled to put in writing their own crude thoughts. Their desire for self-improvement had been to some extent gratified, and they now began to feel the benefit of the educational advantages which had been opened to them. As in “Mary Barton,” they “threw the shuttle with increasing sound, as though Newton’s ‘Principia’ lay open before them, to be snatched at in work-hours, but revelled over at meal-time or at night.”

And the “literary” girls among us would often be seen writing on scraps of paper which we hid “between whiles” in the waste-boxes upon which we sat while waiting for the looms or frames to need attention. Some of these studious ones kept note-books, with abstracts of their reading and studies, or jotted down what they were pleased to call their “thoughts.” It was natural that such a thoughtful life should bear fruit, and this leads me to speak of The Lowell Offering, a publication which was the natural outgrowth of the mental habit of the early mill girls, for many of the pieces that were printed there were thought out amid the hum of the wheels, while the skilful fingers and well-trained eyes of the writers tended the loom or the frame. The idea of organization for literary and educational purposes was first proposed in 1837 by Miss Harriot F. Curtis, perhaps the most progressive of all the mill-girls. She with her im mediate associates conceived the idea of forming a little society for mental improvement. In The Lowell Offering of January, 1845, is the following account of its formation written by Miss Maria Currier.

“IMPROVEMENT CIRCLE.

“In one of the corporations [the Lawrence] of this city, about eight years ago, might have been seen, on a summer evening, a company of four or five young females, who through the day had labored at their several employments in some one of the factories connected with the corporation. Perhaps they were not ambitious above others of their sex…. But wishing to improve the talents which God had given them, they proposed the formation of a society for mutual improvement. An evening was appointed for the proposed purpose; and having invited a few others to join them, they met at the time appointed. … A president, vice-president, and secretary were chosen; a constitution was drafted, and by-laws formed, to which each of the members affixed her name…. At length a circle on a more extensive scale was formed by a gentleman of this city, and a plan conceived of bringing before the world the productions of inexperienced females; of showing that intellect and intelligence might be found even among factory operatives. It was then that The Offering was published; and many of those who were present at the first meeting of our Improvement Circle were contributors to its pages.”

At the first meeting, Miss Curtis delivered a stirring address, in which she stated the object and scope of the organization, and the urgent need that existed for all working-women to make an effort to improve their minds.

The club met fortnightly, and each member contributed articles in prose and verse, which were read at the meetings, and subjected to the criticism of those present.

In answer to a letter of enquiry, Miss Curtis writes: “I do not remember who composed the first circle, not even the names of the officers; but I think Emmeline Larcom was secretary. Farther than that I can only say, I was not anything. I never would hold any office, — office brings trammels. I believe I wrote and read the address of which Maria speaks. Louisa and Maria Currier, Emmeline Larcom, Harriet Lees, and possibly Ann Carter were there…. If you want to know whose brain conceived the idea, I suspect it was I. I was always daring; the other five were modest and retiring.” And thus was formed the first woman’s literary club in this country, — a remote first cause of the hundreds which now make up the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, since it bears the same relation to that flourishing institution as the native crab does to the grafted tree. Some of these early club, or improvement circle women either are, or have been, members of similar organizations in the localities in which they live, and have done their best to incorporate into the constitution of the modern woman’s club the idea of “improving the talents God has given them.” And if they have continued to live up to this doctrine, no doubt they have attained, if not to all they may have desired, at least to all they were capable of achieving, according to their limitations.

It may be well to mention here that Improvement Circles continued to be formed, and that in 1843 there were at least five in different parts of the city. I attended one in 1845, connected with The Lowell Offering. It met in the publication office, on Central Street, and was well filled with factory operatives, some of whom had brought their contributions, and waited to hear them read, with quaking hearts and conscious faces. Harriet Farley presided, and from a pile of manuscript on the table before her selected such contributions as she thought the most worthy of a public reading. Among these, as I remember, were the chapters of a novel by Miss Curtis, one of Lucy Larcom’s prose poems, and some “pieces of poetry.” Included in these pieces were some verses in which the wind was described as playing havoc with nature to such an extent that —

"It took the tall trees by the hair, 
And as with besoms swept the air."

This tremendous breeze, or simile, caused a good deal of mirth among the younger contributors, who had never heard of “The World-Soul,” nor read Emerson’s line —

"To the green-haired forest free,"

nor Longfellow’s “The Building of the Ship,” where he speaks of the pine-trees as —

"Shorn of their streaming hair.’’ 

Nor yet Wordsworth’s sonnet : —

"While trees, dim seen, in frenzied numbers tear 
The lingering remnant of their yellow hair."

This was my only appearance at the Circle, as I had hitherto been deterred from going by the knowledge that those who went were expected to bring a written contribution to be read there. Shortly after this, Miss Farley (one of the editors) invited me to send something to the magazine, and I complied; but I was not an early or a constant contributor.

In 1839, the Rev. Abel C. Thomas and the Rev. Thomas B. Thayer, pastors of the First and Second Universalist Churches in Lowell, established improvement circles composed of the young people belonging to their respective parishes. These meetings were largely made up of young men and women who worked in the mill. They were often asked to speak; but as they persistently declined, they were invited to write what they desired to say, and send it, to be read anonymously at the next meeting. Many of the young women complied with this request, and these written communications were so numerous that they very soon became the sole entertainment of what Mr. Thomas called “these intellectual banquets.”

A selection from the articles read at these meetings was published by Mr. Thomas in pamphlet form, under the title, “The Lowell Offering, a Repository of Original Articles written by Females employed in the Mills.” Mr. Thomas’s own account of his part in establishing the magazine will be found in chapter seven. The first series, of four numbers, was issued from October, 1840, to March, 1841; and there was such a demand for copies, that a new series began, The Lowell Offering proper, a monthly magazine of thirty-two pages, which was issued regularly by its projector from that time until October, 1842, when it passed into the hands of Miss Harriot F. Curtis and Miss Harriet Farley, both operatives in the Lowell mills.

Under their joint editorship it was published, the first year by William Schouler, but after that by these ladies themselves, who were editors, publishers, and proprietors, until December, 1845, when, with the end of Volume V. Miss Curtis retired from the magazine, and The Lowell Offering ceased to exist.

But in September, 1847, Miss Farley resumed the publication of the magazine and issued one copy under the title The New England Offering ; and all those who were or had been factory operatives were invited to contribute to its pages.

This magazine was re-issued in 1848, from April to December, continued through 1849, and until March, 1850, when it was discontinued for want of means, and perhaps new contributors. Miss Farley was the editor, publisher, and proprietor of The New England Offering.

There are about seven volumes of the magazines in all, — five of The Lowell Offering, and two of The New England Offering, including the first four numbers in 1840, and the odd numbers of 1847 and 1850.

The prospectus of The Lowell Offering, as issued by its women-editors in 1845, is as follows: —

THE
LOWELL OFFERING,
WRITTEN, EDITED, AND PUBLISHED
BY FEMALE OPERATIVES,

Our magazine is the only one which America has produced, of which no other country has produced the like. The Offering is prima facie evidence, not only of the American ‘ factory-girls,’’ but of the intelligence of the mass of our country. And it is in the intelligence of the mass that the permanency of our republican institutions depends.

And our last appeal is to those who should support us, if for no other reason but their interest in ‘the cultivation of humanity,” and the maintenance of true democracy. There is little but this of which we, as a people, can be proud. Other nations can look upon the relies of a glory come and gone — upon their magnificent ruins — upon worn-out institutions, not only tolerated, but hallowed because they are old — upon the splendors of costly pageant — upon the tokens of a wealth, which has increased for ages — but we can take pride in these. We have other and better things. Let us look upon our “free suffrage,’’ our Lyceums, our Common Schools, our Mechanics’ Literary Associations, the Periodical of our Laboring Females; upon all that is indigenous to our Republic, and say, with the spirit of the Roman Cornelia, These, these are our jewels.

Terms: One dollar per year in advance. Postace: 100 miles and under, 1} cents. Over 100, 23 cents.
Published at Lowell, Mass., monthly, by

MISSES CURTIS & FARLEY.

In order to combat the prejudice which then existed against “female” editors and publishers, it was thought best (as Mr. Thomas had advised) that the enterprise should be indorsed by some of the leading men of the city; and in the original document, now before me, these gentlemen said : —

“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)

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 Full 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.