John Seely Hart

“ My mother, who was an enthusiastic lover of nature, retired into the country with her six children, and placing her boys at an academy at Woburn, resided with her girls in turn at Concord, Dedham, Watertown, and Cambridge, changing her residence, almost annually, until I was nearly ten years old, when she passed away, and I followed her to her resting-place, in the burial-ground at North Andrews.
Either childhood is not the thoughtless period for which it is famed, or my susceptibility to suffering was peculiar. I remember much physical pain. ”

“ Soon after their marriage, my parents removed from Elkton to Philadelphia, where my father commenced business as a watchmaker. He had great success. Philadelphia was then the seat of the Federal Government; and he soon obtained the custom of the principal people in the place, including that of Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson, the two last becoming his warm personal friends. There is a free-masonry in men of genius which makes them find out each other immediately. ”

“ My only attempt at anything in the form of a novel, was “Amelia, or a Young Lady s Vicissitudes,” first printed in the Lady’s Book, and then in a small volume by itself. Could I begin anew my literary career, I would always write novels instead of short stories. ”

“ My only pride is in my books for children. I have never thought myself a poet, only a versifier; but I know that I have learned the way to youthful hearts, and I think I have originated several styles of writing for them. ”

“ The works from which I have, as yet, derived the greatest pecuniary advantage, are my three books on domestic economy. The “Domestic Cookery Book,” published in 1837, is now in the forty-first edition, no edition having been less than a thousand copies; and the sale increases every year. ”

“ Charles Wilson Peale, who painted the men of the revolution, and founded the noble museum called by his name; John Vaughan, and Matthew Carey.
When I was about five years old, my father went to England with the intention of engaging in the exportation of clocks and watches to Philadelphia, having recently taken into partnership Isaac Price, of this city. We arrived in London in June, 1793, after an old-fashioned voyage of six weeks. We lived in England about six years and a half, when the death of my father’s partner in Philadelphia, obliged us to return home. ”

“ I am glad to class myself with the few who first established the Sabbath School and Benevolent Society at Watertown, and to say that I have endeavoured, under all circumstances, wherever my lot has fallen, to carry on the work of social love. *⁠*⁠*⁠* At the age of sixteen I wrote “Jephthah’s Rash Vow.” I was gratified by the request of an introduction from Miss Hannah Adams, the erudite, the simple-minded, and gentle-mannered author of the History of Religions. ”

“ Our difficulties we kept uncomplainingly to ourselves. We asked no assistance of our friends, we incurred no debts, and we lived on cheerfully, and with such moderate enjoyments as our means afforded; believing in the proverb, that “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” ”

“ Children are often kept on bread and milk long after they are able to eat meat and potatoes. I could read at four years old, and before twelve I was familiar, among a multitude of other books, with Goldsmith’s admirable Letters on England, and his histories of Rome and Greece (Robinson Crusoe and the Arabian Nights, of course) , and I had gone through the six octavo volumes of the first edition of Cook’s Voyages. ”

“ This seemingly mysterious agency, has given me relief when other human aid was hopeless, and I believe it is destined, when calmly investigated, to be, under Providence, a great remedial agent for mankind. ”

“ Charles, with an extraordinary genius for painting, went to London to cultivate it. He rapidly rose to the front rank of his profession, and maintains a high place among the great artists of Europe. He married in England, and still lives there. ”

“ The little volume had much success, and has gone through many editions. Mr. Francis being urgent that I should try my hand at a work of imagination, I wrote a series of juvenile stories, which I called the Mirror. It was well received, and was followed by several other story-books for youth—“The Young Americans,” “Stories for Emma,” “Stories for Adelaide,” “Atlantic Tales,” “Stories for Helen,” “Birth-day Stories.” Also, I compiled a little book called “The Wonderful Traveller,” being an abridgment (with essential alterations) of Munchausen, Gulliver, and Sindbad. ”