SARAH J. HALE.
Mrs. Hale, so widely known by her efforts to promote the intellectual condition of her sex, is a native of Newport, New Hampshire. Her maiden name was Sarah Josepha Buell. Her husband, David Hale, was a lawyer. By his death, she was left the sole protector of five children, the eldest then but seven years old. It was in the hope of gaining for them the means of support and education, that she engaged in authorship as a profession. Her first attempt was a small volume of poems, printed for her benefit by the Freemasons, of which fraternity her husband had been a member. This was followed by “Northwood,” a novel in two volumes, published in 1827.
Early in the following year, Mrs. Hale was invited from her native State to Boston, to take charge of the editorial department of “The Ladies’ Magazine,” the first American periodical devoted exclusively to her sex. She removed to Boston, accordingly, in 1828, and continued to edit the magazine until 1837, when it was united with the “Lady’s Book” of Philadelphia. The literary department of the “Lady’s Book” was then placed in her charge, and has so remained ever since. She continued, however, for several years to reside in Boston, to superintend the education of her sons, then students at Harvard. In 1841, she removed to Philadelphia, where she still lives.
While living in Boston, Mrs. Hale originated the noble idea of the “Seaman’s Aid Society,” over which she was called to preside, and of which she continued to be the president until her removal to Philadelphia. This institution, or rather Mrs. Hale as its animating spirit, first suggested the plan of a “Home for Sailors,” and, showed its practicability by establishing one in Boston, which became completely successful. The many establishments of this kind, now existing in various ports, all took their origin in that of the Boston “Seaman’s Aid Society,” and in the ideas and reasonings of their first seven annual reports, all of which were from the
