(1840?-)
[Illustration: MARY MAPES DODGE]
To write a story which in thirty years should pass through more than a
hundred editions, which should attain the apotheosis of an _edition de
luxe_, which should be translated into at least four foreign
languages, be allotted the Montyon prize of 1500 francs for moral as
well as literary excellence, and be crowned by the French
Academy--this is a piece of good fortune which falls to the lot of few
story-tellers. The book which has deserved so well is 'Hans Brinker,
or The Silver Skates,' a story of life in Holland. Its author, born in
New York, is a daughter of Professor James Jay Mapes, an eminent
chemist and inventor, an accomplished writer and brilliant talker.
In a household where music, art, and literature were cultivated, and
where the most agreeable society came, talents were not likely to be
overlooked. Mrs. Dodge, very early widowed, began writing before she
was twenty, publishing short stories, sketches, and poems in various
periodicals. 'Hans Brinker' appeared in 1864,--her delight in Motley's
histories and their appeal to her own Dutch blood inspiring her to
write it. Of this book Mr. Frank R. Stockton says:--
"There are strong reasons why the fairest orange groves, the
loftiest mountain peaks, or the inspiriting waves of the
rolling sea, could not tempt average boys and girls from the
level stretches of the Dutch canals, until they had skated
through the sparkling story, warmed with a healthy glow.
"This is not only a tale of vivid description, interesting
and instructive; it is a romance. There are adventures,
startling and surprising, there are mysteries of buried gold,
there are the machinations of the wicked, there is the
heroism of the good, and the gay humor of happy souls. More
than these, there is love--that sentiment which glides into
a good story as naturally as into a human life; and whether
the story be for old or young, this element gives it an
ever-welcome charm. Strange fortune and good fortune come to
Hans and to Gretel, and to many other deserving characters in
the tale, but there is nothing selfish about these heroes and
heroines. As soon as a new generation of young people grows
up to be old enough to enjoy this perennial story, all these
characters return to the days of their youth, and are ready
to act their parts again to the very end, and to feel in
their own souls, as everybody else feels, that their story is
just as new and interesting as when it was first told."
Besides this book, Mrs. Dodge has published several volumes of
juvenile verse, such as 'Rhymes and Jingles,' and 'When Life was
Young'; a volume of serious verse, 'Along the Way'; a volume of
satirical and humorous sketches, 'Theophilus and Others'; a second
successful story for young people, 'Donald and Dorothy,' and a
number of other works. Her stories evince an unusual faculty of
construction and marked inventiveness,--inherited perhaps from her
father,--truthful characterization, literary feeling, a strong sense
of humor, and a high ethical standard. Her whimsical character sketch,
'Miss Maloney on the Chinese Question,' which has been reprinted
thousands of times and repeated by every elocutionist in the land, is
in its way as searching a satire as Bret Harte's 'Heathen Chinee.'
Since its beginning in 1873, Mrs. Dodge has edited the St. Nicholas
Magazine, whose pages bear witness to her enormous industry.