by her brother's commendation, finished it in six weeks, and published it (Cambridge, 1821). From this time until her death she wrote continually. She had taught for one year in a seminary in Medford, Mass., and kept a private school in Watertown, Mass., from 1824 till 1828, when she was married. She began, in 1826, the publication of the "Juvenile Miscellany," the first monthly periodical for children issued in the United States, and supervised it for eight years. In 1831 both Mr. and Mrs. Child became deeply interested in the subject of slavery, through the writings and the personal influence of William Lloyd Garrison. Mrs. Child's "Appeal for that Class of Americans called African" (Boston, 1833) was the first anti-slavery work printed in America in book-form, and was followed by several smaller works on the same subject. The "Appeal" attracted much attention, and Dr. Channing, who attributed to it part of his interest in the slavery question, walked from Boston to Roxbury to thank Mrs. Child for the book. She had to endure social ostracism, but from this time was a conspicuous champion of anti-slavery. On the establishment by the American anti-slavery society of the "National Anti-Slavery Standard" in New York city, in 1840, she became its editor, and conducted it till 1843, when her husband took the place of editor-in-chief, and she acted as his assistant till May, 1844. During her stay in New York, Mrs. Child was an inmate of the family of Isaac T. Hopper, the Quaker philanthropist.
After leaving New York, Mr. and Mrs. Child settled in Wayland, Mass., where they spent the rest of their life. In 1859 Mrs. Child wrote a letter of sympathy to John Brown, then a prisoner at Harper's Ferry, offering her services as a nurse, and enclosing the letter in one to Gov. Wise. Brown replied, declining her offer, but asking her to aid his family, which she did. She also received a letter of courteous rebuke from Gov. Wise, and a singular epistle from the wife of Senator Mason, author of the fugitive slave law, threatening her with future damnation. She replied to both in her best vein, and the whole series of letters was published in pamphlet-form (Boston, 1860), and had a circulation of 300,000. Mrs. Child's anti-slavery writings contributed in no slight degree to the formation of public sentiment on the subject. During her later years she contributed freely to aid the national soldiers in the civil war, and afterward to help the freedmen. Wendell Phillips, in his address at Mrs. Child's funeral, thus delineated her character: "She was the kind of woman one would choose to represent woman's entrance into broader life. Modest, womanly, sincere, solid, real, loyal, to be trusted, equal to affairs, and yet above them; a companion with the password of every science and all literature." Mrs. Child's numerous books, published during a period of half a century, include, besides the works already mentioned, "The Rebels, or Boston before the Revolution," a novel containing an imaginary speech of James Otis, and a sermon by Whitefield, both of which were received by many people as genuine (Boston, 1822); "The First Settlers of New England" (1829); "The American Frugal Housewife," a book of kitchen, economy and directions (1829; 33d ed., 1855); "The Mother's Book," "The Girl's Own Book," and the "Coronal," a collection of verses (1831); "The Ladies' Family Library," a series of biographies (5 vols., 1832-'5); "Philothea," a romance of Greece in the days of Pericles (1835); "Letters from New York," written to the Boston "Courier" (2 vols., 1843-'5); "Flowers for Children" (3 vols., 1844-'6); "Fact and Fiction" (1846); "The Power of Kindness" (Philadelphia, 1851); "Isaac T. Hopper, a True Life" (1853); "The Progress of Religious Ideas through Successive Ages," an ambitious work, showing great diligence, but containing much that is inaccurate (3 vols., New York, 1855); "Autumnal Leaves" (1856); "Looking Toward Sunset" (1864); the "Freedman's Book" (1865); "Miria, a Romance of the Republic" (1867); and "Aspirations of the World" (1878). A volume of Mrs. Child's letters, with an introduction by John G. Whittier and an appendix by Wendell Phillips, was published after her death (Boston, 1882).
CHILD, Francis James, educator, b. in Boston. Mass., 1 Feb., 1825; d. there, 11 Sept., 1896. He was graduated at Harvard in 1846, and became tutor there of mathematics, rhetoric, and history. In 1849-'50 he studied and travelled in Europe, and in 1851 succeeded Prof. E. T. Channing as professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard, which chair he exchanged for that of English literature in 1876. He has specially distinguished himself as a scholar of Anglo-Saxon and early English literature. He superintended the American edition of the British poets, and edited himself the works of Spenser and the collection of English and Scottish ballads (Boston, 1857-'8), besides preparing notes and biographical sketches for other volumes of the series. Prof. Child has spent much time in English libraries in studying especially the text of Chaucer with reference to a new edition of his poems, fie has also devoted much labor to improving and enlarging his principal work, the "English and Scottish Ballads," now (1886) in course of publication. His other published works are "Four Old Plays" (1848); a collection of "Poems of Sorrow and Comfort" (Boston, 1865); and "Observations on the Language of Chaucer and Gower" in the first part of Ellis's "Early English Pronunciation" (London, 1869).
CHILDS, George William, publisher, b. in Baltimore, Md., 12 May, 1829; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 3 Feb., 1894. He left his native city when but fourteen years of age and removed to Philadelphia. Soon afterward he became a clerk in a book-store, and after a service of four years opened a small store of his own in the old "Ledger" building, at Third and Chestnut streets. In due time Mr. Childs became a publisher of books, and at the age of twenty-one was the head of the firm of Childs & Peterson. He was successful as a publisher, and many works of intrinsic excellence—among them Dr. Allibone's "Dictionary of English and American Authors"—were given to the public. In 1863 he retired from the firm, and on 3 Dec, 1864, became the proprietor of the "Public Ledger," Philadelphia. When Mr. Childs became owner of the paper it was unremunerative and its circulation was small; but soon after it sprang suddenly into public favor and became the most profitable paper in Philadelphia. Mr. Childs made liberal use of his wealth for benevolent purposes. At his own expense he caused a stained-glass window
