SOURCE: An Introduction to Letters of Lydia Maria Child. Negro University Presses, 1969, pp. v-xxv.

In the following introduction to an 1883 edition of Child's letters, Whittier recalls both Child's professional achievements and her personal life, stressing in particular the marked resilience of her principles.

In presenting to the public this memorial volume [The Letters of Lydia Maria Child,] its compilers deemed that a brief biographical introduction was necessary; and as a labor of love I have not been able to refuse their request to prepare it.

Lydia Maria Francis was born in Medford, Massachusetts, February 11, 1802. Her father, David Francis, was a worthy and substantial citizen of that town. Her brother, Convers Francis, afterwards theological professor in Harvard College, was some years older than herself, and assisted her in her early home studies, though, with the perversity of an elder brother, he sometimes mystified her in answering her questions. Once...