SOURCE: "Chapter XVI: A Female Writer" in The Lady of Godey's: Sarah Josepha Hale, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1931, pp. 263-78.

In the following excerpt, Finley surveys Hale's writings, discussing her style, her attitudes, and her subject matter.

Of the many poems written by Sarah Hale only a few are remembered. These few, however, have become part and parcel of American ballad tradition, so much so that scarcely any one ever asks the name of the author. What modern stops to wonder who wrote "If Ever I See," "Our Father in Heaven," "It Snows," "Mary Had a Little Lamb"?—even though for the past few years the authorship of the last named verses has been figuring somewhat in the news.

This consigning of a creator to oblivion the while his creation endures in full flush of appeal is, in a true sense, the highest compliment posterity pays an artist...