Dodge, Mary Elizabeth Mapes1831╨1905author and editor of children╒s literatureBorn on January 26, 1831, in New York City, Mary Mapes was well educated at home, where her parents frequently entertained such prominent men as William Cullen Bryant and Horace Greeley. Her father, a scientist and artist, moved the family to a New Jersey farm in 1847, where he also published a magazine, Working Farmer, on which Mary got her first taste of editorial work. In June 1851 she married William Dodge, a lawyer whose death seven years later left her with two children to support. Returning to New Jersey, she turned to writing, and her work quickly found acceptance in juvenile magazines. Her first book for children, Irvington Stories, appeared in 1864 and was followed the next year by Hans Brinker; or The Silver Skates, a carefully researched story of Dutch youth that came to rank as a classic of children╒s literature and went through more than a hundred editions during its author╒s lifetime. Combining a wholesome sense of adventure with a simple and cheerful outlook, Dodge╒s work was highly successful in a field where morbid sermonizing and stifling didacticism had often dominated. Subsequent books included A Few Friends and How They Amused Themselves, 1869, Rhymes and Jingles, 1874, Theophilus and Others, 1876, Donald and Dorothy, 1883, and The Land of Pluck, 1894. Her stories were printed in the leading periodicals of the day, and she was acknowledged the preeminent children╒s author in America. In 1868 Dodge became associate editor of Hearth and Home, with Harriet Beecher Stowe and Donald Grant Mitchell (╥Ik Marvel╙). In 1873 she was named the first editor of the newly founded St. Nicholas Magazine (the name was her suggestion) for children. She held the position for the rest of her life, building the periodical into the foremost in its field. Her success was aided by the participation of her literary friends, among them Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and John Greenleaf Whittier, and by such other leading authors as Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, some of whom wrote their only juvenile works for her. Her editorial acumen was remarkable, and her high standards for writing and art made St. Nicholas an unequaled feast for its readers. Two books for young children were compiled from her own contributions to St. Nicholas╤Baby Days, 1876, and Baby World, 1884. Dodge died on August 21, 1905, at her summer home in Onteora Park, New York. .styl ` ( ! ¬ 5¬ & 5¬ R !I à !I î !I C 5¬ D !I ╧ !I α !I !I 7 !I ╟ !I ≤ !I √ !I !I !I * !I 2 !I D !I P !I a !I ≥ 5¬ ≤ !I !I + !I 2 !I ▐ G !I « !I ├ !I B !I ▐ S !I U !I ▐ l !I !I ! !I É !I ª !I ▓ !I ╝ !I >link ` HYPR 2 GHYPR B SHYPR U l
