Lucretia Peabody Hale (September 2, 1820 – June 12, 1900[1]) was an American writer and editor, best known for her humorous The Peterkin Papers stories.
Hale was one of eleven children, though only seven lived to adulthood.[2] She was the elder sister of Edward Everett Hale, and occasionally co-write books and articles with him.[1] Hale was educated at George B. Emerson's school in Boston.[3]
Writing career
In 1850 Hale and her brother Edward Everett Hale wrote the novel Margaret Percival in America, and in 1858 she began being published in magazines.[1]
Most modern readers know her for a series of humorous stories about the Peterkin family, published in leading children's magazines. The first Peterkin story, "The Lady Who Put Salt in Her Coffee," was published in the April 1868 issue of Our Young Folks.[1] The story was so popular that additional Peterkin stories were published in Our Young Folks, as well as St. Nichols. Selections from Hale's The Peterkin Papers children's book was reprinted in the December 1951 issue of Children's Digest.[5]
From 1870 to 1875 Hale helped edit her brother's magazine Old and New.[1]