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style that made her very faults acceptable to that indefinite individual, “the general reader,” --an honest easy-going fellow, who is little inclined to raise fine points in regard to an author's manner of expression, provided the feeling be all right.
I remember thinking that this bold rival was poaching a little on my own “merrie” Greenwood preserves; but as I watched her cool proceedings, saw how unerring was her aim, and with what an air of proprietorship she bagged her game, I declined to prosecute, and went to Europe.
When I returned I found she had the whole ___domain to herself, and she has kept it to this day. So mote it be!
A most astonishing instance of literary success was the first book of “Fern leaves,” of which no less than seventy thousand copies were sold in this country alone!
I would not seem to detract in the slightest degree from the genius of our author,--I would not rob her chaplet of one Fern Leaf,but I must say she was extremely fortunate in her publisher.
Had she made choice of some aristocratic houses, for instance, her books would have borne the envied Athenian stamp, but then, regarding copies sold, the reader of this veracious biography would have read for thousands-hundreds.
But Fanny Fern, with her rare business sagacity and practical good sense, did not choose her publisher as young Toots chose his tailor,--“Burgess & co., fash'nable, but very dear.”
Then followed “Little Ferns, for Fanny's little friends,” --whose names seem to have been Legion, for there were no less than thirty-two thousand of these young Fern gatherers.
Then came a “Second series of Fern leaves,” in number thirty thousand.
Total, one hundred and thirty-two thousand! I write it out carefully, for not having a head for figures, I am almost sure to make some mistake if I meddle with them.
Moreover, these American Ferns, fresh and odorous with the freedom and spirit of the New World, took quick root in England, and spread and flourished like the
S. M. Betts and Company. Hartford, Conn. 1871.
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