Sarah Josepha Hale: Mother of Thanksgiving: By Polly Guerin

A Thanksgiving Legend: Sarah Josepha Hale By Polly Guerin

As we celebrate Thanksgiving 2018 there are so many more reasons to be thankful. However, none is more interesting than the reminder, "Let us not forget," it was Sarah Josepha Hale, a petite crusader in crinoline, the pioneering Victorian who inspired President Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. 
HALE’S LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN
      Sarah Josepha Hale’s relentless handwritten letter campaign spanned a period of almost three decades in which she urged that Thanksgiving be declared a holiday. With tireless zeal she penned thousands of editorials and wrote handwritten letters to prominent, citizens, governors and went right to the White House, addressing the issue to United States President. She never gave up letter writing her campaign, which had its inspiration at that time for the unification of the country
CIVIL WAR UNIFICATION
       As the dark days of the Civil War divided the country into two armed camps Mrs. Hale’s editorials became more vigilant. Who would listen to a lone woman with her persistent plea for "just one day of peace amidst the blood and strife"? Eventually she came to see the nationalization of Thanksgiving not only as a day for counting our blessings, but as a logical bond of union, one more means of drawing the sympathies of the country together. 
WITHOUT TYPEWRITER OR COMPUTER

Year after year without typewriter or the convenience of a computer Sarah Josepha Hale continued to pour out hundreds handwritten letters, which were sent to influential people urging them to join in establishing the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
LINCOLN DECLARES THE HOLIDAY
     With the country gripped in the North and South divide, Mrs. Hale’s concept of unity finally caught the attention of one man in the White House. Prompted by a letter she had written to Secretary of State William Seward in 1863 President Lincoln recognized the urgency for unification and promptly issued a proclamation appointing the last Thursday in November as a day of national Thanksgiving in America.
                                                                                     HALE, THE LADY EDITOR 

      Sarah Josepha Hale succeeded at a time when there were few opportunities for women to escape the drudgery of domesticity. In addition, like other women of her era, she had been denied a formal education but found refuge in her father’s library, self-educating herself. 
      After her husband died, leaving her penniless, she wrote and published a novel, Northwood, which captured the attention of a Boston publishing firm. She was offered editorship of one of their periodicals in 1836 and at the age of 40, with five children to support, she left her home town of Newport, New Hampshire and moved to Boston to assume the post of Lady Editor. Running one of the most powerful magazines in the country did not escape critics, but she always explained that she was forced to hold down a job to feed her children.
ARBITER OF WOMEN’S ISSUES
       Sarah Josepha Hale, as Lady Editor of Godey's Ladies Journal, was the arbiter of parlor etiquette, fashion, manners and intellect. As a journalist, lobbyist, career woman and crusader in crinoline she spoke her mind and succeeded where others had failed. A petite woman, she dressed in the crinoline style of the Victorian era. However, even in this cumbersome attire and the pressing restrains of society, she championed numerous women’s issues bringing about a number of important improvements in the lives of women in the Victorian era. She was the first to advocate women as teachers in public schools. She demanded for housekeeping the dignity of a profession and put the term “domestic science” into the language. Sarah Josepha Hale was to prove to be unique exception of her times.

HALE'S MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB 
        In addition, she helped to establish Vassar College, the first college for women. Hale was highly civic minded and among her credits she promoted the movement to preserve Mount Vernon as a National memorial and raised the money that finished the Bunker Hill Monument. How she found the time, I will never know, but this prolific lady was also the author of some two dozen books and hundreds of poems, including the best known children’s rhyme in the English language, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
       Sarah Josepha Hale stepped from the shelter of an early nineteenth century marriage untrained, unschooled and stepped forward to become the nation’s most celebrated Lady Editor. For her patriotic part in nationalizing Thanksgiving Day, we give thanks.
      Ta Ta Darlings!!! As we look forward to Thanksgiving may you have many more reasons to celebrate a rich harvest of plenty and many more Blessings.Fan mail welcome at pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's Blogs on www.pollytalk.com on fashion, visionary men, women determined to succeed and poetry.