"The Patch-Work Quilt"
Servants and family history
An elderly Black woman's story of a patchwork quilt that was sewn during the thirty years she worked in the home of a White family.
Sedgwick, Catharine M.
Miss C. M. Sedgwick
The Columbian Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine [edited by John Inman and Robert A. West] p. 123-26.
Columbian Magazine
March 1846
J. Robinson
Also collected in:
Sedgwick, Catharine M. "The Patch Work Quilt." Love of Quilts: A Treasury of Classic Quilting Stories. Ed. Margaret Aldrich. Minneapolis: Voyageur, 2004. 24-33. Google Books. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
English
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Imelda of Bologna
Romance, Tragedy, Italy
In the Italian city of Bologna, a tragedy unites Imelda with her family’s enemy, the lord Boniface. The two fall in love, but are plotted against by Imelda’s brothers. While Imelda and Boniface plan their escape from danger, Imelda’s brothers plan his death.
Sedgwick, Catharine M.
Miss Catharine M. Sedgwick
Columbian Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine [edited by John Inman and Robert A. West] (May 1846): 253-61.
Columbian Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine
1846
Shawn Riggins
English
Document
Life is Sweet
Youth, death, service, gratitude.
The narrator reflects on the vicissitudes of life and moralizes about the benefits of suffering and giving to others.
Sedgwick, Catharine M.
Miss Catharine M. Sedgwick
<em>Sartain's Union Magazine</em> (edited by Caroline M. Kirkland)
August 1848
B. Beyer, D. Gussman
Collected in <em>Tales of City Life.</em> Philadelphia: Hazard and Mitchell, 1850.<br />Collected in <em>The Gem of the Season</em>, edited by Nathaniel Parker Willis, 219-22, New York, 1850 (pub. 1849).<br />Collected in <em>The Thought Blossom</em>, edited by Nathaniel Parker Willis, 208-11, New York: Leavitt and Allen, 1855.<br />Collected in <em>Charlie Hathaway, or The City Clerk and other Stories,</em> New York, 1869.<br />"A Tale With a Moral." <em>Pittsfield Sun</em>.[Pittsfield, MA]. (9 November 1848): 1.
English
Document.
Crescent Beach
Adultery, Summer, Vacation, Beach
The narrator tells a story about her vacation on a beach, focusing on a little girl’s relationship with her young mother and the mother’s adultery.
Sedgwick, Catharine M.
Miss Catharine M. Sedgwick
Sartain's Union Magazine [edited
by Caroline M. Kirkland] (November 1847): 212-19.
Sartain's Union Magazine
1847
Lucinda Damon-Bach; D. Gussman
English
Document
The Bridal Ring
Women, Love, Death, Vow
Arabella, a young woman of particular musical talent and beauty, becomes engaged to Wingfield Clayborne. Clayborne falls out of love with her and requests the ring back. Arabella takes literally the vow she gave Clayborne and returns the ring only after ‘death do us part.’
Sedgwick, Catharine M.
Miss Sedgwick
In The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, edited by S[amuel] G. Goodrich, 223-46 Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1833 [pub. 1832].
Gray and Bowen
1833
Lucinda Damon-Bach
Meghan Smith
Shawn Riggins
English
Document
Truth Versus Fiction
Heroism and virtue in everyday life.
The narrator is encouraged to abandon fiction and to write about real life, and tells the stories of two village women who passed in the previous year.
Sedgwick, Catharine M.
The Columbian Magazine, [edited by John Inman and Robert A. West] Vol. 7 (January 1847): 1-4.
1847
Charlene Avallone, L. Damon-Bach, D. Gussman
Document
A Reminiscence of Federalism
Federalists and Democrats, partisanship, voting, friendship, courtship.
The narrator recounts the partisan divide between Federalists and Democrats in a New England town by reminiscing about a childhood friend, and her suitor's coming of age.
Sedgwick, Catharine M. [By Miss Sedgwick]
The Token, edited by Samuel G. Goodrich.
Boston: Charles Bowen
1834 [pub. 1833]
Jenifer Elmore, Naomi Lau, Kaylin Ricciardi, Abigail Skinner
Collected in Catharine Sedgwick, Tales and Sketches. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, and Blanchard, 1835: pp. 9-43. Collected in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, vol. 1, edited by Nina Baym, pp. 1017-38. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998.
English
Document
Second Thoughts Best
Courtship, marriage, love, duty.
An engagement is jeopardized by the couple's conflicting values and attitudes towards love and duty.
Sedgwick, Catharine M. [By Miss Sedgwick]
The Token, edited by Samuel G. Goodrich, pp. 201-258.
Boston: Otis, Broaders, & Company
1840 [pub. 1839]
L. Damon-Bach with Asa Anderson, Deanna Depaz, Megan Hennessey, Emily Moss, Kevin White, and Dr. Jenifer Elmore with Adriana Duebel, Ariana Fernandez, Lauren Sumner, and Julianna Weiss
Volume reissued as The Moss Rose, New York: 1846; and as The Honeysuckle, New York: 1848. Story reprinted in New-Yorker (31 August and 14 September 1839, pp: 386 and 406, and in The Rural Repository, 28 September 1839, pp 57-60 and 12 October 1839, pp. 65-69.
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English
Our Robins
Death and dying; the natural world.
The narrator spends time with her dying friend and the friend's young son, sharing a love of flowers and birds, and reflecting on the habits of robins and their similarities to human beings.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria
A Love-Token for Children: Designed for Sunday-School Libraries, 40- 52.
New York: Harper & Brothers
1838
Robin L. Cadwallader, L. Damon-Bach, D. Gussman
Reprinted in the Southern Literary Messenger [edited by T.H. White] (May 1838): 318-21. Collected in Stories for Children [edited by Robin L. Cadwallader], RMTK Books, 2016, 25-46.
English
Was it Providence?
God's will vs. human agency in relation to physical health and well-being.
The narrator provides several examples of people who died, and questions whether their deaths should be attributed to God's will or human actions.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria [by Miss Sedgwick].
The Mayflower, [edited by Elizabeth Oakes Smith], 278-80.
Boston: Saxton & Kelt
1847 [pub. 1846]
D. Gussman
Excerpted from Chapter V: "Health a Talent" in Sedgwick's Means and Ends; or Self-Training. By the Author of "Redwood," "Hope Leslie," "Home," "Poor Rich Man," &c. Boston: Capen, Lyon, & Webb, 1839, pp. 39-42.
English
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