A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Green, Frances Harriet
GREEN, FRANCES HARRIET,
Whose maiden name was Whipple, was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, America. Her family is one of the most honourable in the state, and some of the members have displayed uncommon talents. While very young she shewed a decided genius, and poetry was her first production. A number of her fugitive pieces appeared from 1832 to 1836. Her first prose work was "Memoirs of Eleanor Elbridge"—a coloured woman—which was very successful. The next book was a singular one to emanate from a woman's mind—"The Mechanic," addressed to operatives. This appeared in 1841; and in 1844, she published "Might and Right," an historical sketch of the doings of the two political parties during the attempts to form a new constitution for the State of Rhode Island. In the following years she wrote for the "Reform Periodicals," so called, principally; and in 1848, became editress of a magazine, "The Young People's Journal," in the hope of "combining the gems of science with the flowers of literature." Mrs. Green is an original and often a powerful writer. Her poetry is marked in its character, "The Dwarf's Story" is passionate and thrilling; some of her descriptive poems are exceedingly beautiful, and all are imbued with the warm earnest spirit of the seeker after good.