In New York City of the 1830's, where Mary Mapes was born, the Dutch St. Nicholas left gifts in the children's shoes on December fifth, and the American Santa Claus filled their stockings on Christmas Eve. To young New Yorkers the good saint was doubly familiar and important. No wonder that, years later, when Mary was editor of a children's magazine, she should remember the favorite visitor with his pack of treasure, and choose his name for "the best magazine in the world for young folks."

In this charming childhood story of Mary Elizabeth Mapes, her thirty years as the distinguished editor of St. Nicholas are foreshadowed by her first attempts to submit badly spelled stories to Godey's fashion magazine; her classic Hans Brinker by the flash of silver skates on the ice of Fresh-Water Pond. This is the story of a gay, merry-hearted little girl, full of fun and jokes and jingles and unpredictable ideas, of the happy childhood experiences that developed her rare personality.

The four Mapes sisters—Sohpie, Louise, Mary and Kate—baby brother Charles, kindly Mr. and Mrs. Mapes, Cat and Rose the dog, were a lively family. A strict governess came every day to teach the children the Alphabet without Tears and Infants' Arithmetic, but they also had plenty of time for the games Mary liked to invent. Though they lived in the hard times following New York's Great Fire, there were many holidays and parties, many funny or exciting experiences to make their city childhood interesting.

But Mary loved also the green hills of New Jersey, where her father bought a farm. Everything appealed to her lively curiosity and ready imagination. When the family moved to New Jersey, she became her father's partner. Mr. James Mapes and Daughter managed the farm, made agricultural experiments, wrote about them in their magazine, The Working Farmer. It took William Dodge a long time to persuade pretty Mary to marry him instead of being a lady agricultural expert!

This volume adds an attractive young heroine to the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. Truly a jolly girl, she is a delightful personality, and the story has much of her own characteristic happiness and humor. Miriam E. Mason, who has written also of Mark Twain, Audubon and William Penn for this series, finds the little girl a fascinating subject, for Mrs. Dodge's adult achievement represented the perfect flowering of her childhood traits and interests. This entertaining story brings out all the influences that combined to make the beloved editor of St. Nicholas one of the most notable women of America, the friend of generations of children.

From the dust jacket