"Loose Lips Sink Ships"
Eliza Leslie. Stories for Helen (1845), frontispiece."Loose Lips Sink Ships." This slogan dates from the World War II era, but the idea that indiscretion can have damaging consequences is timeless. In the didactic world of 19th-century children's literature, child characters learn many moral lessons, including the value of discretion. Philadelphia writer Eliza Leslie (1787-1858), known primarily as an author of cookbooks and advice literature, also wrote such stories for children. The Library Company recently acquired her Stories for Helen (1845), in which "The Tell-Tale" shows the consequences of a young girl repeating what she overhears her parents saying. After hearing her father say that their black cook is ugly, she offends the woman irreparably by repeating (and exaggerating) the comment. The cook quits in a huff, saying, "I was born and raised on a great plantation in Virginny where there was hundreds of slaves, all among the Randolphs and sich like quality, and nobody never called me a neger. And now when I'm free, and come here to Philadelphy where nobody has no servants without they hires them, lo! And behold, I'm called a neger, and an ugly neger too, and a neger-monkey besides. No, no I'll not stay." As a result, the family must hire a new, less-skilled cook.
On another occasion, the girl tells a widowed aunt that her parents have invited her to a special church service only because they want to inherit her fortune. Immediately, the woman leaves on a trip without informing them, and the parents are quite perplexed. The final episode in the series is the worst: at a ball, the girl repeats to a dance partner her father's concerns that his business might fail. After the news spreads, his creditors demand payment, and indeed he is bankrupted. The family must auction their furniture and move to the suburbs. The girl at last learns the value of discretion -- and the story has a happy, if contrived, ending when the aunt saves the day by providing emergency financial support.
Eliza Leslie knew whereof she wrote. Her father's business declined following mismanagement by a trusted partner. When she was sixteen, he died, and Eliza and her mother opened a boardinghouse to support the family. Later she wrote for publication, thus joining what has been called America's first successful generation of women writers. Many of these women wrote for publication due to financial need; notable examples whose works can be found in the Library Company's collections include:
-- Hannah Adams (1755 1831). Worked making lace after failure of father's store when she was in her teens. Later became the "first American woman who sought to support herself by her pen."
-- Hannah Farnham Lee (1780 1865). Widowed with three children, became an author of instructive fiction at age 52.
-- Eliza Leslie (1787 1858). Father's death (following business losses) prompted her and her mother to start a boardinghouse. Later a cookbook author; also wrote advice books and fiction.
-- Sarah Josepha Hale (1788 1879). Started career as author/editor after husband died. Longtime editor of Godey's Lady's Book.
-- Lydia Sigourney (1791 1865). Turned to writing after failure of husband's hardware business.
-- Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806 1893). Her husband (the writer Seba Smith) went bankrupt in the 1830s as a result of land speculation; income from her writing became the financial support of their family of six.
-- Susan (1819 1885) and Anna (1824 1915) Warner. Their father lost his fortune in the Panic of 1837, and his subsequent lawsuits drained their income from their many publications.
-- Louisa May Alcott (1832 1888). Supported family; father improvident.