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Center for Lowell History/ 2019

Lowell Offering

 

The Lowell Offering, 1840-1845, was written and published by working women. This monthly magazine was organized by the Reverend Abel Charles Thomas (1807-1880), pastor of the First Universalist Church. From October 1840 to March 1841, it consisted of articles that emerged from many of the improvement circles or literary societies. Later, it then became broader in its scope and received more spontaneous contributions. From October 1842 until December 1845, it was edited by Harriot F. Curtis (1813-1889), and Harriet Farley (1817-1907). Farley, manager and proprietor, also published selections from the Offering under the title Shells from the Strand of the Sea of Genius (1847).

 

Below is an annotated table of contents for the Lowell Offering, and links to digitized versions of the publication. 

Sources:

 

Abbreviations:
“m.” = married
“n.m.” = never married

Contents

  • Series 3, No. 1-4, 284 pgs
  • Series 3, No. 1 (October 1842), p. 1-24
    • Cover i: The Lowell Offering and Magazine; Written and Edited by Factory Operatives.  Epigraph: “Is Saul Also among the Prophets.”  “Lowell: Published by William Schouler,” etc.
    • P. 1-4: “Factory Blossoms for Queen Victoria” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad addressing women’s power, the wrongs committed by the British empire, and class bias. 
    • P. 5-9: “First Efforts of Genius” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Humorous regionalist sketch addressing the subjects of women’s writing and marriage.
    • P. 10-12: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 1.  The Miniature” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sensational fiction: heroine dies of a broken heart.  The story includes temperance and religious themes.
    • P. 12: “Life” by C.S.  Ballad expressing the sadness of life’s pains and disappointments.
    • P. 13-14: “The Bridge of Sighs” by ***.  Ballad about a betrayed woman.
    • P. 14-20: “The Portrait Gallery.  No. 1.  Pocahontas” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Biographical essay examining Pocahontas’s life.
    • P. 20: “The Laborer’s Remonstrance” by C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fictional dialogue protesting against oppression of workers.
    • P. 21: “The River” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad expressing nature appreciation.
    • P. 21-22: “Originality” by E.A.L. [Emeline Augusta Larcom (m. Rev. George Spaulding)].  Essay about imagination and creativity.
    • P. 22-23: “The Old-Fashioned Collar” by Orianna [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Short fiction addressing class bias.
    • P. 23-24: “Editorial. Address to Our Patrons” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley explains the aims of the Lowell Offering, which include diminishing prejudice against factory operatives and publishing only “the contributions of females actively employed in the mills.”
    • Cover iii: Harriet Jane Farley reviews The Dartmouth, published by the senior class at Dartmouth College.  She lists names of those recently deceased: “Died in Lowell, September 26, Robert Means, Esq., aged 56 . . . Agent of the Suffolk Manufacturing Company.  Deaths, among the female operatives of Lowell, from September 1 to September 29.  Miss Hannah Fay, aged 17; Miss Sarah Silsbee, aged 20; Miss Ursula B. Stephens, aged 19; Miss Julia Hill, aged 18; Miss Amanda Buttrick, aged 19.”  Miscellaneous notes.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents, list of agents, and prospectus for the Lowell Offering.

  • Series 3, No. 2 (November 1842), p. 25-48
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley includes some notes “To Correspondents.”  The text includes an obituary for William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) and notices of four female operatives’ deaths: “October 8, Miss Naomi Roe, aged 25, No. 60 Lawrence corp.; October 15, Miss Susan Kelly, aged 22, Hospital; October 22, Miss Augusta Locke, aged 17, No. 54 Boott corp.; October 30, Miss Rachel N. Gates, Lowell street, corporation unknown.”  Farley comments on the upcoming lecture by Mrs Gove [Mrs. Mary Sargeant Gove Nichols].
    • P. 25-30: “Aunt Letty; or, The Useful” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Regionalist fiction including a dream vision.
    • P. 31-32: “Charity” by E.E.T. [Elizabeth Emerson Turner (m. Charles Sawyer)].  Essay.
    • P. 32-34: “Evidence of Design in Nature” by Annaline.  Essay arguing that nature appreciation leads to religious insight.
    • P. 34: “Departed Summer Flowers” by Rebecca.  Essay expressing nature appreciation.
    • P. 35-42: “The Task of Death” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad about death.
    • P. 42: “Something New” by Clara.  Essay: narrator reflects on her experience writing for the Lowell Offering.
    • P. 43-44: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 2.  The First Grief” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sentimental fiction: mother experiences her child’s death.
    • P. 45: “What Is Beautiful?” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad stressing the importance of turning “from Mammon’s shrine.”
    • P. 45-46: “Cousin Judith’s Visit to Boston” by Isabella [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Regionalist fiction giving many details of scenes in and around Boston.
    • P. 47-48: “Editorial. History of the Lowell Offering” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Chronicles some of the history of the Lowell Offering and the Improvement Circle.

  • Series 3, No. 3 (December 1842), p. 49-72
    • Cover ii: “To Subscribers and Correspondents” by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy).  Farley attempts to clarify misconceptions that are circulating about the Lowell Offering, e.g., that it is actually run by men or that men assist the editors.
    • P. 49-54: “The Young Wife” by Grace [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fiction about marriage.
    • P. 55: “He Is Not Here–He Is Risen” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad with religious message.
    • P. 56-57: “Plea for the Indian” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Essay sympathetic to the suffering of Native American Indians but insisting that the kind of reparation needed is for “their uncultivated minds [to] be taught the high value of civilization and learning,” as well as Christianity.
    • P. 57-58: “The Prospect from My Window in the Mill” by M.T.  Essay: factory woman contemplates her view of the canal, machine shop, railroad cars, houses, churches, etc.
    • P. 58-59: “My Grandfather’s Queue” by Annette [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy) or Rebecca C. Thompson].  Biographical essay about the author’s grandfather.
    • P. 60-64: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 3.  The Victim of Revenge” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sensational fiction.
    • P. 64-65: “The Dentist’s Arm-Chair. A Parody” by Quizziana.  Humorous poem.
    • P. 65-68: “The Portrait Gallery.  Nos. 2 & 3.  Cleopatra and Zenobia” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Biographical essays.
    • P. 69: “Autumnal Thoughts” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad on nature appreciation.
    • P. 69-72: “Editorial.  Home in a Boarding-House” [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  The annoyance of “evening visitors, such as pedlers, candy and newspaper boys, shoe-dealers, book-sellers, &c., &c., breaking in upon the only hours of leisure we can call our own.”
    • Cover iii: Notices of various periodicals.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.  Gives details about the various Improvement Circles in Lowell.  Miscellaneous notes.

  • Series 3, No. 4 (January 1843), p. 73-96
    • Cover ii: Notices of various publications, some on religious subjects such as prayer and sin.
    • [Facing p. 73]: An engraving entitled, “The Fairies.”
    • P. 73-75: “The Misanthrope” by Grace [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fictional soliloquy with philosophical and religious meditation.
    • P. 75-76: “On a Young Man Lost at Sea” by M.B.G.  Elegiac ballad with religious message.
    • P. 77-80: “Incidents of Adventure.  No. 1” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fiction set in New England.
    • P. 80: “Curiosity” by S.F.L.  Essay.
    • P. 81-82: “The Picture” by Isabella [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sentimental fiction.
    • P. 82: “Say, Where Does Beauty Dwell?” by Clara.  Essay conveying nature appreciation and religious message.
    • P. 82: “If tears be shed . . .”  Brief ballad about death.
    • P. 83-84: “The Fairies. Part First” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad and fantasy.
    • P. 85-88: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 4.  A Christmas Tale” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Fiction about a woman artist.
    • P. 88: “Song of the Invalid Girl” by Marah [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)?].  Ballad expressing the sadness of a girl who expects to “lie / Among the early dead.”
    • P. 89-95: “Cousin Mary” by Betsey [Betsey Guppy (m. Josiah Chamberlain, Thomas Wright, Charles Boutwell, I.A. Horn)].  Regionalist fiction set in New Hampshire.  The heroine dies of a broken heart.
    • P. 95-96: “Editorial” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley reviews Charles Dickens's American Notes for General Circulation and comments on the new year.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley reminds Lowell Offering writers that “they are entitled to a stated compensation, and also to a copy of the Offering.”  Gives the time of the next Improvement Circle meeting and reports that there were no deaths among female operatives during the two months preceding January 1, 1843.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.  Prospectus of the Lowell Offering.

  • Series 3, No. 5 (February 1843), p. 97-120
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices and reviews.
    • P. 97-100: “Ada, the Factory Maid” by Annaline.  Fiction: hardworking factory girl helps to support her family.  Unable to obtain further education, she devotes her free time to study.
    • P. 100-01: “Reading” by Dorcas [Emeline Augusta Larcom (m. Rev. George Spaulding)].  Essay.
    • P. 101-02: “Philip Saith unto Him, ‘Lord, Show Us the Father, and It Sufficeth Us.’ –John xiv. 8” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Religious ballad.
    • P. 102: “The Silent Expressions of Nature” by S.J.H. [S.J. Hough?].  Essay on nature appreciation.
    • P. 103-05: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 5.  The Young Widow” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sentimental fiction.
    • P. 106-07: “The Village Burial” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Regionalist fiction: man’s death caused by dueling.
    • P. 107-09: “Incidents of Adventure.  No. 2” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fiction set in New England.
    • P. 109: “Beauty” by H.  Brief essay.
    • P. 110-13: “The Fairies. Part Second” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad and fantasy.
    • P. 113-18: “The Portrait Gallery.  No. 3.  Zenobia” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Biographical essay.
    • P. 118: “Winter Forest Musings” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad on nature appreciation with religious message.
    • P. 118: “For Sabbath Morning” by Caroline [Emeline Augusta Larcom (m. Rev. George Spaulding)].  Religious poem in hymn stanzas.
    • P. 119-20: “Editorial. Forefathers’ Day” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Editorial commending celebrations in Boston and New York marking December 22, the date in 1620 when the Pilgrims arrived in New England, “the birthday of religious freedom.”
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Continuation of notices and reviews from cover ii.  Two deaths among the operatives are noted: “January 19, Miss Susan Medkiff, aged 23. February 1, Mrs. Hannah Wilder, aged 56.”
    • Cover iv: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Table of contents and list of agents.  The editor appeals for more written contributions.  Messages to subscribers and patrons.

  • Series 3, No. 6 (March 1843), p. 121-44
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor discusses the present circumstances of the Lowell Offering.  “Our subscription list is very good; and the Offering, for the present, may be considered permanent . . . We have found more friends out of this city than we anticipated; and that we have no more friends here we attribute to mistaken views with regard to our duties, and our motives in the course we have pursued.  We are sorry that we have gained so little favor with our fellow-operatives, in this city . . .”
    • P. 121-26: “Charity” by Grace [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fiction with feminist themes.
    • P. 127-28: “How Beautiful Are All the Works of God” by L. [Lura Currier (m. Augustus Whitney)].  Religious essay with nature appreciation.
    • P. 128: “True Charity. A Paraphrase on I Corinthians xiii” by L.A.B. [Lucy Ann Baker (m. George Choate)?].  Religious ballad.
    • P. 128-29: “A Fragment” by L. [Lura Currier (m. Augustus Whitney)].  Religious essay with nature appreciation.
    • P. 129-30: “Our Native Land” by Inez [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Essay on love for one’s childhood home.
    • P. 130: “Lines to O.P.H.” by Quip.  Ballad on sadness at parting.
    • P. 131-34: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 6.  The Male Coquette” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sentimental fiction.  “Fair southern flower . . . ruthlessly destroyed” by a male coquette.
    • P. 135-38: “The Fairies. Part Third” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad and fantasy.
    • P. 138-40: “The Destruction of the Jewish Temple” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Religious and historical essay.
    • P. 140-41: “Lafayette at the Tomb of Washington” by M.S.L.  Essay expressing great admiration for Lafayette, Washington, and all those who won American independence from Britain.
    • P. 141-42: “Comedy at the Parsonage” by C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Regionalist sketch; humor.
    • P. 142: “To a Faded Rose” by E.D.  Poem.  Speaker’s disillusionment with human love and earthly beauty.
    • P. 143-44: “Editorial. Books and Reading” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Discusses factory girls’ reading habits.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Notices of various publications.  Alludes to Lowell women’s feminism: “Lowell girls are very tenacious of their rights.  It will then be one of their rights to propose for a husband, and some of them think now they should have legislative authority for doing in almost all things as they please.”  Gives meeting time of one Improvement Circle.  Three deaths among the female operatives are noted: “February 13, Miss Harriet Graffam, aged 21; February 17, Miss Lorinda Waldron, aged 19; February 26, Miss Almira Graffam, aged, 21.”
    • Cover iv: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Table of contents and list of agents.  Editor addresses contributors (“we have no reason to complain of our contributors”) and critics (“In some of our exchange papers we find ourselves criticised, and we are very glad that some of our friends are willing to point out our faults . . . we do not think it right to alter materially the articles sent for insertion”).

  • Series 3, No. 7 (April 1843), p. 145-68
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Errata are noted.  Farley lists some other kinds of corporations (i.e., non-textile) in Lowell.  One literary notice.
    • P. 145-49: “Lowell” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Essay discussing the history and current conditions of Lowell.
    • P. 149-52: “Incidents of Adventure.  No. 3.  A Travelling Sketch” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fiction.
    • P. 152: “To the Æolian Harp” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad with religious message.
    • P. 153-55: “Faith and Fancy” by Y.M. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Essay.
    • P. 155: “Our Thoughts Are Heard in Heaven” by E.L. [Emeline Augusta Larcom (m. Rev. George Spaulding)].  Religious essay.
    • P. 156-60: “Our Poor Relation” by Annette [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy) or Rebecca C. Thompson].  Regionalist fiction and biographical sketch.
    • P. 161-62: “Lines Addressed to the Comet. In Imitation of Burns” by Coila [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad in Scottish dialect.
    • P. 162-63: “Solitude” by Adeline.  Essay with religious message.
    • P. 163-64: “The Indians” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad lamenting the passing of the Native American Indians, “Who greeted the haughty white man with a cheer, / Till taught treach’ry by being betrayed.”
    • P. 164-68: “Editorial. Composition. Hard Times” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor discusses how the noise of the mills impedes reflection.  Yet “[m]any of the best articles in the Offering we know to have been composed in the mill.”  To ameliorate the hard economic times, young women should give up English and French finery and support American manufactures.  Includes several book reviews.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Several literary notices, including one for Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit's.  One note reads thus: “Some of our operatives did not like our assertion, on the cover of the last number, that they would go to Iowa, &c.  Many of them do not believe in matrimony, and the others think they will wait till the “Iowas” come for them.  We shall henceforth consider it one of the disputed questions, with which the Offering hath nothing to do.”  The deaths of four factory women are noted: “March 4th, Louisa Newbert, aged 21; 18th, Charlotte A. Smith, 19; 20th, Sarah B. Bassford, 22; 29th, Isabel Wilson, 21.”  Gives the time and place of the next Improvement Circle meeting held at No. 33 Lawrence Corp.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.
       
  • Series 3, No. 8 (May 1843), p. 169-92
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices.  Farley recalls that in childhood she was discouraged from reading Shakespeare, because it was considered improper reading for females.  She now believes that “‘[w]omen and girls’ must read Shakspeare [sic], if they would have a thorough knowledge of English literature.”
    • P. 169-70: “The White Dress; or, Village Aristocracy” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Regionalist fiction with anti-racist theme; humor.
    • P. 171: “Lines Addressed to a Cloud” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Ballad on nature appreciation.
    • P. 171-72: “Life’s Changes” by H.L. [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Essay on life’s mutability.
    • P. 172-73: “Poems, Delivered on Various Occasions, before the Mechanic Apprentices’ Library Association, by Members of the Institution” by H.J. [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Brief fictional sketch in which a sister and brother discuss poetry.
    • P. 173-74: “The Admirer of Nature” by **M. [Maria/Marcia Currier (m. Ferdinand C. Keyser) or Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Nature poem in blank verse; humor.
    • P. 174-75: “Twilight Musings” by Grace [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)]. Essay with religious message.
    • P. 175: “Stanzas” by Caroline [Emeline Augusta Larcom (m. Rev. George Spaulding)].  Ballad: Earth’s beauty awakens desires for “immortal bliss.”
    • P. 176-80: “Poetry.  A Dialogue” [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  Dialogue.  Two women discuss qualities of poetry and poets, with references to many poets.
    • P. 180: “A Swedish Cure for Duelling.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Brief prose sketch.
    • P. 181-86: “The Fairies.  Part Fourth” by H.F. [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  Ballad and fantasy.
    • P. 187-88: “Unstable as Water, Thou Shalt Not Excel” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Fiction about a man who lacks stability of character.
    • P. 188-90: “The Poet’s Dream” by Isabella [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Allegorical dream vision with religious message.
    • P. 190-92: “Editorial. Health” by [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  Editor discusses “the influence of factory labor upon health.”  She tends to minimize mill work’s unhealthy aspects.
       
  • Series 3, No. 9 (June 1843), p. 193-216
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices and reviews.
    • P. 193-98: “The Wanderer” by Annaline.  Fiction: son leaves his New Hampshire home for a seafaring life.
    • P. 199: “Lines Addressed to a Brother on His Departure for the Far West” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Ballad.
    • P. 199-200: “Chapters on Life as It Is.  No. 1” by H.J. [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Didactic essay with religious message.
    • P. 201: “Memento Mori” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad with the refrain, “Remember, thou must die!”
    • P. 201-02: “History” by Clara.  Essay on the importance of studying history.
    • P. 203-07: “A Letter about Hard Times” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Economic essay.
    • P. 207: “Complaint of a Nobody” by Y.M. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad: speaker regards herself as “an unsightly weed,” “a vain useless thing.”
    • P. 208-11: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 7.  The Embroidered Scarf” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sensational fiction.
    • P. 211-12: “The Voyage of Fernando up the Mississippi” by S.J.H. [S.J. Hough?].  Fictionalized treatment of historical events.
    • P. 212-13: “The Pudding; or, Critical Situation of a Stranger in America.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Humorous fiction.
    • P. 213-16: “Editorial. A Manual Labor School. A Letter from Miss Martineau” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley proposes that a school be established in Lowell for operatives to attend half the day and work in the mills the other half.  She advocates a reduction in mill working hours.  She quotes passages from Harriet Martineau's “Letter” praising the Lowell Offering.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Continuation of literary notices and reviews from cover ii.  Reports Improvement Circle meeting times and places.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and lists of the Lowell Offering’s agents in Boston, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Nashua, New Hampshire; Saxonville, Massachusetts; New Haven, Connecticut; Dover, New Hampshire; Manchester, New Hampshire; Amesbury, Massachusetts; Willimantic, Connecticut; Worcester, Massachusetts; Salem & Beverly, Massachusetts; Chickopee, Massachusetts; Newburyport, Massachusetts; Troy, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; New York City; Middlebury College, Vermont; Windsor, Vermont; J.D. Bickford, Travelling Agent, J.M. Whittemore, Travelling Agent.
       
  • Series 3, No. 10 (July 1843), p. 217-40
    • Cover ii: Literary notices.
    • P. 217-25: “Woman’s Influence” by Grace [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Fiction with feminist themes.  A wife leaves her intemperate husband to live with the Shakers and then work in the mills.
    • P. 225-26: “Thought” by S.J.L. [Sarah J. Lyon].  Essay on the nature of thought.
    • P. 226-27: “The Murderer’s Request” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad: murderer requests his burial place.
    • P. 227-28: “An Upright Judge Is No Respecter of Persons.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Historical sketch.
    • P. 228: “Friendship” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Ballad expressing sadness for the passing of time.
    • P. 229-33: “The Fortune Hunter” by Alice [Alice Ann Carter (m. John Currier)].  Regionalist fiction favorably representing an old maid character.  The contents of her library are listed.
    • P. 233-34: “The Falling Rain” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad on nature appreciation with religious message.
    • P. 234-37: “The ‘Poems’ Returned” by H.J. [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Fictional sketch.  A brother and sister discuss the library of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, and their published volume of poems.
    • P. 237-38: “Chapters on Life As It Is.  No. 2” by Orianna [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Didactic fiction.
    • P. 238-39: “Chances and Changes” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Essay on change.
    • P. 239-40: “Editorial.  The Sabbath in Lowell” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Factory women’s religious observances.
    • Cover iii: Literary notices.  Announces times and places for Improvement Circle meetings.  “Deaths among the operatives from April 1st to July 1st.  April 1st, Sarah Studson, aged 21 years; May 12th, Mary Bemis, 18 years.”
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents selling the Lowell Offering in various places.
       
  • Series 3, No. 11 (August 1843), p. 241-64
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Editor discusses various books and authors, including Change for American Notes, in Letters from London to New York by anAmerican Lady [Henry Wood], Hannah More (1746-1833), and Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849).
    • P. 241: “Eternity” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Religious ballad.
    • P. 242: “Prejudice the Arbiter of Taste. Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Brief essay about Michelangelo.
    • P. 242-44: “Kissing” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Light essay about the meaning of various kinds of kisses.
    • P. 245-46: “History of a Tree” by ***.  Fiction in which a tree relates its own life story.
    • P. 246-47: “The Dark Side” by Pumen.  Brief essay deploring the injustices committed against Native American Indians.  The narrator contends that “the red man’s wrongs shall be redressed.”
    • P. 247: “Napoleon in Exile” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad on Napoleon’s soliloquy related in a ballad.
    • P. 248: “Chapters on Life As It Is.  No. 3.  The Politician and His Wife” by Orianna [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Fictional sketch.
    • P. 248-49: “You Must Forget” by Adeline.  Essay.
    • P. 249: “No Confidence Where There Is No Principle.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Fable.
    • P. 250-53: “Stories from the Linn-Side.  No. 8.  The Broken Vow” by Ione [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Sensational fiction.
    • P. 253-54: “‘O Why Should the Spirit of Mortals Be Proud?’” by M. [Maria/Marcia Currier (m. Ferdinand C. Keyser) or Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Didactic essay.
    • P. 254: “Sadness” by D. [Eliza Jane Cate (n.m.)].  Essay.
    • P. 255-64: “Garfilena. A Hungarian Tale” [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Gothic fiction.
    • P. 264: “The Past!” by Este [Miss Lane].  Brief opinion piece.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Table of contents and list of agents.  Several notes include the following: “All articles, intended for the next number of the Offering, must be handed in immediately, as it is to be printed forthwith, and then the question will be decided whether the Offering will go on another year.”  Notices of various books and periodicals, including the Neptunian, Poems Delivered on Various Occasions before the Mechanic Apprentices’ Library Association, and Hannah More’s writings.  Farley mentions that some of her favorite childhood books were Hannah More's (1746-1833) The History of Mr. Fantom and his Man William, The Two Wealthy Farmers, The Two Shoemakers, and Tom White, the Postboy; Maria Edgeworth's (1767-1849) Frank; Daniel Defoe's 
    • (1660-1730) Robinson Crusoe; and John Bunyan's (1628-1688) Pilgrim's Progress.
    • Cover iv: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Includes a reminder to Lowell Offering writers.  Gives the time and place for the next Improvement Circle meeting. 
       
  • Series 3, No. 12 (September 1843), p. 265-84
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  “Those of the writers, who have not received the compensation due for their contributions, will please to call upon us, (No. 110 Merrimack corporation) . . .
    • We have been questioned several times respecting the three Harriets, mentioned in the June number.  We stated that the trio were the principal contributors to the Offering; and, as the editress is included, it certainly is the case; though the other two ladies have not written more constantly than some others, certainly not more so than L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)] and L.M.B., but their articles have occupied more space . . . 
    • From a remark made in our editorial some may infer that we have rejected articles because we did not approve of their tone towards our employers.  No such articles have ever been handed to us for insertion; but some have refused to write because they did not like the course of the Offering in this respect—namely; our not making the subject of wages a prominent one in our pages . . .”
    • An extract from Mrs. Eliza Lee Follen's (1787-1860) Sketches of Married Life is reproduced.
    • P. 265-75: “Garfilena. A Hungarian Tale (cont’d)” [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Gothic fiction.
    • P. 276-77: “Room for the Dead” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Poem in blank verse influenced by Swedenborg; spiritualist theme.
    • P. 278-79: “Chapters on Life As It Is.  No. 4” by Orianna [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Fictional sketch about conversation.
    • P. 279: “To the ‘Linnæa Borealis” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad on nature appreciation.
    • P. 279-80: “To the ‘Blue Devils.’ An Address to the Hypochondriac’s Demon” by Este [Miss Lane].  Brief dramatic soliloquy.
    • P. 280: “Thoughts of Home” by E.D.  Essay on homesickness.
    • P. 280-81: “The Past” by Ave.  Ballad expressing sadness for life’s losses.
    • P. 281-84: “Editorial: A Manual Labor School. Close of the Volume” by Harriet Jane Farley [m. John I. Donlevy].  Quotes the text of a letter written by Emma Willard (1787-1870) responding to Farley’s proposal of a manual labor school in the June, 1843, issue.  Comments on the probable demise of the Lowell Offering with this issue due to “want of patronage.”  Discusses reasons for lack of support, etc.
    • [P. 285-88]: Index of volume three’s contents.
    • Cover iii: Literary notices, announcement of Improvement Circle meeting, and miscellaneous notes.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.  A “Publisher’s Notice” states that “With this number our connection with the Lowell Offering ceases to exist . . . We have been gratified with the liberality which has characterized many friends of the work: among whom we mention Sam’l Lawrence, Esq., John Clark, Esq., Alex. Wright, Esq., in this city, and the agents of our factories, one and all . . . [signed] Wm. Schouler, Publisher and Proprietor.”
  • Series 4 (November 1843-October 1844), 284 pp.
  • Series 4, No. 1 (November 1843), p. 1-24
    • Cover i: The Lowell Offering. Written, Edited, and Published by Female Operatives Employed in the Mills.  “Lowell: Misses Curtis & Farley.”
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley encourages “The former contributors . . . to assist us in the forthcoming volume . . . We will remunerate them as generously as the former publishers have done.”  “‘Kate’ informs her bachelor friends, that she has not forgotten her promise; but will attend to their case as soon as circumstances admit.”  The next meeting of the Improvement Circle is announced.  Several literary notices.
    • P. 1-8: “The Smuggler” written by the author of ‘Kate in Search of a Husband’” [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Adventure fiction about smuggling in northern Vermont.
    • P. 8-9: “Sea-Side Musings” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Poem in blank verse.  Speaker views the sea as “an emblem” of “human life.”  Religious message.
    • P. 9-12: “Journey to the Moon” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Prose dream vision; science fiction; humor.  After attending an astronomy lecture on the moon, the narrator returns home and falls asleep to dream of visiting the moon.  Meeting an editor of the Lunarian Banner, the narrator tells him about the Lowell Offering.
    • P. 12-14: “A Scene in Elysium.”  Ballad: factory girl writers appeal to the Roman gods and Muses for inspiration.
    • P. 14-23: “The Affections Illustrated in Factory Life.  No. 1.  The Sister” by Adelia [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Fiction: factory-girl heroine proves her virtue and worth as she works in the mills to support her brother.  Addresses class bias.
    • P. 23-24: “Editorial.  To Our Patrons” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Announces that Farley and Harriot F. Curtis “have purchased the right and good-will of the Lowell Offering.” Beginning with this volume, the periodical is now owned, written, published, and edited by factory women.  It will “remain free from sectarianism.”  Includes some commentary on Curtis’s “The Smuggler.”
    • Cover iii: Continuation of literary notices from cover ii.
    • Cover iv: [Prospectus of the new Lowell Offering] by Harriet Jane Farley [m. John I. Donlevy] and Harriot F. Curtis [n.m.].  “ . . . We pledge ourselves, that, as heretofore, the Offering shall continue devoid of all sectarianism; and that the articles shall be the productions of female operatives actually engaged in the mills.  Also, it shall be our first endeavor that the literary contents of the fourth volume  shall fully sustain the character of its predecessors . . . The Offering is prima facie evidence, not only of the intelligence of the American ‘factory girls,’ but of the intelligence of the mass of our country . . . Miss Farley will have the sole and entire charge of the editorial department . . .” 
  • Series 4, No. 2 (December 1843), p. 25-48
    • Cover ii: Extracts from “flattering” reviews of the Lowell Offering.
    • P. 25-30: “The Smuggler” (continued) by the author of “Kate in Search of a Husband” [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)]. Adventure fiction about smuggling in northern Vermont.
    • P. 30-32: “The Landing of the Pilgrims” by L.A.B. [Lucy Ann Baker (m. George Choate)?].  Historical essay about the pilgrims, “that noble-hearted band of daring exiles.”
    • P. 32-33: “Passing Away” by M.A. [Mary Ann Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Ballad about the impermanence of earthly things with religious message.
    • P. 33-34: “The First Night of the Year. Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Didactic dream vision.
    • P. 34-35: “Flattery” by Mary [Mary Anne Leonard (m. William G.T. Pierce)].  Essay on the evils of flattery.
    • P. 35: “Thoughts: Suggested While Walking on the Banks of the Merrimack” by Eliza.  Ballad about the importance of religion.
    • P. 36-39: “The Return” by Elizabeth.  Sensational fiction.
    • P. 39: “Hope.”  Brief ballad about hope.
    • P. 40-43: “Poetry” [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  Dialogue.  Two women discuss the history and qualities of poetry and poets.
    • P. 43-44: “Happiness” by J.  Brief essay.
    • P. 44: “Shall I Be Old?”  Ballad about old age.
    • P. 45-48: “Editorial: Our French Letter” [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  This editorial consists mostly of quotations from Elisha Bartlett’s (1805-1855) A Vindication of the Character and Condition of the Females Employed in the Lowell Mills (1841), which promotes a favorable view of factory life.  Includes a text of the “regulation paper” which spells out the corporations’ rules and regulations governing workers.  Literary notices.
    • Cover iii: Extracts from “flattering” reviews of the Lowell Offering.
    • Cover iv: Prospectus of the Lowell Offering and list of agents.

  • Series 4, No. 3 (January 1844), p. 49-72
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Notices of publications received, many of them children’s books.
    • P. 49-54: “The Smuggler” (continued) by the author of “Kate in Search of a Husband” [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Adventure fiction about smuggling in northern Vermont.
    • P. 54-56: “The Reclaimed” by P.A.L.  Temperance fiction.
    • P. 56-57: “The Immortality of the Soul” by Annaline.  Religious essay.
    • P. 58-61: “The Affections Illustrated in Factory Life.  No. 2.  The Mother” by Adelia [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Sentimental fiction.  Widow works in the mills to support her son, who dies.
    • P. 61-62: “A Fragment” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Didactic fiction.
    • P. 63-68: “The Husking” by Patty [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  Regionalist sketch.
    • P. 68-69: “First Griefs” by M.A. [Mary Ann Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Ballad.
    • P. 69-70: “Voltaire and Gibbon.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Historical sketch.
    • P. 70: “Diligence Insures Success” by M.C.  Didactic essay.
    • P. 70-71: “Time” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Essay.
    • P. 71-72: “Editorial. Christmas and New-Year” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Discusses some of the difficulties encountered by the Lowell Offering’s periodical agents.  Some readers’ responses to the Offering’s contents.  Notices of books received.
    • Cover iii: Continuation of notices of publications received.  Miscellaneous notes, including: “In Lights and Shadows in American Life, Dr. Robert Collyer (1828-1912) has the extreme kindness to correct the statements of Dickens with regard to The Lowell Offering; and to inform his readers that ‘it is conducted by lawyers.’  Oh Harriot! we aint–are we?”  Farley notes the time and place of the next Improvement Circle meeting.  “If any of the contributors for the past volume of the Offering, have not received their compensation and a set of the magazines, will they not come to us?  And . . . Mehitable Eastman will be Agent for the Offering in New Hampshire, and perhaps some other parts of New England.”
    • Cover iv: Prospectus of the Lowell Offering and list of seven agents, one of whom is Miss Mehitable Eastman, South Boscawen, New Hampshire.
       
  • Series 4, No. 4 (February 1844), p. 73-96
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices and exchanges.
    • P. 73-77: “The Smuggler” (continued) [by Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Adventure fiction about smuggling in northern Vermont.
    • P. 77-78: “Study” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Essay about the importance of study with religious message.
    • P. 78-79: “The Last Evening at Home” by Aramantha.  Autobiographical essay (or fiction?) describing a factory girl’s thoughts and feelings as she prepares to leave home for Lowell.
    • P. 79-81: “The Jew’s Soliloquy” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad recounting a Jew’s thoughts about religion and Jewish experience.
    • P. 81-82: “Need of a Revelation” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Essay on God’s designs as seen in Nature.
    • P. 82-83: “‘The Stranger’s Heart, O Wound It Not’” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Ballad about the importance of showing kindness to strangers.
    • P. 83-92: “The Affections Illustrated in Factory Life.  No. 3.  The Daughter” by Adelia [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Sensational fiction about factory women.  Heroine inherits wealth.
    • P. 93-94: “The Mouse’s Visit” [by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Ballad imitating those of Robert Burns.
    • P. 95: “Life” by E.H.  Poem about the varied nature of life.
    • P. 95-96: “The Toothache” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Personal essay.
    • P. 96: “Editorial. Rejected Contributions” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Editor comments on why they “do not follow the usual custom, of noticing our rejected articles, and criticising them in our editorial corner.”  “ . . . we wish our magazine to be unique rather than fashionable.”
    • Cover iii: Literary notices.  Editor mentions that “our boarding-place” is Mrs. Barnes’.  Announces the next meeting of the Improvement Circle.
    • Cover iv: Prospectus of the Lowell Offering and list of agents.
       
  • Series 4, No. 5 (March 1844), p. 97-120
    • Cover ii: Literary notices.  “ . . . our magazine goes into almost every one of the United States, and even out of them . . .”
    • P. 97-100: “The Smuggler” (continued) by H.F.C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Adventure fiction about smuggling in northern Vermont.
    • P. 101: “The World” by L.M.  Poem about the evils lurking beneath the world’s beauties.
    • P. 101-02: “An Allegory” by M.C.  Dream vision about the nature of allegory.
    • P. 102: “Home” by L.A.P.  Nostalgic essay on home.
    • P. 103-05: “The Factory Girl” by P.A.L.  Fiction: mill-girl heroine proves her worth; addresses class bias.
    • P. 106-07: “Frederic II and the Cherries.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Historical sketch.
    • P. 107-08: “A Fragment” by Newell.  Personal essay.
    • P. 108: “Stanzas” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad on nature appreciation.
    • P. 109-14: “The Affections Illustrated in Factory Life.  No. 4.  The Betrothed” by Adelia [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Fiction: Lowell factory heroine dies after several years of mill work.
    • P. 114-15: “Our Improvement Circle” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Essay detailing some of the Improvement Circle’s history, encouraging others to participate.
    • P. 115: “Ingratitude” by F.  Brief essay.
    • P. 116-17: “The Natural and the Moral World” by E.D.  Religious essay.
    • P. 117-18: “After Death, Which Seems the Most Fit and Natural, Enbalming, Entombing, or Burying in Graves?” by Olena.  Essay concluding “let the quiet grave be my last earthly home.”
    • P. 118-20: “Editorial.  The Smuggler” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor discusses some readers’ criticisms of immorality and vulgarity found in “The Smuggler.”
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices.  Announces the time and place for the next Improvement Circle, where Mr. Clark, the superintendent of the Merrimack Corporation, will meet with them to discuss the establishment of a Reading Room for operatives.  He wishes them to provide, by subscription, fuel and lights.  Farley mentions that she has always worked for the Merrimack Corporation.  “By the report of the City Physician, we are glad to learn that the number of deaths was 109 less in 1843, than in the preceding year.”
    • Cover iv: List of the Lowell Offering’s agents.
       
  • Series 4, No. 6 (April 1844), p. 121-44
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices, including mention of Mrs. Felicia Heman's (1793-1835) Records of Women: With Other Poems; and commentary on Southern versus Northern slavery.
    • P. 121-25: “The Haunted Glen” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Sensational fiction involving murder and a ghost.
    • P. 125: “Why Do We Love?” by E.R.H. [Eliza Rice Holbrook (m. Rev. John W. Hanson)].  Ballad.
    • P. 126-28: “The Mother and Daughter” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Fiction: women workers die in a mill fire.
    • P. 129-30: “Profanity” by P.  Didactic essay.
    • P. 130: “Childhood” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad.
    • P. 131-39: “The Affections Illustrated in Factory Life.  No. 5.  The Wife” by Adelia [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Fiction set in a small New England factory village.  Impoverished doctor’s wife is forced to work in the mills.  Reflects on class bias.
    • P. 139-40: “A Leaf from My Journal” by Clara.  Personal essay about a visit to an indigent Lowell family.
    • P. 140: “Catherine Gabriel.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Historical sketch.
    • P. 141-42: “The Magdalen” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Religious poem in blank verse.
    • P. 142-43: “Nothing” by Adaline.  Essay on the significance of nothing.
    • P. 143-44: “An Evening Hour’s Reflections” by I.  Personal essay.
    • P. 145: “Editorial. Close of the Half Volume” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley addresses charges of deception that have been brought against the Lowell Offering.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley discusses Northern “slavery” in the mills versus Southern chattel slavery.  She finds mill workers’ condition to be superior.  She comments at one point: “Verily, there is no parallel! unless it is that both labor.  But our operatives are descended from those, who left homes of comparative ease, and took upon themselves ‘burdens grievous to be borne,’ that they might enjoy FREEDOM—not deeming that toil and servitude were synonymous terms.”  The dates and place for Improvement Circle meetings are given.  “As the exchanges of The Offering are to be transferred to a reading-room, for the benefit of the female operatives, we hope that all our friends of the corps editorielle will henceforth forward regularly.”
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.
       
  • Series 4, No. 7 (May 1844), p. 145-68
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Along with several literary notices, Farley quotes from some favorable reviews of the Offering.
    • P. 145-48: “Letters from Susan.  Letter First” by Susan [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Epistolary fiction with factory girl heroine, Susan.  She describes in letters to her friend Mary her arrival in Lowell, getting settled in a boardinghouse, and finding a position in the mills.
    • P. 149-51: “The Stranger Maiden’s Death” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Poem in blank verse describing the death of a “humble maiden” who leaves her rural home to labor in the city.  Religious message.
    • P. 151-53: “Wealth and Poverty” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?]. Didactic essay concluding “Let no one vainly imagine that wealth is happiness; and toil only in pursuit of riches, for they will find it but as an empty dream, and as a shadow which vanisheth away.”
    • P. 153-54: “A Century Hence” by B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Ballad in which the speaker looks ahead one century, hoping for an end to social evils, including aristocracy, intemperance, slavery, etc.
    • P. 154-55: “Past, Present, and Future” by E.J.  Essay.
    • P. 155: “Home” by E.D.  Brief personal essay.
    • P. 156-57: “A Visit to the Grave-Yard” by Elizabeth.  Partly fictionalized, sensational sketch in which two factory women visit the local cemetery.
    • P. 157-58: “‘Earth Speaks in Many Voices’” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Essay on nature appreciation with religious message.
    • P. 159-60: “Address to Spring” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad on nature appreciation with religious message.
    • P. 160-62: “Dialogue on Beauty” by Adaline and Aramantha.  Two factory women discuss the question of whether a woman should choose a husband for his physical attractiveness.
    • P. 162: “My Grave” by E.R.H. [Eliza Rice Holbrook (m. Rev. John W. Hanson)].  Ballad: speaker hopes to be buried “[d]own in the depths of the dark green sea.”
    • P. 163-64: “The Sisters” by A. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Fiction about the death of one of the sisters.
    • P. 164: “Kindness” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Essay on the importance of kindness.
    • P. 165: “The Beautiful” by E.J.  Ballad on nature appreciation with religious message.
    • P. 165-66: “Individual Influence” by Grace [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.) or Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Essay on the power of individual influence.
    • P. 166-68: “Editorial” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor discusses some objections that have been raised to the Lowell Offering, e.g., that it is not written by factory girls, that it’s not written by the best writers, that someone else should be editor, etc.  A letter written by the traveling agent, A.G.A. [Abba Ann Goddard (m. John P. Rutherford)], from New York City is reproduced.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Continuation of favorable reviews of the Offering from cover ii.  A reviewer from the Green Bay Republican refers to Harriot F. Curtis, “The author of that capital work, Kate in Search of a Husband.”  A New Hampshire reviewer asks that “they would write more immediately and practically of their daily life [including the need for a restoration of wage reductions made in 1842 and 1843].”
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.
       
  • Series 4, No. 8 (June 1844), p. 169-92
    • Cover ii: Literary notices of works by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (1790-1846), Mary Martha Sherwood (1775-1851), some juvenile books, etc.
    • P. 169-72: “Letters from Susan.  Letter Second” by Susan [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Epistolary fiction with factory girl heroine.  Susan describes her first days working in the mill.  The picture painted is mostly favorable but includes some negative notes, too.
    • P. 172-74: “Random Thoughts” by ***.  Essay about the importance of seeking truth.
    • P. 174-77: “The Party” by Patty [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)?].  Regionalist sketch; humor.
    • P. 177-78: “The Forgotten. A Sketch” by Stella.  Fiction.
    • P. 178: “Cowper.”  Brief commentary about the English poet.
    • P. 179-80: “Woman’s Revenge” by Adah [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Essay. 
    • P. 180-81: “Pythagoras, the Samian Sage.”  Biographical sketch.
    • P. 181-83: “Voices of the Night” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Prose dream vision.  The narrator finds herself “alone upon a dark and troubled sea.”  Three shadowy female forms guide her.  She resolves to dedicate herself to God.
    • P. 183: “Miss Hannah More” by F [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Brief, admiring essay about the English author.
    • P. 184-86: “Aunt Matilda” by Camilla.  Fiction in which the spinster Aunt Matilda tells a story to some children.
    • P. 187: “The True Mourner” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)]. Ballad representing events in Scottish history.
    • P. 187-90: “The Last of the Puritans” by Annette [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy) or Rebecca C. Thompson].  Biographical sketch of an aged man living in Thetford, Vermont.
    • P. 190-91: “Deal Gently” by B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Didactic fiction.
    • P. 192: “Editorial.  The Improvement Circle,” H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Gives some history of the Merrimack Division of the Young Ladies’ Improvement Circle, including the text of its constitution.
    • Cover iii: Quotations from a favorable review of the Lowell Offering.  Other notes.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.
       
  • Series 4, No. 9 (July 1844), p. 193-216
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)]. Editor comments on a book recently received, Jacob Frieze's (1789-188) Elements of Social Disorder: A Plea for the Working Classes in the United States (Providence, R.I.: Benjamin F. Moore).  Farley asks, “But is it necessary that so much philanthropic feeling should frequently be connected with bitterness?”  She suggests that “a mutual manufacturing association” be established in Maine.  Other notes.
    • P. 193: “The Lost Gem” by L. [Lura Currier (m. Augustus Whitney)].  Allegorical fiction.
    • P. 194-97: “The Fatal Letter; or, The Victim of Consumption” by M.R.  Sensational fiction.  Death is a major subject.
    • P. 197-98: “The Indian” by B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Essay about Native American Indians expressing indignation at the injustices committed against them by white settlers.
    • P. 199-200: “Factory Labor” by W.J.S. [Jane S. Welch?].  A fictional dialogue between two mill women on factory labor.  They discuss many questions, e.g., whether mill work is degrading and promotes ignorance and vice, the sense of compulsion and slavery in coming and going at the ring of a factory bell, etc.  Near the conclusion, Miss B. observes, “It is true that too large a portion of our time is confined to labor.”
    • P. 201-02: “The Indian Maid” by Frances.  Ballad about Native American Indians.
    • P. 202-03: “Hugo Grotius.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Historical sketch.
    • P. 203: “Old Friends” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad about friendship.
    • P. 203-04: “The First Rainbow.  An Emblem of the Christian Hope” by P.M.A.  Historical sketch with religious message.
    • P. 204: “An Article” by H.  Essay exploring the writing experience.
    • P. 205-07: “The Indian Maiden’s Revenge” by J. L. B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Fiction about Native American Indians.
    • P. 207-08: “Friendship” by Willhelmina.  Essay.
    • P. 208: “Beauty” by P.A.L.  Essay with religious message.
    • P. 209-10: “The Invalid” by S.A.  Essay on illness and affliction.
    • P. 210-11: “Lines on the Death of Marcella W. Clark, Who Died of Consumption, Oct. 5, 1813, Aged 20 Years” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Elegiac poem with religious message.
    • P. 211-12: “A Morning Reverie” by Rosina.  Dream vision.  The speaker thinks about “the contrast . . . between a life of toil and hardship and one of luxury and ease.”
    • P. 212-15: “Editorial.  The Suicide” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor addresses the recent suicides of two operatives.  She discusses some of factory life’s difficulties, such as the solitude and unhealthiness.
    • P. 215-16: “Correspondence” by A.G.A. [Abba Ann Goddard (m. John P. Rutherford)].  Goddard writes about her visit to New York City with Harriot F. Curtis in their capacity as Lowell Offering traveling agents.  She recounts attending a temperance meeting at the Sailor’s Home.
    • Cover iii: Advertisement for the publisher Jordan & Co., Boston, Massachusetts.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.
       
  • Series 4, No. 10 (August 1844), p. 217-40
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor discusses several published books written by factory women.  These include Lights and Shadows of Factory Life and Rural Life in New England by Eliza Jane Cate; Kate in Search of a Husband by Harriot F. Curtis; and Mind amongst the Spindles, an anthology drawn from the Lowell Offering.  On Cate’s Lights and Shadows, Farley remarks, “Those of the factory females who find fault with the Offering, and think that it does not represent factory life faithfully, will find the same fault with this book.  Sometimes it does seem as though a false light was thrown upon the picture . . .”  Still, she finds much to appreciate in Cate’s writings.
    • P. 217-19: “A Flower Dream” by Rotha [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Prose dream vision.
    • P. 220-23: “The Dying Sister’s Gift” by Orianna [Hannah Johnson (m. Calvin W. Noyes)].  Fiction with factory-girl heroine.  Sixteen-year-old orphan works in the Lowell mills and dies of exhaustion.
    • P. 224: “My Grave” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad: speaker wishes to be buried in her “own native vale.”
    • P. 224-25: “The Infidel” by E.R.H. [Eliza Rice Holbrook (m. Rev. John W. Hanson)].  Ballad with religious message.
    • P. 225-26: “Ah! Who Would Live Always?” by Aramantha.  Essay.
    • P. 226-27: “Napoleon at St. Helena” by J.S.W. [Jane S. Welch].  Historical essay.
    • P. 228-30: “The Influence of Fashion” by L. [Lura Currier (m. Augustus Whitney)].  Essay urging that American women resist becoming “the slaves of fashionable tyrants.”
    • P. 230: “Pleasant Duties” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Brief commentary.
    • P. 231-36: “Truth’s Pilgrimage” by H.F.C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Allegorical fiction and social criticism.
    • P. 236: “A single verse . . .”  Four-line ballad.
    • P. 237-40: “Letters from Susan.  Letter Third” by Susan [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Epistolary fiction with factory girl heroine.  In another letter to Mary, Susan explores some of the favorable and unfavorable aspects of summertime mill work.
    • P. 240: “Editorial” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  She reiterates the Lowell Offering’s aim of avoiding controversial subjects.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor continues the discussion begun on cover ii.  Considering Curtis’s work, Farley observes, “Kate in Search of a Husband has become so popular that we hardly dare say a word against her.  The title of this work has done much for its sale.  A lady in search of a husband is thought no uncommon sight, but a lady relating her adventures in this search is more of an oddity.”  She also notes the sensational, romantic aspects of the text: “A romantic concurrence of circumstances carries Kate to Spain, and afterwards makes an heiress of her; and there is enough of the wonderful in the story to please all sixteen-year-old misses.”
    • Cover iv: Continuation of the review of Curtis’s book.  Announcement of the Improvement Circle’s next meeting.  List of agents in twenty-eight towns and cities.
       
  • Series 4, No. 11 (September 1844), p. 241-64
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  A letter about the Lowell Offering written by Laurie Todd [Grant Thorburn] and published in the New World is reproduced.  He comments, “If one of those Factory-Girls were to pass now, I would give her that pot, filled with the Lilies of the valley, for a vignette to their book!  The Lily of the valley was selected by its Maker as the emblem of beauty & modesty . . .”  Several literary notices are signed “H.F.C.” [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].
    • P. 281-86 (i.e., 241-46): “The Man out of the Moon” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Science fiction and social criticism, including anti-slavery views.
    • P. 287 (i.e., 247): “The Omnipotence of God” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)]. Religious poem.
    • P. 288-91 (i.e., 248-51): “‘An O’er True Tale” by E.A.E.  Fiction: hardworking Lowell factory woman is betrayed by her minister.
    • P. 292 (i.e., 252): “Bonaparte in the Red Sea.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Historical sketch.
    • P. 292 (i.e., 252): “I know that we can judge the future only by the past . . .” by Jane [Eliza Jane Cate (n.m.)].  Brief observation.
    • P. 253-57: “Truth’s Pilgrimage” (continued) [by Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Allegorical fiction and social criticism. 
    • P. 257-59: “Letters from Susan.  Letter Fourth” by Susan [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Epistolary fiction with factory girl heroine.  In correspondence to her friend Mary, Susan considers the question of whether she and their friends should come to work in Lowell.
    • P. 259-60: “Stanzas” by Maria [Maria/Marcia Currier (m. Ferdinand C. Keyser)].  Religious ballad.
    • P. 260-62: “Editorial. Mind amongst the Spindles” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor discusses some English factory-related publications: Frances Milton Trollope's (1780-1863) Michael Armstrong, Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna's (1790-1846) Helen Fleetwood, and an article from Blackwood’s, “The Factory System” (1833).  Farley denies that the brutalities of the English mills can be found in the U.S.  “We are confined, but a life of seclusion is the lot of most New England females.”  Still, she does admit that the picture is not all rosy: “Our factory life . . . has its attractions as well as its repulsions.  The great evil is the lengthened hours of labor.”
    • P. 262-63: “Correspondence” by A.G.A. [Abba Ann Goddard (m. John P. Rutherford)].  Goddard reports about her and Harriot Curtis’s visit to New York City.  “I find people almost everywhere disposed to doubt the assertion that the Offering is a bona fide factory production.”
    • P. 264: [Letter sent from Philadelphia] by A.G.A. [Abba Ann Goddard (m. John P. Rutherford)].  She describes her travels from New York to Philadelphia.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Laurie Todd’s letter about the Lowell Offering is continued from cover ii.  He remarks that the periodical is written “in the beautiful, modest, and truth-speaking language of nature!” and that “Every Yankee ought to be proud of this book, and subscribe for it.”  Farley comments, “We cut the following from an exchange paper: ‘Lowell is said to be the greatest marrying place in the country.  There are thousands of factory girls pining there, with small fortunes, for husbands.  There were 334 unions among them during the year ending April 30.’”  A letter sent to the Lowell Offering from a Virginian man seeking a wife is quoted.
    • Cover iv: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley contends that “‘Truth’s Pilgrimage’ was written long ago by H.F.C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)], when at work in Lowell.”  The next Improvement Circle meetings are announced.  “With this number we send bills to delinquent subscribers.”  List of agents.
       
  • Series 4, No. 12 (October 1844), p. 265-84
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary] by H.F.C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  “No number of the Offering will be issued in November, on account of the necessary absence of the editress. A January number will be issued in December . . . As this is our last Number of the volume, we hope that our kind patrons will not bid us adieu, but again greet us with their warm encouragement, names, and dollar.  In Western New York,—in the hospitable and sunny climes south of ‘Mason & Dixon’s line,’ we have many subscribers whom we do not anticipate again seeing . . .”
    • P. 265-69: “Truth’s Pilgrimage” (continued) [by Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Allegorical fiction and social criticism.
    • P. 269-70: “Friendship” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad about friendship’s great value.
    • P. 270-72: “A Sketch” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Romantic fiction.
    • P. 273-74: “The Song of the Shoe.”  Humorous ballad.
    • P. 274-75: “The Hospital” by A Patient.  While some people find fault with the Lowell hospital, the narrator experienced kindness at this “home in sickness.”
    • P. 275-76: “Sabbath Bells” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Religious ballad.
    • P. 276: “A man cannot take unto himself a better helpmate through life than Self-Confidence . . .”  Brief observation.
    • P. 277-78: “Bashfulness” by M.A.D.  Essay.
    • P. 278-79: “Correspondence of the Offering” by E.A.E.  The author writes from Boston, where she is recovering from illness caused by “confinement and over work in the factory.”
    • P. 279: “The Wasted Flowers” by Rotha [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Didactic prose sketch.
    • P. 280: “A Prayer in Affliction” by Laura [Laura A. Spaulding (m. Edwin B. Merrill) or Laura Tay (m. Joseph LaBelle)].  Religious ballad.
    • P. 280: “Autumn” by E.D.  Didactic essay.
    • P. 281-82: “Editorial. Close of the Volume” by Harriet Jane Farley [m. John I. Donlevy].  Some operatives withhold their support and criticize the Offering: “And what shall we say to those of our operatives who withhold from us their patronage, and exert all their influence in opposition to us, and to their own best interest?  We feel that they have strangely mistaken us . . . And they seem to feel that the Offering writers would be a clique by themselves, and above their fellow-operatives.”  Farley observes that there are more subscribers in Boston and New York than in Lowell, etc.  Regarding corrupt clergy, she remarks, “We know that the garb which we have looked upon as hallowed, has been used as the cloak for vice and crime.”
    • P. 282-84: “Correspondence” by A.G.A. [Abba Ann Goddard (m. John P. Rutherford)].  She writes to Miss Farley from Philadelphia and New York, where she is working as a Lowell Offering traveling agent.
    • [P. 285-88]: Index of volume four’s contents.
    • Cover iii: Advertisement for the publisher Jordan & Co., Boston, Massachusetts.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.
       

Series 5 (January-December 1845), 284 pp.

  • Series 5, No. 1 (January 1845), p. 1-24
    • Cover i: Lowell Offering: A Repository of Original Articles, Written by ‘Factory Girls.’  Pale yellow paper with engraving of a factory girl holding a book and gazing at a beehive.  Behind her are a factory building, church, and schoolhouse.  Epigraph: “The worm on the earth / May look up to the star.”
    • Cover ii: “The self-constituted judges of ethics . . .” [by Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Feminist essay protesting against women’s poverty and lack of pay equity with men.  Literary notices.
    • P. 1-5: “Thanksgiving-Day” by Jenny [Eliza Jane Cate (n.m.)?].  Regionalist fiction set in New England.
    • P. 5-11: “The Heathen Wife” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Biblically based poem in blank verse.
    • P. 11-12: “Improvement Circle” by M. [Maria/Marcia Currier (m. Ferdinand C. Keyser)].  Essay relating some of the history of Lowell’s first Improvement Circle.
    • P. 12: “Kindness” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Essay on the importance of kindness.  Religious message.
    • P. 13-18: “Truth’s Pilgrimage” (continued) [by Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Allegorical fiction and social criticism.
    • P. 18-19: “A Familiar Colloquy” by E.J.  Fiction: factory women discuss the recent election and the possibility that the protective tariff will be removed and wages reduced.  The narrator argues that if this comes to pass, women can leave the mills, perhaps trying “some of Fourier’s propositions.”
    • P. 19-20: “Appeal for the Offering” by R.H.  Essay discussing factory women’s lack of support for the Lowell Offering because they find it “deceptive.”  The narrator argues that it should be supported.  Factory women support other periodicals, such as Godey's Lady's Book and Snowden's Lady's Companion, which do not “represent life . . . any more correctly.”  Factory women should support the Offering because it has lessened prejudice against operatives.
    • P. 21: “A Panacea for Social Evils” by Jessie [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Satirical essay on the problem of poverty.
    • P. 22-24: “Editorial.  The Aim of the Offering” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  At length, the editor discusses the periodical’s purpose, as well as objections that have been made against it.  “We do not think our local stories have idealized factory life so much as fiction generally does its subject . . . There are, however, evils and temptations peculiar to our life, and causes for fear of a darker future.”  Literary notices.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices, with discussion of Catharine Maria Sedgwick's (1789-1867) “A Day in a Railroad Car,” reacting to perceived class bias.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 2 (February 1845), p. 25-48
    • Cover i: Epigraph: “‘And do you think that the words of your book are certainly true?’ ‘Yes, verily.’” –Bunyan.
    • Cover ii: An extract from a letter expressing “kind encouragements” to the Lowell Offering is reproduced.  Several literary notices signed H.F.C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].
    • P. 25-28: “A Story” by Jessie [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Regionalist humorous fiction.
    • P. 28: “How often a thoughtless and careless expression . . .” by C.  Brief, didactic commentary.
    • P. 29: “To Winter” by E.R.H. [Eliza Rice Holbrook (m. Rev. John W. Hanson)].  Nature ballad.
    • P. 29-30: “To Winter” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Nature ballad.
    • P. 30-31: “An Afternoon Ramble” by S.T.  Didactic, prose dream vision.  After awakening, the narrator “resolve[s] to be content with my lot.”
    • P. 32-33: “The Dream-Land.”  Ballad: speaker loves to escape “from earth’s toils, from its sorrows” to the dream-land.
    • P. 33-38: “Concealed Love” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Sentimental fiction: heroine dies of a broken heart.
    • P. 39-41: “Truth’s Pilgrimage” (cont’d) [by Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Allegorical fiction and social criticism.
    • P. 41-45: “My Mother’s Grave” by E.W.J. [Eliza W. Jennings].  Autobiographical essay with religious message.
    • P. 42-45: “The Wife” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Temperance fiction.
    • P. 45: “Home” by A.M.S.  Ballad expressing the speaker’s homesickness.
    • P. 46: “The Forsaken” by Minerva.  Ballad about deserted wife and mother.
    • P. 46-47: “The Gold-Enslaved” by Rotha [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Didactic, allegorical fiction about a man who loses his loved ones and his soul in his quest for gold.
    • P. 47-48: “Editorial.  Truth’s Pilgrimage” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor comments on Harriot F. Curtis’s “Truth’s Pilgrimage.”
    • Cover iii: Literary notices and other notes by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy).
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 3 (March 1845), p. 49-72
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Notes “To Subscribers” and “To Postmasters” reveal some of the Lowell Offering’s financial and managerial difficulties.
    • P. 49-52: “A Country Wedding” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Regionalist fiction set in New Hampshire.
    • P. 53-54: “The Early Doomed” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  A dying person’s monologue in blank verse with religious message.
    • P. 54: “Valentines” by Q.  Brief commentary.
    • P. 55-57: “The Confession; or, The Murderer’s Death” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Sensational fiction: murderer is haunted by his victim’s spectre.
    • P. 57-58: “The Feast of Languages” by R.H. [R. (Rachel?) Hayes].  Prose dream vision.  After reading a passage from Shakespeare, the narrator dreams of the “great feast of languages.”
    • P. 59-60: “A Peep at Factory Life” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Fiction representing some of the difficulties that factory women encounter when they try to write in the boardinghouses or private homes where they live.
    • P. 61-65: “The Stanleys” by E.W.J. [Eliza W. Jennings]. Fiction about a poor family’s struggles to support themselves.
    • P. 66-69: “Reform” by Kate [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Satirical essay about the foibles of the nineteenth-century’s numerous reformers. Partly allegorical.
    • P. 69-70: “Intemperance and Its Evils” by Elizabeth [Elizabeth S. Perver (m. David Bassett)].  Sentimental temperance fiction.
    • P. 70-71: “The Sea” by Laura [Laura Tay (m. Joseph LaBelle)].  Autobiographical essay on nature appreciation with religious message.
    • P. 71: “Winter” by E.W.J. [Eliza W. Jennings].  Ballad on nature appreciation with religious message.
    • P. 71-72: “Editorial. Our Cover” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley].  The editor discusses the meaning of the Lowell Offering’s cover illustration.
    • Cover iii: Advertisement for the Boston publisher Jordan, Swift & Wiley.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 4 (April 1845), p. 73-96
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Because some readers doubt that the Lowell Offering articles are written by factory women, Farley lists the names of the writers in the March issue.  She insists that the writers ordinarily conceal their names from “motives of delicacy.”  The writers include: Miriam R. Green, or rather Mrs. M.R.G. Kimball, a weaver upon the Massachusetts corporation; Miss Lucy Larcom, book-keeper upon the Lawrence Corporation; Miss Josephine L. Baker, weaver upon the Middlesex Corporation; Miss Rachel Hayes, weaver upon the Merrimack Corporation; Miss Eliza W. Jennings, weaver upon the Middlesex Corporation; Miss Harriot F. Curtis, harness knitter upon the Lawrence Corporation; Miss Elizabeth S. Perver, weaver or dresser upon the Merrimack Corporation; Miss Laura Tay, weaver upon the Massachusetts Corporation; Miss Harriet J. Farley, weaver upon the Merrimack Corporation.
    • Farley admits that she does not currently work in the mills.  Harriot F. Curtis’s “duties as travelling agent for the firm, conflict with constant mill labor.”  Still, all but two of Curtis’s contributions have been written while working in the mills.  Miss Rachel Hayes “has left the mill, but . . . still lives and works upon the ‘Corporation.’”
    • P. 73-77: “Painting and Sculpture. An Italian Tale” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Fiction.
    • P. 77-78: “The Frozen Fairy” by Rotha [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Didactic fiction and fantasy.  The search for fame brings disappointment.
    • P. 78-79: “Friendship” by S.J.H. [S.J. Hough?].  Essay on friendship’s value.
    • P. 79: “New Year” by T. [Elizabeth Emerson Turner (m. Charles Sawyer)].  Brief essay.
    • P. 80-81: “The Thunder Storm” by Elizabeth [Elizabeth S. Perver (m. David Bassett)].  Fiction.
    • P. 81: “Sorrows of Sensibility” by Nymphea [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Humorous ballad.
    • P. 82-88: “Uncle Peter; or, Reminiscences of My Childhood” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Regionalist sketch with many details of country storytelling and extracts from ballads.
    • P. 89-95: “Truth’s Pilgrimage” (continued) [by Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Allegorical fiction and social criticism.
    • P. 96: “Editorial.  Report of the Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature upon the Hours of Labor” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley comments on the petition that was presented to the Legislature seeking a reduction in mill working hours to ten.  She admits that the lengthy hours are a “wrong” that needs to be “righted.”  But she urges that workers’ protests be conducted in  “a quiet nature.”
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  She lists some of the mottoes that have been considered for the Lowell Offering’s cover.  She cites the number of deaths in Lowell in 1844: “167 males, 196 females. By consumption, 25 males, 54 females.”  The time for the next Improvement Circle meeting is given.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 5 (May 1845), p. 97-120
    • Cover i: Epigraph: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley states that a poem appearing in an earlier Lowell Offering issue, “The Wasted Flowers” by Rotha [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)], has been reprinted in many U.S. periodicals.  It has also inspired imitations by other writers, one of which is reprinted here.
    • P. 97-100: “A Second Peep at Factory Life” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Fiction: narrator gives a partial tour of the mill and boardinghouse, addressing some workers’ problems such as wage reductions and excessive hours.
    • P. 100: “April” by E.R.H. [Eliza Rice Holbrook (m. Rev. John W. Hanson)].  Nature ballad.
    • P. 101-03: “Painting and Sculpture.  An Italian Tale” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Fiction.
    • P. 103: “Anger” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Brief essay.
    • P. 104-08: “‘Measure for Measure’” by Dolly Dindle.  Humorous fiction about a weave-room overseer who becomes a phrenologist.
    • P. 108: “A Letter” by A.H.  Humorous essay about the narrator’s efforts to write for the Lowell Offering.
    • P. 109-112: “A Letter to Cousin Lucy” by L.T.H.  The writer sketches some Lowell scenes, such as the boardinghouse, mill, streets and shops, character and health of factory girls, Institute, evening school, Improvement Circle, hospital, and cemetery.
    • P. 112: “March Winds” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Humorous nature ballad.
    • P. 113-14: “A Funeral in the Country” by E.D.P.  Autobiographical essay set in New York state.
    • P. 114-16: “Josephine and Maria Louisa.  Translated from the French” by E.W.S.  Historical essay.
    • P. 116-17: “A Dream” by M.M.W.  The narrator experiences a dream vision of her beloved, deceased sister Mary.
    • P. 117-18: “The Voice of the Past” by G.  Essay.
    • P. 118: “‘They That Seek Me Early Shall Find Me’” by Melanie.  Religious ballad.
    • P. 119-20: “Editorial.  The Early Dead” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor considers the subject of early death.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Another poem inspired by Lucy Larcom’s “The Wasted Flowers” is reprinted.  Some corrections are made to the information about Lowell Offering writers provided on the previous issue’s cover.  Josephine L. Baker and Eliza W. Jennings work in the fulling-room of the Middlesex Corporation.  Elizabeth S. Perver works in the Dracutt Mill.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 6 (June 1845), p. 121-44
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  A letter from the author Charles Wheeler Denison (1809-1881) along with his poem, “The Factory Girl,” are reproduced.  Literary notices.
    • P. 121-22: “Maiden Meditation” by An Old Maid.  The narrator of this humorous essay rejoices in her choice of spinsterhood.  It’s a shame that men say such negative things about old maids.  “Give me single blessedness . . . any thing but—matrimony.”
    • P. 122: “A cloud . . .” by C. [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].
    • P. 128-25: “Painting and Sculpture.  An Italian Tale” (concluded) by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Fiction.
    • P. 125: “A Riddle” by L. [Lura Currier (m. Augustus Whitney)].  Light ballad verse with some class implications.  “Of humble origin am I, / And serve as waiting-maid / To nymphs whose lineage is high . . . I for my noble mistresses / Have sometimes been mistaken . . .”
    • P. 126-27: “An Old Bachelor’s Reverie” by O.P.Q.  Fiction: a bachelor’s soliloquy.
    • P. 127-29: “The Pledge” by ***.  Temperance fiction.
    • P. 129-30: “Our Natal Place” by Estelle [Harriet A. Lees (m. John F. Carney)].  Essay about the strong human attachment to home.
    • P. 130-31: “My Mother” by Prosiltha.  Personal essay.
    • P. 131: “Where Shall My Burial Be?” by E.W.J. [Eliza W. Jennings].  Ballad: speaker wishes to be buried by her mother’s grave.
    • P. 132: “Ella Howard” by E.W.J. [Eliza W. Jennings].  Sensational brief fiction: heroine dies of a broken heart.
    • P. 133-36: “‘First Love’!  Alas!” by Mabel [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Romantic fiction: sixteen-year-old heroine describes her first experience of love.
    • P. 136-37: “Is There a God?” by Elan [Miss Lane].  Religious essay: narrator contends that nature’s beauty tells us there is a God.
    • p. 137-39: “Address to the Moon” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Ballad about the man in the moon’s visit to earth.  Science fiction and social criticism including anti-slavery views.
    • P. 140-41: “Factory Girl’s Reverie” by T*** [Elizabeth Emerson Turner (m. Charles Sawyer)].  Essay: factory woman narrator expresses her homesickness and fatigue caused by millwork.  She concludes with a wish that she might be buried beside her mother’s grave.
    • P. 141: “The Shipwreck” by E.S.P. [E.S. Pope].  Autobiographical essay about a shipwreck caused by a drunken captain.  Temperance theme.
    • P. 142: “The Orphan Boy’s Lament” by A.F.  Sentimental ballad.
    • P. 142-43: “Where Is Thy Hope?” by ***.  Religious essay.
    • P. 143: “A Long Courtship” by Elizabeth [Elizabeth S. Perver (m. David Bassett)].  Autobiographically-based regionalist sketch.
    • P. 144: “Editorial. A Day’s Excursion” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The editor describes attending a party of the Middlesex Sabbath School Teachers’ Association.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley explains that “Truth’s Pilgrimage” will be discontinued because of the illness and death of the author’s father.  An extract from Harriot F. Curtis’s letter to Farley describing these circumstances is reproduced.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 7 (July 1845), p. 145-68
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Among several literary notices is one for a new periodical, The Factory Girl’s Advocate, published in Boston by Mrs. Shaffer, who had worked for several years in the Lowell mills.  Shaffer “repudiates the idea of establishing an opposition to the Offering.”  An extract from a review of the Lowell Offering published in Georgia is reproduced, claiming that the periodical is conducted by two wealthy women.
    • P. 145-49: “A Visit in the Country” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)]. Regionalist sketch set in New Hampshire.
    • P. 150-51: “My Sister’s Grave” by *A.L.  Autobiographical essay: narrator recalls her sister’s death at age seventeen.
    • P. 151-52: “The Heart’s Trial” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Fiction: heroine is afflicted by the deaths of family members and finally of herself.
    • P. 152-53: “The Lady Arabella” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad about the death of a Pilgrim woman.
    • P. 154: “Home” by Elizabeth [Elizabeth S. Perver (m. David Bassett)].  Nostalgic autobiographical essay about the author’s hometown.
    • P. 154-55: “I Am Not Poor” by S.S. [Sarah Shedd (n.m.)].  Essay: narrator argues that she is not poor, because she possesses friends, a capacity to see and feel, and “a firm unshaken faith.”
    • P. 155-56: “May-Day Musings” by Serena.  Even though she is confined within “the walls of a factory,” the narrator enjoys rambling through her memories.
    • P. 156: “Dame Nature” by Minerva.  Nature ballad.
    • P. 157-60: “‘First Love!’ Alas!” (continued) by Mabel [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Romantic fiction: sixteen-year-old heroine describes her first experience of love.
    • P. 160-61: “A Woeful Predicament” by Delvana.  Brief autobiographical essay.
    • P. 161-63: “Gertrude” by Laura [Laura A. Spaulding (m. Edwin B. Merrill) or Laura Tay (m. Joseph LaBelle)].  Sentimental fiction: exemplary heroine, Gertrude Lovejoy, grows up in a poor family with an intemperate father and long-suffering mother.  She dies several years after marrying.
    • P. 163-64: “The Old Village Church” by Angeline.  Brief autobiographical essay.
    • P. 164-65: “Happiness” by L.B.  Essay.
    • P. 165-68: “Editorial. Auto-Biographical” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley writes about her early life in New Hampshire.  She lists some of the books she knew and enjoyed as a girl.  “When fifteen years of age, she was told that she must henceforth earn her own living.”  She taught school but the pay was poor, so she entered the mills.  Some of her early poems are reproduced.
    • Cover iii: Advertisement for “Great Water Power and Mill.”  Literary notices and other notes.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 8 (August 1845), p. 169-92
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Several literary notices.  Farley proposes that factory women, instead of “so unmercifully abus[ing]” mill owners, combine their savings to buy stock in a Lowell mill and eventually assume its control.
    • P. 169-71: “The Old Meeting-House” by Edith.  Regionalist sketch.
    • P. 171-72: “What Is Most Beautiful?” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Essay on beauty.
    • P. 172: “To I.W.S.----” by S.S. [Sarah Shedd (n.m.)].  Ballad: speaker expresses love for her brother, recalling memories of their New Hampshire home.
    • P. 173-75: “Constancy” by Elizabeth [Elizabeth S. Perver (m. David Bassett)].  Regionalist fiction.
    • P. 175: “Song in June” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Nature ballad on the theme of death.  The speaker asks that her shroud and grave be prepared in the month of June, because she expects not to live long.
    • P. 176-80: “‘First Love’!  Alas!” (continued) by Mabel [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Romantic fiction: sixteen-year-old heroine describes her first experience of love.
    • P. 180: “Aspiration” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Poem in blank verse.  The “soul sick” speaker “long[s] for brighter worlds, and purer air.”  But she knows she can only “be free on Jordan’s farther shore.”
    • P. 181-82: “To M.M. Davidson” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  In an introductory note, the author explains that the poem was written after reading Washington Irving's  Biography and Poetical Remains of Margaret Miller Davidson.  Then follows an elegiac ballad expressing veneration for Davidson’s poetry.
    • P. 182-86: “Letter from Cambridgeport” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  This letter addressed to Miss Farley describes Baker’s travels through Massachusetts towns, including Woburn, Medford, Cambridgeport, Boston, and Nahant.
    • P. 186-87: “The Young Bride” by E.R.H. [Eliza Rice Holbrook (m. Rev. John W. Hanson)].  Ballad about a young bride’s death.
    • P. 187: “My Mother’s Grave” by Theodora.  Autobiographical essay.
    • P. 188-92: “Editorial” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  This editorial includes a continuation of Farley’s autobiography and extracts from William Scoresby's (1790-1857) American Factories and Their Female Operatives.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Literary notices of John Greenleaf Whittier's (1907-1892) The Stranger in Lowell and several other books.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 9 (September 1845), p. 193-216
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Several notes and literary notices.  Farley mentions that there is a “short future . . . before us as editor and publisher of the Offering.”
    • P. 193-96: “Crazy Hannah” by Judith.  Regionalist sketch of an elderly spinster who becomes insane.
    • P. 196: “To an Absent Sister” by A.F.  Ballad: speaker expresses her longing for her absent sister.
    • P. 197-99: “‘First Love’!  Alas!” (continued) by Mabel [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Romantic fiction: sixteen-year-old heroine describes her first experience of love.
    • P. 199: “Stanzas” by Wilhelmia.  Ballad.
    • P. 200-03: “The Patchwork Quilt” by Annette [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Regionalist sketch.
    • P. 203: “The Veiled Star” by Rotha [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Brief didactic fiction with religious message.
    • P. 204: “The Water Spirits” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Temperance ballad.
    • P. 205-06: “Our Country” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  This appears to be two different ballads merged together, one a patriotic poem and the other a lament for absent friends.
    • P. 206-210: “Letter from Vermont” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Green writes to Farley about her visit to Vermont.
    • P. 210: “Flowers by the Wayside” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Brief didactic essay urging the “Maiden, however lowly thy lot may be, repine not!”
    • P. 211-16: “Autobiography, No. 2.  Recollections of L.L.” by Lucy Larcom (n.m.).  Larcom recounts some of her early experiences, including books enjoyed and attempts at writing.
    • P. 216: “Editorial Note” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  This brief editorial explains that Farley has been ill and so unable to write a longer piece.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Several literary notices include some feminist commentary contending that women should not be educated only for the roles of wife and mother.  A note urges “factory friends” to patronize the Market Street baths weekly.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 10 (October 1845), p. 217-40
    • Cover ii: Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy) reports on her recent travels in New Hampshire and Vermont.
    • P. 217-18: “A Week in the Factory” by ***.  Essay arguing that factory women’s experience falls somewhere in between being a “brick-and-mortar paradise” and enslavement.
    • P. 219-220: “Wanderings with the Past” by E.D.P. [Elizabeth D. Pope?].  Personal essay.
    • P. 220-23: “Autobiography, No. 2.  Recollections of L.L.” by Lucy Larcom (n.m.).  Larcom recounts her youthful experiences.  Some of her early poems, including several that had appeared in The Operatives’ Magazine, are reproduced.
    • P. 223: “Lines Addressed to My Mother during Absence” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Ballad.
    • P. 224-26: “The Maniac Mother” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Sensational story about a poor family, consisting of a widow, her two daughters (who work as seamstresses and in the mills), and a son.  When the son become a drunkard and dies, the widow loses her reason and is soon buried beside him in the cemetery.  Temperance theme; factory woman heroine.
    • P. 226-28: “‘First Love’!  Alas!” (continued) by Mabel [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Romantic fiction: sixteen-year-old heroine describes her first experience of love.
    • P. 228: “The Spider and the Flies” by Elizabeth [Elizabeth S. Perver (m. David Bassett)].  Brief sketch.
    • P. 229-33: “Letter from Vermont” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Green writes to Farley about her travels in Vermont, where she visited scenes associated with Lucretia Maria Davidson (1808-1825) and Margaret Miller Davidson (1823-1838).
    • P. 234-37: “Letter from New-York” by E.W.J. [Eliza W. Jennings].  Jennings describes her travels in and around New York City.
    • P. 237: “An Allegory” by D. [Eliza Jane Cate (n.m.)].  Brief account of a dream.
    • P. 238: “Solitude” by Mara [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad.
    • P. 238-40: “Editorial: The ‘Factory Girls’ and Their Magazine” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley traces some of the Lowell Offering’s early history.  She contends that the periodical has improved public opinion of factory women, who had been regarded as the “lowest among female laborers.”  She remarks that the Offering “has supported itself, and has supported us,” although it has not been a great financial success.
    • Cover iii: Continuation of Harriet Jane Farley’s (m. John I. Donlevy) description of her recent travels in New Hampshire and Vermont.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents and list of agents.

  • Series 5, No. 11 (November 1845), p. 241-64
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)]. Farley offers some “elucidation” of her previous comment “that our writers appear to be contented with their humble lot [i.e., as mill workers].”  “Our writers are as aware of the disadvantages of their situations, and as desirous of improving them, as their more fault-finding sisters.  But they are also aware that there may be evils within as well as without, and they appear to be first anxious to be worthy of a pleasanter lot, and to fit themselves for some more advantageous position . . .”  Then she continues her account of her travels in Vermont’s Green Mountains.
    • P. 241-42: “Evening Fantasies” by B. McD.  In this allegorical fantasy, Beauty and Intelligence compete.
    • P. 243: “Autumn” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Nature poem in heroic couplets.
    • P. 243-46: “‘First Love’!  Alas!” (concluded) by Mabel [Harriot F. Curtis (n.m.)].  Romantic fiction: sixteen-year-old heroine describes her first experience of love.
    • P. 246-48: “Letter from New-York” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Green describes her travels in New York state.
    • P. 248: “My Favorite Hour” by E.R.H. [Eliza Rice Holbrook (m. Rev. John W. Hanson)].  Ballad expressing the speaker’s love of twilight; nature appreciation.
    • P. 249-50: “My First Independence Day in Lowell” by Elizabeth [Elizabeth S. Perver (m. David Bassett)].  Personal essay.
    • P. 250-51: “Nepomiwassit” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  Fiction about the “extinct” Pequot tribe of Native American Indians.
    • P. 251: “Sunshine” by S.S. [Sarah Shedd (n.m.)].  Brief essay on nature appreciation.
    • P. 252: “The Heart” by J.  Essay: narrator contends that in life “the great lesson that all must learn, [is] to suffer and grow strong.”
    • P. 253-59: “Factory Romance” by Annette [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  A fictionalized treatment of the true story of Irene Nichols, a Dorchester, Massachusetts, factory worker, who married the President of Mexico.
    • P. 260-62: “‘My Experience as a Teacher’” by S.S. [Sarah Shedd (n.m.)].  Autobiographical essay: Shedd recounts her agreeable teaching experiences.
    • P. 262-63: “The Red-Cross Knight” by M.A. [Mary Anne Spaulding (m. Milo Pierce)?].  Historical ballad.  During the Crusades, a young woman dies when her lover, a Red-Cross knight, is killed in a battle against Muslims.
    • P. 263-64: “Editorial: The Factory Girls and Their Magazine” by H.F. [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley again raises the issue of the Offering’s aim, apparently in response to criticism from labor activists.  She reiterates the periodical’s objective to maintain neutrality on all controversial subjects.  “This was the first aim of the Offering—to prove to others that we could understand, reason, reflect and communicate” (264).  She suggests that the Lowell Offering has paved the way for more radical writings.  Their first duty has been to counteract the prejudice against factory girls.  Others can build on their achievement.
    • Cover iii: List of agents.
    • Cover iv: Table of contents.

  • Series 5, No. 12 (December 1845), p. 265-84
    • Cover ii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  A poem written by Farley after an illness is reproduced.  She lists the titles and authors of some articles to be published in the next Offering issue.  She states that they have copyrighted their “title page.”  One book review.
    • P. 265-67: “The Window Darkened” by Ella [Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  The speaker of this fictional soliloquy describes how the erection of a brick building has darkened her view of a mixed urban and country locale.  Her pleasant view is gradually blocked out.  This is an emblem of our journey through life.  The walls finally block out the church spire.  “How has the scene changed!  How is our window darkened!”
    • P. 267: “Autumn Winds” by Mara [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad: speaker looks forward to the eternal life following death.
    • P. 268-71: “The Paring (or Apple) Bee” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)].  Autobiographical and regionalist sketch of the author’s country memories.
    • P. 272: “Idle Wishes” by L.L. [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  Ballad: speaker laments that mythic creatures, such as fairies, dryads, and witches, have been banished by the modern age’s factories and skepticism.
    • P. 272-74: “Solitude” by Sally [Lucy Larcom (n.m.)].  The heroine of this fictional sketch, Sally Simpkins, a mill worker, recounts the difficulty of finding the solitude and silence in her boardinghouse needed for writing.  The characters include a boarder, Aunt ’Melia, who works at “pickin’ waste” (273) and “Faithful Bridget,” who works in the kitchen (274).
    • P. 274-77: “The Factory Girl” by J.L.B. [Josephine L. Baker (m. Pierce Porter)].  The factory girl heroine of this short fiction, Flora Herbert, dies after several years of work in the mills.
    • P. 277: “The Visions of Life” by M.R.G. [Miriam R. Green (divorced from Cromwell Kimball)]. Ballad: speaker admires “the beautiful forms that walk / In the vista of Fancy’s eye.”
    • P. 278: “A Fragment” by M.A.F. [Mary Almira Fosdick (m. Dr. Charles Robbins)?].  Brief essay: narrator, Mary, recounts the death of her “dearest earthly friend.”  It is now three years since Ellen’s death, and the narrator longs to join her “beloved friend in Heaven.”
    • P. 279-83: “Editorial: Conclusion of the Volume” by Harriet Jane Farley [m. John I. Donlevy].  Farley contends that they wish “to refute as far as possible, all erroneous ideas with regard to ‘the factory girls and their magazine.’” Mill employment is pleasant, but it also has its disadvantages.  These include the length of the working day, but the labor is not excessive.  “The confinement is another evil.”  “Another evil, to which factory girls may possibly be subjected, is, that of ‘flirtation,’ or insincere courtship.  There are hundreds of young men in Lowell, as shop-tenders, etc., who look upon the thousands of mill operatives in nearly the light in which the Creoles of Louisiana . . . are regarded.”
    • P. 284: “To the Public” by Harriot F. Curtis.  While she and Farley have tried to remain “‘devoid of all sectarianism’ . . . Politicians and reformers would drag us into the arena of disputed questions . . . we have been abused, our magazine belied, and our honesty and principles maligned.”  “We . . . would raise the humble to the elevation of the superior.  And this, we feel assured, can never be done but by the moral means of education, and the all-pervading influence of true Christianity . . . Reformers . . . are they not exhibiting the very spirit which lacks the power to become the very axle of anarchy and tyranny . . . We discontinue the publication of the Offering because—But our reasons are entirely of a private nature—those in which the public are not interested.”
    • [P. 285-88]: Index of volume five’s contents.  Errata.
    • Cover iii: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Farley responds to a letter sent them from New York claiming “that some of the male proprietors of the factories had the supervision, and suppressed many articles which were written for the Offering.”  Farley refutes these claims, writing, “No male proprietor, agent, or superintendent, has ever exercised or sought the supervision of the editorial department . . .  The contributions have been by factory girls . . .”  She also mentions that they “have received some curious letters from gentlemen at the West” wishing to marry some of the Offering writers.  They refuse these the offers, for various reasons including “a warranted distrust of ‘the nobler sex.’”
    • Cover iv: [Editorial commentary by Harriet Jane Farley (m. John I. Donlevy)].  Table of contents.  Several notes include the following: “We would improve this opportunity to return thanks to our travelling agents—young females who have met suspicion, reproach and many other discouragements in their efforts to extend the circulation of the Offering.  Miss Walsh, Miss Caroline Bean, Miss Sarah. Eastman, Miss Abba Ann Goddard and Miss Edes will please accept the assurance of our gratitude.  But to Miss Mehitable Eastman are we more particularly indebted; and her energy, perseverance and hearty sympathy claim an unusual share of our grateful regard . . .  The most unpleasant word we have left for the last.  Will our delinquent subscribers forward their subscriptions?  If this is not done immediately, we must apply to them again . . . until we obtain our due.  Will local agents also remit us without delay?  We have hundreds of dollars now due—due to two poor factory girls.”