LYDIA MARIA CHILD What do you think most in your life inspired you to become a writer?

Well it actually all really happened by accident. I was talking to my brother, Convers Francis one evening, when he challenged me to write a novel on the challenges of early American life. We were very close, and challenged each other to things like this all the time, neither of us really thought my career would flourish from it. What was the first book that you wrote? The first book I wrote was actually the one that was inspired by my brother after our jest-induced challenge. It was called Hobomok. It was on the subject of early American life, and I wrote it in only just 6 weeks. What is your favorite book that youve ever written? My favorite would probably be The Rebels also known as Boston Before the Revolution. It was really interesting to write about a time not to distant in the past, and also concerned a very vital time in our nations independence. Also it was quite interesting that all of these events took place not too far from where I used to live! What or whom inspired you to write poetry? Well as you already know I began to write poetry because of a challenge issued to me by my brother, but after I had discovered my love of writing a lot of my inspiration came from political problems surrounding the community around me. I also drew a lot of inspiration from my husband, David Lee Child, who was a political activist and almost the complete opposite of myself. How did your husband, David Lee Child, inspire you exactly in your writings? Well, when we first met, we were two very different people, I was more romantic and mystic, whereas he was more secular and political. Despite of our differences, we hit it off famously. He showed me the world of politics that he lived in, and even allowed me to write for his Massachusetts based newspaper. Because of him my literature applied to a broader audience as I incorporated old themes with new ideas. What movement did your husband get you the most involved in? The most important reform that he got me involved in was definitely the abolition reform. During this time there was a lot of controversy over the issue of slavery, and the North and the South were constantly fighting about it. As well as conflicts about land with the Native Americans, there were a lot of people that the U.S. government was bullying. Because of him I was able to use my books to help a lot of people, despite the fact it decreased my popularity in the public eye. So why did you support the abolition movement, but not the Womens Rights movement?

Well, because of the job I had, I was able to make an income from home, and hardly had to experience the inequality that most other women faced. I still believed that men and women were created equal, but because of my varied perspective, I saw no reason to break the cult of domesticity that existed during the time. I believed men belonged in the world, and women belonged around the household. That made neither of them less important, just different. In your book Frugal Housewife did you emphasize your belief of separate duties? No, that book was simply written in a time when David was struggling because of his desire to publicize his thoughts against Andrew Jackson, the current president at the time, which caused a decline in his sales of newspapers. It was written to help a normal middle class woman, without the use of servants and slaves, cook and do other domestic duties in the simplest and most effective way possible. Was there ever any time that you regretted being a writer? Yes there were a few. The one that comes to mind is a couple years after I began writing for my husbands newspaper on the topic of slavery and abolition. I was walking home alone one night when from the shadows a man attacked me. I was beaten senseless the man repeatedly warned me to quit writing on such irrelevant issues and to stay in the kitchen where I belonged. In your famous phrase here in the north, after we help the mothers give birth, we do not sell the babies. What exactly were you referring to? Well it was a response to a pamphlet written by a man in the South claiming that northerners were exaggerating the cruelty of slavery. He said that we had no right to accuse them of such things after the way they treated negro women with such kindness when they were giving babies. To which I responded that it isnt exactly kind to sell another human beings child.