Madeline Leslie

Born Harriette Newell Woods in Andover, Massachusetts, on August 19, 1815, she is better known today by her pen name Mrs. Madeline Leslie. She later became Harriette Newell Woods Baker and built a long career as an American author, editor, and writer of children’s literature.

Her writing career began when she was about 30, and she went on to publish a remarkable number of books and stories for children. Many of them blend domestic scenes, practical advice, and Christian teaching, which helped make her popular with 19th-century families. She also wrote under the name Aunt Hattie, and her best-known title is often noted as Tim, the Scissors-Grinder.

Later in her career, she devoted much of her work to religious literature as well as fiction for younger readers. She died in Brooklyn, New York, on April 26, 1893, leaving behind a large body of moral and educational writing that remained widely circulated after her lifetime.