Short Fiction Fisher, Dorothy Canfield: Hillsboro People. V1. 6 Oct 2009

[crutledge]

Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early decades of the Twentieth century. She was named by Eleanor Roosevelt one of the ten most influential women in the United States. Dorothy Canfield brought the Montessori method of child rearing to the United States, presided over the country's first adult education program, and shaped literary tastes by serving as a member of the Book-of-the-Month Club selection committee from 1925 to 1951.
Her best-known work today is probably Understood Betsy, a children's book about a little orphaned girl who is sent to live with her cousins in Vermont. Though the book can be read purely for pleasure, it also describes a schoolhouse which is run much in the style of the Montessori method, for which Canfield was one of the first and most vocal advocates.

Excerpt

VERMONT (Poem); HEMLOCK MOUNTAIN (Poem); AT THE FOOT OF HEMLOCK MOUNTAIN
PETUNIAS--THAT'S FOR REMEMBRANCE; THE HEYDAY OF THE BLOOD; AS A BIRD OUT OF THE SNARE
THE BEDQUILT; PORTRAIT OF A PHILOSOPHER; FLINT AND FIRE; A SAINT'S HOURS (Poem)
IN MEMORY OF L.H.W.; IN NEW NEW ENGLAND; THE DELIVERER
NOCTES AMBROSIANAE (Poem); HILLSBORO'S GOOD LUCK; SALEM HILLS TO ELLIS ISLAND (Poem)
AVUNCULUS; BY ABANA AND PHARPAR (Poem); FINIS; A VILLAGE MUNCHAUSEN
THE ARTIST; WHO ELSE HEARD IT? (Poem); A DROP IN THE BUCKET; THE GOLDEN TONGUE OF IRELAND (Poem)
PIPER TIM; ADESTE FIDELES!