Real Folks

Adeline Dutton Train Whitney (also wrote as: Mrs. Whitney) (1824-1906) was an American poet and writer of books for girls. She started on her writing career in her thirties; after a period producing poems and stories for local journals, she published her first book Mother Goose for Grown Folks in 1870. She wrote mainly for young girls, championing conservative values, and purveying the message that a woman's happiest place is in the home, which is the source of all goodness. This proved very popular among parents, and her books sold extremely well throughout her life. Whitney was a staunch opponent of women's suffrage, though took no part in public life. Aside from her writing, she patented a set of alphabet blocks for children. Amongst her other works are The Boys of Chequasset (1862), Faith Gartney's Girlhood (1862), A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life (1866), We Girls: A Home Story (1870), Hitherto: A Story of Yesterdays (1871), Real Folks (1871) and The Other Girls (1873).