[ 28 ] JENNY LAWRENCE bottom of all this deviltry, there was a warm, affectionate heart—if any were really kind to me, how I loved them!... I became a lonely child, almost without companionship, wandering alone, for hours, in the woods and fields, creating for myself an ideal world, and in that ideal world I lived for many years.3 Her immediate family, however, was important to her, and within this large, warm household Miriam felt free, open, and relaxed. What inspired her to write was her involvement in Whitesboro's local literary society. She entertained the group by reading pieces she had written and, at their urging, sent some of her essays and poems to local newspapers, in which they were published. Encouraged by this success, she sent, in 1846, several anonymous pieces about a Widow Bedott to NeaYs Saturday Gazette in Philadelphia. To her surprise and pleasure these were published. Not only were they published but they were an instant success. As the magazine's editor, Joseph Neal, wrote to his "Correspondent Bedott" on September 10, i£ The world is full of Bedott. Our readers talk of nothing else.... I know for instance, of a lady who for several days after reading one of them was continually, and often, at moments the most inopportune, bursting forth into fits of violent laughter, and believe me that you, gifted with such powers, ought not to speak disparagingly of the gift which thus brings wholesome satire home to every reader. It is a theory of mine that those gifted with truly humorous genius, like yourself, are more useful as moralists, philosophers, and teachers, than whole legions of the gravest preachers. They speak more effectually to the general ear and heart, even though they who hear are not aware of the fact that they are imbibing wisdom.'1 Through Joseph Neal, Louis Godey contacted Miriam in Elmira. Godey urged her to create a new series for his magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, America's first magazine for women, which he had founded in 1830, and which, by 1847, was established as a highly profitable and popular publishing venture. Prompted by Godey, Miriam began the related Maguire episodes. Aunt Maguire was as enthusiastically received as Widow Bedott by Godey and his readers. Elmira was well past the frontier stage of development when Miriam moved there as a bride. Between 1845 and 1848, the popula- 3 Ibid., xiii-xiv. 4 Ibid., x.