Hamilton Wright Mabie

Born the youngest child in the family, Mabie entered the world in Cold Spring, New York, in 1846.  As he grew up, his family moved to Buffalo and then later to Brooklyn in search of constant employment for his father.  Mabie studied hard while in school and was ready to enter college at sixteen years old.  His parents thought his age seemed too young, so after waiting one year, Mabie enrolled in Williams College where he became a contributor and editor of the Williams Quarterly.  Deciding to next study law, Mabie came to dislike it intensely though he graduated from Columbia Law School, passed the bar exam, and gained employment at a law firm.  Rather than work on his caseload, Mabie read literature and engaged in social activities.

His time at the law practice was destined to come to a close, and Mabie worked for the magazine Christian Union, later called Outlook.  This job lasted his entire life.  It was a literary career for which Mabie was destined rather than one of law.  Mabie felt that a spiritual essence spread through everything in life, and this philosophy seemed to provide an alternative to both Ralph Waldo Emerson's idealized world and to the realistic issues of the day.  As an author for the Ladies Home Journal, Harper's Magazine, and other magazines, Mabie also wrote books, penned articles and essays, lectured, and served as a literary critic.  Through his work he also spread his enjoyment for reading good literature.  Mabie penned his final book called Japan To-Day and To-Morrrow in 1914 before passing away in 1916.

CSS