Among all the writers, Miss Curtis stands out as the pioneer and reformatory spirit. She was fearless in her convictions; she wrote in advocacy of the anti-slavery cause when the real agitation had hardly begun, and in behalf of woman’s right to “equal pay for equal labor,” five years before the first woman suffrage convention was held in this country. She organized the first known woman’s club, and was one of the four women editors of her time. She was the novelist _par excellence_ of _The Offering_, and had a bold and dashing pen that would have made her fortune in these days of women reporters and interviewers. But she was so startlingly original in her speech and in her writings, that it “made talk,” as Samantha Allen says, so different was she from the established idea of what a “female” should be. But she was self-centred, and bore with Christian philosophy as well as with pagan silence and stoicism, “the slings and arrows” of those who could not understand her brave and courageous nature. Her mind was intensely masculine; but her life had all the limitations by which the women of her time were bound, and these prevented her from doing the work for which she was best fitted, and from leading that life of freedom from care which is so necessary to the best literary work. Through her grandmother, Abigail Stratton (Curtis), Harriot could claim direct descent from Miles Standish. She was born Sept. 16, 1813, in Kellyvale (now Lowell), Vt., a little post hamlet on the Missisquoi River, completely surrounded by mountain peaks. The lonely and isolated life she was obliged to lead was very distasteful to her, and she early made up her mind to leave her home and seek more congenial surroundings elsewhere. Her father’s means were limited; and after exhausting what education could be obtained in the narrow circle in which she lived, she determined to go to Lowell to work in the factory, and thus earn the money necessary for a year’s study at some private school or academy. Previous to her connection with _The Offering_, Miss Curtis wrote many tales and sketches, and also “Kate in Search of a Husband,” one of the first of the “popular novels” in this country. Her novel, “The Smugglers,” was begun in _The Offering_ of November, 1843. Her connection with _The Offering_ lasted three years; and during the last two, besides contributing and editing, she also assumed that part of the business management which necessitated her travelling and canvassing for subscribers; in fact, as she said, she was “the travelling-agent for the firm, and went roaming about the country in search of patrons.” By this means, she not only helped to place the magazine on a paying basis, but made the acquaintance of many distinguished persons. It was chiefly by the efforts of Miss Curtis at this time that _The Lowell Offering_ achieved an almost world-wide fame. When at home she resumed her employment in the mill, as harness-knitter on the Lawrence corporation.