The Copy-Cat

by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

Twelve stories, half about the boys and girls and half about the adults of a New England village in the late nineteenth century. Includes "The Copy-Cat," "The Cock of the Walk," "Johnny-In-The-Woods," "Daniel and Little Dan’l," "Big Sister Solly," "Little Lucy Rose," "Noblesse," "Coronation," "The Amethyst Comb," "The Umbrella Man," "The Balking of Christopher," and "Dear Annie."

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman was born in Randolph, Massachusetts, and attended Mount Holyoke College (then, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary) in South Hadley, Massachusetts, for one year, from 1870–71. Freeman's parents were orthodox Congregationalists, causing her to have a very strict childhood.

Religious constraints play a key role in some of her works. She later finished her education at West Brattleboro Seminary. She passed the greater part of her life in Massachusetts and Vermont.

Freeman began writing stories and verse for children while still a teenager to help support her family and was quickly successful. Her best known work was written in the 1880s and 1890s while she lived in Randolph. She produced more than two dozen volumes of published short stories and novels. She is best known for two collections of stories, A Humble Romance and Other Stories (1887) and A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891). Her stories deal mostly with New England life and are among the best of their kind. Freeman is also remembered for her novel Pembroke (1894), and she contributed a notable chapter to the collaborative novel The Whole Family (1908). In 1902 she married Doctor Charles M. Freeman of Metuchen, New Jersey.

In April 1926, Freeman became the first recipient of the William Dean Howells Medal for Distinction in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She died in Metuchen and was interred in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Jenny Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of gently written short stories, set in the early part of the 20th century in New England. The first stories in the collection all have children as protagonists. Some of them are a little precious, but most of them enter into a child’s world in a respectful and subtle way. Many of these stories are people’s ordinary lives, and about the ways they find to escape from these lives. It takes a lot of courage for these characters to break away from the expectations of their families, but some of them do. The unsung hero shows up a lot here.

[Starry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each story in this short story collection is told from the perspective of a different person living in New England villages in the late 1800s and early 1900s. According to Wikipedia, the author Mary Wilkins Freeman lived 1852-1930 in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Her life wasn’t easy, including her father’s business failure leaving her impoverished and marriage to a womanizing alcoholic who died in a psychiatric hospital but still managed to leave everything to his chauffeur instead of his wife (she got $1!). I’m very interested in reading the work of female American authors from this time period, comparing her subject matter, perspectives, and style to writers such as LM Montgomery, Anna Katherine Green, Gene Stratton Porter, Jean Webster, and Sarah Orne Jewett.

The first half of this story collection is the weakest, to me. It features interconnected stories of children in a particular village. While well told, they are somewhat insipid or precious to the modern reader. The latter half of the book is more engaging and thought provoking. These stories tell of meek characters coming out from under the hardship of others’ selfish oppression—patient morality wins. “Dear Annie” is interesting in that it deals with gaslighting by one’s own family. In “Coronation,” gentle, cat-loving Jim copes with troubles similar to those of Dear Annie. Jim comes to the remarkable conclusion that “the greatest thing a man’s friends can do for him is to drive him into a corner with God; to be so unjust to him that they make him understand that God is all that mortal man is meant to have…” “The Amethyst Comb” deals with sacrificial forgiveness, and “The Umbrella Man” with finding contentment through simple acceptance of God’s provision. I found “Noblesse” the most interesting—it is by far the most unusual redemption story I have ever come across: it contains a remarkable and unexpected substitutionary atonement in response to a character’s prayer.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining fantasy listening 🎶😬

Twelve will written fantasy adventure thriller short stories by M Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman about family relationships during happiness and sadness. As with all box 📦 sets some very good and others not so much. I would recommend this novel to anyone who reads fantasy. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do because of eye issues and damage from nerve damage. 🏡🔰😊👒 2022

[Nicole Northrup · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are lovely period stories from the early 20th century. My favorites were “The Umbrella Man,” “ The Balking of Christopher,” and “ Dear Annie.”

[Ann T · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reminded me a lot of Anne of Green Gables, with a lowly young girl and her best friend who is well to do. So glad that Amelia found her individuality at the end.