Mary Hughes: Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography of the Works of Mary Hughes

Mary Hughes’s tracts appeared in the first five volumes of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles, which appeared in Vol. 1, 1809-1811 (1-12), Vol. 2, 1811-1813 (13-22), Vol. 3, 1813 (23-29), Vol. 4, 1821-22 (30-37), Vol. 5, 1823-25 (38-50) [50 was printed in 1825, so those in the 40s appeared in 1823-24; Hughes’s last tract, no. 48, appeared in 1824, just prior to her death], Volume VI, 1826-30 (London, 1826 [nos. 51-54; 1829, nos. 55-56, 1829; nos. 57-60, 1830). The first five volumes were in print by 1826, as advertisements for a five-volume set appeared that year. The overwhelming majority of the 60 tracts that composed the first six volumes published by the Christian Tract Society were written by women, many of whom remained anonymous and are still unknown to this day. Hughes composed 20 tracts (14 titles, with a couple appearing in multiple parts), 1/3 of the total number of tracts through 1831: nos. 1, 7, 13, 14, 15, 18, 21, 22, 23, 30, 32, 34, 40, 42, 44, 45, and 48.  Her niece, M. A. Price, composed 5 tracts: nos. 10 and 11 in vol. 1, “Orphan Sisters,” and “The Old Soldier”; no. 19 in vol. 2, “History of Elenor Williams”; no. 27 in vol. 3, “The History of Edward Allen”;  and no. 41 in vol. 5, “The Miller’s Boy; or, the Life and Death of Thomas Sankey.” Franklin’s “Way to Wealth” appeared in vol. 2, no. 17; no. 54 in vol. 6 was titled, “Industry, Prudence, and Piety; or, The History of the Widow Riley.”  One tract is by William H. Furness of Philadelphia, and one (no. 51) by Thomas Brooks, “A Letter from a Good and Happy Father to his Daughter,” where the writer mentions putting money away in a Savings Bank. Richard Wright, the Unitarian evangelist and home missionary, composed nos. 2, 38, 39, 43, and 46.

The numbers of copies sold of Hughes’s tracts are significant. By 1824, 15,000 copies of An Affectionate Address to the Poor (no. 14) had been sold, which would imply that her three previous tracts had sold that many copies and most likely more than that number. By 1826, 11,000 copies of the Sick Man’s Friend had been sold (her 6th tract). Advice to Female Servants  (her 13th tract) had sold 8,000 copies by 1825. 7,000 copies by 1825 of A True Friend; or the Two Nurse-Maids, her 14th tract. Sick-Room Dialogues; or, A Second Part of the True Friend and The Sunday Scholar; a Sketch from Real Life had each sold 6,000 copies by 1826.  By 1828, just under 400,000 copies of the first 50 some tracts had been printed! Since one-third were by Hughes, we can estimate that more than 100,000 copies of her tracts had been sold by that date, not counting those sold in America!

1. William’s Return; or, Good News for Cottagers by Mary Hughes, author of The Twin Brothers. Philadelphia: Printed for the Tract and Book Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John. William Fry, Printer. 1820. Published as Tract no. 1 in Vol. 1 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles, London, 1812. [A copy was also printed in Boston by Wells and Lilly, 1820. This work first appeared as a single issue (no. 1) in 1809.]  

William Seymour was a day-laborer living in the Midlands of England. His father died when he was young and his mother and siblings were not particularly diligent in improving themselves. During a journey with a relation, he is converted and returns home with the news. His brothers and sister, Richard, James, and Mary, are not doing well in life. He suggests they are working for the wrong master! (8) and must give up their old ways for new ones, all of which require a turning away from the profligate pleasures of this life for spiritual pleasures (10), what William calls “vanity and idleness” (11). William calls all this his “good news” (14). William cleans the house from top to bottom amd mends the fence and other things and then proceeds to tell them how he came to know the good news (16). While he was gone he and his young friend, George, had stayed in the home of a Mrs. Wilmot, with her father and family, and she began to teach them the ways of Christianity (she does not cook on Sundays, but prepares everything the evening before! [23]).  William’s heart was changed and he soon wanted to become like Christ. He then learns about the history of the Wilmot family. Old Mr. Wilmot led a bad life for many years (he drank too much), but his daughter was always virtuous (25). His wife died and he remarried a slutty woman and they have children but she hates his daughter, Margaret. Margaret, however, loves them all in Christ. Eventually one of Mr. Wilmot's children dies and several are sick, including his wife (35). Margaret's testimony eventually softens his heart and he is converted to lead a new life. He becomes ill and during his illness his wife dies, nursed by Margaret (37). Mr. Wilmot goes blind and Margaret continues to take care of him and his family while working for the kind Mr. Wright and his wife. God blesses Mr. Wilmot's family even in his blindness and he never wishes again for his former life. When a kind lady, Mrs. Martin dies, she leaves a legacy to Margaret which will provide for all of them the remainder of their lives (46-47). After hearing the story of the Wilmots, William’s mother realizes that God is the new master they are all to serve (49) and they all pray to become like Christ (50). They become a happy family after all, choosing the blessings of heaven over the pleasures of the world.  Hughes closes with an appeal to her readers to emulate William and his family, not those who seek worldly pleasures (58).

2. The Twin Brothers, or Good Luck and Good Conduct. Christian Tract Society, no. 7. London: Printed by Richard Taylor and Co., Shoe-Lane. Published by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1812. Published in Vol. 1 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles, London, 1812. [Also printed in Philadelphia for the Tract and Book Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John. William Fry, Printer, 1819.]  

Robert (healthy) and Charles Waring (not so healthy) live in a relatively poor family. They are set to work at a young age, and they attend a Sunday School, but Robert learns little while Charles applies himself (5). Their teachers, a woman volunteer, understands the value of such schools in “implanting the principles of rectitude and a sense of early piety in the hearts of the rising generation, before they are contaminated by a long association with a world, where, I grieve to own, though we call ourselves Christians, vice and profaneness present their hateful forms on every side” (5).  Christ is presented as the Saviour who lived the perfect life and is thus our “perfect example of conduct” to follow (6). When the boys are 13 this teacher dies, and Charles is devastated. Robert finds a wallet full of money belonging to a wealthy merchant in the town, and Charles warns him not to keep it but to be honest and return it, but Robert considers it a stroke of good luck and keeps it anyway! (9). Their mother Susan sides with Robert and Charles finds himself an even further outcast than before. Charles informs his mother that he will tell Mr. Hammond if they will not, and he is threatened not to do so (12). She and Robert work on Charles but he resists, noting that he should not do evil so that good may come (13). She tells him he must leave the house forever if he tells Mr. Hammond, but he will do so regardless of the consequence. 

Susan decides that she and Robert should go instead of Charles, and when they present the wallet Mr. Hammond decides to reward them both, but they say nothing of Charles. Robert is sent to a fine school with new clothes by Mr. Hammond, and he never says anything to anyone of Charles. Charles becomes ill and cannot work, but a Mr. Stanley, an apothecary, decides to take him into his own house and let him work for him there, which he does. He quickly learns the business is wages rise steadily as does his value and esteem in the eyes of Mr. Stanley (29-31). Robert begins earning a large salary but wastes all of it on riotous living and accumulates debt, does not wish to see his mother or Charles. Charles decides to meet with him anyway just to converse, but really to try to bring him into the Christian fold. Their mother grows ill and becomes an invalid, and Charles asks Robert to help him take care of her, but he claims he has little money for charity. This goes on for five years, Robert seeking “pleasure” and Charles “rectitude (44-45).  

Robert eventually elopes with Miss Hammond, Mr. Hammond’s niece, primarily to secure her fortune so he can live comfortably thereafter once he becomes Mr. Hammond’s partner (51). Charles, of course, is horrified. Mrs. Waring has a stroke after hearing the news, but Charles remains faithful to her (54) until she dies shortly thereafter. Mr. Hammond is outraged at Robert’s actions and refuses to bestow his largess upon them. Two years after his marriage Mr. Stanley dies, leaving Charles the business and the wish that he would watch out for his wayward son, William Stanley (61). Charles is very successful in the business and puts money away for retirement, but Robert sinks further into debt. He commits forgery and writes a long letter to Charles confessing his faults and sins and informing him that he is attempting to flee the country incognito or else be hung (70). 

Charles decides to take into his own home his brother’s wife and child, and Mr. Hammond learns of his existence from a letter by Robert. He is hesitant to believe that Charles can do all this, and is wary of Charles’ intention to make sure his niece learns first of the school of piety. He assures Hammond that she will not be taught any “enthusiastical tenets,” but the simple teachings of Christ, “the pure, practical religion of the Gospel” (77).  His brother’s wife dies six months later, without any true repentance (81). He raises little Lucy, and sees to the needs at times of Mr. Stanley’s son and his family and continues to believe that his brother has reformed himself in his new life abroad. Hughes closes with the moral lesson, which is which is better, “Good Luck, or Good Conduct. The first is not in our own power; is given in a high degree to few; and, as we have just seen, may be rendered of no use or value if it is not attended by the second. But good conduct, which is within the reach of every one, can seldom fail to answer largely even in this life” (88).  The lesson:  “be just and kind in all your dealings” (88). 

3. Henry Goodwin, or the Contented Man. Christian Tract Society, No. 13. London: Printed by Richard Taylor and Co., Shoe-Lane. Sold by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1811. Published in Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles, vol. 2 (London: Printed by C. Stower, Hackney; Sold by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1813).  In this volume can also be found Franklin’s Way to Wealth, which was No. XVII in the Christian Tracts series.

Sir Charles Horton, an earlier version of Ebenezer Scrooge, has just inherited an estate in Chester. Despite his wealth, he was not happy because

his heart was cold and selfish; the best feelings of his nature had never been awakened; he felt no gratitude to God for the possession of so many rare advantages: uninterrupted prosperity seemed to him a thing of course; and, except subscriptions to charitable institutions, and occasional shillings and half-crowns thrown from his coach windows for the relief of unhappy objects who presented themselves to his view, he never felt a wish to make any of his less fortunate fellow-creatures partakers of the good things which were heaped upon him. He never sought out the children of want to share in his abundance; the fleeces of his numerous flocks were never employed to clothe the shivering limbs of helpless poverty; and as the superfluous food dressed in his house was disposed of at the pleasure of the servants, it was oftener shared among the idle and worthless than bestowed upon modest merit or real want: – these, indeed, must be sought out; the former is always unwilling to ask relief, and the latter frequently unable. (4)

Though he called himself a Christian, Charles Horton had no “real religion of the heart” and “none of those kind feelings when render man a blessing to his fellow-men” (4).  His rule was to give “every man his due, but no more than his due – wretched maxim for a being so frail, so faulty as man!” (4). [Here Hughes writes of Christ that of himself he could do nothing, and that “all the wonderful powers which he possessed were derived from God, and that the doctrines which he delivered, the very words that he spake, were not his, but the Father’s who sent him!” (5)]

Hughes adds that the “sweet benevolent feelings of charity never entered his cold bosom” (5). He is convinced that no where in the world is there a truly contented man (7). His servant tells him that the old gardener (he is 72) on the grounds of the mansion in indeed a contented man. He meets him the following day and they have a conversation. He only works about three days a week but his wages are augmented by the interest he earns on his meagre savings over the years. His name was Henry Goodwin and that evening he came to tell Sir Charles how he had attained a state of happiness in the midst of poverty, toil, and misfortune.

Henry’s mother was the daughter of a dissenting minister, and obvioulsy, by her teachings, a Unitarian minister. His mother died when he was young and his father led him into habits of idleness and pleasure for the next year. Despite this, he still attended the local church. His father then remarried when he was about sixteen. The new wife was very vain and throws the family into debt. Henry tries to help his father on the farm and though his actions were good, he did not do them in a “Christian spirit” (17). This continued until he was 20, when he tried to improve the farm. His father rejected his ideas and the mother-in-law was just as vehement in her dislike of the son, all of which led to a breach with his father and departure from the home. After several years as a successul steward for a farm in Cheshire, he learns of his father’s illness and returns for his funeral and reading of the will, of which he was left out without a word! His father had died some 400£ in debt, and the son decided to pay off the debt over a period of years, which he did. Because of this project, he had rejected purchasing his own farm and marrying the girl he wanted to marry. A few years later, he learned that his mother-in-law was going to sell the property and was still in debt herself. His concern for his step-brothers and sisters led to his once again foregoing marriage to help them out financially. His sister, Susan, comes to live with him at his new farm. He was now 40. He arranges the household and embarks on introducting all his servants to the Gospel.

By this time in his relation of his history with Sir Charles, the latter admits that he had “never before conceived . . . that a sober and rational religion such as yours appears to be could have so powerful an influence over the heart and affections” (45). His step-sister dies of consumption not long after her mother is brought to live with her and Henry. When she dies, he contemplates whether he has “attained the highest degree of perfection of which my nature, assisted by the gracious teachings of my Lord, is rendered capable?” (57). Not long thereafter the step-mother dies, asking forgiveness from Henry but never reaching a settled peace in her own life. He then begins to find his step-brother and lead him to conversion if possible. During his discourse, Sir Charles is now becoming very open to becoming a Christian. He has led a profligate life and not long after Henry finds him in London, he also dies in his sinful state. He then seeks out his only surviving step-sister, who had been living in the Caribbean but was now returning with two children to England. She eventually comes to live with him. A fire then engulfs his farm and all is lost! (78). He and the sister and the two boys regroup and begin again. He finds a small house with a garden and begins working for Sir Charles, living with his sister. The two boys he found places of employment for each.

Sir Charles is greatly moved by Henry’s life story and now confesses his need to reform. “You have cleared away the mist from before my eyes; I now see things as they really are, and am convinced that piety and virtue are the only solid foundations upon which to build our hopes of happiness: all others are unsteady, and slide from beneath our feet; but ardent devotion to God, and active love to our fellow-creatures, form a rock on which we stand firmly, and may bid defiance to the rising winds and descending rains!” (83). He now announces that, as the start of his new life, he will provide for Henry in his old age and for his two nephews and their mother! (84). He is determined to be “an altered man’ to live to God and my fellow-creatures, making it the business of my remaining years to atone, as far it may be done, for the neglect of those which are past” (84). He is thankful that he has been “awakened to a sense of their value, while here is time left for the improvement of them!” (84). Sir Charles is not just going to become a moral man but rather a truly Christian man in a practical sense, something Dickens does not presume about Scrooge except for his decided turn to becoming good, kind, and generous. The secret for Sir Charles is to study the Bible and follow the precepts of Jesus, not just to realize one’s mistaken goals and ideals and substitute them for something better.

4. An Affectionate Address to the Poor (Christian Tract Society, no. 14. 4th ed. London: Sold by Sherwood, Jones, and Co., 20, Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; C. Fox and Co., 33, Threadneedle Street; Parsons and Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1824. G. Smallfield, Printer, Hackney. 15,000 copies sold. Printed in Vol. II of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Printed by C. Stower, Hackney; Sold by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1813).  Also printed in America: An Affectionate Address to the Poor (Boston: Wells and Lilly, Court Street, 1820), included in Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles, vol. 3 (Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1820). 

In this tract Hughes uses the generic term “the writer,” which deflects from her name and sex and allows her to employ the tone and persona of the godly teacher, aka the “preacher.”  She addresses the poor through a series of questions, beginning with, “Are you happy” (4). Since God is sovereign, he can change our circumstances at any time. He also controls our future destiny as immortal beings, of which life is our school and training ground for eternity. As a Unitarian, she stresses the “sleep” of the soul until the resurrection, and the belief in “one God” by Abraham (8). She discusses the importance of the 10 Commandments (10), using the apostrophe “O reader!” on occasion (11). Do not choose sin over heaven, death over life (17). “O wretched man, whoever thou art, that doest this! though I detest the ingratitude and hardness of heart which prevents thee from adoring the living God, and following the bright example set thee by his beloved Son; yet I pity thee!” (18). She evens warns the reader of hell and the dangers of being lukewarm or worldly or careless as a Christian (21), stressing the importance of living a “holy” life (23).  Oddly, there is very little to do with the poor in this tract!

5. Friendly Advice to the Unlearned  (Boston: Wells and Lilly, Court-Street, 1820), in Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles, no. 15 (Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1820). Published in Vol. 2 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Printed by C. Stower, Hackney; Sold by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1813).  

Very much like a sermon here, for she goes through the first 12 verses of the Sermon on the Mount (23). Her first point is “that we are required to believe ... that there is a being who created all things, and that he will bring to glory and happiness, all those who strive to find out his holy will, and diligently endeavour to perform it” (4). She is definitely not a Unitarian Universalist!!! She believes in salvation, heaven, Christ the saviour, the resurrection, and holy living and evangelism! Yet she is Unitarian in the belief in “One Supreme God” (4) but evangelical in stressing that we must “diligently seek him” (5).  We must also seek to know God’s will in our lives, especially concerning salvation through belief in Christ, the Saviour and glorious Son of God (6). [Here Hughes strikes a broadly evangelical note, without any direct hint at Arianism or Socinianism.] She believes God is looking for those who are “poor in spirit,” not those who are worldly, and for those who are willing to seek after him. She writes, “I entreat thee, reader, whoever thou art, carefully to examine thine own heart. Art thou a humble and earnest searcher after the divine will; and dost thou diligently and constantly strive to practise all that thou knowest of it? to do this is to ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’; and if this be the happy path which thou hast chosen, go on thy way rejoicing: redouble thine efforts; press forward towards the mark, that ‘the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according tot the grace which god hath bestowed upon you’” (14). She also praises the “merciful” (15) and the “pure in heart” (16) and those who are willing to “take up thy cross” for God (18). She exhorts with great force in her closing pages (23-25), referring now not to the “reader” but to her “Christian brethren” (24).  But once again, this seems to have little to do with the title being addressed to the “unlearned.”

6. The Sick Man’s Friend (Christian Tract Society, no. 18. 4th ed. London: Sold by Sherwood, and Co., 20, Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; R. Gisburne, Newcastle; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom,  1826).  11,000 copies sold by that date. Published in Vol. 2, no. 18, of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Printed by C. Stower, Hackney; Sold by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1813). Also printed in America in Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles, vol. 3, no. 18 (Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1820). 

Sickness is used by God, she argues, for our benefit and we should be thankful for it.  Sickness can remind us of our latter end, and we should be mindful, thus, of always doing good, since we will be judged in that regard after death. She believes those who did evil and iniquity will have great remorse in that day, knowing they can no longer “work out [their] salvation” but must now face the judgment (4). She believes sickness unto death can lead the profligate into a state of repentance, and she provides a prayer for them to utter in that moment that may lead to their conversion (5). To die in a sinful state is to do without having lived a life of doing good, not of having grace shed abroad in one’s heart through faith in the work of Christ on the cross. Conversion does require repentance, she believes, however, and a clear turning away from evil toward good. To Hughes, salvation is ceasing to do evil so one can learn to do good. As she says later in one of her prayers, the sinner must “look up to [God] as to a merciful Father, who has promised pardon and peace to all who forsake their sins, and turn to thee with sincerity and truth” (8). Christ was sent to teach us what to do to inherit eternal life, not to be the sacrifice for it; we are to follow his precepts (9).  One is “born again,” or becomes “a new creature,” she writes, “by degrees,” not in an instant, and it comes by learning to show more love of Him, more faith in his promises of forgiveness to the truly penitent; more delight in what is good, and more hatred and dread of evil” (10). She uses the expression at times, “But, my brethren, . . .” just as in a sermon (11). Beginning on p. 13 (ends on p. 18), she commences a discourse in an unidentified person addressing an individual on the bed of sickness about his coming end the need to think of the future, not the present. This discourse is very much the style of the minister in the style as well of a prayer for the needy sinner. Thus, “a fit of sickness sometimes is a real blessing” (18).

These evils consist of swearing, drinking [she offers a prayer here for such an addiction], dishonesty [be diligent, sober, and honest], complacency in wealth and prosperity (“child of this world”) (this is a common state in which God sends sickness, a state Hughes calls the “harmless life” of indifference to God’s will). She examines the sick bed of the wicked, of the careless and worldly-minded, and finally, of the true Christian (20). This individual has a “good conscience,” at which point she creates another prayer in the voice of the godly saint about to depart from this life (21). She writes in the prayer, “On thy infinite mercy, vouchsafed to us through our Saviour Jesus Christ, do I solely rely for the pardon of my sins, and acceptance at that great day, when all thy children will be gathered together in one glorious assembly before thy face” (22). She warns her readers to “live a life of piety, of soberness, of strict truth and honesty. Have no part in the corrupt practices of the world; flee from them, detest them” (23).

7-8. Village Dialogues. Parts I-II (Christian Tract Society, no. 21. Printed in Vol. 2 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Printed by C. Stower, Hackney; Sold by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1813). 

In this work Hughes employs the same technique used so effectively by Hannah More: the dialogue form of imparting knowledge and exploring certain social issues and religious doctrines. The widow lady, Isabella Mansfield, in these dialogues is always the voice of reason and Christian love and compassion, devoted to duty and to moral virtue, and pays little attention to any worldly concerns. Each day must be employed properly (part 3, p. 49).  Hughes does not create a male voice as the vehicle for teaching Christian doctrine and virtues to unbelievers, but usually a single woman, either spinster or widow, who quotes verses from the bible frequently. 

Part I: Once again, Christ is our “example,” not someone who dies in our stead but rather one whose life is to be emulated by our lives.  A young girl loses her father, a minister, at 12, but she has been raised to be a devout believer (4). Then the girl dies, but the mother endures with true Christian grace (5) and begins to minister to the poor and sick in her community and to evangelize them, which she attempts to do in a dialogue with an elderly man named Thomas. He blames others for his faults, but she says he could have done much more himself and he must repent of his own errors first (9), but he thinks he is too old to repent.  But she says he can and the gospel is open to everyone who believes (11), and if he does, it will transform his life (12). He is very grateful to her for her words to him (she is much like the preacher here) but thinks he is too bad and too old, but she says he is not. “If you forsake your sins, and come to him with all your heart, he will not only freely pardon what is past, but still hold out the mighty prize of eternal life, as within the reach o the truly penitent” (14). She tells him that the main thing God wants from us is “to love our Creator with all the powers which he hath bestowed upon us, and to strive earnestly to do good to our fellow creatures” (15). He repents and strives to become a good Christian. He blesses her for coming to him to “enlighten [his] mind, and show [him] the danger of the careless and sinful life which I have hitherto led” (18). They pray together at the end and she leaves.

Part II: Continues story of the widow from above. She visits the summer house where she and her family had often gone before the deaths of her husband and daughter. She renews her vows to God. She goes for a walk and drops in on Sarah, who has been arguing with her neighbor. She tells the lady her sad story of her youth which involved the telling of many falsehoods and lies. She now wants to serve God but does not know how. The lady informs her that the way to spiritual success is to be “content with your hard condition,” be kind and faithful as a wife, attentive to her children, and diligent in her work (36). She also tells her she must be reconciled with her neighbor and seek to reform her husband! She must also maintain a strict observance of Sunday (42). 

9. Village Dialogues. Part III (Christian Tract Society, no. 22. Printed in Vol. 2 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Printed by J. McCreery, Black-Horse-Court, Fleet-Stree. Published by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1813).  Also printed (vols 1-3) in Philadelphia for the Tract and Book Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John (Joseph Rakestraw, Printer, 1822). 

Part III: She begins with another address to the reader:  “Look into thine heart and conduct, and answer this momentous question – ‘Is the life thou art now leading, such as will prepare thee for the pure enjoyments of heaven? or art thou trifling away thy time and talents in thoughtlessness, worldly mindedness, or what is still worse, in indulging any of those sinful habits which degrade thy nature, and sink thee below the level of the brutes that perish!’” (45). In this dialogue, she engages in conversation with Thomas’s wife, Jane. Jane notices the change in her husband now (he has been converted) and does not understand what has happened. The widow will enlighten her. She now turns to the gardener’s wife, Mrs. Bennet, to get help for Sally and David Williams. She has been frugal and relatively moral woman but never truly exemplified Christian principles and benevolence and duty (55). She was very hands off concerning the Williams family, but the widow wants her to become proactive and develop a loving heart. She is too proud and high-minded (57). She visits Thomas again and he has been guilty of a fitful rage against his wife and is very downcast, but the widow encourages him (61). Thomas is thrilled that he met her and she has become his friend, but Jane remains somewhat sceptical that he has truly changed his character (64). Sarah Williams is doing her best to make a friend of the proud Mrs. Bennet and to get her children to church and Sunday School and to be an example to her husband. Before she leaves for a time to assist a relation of her husband at Shrewsbury, she sends Thomas a letter of encouragement. 

10-12. Village Dialogues. Parts IV-VI (Christian Tract Society, no. 23. London: Published by Cradock and Joy, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1813) [Printed by C. Stower, Hackney]. [Placed at the beginning of Vol. 3 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (Hackney: Published by Stower and Smallfield, 32, Paternoster-Row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1815). Also published in Philadelphia for the Tract and Book Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John. Joseph Rakestraw, Printer. 1823. 

Part IV: Mr. Mansfield, her uncle, was not a believer and now the widow must attempt as part of her nursing of the man to convert him as well before he dies. He soon recovers his health and takes lodgings in town. He does not understand her notion of benevolence and wealth. He also thinks Christians to be melancholy sour-faces who never have any fun. She sees them as ministering angels. She enlightens him on the virtues of Christianity, which consists of “love of God” (12), faith in the attributes of God, the truth of scripture, and the life and work of Christ (15-16). Her words have an effect on him, but not enough yet to get him to convert. His health continues to improve and she now wishes to return home, but he wants her to stay with him for a time at Bath (19). Before leaving Shrewsbury, he attends church with her and she makes him promise to attend twice on Sunday and he makes her promise to pray for him (21). She returns home thankful for the opportunity to witness to her uncle. Hughes tells the reader that all can be like this widow. All can be benevolent and learn to live with cheerful submission in times of trial (25). She meets Jane who tells her that Thomas is becoming more Christ-like each day, after which the widow expatiates on the virtues of the Christian life for those of the lower and middling orders: “From a scene of discontent and misery, of poverty and wretchedness, it is become the abode of peace and comfort. Even in these hard times the profits of a poor man’s labour, if he has constant work, will support his family; and if his wife does her utmost to assist him, and is as frugal in spending as he is industrious in getting, they may even lay by a little against sickness and old age” (29). Her benevolence, though, always has a portion of paternalism as well, with her poor neighbors often viewed in child-like terms of ignorance and inability too (29-30). 

Part V: She picks up again with Sarah who is taking her three children to church and trying to work on improving her husband and becoming friends with Mrs. Bennet. She is growing in her new faith and happier than ever, even though her husband is still not responding very well to her new faith. She is trying to become useful to everyone she meets, which the widow describes as “active” benevolence (35), which pays no attention to rank or status. She hears from her uncle who tells her that his relation (a cousin) has sold his estate in Jamaica, freed his slaves, and is returning to England with his family, something he thinks is folly but which the widow sees differently (38). She, of course, like Hughes, is very much the abolitionist, but the uncle thinks freeing the slaves not practical and renounces his relation. She writes back to him and wishes he would reconsider and see things from a different perspective, especially slavery (42). She feels, however, that her letter is too much full of “sentiment and feeling” and not enough “argument,” but she is “no skilful pleader,” and has sent “an artless petition” to her uncle (45). Meanwhile, Thomas comes by and gives her an update on his activities, and he is now trying to become useful to others in the community as well by teaching reading and writing to some young boys in his kitchen in the evening. As she notes of the change in Thomas’s life in three months, “who would then have thought of the happy change that has now taken place in your mind and conduct; which enables you not only to give comfort and frugal plenty to your own household, but to stretch out your hands to those around you, and guide them into the heavenly way! How plain a proof are you to yourself and others, that a man may do much good, without being either rich or learned! Nothing but active piety is wanting to make the poorest man a faithful servant of Christ, and a humble helper with him, in working out the salvation of mankind” (49).  Her uncle is angered by her letter concerning his young cousin, and he sends her £30 for the poor but does not want her to come see him now. She distributes the money among the poor in her neighborhood, which gives her great “delight” (52). She then witnesses to David Williams, Sarah’s husband, especially about his drinking too much. After their conversation, she comments on the dangers of young women marrying men who are not of good character: “There are few things more to be deplored than that young women should rashly marry men with whose principles and characters they are little acquainted, and even that little which they do know, perhaps not to their advantage; unaware of the degree of danger and misery which they are too probably bringing upon themselves” (60). 

Part VI: Mrs. Mansfield continues to relish in her meditations about godly living, her prayers for her neighbors, and her benevolent actions towards them. Sarah drops by to tell her about Mrs. Bennet. She had a fall and was senseless in the road and Sarah took her to her home and got her well, and refused to be paid by Mrs. Bennet for her help (she is the Good Samaritan). Mrs. Bennet is so touched that she offers to take in Sarah’s oldest daughter as her servant and teach her what is necessary to get a good position as a domestic later, and Mrs. Bennet will do the same for Sarah’s other daughters. Thus, Sarah’s conversion has led to a dramatic change in her domestic situation as well as her attitude toward God and life (71). Mrs. Mansfield gets sick while helping a sick woman and begins to show signs of the final decline. Sarah comes to stay with her to the end, and Thomas calls twice a day (84). Mr. Mansfield’s cousin arrives to see his relation, whom he has never met (he is the one from Jamaica). He tells her that the elder Mr. Mansfield has reconciled with him because of the letter she wrote to him earlier. They all gather to witness the final scene of this angelic saint!  She has final benedictions for those present as she prepares for heaven. This is the typical drawn-out deathbed scene of the dying saint. They all wish to be able to emulate her life and death. Mr. Mansfield promises to build a monument in her honor and sends a £100 note for the poor, informing his younger cousin that he wishes to do as much benevolence as possible before he dies (96).  

Hughes has some final comments to make on all this as well, some of them aimed at single women of independent means, like the widow Mrs. Mansfield. She advises them to avoid extravagance, wasting time, and not aiming at a life of active service like that of Mrs. Mansfield (98). Final admonitions come through the voice of Mr. Grey, the local minister, a voice created by Hughes, of course.

13. Advice to Female Servants: In Letters from an Aunt to a Niece (Christian Tract Society, no. 30. 4th ed. London: Sold by Sherwood, and Co., 20, Paternoster-row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; c. Fox and Co., 33, Threadneedle Street; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1825). Printed by G. Smallfield, Hackney.  Published in Vol. IV of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles.  Also published in Vol. 4 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 20, Paternoster-row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1817). 

Letter I. The aunt, Eleanor Moreland, is writing a series of letters to her niece, Susan, about the duties required of a good servant. She is just entering into servitude, and her aunt believes she will be confronted by three choices concerning how to live her life: 1) “serving God, and doing your duty from your heart” (2); “dishonesty, falsehood and boldness – of neglect and defiance of the laws of God, and the encouragement and indulgence of every bad passion” (2-3); and a third, or middle way, “that of going on from day to day without any fixed plan of conduct . . . living, in short, as if there was no God in heaven, no life beyond the grave, and as if our beloved Teacher had not warned all such persons of their own fearful doom in the sentence pronounced on the slothful servant, who was ‘cast into outer darkness’” (3). In this tract Hughes assumes the voice of a female once again, but a voice that speaks with religious authority on a par with any ministerial voice.

Letter II. The aunt tells her niece about her grandmother, who raised her father and herself from a young age by the fruits of her own labor and a small sum set aside for the future. Her main traits were “honesty, industry and frugality,” reminiscent of Franklin’s “Way to Wealth.” Had she and her husband not put aside that small “reserve of money,” which, though “she used it very sparingly,” she would never have managed to have raised her son and daughter the way in which she did (7). The grandmother was a Unitarian whose was certain of attaining heaven through her “humble endeavours to obey and submit to his holy will” (8). In her youth she was a servant in the home of a pious minister, where she was taught to read and attended morning and evening bible readings and prayer in the home. Over time, she came to “love and reverence the Almighty Being whose goodness called her into life” (9-10). After the death of these minister and his wife, she married the niece’s grandfather, who then died after three years, leaving the niece’s infant father and a young aunt. The aunt remembers her mother’s piety and instruction, opining that “it it the absence of piety in parents, and not incapacity or want of inclination in children to attend to serious subjects, which causes many to grow up with little knowledge of God, little reverence of his boundless power, or gratitude for the mighty benefits which he has already bestowed, and the still greater which his goodness yet reserves for those that love him” (11). 

Letter III. After the death of the aunt’s mother, she is hired out to a family, mainly assisting the cook. She was praised for her diligence and attention to detail and willingness to work, avoiding mindless mirth and any vices. Her success takes a hit one day when she breaks a valuable piece of the china. Refusing to allow the cook to cover for her with a lie, she tells her mistress the truth, based upon her prayer the night before. The mistress forgives her and thinks more highly of her than before, and Eleanor offers praise to God for interceding on her behalf (16-17). Kitty, the other servant girl whose activities with men were not proper, eventually was dismissed, even though Eleanor had informed the mistress of her activities and her mistress’s warnings had not served the purpose of amending Kitty’s bad behavior, which eventually led to her ruin.

Letter IV. She tells her niece that she was very frugal  with her expenses as a servant, and began setting aside (through the help of her mistress) some savings each year, to which her mistress added one shilling per pound each year (24). She says this is similar to what Charles Waring did in the “Twin Brothers,” which has grown sufficient at the present time to allow her to lay out “in small acts of charity to the poor, or in little presents to friends and relations” (24). Here Hughes is quoting herself!! She notes how some of the other servants did not lay by and suffered in the end for not doing so. At one point she was accused by the ocok of stealing tea (which the cook was doing herself) but she refused to confess to a lie and was rewarded by the mistress, a lesson in honesty and always telling the truth (30).

Letter V. Once again, in regard to the cook’s bad activities, she is compelled to tell her mistress, the “road of duty” always taking precedence over inexpediency (32). At times these letters evolve into fictional narratives with dialogue, action, intrigue, suspense, threatenings of harm, even violence, blending the genre of the formal letter with fictional narrative.  The cook was eventually dismissed for taking food and giving it to her poor relations.

Letter VI. Eleanor goes to see the poor and sick Cook after a lapse of eight years and befriends her with the help of the mistress. The cook hates her at first but is moved by her compassion toward her and softens. This is the kind of “practical Christianity” and morality (what Hughes would believe is true holiness) that marks a Christian and ensure their salvation and future rewards. The cook regains her health to a degree and becomes truly penitent and demonstrates a change of heart. She thanks Eleanor for sharing her Christian faith with her or else she would have died “with all my sins unrepented of, unforsaken, and therefore unforgiven!” (43). She became a cook for the poor and lived out her life in a true Christian manner.

Letter VII. As she concludes her story, she informs her niece that she became at the age of 26 the head servant in the household. She hopes her niece has learned from her experience and leaves some final comments with her, hoping that “fervent love and piety to God, and active good-will, strict truth and honesty towards your fellow-creatures, are the true and only means of obtaining real comfort even in this world while they secure everlasting blessedness in that which lies beyond the grave” (47). She adds, “Our duty to God and our neighbour should always be uppermost in our thoughts, and the fulfilment of both must be the business and the delight of our lives” (48).

14. A True Friend; or the Two Nurse-Maids, 3rd ed. (Christian Tract Society, no. 32. London: Sold by Sherwood, Jones, and Co., 20, Paternoster row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; C. Fox and Co., 33, Threadneedle Street; William Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; and all Booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1825). 7000 copies had been printed, 3d. Also published in Vol. 4 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 20, Paternoster-row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1817). Also published in Vol. 4 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 20, Paternoster-row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1817). 

As was common with many of these tracts, the conversation is presented through dramatic dialogues, with each person speaking as in a play script. Here it is two young wet nurses, Mary Williams and Hannah, who once knew each other in their youth in Denbighshire, meeting in London in Gray’s Inn Garden. Mary has been with a family in London for the past 8 years; Hannah has moved around often with many families and not grown attached to any of them, unlike Mary.

Hannah is true and honest but cynical about her servitude and the actions of other servants, which, if unethical or immoral, she does not feel she should inform the master of their actions. Mary thinks otherwise, believing “it is your duty, as far as you are able, to prevent evil and promote good in all” (6-7). Mary is the Unitarian here, espousing the principles of active faith and morality that Hughes holds dear. She refers often to the minister and what she has read but her dialogue resembles that of the preacher himself speaking to a new convert. Once again, Hughes creates a mouthpiece for her own views on the Bible and Unitarians that speaks directly to someone, just as Anne Dutton did nearly a century earlier, with a voice that mimics that of the preacher in language, content, and tone. “[W]hen Christians become worthy of the name,” she says to Hannah, “by being strictly obedient to the precepts of their teacher, the will of God ‘will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’” (7). Mary, like Hughes, is a rational Christian, convinced, as she quotes from her minister, that a “mystery” is “a thing unknown, undiscovered. Now a thing which has not been made known to us, we cannot be called upon to believe” (10). Concerning the verse in which Christ tells his disciples that “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day,” is a figurative expression linking his teachings with the sustaining power of bread. Thus, “whoever makes it [the teachings of Christ] the rule of his life, may be said to eat and drink that food which came down from heaven; upon which condition, Christ promises to ‘raise him up at the last day’” (11). Mary quotes from scripture as if the Bible is in front of her, just as the minister would have it on the pulpit during his sermon. She adds in her sermonette to Hannah:

If any ask us concerning the person or station of our heavenly Teacher, let us keep in mind this answer of the Apostle, and say, with full assurance of faith, that Jesus, our master and our guide, is the [12] Christ, the anointed messenger of God; that his doctrine, which he tells us was not his own, but the Father’s who sent him, is the living bread which came down from heaven! Let us then feed upon it, that we may grow up unto eternal life; which means, let us take it for the rule of every thought, word and action of our lives, that we may attain unto life eternal” (11-12).

Mary is as practical, however, as she is doctrinal, imparting to Hannah her duty to lay aside some for her old age, an action just as “charitable” as giving to the support of others (12). But being charitable is not just about money, but also love, the kind found in I Corinthians 13, which she proceeds to summarize with frequent quotations. When she leaves Hannah at the end of their meeting, she says she hopes they will meet again to “renew our discourse,” which is exactly what this is, religious discourse composed by a woman writer, spoken by a fictional female character, that sounds in tone and content like that of a non-fictional well-trained minister.

Dialogue II:  Mary lectures Hannah on the value of sincerity: “Sincerity, my dear Hannah, is a necessary part of a virtuous character. Religion without it, is nothing but hypocrisy and cant. It is in ‘simplicity and godly sincerity,’ that the Christian must have his conversation in the world” (17). She admonishes Hannah that “when we consider the glorious pize that is set before us – no less than eternal ages of increasing happiness! – surely nothing that we can do or suffer in this short life, will be more than a dust in the balance, when weighed against the attainment of it” (19). To which Hannah responds, “When we think seriously of these things, it does indeed seem the height of folly and madness not to make them the principal concern of our lives” (19-20). Hannah begins to show signs of conversion in a Unitarian sense of the word, exclaiming to Mary, “My heart begins to be filled with that love towards him which the Scriptures tell us we ought to feel, but of which, till now, I never had any experience” (20). She now wishes “to make a thorough change in my character and conduct” (21). Mary tells her to pray each night and morning, knowing that we can never be more in his presence “as when we pour out our hearts before him, in humble and earnest prayer” (22). Mary is convinced that “This fixing of our affections upon things above, this devotion to God, furnishes the true means of turning evil into good, and sorrow into joy; and is the only certain way to secure peace and contentment in this changeful world” (22). She adds another portion, once again in the voice of the preacher: “What a rest is it to the soul, to lean upon the ‘rock of ages’; to cast all our care upon him who graciously careth for us; to know that nothing can happen without the leave of him whose wisdom and goodness are equal, for both are infinite!” (22).

Dialogue III: Hannah announces (after an absence of a week) that her life has been changed since her conversations with Mary, to which Mary is greatly pleased: “The happy change that I have so ardently wished, and so earnestly prayed for, has really taken place; and all that I now ask is, that every good and pious feeling may be confirmed and perfected in your heart, and fuly shewn forth in your future life” (25). To Mary, Hannah is now learnng how to “work out [her] salvation” (25), the first stages in which “piety becomes the habitual frame of your mind” (26). This is the way “to secure to yourself,” she tells Hannah, “comfort in this world, and never-ending happiness in the world to come” (26). This is “the one thing needful,” Hannah opines, quoting scripture again and a phrase very popular among the Methodists. “Virtuous actions,” Mary notes, render “a delight to the doer of them, far superior to what can be gained by the indulgence of mere selfish gratifications” (27). This will make servants not only better workers but improve their relationship with their masters, and to increase “affection,” Hannah discovers, “to [her] fellow-creatures” (28). The narrator then adds, “The true Christian spirit is a spirit of love, which shews itself in acts of kindness to all who come within its reach” (28). Hannah also now assumes a more modest dress, no longer plays cards, and is far more sober and serious in her manners. She is learning to subdue the self for that which is her duty and the will of God. As Mary advises her, “one of the most necessary lessons we have to learn is, so to govern our wishes and desires, as to make them on all occasions submit entirely to the will of God, which, when we rightly understand it, we shall always find to be our present improvement as the means of future happiness” (33). What then follows is a short sermonette by Mary on the nature of following the will of God! and the promise of the glorious future life to those who do so. Part of her close is in the following statement:

What is his will, but that we should obtain all the good of which we are capable; that we should be filled with joy and crowned with glory; that we should be fixed in an immovable state of happiness, in the perpetual enjoyment of his favour, and in the light of his blissful presence? Such is God’s will; to such purposes every command, every dispensation (how rough soever it may seem) doth tend. And do we set against it a will [34] of our own? Do we reject the will that would save us, and cling to a will that would ruin us – a foolish and a senseless will, which, slighting the immense treasures of heaven, the unfading glories of God’s kingdom, the ineffable joys of eternity, doth catch at specious nothings, doth pursue mischievous trifles; a shadow of base profit, of vain honour, of sordid pleasure, like the mirth of fools or the crackling of thorns, leaving only soot, black and bitter, behind it? (33-34)

15. Sick-Room Dialogues; or, A Second Part of the True Friend (Christian Tract Society, no. 34. London: Sold by Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 20 Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Parsons and Browne, Bristol; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1821. Printed by G. Smallfield, Hackney.  From Vol. IV of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles; 3rd ed. London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 20, Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; J. Allen, Colmore Row, Birmingham; and by all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1826). 6000 copies sold by that date. Also published in Vol. 4 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 20, Paternoster-row; D. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; and all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1817). 

This tract is a continuation of the The Two Nurse-Maids, or a True Friend, and, like its precursor, appears in a series of dialogues.

Mary Williams has now been nine years in the employ of a family in London. In this tract, she befriends a young woman name Sarah Richards, who is sick and asks to see her, though she does only knows of Williams in a slight way. Sarah’s main concern is her fear of approaching death (4). She is worried over her sins and lack of doing good, which, to Mary, is the main thing for salvation: confess what you have done wrong and do right. Mary advises her to “resign [her] will to his, and be thankful for whatever he sends” (6). Mary believes that Sarah’s illness may be from God to bring her closer to him and correct her ways (7). Her great sins are “lying, deceit and dishonesty!” (7). 

Dialogue II. Sarah relates an incident in which she stole 10£ from her mistress, an act that Mary hopes she has a better understanding now of her sin and a desire to turn from it. Sarah must be diligent now in “ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well,” and after a time become “a new creature” and “experience that happy, blessed change which, in the language of our holy Teacher, is termed being ‘born again’” (12). This is the Unitarian gospel and what Mary later terms “a holy life” (15). Mary believes that Sarah’s initial fears when she committed the crime was more the fear of man than of God (13), to abhor the consequences of the crime but not the crime itself. Mary is convinced that at that time Sarah had “a reprobate mind” and he conscience had not yet been “awakened to a strong and painful sense of guilt” (14). “Grief and terror,” she later says, “is not repentance” (19). In order to gain the “crown of glory,” the penitent must “earnestly and diligently strive for its attainment” (17), a salvation of works for sure. Words mean little but actions mean everything, Mary argues (18). Mary opines,

True repentance, we are graciously assured, will turn away all punishment from the sinner; but true repentance is a thorough change of heart and disposition; and how can this be brought about, but by painful and long-continued struggles against all that we have formerly pursued and sought after? (19)

Dialogue III. Mary still does not see true repentance and humility in Sarah, though she has much fear of dying and knows she has sinned. Throughout her conversations with Sarah, Mary quotes at will from the Bible. At this point, Sarah appears to have hardened toward confessing to her other friend and Mary leaves her for the day with this warning, that on the morrow she would find her “heart softened, and disposed humbly to bow down before the throne of mercy, to entreat pardon for the past, and grace to resolve upon a future holy and Christian life!” (24).

Dialogue IV. Mary returns the next day to find that Sarah had died during the night! Lucy, her young friend, was present when she died and gives Mary an account, a kind of second-hand death-bed experience. Mary learns that Sarah’s mother was more evil than Sarah. Lucy has seen the dire straights her friend was in at her death and has resolved to lead a better life. As Mary reminds her, “A good and pious life is the true, the only preparation for a happy death” (31). Mary plans now to go and see Sarah’s mother in hopes that she might repent of her ways and change her life. Mary tells Lucy, “‘Cease to do evil, learn [30] to do well,’ and you shall ‘save your soul alive’” (30). Lucy now becomes Mary’s primary concern and sees true repentance forming in her heart and life. She closes her admonitions to Lucy with this comment:

Be sincere and upright, gentle, kind, and humble. Do good to all within your reach, and resolutely drive away every evil thought, before it rises to a wish or inclination. . . The more entirely you tae the yoke of our blessed Lord upon you, and the longer you wear it, the more light and easy it will become: and should affliction press heavily upon you, you will support it as the Christian cross, which must be willingly borne by all who aspire to wear the Christian crown. (36)

16. The Sunday Scholar; a Sketch from Real Life (Christian Tract Society, no. 40. 3rd ed. London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 20, Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; J. Allen, Colmore Row, Birmingham; and by all Booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1826). 6000 copies sold by that date. Also published in Vol. 5 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 23, Paternoster Row; M. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, 67, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; Allen and Bridgen, Colmore row, Birmingham; and by all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1829).  

The tract is a history of Hughes’s work with the Sunday School in Hanwood. Hughes' sister also labored with her. The school was operated before the 11 o’clock morning service and again after the service at 2 pm, lasting until dark in winter and much longer in the summer (4-5). The author soons gets to the history of one young male scholar, who could not read at the age of 10. He commenced the school at 12, coming from a laboring family in a woolen mill, where the young boy also worked (8). At 15 he had learned much from the school and was given a new job in the cotton trade that required him to live in a different village. A year later he and his co-worker opened their own Sunday School in that village (12). The boy’s name was Edward, and after a decline in the cotton trade developed as a result of the war (most likely the conflict with France and American c. 1808-10), he lost one job but gained another [these were in Lancashire] and eventually was aided by the woman who first befriended him when he was 10 (the author of the tract). She was able to get him placed with a firm in Scotland (he returned home to Shropshire for a short visit before leaving for Scotland, having been gone for five years). In Scotland he was placed in a position of considerable responsibility, and he performed his duties well and continued in his own self-education of reading and conversing with knowledgeable people, even becoming a part of the local “Literary Club” (17).

As his salary increased (75£) he began sending back each quarter a 2£ note to his parents via the author. Once again, Hughes becomes the Unitarian preacher espousing Unitarian doctrine concerning a works-centered salvation: works of patience, forbearance, self-denial, and good “we are required zealously to perform; these are appointed by our wise and gracious Creator, as the necessary means of preparation. In the performance of the conditions plainly laid down in the gospel, in ‘woring out our salvation,’ much labour and much persevering resolution may be called for. But it can only continue during this short life, and it will secure that future endless bliss which is freely offered to all who will fit themselves for it, by habitual piety and virtue” (20). In heaven, “different degrees of Christian virtue will each receive a due degree of recompence,” thus creating a hierarchy according to our good works (20). After another increase in his salary and a new position in a different place in Scotland (still with the same firm), he met a young lady and they married in 1812. In the early years of his marriage he underwent many trials and adversities but always managed to remain steadfast to his faith, including the death of one of his children (28-29) and the illness of another as well as his own. His steadfast faith produces another exclamation from Hughes: “And why do not all who profess themselves his followers, ardently and perseveringly strive to gain the safe and happy eminence on which they stood? It is accessible to all. . . The glorious hopes and privileges of the sons of God are not for the lovers of this world, nor for idle and slothful servants” (31). She adds, in speaking of God, “the glow of grateful feeling towards a beloved benefactor, is perhaps the purest and most truly delightful sensation of which our nature is capable” (32). She adds a letter by her friend dated 6 May 1818 detailing his circumstances at that time and attitude toward his faith. He has clearly adopted the attitude of benevolence which Hughes herself fostered and was a distinguishing mark of this event to improve our circumstances, that we may be burdensome to no man, but have it in our power to wipe away the tear of misery fro the cheek of the wretched. It is ours to mark the guiding hand of Infinite Wisdom. No one can be a Christian and ‘live to himself’ alone. Society is a mighty chain of sensitive beings. Each individual is a link in this chain, and to each link is allotted, by Almighty God, an important use in the great commonwealth. O, how glorious is the thought, that there is an eye, that there is an ear, that there is a hand, that sees, and hears, and rules the smallest matter that can affect the peace of the [34] humblest peasant! I see much evil around me; I hear of much misery in the world, but the Bible clear up the mystery. God is deducing universal and everlasting good from this partial and temporal evil” (33-34). Edward believes that in last day “the vast family of mankind shall be restored to divine purity and happiness” (34).

Her final point is that if Edward can transform his life, so can any other young boy in a similar circumstance, if said boy will resolve to make “the same use of it” (35). She adds, “Christ is our pattern, Heaven is our reward” (36). Once again, throughout this tract Hughes quotes from scripture constantly. 

17-18. Family Dialogues: or, Sunday Well Spent, Parts 1 and 2 (Christian Tract Society, nos. 42 and 45. London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 20, Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; J. Allen, Colmore Row, Birmingham; and by all Booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1826). Also published in Vol. 5 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 23, Paternoster Row; M. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, 67, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; Allen and Bridgen, Colmore row, Birmingham; and by all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1829). 

Part 1

Another work by Hughes set in the form of a series of dialogues. This one involves a widow and her four children: William, Harry, Elizabeth (Betsey) (who had recently been very ill but was now restored), and John, the youngest. Concerning Betsey’s illness, she learned that good could come from something bad, and that affliction from God was for our benefit. Her mother adds, “When what appears a misfortune visits you, meet it with patient courage and full confidence in the goodness and wisdom of Him who sent it, satisfied that if the fault is not your own, it wil in the end become a blessing” (4). One son even envies the martyrs and hopes he might one day become one himself! (5). She notes recent acts of benevolence by her children and knows they will be useful to those who received them. She reminds them, “Go on thus, my children, earnestly endeavouring to tread in the footsteps of our blessed Master, remembering that whenever we refuse ourselves a pleasure of indulgence in order to do good, we prove that true religion reigns in our hearts” (6). To do so, they must adhere to the teachings of the Bible and Christ. “No one who attentively reads, and carefully endeavours to obey the plain precepts with which it abounds, can fail at length to reach that blessed place” (9). When death comes, if it finds us on the right road of righteousness, then “all will be well; and on awakening from the peaceful slumber of the grave, you will enter into those blissful mansions which the beloved of God is now preparing for his faithful followers” (9). William thinks an early death is the safest, because one never knows if they will continue in the ways of God during their life, and thus security of salvation is never sure but only based on one’s good acts and allegiance toward God (9-10). The mother then asserts that the ultimate decision is made by God’s will.

Since her husband’s death, she has been supported by a fund they built together from the surplus of their income for such a time, allowing her and her children “to live without asking assistance from any one, and there is still a little left” (11). William promises to work hard and save money, and Elizabeth, set soon to become a servant in a household, to always be industrious and honest with her mistress and master. The mother then tells them they must also have a command over their “temper” (12). Much as Franklin did in his Autobiography with his list of Moral Virtues, the mother encourages the children to make note every Saturday night of what they have done, both good and bad, during the week and continue so until the weekly accounting shows more and more of the good and less and less of the bad, at which time they can “rejoice with thankful hearts, that this stage of your journey has been a prosperous one” (17).

Hughes’ final admonition is to the reader: “May it be the object of every Christian mother thus to store the bosoms of her offspring with that knowledge which maketh ‘wise unto salvation’! If, like the one before us, she is careful to prepare their minds for the good seed of the word, she may joyfully conduct them to the house of prayer; resting humbly in the hope that it will spring up in their hearts, and bring forth abundantly that precious fruit which will sustain them unto everlasting life” (20).

Part 2

Seven months after the last Sunday they were together, the family meets together once again. William tells her about one of the men he works with who is given to drink, and his mother knows him and the family, all of whom are nearly stages of despair and doom because of their drinking. She warns William also to heed “the advantage of sobriety and industry” (6). William has now saved 15s from his first wages, and wishes to give them to his mother. She only accept 5s, and instead tells him he must be put the remainder into the “Savings’ Bank, for your own benefit; and I trust that, by the blessing of our gracious God upon your industry and self-denial, sums sufficient to supply all your reasonable wants and wishes, will, from time to time, be added to it. And for the five shillings, I most joyfully and thankfully accept it at your hands” (7). She then opines on her religious faith, reminding her sons that “from the richest to the poorest, all are called, and every one, who sincerely strives to do so, may follow the holy Jesus, and at length most certainly reach those blissful mansions which he is now preparing for all his true disciples” (8) She adds later that “God has given to each of us full power to do this” (9) (here is the universalism of the Unitarians).

In the second part, the Mother notes that “Christian morality” is “the one thing needful” (a text usually applied to the worship of Christ as Lord, not being moral) (12). The girl is now working in a family where the children are very adept at lying, and the mother tells her and her children that nothing is worse than lying.

In the third part, the mother criticizes the boys for allowing their minds to wander during the evening service because of the surprise attendance of their sister. Because their minds wandered during service, the mother decides as punishment that they must wait until the next visit by their sister to hear what she had to say about her surprise visit (25). Hughes then comments on such thoughtlessness among young people, and, in case of criticism about the mother’s decision, adds that “this giddy, thoughtless temper plunges numbers of young persons into the poverty and wretchedness which must attend on early and ill-suited marriages” (25). She advises her young readers “to find piety, good sense, and good temper, in the person with whom you wish to spend your life” (25). The mother had been inculcating Christian principles in her children from their earliest years, and “None of these fortunate children were able to recollect when they first began to know and love their Creator, and to strive so to form their little actions as to please and gain his favour” (26). “The grace and favour of the Almighty Parent of the whole human race, will surely rest upon a family thus piously instructed” (26).

In the fourth part, after dinner, the mother relents and allows Betsey to relate to the others her news, believing the children have learned their lesson. Betsey was to receive a half portion of her earnings because of the ink spill created by the actions of the master’s son, George. After receiving the wages and never implicating the son, he decided to confess, which greatly pleased his parents and resulted in Betsey being praised and the Master offering her brothers employment in the future! (30-31). She closes with this admonition to her children: “And O, my beloved children, may we all, ‘forgetting those things which are behind,’ with ardent and persevering diligence, go on ‘from strength to strength,’ – pressing forward towards the ‘glorious mark, even the high prize of our calling in Jesus Christ’!” (32).

19. The Good Grandmother: or, a Visit to my Uncle’s (Christian Tract Society, no. 44. London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 20, Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, 67, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; Rev. W. T. Horsfield, Taunton; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; Allen and Bridgen, Colmore Row, Birmingham; Rev. G. Harris, Glasgow; and by all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1828).  Also published in Vol. 5 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 23, Paternoster Row; M. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, 67, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; Allen and Bridgen, Colmore row, Birmingham; and by all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1829).

Another tract set as a series of dialogues. This one involves a Mrs. Marten and her granddaughter, Lucy. She is set to spend some time at her uncle’s, where her sister, Sarah, had recently stayed. He is a devout Christian and the grandmother welcomes the idea of her going there to stay for awhile. The grandmother has lost one daughter, who had remained by her side all her life (6). She notes that the deceased daughter was, like the grandmother, a devout Unitarian, always thanking God for sending Christ “to teach us both how to live and how to die!” (7). Emphasis is always on piety, not holiness. And always on hard work and perseverance, both in being industrious (which young Lucy is) and self-denying (putting the end before the present) (10). The grandmother knows her end is soon, but she is happy that her faith consoles her with the promise of Heaven, so that even the loss of her sight and increasing loss of memory does not detract her from her vision of the next life (13). Thew granddaughter now realizes that she should not fear death either for the glories of the next life await her at that moment. God is the great Benefactor, whose essence is benevolence, from which we are to emulate. Loving God also means loving our neighbor, which is the essence of her faith, an outward demonstration of benevolence that mirrors that bestowed on her by God (15). Earthly happiness is fleeting and not secure, they are “fading pleasures” in the light of eternal reality (18).  Her, the unseen always triumphs over the seen. She admonishes her granddaughter to “sow in righteousness here, that hereafter you may reap the glorious harvest of everlasting life!” (19). 

20. An Address to Teachers in Sunday Schools (Christian Tract Society, no 48. London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 20, Paternoster Row; David Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, 67, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Hall, Taunton; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; J. Allen, Colmore Row, Birmingham; Rev. G. Harris, Glasgow; and by all Booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1828). From Vol. 5 of Tracts Designed to Inculcate Moral Conduct on Christian Principles (London: Sold by Sherwood and Co., 23, Paternoster Row; M. Eaton, 187, High Holborn; Teulon and Fox, 67, Whitechapel; W. Browne, Bristol; R. Gisburne, Newcastle-on-Tyne; Allen and Bridgen, Colmore row, Birmingham; and by all booksellers in the United Kingdom, 1829). This tract was first published in 1824.

Hughes is a great supporter of Sunday Schools “as affording the most favourable opportunities of infusing feelings of pious gratitude to the Almighty Giver of all good, and of integrity, truth, and kindness towards their fellow-creatures, into the infant minds of those who, without such aid, may, in many instances, even in this Christian and highly-civilized country, ‘perish for lack of knowledge’” (3). Hughes is convinced that, above all else, “religious knowledge  is the ‘one thing needful!’” (4). This knowledge will “ensure content, respectability, and a high degree of usefulness, during the continuance of the present short life, and unbounded felicity in the never-ending one which is beyond the grave” (4). Reading and mathematics are not sufficient alone, and teachers should be trained and diligent in the inculcating the former as well as the latter. “Much of that education which is deemed essential,” she writers, “to the higher classes in this stage of our existence, has little or nothing to do with that boundless eternity to which we are every day and hour approaching more nearly” (5).  The science of true religion as taught by Christ is the most important of all to be taught in the Sunday Schools, and it is a science “which many who have had learned and expensive educations, fail to acquire; and without this, however brilliant their talents and acquisitions may be, they are ill qualified for the humble, but most useful, and therefore honourable, occupation of teachers in a Sunday-School” (7).

such that they will pity and seek to amend through “serious kindness” the faults of the poor, unlearned children they are teaching (7). The first requirement is “that no talking can be allowed” (7); when the teacher is speaking, they are to be silent and speak only when called upon (8). The teacher should never be harsh or angry, nor listless or inattentive (8). Nor should the teacher call the students “unmanageable,” for they will soon become so as a self-fulfilling prophecy (8). “Instruction given by kind and gracious lips, is willingly received, and likely to be remembered; while the most useful lessons, delivered harshly or carelessly, are resisted, and soon forgotten by the hearers” (9), thus revealing Hughes’s departure from some of the more common teaching methods popularized (in a negative way) by Dickens and Bronte.