From Harper's Weekly Vol. XXXIX (December 21, 1895)
It might have been supposed that every one who knew anything about contemporary American fiction knew all about Miss Mary E. Wilkins, of Randolph, Massachusetts, and was aware of her reputation as an author. It appears, however, that there are some people at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, doing business under the name of “The Allen Morton United Syndicate Press,” who affect never to have heard of her, and to be unaware of her existence. There would be no harm in their lack of literary information if it were not that they have been offering for sale to various newspapers a story entitled “‘Thanksgiving Day at Whitcomb Farm,’ by the well-known writer of New England stories, Mary E. Wilkins.” Their explanation is that there is a person named Mary E. Wilkins living at Ross, Pennsylvania, who writes the stories they sell. Their specious enterprise has caused the real Miss Wilkins some disquietude, which has been aggravated by the rumor of the publication of a book with her name to it by publishers as yet unknown. It is hardly necessary to say that there is but one Mary E. Wilkins who can truthfully be described as “the well-known writer of New England stories,” and that she lives in Massachusetts, and that no Pittsburg syndicate has any of her stories to sell. Under all the circumstances it seems not unreasonable to suspect that the Allen Morton United Syndicate Press of Pittsburg's affectation of ignorance of any but the Ross Mary E. Wilkins is somewhat disingenuous.
