From Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 96 Issue 576 (May 1898)
When Miss Maria Louise Pool's “Dally” appeared, in the autumn of 1891, the arrival of a new and potent figure in native American fiction, of the New England type, was acknowledged at once; and it was felt that Miss Wilkins, Miss Jewett and Mrs. Slosson had found a rival, of their own sex. Dally was not Yankee born, but she was Yankee bred, and very delightful were the scenes and characters of Massachusetts, as Dally introduced them to us in the town of Ransom, in that Eastern State; and her friend the Widow Bijah who regularly attended all the village church “neck-tie parties” was equalled only by Miss Marthy Hancock, who “dressmaked” for “Roweny”, before that young lady went to Boston.
