The Stories Polly Pepper Told To The Five Little Peppers In The Little Brown House (1899)

Margaret Sidney was the pseudonym of American writer Harriett Mulford Stone Lothrop (1844 - 1924). In addition to writing popular children's stories, she ran her husband Daniel Lothrop's publishing company after his death. The daughter of New Haven architect, Sidney Mason Stone, she was "brought up in an atmosphere of culture and learning enhanced by free access to her father's large library." From early girlhood, she "delighted in creating imaginary people". She was educated at seminaries near her home and graduated from Miss Dutton's School at Grove Hall in New Haven in 1862. While a student there "she displayed such mental alertness, combined with a retentive memory and a great imaginative and poetic talent that she was marked for future success." She traveled extensively in the United States and began creating literary compositions early in life.