"Six Months Abroad; or The Marston's Tour in Europe," written by Lizzie Hoyt Henry, of Newton, Massachusetts, while an inmate at Herbert Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts, a Private Hospital for the Care and Treatment of Persons Afflicted with Mental Diseases, 1887

Hardcover. Very Good. Quarto, 223 manuscript pages, plus blanks, bound in half red leather, marbled paper covered boards, back-strip loose, but present, worn at corners and edges, text written in ink, in very good clean and legible hand. This curious work contains a one page preface that states: "In writing this account of four tourists' six months sojourn abroad, I am greatly indebted to the work called "Europe its Scenes and Society," by Daniel C. Eddy. Some of the expressions herein are about the same as in that; the sentences having been written from memory mostly. Hoping it may find its place in the current literature of the day, I leave it in the hands of the publisher, Lizzie Hoyt Henry, Herbert Hall, July 12th, 1888." This work purports to be an account of four month's travel by four persons, the Marstons, they are: Mr. Fred Marston, his wife, and their daughter Florence, of Beverly, Massachusetts, the fourth was presumably Miss Henry. However, it is quite probable that this is a work of fiction, or of the imagination, or nearly so, for Henry draws upon, liberally - and literally from Daniel C. Eddy's "Europe its Scenes and Society." Daniel C. Eddy (1823-1896), published his book in 1852 in Boston. Eddy was a Nativist and a hater of Roman Catholics. Elected to the Massachusetts legislature, he became the Speaker of the House. When compared with Eddy's book (available online), his style and Henry's are quite different, and it is evident that some of descriptive scenes, of places and monuments, were plagiarized by Lizzie H. Henry, as Miss Henry probably never traveled anywhere. She was a patient at Herbert Hall a private hospital for the care and treatment of persons afflicted with mental diseases. The hospital was located on Salisbury Street, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Herbert Hall was founded in 1857 as a young ladies seminary by the Rev. Nathaniel Bent. By 1872, Herbert Hall was taken over by Dr. Merrick Bemis, considered the most eminent physician ever to have lived in Worcester. Dr. Bemis converted the ladies seminary into a private hospital that specialized in mental diseases. Dr. Bemis ran the hospital and when his son Dr. John M. Bemis became a doctor, ran it with his son. After Dr. Bemis' passing, his son took full control. Dr. Bemis was a specialist in psychiatry and was often consulted by the courts in cases of insanity, or alleged insanity. The author writing in her preface notes that Herbert Hall was her residence a fact which shows that she was an inmate at the hospital at the time she wrote this volume. Our research shows that this is very likely the case. Lizzie Hoyt Henry was born about 1860, at Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, daughter of John Q. Henry (1822-1888) and Helen J. Smith (1834-1906). Both of her parents were born in Massachusetts, her father at Rutland. John L. Henry was a successful merchant and manufacturer in the wholesale boot and shoe business, first with the firm of Burrage & Henry, continuing when that company merged into the firm of Henry & Daniels. In the 1870 Census for Newton, Massachusetts, he had real estate of $17,000, personal estate of $50,000. Mr. Henry died in 1888. At the time of his death he was the President of the Shoe and Leather National Bank. He was also a member of the New England Shoe and Leather Association. Earlier he had been a councilman at Newton, before moving to Boston. Besides Lizzie, Henry and his wife had two other daughters (Maud and Hattie) and a son (Waldo). Lizzie was the oldest child. In the 1880 Census the Henry family is living together at Newton; Lizzie's father John Q, her mother Helen J., Lizzie, and her three siblings, Maud, Hattie, and Waldo. Lizzie's father dies in 1888, while attending a meeting at work, he dropped dead. When the 1900 Census is taken, only Helen and her two daughters Maud and Hattie are living in Newton. Helen's son Waldo has moved out and started a family and her daughter Lizzie is boarding wit