Old Mother Life to her children doth say:-
'Go on with your duties, my dears:
On the right hand is work, on the left hand is play,
See that you tarry with neither all day,
But faithfully build up the years.'"
-Mary Mapes Dodge, The Irvington Stories (1864)
The Irvington Stories (1864) is a compilation of 16 children's stories. While the book's author, Mary Maples Dodge, began her career as the editor of a children's magazine, she started writing stories to support her children after her husband's death. This is the first collection of those stories that was published, and focuses mainly on stories about little boys. Illustrated with F.O.C. Darley's popular drawings, the book was so successful that the author wrote several more collections.