Young Letitia Hopkins, orphaned and ungratefully living with her great-great-aunt, is told to
never even think about going through the little green door at the back of the house—a door
that doesn’t seem to lead anywhere because there no egress on the outside where the door
should come out. So, of course (this being a proper morality tale), Letitia goes through the
door first chance she gets, and finds herself among Injuns and her own ancestors.
I’ve
seen many references to the 1910 release of The Green Door in a slim volume (Illus. in
color. Moffat Yard. 75 cents net.), but a 1911 review in the New York Times indicates
that the story was first published “in a periodical some eighteen years ago.” I haven’t
tracked down what that periodical was, so for now I’ll just list the story as being from
1893. I see that the story also appeared a few years later in the Times itself (13 Apr
1896). The wilkinsfreeman.org site lists the 1896 publication as the first, but that
contradicts the later Times review.
— Michael Main
It seemed awful, and impossible, but the little green door led into the past, and Letitia
Hopkins was visiting her great-great-great-grandfather and grandmother,
great-great-grandmother, and her great-great-aunts.