Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
Alice Caldwell Hegan
$5.00

Decorations by David T. Vernon (illustrator).

Alice Hegan Rice, also known as Alice Caldwell Hegan, (Jan. 11, 1870-Feb. 10, 1942) was an American novelist. Her 1901 novel Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch became a play and four films. Rice had a relatively privileged upbringing, but her views on life changed when she went to a mission for Sunday School that was in a slum in Louisville called the “Cabbage Patch”. The mission was interrupted by a group of troublesome boys, but luckily Rice was able to defuse the situation by enticing them with a story she just read. For the rest of the mission she continued to tell them crazy stories about gangsters and pirates. This experience introduced her to the world of poverty and the underprivileged. She would later use this new-found knowledge and go on to create her most widely known novel, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.