It is the people who can do nothing who find nothing to do, and the secret to happiness in this world is not only to be useful, but to be forever elevating one's uses.

After the sudden death of James Fields in 1881 Jewett and Annie Fields lived together for the rest of Jewett's life in what was then termed a "Boston marriage. Her father was a doctor and Jewett often accompanied him on his rounds becoming acquainted with the sights and sounds of her native land and its people. She supplemented her education through an extensive family library.

Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3 1849 – June 24 1909) was an American novelist and short story writer best known for her local color works set along or near the southern seacoast of Maine.