Like everyone in her immediate and extended family, Grace Livingston Hill was a dedicated temperance worker. She was well-educated in the effects alcohol had on individuals and their families.
And because the production and sale of alcohol was unregulated at the time (and often included addictive ingredients such as cocaine, morphine, cannabis, and chloroform), she knew it was not uncommon for people to become addicted to some alcoholic beverages.
She wrote about the harm alcohol caused in a short story titled, “The Livery of Heaven.”
Mrs. Wallace is proud of her work in the temperance cause. Her latest project is raising money to build a play-ground at the Home of Inebriates’ Children. It’s a worthy cause, so when she has a chance to host a famous temperance lecturer in her very own home, she jumps at the chance, certain that his lecture will draw the support and donations she needs.
But little does Mrs. Wallace realize, a dark force is using her efforts to harm the people she loves the most.
At the core of the story is a lesson about the seemingly small and thoughtless ways Christians can cause others to stumble in their daily walk with Christ.
Magazine illustration for Grace’s story, “The Livery of Heaven.”
After a Christian magazine published the story in 1896, “The Livery of Heaven” set off a bit of a fire storm.
Join us next week to find out how some readers reacted to Grace’s story “The Livery of Heaven.”
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Would you like to learn more about the life of Isabella’s best friend, Theodosia Toll Foster? Under the pen name Faye Huntington she wrote dozens of novels and short stories, many of which Isabella published in The Pansy magazine.
On Saturday, April 29 Theodosia’s great-granddaughter Susan Snow Wadley will be giving a free lecture about Theodosia’s life in New York and her influence on the area’s culture.
Topic:
“The Life and Times of Theodocia Maria Toll Foster”
Where:
Oneida County History Center 1608 Genessee Street Utica, New York 13502
When:
Saturday, April 29, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Presented by:
Susan Snow Wadley, Theodosia’s great-granddaughter
If you live near Oneida County you can attend the lecture in person for free.
Readers often wrote to Isabella asking how they could study the Bible on their own, and Isabella was always happy to suggest a method that seemed to fit their individual circumstance.
Here’s what she wrote to one reader, a harried housewife who had very little time each day to call her own:
As to methods of Bible study, there are numberless ways, and they are all good. The main point is to choose one of them and study. There are books that help wonderfully in the understanding of the Bible. Some of the very little ones contain a great deal of instruction.
This is notably the case with a wee booklet of not more than fifty small pages. It is called “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth,” and contains ten outline studies on the divisions of the Bible. It is prepared by C. I. Scofield and published by the Asher Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minn.
Dr. C. I. Scofield at work in the library at Princeton University.
You can read the “wee booklet” Isabella recommended.
“Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” by C. I. Scofield is available online.
You can read an electronic version for free on one of these websites:
From the Evansville, Indiana Daily Courier, April 18, 1880
In the late 1800s a new and exciting form of entertainment swept across America. It was called the Authors’ Carnival. It had all the fun of a community fair, as well as dazzling theatrics on a magnificent scale.
Women in costume for an Authors’ Carnival in Washington DC
The Authors’ Carnival drew great crowds in every city in which it was staged, so it had to be set up in a large space, such as a town hall or tabernacle. The concept, though, was simple: the Carnival was comprised of a number of booths, each of which depicted a scene from a famous author’s works.
For example, there was a booth devoted to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Costumed actors portrayed scenes from the book in an elaborately decorated submarine compartment behind a gauze curtain that simulated water.
A booth devoted to Sir Walter Scott’s Baronial Hall, from The Buffalo Times
Another booth was devoted to John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, “Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyll.”
A description of the Whittier booth, from The Scranton Republican, April 23, 1886
There were booths dedicated to Shakespeare, Longfellow, and Washington Irving, and many more literary figures, including Mother Goose. One of the most popular booths was lavishly decorated as Aladdin’s Cave.
In many cases, booths were set up so the costumed actors could interact with the people passing by.
Victor Hugo’s Paris Garden booth, from The Buffalo Times
The highlight of the Authors’ Carnival occurred on a center stage where tableaux vivant were enacted at intervals throughout the day and evening. The most popular tableau was the colorful, well-choreographed “The Fan Brigade.” It illustrated an essay by British satirist Joseph Addison on how ladies in the eighteenth century used their fans as weapons in flirtation and romance.
Fan Brigade, from Authors’ Carnival Album, 1880, Library of Congress
In 1881 the Authors’ Carnival arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, where sixteen-year-old Grace Livingston lived with her father Charles and mother Marcia (who was Isabella Alden’s older sister). Already an aspiring author, Grace visited the Authors’ Carnival one afternoon and wrote the following account of her experience:
The Author’s Carnival in Cleveland
By Grace
It was impossible for me to attend the evening entertainment of the Author’s Carnival, but when a matinee was announced for the next afternoon, I thought I would go.
It was held in the tabernacle. As you entered the door, directly opposite you was the stage, where the most beautiful tableaux were exhibited every twenty minutes, the performers never having rehearsed before, but being picked out and arranged on the spot, from the different booths.
The booths were ranged around the sides, and the center left for the audience to promenade. We took a look at the booths before the first tableaux.
The “Alhambra,” which, having a piano, and a few good players, managed to keep such a crowd around it all the time, that one could hardly get a peep at it.
Whittier’s “Snow Bound,” with its soft gray costumes, which harmonize wonderfully with the neat room, and fire-place, and cupboard, with its rows of bright, shining dishes, and the strings of dried apples hanging from the ceiling. Whittier’s “grandmother” happened to be a friend of mine, so I stepped up to her, and she said, “How does thee do, friend Grace?”
There was the “Arabian Nights” booth, where they sold miniature “Aladdin Lamps,” said to be exact copies from the original.
“Lalla Rookh” and the “Jules Verne” booths were beautiful and picturesque, with their mermaids, and flowers, and sea-weeds.
Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” where the Indians flourished their tomahawks, and gave war-whoops, attracted a great deal of attention, and really was one of the most fascinating.
The “Egyptian” booth had beautiful, rich costumes.
The “Addison” booth had, perhaps, the most beautiful costumes, but the characters were all ladies.
The “Dickens” booth, with all its comical characters, was just refreshing.
As I walked up to the “Shakespeare’s” booth, the “Duke of York,” an old schoolfellow, stepped forward and shook hands with me.
The tableaux-bell rang, and we all rushed to the center of the floor, each one trying to get the best position for seeing. The most beautiful and quaint pictures succeeded each other; lastly, the beautiful “Fan Drill.” If you have never seen it, seen the perfect time and graceful motions, you cannot imagine how beautiful it was.
But there was one blight on all this beauty. At the “Spanish” booth they sold cigars and cigarettes, and some ungentlemanly persons even smoked among all that company of ladies. It was Satan’s way of joining in the Author’s Carnival.
Tableaux and theatricals were common forms of entertainment during Isabella Alden’s lifetime, and she wrote about them in several of her novels. You can read more about tableaux in these previous posts:
In addition to novels and short stories, Isabella Alden wrote Sunday-school lessons and programs for worship.
In 1895 she wrote a special program for Easter that was carefully crafted so it could be performed by young children, as well as older age groups.
Her Easter program included poems to read aloud, beloved old hymns to sing, and portions of Scripture to be memorized and recited.
Most importantly, the program clearly and simply related the message of Easter: that Christ rose from the dead, bringing eternal life to those who believe in him.
Spring is here and this month’s short free read by Marcia Livingston celebrates the change in season.
Ruth’s mite box is empty! She has only three weeks to earn the pennies needed to fill her offering box for missionary work—but how? It seems like a hopeless situation until her dear grandmother helps Ruth realize God has already provided an answer to her problem.
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Harriet Lothrop (writing under the pen name of Margaret Sidney) had teenagers in mind when she penned this week’s charming free read in 1884.
She loved children of all ages, and she was constantly on the look-out for ways to help them move “upward and onward,” as she once wrote. She believed every “bright young life” needed stimulus, and she recognized that teenagers especially needed help navigating their way through life. She encouraged adults to “show our interest and sympathy with these young creatures in all their pursuits. The benefit will not be wholly theirs, for we shall gain as much as we give. Let us try it.”
Harriet was a great organizer of parties and clubs for young people (much like the fictional club she wrote about in today’s free read). From experience she knew such gatherings were a way for young people to blossom under the guidance of “wise and congenial older folk.”
She followed her own advice and helped create different clubs in her town of Concord, Massachusetts, each with an aim to both entertain and challenge young people to grow and learn. One of the membership organizations she founded was the Children of the American Revolution, which is still a thriving organization today.
A 1914 lapel pin for Children of the American Revolution, from “Patriotic Societies of the United States and Their Lapel Insignia, by Sydney A. Phillips.
She founded it with the purpose of inspiring “true patriotism and love of country” in young people; and she served as the national president of the organization for many years. You can visit the organization’s website here.
Harriet Lothrop (on the let) and Mrs. Frank Mondell in 1920, after Mrs. Mondell was elected President of the Society of the Children of the American Revolution.
Her novel How They Went to Europe offered another idea for a club where young people and adults could join together for a common purpose:
Disappointed she cannot go to Europe with her wealthy relatives, Miss Carine Hedge decides to form a club to plan an imaginary trip to Europe. To Carine’s surprise, many of her friends are in the same situation: they long to travel abroad, but haven’t the means. Soon, Carine’s club is the most sought-after membership in town; but as she and her friends meet to pore over maps, read guide books, and go through the motions of pretending to plan a trip, Carine can’t help but wonder if her dearest wish might one day become a reality.
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Last week’s free read, The Little Red Shop, first appeared in The Pansy magazine and told the story of the Brimmer children—Jack, Cornelius and Rosalie. They started their own business to help support their mother and baby sister, and made a great success of it!
But author Margaret Sidney knew that with great success comes great responsibility—a lesson she illustrated in this week’s free read, The Old Brimmer Place.
The Brimmer family’s adventures continue as their little red shop prospers and thrives. But when Jack discovers a neighbor’s shameful secret, he, Corny, and Rosy can’t agree about what to do about it. Should they help their neighbor? Or should they ignore friends in need and simply concentrate on their business?
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Some of Isabella Alden’s most beloved stories are about resourceful young people who, with God’s help, make a better life for themselves and others.
That was the premise at the heart of her novels about the Bryant family (in Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant and Twenty MinutesLate) and in The Man of the House.
Harriet Lothrop (writing under the pen name of Margaret Sidney) used the same premise for her novels. In her best-selling series of books about the Pepper children, the five siblings—Ben, Polly, Joel, Davie, and Phronsie—comprised a poor but stalwart family struggling to stay together. And at the heart of each story was the children’s desire to help their mother, whom they affectionately called “Mamsie.”
A sketch of Margaret Sidney with her signature; from an article about the author in Good Housekeeping magazine, December 12, 1885.
Harriet once explained in an interview why there was no father in any of the stories:
“My judgment told me that I must eliminate Mr. Pepper, because the whole motif “to help mother” would be lost if the man lived. It hurt me most dreadfully. He was a most estimable man, and I loved my own father so much, it seemed the most wicked thing to do. I went around for days quite droopy and guilty.
She used the same “fatherless family” device when she later wrote stories about the Brimmer children. In this two-book series, older brothers Jack and Cornelius are determined to earn money to help their widowed mother and younger siblings. In the process, they find their principles challenged at every turn, even as they learn valuable lessons.
Tired of seeing their mother struggle to support them, brothers Jack and Cornelius—with some help from little sister Rosalie—decide to go into business, and open a little shop in the old tool shed behind their house. At first business is slow, but just as the brothers begin to doubt they will ever make the shop a success, one of their town’s most influential citizens takes notice of the boys’ efforts. Soon the brothers have more business than they can handle, and an entirely new set of problems to solve.
The Little Red Shop is a charming story written with older children and teens in mind.
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Publishing The Pansy magazine was more than just a family affair for Isabella Alden. Writers outside her family circle also contributed poems, biographies, science articles, and other content for the magazine issues. One of those contributors was Harriet Lothrop, who wrote children’s fiction under the pen name of Margaret Sidney.
Margaret Sidney about 1895, image from the New York Public Library
Harriet’s books were incredibly popular, especially the Five Little Peppers—a series she wrote about brothers and sisters in the fictional Pepper family. Daniel Lothrop, the publisher of the Pepper books, also published Isabella’s books, as well as The Pansy magazine.
Daniel Lothrop
Mr. Lothrop was immediately charmed by Harriet’s Pepper books. In fact, he was so impressed, he asked to personally meet Harriet. One thing lead to another, and they eventually married!
An 1899 cover of one of the Pepper books, The Stories Polly Pepper Told
Together they became a powerhouse in the publishing and literary communities. They purchased Wayside, the Concord, Massachusetts home that previously belonged to American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. There Harriet continued to write her stories and novels; and Daniel enjoyed his weekends there as respite from the hustle and bustle of downtown Boston where his publishing house was located.
Wayside, as it appeared in 1908.
As individuals, Isabella Alden and Harriet Lothrop could not be more different. Isabella lived a rather quiet life, supporting her husband’s ministry, raising her son, writing her books, teaching at Chautauqua, and giving talks and readings of her stories at churches across the country.
By comparison, Harriet loved a good party. She was a leading force in Concord society. When her daughter Margaret turned nine years old, Harriet, in typical style, threw an all-day celebration. She invited children and adults from around the area to join the birthday celebration.
The highlight of the event was when the children formed a circle around a large artificial rose that had been set up on the lawn. And when the rose petals parted and spread, they revealed little Margaret setting in the center of the rose. Here’s an illustration that appeared in a magazine that printed an account of the event.
Harriet was definitely an imaginative hostess, and knew how to throw a party to please children and adults!
The same was true of her stories. Although Harriet was best known for her children’s books, she also wrote novels for teens and young adults.
One such novel was How Tom and Dorothy Made and Kept a Christian Home.
Newlyweds Tom and Dorothy Foster have a bright future together, but very little money. They’ve pledged to spend their earnings for God’s good, but it seems each new day brings new temptations. Will they be able to keep the promises they made to God and to each other?
You can read How Tom and Dorothy Made and Kept a Christian Home for free!
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![Newspaper clipping: PANSY'S EASTER SERVICE. Superintendents and Teachers should send for a copy of the April "Pansy," now ready. It contains a beautiful Easter Service carefully arranged and prepared for Christian Endeavor societies, Epworth Leagues, King's Daughters, Mission Bands, and Sunday-schools, by Mrs. G. A. [sic] Alden, known to all Sunday-school workers under the familiar name "Pansy." An extra edition of the April "Pansy" has been issued to meet the demand created by this special Easter Service. Copies will be sent, post-paid, on receipt of 10 cents, or in quantities at seventy-five cents per dozen.](https://isabellaalden.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/from-herald-and-presbyter-1895-03-13-pg-359.jpg)
