This month’s free read is a short story Isabella wrote in 1916 about the power of faith.
Philip Kendall dreams of going to college, but he has no way to pay for it. His only hope is to convince his long-estranged—and extremely parsimonious—aunt and uncle to lend him the money.
Isabella was an avid reader, and often read aloud to her family. She enjoyed biographies, histories, and fiction; but she particularly enjoyed reading poetry. In fact, her husband Ross and her son Raymond were both published poets.
Isabella often shared poems she enjoyed with readers of The Pansy magazine. In an 1893 issue she printed this lovely poem:
Isabella had a wonderful way of using her own personal experiences to show people how relevant the Bible could be in their everyday lives. In 1895 she wrote this uplifting piece for a Christian magazine:
Have you ever noticed how many beautiful names Jesus has?
One of the pleasantest Sunday afternoons I remember was spent with my dear father, looking up some of them, and trying to find what they meant.
We began with that one in Zechariah 3:8, where it says:
“Behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.”
I suppose I was not old enough at the time to understand much of its meaning, but I liked the sound of the verse; and I like now to think of Jesus as a part of God, a branch from the divine one, broken off from the great tree and sent to earth for us.
Then we looked at Isaiah 9:6, and found that he was not only a branch from God, but that one of his names was “Everlasting Father.”
And Isaiah 7:14 called him “Emmanuel,” which means, God with us.
And Paul, in Romans 11:26 called him the Deliverer; and Peter called him the Corner-Stone, and John, the Good Shepherd, and the Lamb of God, and the Light, and the King, and the Word, and the Why. John has so many names for him!
Take your Bible some day, and try and find out all the names of Jesus; if you have not thought about it before, you will be astonished at the number of them. I do not think you can imagine a great or helpful name which has not been given to him.
So many times he is called the Savior! Then he is the Mighty One, the Maker of all things; the Prince of Life, the Prince of Peace, the Morning Star, the Redeemer, the King of Kings.
I wonder if you will have a preference among these names? If some of them will seem to make him come nearer to you than others?
One day I was very much afraid of something which I feared was coming to me; I did not see how I could escape it, and I was glad to remember that Jesus was the Deliverer.
Then, when my father died, and my heart felt as heavy as lead, and it seemed to me as though I could never be happy again, I found this name for Jesus in Revelation 1:5:
“The first-begotten of the dead.”
Then I remembered that Jesus died, and was the first one to rise from the dead by his own power, and had promised to raise all others, and that my father would surely live again.
Oh, this is a beautiful thing to study about! Who will try it? See how many names you can find.
What do you think of Isabella’s idea for Bible study?
Do you have a favorite among the different names for Jesus? one that—as Isabella said—makes him feel nearer to you than others?
Now that summer is here and the temperatures are climbing, do you ever find yourself wondering what people did before air conditioning? Isabella hints at the answer in some of her stories, when a few of her lucky fictional characters got to leave their hot, humid city homes for cooler locations, such as beaches or mountains.
Isabella knew of which she wrote. She frequently spent her summers at Chautauqua Institution in New York, where she could enjoy the lake and cool breezes; and in Florida, where she had a large family home in Winter Park, and a smaller cottage in Defuniak Springs.
Then, in the summer of 1883 Isabella traveled to Tennessee, where she was one of the first visitors to the newly-opened Monteagle Sunday-school Assembly.
The cover of an 1893 pamphlet about Monteagle. Click on the image to see the entire pamphlet.
Monteagle was situated on 100 acres of land atop a mountain in Tennessee’s Cumberland range. Its location quickly made it a favorite resort for people from all over the American south.
Antique postcard showing the view looking west from atop the Cumberland Mountains
Bishop John Heyl Vincent, one of the co-founders of the original Chautauqua Institution of New York, visited Monteagle, too. He hailed it for supplying “recreation for tired men, women and children by gathering them on the mountain top where pure air and good music and earnest lectures would rest and entertain them.”
A portion from Bishop Vincent’s interview with The Tennessean about Monteagle, published May 10, 1883.
In many ways Monteagle Assembly was very similar to its northern cousin. Like Chautauqua it initially began as a training convention for Sunday-school teachers. In its early days Monteagle was just as rustic as Isabella described the early days of the New York assembly in Four Girls atChautauqua. Tents provided the only sleeping accommodations, the dining hall had few dishes and cutlery, and lectures and sermons were held out of doors at the whim of Mother Nature.
Even the offices of the Monteagle Chautuaqua Literary and Scientific Circle were first housed in a modest tent until a permanent building for the C.L.S.C. could be erected.
An artist’s rendering of the proposed C.L.S.C. office building at Monteagle Assembly.
But Monteagle did not stay rustic for long. The assembly planned to erect an amphitheatre, a hotel, a dining hall, a library, meeting halls and classrooms.
In 1883 the organizers published their ambitious plan for the property in the local newspaper. (You can click on the map to see a larger version.)
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The amphitheatre that was ultimately built was modeled after the Grand Opera House of Paris and could hold 2,000 people.
Early photograph of the Monteagle Assembly amphitheatre.
The designers also included plenty of room for charming cottages, colorful gardens, and rambling walking paths.
A pretty gazebo at Monteagle
There’s no record to tell us how many times Isabella visited Monteagle; but we do know she enjoyed the place so much, she published a novel about it in 1886, titled simply, Monteagle.
In her story, city girl Dilly West—whose health suffered terribly because of hot summer tenement living conditions in the city—blossomed when she had the chance to go to Monteagle.
When asked what she liked most about Monteagle Assembly, Dilly immediately credited the fresh mountain air:
“Why, I fancy everything; the trees, and the flowers, and the birds, and the lovely breeze. There wasn’t ever any breeze in the city; at least, there never came any down where we lived. It was just like an oven all the time; it makes me feel faint to think how hot it must be there this morning; and only see how the curtains blow here!”
Through Dilly’s story Isabella was able to describe the beauty of Monteagle’s location. Dilly wrote home to her father to describe her hike up to the top of Table Mountain to see the sunset:
Father, I do just wish I could tell you about it! All gold, and crimson, and purple mountains all around, and red streaks away up into the sky, and castles in the sky made of glory color, and angels hurrying around to get ready for the sun to come home; that is the way it seemed, you know.
Dilly described other experiences in her letters home, including the things she learned on nature walks, at lectures in the amphitheater, and—most importantly—during Sunday-school classes:
Dear father, something very wonderful has come to me; I decided yesterday that I would belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Isabella wrote those words she knew Dilly’s fictional experience was similar to the real-life experiences many visitors had at Monteagle.
In fact, Monteagle Sunday School Assembly was so successful, it remains a thriving Chautauqua community today!
Isabella lived during a time when young men and women followed very strict social rules. For example, a gentleman could not speak to or even correspond with a woman without her permission; and often, the young woman couldn’t give permission without first consulting with her parents.
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In her 1898 novella “Elizabeth’s Anniversary Week” Isabella illustrated how those societal rules could end up causing difficulties, misunderstandings, and a lot of heartache.
Every September the Brockton family—aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings—gather to celebrate birthdays. The time-honored tradition should bring joy to all who attend, but Mrs. Brockton can’t help but notice her cherished daughter Elizabeth is far from happy about the annual event. In fact, she’s beginning to suspect some sickness has befallen Elizabeth to cause her to be so melancholy. But Elizabeth has a secret, one she has been trying hard to conceal from everyone, especially her mother.
You can read “Elizabeth’s Anniversary Week” for free!
At the height of her popularity Isabella’s books were published in several languages and sold all over the world.
She had a large fan base in England, and in the 1890s a British publisher took the unusual step of publishing Isabella’s novels as pamphlets. Today, we’d call them paperback books.
S. W. Partridge & Co. of London advertised the books as “Partridge’s Cheap Pansy Series.” Each edition included a list of the available titles in the series:
The novels measured 7-1/2” by 10-3/4”, making them slightly smaller than the 8-1/2 by 11” standard paper Americans use today. They were only 64 pages long, but thanks to their 2-column layout and small type, each novel was complete and compact enough to fit into a lady’s bag.
In fact, Partridge & Co. published them particularly for women travelers. They were sold at newsstands in railway stations throughout England and cost just four pennies.
Each book featured a beautifully embellished, full-color cover that illustrated a particular scene from the story. Here’s the cover for Chautauqua Girls at Home:
The cover art for Ruth Erskine’s Crosses shows the moment Ruth’s father introduced her to Judge Burnham.
What do you think of the depiction of this important scene? Is that how you pictured Judge Burnham when you first read Ruth Erskine’s Crosses?
The cover for Julia Ried shows the moment Julia went to apply for the bookkeeping job at the box factory.
In addition to the cover, each book had anywhere from five to nine black and white illustrations. This one, in Julia Ried, depicts the moment Dr. Douglass introduced Julia to Mrs. Tyndale.
Mottos were very popular in the 1890s, and this motto appeared at the end of Julia Ried:
It very nicely sums up one of the lessons Julia learned in the story.
Often, mottoes like this one were used as inexpensive sources of artwork. Ladies cut them from the pages of books and magazines and pasted them into scrapbooks or framed them to hang on the wall.
Ester Ried Yet Speaking also ends with a motto related to the story:
The cover for Interrupted illustrates the moment Claire Benedict learned her father’s money was gone and the family was bankrupt.
One of the black-and-white illustrations shows the moment Claire suggests to her students that they take on the job of cleaning up the church sanctuary:
It wasn’t uncommon for the titles of Pansy’s novels to be changed when they were published in other countries. One Commonplace Day was one such novel; in England it was renamed Wise toWin:
These paperback books all have some wear and tear, but considering the fact that they’re over 130 years old, they are in remarkably good shape. Perhaps they’ll last another hundred years for a new generation of Pansy readers to enjoy!
How often have you thought—or heard someone say—“Our little girls are growing up too fast!”
We tend to think of it as a modern-day problem, but in 1897 mothers were coping with the very same concern. Isabella received so many letters on the topic, she dedicated one of her advice columns to “anxious mothers of daughters.”
Here’s what Isabella wrote:
I have a package of letters from anxious mothers. I hold them tenderly, for there are heart-throbs in every line. I study and pray over them and wish—Oh, so earnestly!—that I knew how to help. Instead, I have resolved to tell our girls what some mothers fear: That their daughters—their young, sweet daughters, whom they would guard with jealous care from every form of the world’s contamination—are having the bloom of their beautiful girlhood brushed away by too early friendships with young men, or, as they frankly put it, with “the boys.”
One mother writes that her fourteen-year-old daughter’s mind is in danger of being taken up with the thought of “beaux.” She lives in the country, and associates almost of necessity with those who talk much about “beaux” and about “keeping company” with this or that boy. Not only this, but she has for associates those who believe in “kissing games” and all such practices.
What can you do?
Ah, dear, I don’t know. Except this—the same thing that I have said before, only I want to say it more emphatically, if I can:
Will you not use every inch of influence you possess to help anxious mothers, and to protect young and oftentimes motherless girls from the sort of harm that comes from playing with ideas that should be held sacred?
Sometimes uncultured guests do harm in this way:
A merry-faced couple—girl and boy aged perhaps ten and twelve—were hurrying down the street side by side, swinging their book-bags and chatting and laughing.
“Hasn’t Alice come yet?” asked the mother in a home.
“Here she comes,” said a guest who was in the doorway. “Here she comes with her little beau. Dear me, Alice, why didn’t you kiss each other? When I was of your age, and had little beaux come home with me, I always kissed them good-by.”
The mother came forward swiftly, a spot of red glowing on each cheek. “Alice does not know even the meaning of the word beau,” she said, “and she keeps her kisses for her father and brothers.”
Oh, the infinite harm that coarse and careless tongues can do to these young buds before their time of blossoming! Remember how much influence older sisters have in these directions. Nor is their influence confined to the young people of their own homes, if they are wise-hearted Christian workers.
What do you think of Isabella’s advice?
Have you ever seen someone tease a child about boyfriends, like the “coarse and careless guest” Isabella described?
You can read more of Isabella’s advice columns. Just type “advice” in the search box on the right.
Last week’s free story “A Christian Endeavor Picnic” ended with this interesting sentence:
When the merry party from the city completed their six weeks’ vacation and went home, they left a Christian Endeavor Society in the quiet seaside village fully organized and Henry Myers and Katrine Hempel are both on the lookout committee.
What, exactly, was a “lookout committee”?
As the name suggests, the Lookout Committee was responsible for bringing new members into a Christian Endeavor Society, but the committee members did so much more!
They were also responsible for educating potential members about their responsibilities. Joining a C.E. society was a major commitment, and it was the members of the Lookout Committee who ensured applicants understood everything membership entailed.
The most important requirement for a member was signing the C. E. covenant, which read:
Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for strength, I promise Him that I will strive to do whatever He would like to have me do; that I will pray and read the Bible every day; and that, just as far as I know how, I will try to lead a Christian life. I will be present at every meeting of the Society when I can, and will take some part in every meeting.
The Lookout Committee’s job wasn’t over once a new member joined. They called on members who missed even one prayer-meeting to encourage them to honor their commitment. They counseled members who were unfaithful to the covenant, and sometimes they had to make crucial decisions about when and how to drop members from their society.
At times, Lookout Committee members must have had a very difficult job!
But, as Rev. Clark summed it up, it was the Lookout Committee’s duty to keep the society active, earnest, efficient, and spiritually minded. A difficult task? Yes, but he regularly reminded Lookout Committee members that . . .
“You can do it through Him who strengtheneth you.”
Did you know Christian Endeavor Societies had such strict requirements for joining?
What do you think of the pledge new Christian Endeavor members were required to sign?
You can read more about Isabella’s involvement with Christian Endeavor in these previous posts:
This month’s Free Read is a short story Isabella wrote about the Christian Endeavor movement and the opportunities its members had to influence others for Christ.
While on vacation, Dorothea Conklin is determined to invite the local teens to her Christian Endeavor prayer meeting, even if her friends oppose her plan. Somehow she must find a way to convince her friends—and the local teens—that there’s room for everyone at an Endeavor prayer meeting.
Sharp-eyed readers might recognize the name of one of the characters in the story: Eurie Shipley. Why does it sound familiar?
Because Isabella introduced Eurie Harrison and Flossie Shipley in her 1875 novel, Four Girls at Chautauqua.
Perhaps when she wrote “A Christian Endeavor Picnic” in 1896, she meant to imply that Eurie Shipley was somehow a relative of those two beloved characters from twenty years before. What do you think?
You can read “A Christian Endeavor Picnic” for free!
On May 30, 1866 Isabella Macdonald married Gustavus “Ross” Alden.
They met on Thanksgiving day 1863, and their courtship lasted a little more than two years. As their relationship blossomed, Isabella did what any young woman would do under similar circumstances: she told her best friend all about it.
Isabella and Theodosia Toll had been close friends since they met as students at the same boarding school. Through their school years together and after graduation, they remained devoted friends, and often visited each other’s homes.
Theodosia was staying with Isabella during the winter of 1864, when Isabella introduced her to Ross Alden. Luckily for us, Theodosia recorded her impressions of their meeting in her diary:
January 1, 1864
Yesterday I came to Auburn to visit dear Belle. This has been a gloriously happy New Years day. We had a number of calls. During them one whose name I had heard before—Mr. Alden. I had gotten up considerable curiosity in regard to him. I sat reading, pressing a handkerchief to my aching head when the gentleman entered and was presented. And here I will state briefly my first impressions. Those were pleasant. A tall, grand looking man heavily bearded and mustached, a finely formed head and pleasant face, speaks very deliberately and very low. There you have him. I wonder if I shall be called upon to take him into my circle of friends, for her sake?
Two days later Theodosia got a chance to answer that question:
January 3d Sabbath.
Went with Belle to the Orphan Asylum Sabbath School at nine o’clock. Mr. Alden escorted us on our way to the Asylum and walked to and from that place with us. I like him!! If he and somebody should happen to fall in love with each other, I have not a word of remonstrance to offer. He seems an earnest worker from Christ, and that is worth so much.
Not long after Theodosia’s visit to the orphan asylum with Isabella and Ross, she returned to her home in Verona, New York, which was about sixty miles away. But Isabella promised to visit her friend soon.
Two weeks later, Theodosia recorded this entry in her diary:
Jan 27th
In a few hours she will be here. Only two weeks since we parted, yet I think I have never looked forward to her coming with more eagerness. She says in her letter received last evening, “Queer things have happened.” How I wonder what those queer things are. I shall know soon but I keep wondering. There are some things that ought to happen to her that would make me both glad and sorry. Well, I’ll be patient for a few hours.
Could it be those “queer things” Isabella wanted to tell her were the latest details of her relationship with Ross? Perhaps Ross proposed marriage, and Isabella wanted her dearest friend Theodosia to be among the first to know!
Unfortunately, sudden illness prevented Isabella from traveling to see Theodosia, so discovering those “queer things” had to wait. But several months later, Isabella sent her friend a very thorough accounting of the state of her relationship with Ross. Here is Theodosia’s diary entry:
Thursday, Sept 22d 1864
I have been reading over Belle’s letter. It is a dear good letter, and I am so glad that she is happy at last, that the old restless feeling seems to have left her. I trust that he to whom she has given her heart is worthy of her love. Just go back eight months, Journal, and remember what I told you of my first impressions of the man. Oh, Belle, you have much to make you grateful and happy, and so have I! I thank Thee My God for the blessings that crowd my way, and of the coming joy of a woman’s life that has come to my Darling.
After several months—and many more visits and letters between them—Theodosia made this diary entry:
Jan 30th 1866
What a happy month this has been! But, oh, how lonely I am today! My dear Belle left me this morning. Her “Ross” came last Saturday and spent the Sabbath. He preached on Sabbath evening. I like him very much. I already find myself numbering him among my friends.
At last, Isabella and Ross set the date of their wedding. They planned to be married in Gloversville on May 30, 1866. Of course Theodosia was there. She spent the night with Isabella as she happily—and nervously—made ready for her wedding day.
Two weeks after the big day, Theodosia wrote this in her journal:
I had a letter from Belle this week dated at her new home in Almond [New York]. She is very happy and I do believe that God has given her the strong constant love of a Christian man as the crowning happiness of her life.
Special thanks to Susan Wadley, Theodosia’s great-granddaughter, for sharing her diaries and giving us this delightful glimpse into Theodosia’s friendship with Isabella.
You can read more about how Isabella and Ross met by clicking here.
Read more about Ross and Isabella’s early years of marriage by clicking here.
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