Category: About Isabella

Information about the author’s life, writing habits, family and friends.

What One Good Library Can Do

Published on by Isabella Alden4 Comments

When Isabella Alden began writing her beloved “Pansy” books in the 1870s, the literary landscape looked very different than it does today. There were few public libraries like the ones we have now; instead, churches filled that role by establishing their own library systems.

The Sunday-school library was a powerful force in 19th-century America. They didn’t just lend books—they curated collections of books that shaped readers’ moral and spiritual development.

Not all Sunday-school libraries were created equal; some churches seemed to have unlimited resources to maintain a well-stocked library of five-hundred books or more, displayed in neat rows on well-built shelves; while others had only a few titles in their collection.

Cover of the story "Circulating Decimals" by Isabella Alden, showing a young woman dressed in the style of about 19095 wearing a white dress with white sleeves and a high color and floor-length skirt. On her head is a white hat with large red poppy flowers. She sits on a rustic wooden chair in a garden, holding a book in one hand, which she is reading, while her head rests on the other hand as her elbow rests on the arm of the chair. Behind her is a stone garden wall with vines and red flowers creeping up the wall.

Isabella’s short story, “Circulating Decimals” is about the efforts of a community to raise money for just such a church library that has fallen into a “disgraceful condition” due to neglect and lack of funds. (You can click here to read the story for free.)

But regardless of size or budget, church libraries had one mission in common: to offer readers books that supported religious instruction, moral development, and the spiritual growth of the congregation.

Churches established committees to evaluate each potential library addition against a set of religious standards. The minister often played a role in recommending or vetoing books, which were also chosen based on their theological soundness and ability to promote standards of Christian living.

The Grace Methodist Episcopal Church of Taunton, Massachusetts had a rather large library of over five-hundred books, and included some of Isabella’s novels, as well as books by Margaret Sangster, E.P. Roe, and other Christian fiction authors.

The church divided their book collection into categories and published a catalog for members of their congregation. The fact that Isabella had ten of her books included in the catalog shows how well the moral messages of her stories aligned with the church’s values and appealed to readers of all ages.

(You can click on the image above to see the entire Grace M.E. Sabbath-school Library catalog of 1904.)

Mainstream publishers like Little, Brown and Company actively marketed their wholesome books to churches. This advertisement in “The Sunday School Library Bulletin” magazine shows their newest offering to churches included a new edition of “Little Men” by Louisa May Alcott:

Magazine ad for "ILLUSTRATED JUVENILES OF HIGH CHARACTER," listing "Little Men" by Louisa M. Alcott in large letters, as well as 10 other books. At the bottom is the name of the publisher, Little, Brown & Company of Boston Mass. with an address to write for an "illustrated holiday catalogue."

And organizations like The National Temperance Society also marketed their books directly to churches. Their ad below features a temperance novel by Isabella’s friend Theodosia Foster (who used the pen name of Faye Huntington):

Magazine advertisement for The National Temperance Society new publications for Sunday-School Libraries, listing "The Lost and Found; or Who is the Heir?" by Dr. Wm. Hargreaves. It also lists 8 other books, including Lewis Elmore, The Crusader by Faye Huntington, as well as 3 temperance periodicals. It offers "special club rates" and gives an address to send for a catalog and samples of the periodicals.

Church libraries established systems for inventorying and lending books. They assigned an inventory number to each book, and issued library cards to readers.

A square label affixed to the inside cover of a book. On the first line of the word "NO" with room to write a number; the number 61 was written and crossed out, and the number 77 written beside it. Below are printed "SUNDAY SCHOOL LIBRARY of the Evengelical [sic] Lutheran Church, Springfield, Ill." The text is surrounded by a fancy Victorian-era design of swirls and dots.
The numbered book plate from a book in the Sunday school library of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Springfield, Illinois.

They also created rules for borrowing:

A square label affixed to the inside cover of a book. The top line has the book No. 47, then, "SABBATH SCHOOL LIBRARY, First Presbyterian Church, Springfield." Below is typed: "Books taken from the Library must be kept clean, and returned in good order at the expiration of one week, unless renewed. One book only can be had at a time. Neglect of the above Rule will deprive pupils, and members of the Sunday School Society, of the privileges of the Library."

Church libraries were a lifeline for readers, especially in smaller and frontier communities where there were no free public libraries. But that began to change in 1886 when wealthy steel magnate Andrew Carnegie began funding the building of public libraries across the country. By 1923 he had financed the building of over 1,600 public libraries where borrowers could choose from thousands of book titles, including the most popular books of the day.

Old colorized postcard of the public library in New York City showing a sprawling, multi-story building in classical Georgian style with stone steps leading to the entrance flanked by stone columns. The library is located on the corner of two intersecting streets with the tall buildings of the New York skyline in the background.
The New York City Public Library, opened to the public in 1911.

The “safe” books Isabella wrote went out of print, while modern novels by Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, and F. Scott Fitzgerald filled the shelves at public libraries.

Sunday-school libraries still existed, but their influence waned to such an extent that in 1930 a newspaper in Greensboro, North Carolina published an editorial just after Isabella’s death. The editorial fondly recalled the church libraries of years gone by:

There were no sex novels; no crime novels; no filthy “realism,” which portrays the perversions of human nature as if it were life itself. Romance there was, in glorious gobs. Many of the books seeped sentimentality. And always there were happy endings.

He went on to write that Isabella’s books “made for clean lives and happy homes and good society.” In her stories, “the problems were the problems of everyday people trying to be good. If they were somewhat morbid and over-introspective, so was the era for which they were meant.”

Isabella truly did write for the era in which she lived; but it’s important to remember that her books succeeded in Sunday school libraries not just because they met church requirements, but because Isabella had a particular understanding of literature’s purpose—that stories should help readers have a closer walk with God and become better versions of themselves.

Maybe that’s why her “Pansy” novels, despite going out of print, are still read and loved by new readers today, and remembered fondly by those who discovered them on long-ago Sunday afternoons in church libraries.

Does your church have a library? What are the kinds of books it offers?

Monuments

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When it came to writing stories, Isabella sometimes relied on “real” life for inspiration. She’d take an actual occurrence—an overheard conversation, an event she attended, or something as simple as a family gathering—and use it as the basis for her story.

Other times, a story she wrote was inspired by a lesson she wanted to convey, or a kernel of truth around which she fashioned a story. That was the case in 1887 when she published a little story called “Monuments,” about a young girl who visits a cemetery in New York with her Aunt Joanna.

Photo of an elaborate Gothic architecture with pointed arches, intricate stonework, and multiple spires topped with decorative finials. The central structure has large arched openings that serve as gateways, flanked by smaller architectural elements. The building extends to both sides of the entrance with additional Gothic-style structures featuring steep roof lines, dormer windows, and tall chimneys.
The entrance to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

The story draws on fact: Green-Wood in Brooklyn, New York is a real place that Isabella very likely visited because of its famed monuments.

Old photo showing a narrow dirt road. ON either side are small headstones and large statuary monuments marking graves.
Monuments and headstones at Green-Wood Cemetery, about 1900.

In the 1800s Green-Wood Cemetery, with its extraordinary grave markers and lush, rolling hills, was a popular tourist destination. People came to spend the day with their picnic baskets and marvel over the sculpted monuments.

In her story, Isabella mentions one of the most magnificent monuments that marks the grave of Miss Charlotte Canda, a seventeen-year-old bride-to-be who was tragically killed after falling from a run-away carriage.

Old black and white photo of a large mausoleum set atop five stone steps. The monument is carved in a Gothic style. Under a stone canopy is a statue of the young woman wearing a garland of 17 roses representing the years of her life. Above her head are a star and a butterly.
Charlotte Canda’s tomb, photographed about 1910.

She also mentions a monument dedicated to the brave firefighters of New York City and, in particular, Andrew Schenck, who perished in 1854 while trying to save people and his fellow firefighters from a burning department store.

Photo of a classical-style cemetery monument made of light-colored stone (likely marble or limestone). It has a pedestal with a square base that tapers upward to support a cylindrical or urn-like top section. It has carved decorative elements and ornamental molding or carved details around the edges and corners. The monument is surrounded by grass in what looks like a well-maintained cemetery setting with trees visible in the background.
The Firemen’s Monument mentioned in the story, topped by fireman’s boots and hat.

As a creative storyteller, Isabella took these tales of tragedy and heroism and crafted them into a story about a completely different kind of ‘monument’—one built not of marble and stone, but of transformed lives and acts of service.

Here’s the short story Isabella wrote:

Title graphic with the word "Monuments" in a fancy old-fashioned font in the middle of the graphic. In the background is an illustration of trees and green rolling hills of a cemetery with monuments and raised grave markers.

It was my first visit to New York. A few days after my arrival uncle took me to Green-Wood, the most beautiful cemetery I ever saw. We visited the many points of interest. As we stood gazing at the fireman’s monument, uncle told me the story of his heroism; how in one of the fierce fires this brave man lost his life while rescuing a woman from the flames. Then we spent a long time looking at the monument to Miss Canda, the beautiful young heiress who was thrown from a carriage and killed; and her fortune was built up in this wonderful marble.

The next morning aunt said, “You will go with me today to another Green-Wood and see grander monuments than any you saw yesterday.”

I wondered how that could be, but we were soon on our way. At length we turned into narrow, dirty streets, growing worse and worse. I shuddered at such sights and sounds of human beings, never before dreaming that in grand New York there could he so much wretchedness. I drew closer and closer to aunt, fearing one of the human demons that leered at us would seize me and carry me off.

Such people! Such places to live in! Such language! Why, it almost makes my hair stand on end to think of it. Aunt did not seem to mind them. Maybe they knew her, for everyone stood aside for us to pass.

“Here it is,” she said at length. “Here is the other Green-Wood.”

“This?” I answered, looking around for gravestones and monuments, and seeing nothing but dreadful houses and miserable objects. “This is Green-Wood?”

She simply answered, “Yes; come right in and you shall see the monuments.”

I could only follow, wondering all the while if aunt was not losing her mind.

A sweet-faced girl met us with a warm welcome to aunt and an earnest look at me. As she led the way within, aunt whispered:

“One of the monuments, Clara.”

“What? I don’t know what you mean.”

“Her name is Maggie,” she quickly whispered back; “used to be called ‘wild Maggie;’ was one of the worst girls in this region. Never mind now, I will tell you more hereafter. Take a good look at her, you’ll see her again.”

Then I heard singing like the songs of many angels. A door swung open. We entered. It was a great company of children, black and white, some with sweet sad faces; others with evil looks, but all singing. Soon Maggie came in from another door and sat among them and I could hear her voice ring out in joyful strains, leading the rest.

There was prayer and Bible reading, and such a good talk by a gentleman. It seemed like heaven, while many of the children, some partly blind, some lame, some pale and sad-faced, gathered around after meeting was out and seized Aunt Joanna’s hand, and seemed so happy. Another lady was there to whom they all pressed for a smile and a word.

“That lady,” said aunt, “is Sir Christopher Wren.”

“What can you mean?” I asked. “Sir Christopher Wren was a man who died in England more than a hundred years ago.”

Aunt Joanna only laughed and said, “And came to life again, my child. This is he, only greater.”

“What?” said I, more and more bewildered.

But she went on: “Look around here at the monuments. You knew Sir Christopher was the architect of the great Westminster Abbey of London, and that kings and statesmen and poets are buried there, and their names and deeds are written there; but if anyone inquires for Sir Christopher Wren’s monument, he is told to look at the wonderful building of which he was the architect.”

“I see,” said I, “that lady has ‘built up’ Maggie.”

“Exactly,” said Aunt Joanna, “and more than one hundred other miserable, sick and wicked children. See that frail girl over there coming toward her? It would take a book to tell how this lady used to come daily here and bend over her crib, sometimes holding her in her arms for hours fearing each moment would be her last. But come and I will introduce you, and you shall see a monument greater than Christopher Wren.”

After we were on our way home, aunt told me the story of this lady; how one day curiosity led her to go through this worst part of New York. Her heart was so touched at the wretchedness of the people that she resolved to do something for them. Her friends tried to dissuade her. Some said the people would kill her; some said it was no use to try to help them. But she went right forward, and now after years of labor and sorrow there is her monument: saved children.

Before my return home in the country, Aunt Joanna gave a treat to the children of the Home all at her own expense.

Maggie, once “Wild Maggie,” and I served. How many sandwiches I passed around, how many cups of milk Maggie filled, how some of the urchins were dressed, how they laughed, or chattered, or stared, what they all said to aunt Joanna about the “treat,” would fill a book.

You can read more about Green-Wood Cemetery by clicking here.

Click on these links to read the stories behind the monuments for:

Miss Charlotte Canda

The Firefighters Monument honoring Andrew Schenck

Isabella’s Authentic Faith

Published on by Isabella Alden8 Comments

Despite her popularity as a best-selling author, Isabella gave very few interviews. She made an exception in 1892 when a magazine called The Ladies Home Journal (which was quickly becoming the most widely-read magazine in the world) came calling.

The interviewer, Denny Johnson, asked Isabella the usual interview questions about her home life, her childhood, and what inspired her to write. But in the process of sharing Isabella’s answers to those very standard questions, Johnson’s article reveals the quiet power of Isabella’s Christian principles.

Reading the article, you get the sense that what made Isabella extraordinary wasn’t just her prolific writing career; it was the way in which her personal character was very much reflected in the stories she published.

A black and white pencil and charcoal drawing of Isabella Alden in profile. Her hair is parted in the middle and shaped in a braided bun at the back of her head. She wears a high-collared dress or blouse with lace trim. She wears no jewelry.
The image of Isabella that was published with the 1892 article in The Ladies Home Journal.

So, here are four things The Ladies Home Journal interview revealed about Isabella’s personal character:

1. Isabella Lived Her Message

Johnson wrote that Isabella’s Christian principles weren’t “mere theories, existing only on paper.” Instead, they were “the rules that govern her own daily life.”

In those few words, Johnson revealed what is essentially the foundation of Isabella’s stories. Readers don’t just admire her characters’ moral courage—they can sense it comes from the reality of Isabella’s life.

Isabella believed in what Johnson called “practical “Christianity”—faith that rolled up its sleeves and got to work.

She quietly helped others navigate life’s difficulties, often so unobtrusively that people didn’t realize she was the one who had “smoothed this bit of path, or pushed aside that jagged stone.” To Isabella, that was genuine Christian service.

Article excerpt: "In manner she is unassuming, genial, refreshingly natural, and possessed of a gentle dignity that, while repelling undue familiarity from effusive strangers, yet invites confidence from any who may need her help or sympathy.

2. Isabella had Humility in Success

By 1892 Isabella had already authored over one hundred books that were beloved by readers around the world, yet the article describes her “as unspoiled as when she signed her name for the first time ‘Pansy.'” She shrank from publicity and seemed genuinely surprised by the impact of her work.

Article excerpt: "One of the most attractive elements in Mrs. Alden's character is her modesty and shrinking form publicity of any kind, and her humility in regard to the great good her works have accomplished."

Her modesty wasn’t false humility; it reflected Isabella’s belief that her talents were gifts meant for service rather than self-promotion. As Johnson wrote, “self-emolument has no part in her work,” but instead she had “consecrated intellect, as well as heart and life, to the service of Christ.” In other words, she didn’t write stories for personal gain.

3. Isabella was Consistent

What gave Isabella her unique influence over young people wasn’t just her writing skill, but her consistent character. The same “high standard of right and wrong,” the same genuine care for others, the same joy in her faith that readers found in her books—all of this could be witnessed in her daily life.

The article said she had an infectious laugh and youthful spirit that weren’t manufactured for her audience.

Excerpt from magazine article, "beside the keen insight into human nature which makes her books so enjoyable, the moment you hear her clear, infectious laugh, you realize how thoroughly young at heart she is."

She would pause her important work to meet with any child who came to visit, demonstrating that her love for young people was authentic, not merely professional.

article excerpt: "her great lover for children is evinced by the cheerfulness with which she will pause in the midst of her work, to meet a child who has come to visit her."

4. Isabella’s Example is Timeless

In our present world of personal brands and influence marketing, Isabella’s story feels refreshingly honest. Her success didn’t come from clever marketing; it came from being the same person in private that she was in public. She wrote from who she actually was, not who she thought her audience wanted her to be.

Maybe that’s a big part of why her books are still being read today, long after other, flashier authors have been forgotten. There’s still something powerful about the simple consistency of Isabella’s authentic faith and the honest life she lived that still shine through when we read her stories.

You can click here to read the entire article about Isabella that appeared in The Ladies Home Journal.

What do you think? Did Denny Johnson capture the essence of Isabella’s personal character?

Flossy and the Street Children

Published on by Isabella Alden8 Comments

Isabella Alden never actually said so, but there’s an argument to be made Flossy Shipley Roberts may very well have been her favorite character. Of all the characters Isabella created, Flossy made the most appearances in her novels.

Flossy first appeared in Four Girls at Chautauqua. She was also a key character in The Chautauqua Girls at Home, Ruth Erskine’s Crosses, Four Mothers at Chautauqua, and Echoing and Re-echoing.

Cover of Ester Ried Yet Speaking showing a close-up of a young woman with blonde hair dressed in a high-neck red gown. In the background is a large three-story home set amid trees and gardens.

And while she was only mentioned in Judge Burnham’s Daughters and Ruth Erskine’s Son, Flossy made her final appearance—and played a major role—in Ester Ried Yet Speaking.

Perhaps one reason Flossie was so well-loved—by Isabella and by her readers—was that she was honest and truthful, yet deceptively strong. People constantly underestimated Flossy because she was soft spoken and was willing to please others.

But Flossy also had a strong moral sense of right and wrong. She relied on her Christian faith to give her the strength she needed to always do right rather than what others wanted her to do.

She was also kind hearted, especially when it came to children. Flossy was just as willing to teach a Sunday school class full of ragged orphaned street boys as she was to serve tea on her best china to a wealthy church deacon and his wife.

That was the case in Esther Ried Yet Speaking, when Flossy took on the task of teaching a Sunday-school class of rough street boys. During the first class, Flossy took an interest in one of those boys, Dirk Colson and his sister Mart. In the story, Flossy’s concern for them and the rest of the boys—and the actions she took to help them—reflected Isabella’s own principles.

Black and white photo of a narrow alley between two multi-story brick buildings. In the foreground are trash cans and debris, a water pump and buckets. A group of six boys stand in the center of the photo. Behind them are two women wearing long dresses and aprons from the time period, as well as more children. On the left side of the photo are two young girls, wearing short dresses that appear to be patched.
Boys in Mullens Alley, New York, 1888, by Jacob A. Riis

Isabella was keenly interested in the problem of street children living in large urban areas like New York City. In 1889 she wrote:

There is, in New York City, a meeting known as the “Woman’s Conference.” On the second Friday of every month they meet together to discuss matters of importance and see what they can do to help along the good work which is being done in this world. A few weeks ago they took for their subject the “Street Children’s Sunday,” their object being to see what they can do to help these miserable, neglected, almost forgotten, children to something better than their sorrowful lives have yet known.

The Sun (a New York newspaper) covered that women’s conference and published an account of the meeting, including this paragraph:

At the meeting, which was presided over by Mrs. Lowell of the State Board of Charities, Mrs. Houghton, literary editor of the Evangelist, introduced a subject of the Sunday Life of tenement-house children, a large class of whom do not attend the Sunday schools, and whose Sundays, owing to the drunkenness of their parents, which is more general on that day than any other, and also to the overcrowding of the small rooms in which they live by the presence of the entire family on that day, are full of wretchedness and discomfort. “The children do not laugh enough,” Mrs. Lowell said. “They did not know how to play or to be happy.” This subject has been long of great interest to Mrs. Houghton, and out of this discussion germinated a plan to do something for those little wretched waifs of humanity to brighten their lives, and ultimately to make of them better men and women and more intelligent and worthy citizens.

Isabella strongly believed in the last line of the article: that making the lives of poor boys and girls better will ultimately help them grow to be better men and women.

Black and white photo of three young children sleeping close together in an outdoor alcove of a stone-facade building. The children are barefoot and two are wearing short pants with patches on the knees, as they sleep with their arms around each other.
Children sleeping on Mulberry Street, 1890, by Jacob A. Riis

She also had the example of Jacob Riis, a newspaper reporter who documented living conditions in New York slums. Through his written articles and photographs, he almost single-handedly educated Americans about the necessity of better living conditions for the poor. He advocated for clean drinking water, public parks, and child labor laws, and he was instrumental in implementing these and many other reforms in New York City. Riis and Isabella both attended Chautauqua Institution at the same time, and Riis was close friends with Bishop John Vincent, one of Chautauqua’s co-founders.

Black and white photo of a middle-aged man seated in a chair. He has short, light-colored hair and a mustache, an wears wire-rimmed glasses. He wears a tie and three-piece suit. The chain of a pocket watch is visible on his vest.
Jacob A. Riis in 1904 (from Library of Congress)

Isabella may very well have been thinking of Riis when she wrote about Flossy’s efforts to reach and influence the street boys in her Sunday-school class.

Black and white photo of a row of three two-story attached houses in dilapidated condition, with broken windows and clothes-lines strung from one building to another. The roof of the center home sags dangerously. In the background, a multi-story building hows broken windows and objects cluttering the metal fire escape.
Dwellings of Death by Jacob A. Riis

In one scene, Flossy gets lost in the slums while trying to visit Dirk, and a street boy named Nimble Dick helps her find Dirk’s house.

Mrs. Roberts uttered an exclamation. The house was one of the most forlorn in the row, seeming, if the miserable state of the buildings would admit of comparison, to be more out of repair than the others. It came home to her just then, with a sudden, desolating force, that human beings such as she was trying to reach, and such as she hoped would live in heaven forever, called such earthly habitations as these homes. What possible idea could they ever get of heaven by calling it “home”?

“Do they have the whole of the house?”

She asked the question timidly, for the building looked very large, but she was utterly unused to city tenement life.

“The whole of that house?” Dick fairly shouted the sentence, and bent himself double with laughter. “Well, I should say not, mum! As near as I can calculate, about thirty-five different families have that pleasure. The whole of the house! Oh, my! What a greeny!” And he laughed again.

Mrs. Roberts exerted herself to laugh with him, albeit she was horror-stricken. Thirty-five families in one house! How could they be other than awful in their ways of living?

“I know almost nothing about great cities,” she said. “My home was in a much smaller one.”

This was the truth, but not the whole truth. Instinct kept this veritable lady, in the truest sense of the word, from explaining that she knew nothing about the abject poor, when she was speaking to one of their number.

But Flossy quickly set about learning all she could about Dirk, his sister, and their neighbors because she felt a distinct calling to help them. When she returned a second time to Dirk’s tenement building—this time accompanied by her husband—other residents of the tenement warned her to stay away from Dirk.

It was strange, she could not herself account for it; but with every added word of misery that set poor Dirk Colson lower and lower in the scale of humanity, there seemed to come into this woman’s heart, and shine in her face, an assurance that he was to be a “chosen vessel unto God.”

Black and white photo showing a small open area surrounded by four brick buildings. A shaft of light from above illuminates several clothes lines where clothing and blankets have been hung out to dry. On an upper balcony a man stands with children behind him. A woman wearing an apron stands on the stairs leading from the balcony to the count. On the ground an apron-clad woman stands in the doorway with four children of different ages nearby. In another doorway stands a woman with three little girls seated beside her. In the foreground is a two-wheeled pushcart, buckets, a water pump, a and debris.
A Tenement Yard by Jacob A. Riis

To Flossy, helping Dirk and the rest of “her boys” was essential. And when someone tried to change her mind by asking what good Flossy could possibly do for such creatures, she replied:

“Don’t you think that Jesus Christ died to save them? And don’t you think he wants them saved? And will he not be pleased with even my little bits of efforts if he knows that my sincere desire is to save these souls for his glory?”

Her “little bits of efforts” may seem small at first, but Flossy soon begins to see results with “her boys.”

You can read all about the plan Flossy came up with, and how the boys responded, in Isabella’s novel, Ester Ried Yet Speaking.

You can read Isabella’s novel Ester Ried Yet Speaking for only 99 cents! Choose your favorite e-book retailer. (Your purchase from The Pansy Shop helps support this blog.)

God is Greater Than

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In Isabella’s early days of teaching Sunday school, the blackboard was an innovation. In her books, Isabella often wrote about how intimidating the blackboard was for many teachers, and some refused to use it.

That’s what happened in her 1878 novel Links in Rebecca’s Life. In the story, a young woman named Almina had the charge of teaching young children their Sunday-school lesson, but she refused to use a blackboard:

“It is quite the fashion to rave over them … but I won’t have one. What could I do with it? I don’t know how to draw, and as for making lines and marks and dots … I am not going to make an idiot of myself. What’s the use?”

Isabella saw things differently. With inspiration from her old Chautauqua friend Frank Beard (creator of “Chalk Talks”), Isabella embraced the blackboard as a teaching tool, especially for her youngest students who were just learning to read.

Of course, not all Sunday-school teachers had Frank Beard for a friend and guide. And not all teachers had a talent for drawing and diagramming.

Publications like The Sunday School Times recognized that, and published “Blackboard Hints” in many issues of their magazine, showing teachers that simple lettered blackboard illustrations could be just as effective:

It was Isabella’s opinion that any lesson could be better taught by the use of a blackboard or a slate.

“Children are invariably more impressed with what grows into being before their eyes then with what is brought in a completed form before them,” she said.

In her Sunday school lessons, Isabella used pictures and objects whenever she could to illustrate her lessons, but she liked the blackboard better.

“I never attempt elaborate drawings. In the first place, I cannot draw anything. In the second place, but I would not if I could, in a Sunday school room. There is not time. The barest outline is all you can spare time for in all that you need. A blackboard used constantly throughout the lesson — a mark for this one, a dot for that, a crooked line for a river, and oval for a lake — that is better for an [children’s] class than a careful summing up of the lesson at the close.”

So Isabella often began her lessons by putting a dot or a simple symbol on the blackboard, just to get the attention of everyone in her class—at least until they found out what that mark was for.

“If I need such a dot or mark or line as the most mischievous and troublesome [child] there can make for me, I have won him as a rule for that day.”

You can learn more about Frank Beard and his “Chalk Talks” by clicking here.

You can read Isabella’s novel Links in Rebecca’s Life for only 99 cents! Choose your favorite e-book retailer. (Your purchase from The Pansy Shop helps support this blog.)

A Letter to the Pansy Society

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In previous posts we’ve talked about the great number of letters Isabella received on a regular basis from parents and children. She made a point of answering each of them, and one of the innovative methods Isabella used to keep up with the demand was to print her replies to their letters in The Pansy magazine.

The Pansy was a weekly publication she edited, with stories, poems, Bible verses for children of all ages. In almost every issue of the magazine, Isabella encouraged her young readers to join The Pansy Society, and pledge to overcome their faults, “in Jesus’ name.”

Here’s an example from an 1883 issue of The Pansy where she encouraged Pansy Society members to continue their good deeds, and charmingly replied to children who wrote to tell her of their progress.

DEAR PANSY SOCIETY:

My thoughts toward you this summer day — my good wishes and my hopes. Do you know where the book is that holds them? It is a wide-open book. I did not write it, and yet, the thoughts and pictures it holds just express what I would like to say to you.

Open your eyes and look above, beneath, around, and see if you cannot guess my riddle.

Does not the blue sky bend in blessing over you? the trees rustle out soft, loving words? the little birds sing “cheer up, cheer up?” The clear brook, gurgling over the stones, says “be true.” The buzzing bee says “be busy.” The daisies smile up into your faces, saying “be glad, be glad,” and the white lily bell re-echoes God’s own word, “be pure.” Then the rare fragrance from mountain-top and tree and flower floating all about you this sweet day— could it say anything but, “I love you, I love you, I love you”?

And these are my thoughts toward you; these too are God’s thoughts about you, written clear and plain in the book his own hands have made.

In the springtime just passed I presume many of you have made gardens and now have lovely blossoms as rewards.

Some of our boys and girls have been hard at work sowing pansy seeds; not those royal velvet or creamy white pansies, alone —they may have sown those, too —but I am talking now about our magazine.

Among those who have done faithful work in this way, is Fanny, a little Indiana girl. When those Western girls take hold of a thing they do it with their own souls.

Some new members have come into the Society; let me introduce them. Here are two little city boys, Eddie and Bertie. They both want to be “better boys.” They can, if they go and whisper that wish to Jesus.

Here is Maggie, a little Maryland girl, Maude, too, from Maryland. She writes a plain, clear hand. May her life be as free from faults.

Bessie sends us a pretty letter three inches square, very small, but holding more and better things than we’ve sometimes found in a whole sheet of foolscap. May the dear Lord help Bessie to be a true disciple of his. We are glad to welcome her to the Pansy Society.

Then there are Willie Porter, Claire Colman, Mabel and Lena and Addie; a little Pansy by the name of Lulu in Wisconsin, and Clarence Lathrop.

Minnie is working hard to put her “bonnet and books” in their place. If she keeps on she will someday be an orderly housekeeper, and maybe some of the Pansies will go and take tea with her. Won’t that be nice?

Lillie’s teacher says she is improving. Good news!

“Speaking back” has annoyed a certain little fellow in Philadelphia by the name of Jamie. But he “has made up his mind” to drop it. Stick to that, my dear boy. Remember, too, that if you must speak back, “a soft answer turneth away wrath.”

How many Pansies, I wonder, say to their tired mothers, “wait a minute,” and want their own way every time? Amy thinks them very bad habits and proposes to have no more to do with them; that is good.

But I really must stop, so good-by.

Lovingly,
Pansy.

How exciting it must have been for a child to see their name in print in their favorite magazine! Do you think Isabella’s brief words of encouragement helped the children in their daily struggles to conquer their faults, “for Jesus’ sake”?

You can read more about the letters Isabella received in these posts:

Fan Mail and Ester Ried
Pansy’s Typical Day
A Summer Poem
A Letter from Ida White
Pansy’s Letter-Box
The Pansy Society

Talk Over What You Read

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In 1891, Isabella wrote this bit of advice for parents, adults and children:

Too many readers are all eyes for what they are reading, but have neither ears to hear the questions of those who notice their absorption, nor lips to tell to others the good things they are absorbing.

There is no better training of the memory than to talk over what you read. Try it in your home. Encourage the children to give, in their own language, the substance of the last story they have read, or the last book that has been given to them. When public lectures were the “fashion,” many a home intellect was encouraged and strengthened by the request to sketch, in brief, the points and conclusions of the last lecture. The same thing can be done with books and with even more lasting and beneficial results.

Isabella’s timeless wisdom encourages us to actively engage with what we read. Her call to action — “Try it in your home” — is as relevant today as it was over a century ago.

She knew that when children are encouraged to retell a story or narrative in their own words, they strengthen their memory of what they read, and their understanding of it.

It’s interesting that Isabella mentioned public lectures. She delivered quite a few lectures herself — at Chautauqua, at church meetings and schools, and in front of small gatherings in private homes. She knew that the practice of having a post-lecture discussion wasn’t just about sharing information; it was about analytical thinking and comprehension. And she knew the same benefits apply to books. When you talk through what you’ve read, you’re not just recounting facts; you’re processing ideas, forming connections, and perhaps even challenging your own understanding.

So when you think about it, many of us have been following Isabella’s advice without even realizing it!

If you’ve ever read a book with a child, then asked them to tell you about their favorite part … If you belong to a book club where you can discuss a book’s theme, characters, or plot with others … If you keep a reading journal to jot down thoughts and questions about a book you’re reading … you have followed Isabella’s advice!

What methods do you use to deepen your understanding of what you read? Share your tips in the comments section below.

What’s one book or article you’ve discussed recently that truly stuck with you, and why?

Isabella’s Favorite Author: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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Isabella was a great reader and regularly read a variety of magazines, books, and newspapers. She enjoyed fiction, poetry, and biographies, and in the evenings, when her day’s work was done, she often read aloud to her family; she even read aloud in a Scottish brogue or other accents, depending on the characters in the book she was reading!

Being a teacher at heart, it’s not surprising Isabella would want to share her favorite stories and authors with the young subscribers of the magazine she edited, The Pansy. Several times she shared poems by one of her favorite writers, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Wiki Commons)

She frankly admitted that some people found Mrs. Browning’s poems too difficult for young people to understand or enjoy. “It is true that many, especially of her longer works, require a good deal of study, and were written for older readers” she wrote. But Isabella encouraged her young readers to try, and recommended Mrs. Browning’s “The Poet and The Bird” and “The Cry of the Children,” because they had always been favorites of hers.

In another issue of The Pansy, Isabella printed portions of Barrett’s poem “Aurora Leigh,” along with this illustration of the title character.

In 1892 she published a biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in The Pansy for her young readers, and it’s apparent that she admired Mrs. Browning a great deal. In the biography, Isabella tells the story of how Elizabeth was injured in a fall from her horse because she was over-eager “to do the thing she wanted to do, the moment she wanted it, and not wait for anybody.” Perhaps Isabella felt Elizabeth was a bit of a kindred spirit, because in her younger years Isabella was also impatient and had a tendency to want her own way.

She ended her biography by hinting at the admiration she had for Mrs. Browning, saying, “I have told you very little about the sweet, strong poet whose writings I hope you will learn to know and love. All I hoped to do was to introduce her and get you interested.”

You can read Isabella’s biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning by clicking here. Please note that near the end of the biography, Isabella references an illustration for Browning’s poem “Mother and Poet,” but the illustration did not, in fact, appear in The Pansy magazine.

What do you think of Isabella’s choice of Elizabeth Barrett Browning as one of her favorite poets? Have you ever read any of Mrs. Browning’s poems? Do you share Isabella’s appreciation for her work?

A Summer Poem

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As editor of The Pansy magazine, Isabella Alden received a lot of mail. Some of it was business related; some letters were from adults or from parents of children who were influenced by her books. But the majority of correspondence she received was from the children who read The Pansy magazine.

Children wrote to Isabella for all sorts of reasons. They asked her for advice, and told her what they wanted to be when they grew up. They wrote to tell her about the kindnesses they did for others in Jesus’ name, and how well they took care of their pets. Just about anything one friend might tell another friend, they told Isabella.

Some of the things children shared in their letters, wound up in the pages of The Pansy. When Isabella began publishing acrostic puzzles each month in the magazine, her young readers made up acrostics of their own and sent them in, hoping to see them published someday in the magazine. And some of them were!

Others children sent stories, essays about their travels, and poems. Isabella read them all and selected the best to publish.

In 1887 Isabella published this sweet poem that captures the essence of the summer season. It was written by fifteen-year-old Mollie Gerrish.

Wandering in the meadows,
Playing in the woodlands,
Clambering o’er the hilltops
In the summer sun,
With the little squirrels
Chasing one another—
Truly it is summer
That brings the children fun.

Summer at the seaside,
Summer in the mountains,
Summer in the country,
Summer everywhere;
How the people hasten
Soon as summer cometh,
Going far away
From city’s bustling cares.

Yes, it’s truly summer
That brings the happiest pastimes,
Though sometimes dark clouds
O’ercast the lovely sun.
But soon vacation’s ended,
And all return to duties,
For the autumn dawns upon us,
And our pleasant summer’s gone.

Mollie Gerrish

A Kiss at Chautauqua

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The 2025 Chautauqua Institution officially opens on June 21. Much has changed at the institution in the last 151 years, but thanks to Isabella Alden and her contemporaries, we can piece together what it was like to spend a summer at Chautauqua in its early days.

Before there were cottages and meeting halls, Isabella and her family spent their summers sitting on rough wooden benches as they listened to lectures in the open air, and sleeping under the stars or in tents.

The photo below was taken about 1876, which was the second year of Chautauqua’s existence. Isabella was only thirty-five years old, but she was already quite famous.

She was the best-selling author of over a dozen novels, including the first four books of her “Ester Ried” series. And The Pansy magazine was in its third year of publication, with Isabella as editor and chief contributor of stories and articles.

In those early years The Pansy magazine was sent every month (it later became a weekly magazine) to thousands of children. Isabella called each of her young subscribers her “Pansies.”

While at Chautauqua one day that summer of 1876, Isabella was walking through the grove, which was one of her favorite spots at Chautauqua. She wrote:

Chautauqua is so beautiful this year. Don’t you know, I met today one of the little Pansies! As I was walking through the grove, there came a sweet-faced little girl to me, and she said in a low, sweet voice:

“If you please, I live in Ohio, and I’m going home today, and I’d like so very much to kiss you, then I could tell all the little girls that I kissed Pansy.”

You may be sure that I gave her the very warmest kiss I had, and told her to tell all her little Pansy friends that part of the kiss was for them.

A ladies’ magazine once printed an article about Isabella and commented that one of the strongest and most attractive elements of her character was her humility in regard to the great good she accomplished through her writing. But in truth, she was keenly aware of the power she had over her readers, and she always used that power to help them come to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Just think of the story the little girl in the grove told to her friends back in Ohio! How many of her little friends do you think were influenced to know and love Jesus, all because of Isabella’s kindness to a child and that one little kiss?