Category: Free Reads

Novels and short stories you can read for free, written by Isabella Alden and other authors of her time.

Free Read: A Fresh Air Girl

Published on by Isabella Alden4 Comments

In 1877 a rural Pennsylvania minister named Willard Parsons and members of his congregation began a program that would later become The Fresh Air Fund. The idea behind the program was simple: members of the congregation opened their homes to the neediest of children from disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City, and provided the children with a few weeks of fresh air, healthy food, and new experiences.

Later, as the program expanded, The Fresh Air Fund opened summer camps that offered many inner-city children their first glimpse of a lake, green grass, and wide open fields.

Old photo of a man wearing a cap, white shirt and tie, kneels beside a group of children who are crowded around a small donkey. Behind them a group of children play a game on the grass beside a tepee. In the background children play on swing sets.
Games on the playgrounds of the St. Vincent “Fresh Air” home for destitute children, Spring Valley, N.Y. about 1910 (courtesy the Library of Congress)

One such camp was The Salvation Army Home in Spring Valley, New York. Only 35 miles from New York City, the camp taught children to hike, grow fresh vegetables, and roam the great outdoors.

Black and white photo of a woman standing outside with a cow while a little girl with bare feet pets it. Behind them, a farmer stands near a horse and cart laden with hay, while little children, many barefoot, stand on top of the hay or beside the cart. Behind them is a white barn with a weather vane on top.
Childhood days at the Salvation Army home for destitute children, Spring Valley, N.Y. (courtesy, Library of Congress)

Isabella was a believer in the benefits of Fresh Air programs. She also believed individuals could impact the lives of destitute children just as well as large charitable organizations. That was the premise of her novel Monteagle (which you can read more about here). In the novel Mrs. Hammond helps poor Dilly West escape the summer heat by taking her along on a trip to the Monteagle Assembly in the cool Tennessee mountains.

It’s also the theme of this month’s free read, a short story Isabella wrote in 1897.

To escape the city heat, wealthy Miss Katherine Eaton spends the summer on a country farm, where she learns about the fresh air program for city waifs. Soon, her imagination takes hold of the idea, and she begins to plan her own program to teach a farm girl the benefits of city life. But it may be that Katherine is the one in need of a lesson.

You can read “A Fresh Air Girl” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.

New Free Read: Aunt Mary’s Surprise

Published on by Isabella Alden3 Comments

In 1888 Isabella added a hint of romance to this short story about two little girls who wanted to give their favorite aunt a very merry Christmas.

Something is wrong with Aunt Mary, and Kate and Hattie are determined to find the perfect Christmas gift to make their dear aunt smile again. But with only ten cents to spend, the girls seek advice from the wisest man in town, and end up receiving a Christmas surprise of their own!

You can read “Aunt Mary’s Surprise” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.

Don’t Miss These Free Reads!

Published on by Isabella Alden1 Comment

September was a big month here on the blog, with plenty of new Free Reads by Isabella Alden!

If you missed any of the Free Read announcements, here’s a recap of all the new short stories and novels that are now available:

Click on any of the links below to go to BookFunnel.com where you can read the stories on your computer, download them to your favorite device, or print and share them with others.

Nell Jenkins

Pansy’s Advice to Readers

Warren McIntyre’s Bride

Poems of Faith from The Pansy

Honor Bound

Miss Abbott’s Share

A Five-Cent Investment

Want to read even more classic Christian fiction? You can click on the “Free Reads” tab in the menu above to find more free stories by other authors. Enjoy!

A Golden Text Coloring Book

Published on by Isabella Alden3 Comments

If you’ve read Isabella’s novel The Little Card, you’ll remember that Teenie Burnside used her artistic talents to draw and embellish a little card on which she had written one of the Bible’s Golden Texts. Teenie hoped that by sharing the cards she could encourage someone to read God’s Word.

Book cover for The Little Card showing a young woman standing at an easel, wearing a blue smock over her clothes. In one hand she holds an artist's brush; in the other she holds a palette with dabs of colored paint.

But when Teenie’s health prevented her from fulfilling that dream, the girls in her Sunday-school stepped in and began to make more cards. Some were exact copies of the one Teenie made; others were embellished and colored with paint. But no matter their design, the cards all included a Bible verse of God’s promises to us.

Today’s giveaway is a collection of ten Golden Text Bible verses you can color and embellish, just as Teenie and her friends did.

Image of Bible verse written in different fonts surrounded by line drawings of flowers and leaves. "Be SGrong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord." Psalm 31:24

Just click here or on the image below to download and print the coloring book pages on standard 8-1/2″ x 11″ letter-sized paper.

Cover image with "The Golden Texts; a Bible Verse Coloring Book" printed in gold letters in the center, and large purple, pink, and red flowers bordering the edge of the cover.

if you haven’t read The Little Card, you can read the entire book for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

To read The Little Card on your computer, phone, iPad, Kindle, or other electronic device, click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or choose BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to print the story as a PDF document and share it with friends.

This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us every weekday in September for a fun drawing, giveaway, or Free Read!

Poems of Faith from The Pansy

Published on by Isabella Alden1 Comment

When Isabella edited The Pansy magazine, she made sure each issue included (in addition to her own stories) a wide variety of content, such as essays on science, history, life in foreign countries, and biographies of famous people.

Her family members regularly contributed articles, anecdotes, stories, and poems.

Isabella’s husband, her son, her sister, and even her niece Grace Livingston (who, as Grace Livingston Hill, later became a best-selling author just like her aunt Isabella) all wrote poems for The Pansy.

The Giveaway

Today’s giveaway is an e-book of some of the best-loved poems from the pages of The Pansy magazine.

Book cover of Poems of Faith from The Pansy has image of an old-fashioned lady's high-heeled shoe with a bouquet of purple, yellow, and blue pansies coming out of the top of the shoe.

Sometimes soulful, sometimes charming or funny, Poems of Faith from The Pansy is the perfect read when you’re in the mood for a bit of whimsy or a quiet moment of reflection.

You can read Poems of Faith from The Pansy for Free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the book on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.

This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us tomorrow as we announce the winners of this week’s drawing!

Free Read: Warren McIntyre’s Bride

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

Our Blogiversary celebration continues with another free read by Isabella Alden!

Book cover showing a young woman dressed in blouse, long skirt and bonnet from about 1900. She is standing at a gate and entering a garden. behind her in the background is a small town and the spire of a church.

As missionaries, John and Mary Randall and their daughter Rachel live hard lives. So when Rev. Randall is asked to speak at a conference of churches, he welcomes the chance to make a case for more support. His only regret is that he must leave Mary and Rachel behind.

But Rev. Randall’s speech touches more than a few hearts, and one lady in particular takes steps to ensure he and his family have all the support they need.

You can read “Warren McIntyre’s Bride” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.

This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us tomorrow for a chance to win another Blogiversary giveaway.

We're 10! It's our blogiversary celebration. Isabella Alden.com. September 2023. Join us!

New Free Read: Nell Jenkins

Published on by Isabella Alden1 Comment

By the early 1900s Isabella’s career as an author began to fade. After forty years of writing Christ-centered novels and countless magazine and newspaper articles, the American reading public began to label her writing style as “old-fashioned” and “narrow.”

Magazine editors cut ties with Isabella; they cancelled her regular advice columns and declined to publish her serial stories.

After her book publisher, Daniel Lothrop, died in 1892, his publishing company changed ownership, and the new owners declined to publish any more of Isabella’s novels.

But Isabella was still writing at that time, and she did her best to find a publisher willing to accept her stories. In 1911 she submitted two novels to Gorham Press in Boston, Massachusetts. The titles were:

Her Own Way

Nell Jenkins

Today, we would call Gorham Press a “vanity publisher”; meaning, they printed and distributed an author’s book at the author’s expense.

Gorham’s owner, Mr. Richard G. Badger, immediately accepted Isabella’s submissions and sent her contracts to sign.

Ultimately, Gorham published Her Own Way in 1912, according to this entry found in the Cumulative Book Index of American Literature dated 1913:

Book excerpt showing books published by author Isabella Alden in 1912, including: Her own way. $1.25. '12. Badger, R. G.

However, there’s no record to indicate Her Own Way was ever distributed to stores; nor was it ever reviewed in newspapers or Christian periodicals from that period. It’s possible Isabella paid to have a limited number of copies printed, which she distributed herself.

Fortunately for us, Nell Jenkins (the second novel Isabella submitted to Gorham) was one of the last serial stories Isabella had published in a Christian magazine. Even more fortunate, all the magazine issues survived so we can piece together the chapters and enjoy the entire story!

Cover image showing head and shoulders of a young woman in clothes from about 1900. She has a large bonnet on her head and is holding the bonnet's ribbons in both hands as if she is about to tie them.

Rebecca Kent finds herself in a difficult situation when her best friend’s husband asks her to keep a secret. It doesn’t take long for Rebecca to realize something strange is going on, and the secret she vowed to keep could very well ruin her best friend’s marriage.

If you like a bit of mystery in your Pansy stories (as in her novels Pauline and Wanted), you’ll enjoy Nell Jenkins!

You can read Nell Jenkins for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.

REMEMBER: There’s still time to enter the Promises From God Giveaway drawing. Just leave a comment below or on Isabella’s Facebook page no later than 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, September 7.

The winners will be announced on Friday, September 8. Good luck!

This post is part of our 10-Year Blogiversary Celebration! Join us tomorrow for another fabulous giveaway!

Image of tall 3-tier cake with pink frosting and 10 gold candles on top. 10 YEARS! It's a Blogiversary Celebration! September 2023. IsabellaAlden.com.

New Free Read: How Barbara Helped

Published on by Isabella Alden1 Comment

Isabella knew that non-believers sometimes judge Christians by their deeds rather than by their words, and this month’s free read illustrates that point.

Book cover with image of young woman in long white gown standing on the shore of a lake. Her hands are clasped behind her back and she holds a yellow parasol. She looks out across the water and watches sailboats in the distance.

Miss Fannie Fletcher has important work to do! A girl in the Sunday-school class she teaches is a new Christian, and Fannie is determined to help her grow in faith. But how can she ever hope to accomplish her dearest desire when her family makes constant demands on her time?

You can read “How Barbara Helped” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.

New Free Read: A Vacation Endeavor

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

July’s free read is a short story Isabella wrote in 1894 about a subject she felt strongly about; namely, that Christians were never “off duty” when it came to influencing others for Christ.

Kay Morse and her friends are enjoying a perfect summer vacation together, until Kay’s conscience puts her at odds with everyone. Can she help them understand why they must follow their Christian Endeavor principles—even while they are on vacation?

You can read “A Vacation Endeavor” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.

Free Read: A Glimpse into the Future

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

This month’s free read is a short story about two teenage friends Isabella described as:

“Sensible young ladies” who were “older at fifteen than their grandmothers at the same age thought of being.”

As is always the case with Isabella’s stories, it’s thoughtfully written to illustrate what she would call a “home truth.” But the story also gives us some hints about her personal life.

For example, she fondly describes her memories of May Day celebrations as “good times” gone by.

And later in the story, one of the characters mentions her “Mental Philosophy” class at school. When Isabella wrote the story in 1896, Mental Philosophy involved the study of the consciousness, functional thought, and religion. It was the precursor of what we now call the study of psychology. With her strong background in teaching, it isn’t surprising that Isabella would weave the latest educational innovations into her story.

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When teenagers Eva and Cassie are tempted to visit the village fortune-teller, it seems like nothing more than a bit of harmless fun, until a wise friend shows them what their futures truly hold.

You can read “A Glimpse into the Future” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends.