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 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?
Have you ever asked a famous person for their autograph?
After seeing a play, did you ever go backstage or wait outside the theater at the stage door to congratulate a performer and ask them to sign the play bill?
Or at a sporting event, have you had a chance to talk to one of your favorite players and ask them to sign your hat or team jersey?
For many people, collecting autographs is an expression of genuine admiration for a person’s talent or achievements. It’s also a way for them to feel closer to someone they admire from afar.
That was the case for Leona McGill, a teenager growing up in Winona, Minnesota in the 1920s. She was an avid reader, and gained fame in her home town by collecting autographed letters from every author whose book she read. In July 1920 her hometown newspaper wrote an extensive article about her efforts.
In some of her letters to authors, Leona expressed her admiration for their writing talents. In other letters she asked authors for advice on how to launch her own writing career. She wrote hundreds of letters, and received an almost equal number of replies!
The majority of the replies she received were short and to the point, like this one from Booth Tarkington:
Zane Grey, famous for his novels about the American West, was a bit more friendly with his reply:
Another famous author Leona wrote to was Isabella Alden’s niece, Grace Livingston Hill. In her reply to Leona, Grace sounded very much as if she were writing to an old friend. Here is what she wrote:
I am afraid you will think I have been a long, long time getting an answer to your lovely letter, but if you could see the pile of letters lying on my desk that I have waded thru before I got yours and could know how very busy I have been all this fall and winter I’m sure you would forgive me. I write very few letters by hand because I have not time and the typewriter is so much faster but because you have asked it, I am writing this. Boys and girls are very near my heart and when they want something I know how much they want it.
You ask about “The Mystery of Mary”—yes—that is one of mine—one of what I call my “crazy” stories in distinction from the more serious ones.
I am sure I ought to be very proud to be put in the same list with such distinguished writers as have written you and I want to thank you for your pleasant words about my stories.
Leona must have written a very persuasive letter to receive such a lovely and thorough response! Or perhaps Grace simply knew the sort of letter a teenage girl would love to receive.
You can read the entire article about Leona McGill and see more of the authors’ replies by clicking here.
This month’s free read is a short story Isabella wrote in 1898 for a popular Christian magazine. It’s the story of the Pemberton family and the difficult year they endured leading up to a 4th of July celebration.
Nettie Pemberton can hardly believe it: the family fortune is gone! Although she finds a job working for a kind family, Nettie watches long-time friends disappear from her life. Even Edward Field—whom Nettie has known and loved since childhood—seems to have forgotten her very existence. Now, as the Independence Day holiday approaches, Nettie must face another disappointment that may turn out to be more than her broken heart can bear.
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.
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?
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be famous?
Isabella Alden circa 1880
Imagine walking into a room filled with people who burst into applause as soon as you enter. Then imagine that you’ve agreed to speak at an assembly that’s filled to overflowing with people, seated and standing in every available space, who hang on your every word.
That’s a little taste of what life was sometimes like for Isabella Alden. Today it might be hard for us to understand just how famous and beloved she was by people across the country. In a time before social media, television, and radio, Isabella had a nation-wide reputation as both an author and as a respected and knowledgeable public speaker on a variety of topics, including the development of Sunday-school lessons.
In 1886 Isabella and her husband, Rev. G. R. Alden, were living in Cleveland, Ohio, where Rev. Alden was pastor of a Presbyterian church. But when he wasn’t preparing sermons, and she wasn’t writing novels and stories for Christian magazines, the Aldens traveled the country to help churches design and implement well-organized, robust Sunday-school curriculums.
In June of that year they were invited to attend a conference in Wellington, Kansas, where the local churches hoped to find a way to better manage their Sunday-school offerings to children and adults. The Aldens accepted.
From The Conway Springs Star (a Kansas newspaper) on June 11, 1886
As soon as the local newspapers announced that Isabella Alden would be among the featured speakers, the churches were guaranteed to have an excellent turnout for their conference.
from The Monitor-Press (Wellington, Kansas) June 11, 1886
Here’s how the local newspaper described the scene on the first night of the conference when Isabella made her appearance:
from The Wellington Monitor, June 18, 1886.
The meetings began on a Monday afternoon and Isabella took an active role, according to the agenda:
from The Wellington Monitor, June 11, 1886
In one of the sessions she spoke about how to design Sunday-school lessons for children in the Primary Class age range of four to eight years:
from The Wellington Monitor, June 18, 1886
In another session she participated in a discussion on the proper way to prepare teachers for the work of teaching meaningful lessons:
from The Wellington Monitor, June 18, 1886
On Monday evening she read one of her short stories, “People Who Haven’t Time and Can’t Afford It,” which, the newspaper reported, “held the close attentions of the audience in spite of the discomforts of the crowded room.”
The rest of the conference was similarly busy for Isabella. The last night of the conference was “attended by an audience larger than the seating capacity of the church.” Isabella closed the evening session by reading a paper she wrote about “the Penn Avenue Church” and the difficulty the church had raising money for Sunday school purposes and for books to stock a small church library.
Eventually, Isabella revised that “paper” into a short story called “Circulating Decimals,” which was published two years later.
By every measure, the 1886 Sunday School Institute in Wellington, Kansas was a resounding success.
And with Isabella’s many contributions—from offering practical advice to reading stories with a message—it truly was a “feast of good things.”
One final note:
Isabella may have been a famous celebrity, but when she and Reverend Alden made these trips, they rarely stayed in a hotel. Instead, they were usually invited to stay in the home of one of the local church members. In Wellington, Kansas, they stayed in the home of George and Laura Fultz. Mr. Fultz was a leading businessman in Wellington, and he and his wife were active members of the Presbyterian church.
George Fultz
How lucky were Mr. and Mrs. Fultz! Isabella and her husband stayed with them for five nights. Imagine having your favorite author sit at your dinner table, join you in a morning cup of coffee, or share an evening on your front porch, relaxing and watching the sun set together after a full day of meetings.
If you were fortunate enough to have Isabella as a guest in your home, what kind of questions would you ask her?
All of the short stories mentioned in the post are available for you to read for free. Just click on any of the highlighted titles or cover images to download your copy from Bookfunnel.com.
Although there was a nine year age difference between them, Isabella Alden and her older sister Marcia were as close as two sisters could be. They both married ministers in the Presbyterian church, and they both helped their husbands serve their congregations with kindness and compassion.
The two families often lived together, as well. In Florida they combined their resources to build a large home where both families could live together comfortably while Isabella’s son Raymond and Marcia’s daughter Grace attended college. (You can read more about that here.)
The Alden home in Winter Park, Florida, where the Aldens and Livingstons lived while in Florida.
Marcia wrote stories and novels for all age groups, from very young children to adults; and in her adult stories she often wrote about the challenges of adult relationships. This month’s free read is a short story she wrote about newlyweds finding their way through the early days of their marriage.
Newlyweds Annette and Philip Lyman agree on everything. From the books they read to furnishing their house, their tastes are in perfect harmony. But when Philip criticizes Annette’s choices in the kitchen, their first quarrel quickly escalates until they can barely utter a civil word to each other. Who can help this once loving couple find love and harmony again?
Isabella was a teacher at heart, and one of the things she enjoyed teaching the most was how to read and study the Bible.
From an early age she developed a life-long habit of reading the Bible every morning, and she encouraged others to do the same. She regularly made notations and shared Bible verses that helped strengthen her daily walk with God, and she shared those notations to inspire her readers to make a study of their own.
Her “Daily Thoughts” differed from other Bible devotionals of her time because Isabella didn’t print the actual verse; she only gave the citation, so her readers would have to open their Bibles to read the verses themselves. She did, however, include a brief question or comment about each verse to help her readers better understand it.
Other times, she paired her study of the Bible with an interesting biography, novel or sermon she recently read. For example when her studied I John, 4:1-21, she gave the Bible chapter a title: “The Proof of Our Allegiance to Christ.”
Then, beside individual verses in the chapter, she noted a word or two about how that verse instructed her to act as someone who loved and followed Jesus:
v. 1. Thoughtfulness v. 2. Confession v. 4. Victory over error v. 5. Unworldliness v. 6. Willingness to hear and heed the truth v. 7. Love v. 8. Love v. 9. Our lives v. 11 Love v. 13 Love v. 14. The spirit that is in us v. 15. Confession v. 16. Love vs. 17, 18 Fearlessness or courage v. 21 Love
To this she added a beloved quotation from a sermon she had read by Rev. Charles Stanford, and which she felt perfectly summarized I John, chapter 4:
“Jesus asks not that our love should equal his, but resemble his; not that it should be of the same strength, but of the same kind. A pearl of dew will not hold the sun; but it may hold a spark of its light. A child by the sea, trying to catch the waves as they dash in clouds of crystal spray upon the sand, cannot hold the ocean in a tiny shell; but he can hold a drop of the ocean-water.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE METHODS ISABELLA USED TO STUDY THE BIBLE?
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE WAY TO READ AND STUDY THE BIBLE?
In 1891 when Isabella Alden was the editor of The Pansy magazine, she took up a very special project on behalf of her readers.
She wrote to several prominent Christian leaders and asked them to share the one thing they wished they had done, or not done, or managed differently in their lives.
Quite a few of the replies she received were from well-respected ministers who had regrets about their early Christian life. Here are a few:
“I regret that in my boyhood I did not read the Bible more, and did not memorize a greater number of its most precious promises.”
E. Hez Swem Pastor, Second Baptist Church, Washington D. C.
Pastor E. Hez Swem
“My most painful regret in regard to my early life is, that I did not become a member of the Church before my mother died, that she might have carried into eternity the comfortable knowledge of the fact that her only child was on the Lord’s side, a thing she greatly desired. It was simply postponing my public profession; and she died without the sight!”
Charles F. Deems Pastor of the Church of the Strangers, New York, New York
“There is nothing in my life that I regret so frequently and so deeply, as that I was not a more earnest and active Christian during the years of my college life. A professed Christian when I entered the institution, though without a thought of the ministry of Christ, my life was largely one of spiritual idleness. It was in the future that I hoped to serve my Master. Present opportunities were neglected.”
Rev. Henry Darling, D. D. President of Hamilton College
Rev. Henry Darling
Some of the responses were about not making the most about the time they were given:
“I look back over my life and feel as if I had walked like one with a string of priceless pearls in his hand, and the cord had been carelessly broken, and they had slipped off one by one as I walked, and were forever lost. Only the days are so much more precious than pearls!”
J. H. Ecob, D.D. Pastor Second Presbyterian Church, Albany, New York
“The great regret of my life is my failure to realize the value of life till the larger part of it has slipped away. I have always been what might be called “a busy man,” but the thing which troubles me is, that I have for the most part been busy with trifles, and have trifled so much with life’s real business.”
P. S. Henson Pastor, Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois
A few wrote about not recognizing the value of opportunities they let pass:
“I greatly regret an early want of thoroughness. I was too willing, in my early days, to let a hard thing balk me. Such an enemy of early unthoroughness has been in my late days a miserable and plaguing nuisance.”
“I regret having failed to understand the value of such accomplishments as may be gained along with a more substantial education. For instance, I do not know music, so useful to a pastor, as well as so important to a father as an aid to making his home pleasant to his children. I might easily have gotten it in spare hours at any time before entering my profession; but now there are no spare hours! This is only one of several things that I once underestimated, but whose value I now see very clearly.”
Dr. Teunis S. Hamlin Pastor of President William Henry Harrison Pastor, Church of the Covenant, Washington, D. C.
Dr. Teunis S. Hamlin
Isabella and her husband were close friends with Rev. George Hays, who wrote the next “regret.” She noted that despite Rev. Hays’ many plans for his life, he was instead “led, as a child, by his Father’s hand.”
“The number of foolish ambitions that entered my head when young was large. The hard work done to fit myself for places from which God’s good providence saved me, is not any part of my regrets. Not one of the positions I wanted did I ever get.”
Rev. George P. Hays, D.D., LL.D. Pastor Second Presbyterian Church, Kansas City, Missouri
Some “regrets,” like this one, were about showing kindness to others:
“I regret that I have not better acquired the art of pleasantly acknowledging the kindnesses shown me, and of showing my appreciation of people whom I really do appreciate. My influence with many would be greatly increased if I could but make them understand how warmly my heart goes out to them.”
Dr. William J. Beecher Professor of Hebrew in Auburn Theological Seminary
Dr. William J. Beecher
Last, but not least, is a letter Isabella received and almost didn’t share, because she didn’t want it to appear she was praising her very own magazine:
“The greatest regret that I have for lost opportunities in my youth is that I did not have the benefit of such magazines as The Pansy. No amount of reading in after years can make up for this serious loss in youth. I feel this so keenly that I seek every opportunity in my lectures and writings to impress upon parents the necessity of feeding the minds as carefully as they are wont to feed the bodies of the young immortals entrusted to their care. So I thank God for The Pansy, which has such a sweet, tender, yet strong way of putting thoughts into the heads and hearts of the young people.”
Helen M. Gougar Attorney, newspaper journalist, and women’s rights advocate
Helen M. Gougar
There are many adults today who will agree with Mrs. Gougar!
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE REGRETS THESE CHRISTIAN LEADERS SHARED?
Reviews and giveaways for Christian fiction and sweet, clean fiction. Bringing readers information on great stories and connecting authors with their readers.
![Newspaper clipping: The committee in charge of the arrangements make this further announcement: “We desire again to call the attention of all parents, Sunday School workers, and especially all young people, to this unlooked for opportunity to meet and greet Mrs. G. R. Allen [sic], “Pansy.” She is known and loved as the author of such helpful and thrillingly interesting books as “Ester Ried,” “Four Girls at Chautauqua,” “The Hall in the Grove,” “One Commonplace Day,” etc. Her engagement with the State Sunday School Assembly at Ottawa, Kansas, brings her west at this time and we trust that a “crowded house” will show our appreciation of the extra effort she is making to come to Wellington. The other speakers from abroad, and those among us who have kindly agreed to assist in these meetings, will give us a feast of good things. Come everybody and enjoy the feast.](https://isabellaalden.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/06-11-05.jpg)
Isabella Alden 