The Sabbath-school library at the Penn Avenue Church is in shocking condition. Book covers torn, pages curled or scribbled on—and some of the books have just gone missing. With the library in disgraceful condition, is it any wonder boys and girls view the church library with contempt?
Soon the ladies of the congregation are busy working up lavish plans to replenish the library with suitable books, but will their plans succeed?
You can read Isabella’s charming story, Circulating Decimals, for free. Just click on the book cover to begin reading.
Toward the end of Isabella’s life, her niece, Grace Livingston Hill, encouraged her to write “just one more book.” Grace suggested that it be about Ester Ried’s grand-daughter or great-grand-daughter, in order to bring the great message of the original Ester Ried novel to a whole new generation of readers.
Isabella Alden in an undated photograph.
Isabella’s fertile imagination still had plenty of stories waiting to be told. She recognized that there were some loose ends from the Ester Ried series that needed to be tied up, as Grace suggested.
She also knew, based on the letters she received, that fans of her books wanted to know more about some of the other characters she had created.
But Isabella chose not to write those sequels. In 1927 she told Grace:
I am not capable of writing a story suited to the tastes of present day young people. They would smoke a cigarette over the first chapter, and toss it aside as a back number. I haven’t faith in them, nor in my ability to help them.
Cover of a 1925 edition of Life magazine.
It’s unfortunate that Isabella was so disillusioned with the “present day young people” of the 1920s. She didn’t understand the new generation of young people, and she strongly believed she had nothing in common with them.
While Isabella still dressed modestly in long gowns with high collars and full sleeves, young women of the 1920s wore short, sleeveless dresses.
A 1920s dress, from Pinterest.com
They rouged their knees and polished their shoulders.
A 1920s advertising flier for the Bassett’s Ice Cream stand located in the Reading Terminal Market, Pennsylvania.
They plucked their eyebrows, painted their lips, and lacquered their fingernails.
Actress Clara Bow on the cover of a 1920s magazine.
Hollywood star Clara Bow set the trends. She was nicknamed the “It Girl” for playing the role of a plucky shop girl who made good. She was the first Hollywood sex symbol, and Americans couldn’t get enough of her.
A 1922 photograph of actress Clara Bow in a daring backless dress. From the U.S. Library of Congress.
Teenaged girls and grown women copied her make-up and clothes. If Clara Bow smoked cigarettes in a movie, they smoked, too.
Life magazine cover from the 1920s.
Like Clara, they challenged social mores by drinking alcohol and driving fast cars, just like men did.
A 1920s flapper and her flask of alcohol. From the U.S. Library of Congress.
And like many of the characters Clara Bow played on screen, they were headstrong and modern and fond of nightlife.
A cover of Puck magazine.
Isabella couldn’t understand it. She wrote:
I saw the trend away from Christ long ago. I recognized the downward trend not only in girls and boys, but in their mothers and teachers and pastors. I came by degrees to understand that the class of young people to whom I had dedicated my life had made a distinct descent, and that for me to do the same in my writing would be to dishonor Jesus Christ.
So Isabella watched with sadness as a new generation of readers turned to the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Warner Fabian, and Virginia Woolf, while her own novels gradually fell out of favor.
Original cover of Unforbidden Fruit by Warner Fabian. The 1928 novel was shocking in its day for depicting single women’s sexuality.
Grace and others urged her not to give up her life work, but Isabella was adamant: she would not write except to try to win souls for Christ.
I think we all realize in these days that even Jesus Christ is not popular. Therefore we who want to follow Him closely must not try to be.
In 1929 Isabella published An Interrupted Night. Like her novel, Unto the End, An Interrupted Night was written for adults and dealt with issues of love, marriage, infidelity, and sacred vows. The book received good reviews, but it would be Isabella’s final novel.
The cover for Isabella’s 1929 novel, An Interrupted Night.
Unfortunately, Isabella Alden passed away the following year, in 1930, never knowing that—almost one hundred years later—an entirely new generation of “present day young people” would love and cherish her books.
In The Ester Ried Series, Isabella chronicled the transformation of a young man named Jim Forbes. Jim first appeared in The King’s Daughter as a member of a wild bunch of boys who showed up at church for the sole purpose of terrorizing the Sunday-school teachers.
Homer Nelson, who was in charge of the Sunday-school classes, described Jim and his friends:
“Oh, they swear outrageously, and smoke profusely, and gamble whenever they get a chance, not often for money, for they have very little of that article about them; but for raisins, or pins, or straws, or anything that is convenient, and they use liquor freely, every one of them.”
But by the end of The Ester Ried books, Jim was a different person. In fact, he came to be so well regarded, his friends at church gave him a gift: “a dainty and elegant, and altogether perfect gold watch and chain.”
A young gentleman with his gold watch and chain. From OldFamilyPhotos.com
Jim was astonished to receive the watch, not only because of its beauty and cost, but because of what it represented. In the times in which Isabella lived, a man who carried such a watch and chain was considered a gentleman of the first order.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, true gentlemen followed a very strict code of dress that was based, in large part, on the model promoted by Britain’s Lord Chesterfield, who famously said:
“I cannot help forming some opinion of a man’s sense and character from his dress.”
A Victorian Gentleman, by Vittorio Matteo Corcos, 1890.
Isabella agreed whole-heartedly. In her books, Isabella dressed her gentlemen in neat, conservative, well-fitting suits. Even the wealthy men who populated her stories (like Edward Stockwell in The Ester Ried Series, Judge Burnham in The Chautauqua Books, and Mr. Burton in Christie’s Christmas) dressed in a way that did not call attention to themselves or their wealth.
Dressing in the “height of the fashion,” Isabella believed, was better left to dandies and pretenders.
A Paris dandy, circa 1890. His multiple watch chains, quizzing glass, elaborate buttons, and overly-shiny shoes would have been considered vulgar by American standards.
There were essential elements of a gentleman’s attire. In addition to a well-fitting coat and trousers, a gentleman always appeared in a waistcoat and tie.
Portrait of Henry Cabot Lodge, by John Singer Sargent, 1890.
Even when they were relaxing around the house or engaging in leisure activities, men wore coats, ties, and waistcoats.
Captain John Spicer, dressed to go fishing, by John Singer Sargent, 1901.
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Portrait of the artist’s brother, dressed for riding, by Arthur Hacker, 1882.
Another essential element of a gentleman’s appearance was an appropriate amount of facial hair. Beards and moustaches were considered to be a symbol of masculinity.
Self-portrait, by James Wells Champney.
Isabella’s men wore beards and moustaches, as well. In Helen Lester, Helen’s dashing older brother Cleveland returned home from Europe looking very handsome and “heavily bearded.”
Portrait of Leon Delafosse, by John Singer Sargent, 1898.
And charming Ralph Ried wore a full beard in The Ester Ried Series of books.
Undated photo of young man with a full beard and moustache. From Pinterest.
Coats, ties, waistcoats, and beards—they were all essential to a man’s attire in Isabella’s world, but a popular 1866 book on “etiquette and true politeness” carried this reminder:
Gentility is neither in birth, manner, nor fashion—but in the MIND. A high sense of honor—a determination never to take a mean advantage of another—an adherence to truth, delicacy, and politeness toward those with whom you may have dealings—are the essential and distinguishing characteristics of A GENTLEMAN.
A 1901 photo of a fashionably dressed gentleman.
You can click on the links below to find out more about Isabella’s books mentioned in this post.
Isabella Alden’s series of books about the Ried family were her most popular novels. In Julia Ried, book 2 of the series, the Ried family falls on hard times, and daughter Julia decides to strike out on her own. She takes a job as a bookkeeper in a paper box factory in the neighboring town of Newton.
In choosing Julia’s career, Isabella was on solid ground. She was able to write convincingly about Julia’s job and work environment, because Isabella’s father, Isaac Macdonald, operated a paper box factory in Gloversville, New York.
Page from an 1870 Fulton County New York Business Directory.
Gloversville, the little village where Isabella grew up, was celebrated for its glove-making industry.
A 1908 postcard of Gloversville showing the intersection of Main Street, with its many retail glove shops, and Fulton Street, where Isaac Macdonald’s box factory was located.
Between 1890 and 1950, Gloversville supplied nearly 90 percent of all gloves sold in the United States.
1913 paper glove box; from Pinterest.
Besides the many “skin mills” and glove manufacturing business in the little village, the industry spawned a host of supporting businesses, such as box makers, tool and die manufacturers, and dealers in buttons and threads.
Box for Silkateen brand ladies gloves. From Etsy.
Isabella’s father, Isaac Macdonald owned one of four or five box-making factories in Gloversville. While there’s no record that Isabella ever worked in her father’s factory, she had a good grasp of the working conditions, and she conveyed her thorough knowledge of the business in Julia Ried.
Women workers at a box factory, about 1890.
In Julia Ried, Isabella gave lively descriptions of the “shop-girls” who folded and pasted the cardboard boxes together. According to Frank Hooper, one of those shop-girls in the book, they worked ten hours a day, six days a week.
A 14-year-old girl at work in a paper box factory. From National Archives.
Pasting cardboard boxes together was a sticky, messy, exhausting job; but it was a job that was often performed by women and children.
A young girl working alongside a woman in a paper box factory, 1912. From National Archives.
Small boxes especially—like those that contained gloves for ladies and children—needed to be assembled and pasted by women or children with small hands.
From the Gloversville Daily Leader, March 12, 1900.
Yet in the glove-making industry—and its supporting businesses—women and girls earned half as much as men.
The work could be dangerous. Accidents were common, and some injuries could be severe.
From the Gloversville Daily Leader, May 12, 1898.
A young box factory worker after an accident with a veneering saw; 1907.
Isabella drew on her knowledge of the box-making business to create some of her most beloved characters. The characters of Frank Hooper and Jerome Sayles (whose father co-owned the box factory in the story) made return appearances in other books in the Ester Ried Series.
Women and girls working in a box factory, 1910.
You can learn more about Gloversville, Isabella’s home town, by reading these related posts:
In The King’s Daughter, the heroine of the story is Miss Dell Bronson, a fashionable young lady, raised in the lap of Boston luxury by a wealthy aunt and uncle.
An antique porte-monnaie made of metal mesh
In writing about Dell, Isabella described her as dainty, neat, and graceful. Dell was always fashionably, but tastefully dressed; and because of her uncle’s wealth, Dell was able to afford the latest styles of dress and accessories.
A sterling silver porte-monnaie. It’s long shape suggests it was ideal for carrying in a pocket.
One of Dell’s accessories was a porte-monnaie, which she carried in her skirt pocket.
A silver porte-monnaie, lined in blue leather. From Etsy.
The blue leather interior of the silver porte-monnaie features bellows to separate coin denominations. From Etsy.
Literally, a porte-monnaie was a place for money—specifically coins. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, men and women carried their paper money and coins separately. Paper bills were carried flat in wallets or bill-folds, but all the many coins in circulation at the time were usually carried in porte-monnaies.
A two-cent piece, in circulation until 1873. It was the first American coin to carry the motto, In God We Trust.
And what a variety of coins there were! In addition to the pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters we know today, people commonly carried:
Two-cent pieces
Silver three-cent pieces
Three-cent pieces made from nickel
Half-dimes
Twenty-cent pieces
Half-dollars
Dollars
The three-cent piece, made of nickel, was in circulation until 1889.
And gold coins (also known as Eagles) weren’t uncommon. They were minted in denominations of $1, $2.50, $5, $10, and $20.
Carried by both men and women, porte-monnaies were made of sturdy material, such as leather or silver. At home, women kept their porte-monnaie in the pocket of their skirt or apron. Outside the home, women would often tuck their porte-monnaie inside their purse or reticule.
Antique silver porte-monnaie. The center emblem has a space for engraving the initials of the owner. From Pinterest.
Men kept a porte-monnaie in a desk drawer at home, and carried it in a pocket while out and about.
A French porte-monnaie made of mother-of-pearl, with brass and silver inlay. From Pinterest.
References to porte-monnaies date as far back as the 1850s but the term came into fashion during the American Civil War, when Americans considered anything French to be the height of fashion.
Which of the fashionable porte-monnaies pictured here do you think Dell Bronson would have carried? Cast your vote below
In Isabella’s book Ester Ried, Ester’s youngest sister Julia found herself in trouble, all because of paper dolls.
Ester had charged Julia with taking an important letter to the post-office. Julia obediently started out, immaculate in white apron and white stockings, but then she met temptation in the form of a little girl playing with her paper dolls.
While Julia was admiring them, the letter “had the meanness to slip out of her hand into the mud!”
Horrified, Julia and the little girl put their wise young heads together, and decided to give the muddy letter a thorough washing in the creek. But no sooner were they standing ankle deep in the mud, vigorously carrying their idea into effect, than “the vicious little letter hopped out of Julia’s hand, and sailed merrily away, downstream!”
It’s understandable that Julia was a little bewitched by her friend’s paper dolls. Paper dolls were colorful and beautifully detailed little works of art, usually depicting handsome men, beautiful women, and charming children. Paper dolls of fairy tale characters were popular, too, like this set of Tom the Piper’s Son:
And this fanciful set from 1912 depicts characters from the story of Aladdin.
Because every respectable paper doll needed a suitable paper home in which to live, children could collect paper doll furniture pieces, too. Here’s a cabinet suitable for a paper doll’s fashionable drawing room:
Paper dolls even had lovely chairs and settees on which to sit.
No paper doll drawing room would be complete without a grandfather clock and a decorative screen to block out cold drafts.
Here’s a paper doll house accessory that Isabella might have liked for herself: a pot of colorful pansies.
You can click on any of the paper doll images in this post to open a larger version to print and assemble for yourself.
And click here to see a previous post about paper dolls
To simply work is nothing. We must do it for Jesus’ sake. Many of the busiest people in the world forget to consecrate their labor, and then wonder at the absence of expected fruit.
When the ladies of the 10th Street Church set out to clean the sanctuary in Ester Ried’s Namesake, they armed themselves with pails, brooms, dust-cloths and … Sapolio.
Sapolio was the brand name of a bar soap manufactured by Enoch Morgan’s Sons Company. There was Hand Sapolio for everyday use in the toilet and bath.
And there was the large Sapolio cake for household cleaning purposes, which was the company’s most popular product.
Isabella mentioned the product more than once in her descriptions of the busy ladies’ efforts to clean the room in which they worshipped.
The ladies used Sapolio to scrub the floors and polish the globes on the gas lamps.
Ads for Sapolio claimed their product could do much more:
It will clean paint, marble, oil cloths, bath tubs, crockery, kitchen utensils, windows, etc.
It will polish tin, brass, copper and steel wares of all kinds.
Sapolio was “probably the best advertised product” in the country, according to Time Magazine. Sapolio ads appeared in magazines, newspapers, and trade cards.
Their ads were inventive, entertaining, and often elaborate.
Click this link to see one of their full-page newspapers ads from 1889 in the Omaha Daily Bee.
Their advertising campaigns appealed to homemakers and housekeepers, ladies of leisure and scullery maids.
The advertising paid off. From the 1890s to 1920s, Sapolio was the best-selling cleaning product in America.
And then Sapolio executives made a fatal mistake. They believed their product was so well ensconced in the minds of the buying public, they stopped advertising.
In the short-term they might have saved money, but in the long-term the decision proved disastrous. Sapolio soon disappeared from store shelves and customer’s homes. Buyers turned to the competition, and Sapolio sales never recovered. The company that made Sapolio was almost destroyed; eventually they sold what was left of the business to a South American company.
Today Sapolio products are still sold in South America (especially Peru and Chile) and they get rave reviews; but Sapolio will never again enjoy the popularity it once had when Isabella Alden wrote about in the pages of Ester Ried’s Namesake.
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