Tag: Diary

I Like Him!

Published on by Isabella Alden4 Comments

On May 30, 1866 Isabella Macdonald married Gustavus “Ross” Alden.

They met on Thanksgiving day 1863, and their courtship lasted a little more than two years. As their relationship blossomed, Isabella did what any young woman would do under similar circumstances: she told her best friend all about it.

Isabella and Theodosia Toll had been close friends since they met as students at the same boarding school. Through their school years together and after graduation, they remained devoted friends, and often visited each other’s homes.

Theodosia was staying with Isabella during the winter of 1864, when Isabella introduced her to Ross Alden. Luckily for us, Theodosia recorded her impressions of their meeting in her diary:  

January 1, 1864

Yesterday I came to Auburn to visit dear Belle. This has been a gloriously happy New Years day. We had a number of calls. During them one whose name I had heard before—Mr. Alden. I had gotten up considerable curiosity in regard to him. I sat reading, pressing a handkerchief to my aching head when the gentleman entered and was presented. And here I will state briefly my first impressions. Those were pleasant. A tall, grand looking man heavily bearded and mustached, a finely formed head and pleasant face, speaks very deliberately and very low. There you have him. I wonder if I shall be called upon to take him into my circle of friends, for her sake?

Two days later Theodosia got a chance to answer that question:

January 3d Sabbath.

Went with Belle to the Orphan Asylum Sabbath School at nine o’clock. Mr. Alden escorted us on our way to the Asylum and walked to and from that place with us. I like him!! If he and somebody should happen to fall in love with each other, I have not a word of remonstrance to offer. He seems an earnest worker from Christ, and that is worth so much.

Not long after Theodosia’s visit to the orphan asylum with Isabella and Ross, she returned to her home in Verona, New York, which was about sixty miles away. But Isabella promised to visit her friend soon.

Two weeks later, Theodosia recorded this entry in her diary:

Jan 27th

In a few hours she will be here. Only two weeks since we parted, yet I think I have never looked forward to her coming with more eagerness. She says in her letter received last evening, “Queer things have happened.” How I wonder what those queer things are. I shall know soon but I keep wondering. There are some things that ought to happen to her that would make me both glad and sorry. Well, I’ll be patient for a few hours.

Could it be those “queer things” Isabella wanted to tell her were the latest details of her relationship with Ross? Perhaps Ross proposed marriage, and Isabella wanted her dearest friend Theodosia to be among the first to know!

Unfortunately, sudden illness prevented Isabella from traveling to see Theodosia, so discovering those “queer things” had to wait. But several months later, Isabella sent her friend a very thorough accounting of the state of her relationship with Ross. Here is Theodosia’s diary entry:

Thursday, Sept 22d 1864

I have been reading over Belle’s letter. It is a dear good letter, and I am so glad that she is happy at last, that the old restless feeling seems to have left her. I trust that he to whom she has given her heart is worthy of her love. Just go back eight months, Journal, and remember what I told you of my first impressions of the man. Oh, Belle, you have much to make you grateful and happy, and so have I! I thank Thee My God for the blessings that crowd my way, and of the coming joy of a woman’s life that has come to my Darling.

After several months—and many more visits and letters between them—Theodosia made this diary entry:

Jan 30th 1866

What a happy month this has been! But, oh, how lonely I am today! My dear Belle left me this morning. Her “Ross” came last Saturday and spent the Sabbath. He preached on Sabbath evening. I like him very much. I already find myself numbering him among my friends.

At last, Isabella and Ross set the date of their wedding. They planned to be married in Gloversville on May 30, 1866. Of course Theodosia was there. She spent the night with Isabella as she happily—and nervously—made ready for her wedding day.

Two weeks after the big day, Theodosia wrote this in her journal:

I had a letter from Belle this week dated at her new home in Almond [New York]. She is very happy and I do believe that God has given her the strong constant love of a Christian man as the crowning happiness of her life.

Special thanks to Susan Wadley, Theodosia’s great-granddaughter, for sharing her diaries and giving us this delightful glimpse into Theodosia’s friendship with Isabella.

You can read more about how Isabella and Ross met by clicking here.

Read more about Ross and Isabella’s early years of marriage by clicking here.

The Aldens had a long and loving marriage. Read about their Golden Wedding Anniversary by clicking here.

Like her friend Isabella, Theodosia Toll Foster was an author, too! You can read some of her stories for free by clicking here.

Isabella’s Journals and a Giveaway!

Published on by Isabella Alden28 Comments

Isabella Alden began keeping a journal at a young age. From the time she was about seven years old she used a journal to take notes during Sunday church services, write Bible verses she wanted to remember, and record topics to discuss with her father.

Keeping a journal was a lifelong habit for Isabella, and in her novels, she sometimes made journalling a habit of her characters, too. (Have you read Docia’s Journal or Gertrude’s Diary?)

Journaling is just as popular today as it was in Isabella’s time.

Do you keep a journal?

Would you like to?

To start you off on the path to using a journal, we’re giving away two Journal Prize Packages to readers of Isabella’s blog!

Each prize package includes:

A lovely journal with a magnetic jeweled clasp . . .

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A coordinating ballpoint pen . . .

And a book of fun and inspiring stickers to give you a jump start on your journal adventure.

To enter the drawing, just leave a comment below no later than midnight EDST on Sunday, July 28, 2019.

We’ll announce the two winners on Monday, July 29, 2019.

Good luck!

Free Read: The Book that Started it All

Published on by Isabella AldenLeave a comment

It’s hard to imagine a world without Isabella Alden’s wonderful books and stories; but, left to her own devices, Isabella never would have become a published writer.

Advertising Card 1919

From a young age she had been taught to let her imagination soar. She began keeping a diary at the age of six, filling it with records of daily events and bits of stories. And even before she could write, Isabella’s mother encouraged her to make up little stories—perhaps from a picture Isabella would show her, or out of a few toys or some flowers. “Make a story out of it for mother,” was a most familiar sentence.

Out of those beginnings, Isabella developed her writing skills, and she continued to craft stories for the amusement of her friends and family. Her talent showed in school assignments, too; her compositions always earned good grades and won her recognition and prizes.

It was at school that Isabella Alden met her good friend, Theodosia Toll, nicknamed Docia. They were students together at Oneida Seminary in New York. After they graduated, Isabella returned to the school as a teacher; and since Docia’s family home was nearby in a neighboring town, the young women saw each other often.

Laude-Calthrop-Old-LettersAfter the close of one particular school year, Docia arrived to help Isabella pack up her things. Isabella was leaving the next morning to spend the long vacation at her family’s home, some eighty miles away.

While Isabella packed, she tasked Docia with sorting through the papers and books she had stored in a large trunk. As Docia went through the trunk, she came across a story Isabella had written as an entry for a writing contest. Here is Isabella’s description of what happened next:

“Why, Belle!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Here is that story you were to send to Cincinnati! Didn’t you do it after all?”

“No, I didn’t,” I said.

“But you promised!”

“No, not exactly. I said I would, if I didn’t change my mind, and I changed it.”

“Well! I think you were a perfect simpleton! It might have taken the prize. I thought it was the best thing you had written. What do you want done with it? Oh, say! Don’t you believe! The time for sending manuscripts isn’t up yet! Here is the printed slip that tells about it. There are seven days yet. Now do be sensible and send it on. Just think what fun it would be if it should win the prize!”

Then I appeared in the doorway and spoke with decision.

“I’ll do no such thing. If I can’t write a better story than that, it proves that I ought never to write at all. Tear the thing into bits and throw it in the grate with the other rubbish. I’ll set fire to them tonight.”

Luckily, Docia saw the promise in that story and instead of tearing it to bits so it could be set on fire, she submitted it to the contest under Isabella’s name.

Postman 1909Two months later, Isabella was shocked to receive a letter from the Western Tract & Book Society in Cincinnati, congratulating her on her win. Enclosed with the letter was a check for fifty dollars!

After she got over the initial shock of winning a prize for a story she thought she had burned, Isabella realized that Helen Lester was something to be proud of—especially once the contest judges explained the reason the story won:

“In the opinion of the carefully chosen committee of award, it met the condition imposed by the grand old Christian gentleman who offered the prize. It was to be given for the manuscript that would best explain God’s plan of salvation, so plainly that quite young readers would have no difficulty in following its teachings if they would, and so winsomely that some of them might be moved to take Jesus Christ for their Saviour and Friend.”

Original 1865 Cover of Helen Lester
Original 1865 Cover of Helen Lester

And how did Isabella spend that fifty-dollar prize money? She made two packets, each containing “the enormous sum of twenty-five dollars.” She placed one of the packets inside a bound volume of her first book, Helen Lester. On the fly leaf she wrote:

“Presented to my honored father.”

The second packet went into another copy of the book; and on the fly leaf she wrote:

“To my precious mother.”

Then, in both books she wrote those “wondrous words that must have trembled with excitement, and ought to have been written in capitals”:

“From the Author.”

Book 3Helen Lester was published in 1865 and with it, Isabella’s writing career was launched. The following year she published another children’s book, Nanie’s Experiment; Jessie Wells was published in 1867, quickly followed by Tip Lewis and His Lamp. After that, she published multiple titles each year, demonstrating both her talent and her discipline as a writer.

Since then, her stories that explain salvation through Christ and the rewards of abiding faith in God have enlightened and entertained generations of readers around the world.

Cover_Helen Lester resized

You can read Helen Lester for free. Click on the cover to begin reading.

You can learn more about Isabella’s friendship with Docia by clicking here.

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