Tag: Grace Livingston Hill

The Livingstons’ New York Legacy, Part 2

Published on by Isabella Alden1 Comment

In a previous post we shared the charming 1898 book of quotes compiled by the ladies of the First Presbyterian Church of Gilbertsville, New York, and how they reached out to current and previous residents for contributions, including Charles and Marcia Livingston.

For his favorite quote, Charles chose a few lines from an 18th-century hymn by Moravian Bishop John Gambold:

"And when I am to die, 'Receive me'—I'll cry, 
For Jesus has loved me, I cannot tell why; 
But this I do find, we two are so joined, 
He'll not be in glory and leave me behind."

To those who knew Charles, these words were more than just a comforting stanza. They knew that Charles probably selected those lines because he was a man—a minister—whose physical body was continuously failing him; yet he found true comfort in the fact that his identity was anchored in Christ, not in his ability to hold a pulpit.

Charles suffered from a chronic, severe throat ailment (possibly chronic laryngitis or a tubercular throat condition) that progressively stole his physical ability to project his voice to a congregation. For a dedicated Presbyterian minister whose entire life and career were built around the spoken word, it was a devastating ailment. His time in the Gilbertsville pulpit was cut short after just two years because the harsh New York winters and the strain of preaching became physically impossible for him.

Because of his health, Charles, Marcia and their young daughter Grace found themselves constantly moving from one city to another. It must have seemed to them that as soon as they had hung curtains in a new manse and developed deep bonds with a congregation (as they did in Gilbertsville), Charles’ voice would begin to fail, and the trunks would have to be brought down from the attic once more.

The Presbyterian Ministerial Directory, 1898, hints at how frequently the family had to move.

From Gilbertsville, the family moved through a succession of churches in multiple states, searching for an environment where Charles could breathe and preach safely. Each move had to have taken a physical and emotional toll on the family, as well as a financial one. In the 19th century church, if a pastor couldn’t speak, he couldn’t maintain a pulpit—and without a pulpit, there was no manse in which to live or steady stipend to support a family. During those stressful times, the Livingstons frequently leaned on a familiar and welcoming safety net: the literary world of Isabella Alden.

An 1886 issue of The Pansy magazine

Marcia’s sister Isabella had built a massive Christian publishing empire, centered around her children’s magazine, The Pansy. Her young subscribers and their parents begged Isabella to change the monthly magazine to a weekly publication. With the help of Charles and Marcia, Isabella was able to do just that.

Marcia became a mainstay of The Pansy magazine. She wrote short stories and penned a regular monthly column called “Baby’s Corner” for the publication’s youngest readers. And Charles found a new way to preach through his pen. Writing under the initials “C.M.L.” or the persona “Uncle Charles,” he contributed Bible studies and brief articles that covered a variety of contemporary topics.

The collaboration between the Aldens and the Livingstons went beyond The Pansy. They frequently teamed up to write full-length novels that helped supplement the family income. They frequently combined households and turned their shared living spaces into a family writing workshop. Together, they not only kept the Livingstons’ bills paid during Charles’ enforced periods of vocal rest, they provided a front-row literary education for young Grace Livingston, who contributed her own very first stories to the family magazine during those years.

Isabella Alden (left) and her sister, Marcia Livingston, in an undated photo.

By 1885 it became clear that traditional medical treatments and forced periods of rest were no longer enough to save Charles’ voice. The only recommended cure they had not yet tried was the southern “climate cure,” which involved relocating to a southern state with year-round warm temperatures. In February of that year Isabella and her husband visited Florida and helped establish a new Chautauqua assembly. By September the Livingstons joined the Aldens in Florida and together they settled in Winter Park, not far from Orlando. There, the Aldens built a large home they dubbed The Pansy Cottage, with plenty of room for the Livingstons and any other relatives who cared to join them.

A side view of The Pansy Cottage in Winter Park, Florida.

The move was a turning point for the Livingstons. The gentler climate successfully soothed Charles’ throat, which allowed him to renew his ministry in new ways. While in Florida he spent years engaged in home missionary work, planting new congregations and even taking on a pastoral role at the Winter Park Presbyterian Church from 1891 to 1892.

Perhaps even more importantly, the new environment and shared living quarters provided rich inspiration for the family’s pens. The area’s unique flora, fauna, and pioneering spirit filled the pages of The Pansy magazine and inspired some of their full-length novels. Most importantly for the Livingstons, their new Florida home offered a place where Charles could use his voice again.

So, when the ladies of the First Presbyterian Church of Gilbertsville reached out to the Livingstons in 1898, they wrote to a couple whose lives had been completely reshaped by faith, creativity, and resilience in the face of difficult physical trials. Though decades had passed and miles separated them, Charles and Marcia gladly sent their favorite verses back to the little church that had once welcomed them as young parents.

Knowing the physical limitations and hardships Charles endured throughout his career, his choice for a quote carries an even deeper meaning:

“But this I do find, we two are so joined, 
He'll not be in glory and leave me behind."

And for Marcia, who stood by his side through every packed trunk, every illness, and every shared writing desk, her choice of Robert Browning’s cheerful poem makes perfect sense:

“God’s in his Heaven—All’s right with the world.”

You can read more about the Aldens and the Livingstons in Florida in these previous posts:

Isabella, a Winter Snowbird
Welcome to Pansy’s House
Too Much of a Good Thing, and a New Free Read!

New Free Read: “Thanksgiving”

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

One of the most common themes in Isabella Alden’s stories was kindness and the powerful impact even a small gesture can have on another person.

This month’s free read is a short story that beautifully illustrates that theme when a grateful family reaches out to a lonely, hardworking fisher boy who feels entirely forgotten.

Orphaned Willie Evans thinks nice times are only for other people—until a dramatic seaside rescue changes the course of his life forever. Originally published in The Pansy magazine in 1883, Isabella’s story shows how one act of kindness can turn one child’s hopelessness into a lifetime of blessings.

YOU CAN READ “THANKSGIVING” FOR FREE!

Choose the reading option you like best:

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

Print & Share: Select BookFunnel’s “email” option to receive an email with a PDF version you can read, print, and share with friends.

The Livingstons’ Legacy in Small-town New York

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Isabella and her sister Marcia both married ministers of the Presbyterian church, whose profession called them to different churches across the northeastern United States. In 1868 Marcia’s husband Charles was called to a small church in the idyllic village of Gilbertsville, New York.

An undated postcard from Gilbertsville, New York.

Gilbertsville is nestled inside the town of Butternuts amid farmlands and gently rolling hills carved out by nearby Butternut Creek. When Charles, Marcia, and their three-year-old daughter Grace arrived in Gilbertsville, the congregation had just completed construction on their new church building. Charles was one of the very first pastors to preach in the grand new sanctuary.

Charles Livingston in undated photo.

With a fresh building and a youthful pastor, the energy of the congregation was electric. The women of the church were highly educated and socially active; in fact, it was largely due to the efforts of the church’s “Ladies’ Aid” leadership that the funds were raised to build the new church. In many ways, they mirrored the types of organized, reform-minded and intellectually curious women that Isabella and Marcia so frequently wrote about in their novels.

On the left, the new Presbyterian Church as it appeared in 1909.

Those exact same women were older matrons when they gathered in 1898 to tackle another fund-raising project. This time, they turned to a popular and very successful method in the late-Victorian era: publishing a community fundraising book. It worked like this:

Small towns at the turn of the century had local newspaper or regional printing houses that routinely printed booklets, local histories, and community directories for a flat fee. Before a single page of the book was printed, the ladies of the church went door-to-door throughout the area obtaining donations, cash advances and orders from neighbors, local businesses, and families. Similar to our modern crowd-sourcing, it was a clever way to ensure the project was fully funded upfront.

While many church groups published community cookbooks filled with local recipes, a literary collection of curated moral, poetic and philosophical quotes was considered a more “refined” and “intellectual” endeavor—and that’s what the ladies decided to publish.

They solicited favorite quotes from town leaders and prominent citizens—including the Gilbert family, whose ancestors literally founded and named the village; the Fitch family, owners of the local mills and enthusiastic supporters of local civic projects; and the Rockwoods, major agricultural exporters who drove the local economy.

The women also reached out to former residents, including the Livingstons. By the time the book was published in 1898, the Livingstons had moved on to other pulpits, but they were still well remembered and beloved. They were also firmly connected to the Christian literary world of that time—Marcia was a published author in her own right, and her sister, Isabella, was the most successful and prolific Christian fiction author of the Victorian era.

Marcia Livingston in undated photo.

Obtaining favorite quotes from the Livingstons added prestige and a bit of “star power” to their small-town book.

Titled Thoughts of the Wise, the book was published in 1898 and became a treasured collection of wisdom, as well as a handy social directory. At a price of twenty-five cents a copy, many residents purchased multiple copies to send to far-away friends and relatives, adding more to the community’s fund-raising coffers.

Would you like to see the favorite quotes Marcia and Charles Livingston contributed to Thoughts of the Wise? Click here to view a PDF version of the book. You’ll find Charles’ quote on page 9 and Marcia’s on page 26.

JOIN US FOR PART TWO!

Curious about why the quotes Charles and Marcia chose were especially meaningful in their lives? Join us on November 10 when we’ll explore the special meaning behind their selections, examine the reality of Charles’ failing health, and look at the extraordinary steps the family took to cope with his illness.

Are College-educated Women Good Home-makers?

Published on by Isabella Alden4 Comments

That was the question that was being debated across late-Victorian America. It was a timely subject; while higher education for women was still a relatively young movement, women were rapidly proving their intellectual competence in colleges across the country.

In 1896 a Christian magazine put the question to three prominent Christian women writers and leaders of the era. You may recognize their names:

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward (1844-1911) was one of the most famous and best-selling American authors of the late 19th century. She was also a passionate advocate for women’s rights and financial independence, making her one of the most visible feminist voices in Christian literature.

Black and white photo of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward about 18905. Seated in a chair, her face in profile. Her hair is drawn back and arranged in a modest chignon. She wears a dark gown with a white ruffle trimming the cuffs of her long sleeves and a high color.
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward (Wikimedia Commons)

Mrs. James L. Hill (Lucy B. Dunham Hill) was an author, speaker, and Christian leader. Married to a prominent Congregational minister and leader of the Christian Endeavor movement, Lucy was a strong advocate for women’s involvement in Sunday school work, missionary societies, and national Christian assemblies.

Grace Livingston Hill (1865-1947) was Isabella Alden’s niece and a giant in Christian fiction. In 1896 Grace was just beginning her prolific career and was deeply involved in the Christian Endeavor movement. With her husband she wrote a popular guide for leaders of Christian Endeavor meetings. Over the course of her life, Grace would write over 100 beloved novels that seamlessly blended themes of romance, faith, and practical Christian living.

When it came time to answer the question “Are college-educated women good homemakers?” each woman took a difference approach.

Elizabeth Stuart-Phelps-Ward felt it was “too early to judge” because female-only and co-educational universities had only recently sprung up. However, she felt no one could doubt that a woman’s intellect could “bear the strain” of obtaining a college degree.

Mrs. James L. Hill answered the question with a balanced “No and Yes.” If higher education caused a student to lose her femininity or feel she was above domestic duties, then her answer was “No.” But if a woman used her education to embrace full “comradeship in marriage,” recognized good housekeeping as a virtue, and retained a true love for the home, then her answer was a resounding “Yes!”

A sketch of Mrs. James L. Hill in profile.
Mrs. James L. Hill in 1900.

As always, Grace Livingston Hill brought a refreshing, practical, and spirited perspective to the discussion. Instead of defending college on its own merits, Grace cleverly turned the argument back on her critics by contrasting a college education with a “society life.”

She wrote:

“It is sometimes said that a college life gives a girl tastes that unfit her to be a home-maker, yet you do not hear it often urged that a society life does the same thing. Surely in society she will acquire tastes for being out late at night dancing, flirting with other women’s husbands, spending her energies over bits of paste-board while the household accounts run riot, dropping her tears for the dressed-up children on the stage while her own little ones are crying at home for their mother.”

Grace argued that the “earnest purpose, patience, and perseverance” required to earn a college degree meant she could apply those same qualities to managing the care and strain of running a home. She added that a mother whose mind had been broadened by science, literature, and history would ultimately be far better equipped to train her children “for all higher and better things.”

Grace Livingston Hill Lutz about 1910

Much like her Aunt Isabella, Grace believed that higher learning was not an obstacle to faith and domestic life, but a valuable tool to enrich it.

What makes this 1896 article so interesting is how clearly it shows the changing roles of women in the late 19th century. Just like Isabella herself, the three women quoted in the article actively demonstrated that a woman could be intellectual, articulate, and deeply devoted to Christ and home.

And Grace’s defense of the disciplined college graduate over the frivolous society girl feels just as insightful today as it did when she wrote it 130 years ago!

Originally published in The Golden Rule magazine, the article was syndicated and published by different newspapers, including The American Israelite. You can read the entire article here in its original form, followed by a transcript.

New Free Read: “Deacon Bates’ Wife”

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Marcia Livingston, Isabella’s sister, was a widely published author whose work appeared in magazines and newspapers across the country. While she often wrote stories for young children, her stories about the trials and joys of marriage are true to life, charming, and inspiring.

Marcia’s story “Deacon Bates’ Wife” is about appreciating the ones we love, recognizing their burdens, and taking the time to look at them with fresh eyes.

When “Deacon Bates’ Wife” was published in newspapers in 1892 it was very well received. One New York newspaper editor added this thoughtful introduction:

“The following story … conveys an admirable lesson. We commend it to the considerate attention of all “good men” who have “over-worked wives.”

Deacon Daniel Bates takes great pride in his thrifty, hard-working wife, Cynthy, unaware that decades of unceasing labor have taken a toll on her spirit. It takes a keen-eyed summer guest and a dose of plain speaking to open the deacon’s eyes before it’s too late.

YOU CAN READ “DEACON BATES’ WIFE” FOR FREE!

Choose the reading option you like best:

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

Print & Share: Select BookFunnel’s “email” option to receive an email with a PDF version you can read, print, and share with friends.

A Novel Celebration

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

One hundred years ago, J. B. Lippincott Company published two new novels by Isabella’s niece, Grace Livingston Hill: A New Name (her 43rd novel) and Coming Through the Rye (her 44th novel).

The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 27, 1926

The mid-1920s were an interesting time for an author like Grace. While literary critics enthusiastically praised modernist writers like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, everyday readers continued to turn to Grace for something entirely different: comfort, clear moral lessons, and stories that reminded them that life could have a noble purpose.  

Evening Express, Portland, Maine, September 28, 1926

Community reading groups like the Riverside Reading Circle in Bridgeport, Connecticut, frequently placed her latest releases right at the top of their schedules:

Newspaper clipping: The last meeting of the season of the Riverside Reading Circle, will be held at the home of Mrs. Emma D. Chase, Maple street, Monday evening, May 24, at eight o'clock. The Circle has just completed the reading of Grace Livingston Hill's latest work, "A New Name" and Monday night's meeting will be for the purpose of closing up all business affairs of the year. Meetings will be resumed in the fall.
The Bridgeport Telegram, May 24, 1926.

That enthusiasm wasn’t limited to the 1920s. Decades later, readers were still discovering her work for the first time—and realizing their mothers and grandmothers had loved her, too. In April 2000, a newspaper in Kentucky published an article by a feature writer named Nancy Taylor, who wrote:

I discovered a small volume, Coming Through the Rye, and enjoyed it so much, I mentioned it to my mother as if I were telling her something she didn’t know.

“Grace Livingston Hill!” she said. “I’ve read so many of her books I don’t know where to begin. Matched Pearls is one of my favorite stories ever.”

Newspaper Ad: "COMING THROUGH THE RYE By Grace Livingston Hill. It's pretty hard for a girl to discover that her father is a bootlegger. And if the girl is as lovely as Romayne Ransome, it's equally hard for a young inspector do do his duty. But let the path "trough the rye" be ever so beset with misunderstandings, it always ends in lovers' meeting. Romance charming as the old song. $2.00 at all Bookstores. J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO., Philadelphia.
Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1926.

Ms. Taylor went on to write:

My great-grandmother read them, my grandmother read them, my mother read them, I’ve read them, and my daughter reads them.

Black and white photograph of Grace Livingston Hill in profile. with this caption: Grace Livingston Hill, in her new story, "Coming Through the Rye," touches the all important subject of bootlegging. She has written a great many stories, some twenty or more, and they are always of a more or less religious nature.
St Louis Globe-Democrat October 16, 1926

The old adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is still true. Grace’s novels continue to hold the same place in readers’ hearts today as they did in 1926, and every year since. Perhaps Ms. Taylor said it best in the closing lines of her article published twenty-six years ago:

Where there is discouragement in the world, Grace sowed encouragement. Where there is yearning, Grace sowed hope, and she did it across generations. It is such a comfort to know that words which so long ago inspired our great-grandmothers are today an inspiration for our daughters. Grace Livingston Hill is the author of that gift.

LEAVE A COMMENT AND TELL US:

DO YOU SHARE GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL’S BOOKS WITH OTHERS?

DID YOU BECOME A FAN BECAUSE SOMEONE SHARED THEM WITH YOU?

New Free Read: “A Happy Summer”

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Today Marcia Macdonald Livingston is widely known as the mother of beloved Christian novelist Grace Livingston Hill and the older sister of Isabella “Pansy” Alden; but Marcia was actually a talented, well-published author in her own right. She wrote uplifting stories for readers of all ages, and this month’s free read is a wonderful example. Although “A Happy Summer” was written with children in mind, Marcia’s warm, engaging writing style makes this a meaningful and entertaining read for adults, too.

For sisters Jessie and May, life in a hot, cramped city attic makes the country feel like a distant dream. With their widowed mother working day and night to keep a roof over their heads, a summer filled with green fields and fresh air seems impossible. But when an unexpected act of kindness opens the door to a new life in the quiet village of Woodbury, the Wilson family discovers the joy of answered prayers and the simple beauty of nature.

Originally published in an 1883 issue of The Pansy magazine, this special edition of “A Happy Summer” includes the original artwork published with the story, so you can read it in the same way Victorian children first enjoyed it!

YOU CAN READ “A HAPPY SUMMER” FOR FREE!

Choose the reading option you like best:

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

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

Mr. Moody’s Bible Class: Lesson 9 – The Greatest Virtue: Love

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Dwight L. Moody was one of the most beloved evangelists of the nineteenth century, who preached to millions on both sides of the Atlantic. For Isabella Alden, Mr. Moody was more than a famous name; he was part of her world.

Dwight Lyman Moody (portrait by Edward Clifford)

The connection ran deep in her family. Isabella’s uncle, Horatio Spafford, was a close personal friend of Mr. Moody’s, a supporter of his evangelistic campaigns, and a fellow laborer in Chicago’s Christian community. It was a personal letter from Moody (then preaching in Europe) that invited Horatio and his family to join him in England in 1873, a voyage that ended in tragedy and gave the world the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.” Mr. Moody himself traveled to be with the grieving Spaffords in the aftermath of that loss. (You can read more about that here.)

Closer to home, Mr. Moody was a contributor to Isabella’s own work. In 1897 — the same year he was writing these monthly Bible lessons for a popular women’s magazine — he contributed a piece on prayer meetings to a Christian magazine Isabella edited, a collaboration that speaks to the mutual respect and shared mission between them.

What makes lesson nine of Mr. Moody’s Bible Class so interesting is that its central message was one Isabella had been sharing for decades in her stories and novels. Mr. Moody teaches that love is not a feeling reserved for the lovable — it is the very essence of God, extended unconditionally to the unworthy, and expressed in small acts of grace that leave impressions that last a lifetime.

If you have read any of Isabella’s novels, you’ll recognize that theme immediately. Her stories are populated with difficult people — the prickly neighbor, the harried, impatient mother, the unlovable child, the proud and self-righteous churchgoer — and her heroes and heroines choose to love them anyway, to speak a kind word, and to see the person beneath the surface. Isabella was writing fiction; Mr. Moody was preaching theology; but they were both saying the same thing.

In his ninth Bible class, Mr. Moody explains how God’s love differs from man’s love, and he shares the ultimate way in which we can show our love for God in return.

YOU CAN READ LESSON NINE FOR FREE!

Click here to download a large-print PDF version you can print or share with friends. Then, join us again on July 28 for Lesson Ten of Mr. Moody’s Bible Class.

If you missed Lessons One through Eight, you can find them by clicking here or on the Free Reads tab above.

Everybody Likes Grace!

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

If you grew up prior to the 1990s, you may remember what life was like before the Internet brought the world into our homes. If you wanted to research a topic, get help solving a riddle, or find the latest best-seller, you went to your local library.

Librarians were the original “human search engines” of their communities. They were masters of the card catalog, date-stamped every book checked out and returned, and stood ready with recommendations to help neighbors find the perfect “good book” to read.

In Marion, North Carolina, county librarian Alice Bryan shared the joys and quirks of her librarian job in a weekly newspaper column. She quickly noticed that readers had some very unique strategies for choosing their next read!

From the “Marion Progress” newspaper, 1946.

When one lady in the library asked, “How can I tell a good book when I see one?” another patron quickly spoke up: “See how many names are on the card!”

(For our younger readers: back then, every book contained a paper card that patrons physically signed when checking it out. A card packed full of names was the ultimate 1940s version of a five-star review!)

Other readers chose books based on its physical characteristics. “Lightweight books are the best,” one lady told Alice, while pre-schoolers often picked their books by size—the bigger, the better!

But when patrons weren’t judging books by their weight or size, an equally large number asked for them by author. Popular authors like Zane Grey, Agatha Christie, and Mary Roberts Rinehart were always in demand—but there was one name Alice Bryan saw flying off the shelves more than any other: Grace Livingston Hill.

LIBRARY NOTES BY ALICE BRYAN. "What types of books are most popular at the library?" asked one of our readers. "Light fiction," I replied. "Books by Grace Livingston Hill and Zane Grey are most called for."
From the “Marion Progress” newspaper April 3, 1947.

Alice frequently highlighted Grace as a reader favorite for “light fiction.” The appeal of Grace’s books even seemed to cross generations. One day Alice overheard this conversation between a group of sixth-grade girls at the library:

LIBRARY NOTES BY ALICE BRYAN. "Are all those your books?" asked a young sixth grader of her companion. "No," replied her friend, "I picked two out for my mama so she'd let mine alone." "I wouldn't know how to pick out books for my mother," volunteered another younger child waiting at the circulation desk to sign for two books for herself. "That's easy," replied the older girl. "I get Grace Livingston Hill's books. Everybody likes those!"
from the “Marion Progress,” April 17, 1947.

By the mid-1940s, Grace Livingston Hill was at the absolute peak of her writing career with almost one-hundred beloved novels to her credit. In an uncertain, complicated post-World War II climate, readers eagerly sought out her stories for their comfort, warmth, and reliable messages of eternal hope.

Of course, long-time readers of this blog know that Grace’s writing talent was practically a family trait—she was Isabella Alden’s cherished niece. Both women shared a remarkable gift for understanding what readers needed most. By seamlessly weaving messages of faith and comfort into their stories, they ensured that current and future generations of readers knew exactly where to turn for a truly “good book.”

A Treasured Autograph

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

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.

Newspaper Headline: High School Girl Has Read Several Hundred Books. Miss Leona McGill, High School Senior, is Record Reader. Famed Authors Send Suggestions and Good Wishes.

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!

Newspaper clipping: THEIR LETTERS. What well know writers have written to Winona's faithful little reader.

The majority of the replies she received were short and to the point, like this one from Booth Tarkington:

Newspaper clipping: Booth Tarkington, Kennebunkport Maine. I thank you for your letter and for your personal interest in my books.

Zane Grey, famous for his novels about the American West, was a bit more friendly with his reply:

Newspaper clipping: Zane Grey, Los Angeles. Your letter afforded me a great deal of pleasure. I get many letters, but few so inspiring as yours, and I can only say that so long as I continue to have readers like you I cannot fail to go on climbing toward the heights.

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.