Last week’s free read, The Little Red Shop, first appeared in The Pansy magazine and told the story of the Brimmer children—Jack, Cornelius and Rosalie. They started their own business to help support their mother and baby sister, and made a great success of it!
But author Margaret Sidney knew that with great success comes great responsibility—a lesson she illustrated in this week’s free read, The Old Brimmer Place.
The Brimmer family’s adventures continue as their little red shop prospers and thrives. But when Jack discovers a neighbor’s shameful secret, he, Corny, and Rosy can’t agree about what to do about it. Should they help their neighbor? Or should they ignore friends in need and simply concentrate on their business?
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Some of Isabella Alden’s most beloved stories are about resourceful young people who, with God’s help, make a better life for themselves and others.
That was the premise at the heart of her novels about the Bryant family (in Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant and Twenty MinutesLate) and in The Man of the House.
Harriet Lothrop (writing under the pen name of Margaret Sidney) used the same premise for her novels. In her best-selling series of books about the Pepper children, the five siblings—Ben, Polly, Joel, Davie, and Phronsie—comprised a poor but stalwart family struggling to stay together. And at the heart of each story was the children’s desire to help their mother, whom they affectionately called “Mamsie.”
A sketch of Margaret Sidney with her signature; from an article about the author in Good Housekeeping magazine, December 12, 1885.
Harriet once explained in an interview why there was no father in any of the stories:
“My judgment told me that I must eliminate Mr. Pepper, because the whole motif “to help mother” would be lost if the man lived. It hurt me most dreadfully. He was a most estimable man, and I loved my own father so much, it seemed the most wicked thing to do. I went around for days quite droopy and guilty.
She used the same “fatherless family” device when she later wrote stories about the Brimmer children. In this two-book series, older brothers Jack and Cornelius are determined to earn money to help their widowed mother and younger siblings. In the process, they find their principles challenged at every turn, even as they learn valuable lessons.
Tired of seeing their mother struggle to support them, brothers Jack and Cornelius—with some help from little sister Rosalie—decide to go into business, and open a little shop in the old tool shed behind their house. At first business is slow, but just as the brothers begin to doubt they will ever make the shop a success, one of their town’s most influential citizens takes notice of the boys’ efforts. Soon the brothers have more business than they can handle, and an entirely new set of problems to solve.
The Little Red Shop is a charming story written with older children and teens in mind.
You can read The Little Red Shop for free!
Choose the reading option you like best:
You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device.
Publishing The Pansy magazine was more than just a family affair for Isabella Alden. Writers outside her family circle also contributed poems, biographies, science articles, and other content for the magazine issues. One of those contributors was Harriet Lothrop, who wrote children’s fiction under the pen name of Margaret Sidney.
Margaret Sidney about 1895, image from the New York Public Library
Harriet’s books were incredibly popular, especially the Five Little Peppers—a series she wrote about brothers and sisters in the fictional Pepper family. Daniel Lothrop, the publisher of the Pepper books, also published Isabella’s books, as well as The Pansy magazine.
Daniel Lothrop
Mr. Lothrop was immediately charmed by Harriet’s Pepper books. In fact, he was so impressed, he asked to personally meet Harriet. One thing lead to another, and they eventually married!
An 1899 cover of one of the Pepper books, The Stories Polly Pepper Told
Together they became a powerhouse in the publishing and literary communities. They purchased Wayside, the Concord, Massachusetts home that previously belonged to American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. There Harriet continued to write her stories and novels; and Daniel enjoyed his weekends there as respite from the hustle and bustle of downtown Boston where his publishing house was located.
Wayside, as it appeared in 1908.
As individuals, Isabella Alden and Harriet Lothrop could not be more different. Isabella lived a rather quiet life, supporting her husband’s ministry, raising her son, writing her books, teaching at Chautauqua, and giving talks and readings of her stories at churches across the country.
By comparison, Harriet loved a good party. She was a leading force in Concord society. When her daughter Margaret turned nine years old, Harriet, in typical style, threw an all-day celebration. She invited children and adults from around the area to join the birthday celebration.
The highlight of the event was when the children formed a circle around a large artificial rose that had been set up on the lawn. And when the rose petals parted and spread, they revealed little Margaret setting in the center of the rose. Here’s an illustration that appeared in a magazine that printed an account of the event.
Harriet was definitely an imaginative hostess, and knew how to throw a party to please children and adults!
The same was true of her stories. Although Harriet was best known for her children’s books, she also wrote novels for teens and young adults.
One such novel was How Tom and Dorothy Made and Kept a Christian Home.
Newlyweds Tom and Dorothy Foster have a bright future together, but very little money. They’ve pledged to spend their earnings for God’s good, but it seems each new day brings new temptations. Will they be able to keep the promises they made to God and to each other?
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For over twenty years Isabella Alden and her husband edited a children’s magazine called The Pansy.
Each issue was filled with inspiring stories, delightful illustrations, short poems, and descriptions of exotic and far-away places to spark children’s imaginations. Published by D. Lothrop and Company of Boston, the magazine was first produced as a weekly publication, and later changed to a monthly.
Editing and writing for the magazine was no easy undertaking and Isabella’s entire family pitched in to help.
Pick up any issue of The Pansy and you’ll find stories by Isabella’s sisters, Julia Macdonald and Marcia Livingston, or her best friend, Theodosia Foster (writing as Faye Huntington).
Margaret Sidney, famous for the Five Little Peppers books for children, published some of her books as serials in The Pansy, as did author Ruth Ogden. Even Isabella’s brother-in-law Charles and beloved niece Grace Livingston (before her marriage to Reverend Frank Hill) contributed stories.
The 1881 cover of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney
Isabella’s son Raymond wrote poems, and her husband Reverend Gustavus “Ross” Alden contributed stories and short homilies like this one:
Sometimes, the family banded together to write stories for the magazine. In 1886 each family member—Isabella, Ross, Marcia, Grace, Raymond, Theodosia, and Charles—took a turn writing a chapter of a serial story titled “A Sevenfold Trouble.” In 1887 they continued their collaboration by writing a sequel titled, “Up Garret,” with each writer again producing a different chapter. In 1889 the combined stories were published as a book titled A Sevenfold Trouble.
An original illustration for A Sevenfold Trouble, published as an 1887 serial in The Pansy.
Isabella also previewed some of her own books by publishing them as serial stories in the magazine. Monteagle and A Dozen of Them first captured readers’ hearts in the pages of The Pansy.
The magazine was a resounding success. Thousands of boys and girls from around the world subscribed. Many children grew to adulthood reading the magazine, as Isabella remained at the helm of The Pansy for over 23 years.
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Isabella Alden 