Tag: Pansy

Doris Farrand’s Vocation

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Cover_Doris Farrands Vocation resizedDoris Farrand’s Vocation is now available on Amazon!

How can two walk together except they be agreed?

College student Doris Farrand has her life all planned: She’ll earn her living as a schoolteacher until her boyfriend Richard graduates from seminary school as an ordained minister; then they’ll be married. Their future is so well planned, nothing can go wrong … until Doris receives news that turns her life upside down. Suddenly, she and Richard can’t agree on anything, including the future she once thought was set in stone. The only person who understands Doris’s predicament is fellow student Garrett Randall. As Garrett’s acquaintance with Doris turns to friendship, and she relies more and more on his wise Christian counsel, Doris realizes she has an important choice to make about her future and about the man she will marry.

This edition includes discussion questions, a biography of the author, and an introduction to Isabella Alden’s books by Christian author Jenny Berlin.

Click on the cover to read the first two chapters of Doris Farrand’s Vocation.

“I’m as chirk as can be.”

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Dictionary1

Isabella’s books contain some words and terms that are no longer in use. One word she regularly used in her books is chirk. For example:

“I’m as chirk as can be,” says Garrett Randall in Doris Farrand’s Vocation.

In Lost on the Trail, Dr. Evarts visits a sick student to “chirk Templeton up a little.”

And in Overruled, Mrs. Bramlett has a long talk with Marjorie and declares, “I feel quite chirked up; it does beat all how you manage to comfort a body!”

In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, chirk was an informal word for cheer and was mostly commonly followed by the word, up.

Early Writings

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Grandfather Clock 01 EditedIsabella kept a daily diary from the time she was seven years old. In it she faithfully recorded the day’s events, so she developed her writing skills at an early age.

Her first published story appeared in the newspaper when she was still a child. Her tale concerned the family’s “grand old clock.” Isabella had grown up hearing the steady tick-tock of the clock; but it suddenly stopped one morning without warning. Since the clock was a family heirloom and one hundred years old at the time, her parents took the problem in stride.

But Isabella’s imagination wove a tale around the powers of the old clock. The day was cloudy and she attributed it to the fact that the sun didn’t know when to rise, simply because the old clock had stopped keeping time. She continued the story with dire predictions that the earth would be plunged into darkness and other terrible things would happen.

She ended the tale with her father pulling out his faithful pocket watch—still ticking—thus saving the world!Pocket Watch Edited

Isabella’s older sister, Mary, was married to the editor of the local newspaper. He suggested that the story appear in the next issue of the paper. Isabella’s father agreed, provided the story was published anonymously to protect Isabella’s privacy.

Thus, Isabella Alden’s first published story appeared in the newspaper with the title and byline:

Our Old Clock
by
Pansy

Many years later, Isabella proudly recounted the story as her very first appearance in public.