Elsie Dinsmore
Encyclopedia
Elsie Dinsmore is a children's book series written by Martha Finley
(1828–1909) between 1867 and 1905.
An adapted version has been published, which leaves out several important facts and details.
The first Elsie books deal with a constant moral conflict between Christian principles and familial loyalty. Elsie's father is a strict disciplinarian who dictates inflexible rules by which his daughter must live. Any infraction is severely and often unjustly punished. In her father's absence Elsie has become a Christian and abides by Biblical law, especially the Ten Commandments. Her father regards this as ludicrous and in some cases as insolence. Elsie feels she must obey the Word of God before that of her father and can only obey her father when his orders do not conflict with Scripture. For example, her young uncle Arthur ruins her copybook and does other damage which he blames on Elsie. Because Elsie will not tell on him, her father is ready to punish her, until she is saved by last-minute testimony from another relative. He attempts to force her to break the Fourth Commandment several times, finally resulting in her having a complete nervous breakdown. In the original story of the second book, Elsie died, but this was rewritten as a near-death experience. Her father later marries Rose Allison and has two more children, Horace, Jr. and Rose, also called Rosie.
By the dates given in Elsie's Womanhood and Elsie's Widowhood, Elsie's birth date can be traced to about 1837. Elsie also has some more distant relatives, who are recurring characters in the series, including the Keiths, the Lilburns, and the Landreths.
Elsie Dinsmore's eldest daughter Elsie becomes engaged to her neighbor's nephew, Lester Leland. Edward Jr. goes to Europe with young Elsie when Lester Leland falls ill. While in Europe, Edward Jr. meets the woman who will become his wife, Zoe Love. He marries her just before her father dies. They later have twins: Edward Lawrence (Laurie) and Lily. While they are away, Violet meets and falls in love with Captain Levis Raymond. He has three children by his first wife: Max, Lucilla (called Lulu), and Gracie; the rest of the books are mainly about them. Together, Captain Raymond and Violet have two children: Elsie and Edward (Ned). Rosie marries a college friend of her brother's whom she met on vacation, William Croly. Lulu Raymond marries Chester Dinsmore, and they have one child together before the series ends. Max marries his step uncle's orphaned neice Evelyn Leland.
The plantations are said to be set in Union, Virginia, except for Viamede, which is in Louisiana, not far from New Orleans.
wrote a parody of the Elsie books called Elsie in New York http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/o_henry/231/. In this short story, Elsie (ostensibly a different Elsie, but the similarity to Finley's Elsie is overwhelmingly obvious) is portrayed as a naive young woman who has gone to New York to work for her father's former employer. Elsie is constantly presented with opportunities for honest work and relationships on her first day in the city, but always prevented by the minions of Society and Morality, such as the police or fictional activist groups like the 'Association for the Prevention of Jobs Being Put Up on Working Girls Looking for Jobs.'
When she finds her father's former boss, he is a lecherous rich playboy. There the story stops, allowing the reader to fill in the rest.
The story pokes fun at Elsie Dinsmore's take on the world, where as long as one has faith, and follows the lead of those in moral authority, one will be rewarded.
The Elsie series is also mentioned in Emily Climbs
, the second book of a series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
, when Emily is told in a derisive comment by Mr. Carpenter to "go read the Elsie books." Elsie is also mentioned in Maud Hart Lovelace's book Betsy in Spite of Herself
. When Betsy's friend Tib buys them Sunday-evening theater tickets, Betsy remembers how Elsie Dinsmore would have handled what she considered a somewhat shocking proposal, then dismisses it--"[she] had never thought much of Elsie Dinsmore."
Further, Elsie Dinsmore is mentioned in The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson; it's the one book Norah finds to read at her new home.
Approximately 80 minutes into the 1951 movie People Will Talk
(in the "railroad" scene), Mrs. Praetorius breaks into tears and compares herself in her current emotional state to "a kind of idiot Elsie Dinsmore."
Approximately 31 minutes into the 1956 movie The Bad Seed
(in a scene taking place one day after the mysterious drowning of her fellow classmate), the homicidal 8-year-old Rhoda Penmark
, played by Patty McCormack
, proudly announces that she will be reading her new book, Elsie Dinsmore, which she has won at Sunday School.
Approximately 25 minutes into the classic play/film The Man Who Came to Dinner, Sheldon Whiteside, played by Monty Wooley, refers to his secretary Maggie as Elsie Dinsmore in the following line, said in a sarcastic tone: "Come back at eight-thirty and we'll play three handed [Gin Rummy] with Elsie Dinsmore.'
In Thomas Pynchon
's Against the Day
, the following dialogue occurs:
"Pa's dead and gone and I haven't stopped hating him. What kind of unnatural daughter's that make me? A girl is supposed to love her father." "Sure, in those Elsie Dinsmore stories or someplace. We all grew up on that stuff, and it poisoned our souls." (479-480)
The series was reissued as Elsie Dinsmore: A Life of Faith.
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Martha Finley
Martha Finley was a teacher and author of numerous works, the most well known being the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on...
(1828–1909) between 1867 and 1905.
An adapted version has been published, which leaves out several important facts and details.
Original story
Initially, Elsie does not live with her parents but with her paternal grandfather, his second wife (Elsie's stepgrandmother), and their six children: Adelaide, Lora, Louise, Arthur, Walter, and Enna. Elsie's mother died soon after giving birth to her leaving her in the care of her grandfather. Before her father comes back she becomes good friends with Rose Allison, with whom she studies the Bible. Her father was in Europe until she was almost eight years old as the first book begins.The first Elsie books deal with a constant moral conflict between Christian principles and familial loyalty. Elsie's father is a strict disciplinarian who dictates inflexible rules by which his daughter must live. Any infraction is severely and often unjustly punished. In her father's absence Elsie has become a Christian and abides by Biblical law, especially the Ten Commandments. Her father regards this as ludicrous and in some cases as insolence. Elsie feels she must obey the Word of God before that of her father and can only obey her father when his orders do not conflict with Scripture. For example, her young uncle Arthur ruins her copybook and does other damage which he blames on Elsie. Because Elsie will not tell on him, her father is ready to punish her, until she is saved by last-minute testimony from another relative. He attempts to force her to break the Fourth Commandment several times, finally resulting in her having a complete nervous breakdown. In the original story of the second book, Elsie died, but this was rewritten as a near-death experience. Her father later marries Rose Allison and has two more children, Horace, Jr. and Rose, also called Rosie.
By the dates given in Elsie's Womanhood and Elsie's Widowhood, Elsie's birth date can be traced to about 1837. Elsie also has some more distant relatives, who are recurring characters in the series, including the Keiths, the Lilburns, and the Landreths.
Adapted version
A new Elsie Dinsmore series was adapted from the old one and published by Zondervan/Mission City Press in 1999. The language has been somewhat modernized and the African American characters no longer speak in stereotyped patois. While the plotlines still hinge on Elsie's attempts to gain her father's love while maintaining her Christian ethics and refusing to report bullying incidents, some of Horace's actions have been toned down and the infamous scene in which he drags her off to beat her with a riding crop no longer exists. The original books have been reprinted as "Original Elsie Classics" by many publishers.Elsie's family
When Elsie comes of age she marries her father's good friend Edward Travilla. He has been her knight in shining armor who constantly helps her when other people are cruel to her; he has loved her for a long time. They have 8 children: Elsie, Edward, Violet, Harold, Herbert, Lily (who dies very young), Rosie, and Walter.Elsie Dinsmore's eldest daughter Elsie becomes engaged to her neighbor's nephew, Lester Leland. Edward Jr. goes to Europe with young Elsie when Lester Leland falls ill. While in Europe, Edward Jr. meets the woman who will become his wife, Zoe Love. He marries her just before her father dies. They later have twins: Edward Lawrence (Laurie) and Lily. While they are away, Violet meets and falls in love with Captain Levis Raymond. He has three children by his first wife: Max, Lucilla (called Lulu), and Gracie; the rest of the books are mainly about them. Together, Captain Raymond and Violet have two children: Elsie and Edward (Ned). Rosie marries a college friend of her brother's whom she met on vacation, William Croly. Lulu Raymond marries Chester Dinsmore, and they have one child together before the series ends. Max marries his step uncle's orphaned neice Evelyn Leland.
Places featured in the books
- Roselands - A plantation owned by Elsie's grandfather. Elsie lives here during the first two books.
- The Oaks - A plantation owned by Elsie's father. Elsie moves here with her father after he returns from Europe.
- Ion - A plantation owned by Edward Travilla and his mother. Elsie moves here after she marries Edward. The majority of the books take place here.
- Viamede - A plantation that belonged to Elsie's mother; Elsie inherits it when she turns 21.
- Woodburn - A plantation owned by Elsie's son-in-law, Levis Raymond.
The plantations are said to be set in Union, Virginia, except for Viamede, which is in Louisiana, not far from New Orleans.
Characters
- Elsie Dinsmore - the only child of Horace and Elsie Dinsmore. She marries Edward Travilla Jr., and is the mother of Elsie, Horace Edward, Violet, Harold, Herbert, Lily, Rose, and Walter Travilla.
- Horace Dinsmore - Elsie's father. He is married first to Elsie Grayson, by whom he had Elsie, then to Rose Allison, by whom he had Horace III and Rose Dinsmore.
- Edward Travilla Jr. - son of Edward and Violet Travilla, married Elsie Dinsmore, and fathered her children. He dies in Elsie's Widowhood.
- Rose Allison Dinsmore - second child in the Allison family, married Horace Dinsmore, mother of Horace, Jr. and Rose Dinsmore.
- Enna Dinsmore Percival Johnson - seventh child of Arthur Dinsmore, married first to Richard Percival, then Mr. Johnson. She mothers four children: Richard Jr. and Molly, by Percival, and Robert 'Bob' and Elizabeth 'Betty'. She is rendered mentally unstable after a carriage accident with her father, and in the first chapter of Grandmother Elsie it is mentioned that she has died at the home of her oldest daughter.
- Arthur Dinsmore Jr. - fifth child of Arthur Dinsmore, Horace's half-brother. He is very mean to Elsie in her childhood, and is killed in the Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
- Thomas Jackson alias Bromly Egerton - one of Arthur Dinsmore's friends. He tries to win Elsie's hand in marriage so he can have her inheritance. He nearly succeeds, but Horace finds out before he can convince her to run away with him. He is killed in the Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
- Elsie Leland - eldest child of Edward and Elsie Travilla. She marries Lester Leland and has four children: Edward Travilla, Eric, Elsie Alicia, and Violet Leland.
- Horace Edward Travilla - the second child of Edward and Elsie Travilla. He marries Zoe Love shortly before her father's death and they have twins: Lily (after his sister) and Edward Lawrence.
- Violet Raymond - Elsie and Edward Travilla's third child. She marries the widower Captain Levis Raymond and becomes the stepmother of Max, Lulu, and Grace. She has two children: Elsie and Edward Raymond.
- Harold Allison Travilla - the fourth child of Edward and Elsie Travilla. He eventually marries his sister's stepdaughter, Grace Raymond.
- Herbert Travilla - Edward and Elsie's fifth child. He becomes a physician and after the first books he is rarely mentioned.
- Lily Travilla - Edward and Elsie's sixth child who dies at age 7.
- Rose Travilla Croly - Edward and Elsie's seventh child. She marries her brother's friend, William Croly.
- Walter Travilla - the youngest child of Edward and Elsie, named after Walter Dinsmore.
- Lucilla "Lulu" Raymond Dinsmore - the oldest daughter of Grace and Levis Raymond, and stepdaughter to Violet Raymond. She is known for having an incredibly bad temper, and as a little girl she is punished several times in each book by her father. She marries Chester Dinsmore.
- Max Raymond - only son of Grace and Levis Raymond, and stepson of Violet Raymond. He marries Evelyn Leland, his stepcousin and his sister's best friend.
- Grace Raymond Travilla - youngest daughter of Grace and Levis Raymond, and stepdaughter of Violet Raymond. She marries Harold Travilla, her physician and her stepmother's younger brother.
Parody
O. HenryO. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
wrote a parody of the Elsie books called Elsie in New York http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/o_henry/231/. In this short story, Elsie (ostensibly a different Elsie, but the similarity to Finley's Elsie is overwhelmingly obvious) is portrayed as a naive young woman who has gone to New York to work for her father's former employer. Elsie is constantly presented with opportunities for honest work and relationships on her first day in the city, but always prevented by the minions of Society and Morality, such as the police or fictional activist groups like the 'Association for the Prevention of Jobs Being Put Up on Working Girls Looking for Jobs.'
When she finds her father's former boss, he is a lecherous rich playboy. There the story stops, allowing the reader to fill in the rest.
The story pokes fun at Elsie Dinsmore's take on the world, where as long as one has faith, and follows the lead of those in moral authority, one will be rewarded.
Elsie Dinsmore in popular culture
The Elsie series is mentioned in Chapter 19 of Jo of the Chalet School, the second book of a school series by Elinor M. Brent Dyer. Josephine Bettany, the main character, an avid reader, lies injured in bed after a skating accident. When Jo complains that she has read everything she has, Dr. Jem offers her the Elsie books. Jo accepts them doubtfully, proclaiming that they were about an 'awfully good little girl' and there were 'dozens' of them, but is soon digging eagerly into Elsie's saga. (The books featured include Elsie Dinsmore, Elsie's Holidays at Roselands, Elsie's Girlhood, Elsie's Womanhood, Elsie's Motherhood, and Elsie's Children.) Ultimately, Josephine decides to carry on the series by writing about Elsie's children (Eddie, Harold, and Herbert).The Elsie series is also mentioned in Emily Climbs
Emily Climbs
Emily Climbs is the second in a series of novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It was first published in 1925.While the legal battle with Montgomery's publishing company continued, Montgomery's husband Ewan MacDonald continued to suffer clinical depression. Montgomery, tired of writing the Anne...
, the second book of a series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE , called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L.M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success...
, when Emily is told in a derisive comment by Mr. Carpenter to "go read the Elsie books." Elsie is also mentioned in Maud Hart Lovelace's book Betsy in Spite of Herself
Betsy in Spite of Herself
Betsy in Spite of Herself is the sixth volume in the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. The story covers Betsy and Tacy's sophomore, or tenth grade, year in high school and re-introduces the character of Tib Muller, now living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.During a visit to Tib's family in...
. When Betsy's friend Tib buys them Sunday-evening theater tickets, Betsy remembers how Elsie Dinsmore would have handled what she considered a somewhat shocking proposal, then dismisses it--"[she] had never thought much of Elsie Dinsmore."
Further, Elsie Dinsmore is mentioned in The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson; it's the one book Norah finds to read at her new home.
Approximately 80 minutes into the 1951 movie People Will Talk
People Will Talk
People Will Talk is a romantic comedy/drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck from a screenplay by Mankiewicz, based on the German play by Curt Goetz, which had been made into a movie in Germany...
(in the "railroad" scene), Mrs. Praetorius breaks into tears and compares herself in her current emotional state to "a kind of idiot Elsie Dinsmore."
Approximately 31 minutes into the 1956 movie The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed (film)
The Bad Seed is a 1956 American horror-thrillerfilm directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based upon a play by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film...
(in a scene taking place one day after the mysterious drowning of her fellow classmate), the homicidal 8-year-old Rhoda Penmark
Rhoda Penmark
Rhoda Penmark is a fictional character in William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed and the stage play adapted from it by Maxwell Anderson. She was portrayed by Patty McCormack in the 1956 film adaptation and by Carrie Wells in the 1985 made for TV remake....
, played by Patty McCormack
Patty McCormack
Patty McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Bad Seed...
, proudly announces that she will be reading her new book, Elsie Dinsmore, which she has won at Sunday School.
Approximately 25 minutes into the classic play/film The Man Who Came to Dinner, Sheldon Whiteside, played by Monty Wooley, refers to his secretary Maggie as Elsie Dinsmore in the following line, said in a sarcastic tone: "Come back at eight-thirty and we'll play three handed [Gin Rummy] with Elsie Dinsmore.'
In Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...
's Against the Day
Against the Day
Against the Day is a novel by Thomas Pynchon. The narrative takes place between the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the time immediately following World War I and features more than a hundred characters spread across the United States, Europe, Mexico, Central Asia, and "one or two places not strictly...
, the following dialogue occurs:
"Pa's dead and gone and I haven't stopped hating him. What kind of unnatural daughter's that make me? A girl is supposed to love her father." "Sure, in those Elsie Dinsmore stories or someplace. We all grew up on that stuff, and it poisoned our souls." (479-480)
List of books
The books, in order of publication, were:- Elsie Dinsmore (1867) - online at Project Gutenberg and as audio at Librivox.org
- Elsie's Holidays at Roselands (1868) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's Girlhood (1872) - online at Project Gutenberg and in the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature
- Elsie's Womanhood (1875) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's Motherhood (1876) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's Children (1877) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's Widowhood (1880) - online at Internet Archive
- Grandmother Elsie (1882) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's New Relations (1883) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie at Nantucket (1884) - online at Project Gutenberg
- The Two Elsies (1885) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's Kith and Kin (1886) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's Friends at Woodburn (1887)- online at http://www.archive.org/stream/elsiesfriendsatw00finl/elsiesfriendsatw00finl_djvu.txt
- Christmas with Grandma Elsie (1888) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie and the Raymonds (1889)- online at http://www.archive.org/stream/elsieraymonds00finl/elsieraymonds00finl_djvu.txt
- Elsie Yachting with the Raymonds (1890)
- Elsie's Vacation (1891) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie at Viamede (1892)
- Elsie at Ion (1893)
- Elsie at the World's Fair (1894) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie's Journey on Inland Waters (1895)
- Elsie at Home (1897) - online at Project Gutenberg
- Elsie on the Hudson (1898)
- Elsie in the South (1899)
- Elsie's Young Folks (1900)
- Elsie's Winter Trip (1902)
- Elsie and Her Loved Ones (1903)
- Elsie and Her Namesakes (1905)
The series was reissued as Elsie Dinsmore: A Life of Faith.
- Elsie's Endless Wait
- Elsie's Impossible Choice
- Elsie's New Life
- Elsie's Stolen Heart
- Elsie's True Love
- Elsie's Troubled Times
- Elsie's Tender Mercies
- Elsie's Great Hope - online at:
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