Elsie in the South (The Original Elsie Dinsmore Collection)

Elsie grows accustomed to her new-found role as "Grandma" to Max, Lulu, and Gracie. In the fall and winter months that follow, Max, Lulu, and Gracie each learn valuable lessons about good character and obedience. Violet gives birth to a daughter, another Elsie, and Captain Raymond returns home safely to be with his burgeoning family once again. The Best Books of Check out the top books of the year on our page Best Books of Product details Format Paperback pages Dimensions Looking for beautiful books?

Visit our Beautiful Books page and find lovely books for kids, photography lovers and more. Other books in this series. The spinster daughter of a Presbyterian minister, Miss Finley devoted her life to teaching, writing and charity, writing many books besides the Dinsmore series in which saintly young women figured prominently.

Her most well-known creation was Elsie, whose unshakable perfection eventually wins her abundant earthly rewards, including the eventual spiritual conversion of her stern father. Children's novels of the time were often maudlin, involving perfect little angels whose motivations were always pure and who refused to do anything wrong, even when their health depended on it.

Martha Finley

Little Elsie puts them all to shame. At one point, she gets blamed for ruining some stuff when in fact it was her Uncle Arthur who did so. Though her father is about to beat her for the infraction, Elsie will not tell him who is actually guilty thinking that a sin , and is only saved at the last minute by another relative who saw everything. The absurdity of such "piety" is overwhelming. Far more disturbing, however, is Elsie's relationship to her father. She basically idolizes him, and is frequently described as longing for his kind words, his embraces, his kisses; she even marries his best friend.

Also, when she is presumably happily married, she continues to defer to her father's will and wisdom rather than her husband's. If you haven't gathered it yet, we're not too fond of these books.

There are plenty who disagree with our assessment, however. Many feel these books are simply edifying stories about a girl wholly dedicated to God. We fully support complete surrender to the Most High, but we also question whether the "virtues" Elsie displays are evidence of genuine faithfulness or simply of 19th century morals and prejudices. The plot of the second book, Elsie's Holidays at Roselands , revolves around Horace's refusing to speak to Elsie — or allow anyone else to speak to her — for several months, because she is more obedient to God than to her father.

Their "war of wills" culminates in Elsie coming very near to death, to the point that they shave her head hoping to abate her "brain fever". When Horace thinks that she has died, he finds her Bible, comes to a knowledge of Jesus, and converts to Christianity. Elsie comes back from the brink of death, but her recovery is slow, and due to this her father is very protective of her. Her recovery is helped by her father marrying Rose Allison. They have two more children, Horace, Jr. Some years later, Edward Travilla, an older man who has had his eye on Elsie for a long time, proposes to Elsie, and the next year they enjoy a quiet wedding.

While the Dinsmore and Travilla families are vacationing in Europe, the Civil War begins, and they remain there until it ends. They return to find the devastation that the War has wreaked and attempt to help their families heal. They also attempt to protect themselves against the KKK.

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Elsie's considerable funds are used to rebuild the families' plantations and restore the families to health. The children of both the Dinsmore and Travilla families have adventures and grow in their own understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in an amoral world, guided by Edward and Elsie. All of the children grow up and are married except Herbert and Walter. By the dates given in Elsie's Womanhood and Elsie's Widowhood , Elsie's birth date can be traced to about Elsie also has some more distant relatives, who are recurring characters in the series, including the Keiths, the Lilburns, and the Landreths.

Later in Elsie's life, the books focus less on Elsie herself, and mostly deal with Lulu's constant conflict with her fearful temper.

Elsie Dinsmore - Exodus Books

When Violet is first married to Lulu's father Levis Raymond, Lulu creates a problem by refusing to obey her new mother. Another time, she hurts and nearly kills her baby sister, causing her father to beat her with a riding whip. When Lulu attends school in Louisiana, her music instructor taps her with a ruler, causing her to strike him over the head with a book. When Lulu refuses to comply with Mr.

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Dinsmore's order that she go back to the signor, Lulu holds out, causing her to be cut off from the family circle. Her bad behavior causes Rosie to sympathize with her sister Vi for having such burdens, and Rosie often teases Lulu into a passion. A Life of Faith ". The language has been somewhat modernized and the African American characters no longer speak in dialect e. While the plot-lines still hinge on Elsie's attempts to gain her father's love while maintaining her Christian ethics and refusing to report bullying incidents usually by Arthur or Miss Day, the governess , 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.

There is a line of dolls and a Bible study curriculum based on the new series.

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The original books have been reprinted as "Original Elsie Classics" by many publishers. 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 Dinsmore's eldest daughter Elsie becomes engaged to her neighbor's nephew, Lester Leland. While in Europe, Edward Jr. He marries her just before her father dies.