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The Little Maid's Historical Series #7
A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia
Originally published in 1919, this historical novel is set in 1778 at a time when Philadelphia was in the hands of General Vowie and the British army. It is the story of Ruth Parvel and Winifred Merrill, who kept their ears open and made good use of their knowledge.
210 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1919
13 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Alice Turner Curtis
72 books23 followersChildren's and young adult historical fiction author Alice Turner Curtis was born in Sullivan, Hancock County, Maine, USA. Her maiden name is Alice L. Turner. She is listed in the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books. Her father was a sailmaker. She was married (in Boston on 20 May 1895) to Irving Curtis (18 Jan 1835 – 18 Nov 1910). Her parents (both born in Maine) were John Vinal Turner and Susan Ann Spear. Alice lived her life in Maine and Massachusetts (notably, in Boston). She had been in the literary profession since at least 1895 (with Marjorie's Way being her first known book, published in 1904).
Alice Turner Curtis is the author of "The Little Maid's Historical Series", originally published, during the period from 1910 to 1937. Reprinted by Knopf in the 1940's and 1950's with illustrations by Sandra James. Some books were reprinted by Applewood in the 1990's with the original illustrations. One book containing two original stories was printed by Derrydale Books in 1991. She is also known for the Grandpa's Little Girls series, The Yankee Girl Civil War Stories, the Frontier Girl series, The Little Heroine series, the Marjorie series, the Little Runnaways series, and other books.
Alice Turner Curtis is the author of "The Little Maid's Historical Series", originally published, during the period from 1910 to 1937. Reprinted by Knopf in the 1940's and 1950's with illustrations by Sandra James. Some books were reprinted by Applewood in the 1990's with the original illustrations. One book containing two original stories was printed by Derrydale Books in 1991. She is also known for the Grandpa's Little Girls series, The Yankee Girl Civil War Stories, the Frontier Girl series, The Little Heroine series, the Marjorie series, the Little Runnaways series, and other books.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 7, 2019
The reader of Alice Turner Cook's Little Maid series - a collection of twenty-four children's novels featuring young girls growing up in colonial and revolutionary America - might be forgiven for thinking that the Revolution was a fairly minor conflict conducted by amiable rivals, rather than a bitter struggle that divided neighbor from neighbor - a war fought by guerrilla-rebels against an occupying force that did not feel itself obligated to observe any of the customary rules of war. The terrible prison ships of Wallabout Bay, where deliberately inhumane conditions caused more American deaths than all the battles of the war combined, make no appearance in
A Little Maid of Old New York
; nor does the internecine violence between Patriot and Tory neighbor have any place in
A Little Maid of Narragansett Bay
.
By the same token, readers of A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia might wonder how such notable figures as George Washington, the Marquis de la Fayette, and General Howe found the time to conduct a war, with so many visits from endearing young girls looking for lost dogs, or eager to deliver messages and help the cause. Valley Forge makes an appearance, but don't expect tales of emaciated soldiers munching on candles to survive the winter. There is certainly mention made of hardship, but it is quickly glossed over by a tale of bringing honey to the men...
Time and distance often do soften the harsh realities of history in our collective imagination, but I think the sanitized picture painted in Curtis' books (of which I have now read three) probably owes more to the conventions governing children's literature in the early part of the twentieth century, when these titles first saw publication. The tale of two young Philadelphia girls - Ruth Pennel and Winifred Merill - who take part in plays, go to May-Day parties, and get lost while driving their pony-cart in the country, A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia can tell us more about social expectations of childhood in 1919 than in 1778. Ruth's great deed in warning Lafayette of a British plan to capture him occurs almost at the end of the book, and feels like an afterthought to the "real" story.
Still, this was an entertaining book, that will appeal to those readers with a taste for sentimental children's novels, and an interest in vintage girls' series. Just don't expect real historical fiction...
By the same token, readers of A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia might wonder how such notable figures as George Washington, the Marquis de la Fayette, and General Howe found the time to conduct a war, with so many visits from endearing young girls looking for lost dogs, or eager to deliver messages and help the cause. Valley Forge makes an appearance, but don't expect tales of emaciated soldiers munching on candles to survive the winter. There is certainly mention made of hardship, but it is quickly glossed over by a tale of bringing honey to the men...
Time and distance often do soften the harsh realities of history in our collective imagination, but I think the sanitized picture painted in Curtis' books (of which I have now read three) probably owes more to the conventions governing children's literature in the early part of the twentieth century, when these titles first saw publication. The tale of two young Philadelphia girls - Ruth Pennel and Winifred Merill - who take part in plays, go to May-Day parties, and get lost while driving their pony-cart in the country, A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia can tell us more about social expectations of childhood in 1919 than in 1778. Ruth's great deed in warning Lafayette of a British plan to capture him occurs almost at the end of the book, and feels like an afterthought to the "real" story.
Still, this was an entertaining book, that will appeal to those readers with a taste for sentimental children's novels, and an interest in vintage girls' series. Just don't expect real historical fiction...
March 16, 2019
I read Primarily from the free Kindle e-book version, but I think I started with this Project Gutenberg version: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22370...
This was an interesting book.
It's about a girl named Ruth Pennell who aims to help Lafayette (the historical character of the American revolution) somehow, and she eventually does it. It begins with Ruth at home (her mother is gone for the time, and her Aunt Deborah is with her). Ruth's dog, Hero, having been lost. She discovers that English soldiers have Hero, and goes to rescue him (and sneaks out of her house to do so when she's supposed to be in her room being punished), disguised as an adult, wearing her mother's best dress. She succeeds, but gets in trouble in the process and at her caretaker's prompting, she sets her own punishment, which is somewhat spoiled by a couple of her friends (Gilbert Merrill and Winifred Merrill); Gilbert helps Winifred sneak into her room to tell her about a play that they're putting on. Anyway, her punishment eventually ends, she gets to see Hero again, and she goes off to the play, where her friends know about what she did that got her into trouble.
Betty Hastings, one of Ruth's friends (who is older than herself) secretly follows Ruth's example in borrowing her mother's nice clothing (and a boarder English soldier's red coat; she borrowed them for costumes for the play), unfortunately, but her mother catches her (Gilbert secretly invited her to the play) and she gets caught by a British soldier (who sees her carrying the red coat) in the process of trying to restore the red coat. She escapes. Anyway, things smooth out after a while.
Betty's birthday is on May first, and they are to celebrate with a May pole. Ruth and Winifred aim to make birthday gifts for their friend. Ruth cuts her thumb while attempting to make a heart-shaped table as a present out of some of her father's mahogany (which she doesn't realize is very valuable). She reveals the plan to her mother (after her thumb is cut), who tells her of its value and forbids her to use her father's tools. She and Winifred decide to make heart-shaped candy for their friend instead. They do, but their friend Gilbert plays a practical joke that goes awry (he takes the candy with the intention of promptly putting it back after Ruth finds it missing, but he has to do stuff and stashes the candy in Ruth's shed; before he makes it back, he feels that Ruth and Winifred would be quite upset with him if he told her), and in order to fix the situation, he takes advantage of things to make it look like fairies stole the candy and returned it (previous to his fairy plan, Ruth had been hoping the fairies stole it and would return it on her penance, which Gilbert sees, wherein she's bowing to a lilac tree and a surprised robin, saying something she heard she should say to fairies). Gilbert put the candy in a basket he found in Ruth's shed and covered it with flowers. Ruth finds it when she's done with her penance to the fairies (which she felt she had wronged in not declaring them welcome in her house earlier). Note: No fairies are actually seen, and there is no evidence of them in the book (to the reader). Gilbert talks to his mother about it, who has him talk with Ruth's mother (who agrees with Gilbert's mother that he should tell Ruth on another day, so as not to spoil the birthday party). However Winifred recognizes the basket as one that she made, and then Ruth thinks Winifred staged the fairy event to make fun of her or something. Then Winifred tells girls at the party about Ruth's fairy story (still not quite comprehending Ruth's thoughts), but Ruth denies Winifred's telling of the story. Later Ruth is sorry for being hasty and mean to Winifred, and an older girl at the party (Annette Tennant) says she's glad that Ruth denied the fairy story, which Ruth promptly says was true. The older girl is incensed about Ruth's saying it was false and then saying it was true (and thinks Ruth 'a mischief-maker, and untruthful'), and then gets the other older girls to avoid Ruth in order to express their disapproval. The older girls kind of befriend Winifred at this point and keep her from sitting by Ruth. Winifred finds out what Ruth said to the older girl. Betty smooths over the situation (and explains the whole matter to everyone, and has them all vote whether or not they believe in fairies; I don't recall it saying what people voted for). Ruth and Winifred become friends again, and the older girls stop shunning them (or at least, there's no more mention of them shunning them, and they seem content).
Ruth and Winifred are invited to see a British tournament (it sounds like a jousting tournament). They go, and Ruth feels a little guilty (since she's on the American side, of course), but Ruth overhears some British soldiers talking about a plan to capture Lafayette. She becomes extremely determined to let Lafayette know in order to save him. Previous in the story, she had dreamed of helping him somehow. She admires Lafayette quite a bit (which is a common thing for people to do in the story).
Anyway, Ruth had known that aunt Deborah had seen Lafayette once, and hoped that she might see him at her house. There are plans for Ruth to visit her aunt Deborah. Ruth tries to hasten things along so she can save Lafayette, but she very nearly gets punished as a result. Eventually, she goes to her aunt Deborah's house. She aims to go off on her own to get a message to Lafayette. However, Lafayette actually does come to her aunt Deborah's house before she can do it. She has a very brief breakfast with him and as he's departing, she tells him of the plot against him. He says people say that about him all the time, basically, thanks her anyway, and rides off.
A time later (while still at her aunt's) Ruth overhears some more British soldiers speaking of a much more threatening plot (to capture Lafayette and his army), by sneaking up on him, basically. However, Ruth runs to Lafayette's army, bumps into a soldier who says she shouldn't be there, and tells him what's happening (in few words). Lafayette and his army are saved.
Ruth's father comes home (he was gone for the whole book until this point). Lafayette honors Ruth, and Gilbert does a play about Lafayette wherein Ruth plays herself.
Unlike other reviewers, I wasn't disappointed in the ending. People thought it seemed rushed. I would rather call it a coincidence than a rushed incident. The less drama and languishing in anxiety the better, if you ask me (but then I have adrenal fatigue).
Ruth really didn't have to do a lot to help out with the war (compared with the girls in the previous books), but she turned out to be very helpful (probably more helpful than the girls in the previous books). I'm not complaining, though. The only thing that bothered me about the book was I wasn't sure what to think about the situation where she was punished, and how her friends didn't respect that she was being punished (which isn't exactly nice to Ruth, especially since they just wanted to tell her about a play, although I can see that they might not have realized that it was a big deal—except that people in Alice Turner Curtis's books usually realize stuff like that; so, it was a departure from the norm of what she's written).
This book was a whole lot more about Ruth and her friends, and sticky situations, than it was about the war (just so you know).
Anyway, remember that all historical fiction is fiction. It's never 100% historically accurate. Historical fiction can spark an interest in history, but I don't think it should be considered history itself. Do your own research (and remember that the details needed to verify historical accuracy are sometimes missing from our wealth of knowledge). That's what I recommend.
Also, remember that reviewers don't always know everything about history themselves (even when they act like they know). Again, do your own research.
I do think this series has value in inspiring readers to learn about history (while helping to familiarize them with the names/dates of events, people, and places).
In summary, it was enjoyable and easy reading.
This was an interesting book.
It's about a girl named Ruth Pennell who aims to help Lafayette (the historical character of the American revolution) somehow, and she eventually does it. It begins with Ruth at home (her mother is gone for the time, and her Aunt Deborah is with her). Ruth's dog, Hero, having been lost. She discovers that English soldiers have Hero, and goes to rescue him (and sneaks out of her house to do so when she's supposed to be in her room being punished), disguised as an adult, wearing her mother's best dress. She succeeds, but gets in trouble in the process and at her caretaker's prompting, she sets her own punishment, which is somewhat spoiled by a couple of her friends (Gilbert Merrill and Winifred Merrill); Gilbert helps Winifred sneak into her room to tell her about a play that they're putting on. Anyway, her punishment eventually ends, she gets to see Hero again, and she goes off to the play, where her friends know about what she did that got her into trouble.
Betty Hastings, one of Ruth's friends (who is older than herself) secretly follows Ruth's example in borrowing her mother's nice clothing (and a boarder English soldier's red coat; she borrowed them for costumes for the play), unfortunately, but her mother catches her (Gilbert secretly invited her to the play) and she gets caught by a British soldier (who sees her carrying the red coat) in the process of trying to restore the red coat. She escapes. Anyway, things smooth out after a while.
Betty's birthday is on May first, and they are to celebrate with a May pole. Ruth and Winifred aim to make birthday gifts for their friend. Ruth cuts her thumb while attempting to make a heart-shaped table as a present out of some of her father's mahogany (which she doesn't realize is very valuable). She reveals the plan to her mother (after her thumb is cut), who tells her of its value and forbids her to use her father's tools. She and Winifred decide to make heart-shaped candy for their friend instead. They do, but their friend Gilbert plays a practical joke that goes awry (he takes the candy with the intention of promptly putting it back after Ruth finds it missing, but he has to do stuff and stashes the candy in Ruth's shed; before he makes it back, he feels that Ruth and Winifred would be quite upset with him if he told her), and in order to fix the situation, he takes advantage of things to make it look like fairies stole the candy and returned it (previous to his fairy plan, Ruth had been hoping the fairies stole it and would return it on her penance, which Gilbert sees, wherein she's bowing to a lilac tree and a surprised robin, saying something she heard she should say to fairies). Gilbert put the candy in a basket he found in Ruth's shed and covered it with flowers. Ruth finds it when she's done with her penance to the fairies (which she felt she had wronged in not declaring them welcome in her house earlier). Note: No fairies are actually seen, and there is no evidence of them in the book (to the reader). Gilbert talks to his mother about it, who has him talk with Ruth's mother (who agrees with Gilbert's mother that he should tell Ruth on another day, so as not to spoil the birthday party). However Winifred recognizes the basket as one that she made, and then Ruth thinks Winifred staged the fairy event to make fun of her or something. Then Winifred tells girls at the party about Ruth's fairy story (still not quite comprehending Ruth's thoughts), but Ruth denies Winifred's telling of the story. Later Ruth is sorry for being hasty and mean to Winifred, and an older girl at the party (Annette Tennant) says she's glad that Ruth denied the fairy story, which Ruth promptly says was true. The older girl is incensed about Ruth's saying it was false and then saying it was true (and thinks Ruth 'a mischief-maker, and untruthful'), and then gets the other older girls to avoid Ruth in order to express their disapproval. The older girls kind of befriend Winifred at this point and keep her from sitting by Ruth. Winifred finds out what Ruth said to the older girl. Betty smooths over the situation (and explains the whole matter to everyone, and has them all vote whether or not they believe in fairies; I don't recall it saying what people voted for). Ruth and Winifred become friends again, and the older girls stop shunning them (or at least, there's no more mention of them shunning them, and they seem content).
Ruth and Winifred are invited to see a British tournament (it sounds like a jousting tournament). They go, and Ruth feels a little guilty (since she's on the American side, of course), but Ruth overhears some British soldiers talking about a plan to capture Lafayette. She becomes extremely determined to let Lafayette know in order to save him. Previous in the story, she had dreamed of helping him somehow. She admires Lafayette quite a bit (which is a common thing for people to do in the story).
Anyway, Ruth had known that aunt Deborah had seen Lafayette once, and hoped that she might see him at her house. There are plans for Ruth to visit her aunt Deborah. Ruth tries to hasten things along so she can save Lafayette, but she very nearly gets punished as a result. Eventually, she goes to her aunt Deborah's house. She aims to go off on her own to get a message to Lafayette. However, Lafayette actually does come to her aunt Deborah's house before she can do it. She has a very brief breakfast with him and as he's departing, she tells him of the plot against him. He says people say that about him all the time, basically, thanks her anyway, and rides off.
A time later (while still at her aunt's) Ruth overhears some more British soldiers speaking of a much more threatening plot (to capture Lafayette and his army), by sneaking up on him, basically. However, Ruth runs to Lafayette's army, bumps into a soldier who says she shouldn't be there, and tells him what's happening (in few words). Lafayette and his army are saved.
Ruth's father comes home (he was gone for the whole book until this point). Lafayette honors Ruth, and Gilbert does a play about Lafayette wherein Ruth plays herself.
Unlike other reviewers, I wasn't disappointed in the ending. People thought it seemed rushed. I would rather call it a coincidence than a rushed incident. The less drama and languishing in anxiety the better, if you ask me (but then I have adrenal fatigue).
Ruth really didn't have to do a lot to help out with the war (compared with the girls in the previous books), but she turned out to be very helpful (probably more helpful than the girls in the previous books). I'm not complaining, though. The only thing that bothered me about the book was I wasn't sure what to think about the situation where she was punished, and how her friends didn't respect that she was being punished (which isn't exactly nice to Ruth, especially since they just wanted to tell her about a play, although I can see that they might not have realized that it was a big deal—except that people in Alice Turner Curtis's books usually realize stuff like that; so, it was a departure from the norm of what she's written).
This book was a whole lot more about Ruth and her friends, and sticky situations, than it was about the war (just so you know).
Anyway, remember that all historical fiction is fiction. It's never 100% historically accurate. Historical fiction can spark an interest in history, but I don't think it should be considered history itself. Do your own research (and remember that the details needed to verify historical accuracy are sometimes missing from our wealth of knowledge). That's what I recommend.
Also, remember that reviewers don't always know everything about history themselves (even when they act like they know). Again, do your own research.
I do think this series has value in inspiring readers to learn about history (while helping to familiarize them with the names/dates of events, people, and places).
In summary, it was enjoyable and easy reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2017
when I first read this book as a child I would have given it five stars plus. I think I read all the Little Maid books in third grade. I loved them. The perfect blend of sweetness and danger, family, friendship and hero worship. They are steeped in sexism but I'm sure that since the child heroines all contribute to the war effort (in this case, saving General Lafayette from capture while encamped at Barren Hill), the author was trying to resist the "timid girl" stereotype. Still, it's most definitely a girl book and it brought me vividly back to my childhood.
October 31, 2010
I just finished reading this to my 94-year-old mother. She loved this book as a child. When I was a child we had her copies of this series at home and I loved them as much as she had.
This one is quite well written and features a spunky, independent, and quite believable 10-year-old girl. There are some references in the book which date the writing, but these are easily edited while reading aloud to avoid any offense to someone else who might be in ear shot.
This one is quite well written and features a spunky, independent, and quite believable 10-year-old girl. There are some references in the book which date the writing, but these are easily edited while reading aloud to avoid any offense to someone else who might be in ear shot.
March 22, 2023
I really enjoy this series. It helps me to see how things were without preaching. I think this one had one of the cutest stories.
Ruth's father is a soilder at Valley Forge. The British have commandeered houses in Ruth's little towns. But life goes on, even in those houses.
Little Ruth and her friends consider Lafayette a huge hero. I suppose because he is from France and here to help the colonists. They all want to meet him. Ruth and her friends even put on a play about him.
There are a ton of awkward situations that Ruth and Winifred find themselves in. Ruth borrows her mother's fancy dress to rescue her dog ironically named Hero. The girls almost destroy precious lumber to try and make a table. They get lost in the dark woods far from home and then decide to seperate.
Ruth's dearest wish is to somehow help with the Revolution. Being just a little girl it is a pretty lofty goal. You don't know anything about this series if you believe she won't have that wish fullfilled.
Ruth's father is a soilder at Valley Forge. The British have commandeered houses in Ruth's little towns. But life goes on, even in those houses.
Little Ruth and her friends consider Lafayette a huge hero. I suppose because he is from France and here to help the colonists. They all want to meet him. Ruth and her friends even put on a play about him.
There are a ton of awkward situations that Ruth and Winifred find themselves in. Ruth borrows her mother's fancy dress to rescue her dog ironically named Hero. The girls almost destroy precious lumber to try and make a table. They get lost in the dark woods far from home and then decide to seperate.
Ruth's dearest wish is to somehow help with the Revolution. Being just a little girl it is a pretty lofty goal. You don't know anything about this series if you believe she won't have that wish fullfilled.
July 21, 2017
A fun adventure story for young girls
I'm an adult, but thoroughly enjoyed this fun little story, geared toward girls between 10-12 years old. Being written in 1919 I thought this was easy to read and was a solid plot full of adventure! The ending was rushed and could have had a few more pages added to do it justice, but other than that I think it's a great book!
I'm an adult, but thoroughly enjoyed this fun little story, geared toward girls between 10-12 years old. Being written in 1919 I thought this was easy to read and was a solid plot full of adventure! The ending was rushed and could have had a few more pages added to do it justice, but other than that I think it's a great book!
January 23, 2019
This is the fourth book that I've read in the series, and they are starting to get a little formulaic.
August 16, 2016
*I read the Kindle edition*
This well written, wonderful book is set in 1778 at a time when Philadelphia was in the hands of General Vowie and the British army. It features an independent 10-year-old girl named Ruth Pennell.
I don't want to spoil much, so if you want to read it.. get the paperback or Kindle version!
This well written, wonderful book is set in 1778 at a time when Philadelphia was in the hands of General Vowie and the British army. It features an independent 10-year-old girl named Ruth Pennell.
I don't want to spoil much, so if you want to read it.. get the paperback or Kindle version!
January 28, 2013
MCL. It's about a girl named Ruth and one of her aunts comes to stay with her while her mother goes to visit her grandmother.
October 31, 2015
Fun!
Owen really enjoyed this story. I read it to him at bed at night. He likes it because it has America's cause in it.
Owen really enjoyed this story. I read it to him at bed at night. He likes it because it has America's cause in it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews