Companions of Our Youth: Stories by Women for Young People's Magazines, 1865-1900

by Jane Benardete (Editor), Phyllis Moe (Editor)

An anthology of 19 stories by noted women authors, selected from children's periodicals of the late 19th century and reflecting American life and culture of that period.

Content:
The girl who could not write a composition / Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward --
Cub / Mary Virginia Terhune --
Cooking class / Louisa May Alcott --
Johnny Squannot's revenge / Harriet Prescott Spofford --
In the turtle-crawl / Helen Stuart Campbell --
In old Florence / Rebecca Harding Davis --
More ways than one / Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward --
Joe's mother / Harriet Prescott Spofford --
Cousin from Boston / Louise Chandler Moulton --
Jack's Independence Day / Rose Terry Cook --
Bound Girl / Mary E. Wilkins Freeman --
A member of the harnessing class / Sarah Chauncey Woolsey --
Miss Butterfly / Mary Virginia Terhune --
Ainslee's valentine / Helen Stuart Campbell --
William Henry's letters to his grandmother / Abby Morton Diaz --
Stage tavern / Sarah Orne Jewett --
Patchwork School / Mary E. Wilkins Freeman --
Girl with the cannon dresses / Sarah Orne Jewett --
A child of the sea folk / Sarah Chauncey Woolsey

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real mixed bag of stories: plucky girls earning a living, mischievous young scamps, old maids who are more than they appear, rather too many treacherous Indians, noble mothers, you name it. I didn't like all the stories (the ones with Indians in them tended to make me wince), but they were all interesting. It's hard to tell if they're a representative selection of a half centuries worth of magazine fiction, or if they simply represent the anthologists' tastes. Quite a few have something of a proto-feminist slant. I enjoyed the section of brief but pithy biographies of each of the authors represented which closes the book.

[Hal Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything about this anthology is fascinating except the stories, which are not very good.

I learned a lot but was also bored.