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To the Wives of Ministers

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Isabella Macdonald Alden and her sister Marcia Macdonald Livingston were always very close. They were both married to Presbyterian ministers, and both found success as writers of Christ-centered novels, as well as short stories for Christian magazines.

Isabella Alden (left) and her sister Marcia Livingston (right).

In 1898 the sisters learned through their churches about the plight of a retired minister and his wife who were in danger of losing their home. The couple needed just $150—about $5,900 in today’s money.

Isabella and Marcia knew from experience how difficult it was to live on a minister’s inadequate salary, and how that meager income made it nearly impossible to save anything for retirement. The elderly couple’s plight touched the sisters’ hearts and they decided to take action.

The sisters wrote a joint appeal for donations on behalf of the elderly couple. Their letter was published on May 4, 1898, in a weekly Christian magazine and read as follows:

TO THE WIVES OF PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS.

Dear Friends: Let us beg your pardon in the beginning for addressing you. Our excuse must be that we feel we are not strangers, but friends; the mystic bond which unites the wives of all those who have given themselves to the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ unites us, as well as that dearer, stronger one, Jesus Christ being our Elder Brother. It is because it seems that he has put it into our hearts to send you this word that we do it.

It has come to our knowledge that there is in our beloved Church a minister and his wife who sorely need a little help just now to tide them over a hard place. The facts are, briefly, these:

A Presbyterian minister, formerly in active service as pastor, now broken in health and nearly seventy years of age, invested his little all several years ago, in a small place in California, hoping to make a living by raising fruits and vegetables for the market. He and his wife, who is now partially crippled by rheumatism, have worked heroically on their home, but the unprecedentedly hard times of the past few years, as well as increasing ill health, were against them. The little home, so carefully and prayerfully worked for, is in danger. A mortgage of only $150 rests upon it; but, unless even that small sum be raised promptly, it must go.

A minister and his wife belonging to our grand Church, sick and old and with no home! Isn’t it pitiful that such a thing should be, when they have given their best years to the Church?

Why are we telling you? It has come into our hearts that possibly 148 ministers’ wives will each spare $1, to be placed with our $2, to be sent at once to this dear minister’s wife, who can no longer work with her crippled hands, as she has bravely done, to help support her sick husband. This, as a token that we are sisters and recognize the bond.

While we write the words we remember that probably some cannot do even this, and are moved to ask that any who can will make their offering $2 or $3, or even $5, for the sake of those who would respond but cannot, and for the sake of those who will mean to do it, when they read these words, but who will let the cares of this busy world crowd it from their minds.

The sisters closed their appeal by providing their home addresses where donors could send money, and a promise to provide updates in a future issue of the magazine.

Photo of Isabella Alden about 1880 (age 39)

It’s hard to know what their expectations were. Perhaps they thought they’d eventually receive a few donations that they could add to their own and forward to the retired minister and his wife.

But that’s not what happened! You can imagine Isabella and Marcia’s excitement when they wrote the following update, which appeared two weeks later on May 18 in the same magazine:

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
 

Dear Friends: It gives us pleasure to report at this date the receipt of $41 towards the $150 that we are trying to raise to save the little home, of which we wrote you last week. As the magazine containing the appeal has been issued only four days, including Sunday, the replies thus far have been instantaneous.

The sum of $41 in today’s economy is about $1,600. That’s an astonishing amount to receive in so short a time! The sisters continued:

Our gratitude for these kindly and prompt responses is very great. We are looking to receive many more before the week closes. One friend writes that she hopes we will excuse her for not being a minister’s wife, and yet for sending her offering! We are delighted with her.

We remember that there are ministers’ wives by the score who gladly would, but cannot; it is fitting that some more blessed with this world’s goods should reply for them. Two dear ladies have already done so; one sent $5, the other $10.

One friend hopes that we will receive much more than the sum called for and be able to make an additional gift. We echo the hope.

Later it will be our pleasure to give a somewhat more detailed account of this pleasant work, and of some of the precious letters that have come to us. There have already been received gifts that represent sacrifice and letters that would touch your hearts. Yours sincerely,

What a promising start for the sisters’ fund-raising campaign!

Marcia Livingston around 1905.

Their next update was published three weeks later on June 8 with the following headline:

THE MORTGAGE LIFTED

The sisters’ wrote:
 

Dear Friends:

It is with pleasure and gratitude that we come to you with the final result of our appeal for those dear servants of God in California, asking you to lend a helping hand in saving their home.

You will remember the amount of the mortgage was $150, and we have the joy of telling you that we have received in all the sum of $210.

That $210 would be equal to about $8,300 in today’s money! The sisters continued:

Undoubtedly it will be a blessing to our dear friends to receive these tokens of fellowship, but the Lord’s own statement, that it is “more blessed to give than to receive,” seems again to have been verified.

Nearly every letter writer has taken time to add a word of tender sympathy and to express the wish that the sum desired might be much more than realized.

As we read the heart-lines accompanying them, we wished that you could all enjoy them with us. It has been interesting to note how many ministers’ daughters responded, “begging the privilege” of being counted in.

One friend wrote that she was not in any way connected with ministers, but she was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and she felt it a precious privilege to lend a helping hand to these servants of the Lord in their hour of need.

Another, who said she “had just begun to be a minister’s wife,” was only too glad to inaugurate her service in this way. Still another begged admission to the circle on the plea that she expected “very soon” to become a minister’s wife.

Many ministers’ widows, out of their small incomes, sent glad offerings. One who was nearing her eightieth year, but who had a good home, the rent from which supported her, joyfully offered her gift. Another token was from an old minister and his wife, who said that they had no home to save, but the Lord had taken care of them for seventy-eight years, and given them a little with which to help others.

One wrote, “Your appeal coming so soon after our Sunday-school lesson on ‘Giving,’ afforded some of us an opportunity to show our faith by our works. How thoughtful of our Lord!”

There were gifts from those who “had to count even the dimes carefully to make the ends meet, but were glad to share with others.”

Times without number we were thanked for affording the opportunity, and the wish was constantly expressed that much more than the sum called for might be received. 

Now, in regard to the recipients of these gifts, nothing would afford us greater pleasure than to copy at length the beautiful and touching letter received from the dear wife, in response to the check sent her. The length of the letter and the personal character of some of it deter us. A few sentences, however, we feel that we must quote. The letter commences:

“Dear, dear friends: What can I say? Words will not express my feelings! God only knows the heart, and he knows how thankful, oh, how thankful, we are to you for all your great and noble kindness. God bless you all, and ever keep you in the hollow of his hand, safe from all want. I want to tell you how it was, so far as words will. My husband was out in the yard when your letter came. I called to him and said: ‘Come in; I want to show you something.’ When he came in I said: ‘Put on your glasses;’ then I handed him the check. He is a man who thinks before speaking. As he sat looking at it I said: ‘Cannot we trust the Lord?” Then I could not keep the tears back any longer, and still he had not spoken. He sat with bowed head, and I knew he was thanking God for his loving kindness. When he looked up his eyes were full of tears, and when he heard how it was, he said: ‘The Lord guided you.'”

Was there ever a more beautiful word picture made than that? The entire letter, which is long, is the out-pouring of hearts almost over-burdened with gratitude. As we read we could hardly help feeling that the offerings were small and poor as compared with the wealth of the return; but, after all, that is what was promised: “Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.” May the blessing of him who “maketh rich and addeth no sorrow” be upon every giver.

Yours sincerely,
Marcia Macdonald Livingston
Isabella Macdonald Alden (Pansy)

What is most striking about this story is how Isabella and Marcia immediately moved from sympathy to action. They didn’t just feel bad about the elderly couple’s situation—they did something about it. Using their talents as writers and their influence in the Christian community, they rallied others to join them in making a difference.

Isabella around 1885.

The sisters are an example of practical Christianity at its finest. They believed wholeheartedly that even the smallest gesture done in Christ’s name mattered, and the overwhelming response they received proved they were right! Within weeks, they hadn’t just raised $150—they’d collected $210 and created a community of givers who experienced the blessing of helping others.

Isabella and Marcia were women of action who used every gift God gave them to serve others. It’s a reminder that we all have something to offer, and that acting on our faith—even in small ways—can create ripples far beyond what we imagine.

New Free Read: “Midnight Callers”

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If Isabella Alden were alive today, there’s no doubt she would be a very tech-savvy person. From telephones to indoor plumbing, from typewriters to motor cars, she embraced new devices and technologies and incorporated them into her stories and her daily life.

In 1909 Isabella wrote a short story titled “Midnight Callers,” which was published in a Christian magazine. It’s a wonderful story about a young woman toiling in the Lord’s vineyard and wondering if her efforts make a difference.

Miss Rachel Holland is a weary Christian mission worker who can’t help questioning the impact of her tireless labor. But her world changes one night when a hopeless ruin of a man stumbles into her office, desperate for help. Will she stand by her faith and summon the energy to serve her heavenly Master yet again?

But “Midnight Callers” is also a story that shows us a snapshot of the world in which Isabella lived. Her characters in the story don’t live in a dusty old past we can’t relate to; instead, they live in a very “modern” world (by 1909 standards).

Rachel Holland, the heroine of the story, writes with a fountain pen, which was a newly popular writing instrument in 1909.

A 1910 advertisement for fountain pens.

Another character, the Rev. Dr. McKenzie, uses a telephone closet to call “Blue two double O”—a reference to an era of manual telephone exchanges and party lines.

Although fountain pens have long since been replaced by keyboards and “Blue two double O” is now a touch-key on our smart phone contact list, the core of “Midnight Callers” still has relevance for readers today.

The story reminds us that while technology may change, our human need for hope—and help from the “present Power” that never fails—is eternal.

You can read “Midnight Callers” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic reading device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “email” option to receive an email with a PDF version you can read, print, and share with friends.

You can learn more about how Isabella embraced and used new technologies and inventions in these posts:

iPhones and Isabella

A New Luxury: Indoor Baths

Typewriters and Writing Machines

Mr. Moody’s Bible Class: Lesson Four

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In previous lessons we’ve journeyed from understanding sin’s devastation to embracing the Gospel’s remedy to practicing true repentance. Now, in this Bible lesson he wrote in 1897, D.L. Moody explains the central doctrine of Christianity: the Atonement.

“For nineteen hundred years,” Mr. Moody writes, “the chief point of controversy between faith and unbelief has been the doctrine of the Atonement.” Yet it remains “the very foundation of Christianity.”

In this month’s Bible Class, Mr. Moody uses vivid Old Testament examples—Abel’s sacrifice, Abraham on Mount Moriah, and the Passover lamb—to trace the “scarlet line” God wove through Scripture to prepare humanity for Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. He reveals six precious benefits of Christ’s blood and concludes the lesson with the greatest question facing every person: “What is my relation to the Atonement?”

You can read Lesson Four for free! Click here to download a large-print PDF version you can print or share with friends.

Join us again on February 24, 2026 for Lesson Five of Mr. Moody’s Bible Class.

If you missed Lessons One through Three, you can find them by clicking on the Free Reads tab above.

The Promise of God

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January brings fresh beginnings and new possibilities, but change can feel unsettling, even when we’ve chosen it ourselves. A new job, a move to a different city, unexpected responsibilities—these kinds of changes can leave us feeling upset and uncertain about what lies ahead.

In 1893 Isabella published a poem in an issue of The Pansy magazine that speaks directly to those feelings and offers a comforting message: we don’t have to face life’s changes alone.

The Promise of God

What if the flowers are facing? 
What if the fields are bare?
The winter is all golden
If God be with me there;
I keep the summer sunshine
Within my heart all day,
And when He walks beside me
Flowers cover all the way.
What though I needs must journey
Into a stranger’s place?
I turn from what I know not
And look into His face;
And so it does not matter
How far my feet may roam,
I live within His presence,
And always am at home.
What though I meet new duties
And work too great for me?
God makes my fingers skillful,
And He my strength will be.
I serve a gracious Master
Who gives the help I ask,
And his appointed labor
Is aye an easy task.
O, God! I read the story
Of thy great love for me
In every fresh day’s dawning
And every change I see.
I rest upon thy promise,
I gladly do they will,
Only whatever comes to me
Be near, be with me still.

Money, Grain by Grain

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

For many people, January is a time of new beginnings, a chance to throw off old habits and create new routines that we hope will make us happier, healthier, and more successful.

One resolution that never goes out of style: getting our finances in order. We promise ourselves we’ll spend less, save more, or stick to a budget. It’s advice we hear everywhere, from financial gurus to social media influencers.

But more than a century ago, Isabella Alden was already writing about these same challenges, and offered practical wisdom about money management that remains true today.

Isabella was well acquainted with the concept of living within your means. Growing up, she watched her parents practice small, daily economies. They instilled in Isabella a belief that buying anything on credit—from running a tab at the green grocer’s to carrying a mortgage on a home—could lead to financial ruin.

When she was twenty-five, Isabella married a newly-ordained minister and kept house with very little income. It wasn’t until she began writing her books and stories that she started to earn money to augment her husband’s meager salary.

Money (and the lack of it) was a frequent theme in Isabella’s books. In Aunt Hannah and Martha and John Isabella wrote about the trials of a young minister’s wife who has to learn to cook and clean in order to economize (often with comical and disastrous results). Some of the scenes in the novel are based on Isabella’s own experiences.

So it isn’t surprising that she would be wise about money, and would believe wholeheartedly in the concept of living within one’s means.

Here’s an essay she wrote on the topic for an issue of The Pansy magazine in 1878:

GRAIN BY GRAIN

Did you ever know a young man, when he began in earnest to work for a living, who ever had wages enough? Somehow, salaries and “wants” never do keep with each other. There are not many, who, like an old philosopher, can walk along the streets of a gay city and note the tempting wares set out on every side, and yet say, “How many things there are here that I do not want!” Yet if you can get a little into his way of looking at the luxuries of life, it will be a great help to your peace of mind.

And it is a very singular fact that most fortunes have been laid on very small foundations. A great merchant was accustomed to tell his many clerks that he laid the foundation of his property when he used to chop wood at twenty-five cents a cord. Whenever he was tempted to squander a quarter he would say, “There goes a cord of wood!” He learned in very early years a good lesson in practical economy.

An old woman had been seen for years hanging about the wharves, where vessels were loaded and unloaded in New York harbor, intent on picking up the grains of coffee, corn, rice, etc., that were by chance scattered on the piers. The other day she was badly hurt by some heavy bags of grain falling on her. The kind merchants took up a purse for old Rosa and sent her to her home in Hoboken, in charge of an officer. What was his surprise to find that the neat and handsomely furnished cottage was the property of the old grain picker? She had literally built and furnished it, as the coral workers do their homes, grain by grain.

Do not be discouraged though your profits are small. If you cannot increase the income, the only way out of the difficulty is to cut down the wants. Turn every claim to the best account, and as prices go, you will be able to get a vast amount of real comfort out of even a small income. The habits you are forming are also of the greatest importance, and may be made the foundation stones of a high prosperity.

Have you ever had a “grain by grain” moment—where small consistent choices added up to something significant over time?

If you had to choose just one principle from Isabella’s essay to focus on this year—cutting unnecessary wants, maximizing what you have, or building better financial habits—which would make the biggest difference in your life?

New Free Read: Fishing for Phil

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Have you ever wondered if your daily witness for Christ can truly make a difference in winning a loved one’s soul? Would you be willing to compromise your principles if you thought it might be the only way to influence someone else for Christ?

These are the heart-searching questions at the center of this month’s free read, “Fishing for Phil,” by Isabella Alden. The story follows teenager Daisy Morris as she navigates the delicate balance between family loyalty and her personal devotion to God.

Daisy Morris is a young woman of firm Christian principle , but her convictions are put to the test when her beloved Aunt Mattie and cousin Blanche plead with her to attend a special play. They believe it is the only way to coax Phil away from his worldly companions and back into the church. Will Daisy yield to the pressure of those she loves , or will her quiet refusal to compromise “one inch of the way” prove to be the very witness Phil truly needs?

You can read “Fishing for Phil” for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the story on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic reading device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “email” option to receive an email with a PDF version you can read, print, and share with friends.

Mr. Moody’s Bible Class: Lesson Three

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In Lesson One Mr. Moody diagnosed the disease (Understanding Sin) and in Lesson Two, named the cure (The Remedy of the Gospel). Now, in Lesson Three, Mr. Moody outlines the five essential steps of genuine repentance:

Conviction
Contrition
Confession of Sin
Conversion
Confession of Christ

Using the biblical examples of King Saul’s shallow confession, David’s broken heart, and Joseph of Arimathea’s courageous stand at Calvary, Mr. Moody explains the difference between true and counterfeit repentance.

You can read Lesson Three for free!Click here to download a large-print PDF version you can print or share with friends.

Then, join us again on January 27, 2026 for Lesson Four of Mr. Moody’s Bible Class.

If you missed Lessons One and Two, you can find them by clicking on the Free Reads tab above.

A Life-Changing Accident

Published on by Isabella Alden2 Comments

December 8, 1925—almost exactly 100 years ago—started as any ordinary Tuesday afternoon in Palo Alto, California. Isabella Alden was 83 years old, and was living in the beloved double-home that she and her husband Ross built a decade before on Embarcadero Road.

Ross and her son Raymond had died the year before, so only Isabella and her daughter-in-law Barbara (Raymond’s widow) and her five children were left to share the rambling house.

Barbara Hitt Alden, about 1910.

That afternoon, Isabella, Barbara, and Barbara’s youngest son, Raymond Jr., set out together in the family car. Barbara was behind the wheel. None of them could have known that their simple outing would dramatically change the remainder of Isabella’s life.

Black and white photo of a side-view of an old automobile with four doors and a woman seated in the driver's seat.
A 1925 Lincoln sedan, a popular car style in the 1920s.

At a street intersection a little less than a mile from their home, another car collided with the Alden vehicle, striking it with enough force to cause it to overturn. The impact shattered the windshield and windows, showering the passengers with broken glass.

Newspaper Clipping: 3 Generations of Aldens Suffer Cuts and Bruises. Three generations figured in the automobile accident here today in which two persons were severely cut about the face and head and suffered many bruises, while the third person was but slightly hurt. They were: Mrs. G. R. Alden, Mrs. Raymond M. Alden, Raymond M. Alden Jr., 4.
The San Francisco Chronicle, December 8, 1925.

Barbara was only slightly hurt. But Isabella and her young grandson suffered “severe cuts about the face and head, and many bruises.” After receiving first aid from a nearby physician, Isabella and Raymond Jr. were taken to Palo Alto Hospital for treatment.

Palo Alto Hospital in the 1920s.

The next day’s newspaper reported reassuring news: the accident victims had returned home, and Isabella “was found to have suffered only from shock and minor cuts.” Her grandson’s injuries were described as the most serious of the three.

Newspaper Clipping: Accident Victims Removed to Home: Hurts Not Serious. Mr. G. R. Alden, Mrs. Raymond M. Alden, and the latter's 4-year-old son, Raymond, were able to return to their home last night after receiving treatment at the Palo Alto Hospital for injuries incurred yesterday afternoon in a collision between the Alden automobile and that driven by Mrs. L. O. Head. The elder Mrs. Alden was found to have suffered only from shock and minor cuts. The child's injuries were most serious, his head and face having been painfully cut by flying glass. Mrs. Raymond Alden was uninjured.
The Peninsula Times Tribune, December 9, 1925.

But that assessment would prove tragically wrong.

What those initial medical evaluations missed was the true extent of Isabella’s injuries. The accident left her in considerable pain and, ultimately, confined to a wheelchair for most of the remaining years of her life.

Until the accident, Isabella was a woman who had been remarkably productive well into her eighties—still writing, still engaged with her work and family. The accident didn’t just slow her down; it fundamentally altered how she could live her remaining years.

Isabella in later years.

In her memoir “Memories of Yesterday,” which she finished writing after the accident, Isabella documented the physical pain she endured. For a woman who had spent her life in service to others, who had quietly helped so many navigate their own difficulties, those final years must have been particularly difficult for her.

Isabella lived for nearly five more years after the accident, passing away in 1930 at age 88. Those years, spent largely in a wheelchair and dealing with chronic pain, were a far cry from the active, engaged life she had led for more than eight decades.

What is striking about this incident in Isabella’s life isn’t just the tragedy of the accident itself, but what it reveals about her character during her final years. Despite her pain and limitations, she continued to write. She finished her last novel, An Interrupted Night, and entrusted it to her niece, Grace Livingston Hill, to guide it through the publishing process.

She also completed her memoir, Memories of Yesterdays, candidly sharing her memories and reflections on a life well-lived. Even when her body was confined to a wheelchair, her mind and spirit remained active.

That’s the Isabella Alden we’ve come to know through her writings—someone who lived out the principles she wrote about, even when circumstances became difficult. She had spent decades writing about faith, perseverance, and finding purpose in adversity. In her final years, she had to draw on those very principles herself.

A hundred years ago this month, Isabella’s life changed forever on a Palo Alto street corner. While the accident limited her physical abilities, it couldn’t diminish the legacy she’d built through decades of faithful work—or the strength of character that sustained her until the end.

Click on the links below to read more about:
The house on Embarcadero Road
The deaths of Ross and Marcia Livingston
The death of Raymond Alden
Isabella’s final novel, An Interrupted Night

The Gift of Music

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It’s Christmas time, and shopping for the holiday is now in full swing. During Isabella’s lifetime, Christmas ads filled the issues of newspapers and magazines, tempting shoppers with bargains and gift ideas.

Among the many advertisements for books, handkerchiefs, slippers, and gloves were ads for a gift the whole family could enjoy: a piano.

The idea wasn’t as extravagant as it might sound; by the late 1890s pianos were quite affordable. Dealers and manufacturers offered consumers credit or payment plans that made purchasing a piano within the reach of families with more modest incomes.

A newspaper ad for Fischer Pianos with the headline "Standard of Highest Merit." In smaller type: "By our new method of Easy Payments every home is enabled at once to possess and enjoy a High-Grade Piano."

Families weren’t the only ones who took advantage of these arrangements. In Pansy’s Advice to Readers, Isabella wrote about a group of school girls who bought a piano for their gymnasium by raising the money themselves and making regular payments to the dealer.

Newspaper ad showing a young woman and her parents in a parlor with an upright piano. The headline reads "The Piano Problem Solved" and "Sold on Easy Payments."

Such arrangements meant pianos were no longer an article of luxury available only to the wealthy. As more families were able to purchase pianos, American social life began to change. Previously, people gathered at churches, concert halls, and other public places to enjoy music; but affordable pianos allowed people to enjoy music at home and within their own family circle.

An 1898 magazine ad for organs ($25 up) and pianos ($155 up). The headline reads "Free! Free! Save Money" and "Special Christmas Offers to Readers of The Ladies' Home Journal."

But even affordable pianos presented a challenge: someone had to learn how to play them.

Once a piano was installed in a home, there were lessons to be had and endless hours of practice in order for a player to become proficient. But in the 1890s self-playing devices came on the market that again changed how families brought music into their homes.

There were two kinds of self-playing devices: those that attached to pianos, and those that were placed inside them.

Invented in America, the pianola was a cabinet-type device that was pushed up against a piano keyboard. It depressed the piano keys with protruding felt-covered levers controlled by a perforated paper roll. A person had to be seated at the device to work the pumping pedals so air pressure created suction to rotate the roll. 

A pianola cabinet. A lid on top is open to show the perforated paper music roll. At the bottom are two foot pedals.
Pianola cabinet style in 1890.

The other type—the player-piano—operated in the same manner with a rotating perforated roll, but the device was installed within the piano itself.

Ad for a player piano with the instrument in the center of the ad, surrounded by holly. Above it is the brand name Krell. Below is "Auto-Grand, the Holiday Spirit."

According to the editor of The Piano and Organ Purchaser’s Guide for 1908, these devices “made tens of thousands of pianos eloquent with good and popular music”—pianos that formerly were silent, except when there was a dance at home, or on a Sunday, when a few hymns were played.

Illustration of a woman seated in front of a player piano with her feet on the pedals. Seated beside her is a young child. A little girl dances beside the piano.

“The present of a pianola is a present to every member of the family.” So declared a magazine advertisement in 1904 that urged consumers to consider buying a mechanical piano player for Christmas.

Photo of a Pianola cabinet with the caption "The present of a pianola is a present to every member of the family."

It wasn’t just families that could now listen to beautiful music in their homes. This ad in a 1904 issue of Booklover’s Magazine suggested a pianola cabinet player was the ideal gift for a bachelor’s home.

Illustration of a young man seated in a chair holding a pipe in his apartment. Beside him is a piano with a pianola cabinet attached. The caption reads "The Bachelor's Idea. The one finishing touch to a bachelor's apartment is furnished by a piano to be played with a Chase & Baker Piano Player."

Those self-playing piano devices opened up whole new musical worlds for people. Many who never visited the opera or a concert before became thoroughly acquainted with world-class musical and orchestral compositions.

Black and white drawing of a young woman seated at a player piano with a perforated music roll visible. A woman stands nearby who appears to be performing a song. A group of elegantly dressed people are seated listening to her.

Sales of pianolas and player pianos peaked in the mid-1920s when gramophone recordings and the arrival of radio caused their popularity to wane.

Illustration of a young woman seated at a player piano, with her feet resting on the pedal. A young man stands beside the piano, looking down at the young woman.

But while in their heyday, pianos, pianolas, and player pianos made an important mark on American culture, bringing music and joy to thousands of families. Isn’t that a wonderful gift to receive?

You can learn more about pianolas and player pianos by clicking here.

You can read Pansy’s Advice to Readers for free!

Choose the reading option you like best:

You can read the e-book on your computer, phone, tablet, Kindle, or other electronic device. Just click here to download your preferred format from BookFunnel.com.

Or you can select BookFunnel’s “My Computer” option to receive an email with a version you can read, print, and share with friends