Harper's Round Table, July 16, 1895

In Short

This single issue of an influential nineteenth-century American youth magazine gathers serialized historical fiction, domestic melodrama, whimsical children’s verse, biographical sketches, and reader correspondence into a vibrant snapshot of Victorian popular culture. Through heroic tales of Revolutionary War privateers, Arctic explorers, and rebellious stepdaughters, the issue seeks to instruct, entertain, and shape the moral character of its young audience. It has endured as an authentic artifact of period journalism, preserving the literary tastes, recreational habits, and everyday humor of late-nineteenth-century American childhood.

The Story

The issue opens in the grip of the American Revolution, following fourteen-year-old Jack Lockett as he performs evening chores on a freezing Connecticut farm while his father serves under Washington at Valley Forge. When Colonel Lockett unexpectedly returns home on a brief mission, Jack secretly stows away aboard a raiding boat heading toward a British frigate anchored in the harbor, eager to prove his courage in battle.

In stark contrast to this gritty historical realism, the magazine shifts to a lighthearted, absurd fantasy starring a young boy named Jimmieboy. Engaging in a surreal dialogue with an enchanted Pen, Jimmieboy watches as the quill tries and fails to draw a zebra, producing bizarre illustrations that merge into pun-filled pictures and an absurd letter to an uncle demanding money for a yacht.

The narrative scope then widens with an installment of Kirk Munroe’s adventure serial Snow-Shoes and Sledges. Set in the rugged wilderness of Alaska, the story follows young Phil Ryder and his companions as a warship’s cannon shot rescues them from detainment by Chilkat natives. Placed under nominal arrest aboard the naval vessel Phoca, Phil learns that his father has recovered from an injury and that his Aunt Ruth has travelled north to find him. Arriving in Sitka, the party bids an emotional farewell to their native companions, sled dogs, and northern guides before scattering toward new lives in San Francisco and Connecticut.

Domestic drama takes center stage in Ellen Douglas Deland’s Oakleigh, where the Franklin siblings react with shock and resentment to their widowed father’s sudden decision to remarry. Sixteen-year-old Edith feels displaced and betrayed, while her sister Cynthia desperately attempts to keep their eccentric, gossip-loving Aunt Betsey from discovering a past misadventure in the village.

A non-fiction biography by Henrietta Christian Wright details the boyhood of Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem, tracing how his early years along the New England coast and his later experiments at Brook Farm shaped his masterworks. The issue rounds out its contents with practical advice on photography and cross-country running, an account of Svend Foyn’s invention of the explosive harpoon-gun, a winning reader-submitted ghost story, and a lively back-matter section filled with riddles, bicycle map tips, and humorous anecdotes.

How It Unfolds

A midnight launch Jack Lockett leaps into his father’s raiding boat despite strict orders, determined to face the British frigate anchored off the coast. The aging war veteran at the oars recognizes the boy's fearless spirit and agrees to let him join the dangerous night mission.

An enchanted illustration Jimmieboy banters with a magical Pen that draws absurdly inaccurate pictures of animals while lecturing the boy on wordplay. After composing a mischievous letter to an uncle, the Pen suddenly falls silent, leaving its strange drawings to fade away into memory.

Freedom on the Alaskan coast A naval gun signals rescue for Phil Ryder’s stranded party, breaking the hold of their native captors in the Chilkat valley. Taken aboard the Phoca, the young travelers recount their wild northern exploits to an admiring captain as they sail toward Sitka.

Tension in the Franklin household The Franklin children absorb the upsetting news of their father's impending marriage to a young woman in mourning. Edith resolves to flee to her aunt's home rather than submit to a stepmother, while Cynthia scrambles to prevent local gossips from uncovering her own secrets.

A writer's New England roots The biographical section explores Nathaniel Hawthorne’s formative years, showing how his youthful days wandering the Salem wharves, skating on Sebago Lake, and tilling the fields at Brook Farm inspired his iconic romances.

The People

• Jack Lockett: A fourteen-year-old farm boy carrying the burden of his household while his father serves at Valley Forge. He yearns to prove his manhood and leaps at the chance to join a hazardous naval raid against a British frigate.
• Phil Ryder: A resilient young American traveler who has survived grueling wilderness hardship in Alaska. He seeks reunion with his family while maintaining deep loyalty to the comrades and sled dogs who shared his journey.
• Edith Franklin: A proud, devoted eldest daughter who feels crushed by her widowed father’s decision to remarry. Her intense loyalty to her mother's memory drives her to rebel against the incoming stepmother.
• Cynthia Franklin: Edith's practical yet anxious sister who tries to manage the family tension while frantically keeping her own past pranks hidden from their sharp-tongued aunt.
• Aunt Betsey Trinkett: A formidable, inquisitive family elder whose passion for local gossip and stubborn determination strike terror into the hearts of her nieces.
• The Pen: A sarcastic, self-important magical writing instrument that argues with Jimmieboy over animal anatomy while making whimsical ink drawings.

In Its Own Voice

"He could not yet carry a firelock in battle, perhaps, but he could toil patiently for his mother and sisters, with many a sigh that there was no beard to his chin..."

Jack Lockett accepts heavy farm chores in his father's absence while secretly craving the glory and danger of military service.

"'I have written many a zebra, though I never drew one before. They always begin with a Z, and end with a bray--like a donkey.'"

The opinionated Pen defends its absurdly inaccurate sketch during a comical argument with young Jimmieboy.

"Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, after the football season, when there is nothing particular going on, before the snow has come, and while the roads are hard and the hills at their best, then is the time for 'cross-country running."

An instructional column offers spirited advice to Victorian youth on the ideal seasonal conditions for outdoor athletics.

What It's Really About

Beneath its entertaining variety, the issue reflects late-nineteenth-century American anxieties about growing up, responsibility, and national identity. The fictional stories consistently measure young protagonists against adult expectations, examining how duty, bravery, and emotional self-control define mature character. Whether dealing with Jack Lockett's urge to fight, Edith Franklin's struggle against home upheaval, or Nathaniel Hawthorne's transformation from a wild Maine woodsman into an artist, the text continually asks what it takes to forge an honorable life. Simultaneously, the issue celebrates technological progress and physical vigor, portraying scientific innovation and athletic endurance as essential virtues for a rising generation.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers who enjoy historical journalism, vintage children's literature, or nineteenth-century social history will find this issue fascinating. Reading it feels like opening a time capsule direct to the summer of 1895, offering an unfiltered look at what young people read, played, and dreamed about at the turn of the century. The prose moves swiftly from high-stakes wilderness adventure to light parlor comedy, balancing earnest moral instruction with genuinely funny period humor.

The issue does present a few challenges for contemporary readers. Modern audiences may find the pacing of serial fiction somewhat abrupt, as key storylines begin or end mid-narrative. Some period language—such as the romanticized depictions of Native Alaskan tribes and the inclusion of stereotypical darky dialect in the joke section—reflects the uncritical racial attitudes of the 1890s. Yet for those interested in the authentic texture of Victorian youth culture, the issue offers a vivid, richly detailed glimpse into an era when a simple magazine could transport a reader from a frozen Revolutionary bay to the Alaskan frontier.

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