Harper's Young People, December 30, 1879: An Illustrated Weekly

In Short

This late-nineteenth-century illustrated weekly periodical offers a rich compilation of serial stories, poems, informative articles, and children's correspondence published by Harper & Brothers. It features tales of faithful attendants, fairy realms, and sibling adventures during the winter holidays, interspersed with contemporary advertisements and letters from young readers across America. The publication has endured as a historical artifact, preserving the domestic ideals, moral instruction, and imaginative literature that shaped youth entertainment in the Victorian era.

The Story

The volume opens with a poetic celebration of coasting on New Year's Eve, followed by a fairy tale wherein Ethelreda the Northland Fairy considers various glittering gifts before leaving a simple bunch of snow-drops on young Ethel's pillow. The pages then unfold the concluding chapters of "The Brave Swiss Boy," tracing young Walter Hirzel as he travels to Paris to nurse his former master, Mr. Lafond. Though Lafond passes away, leaving Walter only a black cabinet, Walter discovers a hidden packet containing bank-notes for one hundred thousand francs labeled "The Reward of Fidelity." The general, deeply impressed by Walter's integrity, adopts him and travels with him to the Bernese Oberland, where they build a home near Meyringen, and Walter becomes a renowned farmer.

In another narrative thread, a parsonage family prepares for the holidays. Siblings Rob and Bertha secretly transport their old Christmas tree across the snowy village to surprise a local boy named Sim Jenkins, whose mother is too poor to afford festivities. After a day of dodging chores and running errands, the children's kindness is rewarded when Santa Claus visits their own home, bringing jackets, trousers, a painted sled named "The Go Ahead," and toys.

Interspersed factual sections describe the defensive caverns of the Rock of Gibraltar and the dangerous descent of a deep-sea diver investigating a shipwreck. George MacDonald's serial "The History of Photogen and Nycteris" introduces the witch Watho, who raises two children—Photogen, who is saturated with solar might and fears the dark, and Nycteris, a girl raised in total darkness who shrinks from the sun. Photogen falls ill under Watho's torment and escapes into the night, where he encounters Nycteris. She guides him safely through the moonlit plain, teaching him the comforting nature of the dark while he acts as her protector against the daytime sun.

How It Unfolds

• The winter revels: A festive opening poem captures children coasting down snowy hills and gathering around a blazing oak and pine fire to welcome the new year.
• The faithful nurse: Walter Hirzel travels to a dying Mr. Lafond in Paris, providing devoted bedside care despite knowing the illness is terminal.
• The hidden reward: Following his master's death, Walter opens a neglected cabinet and discovers a secret packet containing a fortune, which he accepts with modest gratitude.
• The alpine homecoming: The general accompanies Walter back to Switzerland, where they build a prosperous homestead alongside Walter's aging father, Toni Hirzel.
• The holiday errand: Siblings Rob and Bertha brave the snow to secretly set up a Christmas tree for an injured village boy, sharing holiday cheer.
• The midnight visitors: Young children in a southern household chat about Santa Claus before waking up to mismatched clothing and joyful domestic chaos.
• The deep-sea descent: A professional diver puts on a heavy helmet and air-hose, slipping beneath the water to inspect a sunken hull and prepare it for recovery.
• The solar and lunar children: The witch Watho torments Photogen, driving him to flee into the night where he meets Nycteris, a girl who thrives in the dark.

The People

Walter Hirzel is a young Swiss mountaineer whose primary desire is to return to his father's solitary home, but his deep sense of duty and fidelity compel him to nurse his ailing master, Mr. Lafond. He remains entirely uncorrupted by greed, refusing grand offers until an unexpected legacy changes his life.

Mr. Lafond is a wealthy invalid whose weakness for bad company brings him to an early grave, though he maintains a deep affection for Walter and leaves him a modest legacy.

The old general is a generous, warm-hearted veteran of Waterloo who admires George Washington and adopts Walter, eventually finding peace and purpose by moving with him to the Bernese Oberland.

Rob and Bertha are affectionate, resourceful parsonage children who use their holiday resources to bring happiness to others, specifically an injured village acquaintance named Sim Jenkins.

Photogen is a youth raised under the glaring influence of the sun who suffers from a terror of darkness and witches, forcing him to seek refuge under the starlight.

Nycteris is a girl raised entirely in the dark who loves the velvety embrace of night but fades under bright light; together with Photogen, she learns to balance the terrors of day and night.

In Its Own Voice

"Gliding, sliding, / Down the hill, / Never minding / Cold nor chill, / O'er the silvered / Moon-lit snow, / Swift as arrow / From the bow..."

This lively verse opens the volume by capturing the unbridled joy and motion of children coasting through a moonlit winter landscape.

"Dear Walter, how good of you to come back! I thought you would not leave me to die alone."

The invalid Mr. Lafond expresses his profound gratitude to his faithful attendant in a quiet, touching deathbed moment.

"A little while ago I lay faint and dying under your hot lamp. What is it you call it?"

Nycteris describes her painful encounter with daylight to Photogen during their nighttime meeting on the quiet plain.

What It's Really About

The collection explores the moral rewards of honesty, fidelity, and hard work, emphasizing that integrity ultimately brings earthly and spiritual prosperity. It investigates the contrasting elements of human experience—light and dark, fear and comfort, civilization and nature—through allegorical fairy tales and realistic domestic sketches. The texts repeatedly examine how kindness bridges social divides, whether through a wealthy general adopting a humble Swiss peasant or children sharing their holiday bounty with a struggling neighbor boy. Underlying the plots is a distinct Victorian preoccupation with self-help, duty, and the preservation of childhood innocence against the harsh realities of illness and malice.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate nineteenth-century children's literature, Victorian periodicals, or the whimsical fairy tales of George MacDonald will find a genuine, beautifully preserved artifact of period culture. Reading it feels like stepping directly into a parlor in 1879, complete with advertisements for archery sets, soothing dentifrice, and earnest letters from children across America responding to the magazine's post-office box. While modern readers may have to navigate period-specific dialects in the southern sketches and Victorian moralizing throughout the serialized tales, the prose maintains a charming clarity and warmth. What stays with you is the sincere depiction of community, familial devotion, and simple holiday joys that transcend their historical moment.