Books published by publisher Curiosmith

Ruth Medway, a Christian mother, brooded over her eight children who had left home. Ishmael, her beloved ninth child, took the schoolmistress’ daughter to a cave and roasted some wild eggs. The unusual consequences of this event shaped his life greatly. “Where can we find a home again, mother?” he asked at last; “there’s no place like home.” “Up there!” she said, lifting her dim eyes to the great sky above them; “if God gives us no other home here in this world, He’s got one ready there for thee and me.” "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you."—John 14:1, 2.

Brownie is aptly described as a young girl having “a tiny, rather delicate little face, with large brown eyes, looked out of a frame of thick brown tresses.” Her mother, Mrs. Eustace makes her living by writing stories. Brownie and Buffie were playing in the woods when they heard what sounded like an angel, and Angelo became their new friend. Brownie tells Angelo about Jesus, but he has barely heard of the name. Soon Angelo needed a new guardian and they thought that God would miraculously provide for him, but this did not happen without the testing of their faith.

This book is a collection of occasional prayers, devout meditations, sacred poetry and essays on prayer, gathered mostly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Contributors to this anthology include Hannah More, James Montgomery, Thomas Wilson, William Cowper, and many others. Anyone interested in prayer will be edified by this assortment of sacred writings.

James Oliver lived alone in London and worked in his newspaper shop. He had an unusually open relationship with Jesus, whom he talked to as a personal friend. One day he found Dolly, a little girl, alone in the shop. Tony, a street boy, had fended for himself and needed a place to sleep at night. These three isolated people came together and formed a family. Tension came between Oliver who wanted to care for the downtrodden, and Aunt Charlotte who wanted to maintain a life of respectability. An important verse is Matthew 25:40: “Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these, ye did it unto me.”

Legh Richmond imparts wisdom to his children through letters which include lists of good behavior, topical studies and poems. Amidst the swirl of life with twelve children he pleas for closer relationships and hearts that love God. Occasions like birthdays, marriages, ministry, sickness, and death, add gravity to his sentiments. While his counsel is wisdom for children, his loving caring attitude is a good example for parents. The letter from his daughter Fanny recounts Rev. Richmond’s last days. It reveals a father who left letters in their rooms as the preferred method of communication. Fanny states that he was a sensitive person who had an excellent perception of the beauty of the outdoors. She closed her letter with her hope for his legacy because “the seed of the righteous is not forsaken.”

The children, Roland and Olive, came from India to visit their four aunts. Old Bob grew flowers and liked to show them to the children. He kept one flower pot in his window for every family member whom had passed away, as a remembrance of their resurrection. As old Bob said, “Life out of death, my dears. That is the lesson of those lilies. The good Lord has never failed to teach me from them every Easter.” Important verses are 1 Peter 3:18—“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit;” and Revelation 6:11—“And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season.”

The children had a festive day at school, but Rhoda was alone and nobody cared about her. A man addressed the classroom one day: “We are placed here in the world for a purpose, and, little and mean as we are, it is a grand purpose too! We are placed here to do God’s will.” When Rhoda became a Christian her new life sparked questions in the lives of others. Rhoda became a good nurse, and the girl nobody cared for became a good caregiver. This book also contains the story of “Cousin Lily.” Margaret Leslie had a cousin named Lily who came from India because of sickness, but Margaret refused to care for her and she got worse. The moral of the story is about Margaret’s change of heart.

Miss Priscilla Parry, a fiercely independent woman, lived on a farmstead and helped to raise her two nieces. Inspired by the Biblical Christmas story, the children Rhoda and Joan had a habit of visiting their barn manger every Christmas to look for a child. One day Rhoda mysteriously disappeared and a search began. This story’s spiritual theme is to forgive when it is hard to forgive. Luke 11:4—“And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” This edition includes four color illustrations by Kate Street.

The author’s purpose—“This story has been written to show, as in a picture, what ministering children are. There is no child upon Earth, who may not be a ministering child; because the Holy Spirit of God, even the blessed Comforter Himself, will come to every one who asks for Him. Even the beloved Son of God, when He came down from Heaven to Earth, came to minister to those who were in need—He Himself tells us so.” This book was written from twenty years of first-hand experience of making cottage visitations with her father who was a rector. The characters in the narrative visited the sick, the poor, and the lonely. They brought clothes, food, and firewood. They read the Bible to those who could not read. An important verse is “And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?”—Matthew 21:16. Children were taught to serve others by this very popular book in Victorian England.

Vanity, worldly possessions and the pride of life are the substance of Esther’s life. She was “fond of dress” and a yielding mother left this passion unchecked. Consequently she taunted her brother and drove him away from home. Then Esther left home in a fit of anger. “The foundation of all this trouble that had come, not only upon Esther but upon her family, had its root in this—to seem what they were not.”—Esther’s Regret.

Harriet Ware (1799–1847) was born in Paxton, Massachusetts. She was a school teacher in Maine and Rhode Island. She had a selfless, passionate love of orphans and began a school for destitute children on India Point in Providence, Rhode Island. Although people had advised her to give up, she was determined to do the impossible. Francis Wayland helped her to found the Providence Children’s Friend Society, a place for suffering children that needed help and provision. This edition contains letters of Harriet Ware with explanatory remarks by Francis Wayland. “How was it that a young woman, almost wholly unknown, and wholly destitute of means, should have been enabled to accomplish so great an amount of good? I think the answer is obvious. She acted on principles peculiar to the gospel of Christ. She was, in the first place, sincerely and earnestly desirous to do good; and, to accomplish this purpose, was willing to make any personal sacrifice. In the next place, she puts this desire into practice, by engaging in the first benevolent labor that was placed before her. She did not wait until something precisely in harmony with her intellectual tastes or social affections should present itself, but undertook the first work that her Master placed before her.”—Francis Wayland.