Musing #48 - "Elsie Dinsmore," a Weekly Book Review

Review #2 for the Elsie Dinsmore series. Enjoy!

Book 2: "Elsie's Holidays at Roselands"

In this sequel to Elsie Dinsmore, we meet again with our little heroine, Elsie, who, though assured that her father is not interested in Miss Stevens in the way she feared, is still sorely bereaved that her father does not love Jesus. The girl is therefore faced with more heartache than she'd ever dreamed possible, and Martha Finley leaves this little hint at the very beginning of the book as to the trial to come:

"Ah! papa, how could I ever bear to lose your love? I think I should die," she [Elsie] said, dropping her head on his breast, with almost a sob. "Oh! if I am ever very, very naughty, papa, punish me as severely as you will; but oh, never, never quit loving me."
"Set your heart at rest, my darling," he [Horace Dinsmore] said, tenderly, "there is no danger of such a thing. I could not do it, if I wished."
Ah! there came a time when Elsie had sore need of all the comfort the memory of those words could give.


After dropping this teaser, Martha Finley first spins our little girl through circumstances both tough and gentle. Elsie suffers a dreadful fall down a hill (which results in a badly sprained ankle), and just when she's healed her father comes down sick. For a while she acts as his nurse, and he begins to mend quite nicely. 
But then they have a clash of wills.
On a Sunday morning, Horace Dinsmore bids his daughter to read a book that, according to her Christian virtues and her tender conscience, Elsie views unfit for the Sabbath. She begs with tears to be allowed to wait until the next day to read the book, but her papa sternly and severely bids her to do as he commands. When she still refuses, he threatens her:

"Elsie, I expect from my daughter entire, unquestionable obedience, and until you are ready to render it, I shall cease to treat you as my child. I shall banish you from my presence, and my affections. This is the alternative I set before you."

Well, poor, dear Elsie knows she cannot do as her father asks of her - her conscience will not allow it, for she feels it is doing wrong against her Heavenly Father. Thus, one of the worst trials of her life commences, and she finds it very, very hard to bear. 
She is at once sent away from her father's room, and in consequence of that he becomes sicker, and is soon upon the brink of the grave. Even then she is not allowed to go to him, but she does the most important and vital thing she can - she prays. 
Her father is healed, but their relationship is not, and it isn't long before Elsie again becomes the child she was when her father had first come home - she trembles at his step, dreads the old, stern voice giving her a stern reproof, and is all the time declining in health. Because she has tasted her father's love, this separation between them hurts her worse than ever before, and her little heart fairly shatters from the anguish. There are times, indeed, that she is tempted to break her resolve - to run to him, apologize, and feel his clasp again about her. 
But oh! how can she disobey Jesus?

During this time, Mr. Dinsmore does all in his power to break what he believes is his daughter's strong will. He treats her with all the old coldness of former days, and punishment upon punishment is inflicted. Letters, people, and toys are taken from Elsie; she does her best to bow to her papa's wishes, but her flesh sometimes has its way, and she spends time in fits of intense grief, tears, and anger. 

At last, Mr. Dinsmore bestows the final and most heartbreaking chastisement he ever can: he goes on a trip, leaving his daughter behind, with no promises of a quick return unless she gives into his wishes and writes him immediately, saying that she will obey him in every matter. When he leaves, he refuses her a parting caress, and the mournful, pleading gaze she fixes upon him right before he walks through the door is etched into his mind forever.

After he leaves, Elsie droops still more, but it isn't long before God uses her to bless another mourner - her aunt Adelaide - and in so doing her grief is forgotten for just a little while. However, she soon receives a letter from her papa, bidding her to go see the new home has prepared for the two of them - if, and only if, she will give him unconditional submission and obedience. 

She obeys the order, but all the while knowing that she will never, ever live there - not while Horace Dinsmore's terms remain. That night, she is told a piece of news from her aunt that serves as the final drop to her overflowing cup, and she becomes consumed by a deathly brain fever.

Adelaide writes letter after letter to the girl's father, but it takes quite a while before they are finally placed in Horace's hands. When they are, he leaves at once for home, for, stern as he may be, his love for his Elsie is strong. However, when he at last arrives, Elsie is unable to recognize him, and the grief is heavy upon the father. He feels badly for what he has done, and, when Elsie's Bible is given to him as a source of comfort, he begins reading, at first because of the knowledge that the little book belongs to his daughter, but later because the book quite interests him. 

We shall not dwell on the time of Elsie's illness, for it is a sad, sad time for them all, although joyful when the news comes that God used Elsie's sickness for her father's conversion. 

After Elsie is well, she and her father move into their new house, and it isn't long after that that they took a nice vacation . . . during which Elsie is reunited with Miss Rose Allison, her dear sister-in-Christ from the first book in this series. Elsie's heart is light, and her joy immense. With this,  Elsie's Holidays at Roselands draws to a close.
I have really, really enjoyed this book. My own heart broke right alongside Elsie's during the time of her sad estrangement with her father, and the emotion Martha Finley weaves into the words Elsie says before and during her illness is unforgettable. Some might say Else refusing to read that one book on the Sabbath is a ridiculous notion, but it all depends upon one's view - the girl's conscience forbade it, and I praise her for standing up for what she believes is right. Besides that, God used it all, and her loving submission to her father really shines. 
My rating: 4 and a half stars. A fantastic book, one I fully recommend as excellent reading material for book-hungry Christian girls.