The Boxcar Children: The Original 1924 Edition

While I am not necessarily a collector of The Boxcar Children series, I do remember reading a number of these books when I was a child.  My school library had both The Boxcar Children and The Happy Hollisters, and I read as many of them as I could get my hands on.  As I got older, I fell more in love with Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, and other series, and so The Boxcar Children got left behind.  Flash forward, and now as an adult, I find that I enjoy going back and re-reading some of these vintage series, and it was with a bit of surprise I discovered that the first book in The Boxcar Children was actually published some time before the series that I grew up reading.

 

The Box-Car Children (yes, it originally was hyphenated) was written by Gertrude C. Warner back in 1924 as a stand-alone story for children. Dover Publications out of New York recently republished the original version of this classic tale, including the original illustrations by Dorothy Lake Gregory.  Now, admittedly, the main gist of the story remains the same - four young children (Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, oldest to youngest) are orphans and are determined to make it on their own.  They do not want to go live with their grandfather, who they have been told is very gruff and stern.  The four children eventually discover an abandoned boxcar in the woods and turn it into their own little home.  Henry heads off to the nearest town to find work to support his little family, and ends up doing odd-and-end jobs for a doctor and his wife.  Eventually, the kids meet their grandfather unwittingly, and it is revealed that the older man has been looking for his grandchildren and that he is not the horrible man the children thought him to be.  They move in with him, and the wealthy man has the boxcar moved onto his property, so that the children can enjoy their former "home" while still living with him.

Yet, this original edition was most definitely changed when it was revised in 1942 and republished by Albert Whitman & Company (who published 18 additional books written by Ms. Warner until she died, at which time, any number of ghostwriters took over writing the series, even though in most cases, the real authors were not credited on the books).  In this original edition, the children's last name is Cordyce, not Alden.  Additionally, when the book opens, the children are still living with their father (their mother having died previously), who is described as "very drunk" (p. 1).  He dies by the second page, and it here that the children turn to the baker and his wife for assistance.  As in the revised version, when they hear that the baker intends to turn them over to their grandfather, the four siblings take off under the cover of night.

In this original story, the doctor is actually a young man named McAllister, who resides with his mother and a cook, Mary Bridget Flynn.  As with the revised text, they help Henry by providing him with extra fruits and vegetables that they claim would have been thrown out anyway, as well as other items that they know can help the children.  In both the original and current texts, the children find the dog, Watch, who becomes a permanent part of their family, and it is Violet's sickness that ultimately reunites them with their grandfather.

While future books become more about the children solving mysteries, this first book was simply the story of four children surviving on their own.  Henry is the oldest and remains a father-type figure for Violet and Benny.  Jessie (referred to as "Jess") is next in line, and she takes up her position as the motherly type with as much responsibility as a grown woman might.  Violet is still a young girl, and Benny is the youngest of them all.  The children are slightly younger in this original story, their ages likely having been increased in the revised version.  Of course, the idea that four children, all of whom are 13 years of old or younger, out there on their own without any parental supervision or guidance, might be severely frowned upon in today's standards.  But for children reading this first book, I have no doubt it was something exciting to see - four very capable children who are able to think, act, and manage on their own, creating their own little home just as any adult family would do.  The story is an adventure tale (much in the vein of Robinson Crusoe or The Swiss Family Robinson), simply relating the daily lives of this family and their strength and fortitude in succeeding on their own.

I am grateful to Dover for re-publishing this original version of the story, as it is definitely a part of history and is a wonderful reminder of how much the times have changed since this story was first written back in the 1920s!  It certainly makes me more appreciative of this series, in general, and am thankful it has endured nearly 100 years (since new books are still being published by Albert Whitman & Company, even today!).

RATING:  9 special pink cups out of 10 for sharing a nostalgic piece of literary history with today's readers and giving us a glimpse at the original Box-Car Children!