At the turn of the twentieth century Margaret Marshall Saunders, author of the first Canadian novel reputed to sell over a million copies, enjoyed international renown as a vigorous campaigner for the protection of children and animals. More noteworthy for the nobility of their sentiments than the quality of their expression, most of her more than twenty books proclaim that the ills of urban, industrialized society can be cured by banning child labor, providing constructive recreation programs, and inculcating compassion by promoting kindness to animals. Her precept, as set out in a 1901 letter, was "Teach the little child his duty to the lower orders, and statistics prove that he will be more mindful of his duty to the higher." Today her adult and juvenile works are out of print and virtually ignored, with the exception of Beautiful Joe: The Autobiography of a Dog (1893).

Saunders was born 13 April 1861 in...