For the most part, Timothy Shay Arthur's success as a magazine journalist and editor rested on changes within America's reading public. The mid to late nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of the middle-class female reading public as a major magazine market. Arthur's writing style and editorial philosophy were ideally suited to appeal to that segment of society. His writing--whether editorials, essays, short stories, or novels--always contained a moral lesson. His most successful publishing ventures, Arthur's Home Magazine and the Children's Hour, incorporated a similar philosophy.

Arthur was born on 6 June 1809 on a farm near Newburgh in Orange County, New York, to William and Anna Shay Arthur. His father has been variously described as a miller and a laborer, but in either case, it is clear that the family's means were limited. As a result of their strained circumstances, Arthur's parents were unable to provide him with much education...