Elsie Dinsmore Essay Contest Winners

FIRST PLACE WINNER

Mikaela Cash

A WORLD OF ELSIES

Engrafted into the heart of each and every girl throughout the entire world is an unconscious yearning — a craving, if you will. Anyone who is identified as female, and who has not yet undergone the rigorous brainwashing of a humanistic and secular culture finds herself admiring those girls and ladies who love the Lord with their very existence. Elsie Dinsmore, although a fictional character, is an excellent example of this, and therein lays the secret of her enduring and overwhelming popularity. Elsie’s faithful service to her father, so long as that service does not go against her obedience to God, inevitably appeals to girls. It is through her devotion first to God and secondly to her father, Mr. Horace Dinsmore, that her father eventually becomes a Christian. Girls today also desire to be loved and protected by a man — and they find that Elsie always is, first by her father, then her husband, Edward Travilla, and then her father and sons after Edward dies. In fact, a close brush by Elsie with a less-than-honorable suitor demonstrates beyond a doubt to all readers — and Elsie herself — that protection from one’s father is not something to be taken lightly. Lastly, when girls read the Elsie Dinsmore series, they encounter a girl developing into a woman who is neither a brave missionary, nor an independent wage-earner, but rather a devoted Christian who is content to follow God’s design in being a mother and a wife. Whether they realize it or not, when the future women of the world read about Elsie, they are provided with an outstanding example of a woman who didn’t have to traipse to the far ends of the earth alone to prove her reliance on God. And, while universal acumen has become much murkier since the first edition of Elsie Dinsmore, Elsie herself only emerges clearer and sweeter as she continues to purposefully show searching, confused young ladies that a woman who loves her father, her femininity, her motherhood, her spouse, and her God-ordained role is always beautiful, and influential —never common place, or average.

So why do girls admire Elsie’s simple qualities as they do? She does nothing unusually heroic, breathtaking, or daring in her lifetime. In fact, throughout the many pages of her existence, she lives out her life as hundreds of millions of women have, quietly serving her family and bringing up God-fearing children. However, Elsie provides an appealing, eye-opening contrast between good and evil, and the consequences of those choices. Readers cannot help but notice the stark difference between Elsie and her Aunt Enna, even before Enna’s dreadful accident that deprives her of most of her mature mental faculties. And what of Miss Day, the cruel schoolteacher who tormented Elsie often during the schooldays at Roselands? She was reduced to poverty, with nothing but her pride to fall back on. Most conspicuous, though, is Elsie honoring God through her feminine endeavors. The reason why girls in the twenty-first century devour the chronicles of Elsie’s lifetime as readily as did the girls a hundred years ago is because true, pure femininity never goes out of style; God hasn’t changed, the Bible hasn’t changed — does man have the license to change because of “culture”? Frankly, any girl who has the strength today to do what Elsie did then is unusual — and daring, and heroic, and...breathtaking.

It does no good, however, if Elsie merely heightens the interest in a girl for homemaking — she must change the actions of the girl in order to be truly relevant. If every Christian girl pledged to be an “Elsie”, Christian girls as we know them would be forever changed. Just as Elsie and Edward’s family of eight children did, fruitful families of the Vine would once again begin to dominate the world, changing the culture and converting the masses. These strong families would become the building blocks for an uncompromising church worthy to be called the Bride of Christ. And when millions of females commit to being daughters of the King, divorce would be practically annihilated. These “Elsies” would awaken leaders out of formerly acquiescent fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons — Elsie accomplished just that with her father and manly sons. If girls all over the world became committed to being Elsies, they would commence a revolution greater than that of the French, a movement stronger than that of the feminists, and a purpose more dedicated than that of the secular church.

The Elsie Dinsmore books were written over a century ago and alternately proclaimed as prudish, regaling, thought-provoking, and edifying. But reading about Elsie and her trials over her father, widowhood, and a departed daughter; her triumphs of blot-free copy books, talent, and intelligence; her memorable friendships to “Miss Rose”, “Aunt Chloe”, and insecure Zoe; and her actions of love, hope, and charity, no girl can help but to be inspired. Martha Finley effectively breaths into girls a desire for something more than the feminists can offer. But, more importantly than a desire, Elsie’s precedent mobilizes our future women to get out into the real world and put their purported femininity to work. When Proverbs 31 becomes truth, plastic smiles transform to sincere joy, and womanhood becomes a blessing, an unmistakable change occurs. Gradually, some indistinct line blurs, and you no longer find yourself thinking of Elsie as a lifeless character in a book — because your daughters, sisters, and wives have become Elsies themselves. And as the prevalent feministic trappings of the world that used to seem so enticing fade to a worn-out sepia, Elsies all around the country begin to rise up by stepping down, revolutionize by submitting, and soar by washing dishes.

ABOUT MIKAELA CASH

Mikaela Cash, home schooled all her life, first began reading at the age of four, and since then has thoroughly enjoyed many classics, including the Elsie Dinsmore series. Only a few years ago, she had the same mindset many other girls have, expecting to perhaps go to college, get a job, and be “independent” for awhile before settling down as a wife and mother. Now she is content to remain in her father’s house, under his guidance — just as Elsie did — until he passes on the responsibility to another man. Mikaela, who resides in Washington State, enjoys playing and teaching the piano and violin, as well as writing, and she has won several writing contests in the past few years. Her chief desire is to glorify God with the abilities that He has given her, and that goal, as well as her desire for young ladies to realize their incredibly unique mission in life, prompted her to write this essay. It is her hope that it will give many feminists the courage to aspire to femininity.

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