St. Nicholas, Vol. 13, No. 10, August 1886

In the summer of 1886, American children opened their August St. Nicholas magazine to find themselves transported to the wild Rocky Mountains, a London drawing room, and everywhere in between. The issue opens with an electrifying first-person account of a hermit's solitary existence among bears, wolves, and mountain lions, his only companions a faithful horse and dog. This raw wilderness memoir gives way to lighter fare: poems about animals, a heartwarming story about a kind seamstress, and the latest installment of 'Little Lord Fauntleroy,' the transatlantic tale that had captivated readers across America. Here is Victorian childhood in its most vibrant form, where adventure and refinement existed side by side, where young readers learned about the world through both adrenaline and tenderness. This is what summer reading looked like for fortunate American children over a century ago.