John Townsend Trowbridge

Father Brighthopes: a Civil War-era Children's Story Demonstrating the Power of Positive Thinking John Townsend Trowbridge

In this timeless story by John Townsend Trowbridge, "Father Brighthopes" gains his cheery name by always looking at the bright side of difficulties, however great or small. When Father Brighthopes visits the Roydens on for "an old clergyman's vacation," the few weeks he spent with his friends wrought a marked and pleasant change in their lives. The success of "Father Brighthopes" was immediate in its day: people of the most opposed sectarian views united in accepting "Father Brighthopes" as the embodiment of practical Christianity. "Father Brighthopes," who also made appearances in many Civil War era's children's magazines, could have been every child's favorite uncle. Trowbridge presented the retired fictional clergyman as a wise, kindly, and cheerful soul who surrounded himself with children eager to discuss pressing moral issues. In the words of one critic, Trowbridge "knows the heart of a boy and the heart of a man, and laid them both open in his books." Others wrote that Father Brighthopes was "one of the most genial, spirited, and pleasant juvenile books" they ever read, and that Trowbridge "writes in a straightforward, simple style, with humor as well as pathos." "Father Brighthhopes," which was published in Boston in 1853, was followed by other books in quick succession, forming what is known as the "Brighthopes Series." Trowbridge, who first wrote under the pen name Paul Creyton, was widely and favorably known as a writer of popular tales and a delineator of New England life.