Mrs. Molesworth 
A Christmas Child, a Sketch of a Boy-Life 

Popular children’s book, first published in 1880. According to Wikipedia: ‘Mary Louisa Molesworth (29 May 1839 – 20 January 1921) was an English writer of children’s stories who wrote for children under the name of Mrs Molesworth… Mrs Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879), and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called ‘the Jane Austen of the nursery, ‘ while The Carved Lions (1895) ‘is probably her masterpiece.’ In the judgement of Roger Lancelyn Green: Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice. Typical of the time, her young child characters often use a lisping style, and words may be misspelt to represent children’s speech—’jography’ for geography, for instance.’