friend #3: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

            It’s funny how, as a child, the world and everything in it is just a little bit bigger than as an adult. When I was young and reading about the adventures of the Five Little Peppers (five siblings ages 3-11), they seemed quite grown up and mature. When I read it now, the children in the story seem younger, and I marvel at their maturity beyond their age. I think that’s part of why I like this book. It’s not that I grew up with the Five Little Peppers, I grew up around them. And, as they haven’t aged a day since I first opened this book, their stories are still every bit as charming to me now as when I was obliged to look up to these remarkable children—come to think of it, I still look up to them!

Margaret Sidney, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Lothrop Publishing Co., 1881.

            The five little Peppers (Phronsie, Davey, Joel, Polly & Ben, youngest to oldest) live in a little brown house with their mother, Mamsie. Since their father has died, they all do their part to eke out a living—Mamsie sews, assisted by Polly, and the boys all hire themselves out for odd jobs. Theirs is a plain and simple, but jovial existence. Perhaps because of their poverty, this family is extremely close-knit, and they protect and defend one another in every way possible. The book follows the family through a series of everyday adventures, including Polly’s eyes going bad from sewing in dim light (she recovers, thanks to much tender loving care from the rest of the family), and Phronsie’s wandering after an organ monkey which leaves her lost and far away from home. She is found by a boy named Jasper King and his dog, Prince, and this encounter brings a new friend into the Peppers’ lives.

            Soon Jasper is practically another Pepper, and his elderly, wealthy father takes a shine to the Peppers, especially Phronsie, who calls him “grandpa”. With Jasper’s help, the little brown house has a Christmas for the first time. When the Kings move away to their other residence to be with Jasper’s sister and her three boys, Jasper becomes so forlorn that Polly is sent for, and while staying with the Kings she is given music lessons, to her utmost delight. However, Polly soon becomes homesick for her family, and so, in secret, Phronsie is brought to the great house, to both sisters’ rejoicing. Finally the rest of the little brown house comes to visit, and soon afterward Mr. King proposes that Mrs. Pepper stay and oversee his house. The Peppers will live with the Kings, and the children will receive the education their mother has been so desperately wishing for. The book ends with the Peppers’ discovering that Jasper’s brother-in-law is actually a cousin to Mrs. Pepper, which results in a loud and joyous family reunion.

            Five Little Peppers has the extraordinary ability to draw the reader into these children’s lives, and makes one wish to be a fellow resident of the little brown house. The adventures the Peppers have are both simple and enthralling, and it’s a very easy book to want to read over and over again. Much to my delight, I have recently discovered that Margaret Sidney actually wrote twelve books chronicling the lives of the Peppers, after her original intention of four books was overwhelmingly contradicted by her fans. Because these books were written at the turn of the 20^th century, they have a unique charm that transports the reader to a simpler age, where one’s siblings were one’s best friends, and where the word “whockety” was considered “dreadful”. Unfortunately, to my knowledge this book is currently out of print, but many libraries still carry the series, and I just found one of the books very cheap on eBay. Trust me, they’re worth getting a hold of. Happy reading!