The Gates Ajar or Our Loved Ones in Heaven
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The Gates Ajar By: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
MaryEllen Elizabeth
Aug 30, 2016 03:40PM
A classic allegory of a young woman's journey toward Spiritual Maturity (a Pilgrim's Progress type journey). Set in the North East United States during the Civil War, the main character: "Mary Cabot" faces the loss of her beloved best friend, mentor and brother "Royal". Elizabeth Stuart Phelp's portrayals of characters is masterful and engaging. I love Elizabeth Stuart Phelps use of Holy Scripture throughout the book in her explanations of heaven and life hereafter.
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps began writing "The Gates Ajar" in her teens inspired by her personal journey in life (encouraged and mentored by both her mother and Father (both gifted authors) and graduates of Andover seminary in the North East.) (Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward is my husband's great grandmother, and the Hart family continues to cherish the memories of The Gates Ajar and the many other popular titles written by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.) Elizabeth Stuart Phelps was a prolific author: near fifty titles continue to be published. She was the number two best seller (in USA and Europe) after Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and she won the respect as an author by both Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer).
(Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabe...
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (1844–1911) was an early feminist American author and ... of Moses Stuart, the eminent president of Andover Theological Seminary. .... (1884) Houghton & Griffin,)
Mark Twain's parody of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps "The Gates Ajar". Rather eclectic and imaginative. (Mark Twain enjoyed Elizabeth Stuart Phelps style and prolific list of books she authored. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and her parents (strong outspoken Abolitionists) and ordained ministers (Andover Seminary) were equally profound in their quality and quantity of writing and publishing titles.
"The Gates Ajar" is a wonderful love story written during the Civil War in a fictional reflection of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps own love for her brother and her loss, emotional and spiritual journey and gains from losing him in the war. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps "The Gates Ajar" was the number two best seller after Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" for many years. Elizabeth's "The Gates Ajar" was published in twenty three languages and distributed world wide. Elizabeth continued writing to collect more than twenty five titles (still distributed on line today). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabe.... Her gift for writing was apparent early in her life when she began authoring "The Gates Ajar" at age seventeen, completing and publishing by age nineteen years old. "The Gates Ajar" is still my favorite of Elizabeth's works.
The profound success of "The Gates Ajar" is discovered in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' gift of prose (yet poetic) descriptions of her life journey, blossoming into a mature, fully spiritual woman of God, maturity harvested through her sufferings (her support of Abolition) and the consequential loss of her beloved brother. Elizabeth's feelings were popularly shared by millions of people in the Northeast USA and Europe (and the quantity of her published editions reflected the success of her shared expressions). Her descriptions of her spiritual insights, awakening and maturing are along the lines of the life lessons contained within "Pilgrim's Progress" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pil...) woven around her life journey through the Civil War.
Mark Twain was fond of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and her parents and mentored her. Keep his fondness for her writing in mind when you read his parody. If you are a Mark Twain fan, read first "The Gates Ajar" before reading "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven". Mark Twains poking fun will make you squirm a little (and for me I felt annoyed with him, because I LOVE Elizabeth Stuart Phelps), but laugh.
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps began writing "The Gates Ajar" in her teens inspired by her personal journey in life (encouraged and mentored by both her mother and Father (both gifted authors) and graduates of Andover seminary in the North East.) (Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward is my husband's great grandmother, and the Hart family continues to cherish the memories of The Gates Ajar and the many other popular titles written by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.) Elizabeth Stuart Phelps was a prolific author: near fifty titles continue to be published. She was the number two best seller (in USA and Europe) after Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and she won the respect as an author by both Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer).
(Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabe...
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (1844–1911) was an early feminist American author and ... of Moses Stuart, the eminent president of Andover Theological Seminary. .... (1884) Houghton & Griffin,)
Mark Twain's parody of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps "The Gates Ajar". Rather eclectic and imaginative. (Mark Twain enjoyed Elizabeth Stuart Phelps style and prolific list of books she authored. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and her parents (strong outspoken Abolitionists) and ordained ministers (Andover Seminary) were equally profound in their quality and quantity of writing and publishing titles.
"The Gates Ajar" is a wonderful love story written during the Civil War in a fictional reflection of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps own love for her brother and her loss, emotional and spiritual journey and gains from losing him in the war. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps "The Gates Ajar" was the number two best seller after Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" for many years. Elizabeth's "The Gates Ajar" was published in twenty three languages and distributed world wide. Elizabeth continued writing to collect more than twenty five titles (still distributed on line today). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabe.... Her gift for writing was apparent early in her life when she began authoring "The Gates Ajar" at age seventeen, completing and publishing by age nineteen years old. "The Gates Ajar" is still my favorite of Elizabeth's works.
The profound success of "The Gates Ajar" is discovered in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' gift of prose (yet poetic) descriptions of her life journey, blossoming into a mature, fully spiritual woman of God, maturity harvested through her sufferings (her support of Abolition) and the consequential loss of her beloved brother. Elizabeth's feelings were popularly shared by millions of people in the Northeast USA and Europe (and the quantity of her published editions reflected the success of her shared expressions). Her descriptions of her spiritual insights, awakening and maturing are along the lines of the life lessons contained within "Pilgrim's Progress" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pil...) woven around her life journey through the Civil War.
Mark Twain was fond of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and her parents and mentored her. Keep his fondness for her writing in mind when you read his parody. If you are a Mark Twain fan, read first "The Gates Ajar" before reading "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven". Mark Twains poking fun will make you squirm a little (and for me I felt annoyed with him, because I LOVE Elizabeth Stuart Phelps), but laugh.
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