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Biography of T.S. Arthur

T.S. Arthur (1809-1885), American temperance crusader, editor and author of fiction and nonfiction works such as Ten Nights in a Bar-Room (1854).

Ten Nights was the biggest and most memorable success of Arthur's career, but his efforts and
influence as an editor and publisher are no less important. Timothy Shay Arthur was born on 6
June, 1890, the son of William Arthur and Anna ne Shay of Orange County, New York, U.S.A.
The Arthurs moved to Baltimore, Maryland around 1817. Arthur was in frail health as a youngster
so his mother took on the role of teacher, reading him the Bible stories and telling him many tales
of the life of her father, Timothy Shay, an officer in the Revolutionary war.
When later attempts at academic proficiency proved poor on Arthur's part, he embarked on a
course of self-education, including an apprenticeship with a Baltimore craftsman, though eye
strain caused him to ultimately quit. Around 1833 he served for a few weeks with the
Susquehanna Bridge and Banking Company before this venture failed. Around the same time he
became involved with the Baltimore Athenaeum and Young Men's Paper as editor. He had found
his niche in life. Three years later he started the Baltimore Literary Monument. In 1839 he began
editing the Baltimore Merchant. It was during this period that Arthur learned of the Washingtonian
Temperance Society and started attending meetings as a journalist, though he soon embraced
their vision. The reformed alcoholics' movement gave inspiration for his Six Nights with the
Washingtonians: A Series of Original Temperance Tales (1842). Fanny Dale; or, The First Year of
Marriage (1843), The Seamstress: A Tale of the Times (1843), and The Tailor's Apprentice: A
Story of Cruelty and Oppression (1843) followed.
Arthur was an active participant and quickly adopted the popular movement's Christian stance on
the prohibition of alcohol. He soon became a well-known writer on morals, giving instruction,
advice, and suggestions of self-help in one's striving towards "honour, success and
happiness" as in The Allen House, or Twenty Years Ago and Now (1860). As a reporter he
contributed to such journals as Godey's Lady's Book. From 1844 to 1846 Arthur was publisher of
and contributor to Arthur's Ladies' Magazine. He was editor and publisher of his monthly Arthur's
Home Magazine from 1852 to 1885. (Also called Arthur's Lady's Home Magazine and Arthur's
Illustrated Home Magazine). In 1867 Arthur started his juvenile periodical Children's Hour. Two
years later he founded the Workingman. In the late 1870's Arthur helped establish the Franklin
Home for Inebriates in Philadelphia.
Arthur often appealed to women in order to cause social reform in the temperance crusade. In
1850 his The Lady At Home was published. In this work he assumed the perspective of an
American woman, with the intent of fostering a kinder, gentler attitude towards one's servants;

".. to lift every true woman up, by teaching her rightly to look down upon those
who have been providentially placed below her, and thus lifting her up, to
elevate them also."

The Debtor's Daughter; or, Life and Its Changes and All's For the Best were also published in
1850. Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, and What I Saw There followed in 1854, rivalling the popularity
of Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is a highly detailed account of life in the 19th century and the ills of
tavern keeping, Arthur deftly weaving his political stance in a fast-moving journey that follows the
character's exploits into drunkenness, debauchery, and murder. Ten Nights was adapted for the
stage and became one of the longest running and most popular plays of the antebellum era.
While theatre life often had an undertone of baseness to some because alcohol was sold on the
premises, the play attracted a new audience of religious people who previously wouldn't consider
participating in such social past times. Trials of a Needlewoman was published in 1853.
In The Good Time Coming (1855), Agnes; or, The Possessed. A Revelation of
Mesmerism (1848) and The Angel and the Demon: A Tale of Modern Spiritualism (1858) explores
other realms of spirituality, though he is accused of "verging on spiritualism and
Swedenborgianism." He deals with the issue of divorce in The Hand but Not the Heart or The
Life-Trials of Jessie Loring (1858). Woman to the Rescue (1874) was followed by Strong Drink;
The Curse and the Cure (1877). Cast Adrift (1872) is a fictitious tale set in the cities' darkest
ghetto, though Arthur asserts in the Preface that it contains a dire warning of true life's "stranger
than the fiction" possibilities.

"The task I set for myself has not been a pleasant one. It has hurt my
sensibilities and sickened my heart many times as I stood face to face with the
sad and awful degradation that exists in certain regions of our larger cities;
and now that my work is done, I take a deep breath of relief. The result is in
your hands, good citizen, Christian reader, earnest philanthropist! If it stirs your
heart in the reading as it stirred mine in the writing, it will not die fruitless."
Arthur not only contributed greatly to the social and moral fabric of his time, he wrote many books
for children, books about history and advice works for men and women regarding marriage,
ethics and divorce. Timothy Shay Arthur died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA on 6 March
1885, and is buried in the Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Biography written by C.D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc 2005. All Rights Reserved.
The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission.
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T.S. Arthur

Fiction

After the Storm

All's For the Best

Cast Adrift

Danger; or, Wounded in the House of a Friend

Finger Posts on the Way of Life

Hair Breadth Escapes

Heart-Histories and Life-Pictures

Home Lights and Shadows

Home Scenes, and Home Influence

Lessons in Life

Lizzy Glenn

Married Life; Its Shadows and Sunshine

Off-Hand Sketches

Ten Nights in a Bar Room

The Allen House, or Twenty Years Ago and Now

The Good Time Coming

The Hand But Not the Heart

The Home Mission

The Iron Rule

The Last Penny and Other Stories

The Lights and Shadows of Real Life

The Two Wives

The Wedding Guest

Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper

True Riches or; Wealth Without Wings

Who Are Happiest? and Other Stories

Woman's Trials

Words for the Wise

Words of Cheer for the Tempted, the Toiling, and the Sorrowing

Non-Fiction

Grappling With The Monster

Short Stories

A Day in the Woods

A Garden Overrun with Weeds

A Good Name

A Mystery Explained

A Noble Act

A Picture

A Visit with the Doctor

After a Shadow

Alice and the Pigeon

Amy's Question

An Angel in Disguise

Andy Lovell

Coffee vs. Brandy

Danger; or Wounded in the House of a Friend

Dressed for a Party

Edgar and William

Emma Lee and her Sixpence

Hadn't Time for Trouble

Harsh Words and Kind Words

Human Life

In the Way of Temptation

Little Lizzie

Old Ned

On Guard

Other People's Eyes

Rover and his Little Master

Something Wrong

Temptation Resisted

The Father's Dream

The Hermit

The Sum of Trifles

The Use of Flowers

The Word of God

What Can I Do?

What Shall We Build?

Which Was Most the Lady?

Poetry

The Old Man at the Cottage Door

Evening Prayer

Saturday in Winter

The City Pigeon

The Freed Butterfly

The Song of the Snow Bird

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