It’s the birthday of two 19th century writers best known today for their children’s books: Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), known for The Water-Babies (1863), and Johanna (Heusser) Spyri (1827-1901), known for Heidi (1881). If you google them, you will find formidably Victorian images, Kingsley sporting those disturbing long sideburns and Spyri wearing a high ruffled collar and a thick braid around the top of her head. (But who am I, a child of the 1970s, to throw stones?)

Kingsley was born at Holne Vicarage in Devon, England, like the upright Victorian gentleman he aspired to be, and followed in his father’s footsteps to become an Anglican clergyman. He helped found the Christian Socialist Movement, which concerned itself with the plight of the working classes, and began writing novels like, Alton Locke (1850), about a tailor/poet and his involvement in the Chartist movement, and historical novels, like Hypatia (1853), set in early Christian Egypt, and in which Kingsley tips his hand as to what he thinks about the Catholics, then and now. (Spoiler alert: not much.) In fact Kingsley got into a well-known brouhaha with Catholic leader John Henry Newman, who may have been responding to Kingsley’s attacks when he published his own novel, Callista, in 1855, set in the 3rd century. (And did he thank Kingsley for the inspiration? Probably not.)

Kingsley eventually got interested in writing for children, and with The Water-Babies was able to address several pet interests, such as the plight of chimney sweeps, sanitation, and even evolutionary theory. (Kingsley was one of the few Anglican priests of his day to back Darwinism.) The Water-Babies, which was “A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby,” tells the story of a chimney sweep named Tom who falls into a river and becomes a water-baby. The book is less than subtle in pushing a moral agenda, with one character named Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, and also discusses Catholics, Jews, and Americans in less than politically correct terms. (Kind of refreshing to see Americans on that list for once.) Ten life points to anyone who has read The Water-Babies and can comment.

Spyri was born in Hirzel, Switzerland, married a lawyer in 1852, and moved to Zurich, where she wrote stories for both children and adults. Heidi tells the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in an idyllic Alpine setting but is taken away to be a companion to a paralyzed girl, the daughter of a rich German family. Heidi suffers greatly from homesickness and eventually returns to the Alps, where Clara visits and overcomes her paralysis (like you do). Heidi is the most popular piece of Swiss literature of all time and has sold over 50 million copies and been made into a bazillion movies. Spyri died in Zurich at the age of 74.

Have a sanitary and morally upright Tuesday and stay scrupulously honest to the data.