Elsie Singmaster, whose short stories, novels, and juvenile fiction once attracted a wide reading audience, was perhaps best known for her ennobling portrayals of the Pennsylvania Germans and for her charming representations of life in rural America. She was born in the quiet, picturesque village of Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Dr. John Alden Singmaster, a founder of the United Lutheran Church and for many years president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, and Caroline Hoopes Singmaster. When Elsie Singmaster was four years old, the family moved to rural Macungie, Pennsylvania. Later they lived in Brooklyn, New York, before settling in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where she was graduated from high school. She studied English for one year at nearby West Chester Normal School (now West Chester State College), and transferred for one year to Cornell. After a five-year break in her education, she entered Radcliffe, earning a B.A...