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Mary Wilder Tileston
Mary Wilder Tileston was born on August 20, 1843, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Caleb Foote, owner and editor of the Salem Gazette, and Mary Wilder White Foote. Raised in a family with strong intellectual and religious ties—her brother Henry Wilder Foote became a Harvard-educated minister, and her brother Arthur Foote a noted composer—she attended private schools in Salem. On September 25, 1865, she married John Boies Tileston, a publisher’s son, and they had seven children: Mary, Margaret, Roger, Amelia, Wilder, Edith, and Eleanor. The family lived in Concord, Massachusetts, on a 200-acre farm from around 1874 to 1882, then moved to Salem and later Brookline, Massachusetts, where she died on July 3, 1934. Tileston’s career was centered on her literary contributions rather than preaching. Her most notable work, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, a collection of prose, verse, and scripture for daily reading, sold over 250,000 copies by 1910 and was highly regarded. She compiled other devotionals, including Prayers Ancient and Modern (1897) and children’s works like The Child’s Harvest of Verse (1910), reflecting her love for spiritual literature. While not a preacher by occupation, her anthologies served a preaching-like function, offering spiritual guidance to readers. Her legacy lies in these writings, which continue to inspire, rather than in a formal ministerial role.
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Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about finding joy and happiness in the Lord's salvation, emphasizing the importance of having a heart filled with grace, a voice of joy, and a shining face to reflect God's love. She encourages believers to show love and compassion to others, helping them along the way with cheerfulness and heavenly mirth, brightening their steps on earth. Tileston reminds that those who love God are surrounded by gladness, experiencing a Father's love in every moment that cannot be taken away by worldly troubles. She concludes by highlighting the responsibility of using our own happiness as a talent to make others' lives happy until the return of the Master.
Rejoicing in God's Love
My soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation. PSALMS 25:9 The living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. 1 TIMOTHY 6:17 Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart. ISAIAH 65:14 GIVE me, O Lord, a heart of grace, A voice of joy, a shining face, That I may show where'er I turn Thy love within my soul doth burn! A tenderness for all that stray, With strength to help them on the way A cheerfulness, a heavenly mirth, Brightening my steps along the earth! LADY GILBERT THOSE who love God are encompassed with gladness on every side, because in every passing moment they see and feel a Father's love, and nothing of this world can take it away or lessen it. H. L. SIDNEY LEAR To be happy is properly the beginning of all schemes for making happy. SARAH W.STEPHEN My life is so strangely free from all trial and trouble, that I cannot doubt my own happiness is one of the talents entrusted to me to "occupy" with, till the Master shall return, by doing something to make other lives happy. CHARLES L. DODGSON
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Mary Wilder Tileston was born on August 20, 1843, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Caleb Foote, owner and editor of the Salem Gazette, and Mary Wilder White Foote. Raised in a family with strong intellectual and religious ties—her brother Henry Wilder Foote became a Harvard-educated minister, and her brother Arthur Foote a noted composer—she attended private schools in Salem. On September 25, 1865, she married John Boies Tileston, a publisher’s son, and they had seven children: Mary, Margaret, Roger, Amelia, Wilder, Edith, and Eleanor. The family lived in Concord, Massachusetts, on a 200-acre farm from around 1874 to 1882, then moved to Salem and later Brookline, Massachusetts, where she died on July 3, 1934. Tileston’s career was centered on her literary contributions rather than preaching. Her most notable work, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, a collection of prose, verse, and scripture for daily reading, sold over 250,000 copies by 1910 and was highly regarded. She compiled other devotionals, including Prayers Ancient and Modern (1897) and children’s works like The Child’s Harvest of Verse (1910), reflecting her love for spiritual literature. While not a preacher by occupation, her anthologies served a preaching-like function, offering spiritual guidance to readers. Her legacy lies in these writings, which continue to inspire, rather than in a formal ministerial role.