Charles Asbury Stephens (October 21, 1844 – September 22, 1931) was an American writer who published short stories and articles under the name C. A. Stephens.
Stephens was born in
Norway, Maine
Norway is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,077 at the 2020 census. It is home to Lake Pennesseewassee, a recreation area.
History
Fertile soil and abundant fauna surrounding the Pennessewasse Lake supported ...
, and wrote under the name "Stephens" to avoid embarrassing his family should he fail as a writer.
He attended
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
starting in 1866, but dropped out because of lack of funds. For most of his career he was under contract to ''
The Youth's Companion
''The Youth's Companion'' (1827–1929), known in later years as simply ''The Companion—For All the Family'', was an American children's magazine that existed for over one hundred years until it finally merged with ''The American Boy'' in 1929. ...
'' and, for a time, was their most popular and prolific contributor.
[Waugh, 406] Stephens himself estimated that he had written 3,000 short stories.
''The Youth's Companion'' put him through medical school so that they could have a staff physician to write scientific articles; he earned his
M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...
from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
in 1887.
Partial list of works
* ''Fox-hunting'' (1872)
* ''Lynx-hunting'' (1872)
* ''On the Amazons'' (1872)
* ''
Left on Labrador'' (1873)
* ''Camping out: as recorded by "Kit"'' (1873)
* ''Off to the geysers'' (1872)
* ''The Best in the World'' (1880)
* ''
The Young Moose Hunters'' (1882)
* ''The Knockabout Club Alongshore'' (1883)
* ''The knockabout Club in the woods'' (1883)
* ''The Knockabout club in the tropics'' (1883)
* ''The adventures of six young men in the wilds of Maine and Canada'' (1884)
* ''Living matter: its cycle of growth and decline in animal organisms'' (1888)
* ''Pluri-cellular man: Whence and what is the intellect, or "soul"?'' (1892)
* ''Charles Adams Tales'' (1896)
* ''Long life'' (1896)
* ''The nation's responsibility for its laborers on the Panama Canal'' (1904)
* ''The ark of 1803: a story of Louisiana purchase times'' (1904)
* ''Natural salvation'' (1905)
* ''Pioneer boys afloat on the Mississippi'' (1910)
* ''When Life was Young at the Old Farm in Maine'' (1912)
* ''The Fields are Adventure'' (1912)
* ''A great year of our lives at the old squire's'' (1912)
* ''Julia Sylvester'' (1912)
* ''Immortal life: how it will be achieved'' (1920)
* ''C. A. Stephens Looks at Norway'' (1920)
* ''A busy year at the old squire's'' (1922)
* ''Andros islands'' (1923)
* ''Haps and mishaps at the old farm'' (1925)
* ''Stories of my home folks'' (1926)
* ''Katahdin camps'' (1928)
References
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External links
"The World of C. A. Stephens" at the Norway, Maine memorial libraryCharles Asbury Stephens collection at Bowdoin College*
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1844 births
1931 deaths
American gerontologists
Writers from Maine
Bowdoin College alumni
People from Norway, Maine
American male short story writers
American short story writers
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