Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke) Smith

Born in Boston on November 14, 1864, Mabell Shippie Clarke Smith was an American author whose books ranged widely across fiction, criticism, and history. Library and catalog records identify her as Mabell S. C. Smith (Mabell Shippie Clarke), 1864–1942, and public-domain listings show that she also published works under the name Mabell Shippie Clarke Pelton.

She is especially known today for the Ethel Morton books, a series of girls' stories including Ethel Morton at Chautauqua, Ethel Morton's Enterprise, Ethel Morton's Holidays, and Ethel Morton and the Christmas Ship. Alongside those novels, she wrote nonfiction such as Studies in Dickens, The Spirit of French Letters, and Twenty Centuries of Paris, showing a strong interest in literature, culture, and European history.

Smith also worked on larger historical projects, including a later revised edition of A History of France. She died on March 23, 1942. Taken together, her books suggest a writer who enjoyed both teaching and storytelling: someone able to turn literary appreciation, travel-minded history, and youthful adventure into readable, inviting prose.