Dora's mistake: A story

"Dora's Mistake" by A. L. O. E. is a didactic children's story written in the late 19th century. It follows the Temple family—practical Mrs. Temple, her son Lucius, twins Dora and Agnes, gentle Amy, and lively Elsie—as a home project to build a model of the biblical Tabernacle becomes a vehicle for moral testing and growth. Centering on Dora’s eagerness and impulsiveness, the tale blends domestic incidents with lessons on faith, truthfulness, humility, and charity, all tied to Scripture.

The opening of the story shows the Temples confined at home with whooping cough, where a quarrel over Lucius nicking a desk turns into a plan to make a Tabernacle model to interest others and raise money for Aunt Theodora’s ragged school. Mrs. Temple assigns tasks—Lucius to the framework and “pillars,” Amy to the court curtains, Agnes to outer coverings, Dora to the ornate embroidery, and little Elsie to the red layer—while discussing the Tabernacle’s design and purpose. A Sabbath day brings Bible reading from Hebrews and family talks on “types” (the Holy of holies as a figure of heaven, priest and sacrifice as figures of Christ, the brazen serpent and leprosy as images of sin and healing, Naaman’s cleansing, and Jordan as a figure of death). Meanwhile, Dora secretly stitches on Sunday and conceals it, setting up the moral tension that will drive her “mistake” and its consequences.