[3][4] Alden moved to New York City in 1882 to further her musical education in hopes of becoming an opera singer; she later sang as a soloist in church choirs.

[2][3] During this period, she invented a street-cleaners' cart, to make life easier for the street sweepers and for their horses, which at that time had to pull heavy wagons.

[5] The cart was small enough for the sweepers to handle themselves, and it had a self-dumping feature so that it could be emptied directly onto the trash barges, bypassing the horse-drawn wagons.

[6][8] During her three years with the Tribune, Alden planned and founded the International Sunshine Society, serving as its president-general for the rest of her life.

[6] It started with Alden's practice of sending Christmas cards and gifts to shut-ins, and she slowly expanded it, first to her circle of fellow writers, and later to a membership that peaked at half a million.