"The Little Pilgrim" was intended to replace the discontinued children's magazine, "Friend of Youth". F. O. C. Darley drew the picture of the boy pilgrim on the cover. In January 1857, the page size was reduced to about a third of its original height because "it was found that our paper was too long to fit on the book-shelves". The number of pages increased from 8 to 12 with the height reduction. "The Little Pilgrim" was absorbed by "The Little Corporal" in 1869.