Four Books, Four Heroines, 1892 to 1920
[cross-posted at christianreader]
moredetails asks for us to post some things! (Good idea!)
I had a little vacation back in May and started an account of some books I read then--some quite worthy of description. . . .and then (as usual) I got too busy to finish the post. So, before I move on to some books read since then, I might as well post these:
The Apple-Tree Girl: The Story of Little Miss Moses, Who Led Herself into the Promised Land, by George Weston (1918)
Archive.org (Free E-book)
Overall Opinion: I enjoyed the main character and her determination, but was eventually disappointed with her continued pursuits of goals not worthy of her own good sense.
Contrary to what the title might lead one to believe, this is not a Christian nor Jewish story, nor about apple trees, nor really about a little girl--or at least, not for long.
Having overheard a relative describe her as "homely," Charlotte's dreams of having a "prince" fall madly in love with her were dampened considerably. She determines that if she can't be pretty, she will have to be smart. Thus she sallies forth to attain three goals she set for herself to attain her dreams: (1) to make everyone like her, (2) to become famous, and (3) to marry a millionnaire. The secret to making everyone like her came early and easily. Eventually she came up with a plan for attaining fame--not so easy a task for an orphaned young lady from the hamlet of Marlin Mills in a forgotten corner of Connecticut.
I enjoyed the plucky, cheerful, friendly determination of Charlotte, though her determination to continue to pursue goals #2 and #3 baffled me as she grew in experience and wisdom. I therefore sort of lost respect for the novel, if not the girl, as the worthiness of her pursuits seemed to devolve. Also, the ending seemed abrupt. Throughout the novel, however, I enjoyed the friendly, practical girl--enough that I looked for other works from this author.
Mary Minds Her Business, by George Weston (1920)
Project Gutenberg E-Book (Free)
Overall Opinion: I really enjoyed this, but probably mostly because of it's relation to my own career and for the descriptions of now-historic manufacturing life. Mary's gentle but persistant faith in the worth of carrying out a good thing was also appealing. (Your mileage may vary.)
Mary's father had hoped to have a son to be the fourth generation to run the family's large bearing manufacturing business, but Mary is his only child and heir, and in spite of Mary's delight and involvement in the factories throughout her girlhood, no one in the early 1900's expects a woman to know how to run--or care to run--a manufacturing facility. However, Mary's heart goes out to the poor women in her community who slave away at hand-laundering and other housekeeping drudgery that she knows is more physically taxing than the metalworking tasks the men do at the bearing factory. After she starts reading about the success of women running factories in Europe to support World War I efforts while men are away fighting, she starts putting plans into action in her own facility.
I rather stumbled onto this book hoping for a heroine with sense and character on par with or better than Charlotte, The Apple Tree Girl (by the same author). It was a special surprise and treat to find that Mary's business interest actually involved an aspect of my own career area--the manufacture of precision machined product! (I'm not sure I've ever encountered a novel about a woman running a machining business before--from any time period.)
Although the author mentions enough aspects of the manufacturing process to paint a realistic picture, there is little manufacturing detail to bore mainstream readers; the emphasis is on Mary's life and her quest to make life better for the poor women and families in her small New England community--and how she works and navigates among the male leaders and mentors about her in order to accomplish her dreams and to thwart those with selfish motives who would take that away from her.
That Old-Time Child, Roberta: Her Home Life on the Farm by Sophie Fox Sea (1892)
Project Gutenberg E-book (Free)
Overall Opinion: I enjoyed some of the detail of Kentucky plantation life, and the relationship between Roberta and her "Mam' Sarah." I thought this a simple children's story until the confusion and tension of not knowing which soldiers were on which side hit me with its broader symbolism. Indeed, I didn't know whom to root for--which was exactly the point, I think.
This book is part of the Kentuckiana Digital Library collection, a piece written less than three decades after the Civil War, a fictionalized account depicting the third-generation families of both master and slaves who have lived their lives on this Kentucky plantation. Roberta is the only daughter born to the young lady of the plantation. Roberta never knew her Yankee father, who found it so hard to acclimate to the plantation lifestyle that he quarrelled with his young wife and left her before finding out that a child was expected. As the War Between the States commences, Roberta, nearly ten years old, doesn't want anything to do with the Yankees, father included.
Those who Roberta does know and love are her mother and the some of the slaves that have most cared for her and loved her throughout her childhood: notably "The Squire" and Mam' Sarah. As the family and family slaves are forced to interact alternately with Rebel and Union soldiers passing through (sometimes not knowing which is which, nor who is loyal to whom), we begin to feel the tension of human kindness navigating amid conflicting loyalties and the effects of prior sins.
I am aware that by today's standards, this story could be controversial, perhaps considered to be forgiving of slavery or supporting the Confederate cause. To me it seems to be looking in hindsight after the war, not picking sides but suggestive of sins on both sides. The inclusion of a real photograph of an African-American woman at her spinning wheel suggests that perhaps the author intended the character of Mam' Sarah to honor a real woman dear to her own heart.
The story presents a believable history of a unique time and place, explaining the atmosphere in which some of our own ancestors were caught in, and what choices they may have had at their disposal. In the end the author seems to call for a time for repentance, forgiveness, healing, and an overarching love of humanity.
Grandmother: The Story of a Life that was Never Lived, Laura Howe Richards (1907)
Archive.org (Free E-book)
Overall Opinion: Good character points and moral to the story, but I was disappointed overall. Laura Howe Richards can sometimes really touch my heart in other works, but something in the telling of this story was missing.
Grandmother was actually an eighteen-year-old girl who found herself alone and friendless at the death of her parents in a remote Western community that had little respect or prospect to offer a young lady. A widowed grandfather, travelling through, thought to rescue her from the situation by making her his wife and taking her home to his New England farm. Thus, she became known only as "Grandmother" before she was twenty.
Grandfather was a cheerful, kind-hearted sort, who sought to make her happy, although he had a selfishly wicked, sharp-tounged granddaughter (whose mental stability was questionable) also living in his house who tormented the young Grandmother. The book revolves around how Grandmother found cheerful life and purpose in spite of the constant adversity from her wicked stepgranddaughter.
Sometimes Laura Howe Richards' characters can really warm my heart or touch on some beautiful thing that makes the whole novel worth the reading, but I just didn't find the touchpoint with this novel. Somehow, I had a hard time feeling like I really understood and knew Grandmother. I felt like I was watching her actions from a distance, and though I could affirm the conclusions she came to in her actions, I could not follow the windings of her mind and heart. Also, I found the antagonists just too unpleasant for the reading to be enjoyable. I was able to stick it out to the end wanting to see the realization of things hoped for, but there wasn't enough to redeem the time for me. There are better Laura Howe Richards books.
(Of course, if you are craving a heroine who perseveres with her serenity and finds a peaceful purpose in spite of an unavoidable mentally unfit relative, your heroine awaits you!)
Women of the Country by Gertrude Bone (1913)
Project Gutenberg E-book (Free)
Overall Opinion: I found myself identifying with the heroine's attempt to live out her faith in her own quiet corner of the universe. The plot seemed only a thin thread, and I was confused at times at the connection of whole chapters to the story. In the end, though, I was won over by the beauty and worth of the details: The depictions of beauty in the little moments of the women's lives--and how they enjoyed them--were exquisite.
Anne is a single woman who manages her own living on an English cottage farm alone after the death of her father, selling butter, flowers, and produce which she produces herself and carts to town behind a pony. She is considered "good but peculiar" by most of the people of the village, who are yet kind and friendly to her. She is a quiet introvert, but, having studied theology in her solitude and having had a spiritual "experience," she does not hesitate to act and speak when she feels it is consistent with what the Lord calls her to do.
She is not self-righteous soul, however, but humble and burdened by a spirit of sorrow and charity over the sins of others much as if they were her own sins. Such is the burden Anne takes on when she hears, through some gossip, of the young woman Jane who, after struggling for over a year to make ends meet after the death of her grandmother, accepts an invitation to live (in sin) with a wealthy horse-trader whose wife has run off. Not wanting to, and yet driven, Anne walks miles in the rain to reason with the unmarried couple, hoping to extract the misled Jane from the situation.
Sometimes neighbors drift in and out to help where needed; sometimes Anne acts alone. Of particular interest is a serene blind neighbor woman, also single, a particular friend to Anne, who similarly makes a living off her own farm.
As I first read this, I did not consider this at all a "Christian" novel. The author is so completely neutral as to her character's opinions, and, in fact, always points out the oddity of them compared to the ways of her neighbors. The message of the story comes not in theology, but through the lives of the people.
moredetails asks for us to post some things! (Good idea!)
I had a little vacation back in May and started an account of some books I read then--some quite worthy of description. . . .and then (as usual) I got too busy to finish the post. So, before I move on to some books read since then, I might as well post these:
The Apple-Tree Girl: The Story of Little Miss Moses, Who Led Herself into the Promised Land, by George Weston (1918)
Archive.org (Free E-book)
Overall Opinion: I enjoyed the main character and her determination, but was eventually disappointed with her continued pursuits of goals not worthy of her own good sense.
Contrary to what the title might lead one to believe, this is not a Christian nor Jewish story, nor about apple trees, nor really about a little girl--or at least, not for long.
Having overheard a relative describe her as "homely," Charlotte's dreams of having a "prince" fall madly in love with her were dampened considerably. She determines that if she can't be pretty, she will have to be smart. Thus she sallies forth to attain three goals she set for herself to attain her dreams: (1) to make everyone like her, (2) to become famous, and (3) to marry a millionnaire. The secret to making everyone like her came early and easily. Eventually she came up with a plan for attaining fame--not so easy a task for an orphaned young lady from the hamlet of Marlin Mills in a forgotten corner of Connecticut.
I enjoyed the plucky, cheerful, friendly determination of Charlotte, though her determination to continue to pursue goals #2 and #3 baffled me as she grew in experience and wisdom. I therefore sort of lost respect for the novel, if not the girl, as the worthiness of her pursuits seemed to devolve. Also, the ending seemed abrupt. Throughout the novel, however, I enjoyed the friendly, practical girl--enough that I looked for other works from this author.
Mary Minds Her Business, by George Weston (1920)
Project Gutenberg E-Book (Free)
Overall Opinion: I really enjoyed this, but probably mostly because of it's relation to my own career and for the descriptions of now-historic manufacturing life. Mary's gentle but persistant faith in the worth of carrying out a good thing was also appealing. (Your mileage may vary.)
Mary's father had hoped to have a son to be the fourth generation to run the family's large bearing manufacturing business, but Mary is his only child and heir, and in spite of Mary's delight and involvement in the factories throughout her girlhood, no one in the early 1900's expects a woman to know how to run--or care to run--a manufacturing facility. However, Mary's heart goes out to the poor women in her community who slave away at hand-laundering and other housekeeping drudgery that she knows is more physically taxing than the metalworking tasks the men do at the bearing factory. After she starts reading about the success of women running factories in Europe to support World War I efforts while men are away fighting, she starts putting plans into action in her own facility.
I rather stumbled onto this book hoping for a heroine with sense and character on par with or better than Charlotte, The Apple Tree Girl (by the same author). It was a special surprise and treat to find that Mary's business interest actually involved an aspect of my own career area--the manufacture of precision machined product! (I'm not sure I've ever encountered a novel about a woman running a machining business before--from any time period.)
Although the author mentions enough aspects of the manufacturing process to paint a realistic picture, there is little manufacturing detail to bore mainstream readers; the emphasis is on Mary's life and her quest to make life better for the poor women and families in her small New England community--and how she works and navigates among the male leaders and mentors about her in order to accomplish her dreams and to thwart those with selfish motives who would take that away from her.
That Old-Time Child, Roberta: Her Home Life on the Farm by Sophie Fox Sea (1892)
Project Gutenberg E-book (Free)
Overall Opinion: I enjoyed some of the detail of Kentucky plantation life, and the relationship between Roberta and her "Mam' Sarah." I thought this a simple children's story until the confusion and tension of not knowing which soldiers were on which side hit me with its broader symbolism. Indeed, I didn't know whom to root for--which was exactly the point, I think.
This book is part of the Kentuckiana Digital Library collection, a piece written less than three decades after the Civil War, a fictionalized account depicting the third-generation families of both master and slaves who have lived their lives on this Kentucky plantation. Roberta is the only daughter born to the young lady of the plantation. Roberta never knew her Yankee father, who found it so hard to acclimate to the plantation lifestyle that he quarrelled with his young wife and left her before finding out that a child was expected. As the War Between the States commences, Roberta, nearly ten years old, doesn't want anything to do with the Yankees, father included.
Those who Roberta does know and love are her mother and the some of the slaves that have most cared for her and loved her throughout her childhood: notably "The Squire" and Mam' Sarah. As the family and family slaves are forced to interact alternately with Rebel and Union soldiers passing through (sometimes not knowing which is which, nor who is loyal to whom), we begin to feel the tension of human kindness navigating amid conflicting loyalties and the effects of prior sins.
I am aware that by today's standards, this story could be controversial, perhaps considered to be forgiving of slavery or supporting the Confederate cause. To me it seems to be looking in hindsight after the war, not picking sides but suggestive of sins on both sides. The inclusion of a real photograph of an African-American woman at her spinning wheel suggests that perhaps the author intended the character of Mam' Sarah to honor a real woman dear to her own heart.
The story presents a believable history of a unique time and place, explaining the atmosphere in which some of our own ancestors were caught in, and what choices they may have had at their disposal. In the end the author seems to call for a time for repentance, forgiveness, healing, and an overarching love of humanity.
Grandmother: The Story of a Life that was Never Lived, Laura Howe Richards (1907)
Archive.org (Free E-book)
Overall Opinion: Good character points and moral to the story, but I was disappointed overall. Laura Howe Richards can sometimes really touch my heart in other works, but something in the telling of this story was missing.
Grandmother was actually an eighteen-year-old girl who found herself alone and friendless at the death of her parents in a remote Western community that had little respect or prospect to offer a young lady. A widowed grandfather, travelling through, thought to rescue her from the situation by making her his wife and taking her home to his New England farm. Thus, she became known only as "Grandmother" before she was twenty.
Grandfather was a cheerful, kind-hearted sort, who sought to make her happy, although he had a selfishly wicked, sharp-tounged granddaughter (whose mental stability was questionable) also living in his house who tormented the young Grandmother. The book revolves around how Grandmother found cheerful life and purpose in spite of the constant adversity from her wicked stepgranddaughter.
Sometimes Laura Howe Richards' characters can really warm my heart or touch on some beautiful thing that makes the whole novel worth the reading, but I just didn't find the touchpoint with this novel. Somehow, I had a hard time feeling like I really understood and knew Grandmother. I felt like I was watching her actions from a distance, and though I could affirm the conclusions she came to in her actions, I could not follow the windings of her mind and heart. Also, I found the antagonists just too unpleasant for the reading to be enjoyable. I was able to stick it out to the end wanting to see the realization of things hoped for, but there wasn't enough to redeem the time for me. There are better Laura Howe Richards books.
(Of course, if you are craving a heroine who perseveres with her serenity and finds a peaceful purpose in spite of an unavoidable mentally unfit relative, your heroine awaits you!)
Women of the Country by Gertrude Bone (1913)
Project Gutenberg E-book (Free)
Overall Opinion: I found myself identifying with the heroine's attempt to live out her faith in her own quiet corner of the universe. The plot seemed only a thin thread, and I was confused at times at the connection of whole chapters to the story. In the end, though, I was won over by the beauty and worth of the details: The depictions of beauty in the little moments of the women's lives--and how they enjoyed them--were exquisite.
Anne is a single woman who manages her own living on an English cottage farm alone after the death of her father, selling butter, flowers, and produce which she produces herself and carts to town behind a pony. She is considered "good but peculiar" by most of the people of the village, who are yet kind and friendly to her. She is a quiet introvert, but, having studied theology in her solitude and having had a spiritual "experience," she does not hesitate to act and speak when she feels it is consistent with what the Lord calls her to do.
She is not self-righteous soul, however, but humble and burdened by a spirit of sorrow and charity over the sins of others much as if they were her own sins. Such is the burden Anne takes on when she hears, through some gossip, of the young woman Jane who, after struggling for over a year to make ends meet after the death of her grandmother, accepts an invitation to live (in sin) with a wealthy horse-trader whose wife has run off. Not wanting to, and yet driven, Anne walks miles in the rain to reason with the unmarried couple, hoping to extract the misled Jane from the situation.
Sometimes neighbors drift in and out to help where needed; sometimes Anne acts alone. Of particular interest is a serene blind neighbor woman, also single, a particular friend to Anne, who similarly makes a living off her own farm.
As I first read this, I did not consider this at all a "Christian" novel. The author is so completely neutral as to her character's opinions, and, in fact, always points out the oddity of them compared to the ways of her neighbors. The message of the story comes not in theology, but through the lives of the people.