Page 37 of The Giver of Stars
‘Made me realize – I can’t keep them close by me for ever. I want more for them than this, you know. Seeing as how smart they both are.’ He stood silent for a moment. Then he said: ‘Miss Alice, what do you think of that school? The one with the German lady?’
‘Mrs Beidecker? Mr Horner, I think your girls would love her.’
‘She … doesn’t take a switch to the children? You hear some things … Betsy got beat something awful at school so she never wanted the girls to go.’
‘I’d be happy to introduce you to her, Mr Horner. She is a kind woman, and the students seem to love her. I cannot believe she would ever lay a hand on a child.’
He considered this. ‘It’s hard,’ he said, looking out at the mountain, ‘having to work all this stuff out. I thought I’d bejust doing a man’s job. My own daddy just brought home the food and put his feet up and let my mama do all the rest. And now I have to be mother as well as father. Make all these decisions.’
‘Look at those girls, Mr Horner.’
They glanced to where the girls, now lying on their stomachs, were exclaiming over something they had just read.
Alice smiled. ‘I think you’re doing fine.’
Finn Mayburg, Upper Pinch Me – one copyThe Furrow,dated May 1937
Two copiesWeird Talesmagazine, dated December 1936 and February 1937
Ellen Prince – Eagles Top (end cabin) –Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
From Farm to Tableby Edna Roden
Nancy and Phyllis Stone, Arnott’s Ridge– Mack Maguire and the Indian Girlby Amherst Archer
Mack Maguire Takes a Fallby Amherst Archer (note: they have read all current editions, ask if we can find out if there are any more)
Margery flicked through the ledger, Sophia’s elegant handwriting neatly transcribing date and routes at the top of each page. Beside it sat a pile of newly repaired books, their bindings stitched and the torn covers patched with pages from books that couldn’t be salvaged. Beside that lay a new scrapbook –The Baileyville Bonus –this edition comprising four pages of recipes from spoiled copies of theWoman’sHome Companion, a short story titled ‘What She Wouldn’t Say’, and a long feature about collecting ferns. The library was now immaculate, a system of labels marking the back of every shelved book so that it was easy for them to find their place, the books precisely ordered and categorized.
Sophia would come by at around 5 p.m. and would usually have done a couple of hours by the time the girls returned from their routes. The days were growing shorter now so they were having to return earlier because of the falling light. Sometimes they would all just sit and chat among themselves while unloading their bags and comparing their days before they headed off to their homes. Fred had been installing a wood burner in the corner in his free time, though it wasn’t finished yet: the gap around the flue pipe was still stuffed with rags to stop the rain coming in. Despite this, all the women seemed to find reasons to hang around a little later each day and Margery suspected that once the stove started up she would have trouble persuading them to go home.
Mrs Brady looked a little startled when Margery explained the identity of the newest member of their team but, having seen the altered state of the little building, to her credit she simply compressed her lips and raised her fingers to her temples. ‘Has anybody complained?’
‘Nobody’s seen her to complain. She comes in the back, by Mr Guisler’s house, and goes home the same way.’
Mrs Brady mulled this for a moment. ‘Are you familiar with what Mrs Nofcier says? You know of Mrs Nofcier, of course.’
Margery smiled. They all knew of Mrs Nofcier. Mrs Brady would shoehorn her name into a conversation about horse liniment if she could.
‘Well, I was recently lucky enough to attend an address for teachers and parents that the good lady gave where shesaid – hold on, I wrote this bit down.’ She riffled through her pocketbook: ‘“A library service should be provided for all people, rural as well as urban, coloured as well as white.” There. “Coloured as well as white.” That was how she put it. I believe we have to be mindful of the importance of progress and equality just as Mrs Nofcier is. So you’ll have no objection from me about employing a coloured woman here.’ She rubbed at a mark on the desk, then examined her finger. ‘Maybe … we won’t actuallyadvertiseit just yet, though. There’s no need to invite controversy, given we’re such a fledgling venture. I’m sure you catch my drift.’
‘My feelings exactly, Mrs Brady,’ Margery said. ‘I wouldn’t want to bring trouble to Sophia’s door.’
‘She does a beautiful job. I’ll give her that.’ Mrs Brady gazed around her. Sophia had stitched a sampler, which hung on the wall beside the door –To Seek Knowledge Is To Expand Your Own Universe –and Mrs Brady patted it with some satisfaction. ‘I have to say, Miss O’Hare, I am immensely proud of what you have achieved in just a few short months. It has exceeded all our expectations. I have written to Mrs Nofcier to tell her as much several times and I am sure that at some point she will be passing on those sentiments to Mrs Roosevelt herself … It is a profound shame not everyone in our town feels the same way.’
She glanced away, as if deciding not to say more. ‘But, as I said, I do believe this is a true model of a packhorse library. And you girls should be proud of yourselves.’
Margery nodded. It was probably best not to tell Mrs Brady about the library’s unofficial initiative: each day she sat down at the desk, in the dark hours between her arrival and dawn, and she wrote out, according to her template, a half-dozen more of the letters that she had been distributing to the inhabitants of North Ridge.
Dear Neighbour
It has come to our attention that the owners of Hoffman are seeking to create new mines in your neighbourhood. This would involve the removal of hundreds of acres of timber, the blasting of new pits and, in many cases, the loss of homes and livelihoods.
I write to you in confidence, as the mines are known to employ devious and harsh individuals in the interests of getting their way, but I believe that it is both illegal and immoral for them to do what they plan, that it would be the cause of abject misery and destitution.
To that end, according to law books we have consulted, there appears to be a precedent to stop such wholesale rape of our landscape, and protect our homes, and I urge you to read this extract provided below, or, if you have the resources, to consult the legal representative at Baileyville’s court offices in order to put such obstructions in place as may be required to prevent this destruction. In the meantime do not sign any BROAD FORM DEEDS for these, despite the money and assurances offered, will give the mine-owners the right to mine under your very house.
If help is needed with the reading of such documents, the packhorse librarians may be happy to assist, and will, of course, do so with discretion.
