One of my favorite stories, which Elsie frequently recalled for her grandchildren, was about her “Grand Canyon adventure.”  Among her papers was a yellowed newspaper article from 1915 entitled “River Scouts Have Narrow Escape.”  These three men had agreed to document (on film) Elsie and a fellow teacher crossing the Grand Canyon in a wooden box attached to a cable constructed by W.W. Bass, a Grand Canyon guide.  However the boat carrying the “apparatus,” as Elsie called the movie camera, was abandoned after it became stuck on the rocks as they attempted to descend the rapids of the Colorado River.

I was at Costco in Prescott, Arizona for a book signing for “Elsie” on April 14^th.  We spent the night with some new friends who are seasoned hikers of the Grand Canyon.  I shared a copy of “Elsie” with
them.  As I was telling them the story of her Grand Canyon Adventure, our new friend stopped me as I mentioned the name Charles Russel, who, according to my grandmother, with another scout and a
filmmaker had abandoned their boat and the movie camera when the boat was
wrecked upon the rocks. He told me, “I know that boat.  It’s the ‘Ross Wheeler’ and it is still down
in the canyon. I have a picture of us in that very boat.”  Could it be possible that the boat in my grandmother’s story was still in the canyon?

They shared a book with us that described “…the Ross Wheeler, a steel boat chained and
bolted to the rock. The boat was abandoned here in 1915 by Charles Russel, August
Tadje, and a filmmaker named Clements.” Amazingly, here was documentation that matched Elsie’s account of the aborted filmmaking trip!  When we stopped at the Powell Museum in Page, Arizona, I discovered another interesting book, The Very Hard Way – Bert Loper and the Colorado River  by Brad Dimock.  Dimock’s book gave further confirmation that the wrecked Ross Wheeler was the very
boat mentioned in Elsie’s letter. Dimock wrote “…the two (scouts) climbed, scraped, scrambled and chimneyed to the rim, dehydrated and half starved… The following day they went on to W.W. Bass’s cabin where they waited for Russel to appear… They abandoned the Ross Wheeler…Russel’s great film expedition was finished.”  (If you are interested in early boat expeditions down the Colorado this book is very interesting.)
Elsie’s diary (page 154  in my book) says , “Nov. 27^th, 1915– River scouts came in while we were there, after 45 hours without food.  We were to have met them at the foot of the trail for movies; but they were wrecked.”
In a long letter written home Elsie described the arrival of the river scouts, “After our supper we heard the violent conversation going on… such clever irony, such bold reveling I had never heard before or imagined. We couldn’t help hearing.”  Later, the third man came in. “It was very exciting to be there when he arrived! Mina and I sat on the same chair and kicked each other whenever it was particularly difficult not to laugh aloud.”

What a thrill for me to have my Grandmother’s
story corroborated by further documented history!

The young man in the boat is John McMahon. Thanks to the McMahons for the photo and the visit with your family.

In my book “Elsie” the rules for teachers are explained. They were required to wear numerous petticoats (even in hot Arizona), they were not to keep company with men or “loiter” in ice-cream stores, they could not ride in a carriage or automobile with a man unless he was a father or brother, they had to be home by 8:00 p.m., etc., etc. At least in Elsie’s case, judging from her diary and letters, these rules were not always enforced.
Cornville had no ice-cream parlors but some of her activities seemed to push the bounds of turn-of-the-century propriety more than ice-cream parlor dates! The two teachers lived in a small one-room shack next to the Girdner family home. Though they could not attend dances, the teachers were permitted to have young men call on them in their shack. I loved what Elsie wrote about one evening at the shack. She was sleepy, and the young cowboy Fergy was calling on Marguerite. Elsie wrote to her mother: “In a house of one room one can’t go to bed when a man is calling.” Apparently there was no problem for her to take long horseback and buggy rides with these cowboys. (She sat on the banks of beautiful Oak Creek and read poetry to one young cowboy and then was astonished when he declared he loved her!)
After moving to Williams to teach, the rules did not prevent her from having an active social life. She went to dinner with young men and attended moving pictures with them. She took long hikes alone with a young man on Bill Williams Mountain. In her diary she often mentioned being out late, sometimes until 2:00 a.m.!
In the introduction to my book I wrote: “As a child I always thought of Elsie as prim and proper…and old.” The Wild West was maybe called “wild” because it introduced this prim and proper California college girl to a Western code of propriety. California was West of Arizona but certainly was not as “wild.”

April 6 and 7th I am going to make a “wild offer.” The E-book version of “Elsie” will be free on Amazon.com for those two days! I am hoping this will eventually expand to further e-book as well as print sales. So Friday and Saturday go to Amazon and “Elsie” should be free for 48 hours.
I will be doing a book singing in Prescott at Costco from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. next Saturday April 14th. I hope to visit some of our Arizona friends before we head for speaking in Utah and Nevada the following weekend.

Webster’s dictionary describes interpretive history as: “a teaching technique that combines factual with stimulating explanatory information.”
When I was compiling Elsie I never considered that what I was creating was interpretive history. As I visited historical landmarks like Montezuma’s Castle and Tuzigoot National Park they asked me, “is this a novel or interpretive history?” I told them it was taken directly from Elsie’s letters and journals and they became excited that I had created an “interpretive history.”
Elsie’s years in Arizona were a time in history with many changes. Her journals and letters combined factual and stimulating explanatory information. Indeed it could be defined as “interpretive history.” Arizona had just become state. Elsie voted in prohibition while living in Williams. She attended women’s suffragette meetings. Disputes between Mexico and the United States were a consideration in her job choices. World War I was beginning to be news. Perhaps the more “stimulating explanatory information” would include things like Elsie’s description of her divided riding skirt weighing 30 pounds, a fellow teacher being fired for dancing “the rag,” or the fact that school was unofficially and instantly closed the moment someone announced “the creek is up!” Most history books do not include such minute detail of life in the infant state of Arizona.
I love hearing thoughts from those who have read Elsie. Recently a reader wrote, “you’ve written a wonderful book, harmonizing time/place in a very thoughtful manner… you’ve presented Elsie’s story with far greater acumen and accuracy — for which I’m grateful.” The credit must go to Elsie because only someone who was there can write of a time and place with such insight. Thank you Elsie for leaving us with your accurate and insightful look into Arizona’s history.

I have been contemplating writing about the outhouses Elsie must have used in 1913-1916 in Arizona. Problem is, Elsie never ever even wrote such a word. She used to tell me that when they were riding in a wagon (3 day trip) from Long Beach to Palomar Mountain her father would of necessity stop for bathroom breaks. Only they never ever called it that. Alonzo (Elsie’s father) would say “do you girls want to go look at those pretty blue flowers over there?” That was 1904 language for bathroom break. When Elsie referred (in a letter to her mother) to “Myra (2 year old) not being very trim,” I am sure she was referring to a dirty diaper. Elsie would never have said such a word in a letter. After all in that day an outhouse was at times referred to as a “privy,” likely taken from the word private. By the time I came along my father would loudly shout out before he drained the water from our mountain cabin toilet, “potty call.” I think I like the “blue flower” language better. When our son Dan sold some of his first water-color paintings at age 15 in Antigua they were fabulous pictures of old wooden outhouses. Several of the local British ex-pats living here remarked at the art show that they wanted a copy of his wonderful “loo.” That was the first I had ever heard an outhouse referred to as a loo. Some think that came from the French word l’eau meaning water. For Elsie, writing of outhouses must have fallen under “unmentionables.” I seem to remember her using that word for a number of items not mentioned in “polite” society.

Feb.14th 2012- Arizona celebrates its 100th birthday today. Happy Valentines Day. I shared in the book a Valentine remembrance Elsie loved to tell about. She received a special Valentine while teaching in Arizona that was chocolate covered soap. Her chuckle when telling this story filled the room with her effervescent joy. She had a chuckle that was like none other I have ever heard. It seemed to come from her toes and traveled all the way to her heart and out her mouth filling the room with mirth.
In the book I share about Eva Girdner’s memory of the first Arizona statehood celebration that occurred in Oak Creek Canyon. She shared that there were about 25 families living along the beautiful lower Oak Creek. When word arrived that statehood had been granted the Arizona territory the news was passed to all the families along the creek to meet for a picnic. The children celebrated with foot and burro races. Eva’s mother made her a special red, white and blue dress for the occasion. I wonder which child had the privilege to ride his burro shouting the news of statehood and announcing the celebratory picnic. Somehow it seems that an e-mail or telephone call would never be as exciting as watching a child arriving breathless with the news that the territory was now the State of Arizona! I think “Elsie” would be a great movie. Much of what she wrote creates a vivid picture in my mind.
My Valentine arrived last evening in the form of a book order of 50 books for AZ Nat. Parks. I am also excited that in April Costco (in Prescott) has asked me to come for a book signing. I keep thinking how Elsie would be delighted with this news.
Special thanks to all who have added a review or clicked the like button on Elsie’s Amazon page. I think those reviews really encourage others to buy the book. I am grateful and thrilled that all 21 reviews are all 5 star.

I have been so pleased with the response to Elsie’s story. Some have really made my day by sending me a note telling me how much they enjoyed reading Elsie. Thank you each and every one who has read the book.
This “tidbit” will be about the lost art of letter writing. I would not have been able to write “Elsie” without the letters she had saved. Her letters from her mother were a connection that I treasure. I never knew my great-grandmother, May Carrie Hayes. Through her letters I have had a glimpse into her relationship with Elsie and a picture of her character.
Elsie’s letters were her only way to communicate with her family in California. While Elsie lived in Cornville, letters were sometimes delayed for weeks due to the rivers being too full for the mail carrier to safely cross. The post office was three miles from the Girdner farm, on the other side of the Verde River. I have one delightful picture (not included in the book) that shows the “mailman” on horseback with huge canvas bags of mail tied upon the delivery horse. We used to stamp letters “Airmail;” makes me wonder if Elsie felt like writing “horse-mail” on her envelopes mailed from Cornville. When she was living in Williams she often mentioned walking down to the train to mail a letter. By 1891 all railroads were required to provide cars meeting U. S. Post Office specifications. These mail cars carried postal clerks who sorted mail en route.
Phone calls were not possible in Cornville and difficult and costly from Williams. Letters were a bond that went beyond what I think telephone and email accomplish today. Elsie did not send many greeting cards but she carefully wrote word pictures for her family and gave great detail of what she was seeing, doing and even what she was eating.
I can imagine the anticipation for her family as they waited for those precious letters from their daughter in a new state that was still thought of as the “Wild West.” Her mother would likely read the letter and then it was passed around to Elsie’s father, her sisters and Aunt Mamie. I know the letters were treasured because some years later Elsie’s mother returned to Elsie all the letters she had written from Arizona.
I wonder what we will leave behind as a record of the significant events of our lives. I encourage friends to leave behind a permanent record of what their lives were like for their grandchildren to someday treasure. Thanks Elsie and May Carrie Hayes for saving those letters from 99 years ago. They are a priceless inheritance. I am blessed.

Grape Nuts Cereal – “Relieves Mental Dullness”

 I read through Elsie’s letters and journals to decide what was interesting enough to include in a book.  I pondered on including her frequent references to what she was eating. Elsie often mentioned Grape Nuts as the cereal she ordered from Sears Catalog or the McStay Grocery catalog.  I discovered in my research that in 1910 Grape Nuts was advertized as “relieving mental dullness.” One ad from 1906 for Grape Nuts says, “If you could have a look in the dining rooms of Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell and other Universities, you would discover Grape Nuts and Cream on many of the tables. No food on earth so surely rebuilds brain and nerve centers.  There’s a reason for GRAPE NUTS.” The ad shows a bulging bicep and it reads, “Builds Strength.”

I never thought of Elsie as a body-builder type. But I doubt if many Harvard or Yale students were as well read as she was. So perhaps Grape Nuts did build rebuild brain and nerve centers! Her mental alertness was certainly there for all the years I knew her, of her nearly 100 years.

I often give credit to the SEES chocolates she loved for her mental alertness.

Now that I am a grandmother myself I often think of the lessons I learned from Elsie. One I have been pondering on lately has to do with the value of repetition.  Kids love repetition. I never knew Elsie to ever bake me a single cookie on my frequent visits to her house. But she never failed to offer me Hawaiian Punch from a heavy Amber colored Carnival Glass pitcher and store bought cookies.  When we divided up Elsie’s remaining treasures after her death I chose the heavy carnival glass pitcher.  When I see it I am reminded of so many pleasant afternoons curled at her feet listening to her relate her stories to me while I drank Hawaiian Punch and ate store bought cookies.  I cherish the memory of her relating to me her history.  When I speak to ladies groups I often challenge them to write their memories down to have for generations that follow.  But now that I think about it, maybe what I should be saying is, “Forget about creating elaborate holiday dinners and time-consuming endeavors, but sit with your grandchild at your feet and tell them your memories.”

I wonder if they still sell bottles of Hawaiian punch syrup ? I know I still like Grape Nuts. Thanks Elsie for all your stories and the way your life was uncluttered with long to-do lists. It was filled with time for wonderful true stories and love and occasional Hawaiian Punch and Grape Nuts.

Elsie wrote often to her family. Though she was 25 this was her first Christmas away from home. Here are some excerpts taken from her letter describing that Christmas 98 years ago. Keep in mind that rules for teacher said they were not to keep company with men in ice-cream parlors – nothing was said about 40 miles alone in a buggy with a man!  

🙂

Dec 26^th 1913

My Very Dear Family,

What a splendid Christmas you sent me!  I don’t know how to thank you for all the lovely things, which certainly are just what I wanted!  They all came, 3 boxes, with a delightful lot of other things for me, on Christmas Eve.  They were in very good condition.  The things to eat you made yourself are too good for words, Mama, and it is lovely to have them from home. The fruitcake I’ll keep awhile. The cookies are a joy, and the candies all delicious.  And that fat home?like stocking, Aunt Mamie!  I let out such a shriek when that came to view. Before I went to bed I put on my table the lovely wee evergreen K. got for me when we went for the big trees, and piled my packages all around it high, and tied my unlooked at stocking to my little bedpost!  It was fearfully late then and I didn’t get up until ten on Christmas. I made my fire, and then went back to bed to look at my stocking, just as I would have seen it first at home.  I did think a great deal of everyone of you, with very special love.

The candied cherries and the ginger I particularly appreciated in the stocking Aunt Mamie.  I’d been wishing for raisins and dates, too, Mama.   I’m having a feast of candy, and it’s delightful to have so much that I can give it out freely to some of these people who don’t know so much about candy!  Someone else here, I think it must have been Mrs. Hurst, gave me a box of delicious homemade candy.  There was a dainty cup and saucer from “the children.”  M. and I got a fussy card of greeting from Mr. Barron, the Red Rock school teacher.  Glen Girdner gave me an ancient Indian war?club head of stone that he said I could give the Pomona museum.  I’m charmed with that.  Mrs. G. made a pretty towel rack for M. and me.  I know I’ll have at least cards from several more of my friends.  It’s almost worthwhile being “away” to be so beautifully remembered.

 Mrs. G. told me she had written you a Christmas letter, Mama. From the way she spoke, I wondered if possibly she wrote partly to speak of K.   She likes him ever so much, and praise from her seems to be mighty hard to win.  Do please tell me if she says anything about him!  Possibly she thinks he stays too late when he calls, or that we should oftener have a chaperon!  But she’s never intimated that.  It would be hard to arrange anything conventionally in Arizona.    

The entertainment went off beautifully, and I did enjoy it all, work and all.  Mrs. G. worked like a Trojan.

 Monday K. and I drove some 20 miles there and back (was that shocking?) and got beautiful trees.  The place was beautiful.  One tree was on each side of the front space used as a platform.   We decorated with garlands and wreaths and had large candles in the windows, and little ones on the tree.  M. and I got tree ornaments, tinsel, etc. for our share to help the Sunday School, and the children in my room made lots of things? gifts and decorations.  It looked beautiful.  We had gifts (M. and I) for the children, and the community gave money for a treat of nuts, candy, and oranges.

            I wore my pink and black and white dainty dress tho I was behind one of the trees to prompt most of the time. 

            Mrs. G. was costumer, and did it beautifully, while I helped a bit with that and acted as manager.  The children were adorable!  They looked so dear in their “best clothes “I wanted to hug them all to death. They did beautifully. I wrote one or two of the things. We had garlands and so on to add to the effectiveness.  I had to face the audience to lead the Santa Claus song at the end that was the signal to Santa himself to run in with his pack on his back.  Since I know so little about music I felt like an idiot to go through with all the motions!  But it seemed to be all right, as far as Cornville is a judge.  It would be different in a town!

            Afterward, when at last costumes etc. were collected, K. and another young man and Glen carried my things to the shack.  I surely was excited.  Almost all my packages from home and all came in that day’s mail, and were brought to the schoolhouse in the evening by the Johnson’s.

             I hardly had time to be homesick.   I took little ten-cent gifts to the little Hurst girls, and that was lots of fun, glass watches with leather and fob, filled with Pure Food candy, from a California mail order house.  We played croquet.  I got all the Girdners to come over for candy and to see my things.  They are lovely to me.  I showed them my entire photograph and Kodak book last night.  Mrs. G. said it seemed as if she knew my folks and felt as if they were her friends.  I hadn’t known before she thought that much of me.

              I’m brave now I’m well and have been staying alone all night.  Eva is too much the “baby” to leave home at night.  The boys sleep out and near the shack.  The school year is half over.

With very much love to you all, 

Always your  Elsie

Among Elsie’s papers was a tattered, detailed,  program for the First Northern Arizona Fair. It is dated Oct. 28, 1913.  I thought it was delightful. Several years later Tom Mix, the director of the events at the fair was one of the highest paid “movie stars.”  Here are some excerpts from that treasured program.

Program of Track Sports:

1. 1/2 mile free-for-all. First money $100. Each horse is to carry at least 110 pounds.

2. Quadrile on horseback.

3. Exercises by Troop L, 5th Cavalry U.S.A.

Special Events:

Fancy shooting by Capt. A.H. Hardy, who uses Peters Cartridges.

Exhibition Flight – L.F. Nixon uses a Curtis Bi-Plane with an 8 cylinder, 60 horse-powered engine.

Potato Race- Two mounted teams of four men ech contest to see which can carry the most potatoes from a depot to their respective goals, using a wooden spear to carry the potatoes.

Broncho Busting by Tom Mix. Mr. Mix is a recognized King of the Saddle.

Pony Express- By Tom Mix- Exhibition of how the trans- continental mail was carried before the railroad, at the time when the U.S. Government had a standing offer of $10,000.  for the man who could make the trip from St. Jo, Mo. to San Francisco in less than 18 days.

Special Event:

Tug of War between picked teams of Cavalrymen and Cowboys.

Fancy Shooting , by Mr. and Mrs. Ad Toperwein, using Winchester rifles, shotguns and ammunition.

Northern Arizona Burro handicap:

Age limit, 12 years. The boys who come in first with banners get the first prizes. No rider shall get off his burro or punch another boy in trying to take his banner away.

 Prizes- First: $ 10. suit of clothes given by Biles Lockhart  Clothing Co.

Second: $5 cash given by W.O. Ruggles.

Third: Pair of shoes by B. B. Co. 

 Fourth: hat by Ed Block.

Fifth:  knife by Arizona Mining Co.

Consolation prizes- First boy in without a banner: $2 sweater by Biles-Lockhart Co.  All other entrants 2 seats by Elks Theatre.

 A Wonderful Debut!,November 25, 2011

“Well there was this cowboy…” corrals your attention on the first page of Elsie: Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher. Writing a biography requires not just a talented author, but also a compelling subject. Barbara Anne Waite’s book about three years in her grandmother’s life have both. Published to coincide with Arizona’s centennial, the book discloses the social and economic climate during the early 20th century. It captures Elsie’s sense of adventure, optimism and self-assurance. The reader is quickly absorbed in the story.

Cultured, college-educated, Elsie, who hails from a well-to-do California family, sets out in 1913 for her first job in an isolated, rural town. We learn from letters to her family how she adapts to teaching grammar school in a one-room schoolhouse and comes to love Arizona. She bathes in Oak Creek, rides horses and revels in her students. Ever the social butterfly, she quickly makes friends. She falls in love and suffers personal tragedy. Taking the challenge of teaching seriously, she soon works her way up to larger schools and high school classes. She is a no-nonsense woman full of pluck and resourcefulness.

A year after her grandmother’s death, the author found her diary. “I loved and still love Arizona,” Elsie says of her three years there. Waite clearly “gets” her grandmother and portrays her life and emotions clearly. Waite’s website states that her research consisted of not only Elsie’s letters and diaries, but also personal narratives on cassette tapes, manuscripts, interviews with her former students and newspaper accounts.

Biographies are often so overloaded with detail that the reader flips pages to find the interesting parts. Not so with this highly readable book. Elsie’s letters are fascinating. They are interspersed with photographs, illustrations, diary excerpts and author explanations. Footnotes bolster the historical context.

Elsie lives and breathes books and words. She inspired her students to love literature. You will cheer this unique, fascinating individual.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont

By the way Holly wrote a terrific book called “Crestmont”.  She is a gifted writer so this review thrills me.

One of the interesting things I did not include in the book was a list of what Elsie was reading.

At the end of her diary there is a list of books read from Sept. 1913 – Christmas 1916.

I am familiar with a few of these. Most I have not read.  It has been interesting to see that some of these books are now available for free on my Kindle.  So I hope to at least attempt to read some of what Elsie devoured. I must admit I have been so busy writing my own book that I have not taken the time to read from Elsie’s list. Nevertheless it is interesting to see what women were reading nearly 100 years ago.

Many of these she read out loud. She loved the sound of words and as a child I loved to have her read to me. This encourages me to keep a list of what I am reading. I have joined an online group called Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com). Within that site there are many different groups and genres of books. Other readers leave their lists of what they have read, recommendations, and reviews of books.  I just joined a group of history readers that is sending me a free copy of a new  biography of Queen Elizabeth courtesy of the publisher. 

Elsie-Adventure of An Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916  will be on a list on Goodreads (with reviews posted eventually).  I must admit I am anxiously awaiting reviews.

It was difficult to read her writing so any misspellings of these books are likely mine.  I tried to decipher her list as closely as possible. Perhaps we  can be challenged to read more classics by considering what Elsie read.

Elsie’s list Sept-April Cornville 1914-1915:

“Some of the books read in Cornville”:

parts of Lais                                                                     parts of LeMorte D’Arthur

Taming of the Shrew                                                     Poems from Browning

At The End of the Rainbow (G.S. Porter)             Quatrocentisteria

Friendship Village Love Stories                              Poems from Tennyson

Being a Christian (W. Gladden)

Books Read aloud to Marguerite:

T.  Tembaron                                                                   Poems from Arnold

The King’s Highway

Adventures in Contentment  (In her journal she said this one made her want to marry a farmer.)

The Gay Rebellion by Chambers (about women rebelling against male chauvinism)

Read to the schoolchildren:

The Little Lame Prince                                                   Alice in Wonderland

Joseph Vance                                                                    Marie Claire

The Spoilers                                                                       Laddie

The Green Bough                                                              The Hollow of her Hand

Alice for Short                                                                   The Promised Land (M. Antin)

Books read during the summer of 1914

The Antiquary                                                                   The Alhambra

The Sketch Book                                                               The Iliad

The Odyssey                                                                       Lower Depths (M. Gorky)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

General browsing and short stories, books, poems, Bible, studied History, arithmetic

“Some” of the Books read in school year 1914-1915

Browsed in Wordsworth                                               Septimus (Locke)

Girl with the Green Eyes (Fitch)                                Servant in The House

In The Twinkling of an Eye                                           Treasure Island

The Light that Failed                                                       Nigger (Sheldon)

The Test                                                                                The Purple Stocking (!)

Inside of the Cup                                                              Trelawney of the Wells

Gladsworthy’s plays, Strife, etc.                                Riders of the Purple Sage

Quo Vadis                                                                           Paola and Francesca

Francesca DaRimini                                                        My Friend from India

Last Days of Pompeii                                                      Waverley

The Supremacy of Jesus

“Some” of the books the summer of 1915:

Studied in mathematics                                               Some of Arnold’s Poems

The Gods are Good                                                         The Princess

Rob Roy                                                                               Emerson’s Essays

The Barrier (Rex Beach)

The Courage of the Commonplace (read aloud to her by her friend Alice Parker)

Books read (complete) in Williams 1915-1916:

The Ancient Mariner                                                      Horatius

Virginia                                                                                The Tailsman

The Vicar of Wakefield                                                   A Waif of the Plains

Vanity Fair                                                                          Kim

Plain Tales from the Hills                                              Light of the Western Stars (Zane Gray)

Amethyst Box                                                                   Franklin’s Autobiography

Silas Marner                                                                       David Copperfield

Guardian Angel                                                                 Les Miserables

Bleak House (Dickens)                                                   The Marble Faun

The Daughter of Joris                                                     The Passing of the Third Floor Back

Mill on the Floss                                                               Tale of Two Cities

Ivanhoe                                                                               The Lay of Lake Regillus

South Sea Tales                                                                Call of the Wild

The Lady of the Lake                                                      The Breath of Life

On Berwen Banks

Books read in Part:

Poetry of Bryant, Poetry of Burns, Poe’s tales    Midsummer Night’s Dream

As You Like It                                                                  Calhoun on Nullification

The Sea Wolf                                                                     Poetry of the People

Beyond our Power (Bjornson)                                   Spreading the News

The Woman in the Alcove (A. K. Green)                The Merchant of Venice

True Americanism                                                          Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Pollyanna Grows Up (Eleanor Porter)

Books read the summer 1916:

The Silent Places

Garthowensome of DeMaupassant’s tales

The Hoosier Schoolmaster                                           Thelma (Marie Corelli)

The Right Of Way                                                             Man who Married a Dumb Wife

Lillie – a Mennonite Maid

Books read over Christmas 1916

Great Expectations                                                         Joseph Vance

Twelfth Night                                                                    Love’s Labor Lost

For The Soul of Rafael                                                   Martin Chuzzlewit

The Schoolmarm of Squaw Peak                               Oliver Twist (Partly)

Our Mutual Friend                                                          Cookbooks

Anderson Crow’s Daughter                                         Soul of a Bishop (H.G. Wells)

Girl of the Limberlost                                                    The Puppet Crown

The Great K&A Train Robbery                                  The Bent Twig

The Schonberg Cotta Family                                     Laddie

Following The Star                                                         The Little Minister

The amazing part to me is the realization that Elsie shipped all these books from California to Arizona and then back to California three years later.  It is also interesting to note how many book she read over Christmas 1916. She was married on Christmas day 1916.

Thanks to Scott Craven of the Arizona Republic for including excerpts from “Elsie -Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916” in his article in today’s newspaper.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/2011/11/05/20111105arizona-history-letters.html

Today “Elsie” was listed on Amazon and the first shipment of  the book should arrive here in a couple days. Anyone who wants a copy can order it from me here by e-mail request, or it can be ordered from Amazon.

I am excited that this book is generating some interest.  It as been such an enjoyable project.

When I met my husband 48 years ago he was a dashing young firefighter, part of a U.S. Forest Service Helitack crew on Palomar Mountain. I was a firefighter admirer!  We just celebrated 44 years of marriage last month.  Curt has served as a volunteer Fire lookout when we are in California.  Now I have become a fire lookout fan. I recently became a volunteer forest fire lookout myself, and a member of the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA).  Twice a month Curt climbs the 68-foot tower of High Point lookout and watches all day for any signs of smoke to be reported.  Soon they will add Boucher Hill Lookout (which is only thirty feet tall) and that sounds much more reasonable to me.  So we became excited when we realized Elsie had written in 1915 about visiting two fire lookout sites in Arizona.  The lookout tower on Bill Williams Mountain in Elsie’s day was actually a tree with a platform on top for the Forest Service lookout to stand on.  It was reached by a ladder made of pine poles.   The photo I have shows a lookout ranger standing on a rustic platform with binoculars.  The fire tower at the Grand Canyon, Hopi Point, was much more sophisticated.  It, and two other fire towers at the Grand Canyon, was built by the U. S. Forest service before the Grand Canyon became a National Park.  Photos of both of these towers, from the early 1900’s, are in the book.  Another picture I have included in Elsie is of her riding with a forest ranger and several other teachers.

                 The early Arizona roads were rough. One of the folks I interviewed (in 1988) in Cornville recalled how their family traveled by horse and buggy to Jerome to buy groceries only a couple times per year. No GPS to take along for a ride to the grocery store in those days, instead they packed picks and dynamite in the wagon to repair the roads. 

                Williams, where Elsie taught after Cornville, was much more developed.  The Santa Fe railroad line went directly through Williams. The town had several grocery stores. The Fray Marcos Hotel and the Harvey House restaurant were popular places with the Williams teachers in 1914-1916. Both of these were connected to the Santa Fe Railroad.

                While doing research about the Santa Fe railroad the part I found most interesting was a service provided by the railroad that has now disappeared. Most of the small railroad towns had little entertainment. One article I read said that for every grocery store there were half a dozen saloons in most RR towns. In 1914, Williams had far more saloons (eight) than grocery stores (two). The railroad did not want their personnel operating trains after a night (or day) in a saloon, so the railroad took on the task of providing diversions for its employees. By 1915 The Santa Fe RR had developed 25 reading rooms along the line.  But taking it a step further the Santa Fe offered free travel to performers who would provide a night’s entertainment in the Santa Fe RR towns.  Sometimes it was simply a Shakespearean actor but other times they would have a traveling orchestra complete with harp, violins, cello, drums and a piano. Free travel offered to entertainers drew performers from across Europe, Canada and the U.S.A.

                 The seating was reserved first for Santa Fe employees and then open to the public. Elsie frequently attended these free Santa Fe events. It appears it was not a poor financial choice for the railroad.  Elsie often wrote that after the free Santa Fe the teachers stayed to have supper at the Harvey House Restaurant that was operated by the railroad.

                Several times Elsie described these concerts or entertainments as, “not much good” or “poor Santa Fe tonight.” But at other times she described them as excellent.  The orchestras occasionally stayed to perform for a local dance. Something has been lost with the demise of travel by rail.

It would appear that the United States Postal Service system was quite efficient in 1913. Letters and packages were regularly sent back and forth between Elsie in rural Arizona and her family in California. Her letters home reveal some interesting insight into the U.S. postal system of nearly 100 years ago.  In 1913 the mail traveled the same route Elsie took to reach Cornville.  By rail from Southern California to Jerome, and then in canvas sacks by horseback or wagon to Cornville.

From Cornville Elsie wrote, “Mama I hate to ask for so many things, but feel as if we were out of the world here.”  She thanked her mother for mailing the pea soup!  This was home-made and in a mason jar.  Can you imagine today a jar of soup mailed from California to Arizona and arriving without incident? Rather amazing.

At Christmas Elsie thanked her family for mailing, fruitcake, cookies, candied cherries, raisins, dates and ginger. 

She mentions going to the Post office to receive violets her father had mailed for her birthday.  He also mailed her albacore tuna, probably smoked or home-canned.

Elsie raved about the sausage they had sent. They shared it with a teacher after he had ridden quite a few miles to visit and then stayed to supper and he commented that it was “…like finding a gold piece when you haven’t seen one in 15 years!”

She mentions being delighted with bread her family had mailed. They also regularly mailed her eggs!  It is hard to imagine the post office delivering eggs without breakage or spoiling.

During Elsie’s time living in Williams she enjoyed the lovely pine trees and she wrote of mailing sprays of pine boughs to several friends in California.

My hat is off to the postal system of 1913.

The Middy blouse – a long-lived fashion.

I have been looking at Elsie’s Arizona pictures to choose the ones for the book. I love the Middy blouse she frequently wore.  It seems it was her outdoor exercise wear. Horse back riding fashion included a divided skirt that Elsie said weighed close to thirty pounds, and a middy blouse. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to wash a 30 pound skirt in the creek.  I can hardly imagine slender Elsie who only weighed about 100 pounds having the strength to wring out by hand such a heavy skirt. But they often rode bareback and in the heat, so I’m sure the skirts would need washing quite often.  I can’t imagine anyone today choosing to wear a 30-pound divided skirt!

The middy blouse she frequently wore is still in fashion. In Japan and in Antigua it is often a school uniform.  The middy blouse was actually introduced about 1910 as exercise wear, so I imagine Elsie was in the popular fashion of the day when she went riding in her middy. One photograph shows 5 girls looking like carbon copies – all astride horses wearing a middy top. Previously the sailor-top look was popular with children. Pictures of girls in summer camp “wear” show the girls all dressed in similar sailor-collar tops. It was probably called a “middy” after midshipmen. In one mail order catalog for 1916 the middy cost $1.00 and was very stylish. It seems they were traditionally white with blue scarf trim. One advertisement stated that the middy was originally designed after the blouses worn by “Uncle Sam’s sailor boys.”  The dropped waist middy dress was brought back by Laura Ashley in the 1980s. I remember wearing one of those. Wish I had one of Elsie’s Middies!