Chapter 7: "Shadows of the Old Order"

We are all aware that "things" were "different" in the past. Some of these things we know, e.g. people used horses for transportation before there were cars. Sometimes things surprise us. In reading Country Editor by Henry Beetle Hough, I was surprised by the following passage about the independent thinking and action when it came to providing a rural area, in this case, Martha's Vineyard, with telephone service and electricity, and the nature of transportation to and from the island. The book was published in 1940 and covers the first twenty years that Hough and his wife served as editors of the Edgartown Gazette. Unless, it's a harmful or dangerous, I like becoming aware of different ways of being and living from other times and/or other places. It's humbling and serves to shake one a bit out of complacency.

There were many survivals of the old order in the community as we found it. Dr. Tarry was still practicing. He was tall and thin, penetrating and sardonic. He went about with a tall silk hat, cutaway coat and striped trousers....Some years earlier Dr. Tarry had built himself a telephone line and founded a telephone company. The science and business of communication was not far along, and the Bell company did not care about extending its poles on the country roads in more thinly populated districts. But in these places Dr. Tarry's patients lived, and he wanted to reach them. Being of an energetic and determined nature, he went ahead and was soon operating successfully....Dr. Tarry had sold out his telephone company to the Bell System before we took the Gazette...The electric light company, too, had been started by local enterprise...The principal figure was a former steamboat captain and islander of the old school. The founding of these enterprises was simply a continuation of an old tradition, and there was something about it which seemed to characterize the whole community. One was aware of a strong individualism, a spirit of initiative and of self reliance. In the old days the steamboats linking the island with the mainland had been built and operated by local companies....the captain had as much say about operating his steamboat as anyone else. If he wanted to leave his route and give a tow to some becalmed schooner, or salvage the cargo of a distressed craft, he did so, and the passengers had so much extra sail and so much added experience of life, in return for their delayed passage...In the modern age the steamboats had become the property of a single company, and control of the company had been sold to a railroad system on the mainland. This was the modern trend....Centralization was sucking it out of small paces such as our island. The moving impulse was no longer to be the ideas and initiative of an individual in town, but something coming, like an electric current over a wire, from a city in the distance.

Girl Power...annotated list of books for strong girls

Do you want to raise a strong, independent girl who thinks outside the box? Here's a selection of picture books to get started early! I highly recommend reading every picture book before you read it to your children. I found one that just sounded like it fit the bill: a girl who liked insects, only to find out that it was very mean-spirited! I also haven't included books that put down other ways of being a girl, even if they promote individualism, i.e. Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey.


1. I can do that!: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote by Linda White

Did you know that Wyoming was the first state where women were able to vote? When they organized as a territory in 1869, women's suffrage was included. When Wyoming became a state in 1890, the right for women to vote in their state was maintained. Esther Morris, who was instrumental in the right to vote being included as a law in Wyoming. She was also the first woman judge. For older kids, a fun activity is to use genealogy websites to find her in the census. This really shows how we can learn about her using original documents from American history!

100 Years to Suffrage (Library of Congress): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/naw/nawstime.html Accessed Sept. 13, 2011

National Statuary Hall in Wash DC: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/morris.cfm Accessed Sept. 13, 2011

2. Dahlia by Barbara McClintock

One of my favorites, even though I was never a tom-boy...A little girl who is, gets a very fancy doll from an elderly relative. The illustrations are excellent. The story is set in the past.

3. Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke

There have been known women pirates: Anne Bonny and Mary Read. But like real pirate stories, they're not really appropriate for children. Thus, we create fun pirate stories for little ones (and maybe for us too). Pirate Girl is a great story for girls, and as fun to read as any pirate tale!

Smithsonian blog entry on Anne Bonny and Mary Read: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2011/08/if-theres-a-man-among-ye-the-tale-of-pirate-queens-anne-bonny-and-mary-read/ Accessed Sept. 13, 2011

4. My Hippie Grandmother by Reeve Lindbergh

The daughter of Charles Lindbergh wrote this delightful story about a grandmother who thinks outside the box and encourages her granddaughter to do the same! Especially for parents who have a little counter culture in them, as a hint for the future?!

5. Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

A princess who doesn't want to get married. Probably out-of-print, but hopefully, your library hasn't weeded it out! If they have this one, then they might have Ms. Cole's other gender cliche busting book, Prince Cinders.

6. Stand Tall, Molly Lou Mellon by Patty Lovell

A petite little girl moves to a new town and demonstrates how to be confident under pressure. Not my favorite illustrations, but the story is worth it...

7. Mighty Jackie: The Strike-out Queen by Marissa Moss

Simple story about 17 year old Jackie Mitchell, who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game. Her contract with the minor league team she was on was voided by the commissioner of baseball. A great story that shows that things can change, that things have been different, and that a young woman can beat two of the heavy weights of baseball...

Biography of Jackie Mitchell on Baseball Almanac: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/aubrecht8.shtml