Angelic Rodgers
  • The Octave Thanet Project
  • About
  • Privacy
    • Angelic Rodgers >
      • Signed Copies of Homecoming >
        • Signed copies of Elegant Freefall

"The Governor's Prerogative"

6/23/2021

0 Comments

 
  • Originally published in Century Magazine, XXXV (February 1888), pp. 555-61. Reprinted in Otto the Knight (1890).
  • McMichael reprints a letter on p. 112 from French to Gilder at Century Magazine where she mentions "If you have had too much Arkansas already, I can give you a Western sketch. You know you have one of mine on hand, 'The Governor's Prerogative'" (Alice French to Richard Watson Gilder, November 3, 1887, Century Collection. 
  • Also, see McMichael, p. 125 for the reprint of her letter to Horace Scudder regarding the collection of stories that became Otto the Knight (mentioned in a previous post regarding the title choices).
  • No other mention of the story appears in McMichael's book.
  • The story is interesting because of the focus on immigration and naturalization. This theme pops up elsewhere in this collection, not only with international immigration but immigration from North to South (Leidig, Thornton, Dr. Redden as New South).
Basic summary:
This is an oddly cute story about a Governor at home who is approached by the mother of Fritz Jansen, a man sentenced to hang for the murder of his fiancee. The woman is German and speaks very little English. Luckily, the Governor's wife, Annie, is fluent in German. The woman tells of walking 15 miles to get to him before her son's execution. She asks for a pardon, as her son is a good man who would never do such a crime. 

Annie pleads with her husband to stay the execution--if he's truly guilty, why not give him a life sentence so his mother doesn't suffer. The Governor counters that to do so would be worse for Fritz's mother than executing him. If she hates the Governor,  
Very well , so be it . She will still have her memories of his youth to console her, and her very conviction of the injustice of his fate will be a comfort to her; while, on the other hand, if I release him, he will dissipate all her illusions, neglect her, ill-treat her, very likely spend every cent of her hard earnings, and at last convince even that trusting soul what a brute he is. It is the truest kindness to her to refuse." (Thanet, 299)
The day after Fritz is hanged, the mother returns with her son, Fritz. It turns out there were two men with the same name, and her son was never arrested. Because he doesn't want to share the name with such a bad man, Fritz and his mother come to the Governor for a name change. Annie declares he'll change the name as a wedding gift to Greta and Fritz.  The wedding is briefly described and the story ends with Annie and the Governor relieved at the outcome.

In the end, the Governor makes the comment that he would have been so embarassed if he'd followed Annie's "feminine" mind and pardoned the evil Fritz. He asks her who was right, and she exclaims, "Both of us" (Thanet, p. 299).
0 Comments

"The Day of the Cyclone"

6/23/2021

0 Comments

 
  • Originally published in Scribner's Magazine, III, (March 1888), 156-73. Reprinted in Otto the Knight (1891).
  • Sent to William Carey with this note (reprinted on p. 111 in McMichael): "I send you here the Cyclone Story which I spoke of a long time since, but have been too busy to write. I went to Grinnell, when over the track of the Cyclone interviewed eye witnesses and got the Grinnell papers of the time. . ." (Alice French to William Carey, May 18, 1887, Century Collection, New York Public Library). The actual cyclone happened in 1882, five years prior. McMichael notes on p. 110 that the letter is significant because it shows the lengths she went to in order to create a realistic story.
  • McMichael also discusses how C. T. Copeland of The Atlantic Monthly criticized the stories in Otto as "poor examples of the short story form" (McMichael, p. 126): "Whatever time of day it is with Octave Thanet, and whether she says the sun is shining or the moon, the light is too often supplied by the footlights. In 'The Day of the Cyclone' . . . the thunder sounds tinny, and the elements themselves are enlisted as dramatis personae. A soberer method, less of an effort after brilliancy in dialogue at the expense of nature, and a lighter touch where pathos is the thing touched would commend her undoubted gifts more highly to the judicious." (Reprinted from "The Short Story," Atlantic Monthly, LXIX (February 1892), p. 265)
Basic summary: Romance story; Rachel Meadowes and Archy (Captain Barris) are in love. Archy shows up to meet her father who disapproves of him because he drinks alcohol and they have opposing political views. After dinner Rachel tells Archy they can't marry. In his sadness, he leaves and decides to go to his rented room and write her a letter. The weather blows up a cyclone just as he sees the figure of Rachel ahead of him. He rushes to her and shields her body against a tree, begging her to hold on.

When the storm passes, Archy realizes it was not Rachel but her young stepmother who is the same shape and size as his beloved. He sees her home and when Meadowes sees she is safe, Archy admits he thought he was saving Rachel. His truthfulness wins the man over, and  Meadowes finds him suitable to marry his daughter, even if he does drink a little.

Discussion of temperance, Puritans, John Brown (Meadowes admires him so that he names one of his sons Ossawatomie). Even though both men admire Brown, Meadowes finds him faultless while Barris feels he made mistakes at Harper's Ferry (the death of innocent civilians). So, they weren't completely opposites on issues like abolition.
0 Comments

"The Loaf of Peace"

6/23/2021

0 Comments

 
  • Originally published in the children's magazine St. Nicholas, XVI (November, 1888), pp. 48-54. Reprinted in Otto the Knight (1891).
  • No analysis by McMichael.
Basic summary: This story focuses on a feud between two neighbors, Luther Morrow and Dock Haskett.  They had been feuding about who was the better shot, and when Morrow's dog, Jerusalem Jones, stole a ham from Haskett, he tried to shoot the dog and wound up hitting Morrow instead. Morrow shot Haskett in the shoulder as a result and the two are feuding. The two men decide to have a duel in the woods near where Haskett's wife is buried, but their children bring them back together.

The story opens with Minnie Haskett learning how to bake brown bread from Miss Dora. She's taken over the domestic duties at the small house since her mother died, and she loves her father so much she wants to cook well for him and her younger siblings. Even though Dock and Luther are fighting, Minnie and Doshy love each other and Minnie wants to teach Doshy how to make brown bread. Dock gives his consent, as he has no quarrel with any of the Morrows other than Luther.

The two men are in the woods ready to shoot it out when they hear the two girls talking. They find a place in the brush to watch them and see them baking bread over a small fire. The two girls talk about how kind their fathers are as they work, and how much they love them, softening the men's hearts toward each other. Jerusalem Jones is playing with a small pig, and wild adult hogs come to the pig's defense. In the melee, the bread is disturbed but Morrow shoots the hogs and the day is saved--as is the "loaf of peace." 

Characters: Aunt Callie (seen in other stories), Miss Dora, Miss Carroll, Hasketts (Minnie and Dock), Doshy and Luther Morrow (Doshy is named after her mother, Mindosha), and, of course, Jerusalem Jones.
0 Comments

"Otto The Knight"

4/16/2021

0 Comments

 
I was excited to begin Otto the Knight and Other Trans Mississippi Stories in part because of the regional focus. A few of these stories carry over characters from stories published in Knitters in the Sun. Michael B. and Carol W. Dougan's 1980 collection By the Cypress Swamp: The Arkansas Stories of Octave Thanet brings many of those stories together, although the title story "Otto the Knight" is not in that collection. Given the very light emphasis on the setting here, the omission of the story isn't completely surprising. McMichael also only mentions the story itself on page 125, indicating that it was chosen as the title for the collection solely based on the fact it was the first story.

The omission is interesting, given that Lum Shinault definitely lives on the Black River in "Whitsun Harp, Regulator" and because there is the connection to getting lost in the swamp. Marty Ann searching for Boo gets lost, just as Ma' Bowlin got lost in the earlier story. 
Basic Summary:
  • Originally published in Scribner's Magazine, III, (August 1888), 156-73. Reprinted in Otto the Knight.
  • Main characters: Otto Knipple, Aunt Betsey, Marty Ann, Baby Boo, Dake.
  • Characters who appear in other stories: Lum Shinault, who is now a sort of lawyer, (esquire) ("Whitsun Harp, Regulator") and Mr. Francis ("The Conjured Kitchen"). 
  • Of note: The setting and description of the plantation store, the road, and houses. The setting embodies two periods: "It was the old South and the new" (Thanet, p. 2).
  • Otto Knipple is a bit simple, but highly principled. He's joined the secret society of the Knights of Labor, which Aunt Betsey compares to the KKK, on the basis of "secret society" alone. Dake, a carpenter who is widowed, is seen as a scab and the mill he operates is blown up. Otto saves Baby Boo from the explosion, and is hailed as a hero. The twist is that Otto set up the explosion, and he eventually confesses his crime and is forgiven.
  • Subplot: Dake and Marty Ann fall in love. Dake loves her child, Boo, and gives her a doll: "Seerayphine Dake, be it explained, was not a little live girl like Lizzie Victory, but a beautiful wax doll that could open and shut its eyes, and cry in the most natural and affecting manner if you squeezed her stomach. Dake had bought her in St. Louis and put her on the Christmas tree for Boo" (p. 26). The doll is what Boo goes to the mill to fetch when the explosives are set. Dake decides Marty Ann conspired with Bassett to kill him in the explosion: "He would not be fooled by another false woman. A sentence that an old German, a former member of a religious community in Iowa, used to quote, kept running in his head: 'Woman is a magic fire.' Well, he was burned" (p. 28). Eventually, the two reveal their mutual love and Dake stays put, rather than moving away.
0 Comments

"Riding in Arkansas"

3/18/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
"Riding in Arkansas," Abbot Courant, XIV, No. 1 (January 1888), 19-21.
0 Comments

    About this project:

    I've been saying since 2004 that I was going to write a critical biography of Octave Thanet (Alice French). This blog is the start of that work and will include notes, links to research, and other OT related tidbits.

    Archives

    February 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021

    Categories

    All
    1878
    1879
    1880
    1884
    1885
    1887
    1888
    1889
    1890
    1891
    1893
    1896
    1897
    Abandoned Child
    Arkansas
    Aunt Callie
    Caldonia
    Catholicism
    Century Magazine
    Chicago Railroad Strike 1877
    Civil War
    Clover Bend
    Conjure
    Convict Camps
    Cotton Pickers
    Dialect
    Digital Texts
    Domestic Violence
    Economics
    Essays
    Expiation
    Francis Plantation
    Highlights & Notes
    Hot Springs
    Howells
    Image Of The South
    Immigrants & Naturalization
    Knitters In The Sun
    Lost Texts
    Lum Shinault
    Native American
    Novels
    Otto The Knight & Other Trans Mississippi Stories
    Photography
    Politics
    Poor
    Race
    Racial Stereotypes
    Racism
    Racist Language
    Racist Sterotypes
    Railroad
    Realism
    Research Tools
    Scribner's
    Scudder
    Seminole
    Southern Myth
    Stories Of A Western Twon
    Suffrage
    Tenant Farming
    Tenements
    The Atlantic Monthly
    The Missionary Sheriff
    Unionization
    We All
    Western Stories
    Witchcraft

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • The Octave Thanet Project
  • About
  • Privacy
    • Angelic Rodgers >
      • Signed Copies of Homecoming >
        • Signed copies of Elegant Freefall