Barbara Anne Waite's Blog, page 5

Celebrate January 22 – Elsie’s 125th Birthday 1888-2013 Special offer for Elsie’s book

One hundred and twenty-five years ago on January 22, 1888 Elsie Reed Hayes was born in Alexandria, Virginia. They lived in the home that had been her father’s childhood home.  When I was a child my grandmother  Elsie entertained us with stories of  her childhood in Virginia. Among her keepsakes was an old Civil War pass that allowed passage of the family cow across enemy lines.  Also with her treasures was a newspaper article describing her father’s injury as a child when crossing enemy lines with the cow.  Her childhood in Virginia was delightful.  Elsie enjoyed her two sisters Alice and Hylinda, her younger brother Gilman and the cousins that lived nearby.  They played in the wooded area located across the Potomac from Washington D.C.

The family included her father’s two unmarried sisters Annie and Mamie. Since there were four adults and four children, each adult claimed one child to lavish with special attention.  Aunt Annie claimed Elsie and she reserved her special attention for her. This maiden aunt had an important job with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C.  Also among Elsie’s treasures were a couple of old family invitations to Inaugural Balls.

When Elsie was ten her family traveled by train to California. They had hoped that the warmer climate would be better for Elsie’s brother who had a heart defect.  In 1904, when Elsie was age 16, her brother Gilman died in Long Beach, California. Elsie herself lived to be nearly 100 years old. All of the years that I knew my grandmother her birthday was celebrated with an angel-food cake with whipped cream and raspberries. For this celebration of Elsie’s 125th Birthday we may just have some raspberries and whipped cream as well.  I am with my sister Nancy and my brother Dan, Elsie’s only other grandchildren.  So it will be fun to celebrate together  tomorrow.

I want to make a special three-day offer to those who would like a copy of “Elsie-Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916.” For January 22, 23 & 24th only, I will mail (postage-paid within the USA) an autographed copy for $10.00 to commemorate Elsie’s 125th birthday. Please share this three-day offer with others you think might be interested in a look at the life of a teacher in the Wild West 100 years ago.  I have been thrilled with the 102 reviews for “Elsie” on Amazon.  Thanks to all who have written to say you have enjoyed the book.

Yes, I am working on the sequel telling of her years living on an apple ranch and operating a mountain resort.  I hope to be able to give it some undivided attention soon.

Please let me know before Friday January 25th if you want me to include mailing a book to you.

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

This week, I’ve had the honor to be invited to a blog hop! The purpose of the blog hop is to introduce readers to books and authors, that you  may otherwise haven’t heard about. I was introduced to Smadar Gerson when I read her book  “Stored Treasures A Memoir.”  Stored Treasures by Minnie Crane and Smadar Belkind Gerson was  a fascinating read. Minnie was born in Belitsa, Russia in 1896, she entering the USA through Ellis Island in 1914. Her birth town eventually became part of Belarus, a Jewish community destroyed by Nazis. It is the story of  Smadar’s  great-grandmother Minnie Crane’s life. It is a compilation of Minnie’s journal writings,  Smadar’s  grandmother’s writings (Minnie’s daughter) and genealogical research. It was interesting to compare Elsie’s adventures in Arizona with Minnie’s departure from Russia the same year. These two women from different backgrounds, but same time period, faced some of the same challenges of adjusting to changes in their lives.

 First, I will answer ten questions about my book, and then introduce other authors, who will be writing about their books next week on this blog hop!

Where did the working title come from? : 

 My book is a memoir, “Elsie -Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1918.” I compiled it. Much of it was written by Elsie in her letters and diary written from 1913-1916. My daughter assisted me and my son drew a couple of illustrations. I added all the research to complete the background of the time period. Originally I contemplated “Very Lovingly Yours, Elsie” as a title. I was afraid that title did not convey the location, time period or that she was a teacher.  By the time we had ”Elsie- Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916” there was not much room left. My talented design gal loved having a hand written looking script across the top of the cover, “Very Lovingly Yours.”  She signed many of letters that way. So we added that to the cover but not to the actual title. “Very Lovingly Yours” appears at the top of each page in the print version. I added the words “Adventures of” to the title because living in rural Arizona in 1913 displayed a love of adventure. No vampires or such but life in early Arizona was an adventure. We debated back and forth about using a hand-written font for Elsie’s letters and diary excerpts. Eventually I took a poll and the hand-written font won. It is lovely in the print book. Sadly it is not possible to do that in an E-Book version.

 Where did the Idea for the book come from? : 

Elsie was my Grandmother. I loved her; everyone loved her. She was a source of encouragement and a joy to me for the 40 years we shared. When she died in 1987, she was nearly 100 years old. Elsie had enchanted me with stories during my childhood. Even after I married and had children of my own, we would all sit at her feet while she shared stories. True stories. Some stories were of her childhood, including  stories of her father being injured as a child in Virginia during the Civil War. Many stories revealed insight into her three years of teaching in Arizona soon after it became a state. I recorded some of these stories on cassette tapes. I know during one Arizona story she was telling she stopped and giggled and said, “I was a bit of a snob.” I later understood what she was referring to. Arizona changed her. She was college educated and loved literature and culture. In Arizona she taught barefoot, burro riding children, and she referred to some of them as being “common and needing baths.” As she learned to love this wild countryside and the children, her attitude changed dramatically. She discovered an admiration for the character of these back-woods farmers, ranchers and their children. Elsie fell in love with Arizona. And a couple young men fell in love with Elsie. My research uncovered a tender, yet tragic, love story.  I never intended to write a book. When Elsie died I discovered and read the diary and letters she had saved from her years when she taught in Arizona. The letters were tied with a faded blue ribbon that appeared to have been untied numerous times through the years. I discovered a grandmother I had never known, and I was fascinated. I began to do research about her Arizona years. In 1988 I located and interviewed 8 of her former students that were then elderly treasures. Elsie had taught them for 9 months in a one-room school in Arizona 75 years before. Yet they had vivid memories that were a match to the ones Elsie had written about in her letters and diary. The research from 1988 sat incomplete. I had no idea what to do with it. I was busy home-schooling our four children and involved in other projects.

 Was this self- published? 

    In 2010, I met an Arizona publisher that reminded me that Arizona would soon celebrate their 100th birthday. This publisher encouraged me to complete the book that I had been pondering for 22 years.

Elsie had been a librarian and a writer; for years she published short stories in magazines for children. In her saved treasures I discovered an unfinished letter to Arizona Highways that she began when she was 97 years old. She wanted to tell her story of teaching in early Arizona. She never completed that article. I knew I had to attempt to share her adventures in rural Arizona.  I hired editors, design professionals, proof readers and website managers. With much prayer and a trembling heart in November 2011, I published “Elsie-Adventures of an Arizona Schoolteacher 1913-1916.”  I hesitate to call it self- published because it was a team I hired that helped me pull it all together. I loved doing the research for the book. I have continued to add to my website “tidbits” and vintage photos about the time period.  This morning Elsie was #1 in KINDLE Western Non-Fiction books. It has occasionally been ranked on Amazon as # 50 in Print Non- Fiction Western books. I have had 88 reviews on Amazon, most of them very encouraging. 

    My biggest surprise was when I approached a National Park in Arizona about selling Elsie.  The gentleman questioned if the book was fiction. I answered that it was taken directly from her letters and diary and that I had added historical information and explanations. His response was, “Your book is interpretive History!” Taken by surprise I said,” Yes, it is.” Montezuma’s Castle and Tuzigoot National Park have ordered 420 copies since April. I never dreamed “Interpretive History” had so much potential. I am thrilled that 26 locations in Arizona sell Elsie. My sales through these channels are much higher than my Amazon sales. What an adventure writing this book has been. My favorite review came from a woman of 103 that read Elsie on a kindle and skyped her review to her daughter. Elsie would be very pleased and amazed.    

What actors would I choose if Elsie became a movie? 

    Two years before Elsie died the movie “Anne of Green Gables” with Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie came out. I was fascinated by the similarities with Elsie’s experience. It was close to the same time period. I loved seeing the red tobacco tins that were used as lunch boxes. Elsie had written about that very thing. But I would choose Renee Zellweger to play Elsie. I loved her spunk and charm in “Miss Potter.” I loved watching the Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd in the Hornblower series. Since Jack was Welsh, Ioan would definitely be my choice for Jack. Karl needs someone with a bit of melancholy, so perhaps Keneau Reaves would work as Karl.  I have often pictured Elsie as a movie. There is joy and tragedy and an element of mystery in Elsie’s story. 

    How long did the Project take? 

    As I have said, I began the research and then set it aside for nearly 22 years. That was a fortunate procrastination. I began to realize that the book would tie in with Arizona’s Centennial interest. I actually had two feature newspaper articles that were unexpected but generated by Centennial interest.

 What Inspired me to write this book? 

    Elsie was inspiration for many things in my life. Her joy in the adventure and her focus on the delight of the experience instead of the hardships was so evident in her writings.

    Connecting with people who have read the book has been a delightful experience. I never dreamed it would have a target audience beyond Arizona. I have had letters from all over the world. There is a young man teaching in rural Africa that is reading it right now. I have heard from readers in New Zealand, France, Equador, Canada, Korea, Finland and Crete.

    I am thrilled that two of my children have followed in Elsie footsteps. Our oldest son has taught in China, as headmaster in Korea and now serves as Director of Global studies for a University in California. Our daughter teaches English at a University in Seoul, Korea. Elsie would find great delight in this. 

    I have had numerous requests for a sequel that would tell of Elsie’s years after she married.  I am working on that project. For years Elsie lived on a mountain and she and her husband operated an apple ranch and opened a rustic resort there.  I find it interesting how self sufficient they were. They lived off the land for the most part. Elsie had a recipe for squirrel and quail pie that I find humorous, her note at the bottom reminds “be sure the squirrel is not too old.” My mother spent the first 5 years of her life living on the apple ranch. I have vintage photos of my mom riding in an apple crate cart.  The words on the side of the crate say, “keep in a cool dry place.” That would be a difficult task to accomplish with a baby. The old, gnarled apple trees that Elsie’s father planted in 1904 still produce fabulous apples. There is something rewarding in writing about things that have not changed and revealing those that have changed entirely. History when viewed through the eyes of someone who lived it can be rich and enlightening. Thanks to Elsie for leaving us her view of life in the West in the early1900’s.

 
NOW FOR THE BLOG HOPPING:
I invite you to visit the following talented, diverse and inspiring group of women authors.   These are the other books involved in the BLOG HOP:
 

All Different Kinds Of Free by Jessica McCann. Jessica’s book is one of my favorite Historical Fiction books.  It is the story of the evil of slavery. It is told through the eyes of a woman born free, a woman whose life was contented, and then turned tragic. This woman who would not allow her soul to be enslaved.  

Mr. Charles Chick – Postmaster 1913

Being chosen as a finalist in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards was memorable. I purchased one of the winning books for Curt as a Christmas present. “Code Talker” tells the story of a Navajo Indian who helped in WWII with using the Navajo language as a code. I was sorry that the elderly writer was not present for the awards.  I felt honored to be a finalist when I saw the quality of the books that won.

We also added a new Arizona outlet for the book. The Rim Country Museum now sells “Elsie.” I believe we now have 26 locations that stock it.

Participating in the Thanksgiving Book Festival at Singing Winds in Benson, Arizona, a day later was a unique event. Win Bundy has turned her home into as unique a bookshop as I have ever experienced. It is located down a dirt road and a large bell announces you would like to view her books. People drive long distances to attend her book events. It was a lovely day. I was asked to read a portion of “Elsie” and I chose Elsie’s letter written to her sister Alice telling about her Grand Canyon adventure. Hard to imagine that nearly 100 years ago people wrote letters that would take longer than 15 minutes to read out loud. I edited some portions to keep the reading to 15 minutes. Perhaps the most exciting part of that day was meeting one of the gals attending who told me that her grandfather, Mr. Chick, was the Cornville Postmaster in 1913. I was thrilled to tell her that Mr. Chick was included in Elsie’s book. In fact, she scanned a picture to me of that PO from 1913. I will include that here. My thanks to Kathy Klump for the vintage photos – she is the daughter of Barbara Frances Chick Bliss. The photos are of the 1916 rodeo held at Mr. Chick’s place on the 4th of July. She wrote, “I understand he was very patriotic and decorated the post office with bunting and so forth and held a rodeo each year.”

I am so pleased that 80 readers have now added reviews on Amazon. Sincere thanks to those who have added your comments there. That certainly helps sales. Most have been very positive.   I am offering “Elsie” as a free Kindle book Nov. 28 & 29th. It seems that sales always experience a boost after I give away books. So if you know of others that like memoirs please let them know. I much prefer the print copy to the Kindle but free is always nice.

As I am working on “Elsie’s Mountain Years” I am thinking it needs to be written as a book that could be used for teaching students what life was like on an isolated mountain apple ranch nearly 100 years ago. They survived almost entirely on what the mountain provided for them. Her description of the mountain “characters” sound like a novel, but I want it to be a non-fiction memoir.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving season for readers that have become friends. I enjoy hearing from you.

 

Elsie” is One Year Old!

Oct. 26th,2012

Elsie was first offered on Amazon on Nov.6th,2011. This book has been an adventure for me and has gone far beyond my expectations. I am so grateful for those that have written generous reviews and those that have sent notes of encouragement. I have been delighted to make new friends as a result of the interest in the book.

All I asked for was that I could break even on the production costs. I have already done that. I have sold over 1,200+ in print and the Kindle book sales are very surprising. This month, in the first 25 days, 510 Kindle copies have sold. Since January I think Kindle sales are about 3,000. Elsie has remained #1 in KIndle Memoirs/West and fluctuates between #2 and #3 in Kindle Memoirs/Educators. Perhaps it has sold well because I have kept the price lower than many memoirs.

So I have chosen to lower the print edition price on Amazon to $11.99. This will begin tomorrow. If anyone would like to order an autographed copy directly from me I will match Amazon’s price and pay the shipping. (I will have to add sales tax for California residents.) I am excited that I have had book clubs ask if I would consider a bulk price and I will be happy to do that. I spent last evening speaking at a local book club gathering and I loved the time sharing a little more about what made Elsie unique.



“Elsie” is a finalist in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards for best Arizona Memoir. We are traveling to Albuquerque Nov 16th for the awards ceremony. On Nov. 18th I have been asked to attend the “Singing Winds Bookshop Thanksgiving Fiesta” in Benson, AZ. This is a unique Bookshop that will have several authors doing readings from their books. Here is the website for that event : http://www.bensonvisitorcenter.com.



Next “Tidbit” I hope to do a book review on the interesting book Appetite for America- How Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West. It is by Stephen Fried. After her year in isolated Cornville Elsie enjoyed the Harvey House in Williams and El Tovar at the Grand Canyon. Both of these were rather amazing establishments that have a unique place in the development of the West, the result of the vision of Fred Harvey.

Will Rodgers said of Fred Harvey:

“Wild buffalo fed the early traveler in the West and for doing so they put his picture on a nickel. Well,Fred Harvey took up where the buffalo left off. For what he has done for the traveler, one of his waitress’ pictures (with an arm load of delicious ham and eggs) should be placed on both sides of every dime. He has kept the West in food–and wives.”

“Elsie” is One Year Old!

Elsie was first offered on Amazon on Nov.6th,2011.  This book has been an adventure for me and has gone far beyond my expectations. I am so grateful for those that have written generous reviews and those that have sent notes of encouragement.  I have been delighted to make new friends as a result of the interest in the book.

All I asked for was that I could break even on the production costs. I have already done that.  I have sold over 1,200+ in print and the Kindle book sales are very surprising. This month, in the first 25 days, 510 Kindle copies have sold.  Since January I think Kindle sales are about 3,000. Elsie has remained #1 in KIndle Memoirs/West and fluctuates between #2 and #3 in Kindle Memoirs/Educators. Perhaps it has sold well  because I have kept the price lower than many memoirs.

So I have chosen to lower the print edition price on Amazon to $11.99. This will begin tomorrow. If  anyone would like to order an autographed copy directly from me I will match Amazon’s price and pay the shipping. (I will have to add sales tax for California residents.) I am excited that I have had book clubs ask if I would consider a bulk price and  I will be happy to do that. I spent last evening speaking at a local book club gathering  and I loved the time sharing a little more about what made Elsie unique.

“Elsie” is a finalist in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards for best Arizona Memoir.  We are traveling to Albuquerque Nov 16th for the awards ceremony.  On Nov. 18th I have been asked to attend the “Singing Winds Bookshop Thanksgiving Fiesta” in Benson, AZ.  This is a unique Bookshop that  will have several authors doing readings from their books.  Here is the website for that event : http://www.bensonvisitorcenter.com.

Next “Tidbit” I hope to do a book review on the interesting book  Appetite for America- How Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West. It is by Stephen Fried.  After her year in isolated Cornville Elsie enjoyed the Harvey House in Williams and El Tovar at the Grand Canyon. Both of these were rather amazing establishments that  have a unique place in the development of the West, the result of the vision of Fred Harvey.

Will Rodgers said of Fred Harvey:

“Wild buffalo fed the early traveler in the West and for doing so they put his picture on a nickel. Well,Fred Harvey took up where the buffalo left off. For what he has done for the traveler, one of his waitress’ pictures (with an arm load of delicious ham and eggs) should be placed on both sides of every dime. He has kept the West in food–and wives.”

Delightful & Memorable Arizona Trip

[image error]Each time I visit “Elsie’s” Arizona I become a little more in love with the grandeur of The Grand Canyon and the quaintness in Cornville, Cottonwood and Williams. Curt and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary by riding the steam train from Williams to the Grand Canyon on Sept. 15th. It was a delightful trip.  We stopped on Friday to deliver books to several locations along the way. It was so fun to have lunch with Randall and Dixie Stone.  They live in Cottonwood, not far from where the family ranch was when Elsie lived with Randall’s Grandparents in 1913-1914.  Randall’s mother was Eva Girdner Stone and Elsie’s student in 1913. In 1988 I had a special visit with Eva in her home there in Cornville. She and I continued to write to each other for a number of years. We had an amazing surprise when we realized her grandson was roommate (over one summer) with our son Dan while they were in college in South Carolina in 1988. Hard to imagine that 75 years after Elsie taught Eva, Elsie’s great grandson and Eva’s grandson would end up roommates thousands of miles away from Cornville, AZ. Then to think I could connect with Randall (Eva’s son) via Facebook and have lunch with them. It is certainly a delightfully small world. We spent Friday night in Williams at a really nice bed and Breakfast called “Grand Living.”  It is a large, delightful log cabin type home with exacting detail given to exotic décor and gracious hospitality. We left early Saturday to ride the train to the Grand Canyon. They had fun entertainment for the 2 ½ hour ride and once we arrived at the Grand Canyon a shuttle delivered us to the El Tovar hotel. What a memorable thing it was to eat lunch in the same dining room where Elsie had had lunched nearly 100 years ago. (Reservations to stay at El Tovar need to be made nearly a year in advance.) I could almost feel the history of the place surrounding me. There are memorabilia from the past everywhere. I highly recommend the train trip, lunch in the El Tovar dining room and the delightful “Grand Living” Bed and Breakfast. We gained two new locations that now carry “Elsie.”  I have connected with readers in faraway places and I am enjoying this beyond what I can describe. I love hearing from readers, so please drop me a note.

Birthdays and Bookstores of the Past

On August 26th I celebrate my 65th birthday. We won’t be doing too much since I injured my knee and will have arthroscopic surgery Sept. 5 to repair a torn meniscus. One of my favorite things to do as a child on my birthday involved riding the bus with Elsie. Elsie never learned how to drive a car. For years she was content to call a cab or go where she needed to go by city bus. It is hard for me today to imagine choosing to ride a city bus to celebrate anything. Yet that is what I chose to do year after year when Elsie asked me what I wanted for my birthday. We rode the city bus from the suburb of La Mesa into downtown San Diego. Then we went to what I thought was the best attraction in downtown San Diego – the second hand bookstores. I don’t remember if she gave me a price limit but we went searching for “treasures.” I still have several of those treasures, wonderful old books that had been loved before I claimed them as my own. The day was not perfect until we had lunch at Mannings Cafeteria. It fascinated me that I could walk along a long line of food offerings and choose. I don’t remember the other items we selected for lunch but I always chose red Jello cut into little squares topped with a glorious mound of whipped cream. I’m not sure today that I would eat red Jello topped with whip cream if you paid me. As a child it was an awesome treat, and I was with Elsie and we had looked at books. What more could a child ask for? It certainly encouraged my early love of books. This year for my birthday I ordered used books from Amazon. I had such fun choosing an eclectic blend of books to read during the 6-8 weeks of recovery from knee surgery.

I have had fun creating a Pinterest site that is nearly all paintings, photos and quotes about reading. Of course I added Elsie onto the page hoping it might catch the interest of those who love reading. Warning – Pinterest is very addicting – but also very fun. I have also discovered if you use the SEARCH box on Pinterest it can become a research tool.

http://pinterest.com/barbarawaite/book-lover-paintings-quotes/

Just for fun I thought I’d share some pictures of Elsie in her later years.  The black and white photo is certainly Christmas and likely 1955. My father must have taken the photo of Elsie, my mother Katie and myself with the doll, my sister Nancy and my brother Dan.

The picture with my  children is 1978, Elsie was 90. Notice that she is surrounded by books. When she was 95 she still lived on her own and was still a voracious reader.  My husband and I are beside Elsie, Carin, Christopher and Dan on laps. My mother Katie is sitting on the floor. I notice there are books behind us and on both sides of couch, and on the floor. That is Alice (Elsie’s sister) sitting beside Elsie in the final picture , celebrating Elsie’s 95th birthday in 1983.

August 10&11, (Fri/Sat) Elsie is FREE on Amazon Kindle

I am doing another 48 hour promotion of Elsie – Arizona Teacher 1913-1916. If you do not have a kindle I am told that this app will work so you can read on computer or certain phones.

I would love some new reviews but am VERY thankful for 50 -mostly 5 star. Thanks readers. Reviews help it sell. Giving it away on kindle seems to boost sales. Please tell or share this with friends. Thanks.

If you don’t have a kindle you can use this free reading appshttp://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

Free Kindle Apps – Read eBooks on your Phone, Tablet, or Computer

www.amazon.com

You don’t need to own a Kindle to enjoy Kindle books. Just get a free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone 7.

I want to share with you one of the delightful perks of hearing from readers in areas distant from Arizona.

Den Adler, from Wisconsin purchased ELSIE when visiting Arizona. He has written a generous review and now this nice article.  Den Adler wrote:

Former University of Wisconsin-Madison writing teacher Marshall Cook’s e-newletter Extra Innings came out today, and my essay about your book is on page three. Hope you enjoy it.

 

In praise of teachers from long ago

By DEN ADLER

“Elsie Haye s Roberts often told her granddaughter,

Barbara Anne Waite, stories about the happy years

she taught school in primitive Arizona from 1913

to 1916. Elsie Hayes, valedictorian of the Long

Beach, CA, High School’s class of 1907, had been

hired as a mail-order teacher in Arizona just after

it was admitted to statehood and when Cornville,

the first town she taught in, lacked electricity and

running water.

After her grandmother died in 1987, Waite

began reading her grandmother’s “well-worn

black leather diary, not realizing it would reveal a

young Elsie I had never imagined. The diary told

of her first love, of heartache and sorrow, and of

fascinating adventure. Never had I pictured my

grandmother as being free-spirited, young, and in

love. My curiosity was stirred, and I began to

search for more records of her Arizona years.”

Thank goodness her granddaughter didn’t just

read and file the diary away as a family keepsake.

Instead, Barb Waite started researching letters and

newspapers and searched out and interviewedElsie’s

former students, including 84-year-old

Eva, who was eight when Elsie lived with her

family on Shadyvale Ranch in 1913.

Waite sent her questions to a newspaper near

Cornville (which was still too small to have its

own), and Eva answered. “I certainly do

remember Elsie Hayes,” she wrote. “She was my

third grade teacher, and I loved her! … The area

here was very primitive at that time, and my folks

wondered how the teachers would ever adjust to our ways of living.

But your grandmother, especially, adjusted beautifully.”

I discovered Elsie: Adventures of an Arizona

Schoolteacher 1913-1916 in an Arizona gift shop

during a recent visit with a friend. In this case, I

judged a book by its cover. Elsie was very pretty,

and her photograph surrounded by memorabilia

from that time, with mention of 1916, the year my

dad was born, led me to pick up the book.

Waite includes short notes to help readers

understand items in Elsie’s diary and letters and

inserted delightful photographs that Elsie took of

her students and their surroundings.

The book tells of Karl, a cowboy who fell in love with Elsie

and entered college to make himself worthy of her.

Decades later, Waite’s question about her grandmother’s early loves brought Elsie to

tears. “There was this cowboy …,” she began, but that’s all she said, and Waite

didn’t discover the reason for the tears until she read Elsie’s diary and discovered

newspaper clippings. The book also includes memories from Elsie’s now-aging students,

which remind us that we will usually never know the influence we have had in

children’s lives. I was reminded of Elsie’s story a couple of weeks ago when a friend and I had one of our photographic day trips, this time to Old World Wisconsin, a living museum in the Kettle Moraine area south of Eagle. OWW is made up of 18th and early 19th-century buildings relocated from all over Wisconsin. This photo shows the one-room Raspberry School in the Norwegian Area, and the re-enactor “teacher” is outside the door with a basket. The day was ending, and I didn’t have time to visit the school or meet her.

With only a few minutes until closing time, I stupidly didn’t wait for a tram to carry me back to the entrance but instead started walking, as I had been doing the entire day. I chose the wrong route, however, and after 20 minutes, when I saw a tram approaching I waved it down. It wasn’t full of visitors like me, but of reenactors heading to their cars. The teacher was sitting across from me and was telling her coworkers that a 12-year-old boy made her day when he asked, “Were all the teachers back then as nice as you are?”

I wanted to tell her I knew of one who was.”

Thanks Den for this great article!

If you are interested I have had fun adding a board on Pinterest that is mainly Victorian

photos and paintings of women and children reading. There are some fun quotes about reading.

The site is :http://pinterest.com/barbarawaite/book-lover-paintings-quotes/

The photo of girl with a Kodak camera is from 1910 and I imagine it is much like the one Elsie

took to college and then to Arizona.  It is also included on my Pinterest page.

Thanks readers for letting me know you have enjoyed my book. It is a huge blessing to hear from readers and reviews are chocolate incing on the cake !

Elsie Saw Barney Oldfield at the Arizona State Fair 1914

Elsie wrote her father that it was reported that 50,000 people were in Phoenix for the Arizona State Fair in 1914.  She commented about the exciting auto races with Barney Oldfield. Reading about Oldfield I discovered he was quite the character. Barney Oldfield started his career as a racer on a bicycle, but everything changed in 1902 when he was hired to drive automobiles for a little known automaker out of Detroit. Henry Ford had driven his 999 for himself in a race or two, but soon decided that he felt safer just making the cars. He needed someone else with the sheer grit and daring needed to drive his car at high speeds, and 24 year old Barney Oldfield was the man for the job. After seeing the 999 for the first time, Oldfield told Ford, “But I’ve never driven a car.” Inexperienced as he was, Oldfield is rumored to have learned the controls of the car the morning of his first race, and by the end of the day he had defeated what was thought to be the world’s fastest car, the Winton bullet. He defeated all the competitors by at least half a mile in a five mile race. Barney Oldfield made a name for himself that day as a fearless and exciting driver, and he also put his sponsor, Henry Ford, on the map and on his way to becoming the most prominent American automaker of all time. Soon Barney Oldfield was a household name and was racing cars all over the country, setting speed records left and right. Oldfield was the first ever to drive around a mile track in less than a minute. By 1910 he achieved a speed of 131.25 mph, then considered the, “fastest ever traveled by a human being.” Oldfield traveled around America with his shrewd agent Will Pickens from town to town with the carnivals, issuing an open challenge to anyone brave enough to race him. Oldfield was the first American to become a celebrity solely for his ability to drive a car with great skill, speed, and daring. Racing became very lucrative for Oldfield, and by his career’s end he could command at least a thousand dollars just to show up for a race. All this was at a time when Henry Ford’s 5$ a day wage was considered incredibly high.

Oldfield also starred in several movies, including a 1913 silent film called

Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life, in which he races a train in order to

save heroine Mabel Normand, who has been tied to the tracks by the villain

played by Rod Sterling. Of course, Oldfield saves the day due to his ability to

drive his automobile with such great speed. Historian Mark Howell notes that,

“Perhaps there is something symbolic in the fact that Barney Oldfield outraced a

locomotive in this film, as though the automobile, by 1913, had exceeded the

railroad in terms of American importance”

Teaching Challenges of 99 Years Ago

I listened this week while a teacher discussed the recent challenges of disruptive students in the classroom.  I was reminded of the challenges that Elsie had in her  first year teaching in Arizona. One of Elsie’s students, Dale Girdner, wrote and illustrated an interesting aricle in 1977  that was published in Westward magazine. At the time he wrote the article he  was a senior citizen in his eighties, and like Elsie he obviously had vivid memories of the one-room school in Cornville.  He described Elsie in this article:

Elsie Hayes lighting the stove.

 ”…They hired two young teachers fresh from Los Angeles who were of the impression that they were away out in the wild and wooly west and that the people were just as wild as most anyother kind of varmints…. Since all of us bigger boys liked the idea immensely and certainly did nothing to distract them from their firm belief. I reckon we sorter looked and acted the part, without changing our regular way of conducting -or should I say misconducting ourselves?

We had tried a good many ways to keep them entertaining their belief, and was thrilled to see how well they responded to our tricks. They fell for nearly all that we tried. …

Well, one morning Glen found a couple of flat pint whiskey bottles and filled them with tea and stuck one in each hip pocket. On one he put the seal back on the cork and it looked  quite convincing…. He was very generous in sharing with the larger boys  who had previously been instructed to keep the secret. … Miss Melick arrived on the scene. Needless to say she was hocked and humiliated. Glen had even given quite a few of the older girls a shot around and they were becoming quite unsteady and just a little bit on the noisy side.

Glen went into the smaller room where Miss Hayes (Elsie) was kneeling down on the floor in front of the big old heating stove, trying to build a wood fire. .. He walked up and waved his bottle with the words:”Shay Miss Hayes, don’t you want a dlink of Whi’kkey? It shore is good stuff,” gulping down another generous snort.

She looked up with a horrified look, and said,”Oh, no thank you, I just wouldn’t care for any.” As soon as Glen had gone outside Miss Melick came running in the door with her hands in the air, with the information that half of the kids were drunk….It wasn’t long till some of the little kids got the message that it was a put up job and proceded to let the cat out of the bag; whereupon both teachers  put on a bold front, called the school to order, and within half an hour the color had come back into both teachers’ faces. …Things did take place, as they always will around a country school where there are lots of kids with a lot of excess Vim and Vinegar who feel the need to teach the teacher as well as being taught. I felt better about the whole ordeal in a few days of recuperating -when I was capable of resting in a sitting position.”

In the book there is a delightful letter Dale later wrote to the teachers. It is obvious this trick and others they played on these “greenhorn” teachers did not change the fact that these teachers remembered these fun loving students with fond memories .