A Harvest of Stories: From a Half Century of Writing

by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

This volume brings together twenty-eight of the best of Dorothy Canfield's short stories written over a half century. Two of them are new, and the others, selected from her eight volumes of short stories, have been completely revised. Several stories have appeared in the annual Best American Short Stories, and "The Knot-hole" and "Sex Education" received O. Henry Memorial Awards. "What My Mother Taught Me" has not been published before, and "The Washed Window" has had magazine publication only. Also included are such favorites as "The Murder on Jefferson Street," "The Apprentice," and others that have stood the test of time.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Also wrote under the name Dorothy Canfield.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early decades of the twentieth century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong education. Eleanor Roosevelt named her one of the ten most influential women in the United States. In addition to bringing the Montessori method of child-rearing to the U.S., she presided over the country's first adult education program and shaped literary tastes by serving as a member of the Book of the Month Club selection committee from 1925 to 1951.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aug 8, 8am ~~ Review asap.

2pm ~~ I ordered this book to round off my Dorothy Canfield Fisher project. I had read a few of her other titles, and had mixed reactions. I liked the novel Understood Betsy, but the other novels I tried did not appeal to me very much. However, I thought the short stories I had seen were excellent so treated myself to this collection with stories hand-picked by Fisher for this 1956 volume.

Original publication dates range from 1915 to 1956. The 27 stories are grouped into three headings: Vermont Memories; Men, Women--and Children; and War. I had seen only a couple of the War tales before, everything else was completely new to me. Oh, there is also a fairly long prologue which reveals quite a bit about how DCF became who she was. The title of that is What My Mother Taught Me, and it helped me to understand Fisher's persona much better than even her biography did.

What I felt most while reading this book was that Fisher saw humanity, puzzled over it, understood it, and was able to reproduce it on the page. Her people feel alive, her situations are everyday events that any of us might face. But somehow she helps us see the magic of the every day moment, and help us appreciate it as well.

I liked all the stories (a rare event in any collection!) but a couple of my special favorites were The Bedquilt, a story about a maiden aunt in one family, the quilting project she created and how it changed her life. I want my Mom (still a busy quilter herself at age 93) to read that one!

Another excellent story was The Saint Of The Old Seminary. A village girl lives her life in her own manner and has to deal with what the rest of the people in the village think of that.

The Murder On Jefferson Street built the tension until I felt like a balloon about to pop, and was a very effective study of what happens behind people's public faces.

The Knot-hole was one of the War stories, and not about WWI as I expected, but about WWII. It tells the story of what happened to a French family during that war, and if anyone can read this without crying during the last couple of pages, they are made of sterner stuff than I am.

I was incredibly impressed with Fisher's work here, and I know I will be reading this again and again, dipping into it to relive favorite moments.

There were a couple other little surprises for me in this book. First a torn piece of stiff paper used as a bookmark at the page where Ann Story begins. I am still curious about whether the reader marked it as a special story to return to or as the next one in line. That story turned out to be about a historical figure of the same name, a woman who lived in Vermont before the United States ever became a country.

The second surprise was towards the back, in the section of War stories. I turned a page and an old photo negative fell out of the book. I held it up to the light and saw a tall skinny man standing on a walkway in front of an old house (it had awnings over the windows, haven't really seen that since I was a kid visiting my grandparents). I could not tell if he was smiling or serious but I am guessing smiling because he was wearing roller skates!

I am going to see if I can get the negative developed into a picture next time we go to the store. I am very curious about this man! And of course I am weaving all kinds of imaginary tales about him and whoever it was that left the bookmark. Was that the same lady who signed her name in the flyleaf? Were the two mother and son or neighbors or what?! He looks young to be a husband, but maybe once I get an actual picture I will be able to think of a story for him.

These kind of surprises helped make a memorable book even more unforgettable!

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read a collection of short stories in quite a while. I was amazed by this collection.

My volume has a rather sad history. It was formerly a library book; in the back is the checkout slip with all the dates stamped . . . and at the end in red letters "Discarded". I came across it when I went to a used book store, but not on their shelves. Rather, it was outside in a box with a hastily written "Free" sign on it.

So I grabbed it. My mother shortly after came for a visit and was looking for something to read. I mentioned this volume of short stories and she read it in its entirety. She said, "the stories are pretty good."

So finally, I got around to reading this collection. After the first story I thought, "What a gem". It told me a lot about what life in more remote areas of Vermont used to be like. Maybe still is, in some ways.

As I progressed in the book, there were some stories I enjoyed more than others, but every single one held my interest. The author covered a broad range of topics, times, and situations and showed rather expertly the human, emotional experiences in each.

This isn't a book to read quickly. Some of the wording is a bit formal and the meaning and usage of some have changed. It is a book to savor and think about. I will not let it gather dust on my shelves and end up in a "free" box at a moving or (hopefully far off) estate sale. Rather, I will be looking for the next person who will read and enjoy this lost treasure.

Yep. I liked it THAT much.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love Dorothy Canfield Fisher, but she has some faults of which I'm perfectly aware, but which I can imagine making me bristle, were they pointed out by someone who doesn't appreciate the things that make her wonderful. However, no one really talks about her often enough to occasion such bristling.

Fault number #1: She gets really tedious when her subject is the virtues of the people of Vermont as a whole, who surely even 100 years ago weren't as homogenous as she presents them. Fans of her novels should not make the same mistake I did and try to read Vermont Tradition: The Biography of an Outlook on Life, which is utterly turgid.

Fault number #2: She can be didactic about how children should be raised (she was a big proponent of Montessori education, which is fine, but it shows too much in her fictions).

So, this book is a collection of short stories and memoirs, published at the end of a long fruitful career. It's grouped into sections, and one is titled "Vermont memories" and another "Men, Women -- and children," and these groupings serve to concentrate the faults I mentioned above. But when she's wonderful, she's really wonderful, her characters are usually real people you care about, and you want to find out very much what happens to them next.

Four of the pieces here appeared in an earlier collection, Raw Material, which I read too recently to enjoy reading them again just yet. Of the two books, I'd recommend Raw Material more, because it's all memoirs/essays, which I find more interesting than the short stories, although I withhold judgement as to just how true they actually are.

[Annika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of print for many years, but a wonderful find in the library stacks. I love to discover old writing that feels timeless in every way. In particular liked a story called "The Rainy Day, the Good Mother, and the Brown Suit" and also another (title escapes me) about a young woman who got lost in a cornfield and was retelling the adventure at different stages of her life. It was slightly different at each telling and the villain became less ominous each time. If you read it, let me know what you think!

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in the library when searching for a novel by Dorothy Canfield Fisher reprinted by Persephone Books. The stories took me back a half century, when stories like this were published in the Saturday Evening Post. Overall, optimism, faith in the goodness of human nature and the resilience of the human spirit infuse these stories. From time to time, they were a bit didactic, but this was a fault easily forgiven because of the genuine storytelling skill displayed.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Helga Kivisto · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Aunt Tyyne was a friend of Dorothy's and, as a child, we visited her one afternoon! All I knew was she wrote stories. Sad that I don't remember more! I am a second generation Vermonter so her stories are of great interest to me.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories from Vermont. Each one more lovely than the next. Love her voice.