 Image from: ClipArt Library; http://clipart-library.com/clipart/2086430.htm, Boiling Water Cliparts #2539806 (License: Personal Use)
Well... things are certainly heating up between Maggie and Frankie. To pick up where the last blog left off, Frankie is fighting to move into an adult life, while Maggie is trying to keep her impulsive daughter safe. It’s kind one of those typical mother-daughter moments. But even Eli jumps into the fray somewhat with Patrick. (If you have any doubt about Eli’s paternal feelings for Frankie, check out his “chat” with Patrick in 1863 after he discovers that the couple had fallen asleep in the barn and spent the night there. It’s in Book 3, A Time to Heal.) Now, here’s the current scene, set in 1864, when the tension comes to a rolling boil. “Where will you live?” Maggie asked. “What’re you going to use for money?” Eli wanted to know. Maggie added, “Someone will need to earn money, so you have a roof over your heads and food on the table. You two simply cannot live off air.” “I’ll get a job,” Frankie shot back. Maggie looked doubtful. “Doing what?” “Teaching, Mama! I’ve taught school. Remember? Surely some school in Chicago must need a teacher. It’s a big city!” Patrick added, “I can take a job, too.” “While you’re attending medical school?” Eli challenged. “Well… sure.” “Right. And when do you intend to sleep?” The young man rolled his eyes. “Eli!” Maggie took up the interrogation. “And, Frankie, what if you get in the family way before you move?” “So what?” Frustrated, Frankie wondered why they were talking about all this now. “You won’t be able to work when you get bigger,” Maggie continued. “And then there’s the morning sickness and …” The young woman suddenly threw her head back and laughed, stopping Maggie in mid-lecture. “Mama!” the young woman chortled. “You ran a boarding house while you were in the family way! Four times! And it never slowed you down. You set the example for me!” Maggie was undeterred. “But you’ve never had a child. Who will you go to for advice? Who will help you if you feel ill or when the baby’s newly born?” That was enough. Frankie hopped to her feet. “Mama, stop it! I’m not a child! For heaven’s sake, I was in Gettysburg during the battle.” Maggie rose and faced her daughter. “And may I remind you that you got yourself separated from us – all because you and Gus wanted to run off and watch the soldiers march into town! I was worried sick about you!” “Yes, I did that. It was a foolish thing to do. I freely admit it. But when I got separated from you, I did not dissolve into helpless tears and cry for my mother! I took care of wounded soldiers. I gave them food and water. I prayed with them. I held their hands when they were in pain. And I sat with them when they died. I am strong, Mama. I’m not a little girl anymore, I am a woman! Gob smacked, Patrick and Eli sat wide-eyed, not knowing how to defuse the mother-daughter confrontation. Undeterred, Maggie sought another line of argument. “From what I’ve heard, Chicago is a big city. How will you find your way around? What if it’s dangerous? What if you get hurt? What if –” Frankie cut her off. “Mama! Let me say this as clearly as I can. Patrick and I are adults. We’re young, yes. We’re inexperienced, yes. But that’s part of being young. We will be married soon, and we’ll make our own way in the world. While I’m at it, may I remind you that you were only a year older than I am now when you eloped? Your family disowned you! You and my father ended up living with Aunty Letty because you two had nowhere else to go!” Maggie was stunned into silence. Her daughter was right. Turning to her fiancé, Frankie grumbled, “Come on, Pat! I need to take a walk to cool down.” And she marched out of the parlor. Patrick, knowing what was good for him, cleared his throat, stood, and said to the two older adults, “Uh… I need to go.” Now Eli and Patrick must calm the women in their lives and encourage them to make up. Will Maggie and Frankie come to an accord? We’ll see in my next blog. Later, gators! Janet R. Stafford  Image of Chicago from the west, 1845. Source: Andreas. History of Chicago
I’ve been working on a novella about Frankie and Patrick’s wedding. The story has three weddings in it: Frankie and Patrick, Edward and Rosa, and Shelby and Millie! But the primary focus is on Frankie and her beau. At the beginning of the story, we learn that Maggie is concerned because her youngest daughter from her marriage to John Blaine will be moving out west with her new husband. She does not like the idea of one of her "chicks" being so far from the nest. My sense is that Maggie had been hoping against hope that her wild child Frankie would stay in Blaineton like her more sensible sister Lydia. But that isn't Frankie. She is engaged to Patrick, who is in the process of becoming a doctor and has found a job as the town doctor for a small town in the Colorado Territory. And then Maggie learns something that almost is too much for her to digest, and mother-daughter tension breaks out. We are coming into the situation just after Frankie and Patrick have revealed that there is a change in their plans. Here's the first part of the explosion... I mean, scene. Once they were settled in the parlor, with Maggie and Eli on the sofa and the young couple in two chairs that they had dragged over, there was a brief pause. Eli broke the silence. “So, tell us. What plans have changed?” “Well…” Frankie began. “We… um… there was a telegram…” “Oh, yes,” Maggie piped up. “It came this afternoon!” Patrick took over now. “It was from the mayor of Rocky Creek.” “Do they no longer want you ?” Maggie asked hopefully. “Of course, they still want us,” Frankie replied, a bit miffed. “I’m sorry. I just thought… well… you know… towns will change their minds about things.” Patrick inserted himself into the conversation. “No, Mama. The town has not changed its mind.” “Oh,” Maggie sounded a bit let down. “Then what is it?” Eli asked. “What plans have changed?” “The town is in the mountains,” Patrick explained. “Winter starts early there, and the snow is heavy.” “Anyway,” Frankie blurted, “the pass is snowed in already. We can’t travel there. Not until mid-April after it’s all melted.” Maggie burst into a wide smile. “Does that mean you’ll be here for the next few months?” “Um… not exactly,” the young redhead replied. Eli frowned. “How ‘not exactly’ do you mean?” The young couple exchanged glances. Patrick spoke up. “I’m going to attend medical school. I hope.” “Dr. Lightner knows the President of Lake Medical School,” Frankie explained. “And he’s sure the president will request that Pat enroll.” “Why can’t Dr. Lightner teach you?” Maggie wanted to know. “A medical school can give me lessons and experience that Dr. Lightner can’t,” Patrick replied. “Besides, these days, having a certificate from a medical school goes a long way to reassuring a town that you’re capable of treating just about anything that comes up.” Eli grunted. “I should think it takes medical school and a lifetime of experience to be able to treat anything that comes up.” “You know what I mean, Eli,” Patrick retorted with a touch of irritation. The portly man regarded the other man for a moment. Finally, he cleared his throat. “So… Lake Medical School… The name doesn’t ring a bell. What town is it in?” Frankie shot Patrick a panicky look that said, “You tell them!” In return, Patrick widened his eyes, as if to say, “Thanks a lot.” He took a breath and forged on. “Well… it’s in Chicago.” “Chicago??” the Smiths chorused. “Yes,” Frankie replied. “Chicago.” “When?” Maggie wanted to know. “Well, we don’t know yet. But if Pat is accepted and we arrive in Chicago at the end of November, Pat will be able to get a couple of terms in before we’ll need to leave for Rocky Creek.” And that was when the questions began to fly. More to come! Maggie and Frankie don't go so far as to have a wrestling match, but things do get a bit loud.  Image from http://clipart-library.com/clip-art/fire-background-transparent-19.htm
Walk by Faith, the second book the Saint Maggie Series, starts not with a bang but with a fire. And this sets the pace for the rest of the book, which moves quickly, jumping from scene to scene as it follows the principle characters from Blaineton to Gettysburg, to battlefields, and to Eli's sister's home. Here's how the book's beginning reads: She stood watching the flames lick upward. The air outside was bitterly cold as snow fell thick from a starless sky. And yet the heat coming from the house was strong – strong enough to make her sweat even though she was in the middle of the square. Maggie Smith clutched her adopted son, Bob as if she was afraid the fire would shoot out and snatch him from her arms. How did this horrible thing happen? Bewildered and strangely numb, she could only stand and watch as the Second Street Boarding House was swallowed up. Standing beside Maggie and cradling her young son Natey, was Emily Johnson. For years, she and Maggie had stood side by side as they worked, laughed, and cried – something the town did not understand because they were different colors. How could a white woman and a black woman be friends? But the answer, incomprehensible to many, was that they found union in their similarities and understanding in their differences. The acrid smoke burned Maggie’s eyes. She wiped at them with a hand and sighed. Ever since the war started, she and her two daughters had found themselves in their pre-1860 existence. Lydia’s husband, Edgar and Frankie’s beau, Patrick had both enlisted, and Maggie’s husband Eli, owner and editor of the town’s newspaper, the Blaineton Gazette, had left to report on the war. He took his reporter/photographer Chester Carson with him, leaving Maggie to edit and print the paper on her own. She now relied on Grandpa O’Reilly to help with the printing press. Sixteen-year-old Frankie who was teaching at the town school also assisted with writing and editing the Gazette. Maggie and her girls had made their own way in the time between her first husband, John Blaine’s death in 1850 and her 1860 marriage to Eli. This time, however, they found themselves working in a boarding house nearly devoid of men. The war had taken most of them, with the exception of Grandpa O’Reilly, who was too old to enlist, and Emily’s husband Nate, who was a man of color. Nate had become eligible for service by an act of Congress in July of 1862. He wanted to join the fight, but so far, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, formed in January 1863, was the only black regiment. Nate was hoping New Jersey would create a black regiment of its own. The departure of most of Maggie’s boarders had an economic impact, too. The Second Street rooming house now struggled to bring in a modest income. It was kept afloat by Nate’s job at the Beatty Carriage Manufactory, the Gazette, Frankie’s salary as a teacher, and Lydia’s income as Dr. Lightner’s assistant. New boarder Matilda had started taking in mending to help out. Survival was not easy, not that it ever was. “And now this,” Maggie whispered, as the roaring, powerful flames devoured the only thing that truly had belonged to her. And now this. It leads the boarding house family to relocate twice. The first is to Maggie's brother's house, which is a mansion and has plenty of room for everyone. But then Eli arrives on the scene with a plan to move everyone to his family's old house in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Maggie resists the idea, but Eli prevails, something that starts the first crack in their relationship. Now, Maggie must do something she has never done before: find her way, and her family's way, in a new place. But is this new place safe? No. Of course not. It's Gettysburg. I know that, and you know that. But Maggie does not. And neither does Eli. More about Walk by Faith in upcoming posts. Have a good evening, friends! And remember to be kind, Janet R. Stafford  Image from: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/349647.htm; Clipart Library, Gettysburg Cliparts #118463 (License: Personal Use)
After people suggested that I write a follow up to SAINT MAGGIE, I wondered what on earth I could write about next. I really shouldn’t have worried, since the question answered itself. The first novel begins in 1860 and ends in the spring of 1861. Additionally, Maggie writes about changes in the opening lines of the first novel. From Maggie’s Journal, 16 April 1861 The changes that have occurred over the past year for my country and my family have been great. In the spring of 1860, I would not have been able, nor would have dared, to imagine that which has transpired. Maggie might be referring to the upheaval in her boarding house and in the town of Blaineton. But, given that it is 1861 and the Civil War has just begun, she might be referring to broader changes. The threat of a war between the states permeates the novel. Witness a conversation among the principal characters that occurs in the first chapter, (Note: Eli’s comment about “visitors” refers to self-emancipators traveling to freedom on the Underground Railroad who sojourn in a hidden room at Maggie’s boarding house.) [Eli] glanced toward the hallway, and then lowered his voice. “Have our visitors left?” “Mm, hm,” Emily replied as her husband Nate, arms loaded with wood for the stove, came in the back door. “We sent them off to the next stop this morning,” “Two brothers,” Maggie added. “Do you know that one of them had his wife and children sold off? He doesn’t even know where they are. It breaks my heart no matter how many times I hear stories like that. What’s the world coming to?” Eli sighed. “War, I’m afraid.” “There’s got to be another way to resolve this.” “I don’t think there is. The situation is too far gone. It’s been too far gone for years. It’s just a matter of time now. If Mr. Lincoln gets elected, it’s clear that the South will secede. And if the South secedes, there’s going to be a war.” Nate dusted his hands. “Well, if there’s a war, I’m joining up. If they’ll let me.” “Think that’s a good idea?” Eli asked. “What if you end up getting taken prisoner? You could lose your freedom.” “I’d risk it.” His black eyes were fierce. “Those folk down South are my brothers and sisters. My heart won’t let me stay out of this fight.” When I began thinking about a second Saint Maggie novel, it was 2012 and I was aware that 2013 would mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. So, it seemed logical to me to jump right into the American Civil War. Since I live in New Jersey, taking a couple of trips to Gettysburg was not a major undertaking. Dan and I went there a couple of times to get a sense of the town’s ambience and history. I also began doing deeper research on the battle. The first question before me was, “How do I get Maggie and family to Gettysburg?” Part of the answer was obvious. Eli hails from Pennsylvania. His family are Quakers (Society of Friends). He grew up in Gettysburg, where his father owned a dry goods store. After his father died, his family kept the old house and used it as a station on the Underground Railroad. But how could I get Maggie and family out there? Once again, the first book gave me clues. The people of Blaineton look down their noses at Maggie for taking in men who barely can pay their rent, for having defended a clergyman who had committed a heinous crime, and for treating two people of color (Emily and Nate) as friends and as co-workers. I also knew that while New Jersey sided with the Union, there was a strong anti-war presence in the form of the Copperheads. When rumors about Maggie’s participation in the Underground Railroad circulate, it leads a certain group of young men to take things into their own hands and burn down both the boarding house and Eli’s print shop. And that provided the reason to move the boarding house family to Gettysburg, where about four and half months later they will experience the battle. At this point in the story, the family is not intact. Only Maggie and six-year-old adopted son Bob, her daughters Lydia and Frankie, Emily, Nate, Grandpa O’Reilly, and Matilda Strong and her daughter Chloe remain in Blaineton. Patrick McCoy (Frankie’s beau) and Edgar Lape (Lydia’s husband) are away, having enlisted in the New Jersey Fifteenth Volunteers regiment. And Maggie’s husband Eli and his friend Chester Carson are following the New Jersey Fifteenth as war correspondents. The war and the dislocation challenge Maggie and Eli’s marriage. Eli’s desire to cover the war causes tension and leads to Maggie feeling abandoned. One last note! When I got to the part about the Battle of Gettysburg, I quickly realized that every minute of the battle has been documented. I needed to make sure people were where they were supposed to be according to their location. I had to track what was happening to the NJ Fifteenth, the family at the old Smith house on West Street, the other part of the family staying with Eli’s sister near Middletown (now called Biglerville), and Frankie who is off to the east near Spangler’s Spring. This indeed was one of the most challenging aspects of writing the novel! So, there you are. That is how I started writing the series and how I began to incorporate historical themes into each novel. Next blog: I’ll look at the thematic elements in A TIME TO HEAL. Peace and love, everyone! Janet R. Stafford |
AuthorsJanet Stafford, Squeaking Pips Founder Archives
August 2022
CategoriesQuestions: jrstafford52@gmail.com
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