Back-to-School with Miss Gumm

In honour of  the first day of school, I've invited Miss Adele Gumm, from Cherryville Kansas, 1873. 


Miss Gumm, better known to readers as Marly Landers' Aunt Adele, is oft referred to but never appears in Under A Texas Star.


Welcome, Miss Gumm.

Humph! That ungrateful girl has put you up to this, hasn't she? I rescue her from a renegade reb. I put a roof over her head and food in her belly. I teach her to read and write and do sums - I even let her learn history and bookkeeping with the boys - since she had no aptitude for needlework.

Boys and girls have a different curriculum in your school?

In every school! When I started teaching, girls and boys were in different classrooms - if not different schools. That was in the city of course. In a one-room country school, the best I can do is have the girls on one side and the boys on the other. Both learn reading, writing and sums, but the boys learn skills that will help them take care of their accounts or go into business - maybe go to college if their folks can afford it. Girls learn what they need to take care of a home and children.

Whatever her faults, Marly was a quick learner. Except for the needlework, she could handle all the lessons I gave. She was good with the younger children too. I was training her up to take over for me as teacher. No fear of that happening now.

Do you miss Marly?

Humph! She was useful enough when I could get her to work, I suppose. Give her the chance and she'd disappear. Took to hanging about the Sheriff's office when she was younger. Sweeping floors, sorting wanted posters when she should be sweeping the schoolroom floor and cleaning the slates for me. Though, fair is fair, she took her turn at those chores too.

It wasn't seemly, a young girl hanging about a bachelor like Langtree. Not saying he would have taken advantage but I know from experience how easy it is to have your head turned by an experienced man.

What experience is that, Miss Gumm?

None of your beeswax! You keep your prying beak to yourself.

The rules that a teacher has to follow are pretty strict, aren't they? You can't marry or keep company with men. You can't dress in bright colours...

That all depends on your school board, doesn't it? And whether you're a man or woman.

Men are expected to court, so long as the girl is respectable, because a man is considered more respectable if he's married. A woman is expected to leave her profession if she marries so she can get down to making babies and the like.

The school I started in did its best to fill their female teacher's time with chores and Bible study. They didn't want to lose us to marriage. One whiff of impropriety and you were out.

Here, they're just glad to have a teacher. There are plenty of rules, of course, but no one is going to check up and see if I'm in bed by sundown or chide me if I smoke a pipe now and then. As for bright colours... those days are past me now.



Are you smarter than an 8th Grader circa 1900? Find out here.

From Under A Texas Star - Marly Landers

Tonight on Nighthawk Talk, we welcome back Marly Landers from El Paso.

I'm not from El Paso, I'm headed for El Paso. I notice that nice Cherie girl isn’t here. Does that mean I won’t be asked about my glutes and abs? I never did find out what she meant.

We won’t talk beauty tips this time.* Instead, perhaps you could tell us about your journey so far.

That's a long story. Aunt Adele was sending me to a convent school. I’d rather not go into the reasons. Let’s just say, I had other plans. So, I purposely took the wrong train out of Kansas City. Then I had steal boys clothes and muddy my trail so my aunt wouldn't figure out where I was going. Not that she would care too much but I bet she made Sheriff Langtree look for me when I didn't turn up...

How about starting when you met Ranger Strachan?

I guess I first noticed him in Abilene but we met in Dogflats. By that time I was having to walk or hitch rides to get from town to town. He'd been following me for a couple of days – though he said I was following him. He bought me a steak dinner after I gave my supper away to Mr Hayes. He lost his son in the war and he really wanted to blame someone but mostly he was just sad and drunk and whatever Jase might think, I don't think he really would have hurt me.

Excuse me?

He only left a little bruise. I got much worse falling of Trouble.

Your horse?

Jase's horse really. I was borrowing it. Except.... well... I really did feel like he was mine. That's what made it so sad when...

When?

You know, this is really something the way I can talk to you and people all over can hear me. Is it like the telegraph? Does my voice carry over wires?

Sort of. What about Trouble?

He was a good horse, even if he deserved his name. Jase said you were going to ask me about being a detective - though I'm hardly that. I just helped out some with the murder investigation. I mean I did figure out who killed Marshal Strothers, but Jase was the one that proved the case and even if I did break up a few bar fights, I think he only made me deputy to keep me safe.

Marly, do you ever run out of breath when you talk?

<chuckle> Sometimes.

You can find out more about Marly Landers in Under A Texas Star, by Alison Bruce
* And in her previous Nighthawk Interview.

Under A Texas Star is available in paperback at Amazon.ca, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble on sale in eBook format at Amazon.com , Amazon.uk and Smashwords.