Giant Steps Page 19

  Not to be outdone by his younger sister, Georgie added, “It’s a hat.” Everyone laughed at his revelation.

  Bernie lifted the creation from its box. It was made of warm golden straw and decorated with white daisies and a mint green ribbon. “It is just beautiful,” Bernie said.

  “Let’s see how you look with it on,” Aunt Lolly suggested.

  Emily got up and came to place it on Bernie’s head. As she did so, Bernie remembered that time so long ago when she had first seen Emily and had made a disparaging remark about her shabby hat. Now, with Aunt Lolly’s help, Emily had a thriving millinery shop and was in demand by some of the richest women in town.

  Bernie reached out and hugged Emily as Ben snapped a picture of them with his new camera. “You have no idea how much this hat means to me. Thank you,” Bernie said.

  The next gift was from Ben. It was a large photo album in which he had placed portraits that he had made of each member of the family. Bernie said, “I hope there is plenty of room for me to put in all the beautiful pictures you are going to send me from out West.”

  There was a small box from Aunt Rose. When Bernie opened it, she gasped. On a bed of white cotton lay the delicate miniature portrait that Aunt Rose’s beau from long ago had painted. “Are you certain you want to give me this? It is such a treasure.”

  “I have no daughter of my own to give it to. I want very much for you to have it to remember me by.”

  “I already have so much to remember you by,” Bernie said, trying not to cry when she recalled all the wonderful adventures she had shared with Aunt Rose. She thought about the trip to Washington, DC, and visiting veterans at the Soldiers’ Home. She also thought about the secrets she and Aunt Rose shared. Even the latest secret that included Ben. Aunt Rose had written to her old love to tell him that her nephew wanted to travel west. Her friend had responded that he would be more than happy to show Ben some exciting places to photograph.

  Nick’s gift saved Bernie from breaking down and crying in front of everyone. As she removed the wrappings, he said, “When I saw this book I thought of you.”

  “What is it?” Alice wanted to know.

  Bernie passed it down the table so everyone could see the title: Ten Days in a Mad-House.

  “It’s by your favorite author,” Nick added, “Nellie Bly.”

  Papa said, “Speaking of Nellie Bly,” he paused meaningfully. “I have learned who she is—a commendable woman who makes her living by writing. I think it’s time you opened the present from your mother and me.” It took a bit of effort to get the wrappings off the large box that contained, to Bernie’s amazement, a typing machine.

  “Now, you can type your college papers and your news stories. It will be interesting to see how much trouble you can get into that way.” Somehow she knew that this was Papa’s way of saying he was proud of her.

  The last gift was from the Mifflins. It was a beautiful gold watch that she could pin on her dress.

  “We found it in an old trunk that had belonged to Grandma Mifflin,” Alice said.

  “And Father managed to get it working again,” Lizzie added.

  “And we helped polish it,” Susie and Peggy said, not wanting to be left out.

  Bernie stood and looked at everyone gathered around the table. “Thank you for these wonderful gifts. I will treasure them. But the best gift of all is my family. I cannot tell you how much I love each one of you.”

  After the table was cleared and the food put away, Aunt Lolly brought out the cake. She placed it in front of Bernie saying, “Your birthday has come on a day we’ve been working toward for years.” Bernie, Aunt Rose, Alice, and her sisters had a pretty good idea of what Lolly was going to say next and felt excited and nervous all at once. Aunt Lolly continued, “August 18, 1920, will long be remembered as the day the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote.” A cheer went up around the table.

  Pictured here is Indiana Governor James P. Goodrich signing the document ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on January 16, 1920. Eight months later on August 18, 1920, Tennessee was the thirty-sixth state to ratify the amendment. At this point, three-fourths of the states had ratified it, meaning it could finally become law. On August 26, 1920, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification. American women finally had the right to vote in federal elections. (Indiana Historical Society Collections)

  Papa spoke up, “That poses a bit of a problem, doesn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?” Bernie wanted to know.

  “Whatever will you ladies do with your time now that there is no longer any need for the Lafayette Franchise League?”

  “Haven’t you heard the old saying that a woman’s work is never done? We have a new organization that will keep us busy,” Aunt Lolly said.

  Alice explained, “It’s called the League of Women Voters.”

  “Well, what’s the purpose of that?” Papa asked. He seemed genuinely interested, not at all like he had reacted when Bernie first became involved with the suffrage movement. Maybe she and her aunts and cousins had changed his mind about women voting.

  “The members will study the issues and the candidates in order to prepare women to vote intelligently,” Lizzie explained. “One of the criticisms of allowing women to vote was that they would simply do what their menfolk told them to do.”

  “I intend to be a part of the League of Women Voters, Papa,” Bernie announced.

  “You won’t be old enough to vote until you’re twenty-one,” Papa reminded her.

  “But I can vote this year,” Mother interrupted. “And, I’m going to join the League of Women Voters so that I will understand exactly what I am voting for and not have to depend upon any man to tell me.”

  Bernie thought Papa looked as though he had been hit by a bolt of lightning.

  The League of Women Voters was organized by Carrie Chapman Catt in 1920. Catt had previously been the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the organization to which the Lafayette Franchise League belonged. While the League of Women Voters would fight for many social issues in the future, its underlying mission was to encourage women to vote, a mission it continues today. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, National Photo Company Collection, LC-F8-32656 [P&P])

  “Furthermore,” Mother added, “Bernie has convinced me that I should take lessons and learn how to drive the Hupmobile.”

  Papa, who had just started to take a bite of Bernie’s birthday cake, lowered his fork. “I wonder,” he said, “if there will ever come a time when I can stop asking myself what in the world she will do next.”

  “Oh, Papa,” Bernie grinned. “You should know, after all these years, that you will always be wondering what I will do next.”

  “This time I wasn’t thinking about you, Bernie. I was talking about your mother.”

  Everyone roared with laughter, especially Papa, who laughed the loudest.

  As people stood to clear the table after they had their fill of cake, Bernie was surprised to see Philip head in her direction. She felt a faint flutter of excitement inside her chest when he said, “I seem to be the only one who didn’t have anything to give you for your birthday.”

  She managed to reply smoothly, “I don’t need anything else. It has been a perfect day.”

  “But I really would like to give you something. Just name it.”

  Bernie answered him boldly, “Very well, then. You can take me for a ride in your aeroplane.”

  Bernie caught a glimpse of Papa, who was standing close enough to overhear their conversation. He had a startled look on his face. He started to say something but quickly closed his mouth.

  Philip said with an exaggerated bow, “Your wish is my command, but do you want to ask your parents if it’s okay with them? I d
on’t want them to be worried about your safety.”

  Bernie paused for only a second before saying, “I am certain that if my Uncle Leroy helped you repair your plane, there is nothing for anyone to worry about.”

  Ben had also overheard and added, “You’ll probably be a lot safer than you were the day you tried to help Nick, Jack, and me fly the plane we built in McClarty’s barn.”

  Philip looked at Bernie quizzically. She said, “That’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

  “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

  “Isn’t it a bit late in the day for this?” Bernie asked.

  “As a matter of fact, this is my favorite time for flying. I think we are going to have a beautiful sunset. You’ll get a view of the world that you will never forget. You’re going to love flying.”

  Somehow, Bernie knew that Philip had spoken more truth than he could imagine. Today she was eighteen and she was certain that a lifetime of exciting things lay ahead on her horizon. As Philip took her arm and helped her climb into the plane, Bernie thought that Papa would do well to wonder what in the world she would do next.

  Afterword

  Giant Steps is a work of fiction. Most people think of fiction as something that never happened, but I like to define historical fiction as a “truth story.” Writing a novel is serious business. For one thing, it may be the only insight into a given era that will be available to the reader. Therefore, it should be as correct as possible. This was especially important to me because Bernie was born the same year as my mother. She grew up and attended school in the story during the same time my mother had grown up, so I had the benefit of my mother’s school-day memories.

  I am often asked if my books are autobiographical. In a way they are because they often reflect my hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Occasionally, I make use of an incident that actually happened to me. For instance, I still blush when I recall the time I dropped the offering plate in church and the coins bouncing about on the wooden floor created quite a racket. This embarrassment became part of Giant Steps during the scene in which Nick and Ben made fun of Bernie for having dropped the offering plate in their church.

  Although the characters in the story are fictional, some are based on real persons. Others are composites of many persons, and some stand for types of persons. Bernie and her brothers, Ben and Nick, as well as their friend, Jack, were typical of many individuals of the period. Their lives illustrate the double standard of behavior expected of young people at the time. Girls were expected to act one way and boys another.

  Change was certainly a very real part of Giant Steps. Jack’s father, who was a blacksmith, was fighting a losing battle against mechanization. As trains, streetcars, and autos came into common use, his services as a blacksmith were becoming obsolete. In some ways his experience was not much different from people today who are having a difficult time because of changes brought about by new technology. Our world was and is changing. Jobs that were once common in a community have altered extremely or disappeared. For example, in the time period of Giant Steps, newspapers were the major form of news transmission. Today, however, newspapers are struggling and changing drastically to survive the challenges of television and the Internet.

  Some of the places depicted in the story are actual places as well. The Wabash River divides Lafayette and West Lafayette just as it did a hundred years ago. Descriptions of the town square, where Epperson’s Emporium did business, are also accurate. Although the Epperson store is fictional, stores such as this did exist at that time in communities such as Lafayette.

  The site of the old fort on the river, where Bernie and her cousins Alice and Lizzie beat the boys to a picnic spot is a real place. A pioneer named Sandford Cox described how children in the 1800s found beads in the grass there. It is possible to visit this place today, although the beads that voyageurs traded there with Native Americans are long gone.

  Another place that really existed during World War I is the Indiana State Soldiers’ Home in Lafayette. It opened in 1896 for veterans of the Civil War. After serving generations of veterans, it still provides medical care and housing today and is known as the Indiana Veterans’ Home.

  Bernie’s veteran friend, Vincent, was in the hospital building at the Indiana State Soldiers’ Home in Lafayette, Indiana, when she first met him. As he progressed in his rehabilitation, he may have stayed in the men’s building, pictured here. (Postcard Collection of CardCow.com)

  The major events portrayed in Giant Steps are part of history. Nick’s running away to become a soldier at age sixteen (and misrepresenting his age) and Ben’s joining up and then getting the flu and nearly dying were based on real situations that happened to real persons. Many young men left home and signed up to join the armed services during World War I, some of them underage. There are examples from my family. My father and uncles were soldiers in World War I. Thousands of soldiers became sick with influenza, and many of them died. One of my uncles was a flu survivor.

  Barnstorming pilots are also part of the historical record. Many of them learned to fly while serving their country. Philip Fairfield, the barnstorming pilot whom Bernie met at her birthday party, was inspired by the many men who came home from the war and earned their living by putting on air shows.

  Most important, the struggle of women to get the vote was all too real. Women and girls marched in Washington, DC, just as Bernie and her family members did. Many women were actually ridiculed, and some were jailed throughout the long years of the suffragette movement. The division within many women’s suffrage organizations was also real. Not everyone agreed on what to do; this was especially true when World War I came along. Many suffragettes wondered where their efforts would be most effective. Many, like Bernie, were torn between helping and supporting their fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins or continuing to fight to get women the vote.

  British women were also very active in winning the vote for women in their country. The guest speaker, Isabel Grandison, who talked to the Lafayette Franchise League, was a fictional composite of women from England who visited the United States to share their struggle with American suffragettes. The 2015 motion picture Suffragette chronicles some events that happened in England during their fight for the vote.

  In 1920 there were forty-eight states, and it took three-fourths of these, or thirty-six, to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. This took place on August 18 of that year. However, it also meant that a dozen states still rejected the right to vote for women. It was not until 1984 that Mississippi ratified the amendment, the last state to do so.

  Aunt Lolly was correct when she said that women’s work is never done. Getting the vote, although it was a positive step forward, did not solve all the inequities women faced. There was still a long way to go. In December 2015 in the U.S. Congress there were only 88 women in the 441-member House of Representatives. There were 100 senators, but only 20 were female.

  There are still issues in the workplace. In 2015 studies showed that a woman was the chief breadwinner in four out of ten households in the United States with children under the age of eighteen. Yet, women are often paid less than men who are doing the same job. Unfortunately, women who are abused and poor, similar to the fictional Edna Shmidt and her granddaughter in Giant Steps, could be found in many communities during the last century and are still with us today.

  Yes, women’s AND men’s work is never done. For no one can be equal until everyone is treated equally.

  Acknowledgments

  Almost any published author, if she or he is honest about it, will admit that help is needed from many sources. This is especially true of a work set in an historical time period. I am especially appreciative of my Indiana Historical Society Press editor and longtime friend, Teresa Baer. She encourages me when I am ready to “throw in the towel” on certain projects. Everyone needs a cheerleader.

  I am grateful to those perso
ns who carefully researched references to make sure they are correct. Such things as descriptions of clothing, food, daily life, language, etc., must be in proper context. Quotes from newspaper articles had to be verified and documented. When I wrote the speech given by the English visitor, I wanted to use a certain quote. Researchers discovered, however, that while the quote was accurate, it was not said until ten years after the speech in the book was supposed to have been given. Therefore, it had to be cut out, much to my dismay. Historical pictures had to be found to illustrate events in the book. I want to thank IHS Press intern Stephanie Schulze, who helped make Giant Steps a truth story. I also want to thank Chelsea Sutton, IHS Press contract editor, who did the first round of editing and helped to make sure the timeline was correct throughout the book.

  Stories of Heroic and Pioneering Women

  Atwood, Kathryn J. Women Heroes of World War I: Sixteen Remarkable Resisters, Soldiers, Spies, and Medics. Chicago Review Press, 2014. In this book, Atwood tells the stories of the wartime exploits of sixteen women from the United States, Europe, and Australia.

  Bank, Mirra. Anonymous Was a Woman: A Celebration in Words and Images of Traditional American Art and the Women Who Made It. New York: Saint Martin’s Press, 1979. Collection of American folk art by ordinary women of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including reproductions of samplers, quilts, paintings, and needle-pictures along with excerpts from diaries and letters, sampler verse, books, and magazines of the period.

  Boomhower, Ray E. Fighting For Equality: A Life of May Wright Sewall. Indianapolis: IHS Press, 2007. Sewall was an educator, woman’s rights advocate, and peace activist in central Indiana from 1871 until her death in 1920.

  Macy, Sue. Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly. Washington, DC: National Geographic Children’s Books, 2009. This is a photographic biography of the great woman journalist and advocate for women’s rights.