Sometimes you just need to take a few hours out of your busy life to meet a real lady. That’s what I did this week and what a blessing that was.
A few months ago, a friend told me she knew a woman who was a little girl in the mountains when the packhorse librarians were riding out on the mountain trails to take books to readers. Of course, after I had done research for my book, Along a Storied Trail, I was excited to talk to this lady, Miss V. My book was already written and published. I couldn’t change anything in the story, but I still wanted to hear about her experiences with the book women.
Miss V was about nine when the book women began bringing books to her house. She already knew she loved to read but she didn’t have any books except a few school books. She had a geography book that she had read so many times she had almost memorized it. I might be better at geography if I’d done that. Anyway, Miss V was excited to have books to read even though they weren’t particularly age appropriate. The packhorse libraries had to depend on donated books and they didn’t have a very large collection, especially at first. Miss V says the first book she got to read was Jane Eyre. Not exactly a book for a nine-year-old, but she said she read it. Yes, indeed, even though she didn’t quite understand the whole underlying story. In time, she also read many of Charles Dickens’s books.
Because of the limited number of books the libraries had, each family could only get two books, but she said she had a friend nearby and they would swap their books after they read them. That way they were able to double the books they could read. Miss V was one of eleven children. She had five sisters and five brothers. You can imagine the workout those books may have gotten if she had sisters and brothers who wanted to read them too. I should have asked her about that.
She also read aloud to her family members who never learned to read. Neither of her grandmothers ever went to school because when they were school age, there were no schools in their communities. Miss V went to a mission school when she as a girl. That was great for me to hear about too since I’m researching mission schools in the Appalachian Mountains now.
Since she lived in Leslie County, she also knew about the Frontier Nurse midwives. She said they had beautiful horses and she loved their uniforms. However, she wasn’t delivered by the midwives since one of her grandmothers was a granny midwife and she helped with the births of Miss V and her siblings.
Miss V went to Louisville for her last year of high school. She said not one day passed that some student there didn’t make fun of how she talked or looked. Eventually she went to classes to learn to talk in a way that wouldn’t open her to ridicule. She has elegant speech now. I need to take lessons from her! But she says when she goes back home, she falls back into her childhood accent and words again.
I asked her when she left the mountains and she said she never did. Even though she’s lived away from her Appalachian Mountain home for most of her life, she never left it in her heart. Miss V is ninety-six, but looking at her, that’s hard to believe. She stopped driving last year just because she thought she should. She still reads all the time and loves going to church and worshipping with friends there.
She does say she was never interested in having pets. No dogs. No cats. So she got out this cat to show me, because that’s as close to a pet she’s ever going to have. I asked if her family didn’t have dogs. She said just those hounds for hunting. She left them alone. Said they wanted to jump on her and get their muddy paws on her dress. She sounded as though she had a great childhood and she said she wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
Sometimes a person is blessed to meet a real lady.
Have you ever been blessed to meet someone like Miss V?
Comments 18
What fun that had to be.
Author
It was, Diana. I could have stayed a week, but she might have been ready to see me to the door. I do hope to talk to her again about those mission schools.
What a pretty lady Miss V is! It must have been so interesting talking to her. The closest I’ve come to someone telling about the old days was my mom talking about her growing up on a tenant farm near a river close to the mountains. She and her sisters would have to cross the not too wide river in a row boat, then walk 2 miles through the woods to get to a road where the school bus would come by to pick them up for school. If you’ve heard the stories about the Brown Mountain Light in western N.C., she was able to see it from where she lived. She would have been 99 this past May.
Author
I haven’t heard about the Brown Mountain Light, Connie, but now I’m curious. I’ll have to look that up.
When you read about what kids had to do to get to school back then, you have to admire those who wanted to learn and their parents who sent them off on those trails to catch a bus or just walk to school. My dad had to walk a mile or so to school but Mom lived just down the road from a school. She walked, but not that far. And now, a lot of kids don’t want to even ride a bus that stops at their doors. Many parents take their kids and pick them up every day. Times have changed.
I loved reading of your visit with Miss V. The books you mentioned are my favorites. Thank you for sharing
Author
Glad you liked my mountain stories, Lucretia. I enjoyed getting to know my characters and thinking about the beauty of the mountains while I was following their story trails. I’m glad you liked reading about Miss V. She was a pleasure to talk to.
Loved your story about meeting
Miss V. She is a beautiful lady and so are you. Thank you for sharing.
Author
I’m glad you enjoyed getting to know Miss V through my words, Grace. I know there were many more stories she could have shared with me.
Thank you for your kind words.
Thank you Ann for this interest story about Miss V. And no she doesn’t look her age at all! I love her story, and the fact that in her heart she’s never left the Mountains.
I’ve met several interesting people, one was my grandaddy. He was born in 1881 and lived until 1979, 98 years. I loved hearing him talk about things back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. But while all of us loved his stories, none of us actually wrote anything down. I should ask around in my family and make a notebook of what we come up with.
My grandma was born in 1903, so she had some very interesting stories as well. We can learn a lot from our family if we just listen.
Author
We should always make a note of those great stories we hear from our parents and grandparents, Joy. But we don’t always think to do that. Your idea to have a story share with your family to see which stories they remember sounds like a wonderful idea. We sometimes remember things differently or different things about the same stories we hear. So, that would be a great memory time for you all. I wish I’d asked my older family members more about their life before I came along.
What a lovely story about a beautiful lady! I love talking to “older” folks and hearing their stories.
So, can we expect a new book about mission schools sometime in the near future?
Author
I am hoping to go back to the mountains for a new story and mission schools seem to have plenty of stories that need to be told, Lavon. Maybe I will find a good one to share.
I loved reading about your visit with Miss V, especially since I’ve read your books “Along a Storied Trail” and “These Healing Hills.” I am going to print a copy of this blog to send to my 92 year old “Kentucky” friend (born and raised here) who now lives in California. (She does not have access to a computer or “smart” phone.)
She is the one who introduced me to your books about the Shakers years ago, and now I enjoy sending her your new books as they’re published.
Author
Great, Roberta. I hope your Kentucky friend will enjoy reading about Miss V even if she did leave Kentucky behind. Maybe like Miss V, she’s kept Kentucky in her heart. Thank her for me for sharing about my books with you. Friends sharing about books with friends is the best advertisement a book can get.
Lovely blog post. She is a beautiful gem of a lady! So are you Ann! Blessings!
Author
Glad you enjoyed “meeting” Miss V through my words, Paula. She is a lovely lady. And thank you for your kind words. I appreciate you and how you help get the word out about my new books.
I have always loved talking to older people and hearing their stories of the past. I have heard some amazing things over the years by taking the time to stop and listen to others willing to share some of their experiences. Thanks for sharing some of Miss V’s story. I thinking as I read about her grandmothers and the one delivering babies. They never had schooling but were “doctors and nurses” as they helped bring life into this world. It is amazing how much people can do with so little, showing we don’t really need as much in this world to survive and be happy as we sometimes think we do.
Author
We do need to take tme to stop and listen, Hope. To older people for sure, but to younger ones too. We need to be ready to listen and encourage one another. Your comments are always an encouragement to me. Thank you for reading my posts.
Actually, Miss V said the something the same as you about her grandmothers and their lack of schooling. She said they might have never had the chance to learn from books, but they were the wisest women she ever knew.