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feather_ghyllThe Camp Fire Girls at Hillside: Margaret Love Sanderson Reilly & Britten 1913
Following Pam Plays Doubles, this is another example of an interesting girls own subgenre, well, two, I suppose. First of all, it’s an American boarding school story (a small subgenre in my experience, but think What Katy Did at School and Jean Webster’s books). Granted, Miss Belaire’s Academy, located in Hillside, New England, in the teens of the twentieth century, is more of a boarding tertiary college for young ladies whose fathers wanted them to continue their education. But although our heroines are between 16 and 19, in many ways they feel about as young as English fourth formers who seem to range from 13 to 16. They’re girls, not quite young women.
It’s also a Camp Fire story, and while it bears a lot of similarities with Guide stories, there are some differences.
There were girls in pink linen and blue; girls in white duck and purple crash; girls in frilly lingerie waists, and girls in stiff tailormade’. (page 22 – I have no idea what type of outfits ‘white duck’ on are referring to).
We join Ruth ‘On the Train’ to Hillside, where she gains an impression of many of the girls who will be her fellow ‘freshmen’ at her new school. Ruth is a sociable girl, born to lead, and when she sees that another girl is wearing a Camp Fire girls bracelet, she is relieved and delighted. She makes her first friend in Anne, who is one of those shy but staunch supporters. A school mistress also turns out to have become interested in the Camp Fire movement over the summer and so the three plan to set up a branch in the school, with Ruth keen for as many ‘freshies’ as possible to join, and also to unify the form, most of whom have a very lachrymose tendency. Ruth’s plans include the late new girl who shares her room, Emmeline Cerrito, who affects not to care about life and any academic pursuits.
At first, Emmeline takes lazy advantage of Ruth’s kindness, but Ruth gradually manages to draw her and the other girls in to the hikes and fun of being a Camp Fire girl. She even manages to heal a familial breach by the end of the book.
The plot will be familiar from much Guide propaganda-- I mean, Guide stories (a keen Guide with the support of a few people, including an adult, starts a company at a boarding school that proves its worth and gains popularity). According to Wikipedia, which is very lazy given that there’s probably some mention of it in You’re a Brick, Angela!, the book is part of a series (several authors and publishers were involved). It was published in the first three years of setting up the organisation, which began in 1910. Like the Guides, it was set up because girls wanted to do something similar to the boys who were Scouting.
The Camp Fire movement makes some appearance in British school stories, but it’s interesting to see it in an American setting, on home turf, especially as there is some definite anxiety in the treatment of race in the book. This is interesting because the Camp Fire movement borrows practices and clothes from native American traditions.
Native American culture has long been a source of inspiration in Camp Fire USA's traditional council activities. Native American culture has served as the inspiration for ceremonial activities and attire, camp and council names, respect for nature and the environment, and the use of symbols by many councils. For Camp Fire USA, Native American symbolism was a natural outgrowth of an appreciation for differences and cultural inclusiveness. [Wikipedia]
Wikipedia also states that it was apparently the 'first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America'.
But before she arrives, due to a misunderstanding, the girls think that Emmeline comes from Nicaragua (she is in fact French, brought up in America, and her father recently worked in Nicaragua, but Emmy never went there). Ruth tries to be open-minded, but is anxious because the other girls are anxious that Emmeline will be ‘coloured’, and Ruth is as relieved as anyone when Emmy arrives and is as white as anyone.
This anxiety inspires the girls to come up with a ‘comic opera’ for fun, where they play ‘savage maidens’ on a tropical island. This performance is expanded for public consumption later. Emmeline writes a trashy romance featuring an unfaithful native American character and an English lord who briefly brought her tribe to a high-point. It's as if Love Sanderson is trying to defuse any anxiety over the outdoorsy/Native American influence, but in doing so, reveals her own.
Apart from the interest of its location, in some ways, it’s less fun than British stories that cover similar ground. I liked Ruth, but I didn’t much care for Emmeline and Ruth winning her over. I think I’d have preferred it if the story hadn’t let Anne slip into the background with the rest of the class and if the story had been happy with winning them and the school over.
Following Pam Plays Doubles, this is another example of an interesting girls own subgenre, well, two, I suppose. First of all, it’s an American boarding school story (a small subgenre in my experience, but think What Katy Did at School and Jean Webster’s books). Granted, Miss Belaire’s Academy, located in Hillside, New England, in the teens of the twentieth century, is more of a boarding tertiary college for young ladies whose fathers wanted them to continue their education. But although our heroines are between 16 and 19, in many ways they feel about as young as English fourth formers who seem to range from 13 to 16. They’re girls, not quite young women.
It’s also a Camp Fire story, and while it bears a lot of similarities with Guide stories, there are some differences.
There were girls in pink linen and blue; girls in white duck and purple crash; girls in frilly lingerie waists, and girls in stiff tailormade’. (page 22 – I have no idea what type of outfits ‘white duck’ on are referring to).
We join Ruth ‘On the Train’ to Hillside, where she gains an impression of many of the girls who will be her fellow ‘freshmen’ at her new school. Ruth is a sociable girl, born to lead, and when she sees that another girl is wearing a Camp Fire girls bracelet, she is relieved and delighted. She makes her first friend in Anne, who is one of those shy but staunch supporters. A school mistress also turns out to have become interested in the Camp Fire movement over the summer and so the three plan to set up a branch in the school, with Ruth keen for as many ‘freshies’ as possible to join, and also to unify the form, most of whom have a very lachrymose tendency. Ruth’s plans include the late new girl who shares her room, Emmeline Cerrito, who affects not to care about life and any academic pursuits.
At first, Emmeline takes lazy advantage of Ruth’s kindness, but Ruth gradually manages to draw her and the other girls in to the hikes and fun of being a Camp Fire girl. She even manages to heal a familial breach by the end of the book.
The plot will be familiar from much Guide propaganda-- I mean, Guide stories (a keen Guide with the support of a few people, including an adult, starts a company at a boarding school that proves its worth and gains popularity). According to Wikipedia, which is very lazy given that there’s probably some mention of it in You’re a Brick, Angela!, the book is part of a series (several authors and publishers were involved). It was published in the first three years of setting up the organisation, which began in 1910. Like the Guides, it was set up because girls wanted to do something similar to the boys who were Scouting.
The Camp Fire movement makes some appearance in British school stories, but it’s interesting to see it in an American setting, on home turf, especially as there is some definite anxiety in the treatment of race in the book. This is interesting because the Camp Fire movement borrows practices and clothes from native American traditions.
Native American culture has long been a source of inspiration in Camp Fire USA's traditional council activities. Native American culture has served as the inspiration for ceremonial activities and attire, camp and council names, respect for nature and the environment, and the use of symbols by many councils. For Camp Fire USA, Native American symbolism was a natural outgrowth of an appreciation for differences and cultural inclusiveness. [Wikipedia]
Wikipedia also states that it was apparently the 'first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America'.
But before she arrives, due to a misunderstanding, the girls think that Emmeline comes from Nicaragua (she is in fact French, brought up in America, and her father recently worked in Nicaragua, but Emmy never went there). Ruth tries to be open-minded, but is anxious because the other girls are anxious that Emmeline will be ‘coloured’, and Ruth is as relieved as anyone when Emmy arrives and is as white as anyone.
This anxiety inspires the girls to come up with a ‘comic opera’ for fun, where they play ‘savage maidens’ on a tropical island. This performance is expanded for public consumption later. Emmeline writes a trashy romance featuring an unfaithful native American character and an English lord who briefly brought her tribe to a high-point. It's as if Love Sanderson is trying to defuse any anxiety over the outdoorsy/Native American influence, but in doing so, reveals her own.
Apart from the interest of its location, in some ways, it’s less fun than British stories that cover similar ground. I liked Ruth, but I didn’t much care for Emmeline and Ruth winning her over. I think I’d have preferred it if the story hadn’t let Anne slip into the background with the rest of the class and if the story had been happy with winning them and the school over.
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Date: 2010-03-28 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 05:21 pm (UTC)The Camp Fire movement appears in For the Sake of the School by Brazil. I don't recall the Guides being mentioned as a choice there. (http://feather-ghyll.livejournal.com/8121.html#cutid1) ()