REREADING: The Pimpernel Patrol
May. 19th, 2013 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllIf you click on the ‘katherine l. oldmeadow’ tag below, you'll see that I’ve been gradually and deliberately rereading my incomplete set of Oldmeadows. Reading Mrs A.C. Osborn Hann's 'The Redhead Patrol' reminded me to come to this next.
The Pimpernel Patrol: Katharine L. Oldmeadow, Collins
On the face of it, this is Oldmeadow’s most conventional book (that I own). It's no lie to say that the boarding school at which it's mainly set is quite similar to most Girls Own’s establishments, the heroine is a new girl in the Fourth, there’s also a new games mistress and both make their mark on the school. As the title suggests, there’s Guiding. The story divides into two parts, with the arrival of Guides as the dividing line. It skips over the establishment of the Guides, the school company is about to go camping for the first time for a weekend at the start of the second part, which leads to further adventures that carry on with the themes of the first half.
Chloe Wayland is attending ‘the best private school in the county’ thanks to an aunt’s generosity, for her family is poor because of a lost will. The Wayland family home, Dragon House, is somewhere they visit because of the caretaker’s soft heart, not where they reside. Of course, in most boarding school stories, the school would be housed in that Tudor manor. Here, what happens is that the caretaker goes off to California for his health, asking the Waylands to step in, which is handy when the school goes up on fire and some of the girls need somewhere to stay. Guess what they find during that time?
However, there are types and motifs that are can be found in Oldmeadow's other books, such as her fairy tale referencing. Chloe is Cinderella, in the sense that she spends her holidays helping her mother with chores, unlike her school friends, but on one of those holidays also, she’s invited to a costume ball, and chooses to dress up as Cinderella, as the costume will be quite cheap and easy to get up, but due to the vagaries of travelling on a bus in the winter, ends up being rescued (by someone dressed up as the Scarlet Pimpernel!!! Furthermore, his name is Tony) and whisked off to another costume party, where the hostess lends her a costume and she has a magical evening.
Chloe and the best friend she makes, Bridget, reminded me of Jill and Pan from Princess Charming, the Oldmeadow book that I read first and the one that imprinted the most on me. Bridget even has a younger sister, although she isn't as important a character as Rory. And there's girl who is younger still whom the girls 'adopt'. She's described as elfish and uncanny, although I thought Oldmeadow went too far in actually naming her ‘Elfrida’!
The school is run by the Misses Lamb (sisters like in ‘Princess Anne’), who all have nicknames reflecting their characters. Somewhat old-fashioned, the headmistress is wise enough to employ young mistresses with a bit of go. Miss Tyrrell is the latest of these and is the games mistress. As new as Chloe, she’s rather loathed because she seems to think that the girls should be as good at sports as they are at academic subjects and music. She gets the nickname ‘Tyrant’ because she demands that they practice often and diligently.
However, she has a deeper crusade, believing that developing a team spirit can only help the school, which is riven by cliques. One is run by the girl dubbed the school saint – Georgina – its main preoccupation seemed to be getting rid of slang, but only certain forms. Its rival is a ‘Brotherhood’ (of fourth formers) that wants to act courageously, but is willing to break a few school rules too. Chloe, who feels her shabbiness and poverty put her on the outs, is desperate to join the latter (although she does object to the sexist name!) As she has plenty of pluck – probably more than the others, as she has many a chance to show over the coming terms – she succeeds, but when a loose comment leads to a prank that goes dangerously wrong, Georgiana and Miss Tyrrell prove their mettle. As a result, Miss Tyrrell is no longer a hate figure, and even gets Miss Lamb to agree to Guiding coming to the school.
This is one of those books that feature Guides as opposed to being a Guiding book. Chloe, Bridget and their chums are put in the Pimpernel Patrol, with St Georgiana as its leader.
Chloe does get over her pride and touchiness about the shabbiness of her clothes and lack of wealth (i.e. her snobbishness), but the fact that the Waylands get the family home and fortune by the end of the book, the message is somewhat muddled.
Plenty happens – from a fourth former saving the first eleven’s blushes to a new girl who is determined to have a midnight feast, because she’s read about it in books. Chloe especially gets chances to show her courage at the camp, but although she's a dashing Pimpernel, she's also a very human Cinders. Is it realistic that all of this would happen? No. I’d be complaining if Oldmeadow didn’t write characters so well and with such humour. So this story of a school coming together through hockey and Guides, while some of its Middles have all the adventures they could want and more has greater charm than the treatment of similar stories by the average Girls Own writer.
The Pimpernel Patrol: Katharine L. Oldmeadow, Collins
On the face of it, this is Oldmeadow’s most conventional book (that I own). It's no lie to say that the boarding school at which it's mainly set is quite similar to most Girls Own’s establishments, the heroine is a new girl in the Fourth, there’s also a new games mistress and both make their mark on the school. As the title suggests, there’s Guiding. The story divides into two parts, with the arrival of Guides as the dividing line. It skips over the establishment of the Guides, the school company is about to go camping for the first time for a weekend at the start of the second part, which leads to further adventures that carry on with the themes of the first half.
Chloe Wayland is attending ‘the best private school in the county’ thanks to an aunt’s generosity, for her family is poor because of a lost will. The Wayland family home, Dragon House, is somewhere they visit because of the caretaker’s soft heart, not where they reside. Of course, in most boarding school stories, the school would be housed in that Tudor manor. Here, what happens is that the caretaker goes off to California for his health, asking the Waylands to step in, which is handy when the school goes up on fire and some of the girls need somewhere to stay. Guess what they find during that time?
However, there are types and motifs that are can be found in Oldmeadow's other books, such as her fairy tale referencing. Chloe is Cinderella, in the sense that she spends her holidays helping her mother with chores, unlike her school friends, but on one of those holidays also, she’s invited to a costume ball, and chooses to dress up as Cinderella, as the costume will be quite cheap and easy to get up, but due to the vagaries of travelling on a bus in the winter, ends up being rescued (by someone dressed up as the Scarlet Pimpernel!!! Furthermore, his name is Tony) and whisked off to another costume party, where the hostess lends her a costume and she has a magical evening.
Chloe and the best friend she makes, Bridget, reminded me of Jill and Pan from Princess Charming, the Oldmeadow book that I read first and the one that imprinted the most on me. Bridget even has a younger sister, although she isn't as important a character as Rory. And there's girl who is younger still whom the girls 'adopt'. She's described as elfish and uncanny, although I thought Oldmeadow went too far in actually naming her ‘Elfrida’!
The school is run by the Misses Lamb (sisters like in ‘Princess Anne’), who all have nicknames reflecting their characters. Somewhat old-fashioned, the headmistress is wise enough to employ young mistresses with a bit of go. Miss Tyrrell is the latest of these and is the games mistress. As new as Chloe, she’s rather loathed because she seems to think that the girls should be as good at sports as they are at academic subjects and music. She gets the nickname ‘Tyrant’ because she demands that they practice often and diligently.
However, she has a deeper crusade, believing that developing a team spirit can only help the school, which is riven by cliques. One is run by the girl dubbed the school saint – Georgina – its main preoccupation seemed to be getting rid of slang, but only certain forms. Its rival is a ‘Brotherhood’ (of fourth formers) that wants to act courageously, but is willing to break a few school rules too. Chloe, who feels her shabbiness and poverty put her on the outs, is desperate to join the latter (although she does object to the sexist name!) As she has plenty of pluck – probably more than the others, as she has many a chance to show over the coming terms – she succeeds, but when a loose comment leads to a prank that goes dangerously wrong, Georgiana and Miss Tyrrell prove their mettle. As a result, Miss Tyrrell is no longer a hate figure, and even gets Miss Lamb to agree to Guiding coming to the school.
This is one of those books that feature Guides as opposed to being a Guiding book. Chloe, Bridget and their chums are put in the Pimpernel Patrol, with St Georgiana as its leader.
Chloe does get over her pride and touchiness about the shabbiness of her clothes and lack of wealth (i.e. her snobbishness), but the fact that the Waylands get the family home and fortune by the end of the book, the message is somewhat muddled.
Plenty happens – from a fourth former saving the first eleven’s blushes to a new girl who is determined to have a midnight feast, because she’s read about it in books. Chloe especially gets chances to show her courage at the camp, but although she's a dashing Pimpernel, she's also a very human Cinders. Is it realistic that all of this would happen? No. I’d be complaining if Oldmeadow didn’t write characters so well and with such humour. So this story of a school coming together through hockey and Guides, while some of its Middles have all the adventures they could want and more has greater charm than the treatment of similar stories by the average Girls Own writer.
