Once I got by the fact that I was reading a Children’s Book
selection, I fell in love with Abilene and Manifest! I was misled by the idea of a children’s
book and should have remembered the many books I read written for high school
students and other young people—books like those by Judy Blume and S E
Hinton--well written, great stories and
a good lesson to be learned in the time spent with the book.
Having grown up in a small town I found myself relating to
the stories being told. No, not that I related to the time of the Great
Depression but to the folks who take care of one another, tell a story instead
of just the facts, keep secrets from outsiders that all the town folk know
intimately. Miss Sadie could have been
my neighbor—she was the one everyone went to to get potions or herbs for
natural healing because the doctor was too far away to be bothered with for
minor ailments. Shady would have been the post master in our little town. He
knew everyone and helped everyone all the while running the post office and the
general store. We had it all—the know it
all, the busybody, the self proclaimed director of all lives, and even a group
of young girls who went looking for trouble just to keep from being bored
during the summer breaks from school. I even attended the last one-room school
house in West Virginia for first grade.
When I first heard of Jinx I did think he must have been
Gideon. Why would Gideon send his daughter to Manifest to live with strangers
(to her) if he lacked a good sense of their character? How else could he have known it aside from
having lived there. When the town’s
people didn’t talk about him I knew it must be that he was being talked about,
only under another name. Jinx had the
same creativity that would have served him well on the trains. I am still curious though as to Abilene’s
mother. Why was there no curiosity about
her? But, I digress!
This book gives the reader an interesting look into small
town living during the depression. They had little but each other and even the sheriff
proved a worthy citizen. Outsiders were
taken in or cast aside suspiciously.
Like the time and even today there are those who own and those who are
owned-- not slaves literally but figuratively to a job or in the town of
Manifest, the mines and the company store.
Despite the best efforts of the mine owner and foreman, the groups
banded together and with the town’s people took control of their lives through
unionization, cooperation and humanity.
The mines of Manifest could easily have been the mines of Matewan WV.
Germans, Italians, Eastern Europeans and African Americans, all traveled far to
work deep in the hills under dangerous conditions. Underground there was no ethnic difference,
just hard working men and the women who supported them on the outside. These were the same type of folks who made up
Manifest. The ads for elixir and other
remedies remind me of stories I heard from my father and my grandparents.
I imagine Abilene did continue to write for the paper in the
fashion of Hattie Mae. I see her settling into this town for her life, helping
others and keeping track of the comings and goings of those who stop by, spend
a few hours or a few days in Manifest.
On a side note, I read the notes for this book as well. It
always interests me to see where authors get their ideas. Wall Drug, real historic acts and an
assortment of real people made up the background for this book. I was surprised to see it was set in Kansas
though. Guess I never considered coal mining in the relatively flat Midwest!
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