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Saturday, March 29, 2014

LOST SISTER--MY FAVE WESTERN SHORT STORY by CHERYL PIERSON

I know we’ve talked before about Dorothy M. Johnson, the iconic western short story writer who penned such classics as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Hanging Tree, and A Man Called Horse; but today, I wanted to tell you about another short story of hers that I read a few days ago. Quite possibly, the best short story –in any genre—that I’ve ever read.

You may never have heard of it. It wasn’t made into a movie, because it too closely mirrored the true life of a real person, Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Quanah Parker. The story is called Lost Sister.

I’d heard this story mentioned before by a couple of friends, and thought, “I need to read that—I’ve never read much of Mrs. Johnson’s work but the movies have all been good.” I know. I hate it when people say that, too. Anyhow, I bought a collection from Amazon that contained the three stories I mentioned in the first paragraph and Lost Sister as the fourth. Of course, I had to read The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, since that’s tied for my all-time favorite western movie, along with Shane. I was so disappointed. The characters in the short story were not the same as my beloved Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne! Hmmm. Well, even though I was disappointed, I decided to give Lost Sister a shot.

It more than made up for my lukewarm feelings for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Lost Sister is the story of a woman who has been kidnapped as a young child by “the hostiles”. She has an older sister, who remembers her well from childhood, and loves her with the devotion that most older sisters have for a younger sister. Through the forty years she has been gone, the oldest sister, Mary, has cherished memories of her younger sibling.

There are three younger sisters, as well, who have no recollection of the Lost Sister, Bessie. The older sister doesn’t live with them, but in a different town a thousand miles away. The three sisters are notified that their sister, Bessie, has been “rescued” and is being brought back to them. The story is told from the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, whose mother lives with the sisters. She is the widow of their brother, who was killed by the Indians. The boy has dreams of growing up and avenging his father’s death, but something changes once his Aunt Bessie comes back to live with them.

Up until Bessie is returned to them, they have gotten much attention from the neighbors, and have been pitied as being the family who had a sister stolen by the savages so many years ago. Once Bessie is returned, their standing in the community takes a subtle twist. The other sisters don’t know how to handle Bessie’s homecoming. They make plans to go into her room and “visit” with her every day. One of them decides to read to Bessie from the Bible for thirty minutes each day. The others come up with similar plans, none of which include trying to understand Bessie’s feelings at being ripped away from her Indian family.

The oldest sister, Mary, comes to visit. What’s different? Mary loves Bessie, and accepts her; and Bessie loves her—they both remember their childhood time together. The language of love overcomes the barriers of the spoken language that neither of them can understand, for Bessie has forgotten English, and Mary doesn’t know Bessie’s Indian dialect. But Bessie has a picture of her son, and Mary admires it, and by the time Mary is to go home, she has made arrangements for Bessie to come live with her—a huge relief to the other pious sisters who had made such sympathetic noises about her being reunited with them in the beginning.

In a fateful twist, Bessie makes her own decision about what she will do, taking her own life back, and helping her son avoid capture. This is one story you will not forget. Once you read it, it will stay with you and you’ll find yourself thinking about it again and again. It doesn’t fit the mold of a romance story, except for the fact that I think of Bessie being in love with her husband, having children with him, and then being “rescued” and forced to live in a society she had no ties with any longer…except one—the love and understanding of her older sister, Mary.

No specific Indian tribe is mentioned in the story, probably for a purpose. I think, one of the main reasons is to show us the cultural differences and how, in this case, the “civilized” world that Bessie had come from and been returned to was not as civilized as the “savages” who had kidnapped her. Also, as I say, Cynthia Ann Parker’s story, at the time this story was published, was not that old. There were still raw feelings and rough relations between whites and Indians. But by leaving the particular tribe out of the story, it provides a broader base for humanity to examine the motives for “rescue” and the outcome for all concerned, of a situation such as this in which it would have been better to have let Bessie (Cynthia Ann) remain “lost.”

I’ve posted the link below for the story as it was printed in Collier’s Weekly on March 30, 1956. It’s also available on Amazon in several collections.
http://www.unz.org/Pub/Colliers-1956mar30-00066

12 comments:

  1. I'm adding Lost Sister to my TBR list. Have you read Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson? It's based on Cynthia Ann Parker's story and a gripping read.

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    1. Alisa, I just bought that last week and haven't started it yet until I finish the one I'm reading right now--another WONDERFUL story (not about Cynthia A. Parker) called Heart of the West by Penelope Williamson. Ride the Wind is next!
      Cheryl

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  2. Thanks for the heads up Cheryl. I've never read Dorothy M. Johnson and will add her to my TBR pile, as well as Ride the Wind (thanks Alisa). My first book, The Wren, is loosely based on Cynthia Ann Parker's story. I found a wonderful book called A Woman Of The People by Benjamin Capps that I used as a reference. It's a fictional tale of a child abducted by Comanche, who then grows up and takes a husband. Again, it really shows that in many cases, these children needed to remain "lost." Such a difficult thing, for everyone involved. The Indians view "kidnapping" differently. They were no better or worse than what the white man was doing. Actually, really heartbreaking on both sides.

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    1. Kristy, I was sorely disappointed in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by Johnson. Not at all what I expected and truly a case of the MOVIE being better than the STORY, which I don't say very often at all. I will now be adding A Woman of the People to my TBR list! LOL

      I agree--after spending so much time in another culture, it would be hard to go back to the way of life a child had before. But I can also see where the parents and family would not be able to give up on that child and want them back...a case of where selfless love would be the best for all concerned.

      Cheryl

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    2. Kristy and Cheryl, Benjamin Capps was a well-regarded expert on the Comanche and a couple of other tribes. He wrote several Spur Award-winning novels, including my all-time favorite, SAM CHANCE, about a Civil War veteran's rise to power and wealth as a Texas cattleman. The book was loosely based on parts of Capps's family history. He was an amazing storyteller and one of the most fanatical researchers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. :-)

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    3. I'm going to check that one out, Kathleen!

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    4. Kathleen, Sam Chance sounds like a winner! I've never read any of his books--can't wait to check him out.
      Cheryl

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    5. I meant Capps's books--not Sam Chance's books. Lord. Fingers in a hurry and I should have been more specific.

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  3. Thank you for the link to the story. I've read one or two Johnson stories. She had a way of bringing the characters to life in a way that you understood and sympathized with. Thanks for reminding me of this story. Doris

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    1. She was certainly a trail blazer and I truly did love this story. I bought a book with 4 stories in it, and one of them was this one, one was Liberty Valance, and I can't remember the other two. I need to go back and read them, though, because I put the book down after reading Liberty Valance. It was hard on me, reading Lost Sister and loving it so much, then reading LV and ...well, it just wasn't in the same league. You'll like Lost Sister.
      Cheryl

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  4. I remember hearing about this story before--probably from you. It seems so often Europeans in the west felt superior to other cultures and looked down their noses at them in ignorance. Big mistake.
    This was such an interesting blog, Cheryl.

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    1. Thanks, Sarah, you probably did read this before over at the WF blog. It's been a while since I had it up there, and we needed something here over the weekend, so voila! LOL Can't say enough how great this story is, though, and so very touching. I need to read it again!
      Cheryl

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