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Tisha: The Wonderful True Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness Kindle Edition
鶹
“From the time I’d been a girl, I’d been thrilled with the idea of living on a frontier. So when I was offered the job of teaching school in a gold-mining settlement called Chicken, I accepted right away.”
Anne Hobbs was only nineteen in 1927 when she came to harsh and beautiful Alaska. Running a ramshackle schoolhouse would expose her to more than just the elements. After she allowed Native American children into her class and fell in love with a half-Inuit man, she would learn the meanings of prejudice and perseverance, irrational hatred and unconditional love. “People get as mean as the weather,” she discovered, but they were also capable of great good.
As told to Robert Specht, Anne Hobbs’s true story has captivated generations of readers. Now this beautiful new edition is available to inspire many more.
“The memoir reads like an old-fashioned novel, a heartwarming love story with the added interest of frontier hardships and vividly portrayed characters.”—Publishers Weekly
- ISBN-13978-0307434661
- PublisherBantam
- Publication dateMarch 31 2010
- LanguageEnglish
- File size1.9 MB
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Product description
From 鶹
Review
About the Author
Caroline McLaughlin is a versatile narrator with a smooth voice who strives to bring the author's words to life. Known for her rich characters and accents, she equally enjoys narrating fiction and nonfiction works. Her languages include conversational Mandarin Chinese.
Robert Specht was born and brought up in New York City. A late starter, he graduated from CCNY at the age of thirty-two after winning top awards in both short story and essay competitions. Soon afterward he headed for California, where he became an editor in the Los Angeles offices of a major book publishing firm. It was then that he met the heroine of his book, Tisha, and became fascinated with her story. Not until years later, however, after he became a freelance writer, was he able to sit down and devote his full energies to writing it. Now a screenwriter, he lives in Malibu with his wife and two children-and two horses, three dogs, three cats, assorted chickens, two tortoises, an ever-changing population of guppies, and a guinea pig named Munch.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
Even though it was barely eight o’clock and the sun had just come up, practically the whole town of Eagle had turned out to see the pack train off. Counting the Indians, who’d come down from their fish camp for the dance the previous night, there must have been close to a hundred people gathered around—miners in hip-length boots, old sourdoughs in battered Stetsons, even women and children. In a few minutes I’d be leaving, going off into the wilderness, and I was kind of excited. I was scared too, and I must have showed it, because Mrs. Rooney asked me if I was feeling well.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I feel just fine.”
“You look a little pale. You’re not afraid of the trip, I hope.”
“No. I guess I just didn’t expect there’d be all these people,” I said.
Mrs. Rooney dismissed them with a wave of her hand. “One thing you’ll learn is that it doesn’t take much to collect a crowd in Alaska. As for the trip, you don’t have a thing to worry about. It’s only ninety miles and you’ll be perfectly safe. Mr. Strong will take good care of you.”
But it really wasn’t the crowd that was bothering me. Hardly anybody was paying any attention to me. To the people here this was just a little event, nothing like the riverboat coming in, which was really exciting to them. And I wasn’t afraid of the trip, either. It was the horse I’d be riding for the next four days that was scaring me. I’d have felt silly admitting it, but he was making me so nervous I could hardly concentrate on what Mrs. Rooney was saying. It wasn’t as if I’d never been on a horse before. Eight years ago, when I was living with my grandmother on her farm, I used to ride around on old Tom bareback. I was only eleven then, and Tom was a pretty big horse, but he always moved so slow and he was so gentle that you could almost curl up on his broad back and go to sleep and you wouldn’t fall off. This one was mean.
He was called Blossom, but where he got that name I would never know. Maybe he looked like a blossom when he was a colt, but it was the last thing he looked like now. He was so huge that even if I stood on my toes I wouldn’t have been able to see over the saddle, and he was scarred and wild-looking. From the minute Mr. Strong handed his reins over to me I’d been afraid of him. And Blossom knew it. He started rolling his eyes at me right away and tried to nip me a couple of times. After he caught the sleeve of my jacket once I made sure to hold the reins close to the bit and keep him at arm’s length. But every time I thought he’d settled down, he’d jerk his head up and nearly pull my arm out of its socket.
From the corner of my eye I could see Mr. Strong moving toward me down the line of horses and mules that were tethered together.
I wished I wasn’t the only passenger. In another minute I’d have to mount up, and as scared of Blossom as I was, I was sure I’d make a spectacle of myself. We weren’t getting along too well just standing side by side, so I couldn’t foresee our relations improving when I was up on top of him.
The other animals in the train were loaded down with just about everything in creation: washboards, sacks of dried beans, bolts of canvas, even windowpanes. One mule started bucking, trying to shake off his burden of shovels and stovepipes and whatnot. The load shifted and it looked as if it was going off until somebody grabbed it at the last minute. The rest of the animals stood patiently while Mr. Strong adjusted a rope here and there or tightened a cinch.
“…And if you have any problems at all,” Mrs. Rooney was saying, “write to me and I’ll be glad to give you any advice I can.” She fingered the cameo brooch on the front of her dress. “And remember what I said—spare the rod and spoil the child. Show those kids right off that you’re the teacher and you won’t have a bit of trouble.”
“I will.”
“If you have to smack a couple of them do it.”
Somebody went over to Mr. Strong’s stable and started to close the doors. I caught a glimpse of the big sled that was in there. It was the size of a hay wagon, and I wondered how many horses it took to pull it. In a couple of months from now, after the first heavy snowfall, Mr. Strong would be bringing my trunk out on it.
The doors slammed shut and the odor of hay and manure drifted over. And then Mr. Strong was beside us, clearing his throat. Even though it was sunny and comfortable, he was wearing a mackinaw. It was open, and I could see the top button of his long underwear under his flannel shirt.
He was a tall, stoop-shouldered man, and he had such a courtly way about him that if he wore a beard he’d have made me think of Don Quixote. When I’d first met him yesterday his manners had seemed so out of place in this rough country that I thought he was joking and almost laughed. I was glad I didn’t, though, because he acted that way with almost everyone. I’d been waiting over two days for his pack train to come in, but when I’d asked him if he could take me to Chicken all he’d said was, “Yes, madam, I can.”
“Will you be going soon?”I’d asked him.
“Yes, madam. My pack train leaves for Chicken on the fourth, the fourteenth and the twenty-fourth of each month. I shall, therefore, be leaving tomorrow. Eight a.m. sharp.”
“I’d like to go,”I’d told him.
“The rent for your horse will be ten dollars per day. That will include your meals along the way and your lodgings. The journey will take four days. I hope that will be satisfactory.”
I’d told him it would be fine and that was that.
“If you are ready, madam,” he said to me now, “I shall assist you to mount.”
Mrs. Rooney smiled up at him. “You will take good care of her, won’t you, Mr. Strong?”
“I shall do my best.” Compared to him, President Coolidge was a nonstop talker.
Mrs. Rooney looked at him coquettishly and brushed at the front of her dress. It had a lot of shiny spots where her corset poked against it. She’d been a widow for ten years, she’d told me, and I had a feeling she would have liked to marry him, but he wasn’t interested.
He took the reins from me and dropped them over Blossom’s head, then he bent forward with his hands locked together. I grabbed the saddle horn and he boosted me up. Once I was in the saddle the ground looked pretty far down. Blossom started to dance around and a few people laughed. I thought they were laughing at the trouble I was having trying to get him to stand still, but as soon as he settled down I saw they were laughing at my legs. The saddle was so big and wide that they stuck out like wings.
“Better do somethin’ about them pins a hers, Walter,” somebody called out, “or she’ll be knockin’ down every tree in the Forty Mile.”
Mr. Strong shortened the stirrups until I could get my feet into them, but I was still spread out pretty wide. Some good-natured suggestions were offered by people close by, such as tying rocks to my feet, but Mr. Strong didn’t see anything funny about them.
“When we stop over at my camp in Liberty tonight,” he said to me, “I will have a smaller saddle for you.” He looked at my clothes skeptically. “Are you sure, madam, you will not reconsider my offer of the coat?” A little earlier, when he saw how I was dressed, he had offered to lend me a coat, saying that the weather was very changeable. But I’d told him I didn’t think I’d need it.
“I’m really very comfortable,” I said now. “I mean it’s such a lovely day.”
If I was back in the States I’d have felt ridiculous, but here in Alaska nobody cared how you dressed. I was wearing the jacket of my pink Easter suit, a pair of boy’s corduroy knickers I’d bought for the ride, cotton stockings and some old sport brogues. I knew that the flowered hat I’d bought in Portland the past summer would end up crushed if it was put on the pack animals with my other things, so I wore that too. My ensemble was completed by a nickel-plated revolver that a fellow had given me at the dance last night.
Mr. Strong was still skeptical. “Should you change your mind, let me know.”
“Now, Walter,” an old-timer called out, “why you want to go and hide all that nice young beauty under that old army coat?”
Mr. Strong started for the front of the pack train and I looked around, able to see the whole crowd for the first time. A few old men were sitting on the rail of the schoolhouse porch, giving encouragement to a couple of little boys on a small dogsled. The sled was outfitted with some old baby-carriage wheels and the boys were trying to teach the malamute puppy that was pulling how to gee and haw.
Product details
- ASIN : B003IN4AM0
- Publisher : Bantam
- Accessibility : Learn more
- Publication date : March 31 2010
- Language : English
- File size : 1.9 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 456 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-0307434661
- Page Flip : Enabled
- 鶹 Rank: #104,049 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the book compelling, wonderful, and interesting. They also appreciate the well-written and beautifully descriptive style.
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Customers find the book compelling, wonderful, and interesting. They say it's a good young person read that takes them on an adventure at every turn of the page. Readers also mention it's thought-provoking, refreshing, and a great way to learn about early community and school life.
"Excellent story. I pick it up to read and reread every couple of years. It’s a wonderful uplifting story of adventure and honour and love." Read more
"It’s a nice story… I loved reading it. Couldn’t put it down sometimes but when am not reading it, I still think about it. Uplifting story." Read more
"This is a wonderful story and a true one. Unbelievable what people went through in the old days of living in the North." Read more
"Great read..." Read more
Customers find the writing style well-written and beautifully descriptive.
"...Well written and beautifully descriptive." Read more
"Beautifully written the best book I have read for a long time Showing the prejudice we still see today I want more story of Anne and Freds life A..." Read more
"I enjoyed the simple and honest way this was written. A real glimpse into life in the Alaskan bush...." Read more
"...Such a nice story and well written." Read more
Top reviews from Canada
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- Reviewed in Canada on September 23, 2024Verified PurchaseBy far the best book I’ve ever read and one of those that will stick with me forever. I not only bought this twice so I could share it with a friend but will keep my copy. Don’t miss this exciting walk through the tough terrain
- Reviewed in Canada on October 20, 2024Verified PurchaseIt’s a nice story… I loved reading it. Couldn’t put it down sometimes but when am not reading it, I still think about it. Uplifting story.
- Reviewed in Canada on February 16, 2022Verified Purchasedefinitely a good young person read
- Reviewed in Canada on October 8, 2021Verified PurchaseBeautifully written the best book I have read for a long time Showing the prejudice we still see today I want more story of Anne and Freds life A Must Read
- Reviewed in Canada on August 19, 2017Verified PurchaseI couldn't put this book down. The author is able to conjure up the sights, smells and feelings of a time and place long gone. I felt like I was there alongside the author, enduring The hardships of the land and meanness of the residents. I wanted to shake the good but stubborn people of that time for their terrible behaviour of the native and part native people. Since that time, I know our society has come a long ways towards realizing that all people are equal but we still have a long way to go.
- Reviewed in Canada on September 13, 2017Verified PurchaseI enjoyed the simple and honest way this was written. A real glimpse into life in the Alaskan bush. It was nice to learn that not all people back then were opposed to the First Nations people and I admire the courage of the young teacher to take on prejudice head on and challenge it, rightly so.
- Reviewed in Canada on June 1, 2018Verified Purchase.....really enjoyed this book.
- Reviewed in Canada on August 16, 2018Verified PurchaseI actually read this book about 20 years ago but couldn't remember the name of it... only the story it told. I was so happy to find it and I am enjoying reading it as much now, as I did last time. Such a nice story and well written.
Top reviews from other countries
- Kindle CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 21, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Verified PurchaseI love this book, I first got a paperback copy in the late 1970s. I read it so much I wore my first copy out and had to buy another! I've read it at least once a year, it's one of those stories that takes you through a whole raft of emotions and is set against a fascinating backdrop. I love all the characters even the ones that make you want to scream at their injustice and prejudice. I was delighted to find Tisha was now available on kindle and having just read it for the first time in that format know that I will be revisiting it again many times in the future.
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SabineEmmaReviewed in Germany on March 8, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars Ein Buch, das man nicht aus der Hand legen kann
Verified PurchaseEine packende und mitreißend erzählte Geschichte. Ich habe das Buch in zwei Nachtsitzungen durchgelesen und es dann in den Bücherfundus unseres Bürgerhauses weitergegeben, damit es im Umlauf bleibt. Mein Rat: Unbedingt lesen!
- Melissa MitchellReviewed in the United States on March 1, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening Memoir
Verified Purchase“𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝.”—Robert Specht
Tisha is the true story of a young schoolteacher, Anne Hobbs, in the 1920s, who ventures into the Alaskan wilderness, to the small town of Chicken, to run a school. It illustrates the hardships she faced both in the unforgivable environment, and with the people themselves. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking. Mostly, it was eye-opening and instructive. Anne was threatened, mistreated, and scorned for doing what was right, for allowing Indian school children into her school house, and for falling in love with a half white/half Inuit man, yet, she prevailed and continued fighting.
I loved this book; it was my second time reading it. I read it back in high school, and it was impactful then, but it was more impactful now. Anne is nineteen when she leaves the states in search of adventure. She’s called to teach in the Alaskan wilderness, during a time of monumental change in Alaska. It’s very much America’s final frontier, and there’s a huge gold rush boom. What Anne discovers is the brutal life led by both the immigrants and natives, and the deep prejudices harbored.
I loved Anne’s pure heart. She doesn’t care about a child’s skin color; everyone has a right to an education. She opens her schoolroom for native Inuit children and she’s punished for it. The people of Chicken don’t agree with her, and they don’t want their white children in the same room as “savages.” Seeing how deep these prejudices were, was often very hard to read. The Alaskan wilderness is unforgivable, and losing the support of her small town became a life or death situation, in a place where temperatures drop to 50 below. Yet, Anne never compromises on what is right.
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬--𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝. 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.” —Robert Specht
There was a heavy sense of helplessness throughout the story. Anne is a petite, nineteen year old woman facing off against some really mean people who could seriously harm her. She’s mistreated for doing what’s right. And when she begins to fall in love with a half white/half inuit man, she’s threatened, even shunned. This was often difficult to read.
But, there are some extremely heart warming events in this book, too. Especially between Anne and her school children. Those moments made the book easier to stomach.
It claims to be a “love story” and while there is a love story present, it’s not the center of Anne’s story. There’s so much more to it than that. This book gives a real look at the harsh aspects of frontier life. The way people “survived” and how hard they had to be. It also illustrated the consequences of the white man on the Indian people, and how destructive the white man was to their culture:
“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤. 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤. 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫, 𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬—𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭.” —Robert Specht
I don’t normally go for memoirs/biographies. This is written really well, reads like a genuine novel, and transports you to a different time, a different world, a different way of life. Highly recommend for people of all ages, even if you don’t normally enjoy biographies (I sure don’t, normally!)