Mail Order Barbara

by Elissa Strati

  “We do have a third option made available to us. I believe most of you know that I have a brother who is in charge of a parish in a town called Green River, in the state of Kansas. He has long extolled its virtues and has come to me with a proposal for those of you who feel adventurous and wish to travel west. In effect, he is suggesting you might wish to become mail-order brides.”

  A collective gasp was followed by a rustling as the girls restrained themselves from speaking, anxious to learn more details. After another pause, Mother Evangeline continued.

  “Several of the ranches in his area have recently expanded and have an influx of male employees who are of similar ages to yourself, and in search of stability and marriage. And this opportunity to move west will not be limited to those who wish to become brides. There are also a number of job opportunities in the town thanks to this influx of new residents.

  “However,” and here she paused dramatically once more, and looked at each girl individually, “please keep in mind that Kansas is rural. Green River is not a big city, but merely a small town serving the local ranch community. Most of you have never been in the country. Although the spaces are wide and open, big buildings simply do not exist, most of the streets will not be paved, and many of the amenities you take for granted here, like running water, and lights, are simply not available.

  “This city is hot and crowded in the summer and cold and crowded in the winter, but there is a great deal of vibrancy from people of all walks of life. Options in the country may be, perhaps, more limited, and certainly different from what you know.

  “So you can see you have a great deal to talk and think about.” Giving a nod to Sister Frances, she invited her young ladies to partake of the tea and cakes being brought in.

  CHAPTER 13 – Discussions

  The girls clustered together, all chatting at once, but gradually split into smaller groups, depending on their closest friendships. Despite the fevered pitch of the conversations, Sister Benedicta noted with approval that appetites remained excellent.

  After Mother Evangeline’s meeting with her closest advisors, the entire convent had gathered together after supper to discuss the coming changes and options. Opinions varied from shocked to approving when the mail-order bride concept was put forth, but despite their relatively cloistered lives these were women of intelligence and vision, carrying on the traditions of their founders and moving forward with the times.

  The general consensus had been that the proposal should, indeed, be put forward to the young ladies to determine its practicality for their individual situations.

  This had now been accomplished and it would be up to each to determine her future.

  ~~~

  The idea might not even appeal to any of the girls, but they did not anticipate more than four or five wanting to go west. There were a few they planned to encourage a little more strongly, the ones who had the largest potential if they were given an opportunity to expand their wings. But the nuns were content to put everything in the hands of God and let Him direct his children in the manner He saw fit.

  Having dropped their bombshell, they allowed the girls to toy with the ideas proposed and discuss them among themselves. As anticipated, they came up with ideas of their own and some of the discussions became livelier than appropriate for polite company, but were not quelled, under the circumstances.

  CHAPTER 14 – Decisions

  By the end of the week all of the girls had come to a final decision on what they wished to do.

  It had become clear right away that at least some of the girls were in favor of traveling west, so Mother Evangeline started making plans. This was, after all, going to cause a major upheaval for everyone!

  Probably best to start with a photograph of the young ladies and their names and accomplishments, to ensure they would be accepted. Then she would have to make arrangements to acquire train tickets—and travel clothing and valises. Most of the girls just had two dresses, one for work and one for church, so didn’t need much in the way of luggage. Perhaps a carpet bag for each?

  She would suggest new items be contributed so a good impression of the parishioners of St. Francis would be made on the fine citizens of Green River. She was picturing the faces of her girls if each received a new item of any sort. They’d all made do with donations most of their lives and certainly while they were here.

  Thanks to Barbara’s skill with a needle, most of the clothing for the older girls had been recreated into simple, custom-fitted gowns, which the previous owners would not have recognized. The orphanage would sorely miss her talents—if she could be convinced to go—as well as those of several of the other young ladies Mother Evangeline had in mind as likely candidates for this experiment.

  She had to admit she was somewhat impatient to learn what each girl had chosen to do.

  ~~~

  Sister Benedicta sat down with Mother Evangeline and went over the list of girls.

  “Samantha, of course, will be moving in with her brother shortly, and Gracie plans to marry Jack. So they’ll definitely be staying.

  “But, surprisingly, every other eligible orphan has decided to travel West,” she summed up.

  Whether it was the lure of adventure, or perhaps the idea of something different, or even just group pressure, they weren't sure, but individual discussions had revealed a passion in each one to take this track and take a chance on life. While each might do very well staying in town, the options were limited. Moving west offered horizons they had never even dreamed of.

  And, frankly, for most, the idea of getting married and having their own families meant a great deal.

  “But Anna is the major surprise,” added Mother Evangeline. “I thought she was perfectly happy in her position and settled permanently.”

  Anna had seemed quite happy when, at fourteen, she had been offered a very respectable position as an under-housemaid. She was exceptionally adept at household management, and had moved swiftly to Assistant Housekeeper, with the understanding she’d be elevated to Head Housekeeper when Mrs. Rogers retired.

  But when she heard from friends still at the orphanage of the possibility of becoming mail-order brides, she had sought out Mother Evangeline and begged to come with them. It seemed she too dreamt of having her own family rather than rearing someone else's.

  Sister Benedicta nodded as Mother Evangeline continued.

  “That means a total of ten young women will be traveling, requiring ten travel outfits, ten valises, and sufficient other garments to get them each started.”

  “Barbara will certainly have her work cut out for her, won't she?” commented Sister Benedicta.

  Smiling wryly at the pun, since cutting dresses out would be a large part of what Barbara was doing once she had the fabric, Mother agreed.

  “We will sorely miss her when she is not here!”

  ~~~

  As feared, Barbara had, indeed, been the lone holdout, not wanting to leave her sister behind.

  “I used to envy the children in the orphanage, you know,” Barbara had confided to Sister one day. “It was evident that someone cared for them, and they had clean clothes and plenty to eat. Plus they were being taught to read and write. We pretty much had to stop going to school when our father died. That was not a good time for us. But Mother was right. When Owen came along things were good for a while and we were back in school. I really enjoyed that. But when he lost his job . . .”

  She had come a long way in the two years since she and Emily had arrived at Our Lady of Mercy, mused Mother Evangeline.

  ~~~

  Barbara was the last to make up her mind. She didn’t want to leave her sister. In Emily’s current mental state, although she seemed finally to be improving and rejoining life, she was still too fragile to be thrust out into the world.

  It had taken some convincing, but Barbara had finally realized that the move west would, in fact, be her best option. If she stayed and found work, it would be several years before she’d be ea
rning enough to cover more than food and lodging for herself. Looking at Judith, who returned from her job each day looking haggard and exhausted, she feared she wouldn’t have the energy to make a special trip daily to check on Emily and Emilene.

  But it was Emily who’d finally convinced her.

  “I think you need to find us a new home, Barbara. The sisters aren’t going to be able to keep us here and I’m growing up, too. Emilene and I can join you as soon as you are established.” A twinkle appeared in her eye.

  “You can finally start your own dressmaking shop,” she smiled.

  After hours of discussion with all of the others, but most especially Emily and Judith, Barbara had finally concurred. She would go to Green River, Kansas, with the group.

  ~~~

  So instead of the lack of interest Mother Evangeline had feared, nine of her original eleven eligible orphans were planning for the train trip to Kansas, plus Anna, and Tony. How had this escalated so?

  The first thing she did was sit down and write a letter to her brother to make sure the town would be able to accommodate this large an influx of newcomers. And while she had no doubt that Anthony, who was a personable young man and quite capable with horses and carriages, would be able to find appropriate employment, Mother mentioned him, too. Letters began racing back and forth to Kansas as details were worked out.

  ~~~

  And on top of everything else there was a wedding to plan before they could go. Since Jack had been at the St. Francis School for Boys, she expected the male orphans would be attending that as well.

  Good training for them all, she concluded.

  CHAPTER 15 – Emily

  Working in the Nursery with the infants and toddlers, Emily had finally, gradually, ever so little-by-little, begun to come out of her shell and respond to others. It had started when the older babies started demanding she interact with them. They were learning to talk and they wanted her to talk back. Now she was even reading to the children at bed time.

  Although Emily had never fully recovered her strength after childbirth, she did seem to have recovered at least part of her personality and now spoke when spoken to. She still had no use for school, her reading skills adequate for the infant books she read, and preferred to work in the Nursery whenever she could.

  Sister Teresa Rose, in charge of the Infirmary and Nursery, watched Emily at work and concluded she was, in fact, a very competent helper, not just in the Nursery but in the Infirmary. However, it did not make sense for her to go back and forth between the two and possibly spread infection.

  That concept was a relatively new one but Sister Teresa Rose had been studying notes and papers produced by doctors treating military patients during the recent War Between the States.

  As a woman, she would have had a great deal of difficulty getting educated and permitted to practice medicine as a doctor, but there was no law against studying on her own, and over the years she had taught herself an enormous amount about the workings of the human body and its reaction to various diseases, exploring far beyond what she had learned in Nursing School.

  It was too bad Emily so firmly rejected the idea of reading and learning when she was obviously so talented medically. She had a wonderful touch with the infants, and a very acute sense of diagnosis. Perhaps she was just a bit closer to the angels, thought Sister Teresa Rose.

  Now that her mind seemed to be recovering, Sister Teresa Rose began to have hope that she might even get Emily to start studying medicine instead of just going by instinct.

  CHAPTER 16 – Preparations

  The congregation of St. Francis had become as excited as the girls about the upcoming trip. The Ladies Sodality had done a fundraiser to ensure each girl was properly set up, and had a valise, a travel outfit, and a dress for church. Thanks to Mother Evangeline’s hints that the congregation of St. Mary’s on the Hill would be judging St. Francis by how well the girls were turned out, new bolts of fabric and trim were offered, not just the usual discards.

  Barbara examined the donated materials, most of which were sturdy fabrics in subdued colors, which would be entirely appropriate for travel costumes. She would design a basic dress and travel coat and then make each unique with furbelows and trim, she decided. The dull colors would hide the grime which would naturally accumulate on everything, and would be a splendid background to the embellishments she envisioned for each outfit.

  Rail travel was not especially clean, with wood or coal smoke belching from smokestacks and blowing through open windows. Not that she’d ever been on a train herself, but she’d read the descriptions of the vagaries of travel in Godey’s Lady Book while checking out the latest trends. She was pleased at the much narrower skirts being worn, with a modest drape. They would require far less fabric and be much less cumbersome to travel in.

  Working with the best seamstresses in the school, every sewing machine that could be begged, borrowed, or commandeered was set up in the ballroom, as the girls called the large room in which they enjoyed their monthly dances.

  Barbara cut out each costume herself, pinning the pieces together and basting a nametag into the pocket seam. Then she passed it on to her teams who worked in stages. The basted outfit was fitted to its recipient and adjusted seams and hems sewn before being draped on a dress form. With ten ladies to sew for, the loan of a few extra forms was appreciated.

  Barbara was sorry that a few more of her specialty workers were not coming with her. She had carefully trained the girls to do buttonholes, embroidery, frogging, and create unique details to set each dress apart. And fourteen year old Caitlin had become her apprentice for design and overall costume completion. She was not utterly abandoning the remaining orphans to a return to drab clothing.

  “How am I to manage in Kansas without you, Cindy? No one can turn a facing the way you do!”

  “Sarah, let’s do military style buttons on this one for Judith. She can carry it off nicely.”

  “Shelley, I am going to pin the navy draping to show the final shape. Did you want to do the silver edging first or would it be easier to work with the final shape?”

  Each dress, when complete, was as distinctive as Barbara had envisioned and, by dint of carefully placed swaths of color, each gave the impression of being of its accent hue. One did not notice the dresses were gray or brown but saw them as pink or red or green. And the drapery was subtly different for each, designed to highlight its owner’s best features and, when necessary, mask flaws.

  ~~~

  The donated valises arrived, sturdy, practical, drab, and identical. Barbara’s first thought was to picture Judith grabbing the wrong bag and trying to get Barbara’s skirt to fasten closed. Judith’s statuesque figure dwarfed Barbara’s petite frame. Once her giggles subsided she decided the most practical solution was to personalize the bags with the color of the owner’s travel garments and, perhaps, her initials. She suggested the project at dinner that night, offering to help with ideas.

  Judith loved the idea of pinstripes to be added to her bag, but insisted on a pale yellow. Barbara shrugged after pointing out the impracticality of pale anything for luggage that would be handled and abused, but Judith remained firm of resolve. The end result was charming, and helped distinguish hers from any other, and Barbara so liked the look that she modified Judith’s dress to include the detail.

  ~~~

  Barbara had taken a number of the bolts back to the store from which they had been purchased and, with careful negotiation, traded them for other fabric more appropriate for day dresses, thriftily obtaining fabric swatches and bolt ends to use for décor.

  Their current wardrobes would serve for work dresses. But they would need new dresses for church if they were to make a good impression.

  With the travel garments complete, the new day dresses came next, and because space in their luggage would be quite limited, Barbara designed drapes and fichus to modify each basic garment to appear to be three different costumes. And then, in a brilliant stroke of geniu
s, if she said so herself, she created a separate bodice for evening wear, a bit lower cut, although still tasteful, which would be useful should they ever again have the opportunity to dance. A bit of basting to attach it would be required, but all the girls, even the fumble-fingered, could manage that chore quite nicely. And the modification would also serve for evening entertainment at home.

  Judith’s clothing featured pleats rather than ruffles, while Maria’s flounces had flounces. Each dress was unique.

  These were the dresses the girls would wear to Gracie’s wedding.

  And now for the wedding dress, thought Barbara, as she gently stroked the ivory muslin she’d gotten for Gracie. She’d also purchased some pure white thread and four different nuns were creating exquisite lace with which to trim the bodice and veil. Everyone was pitching in.

  CHAPTER 17 – Wedding Plans

  Gracie had been a great favorite among her classmates at the academy, both with the orphans and with the society girls whose parents cared enough about them to insist upon a rigorous education. Her wedding to a popular class member of the St. Francis graduates, also an orphan, became a cause célèbre, and, somehow, a focus of the fundraising the Lady’s Sodality had been doing for the mail-order brides. Aided and abetted by the Knights of Columbus, they took over the affair, turning it into an end-of season social event.

  The newspapers had gotten word of the upcoming affair and requested the opportunity to take photos. After consulting with Mrs. Arbuthnot, current President of the Sodality, Mother had agreed, but only if the photographer would first do portrait photos of each of the girls who would be traveling plus a group photo to send west. She suggested at least two copies of each would be appropriate so each girl would have a memory to pass on to her children.

  All of the girls had agreed to have individual portraits made so Mother might have a copy, but Christine, Maria, and Elizabeth had requested they not be included in the group photo as they were not going as brides and didn't want to cause confusion.