by Deeanne Gist
He smoothed her hair over her shoulder. “Even if she hadn’t done that, the rest of ’em would have come around.”
“Maybe. In any event, I love being a country doctor and, like you said, knowing everybody. The slower pace is really nice, too. So, I have no regrets. None at all. And I’ve come to particularly love Texas.”
He lifted his brows. “Well, that was never in question. I mean, what’s not to love?”
With a quiet chuckle, she put a hand behind his neck. “Come here, cowboy, and give your lady doctor a kiss.”
He didn’t have to be asked twice. Scooping up her legs, he draped her over both of his and slid her closer. She hooked her arms around his neck. He tightened his around her waist. Sweet Mackinaw, but he loved this woman.
A droplet of rain fell on his shirt, penetrating the fabric.
He ignored it and ran a hand down her hip to the bend in her knees, then drew her close. She made a tiny sound of pleasure in the back of her throat. Her fingers drove into the hair at his nape, knocking his hat askew.
Another raindrop. And another.
She rocked back, straightening her legs. “It’s starting to—”
“I know. I don’t care.” He captured her lips again.
A flash of light, immediately followed by a shattering clap.
She pushed away and jumped to her feet. The skies opened up. Plucking his Stetson from his head, he jammed it onto hers, grabbed her hand, and they ran toward the field house.
“The ribbons!” she shouted.
“Leave them!”
They continued to run, his feet splattering water with each footfall. When they reached the back steps, they were soaked, laughing, and out of breath.
Tipping her head back, he bracketed her face. “Death and the deuce, but I love you, Billy girl.”
He kissed her again. She pressed herself against him. Neither noticed the rain, only the love that comes once in a lifetime and lasts forevermore.
CHILDREN OF WEST SIDE CHICAGO44
“The challenges of tenement living, the filth in the West Side’s streets, the children who played there, the sweatshops, and the little tot who was chained up, sadly, were true accountings. The names were changed, of course.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
As with all my novels, I try really hard to be as accurate as I can with the historical facts, but sometimes I have to bend them a little in order to make my story work. There were two major places where I deviated from how Chicago’s first playground was established. First, Billy and Hunter are fictional. So all the things they did to make the playground come about were really done by Jane Addams and the volunteers at Hull House.
Second, there was never a murder of any kind on Hull House Playground (or any other playground that I could find). However, there were records of “delinquents” taking over playgrounds in general—nothing about Hull House’s specifically. Miss Weibel’s murder was loosely based on another murder done by juveniles in Chicago before there was a juvenile court system. Three boys were sentenced to death, two others to life in prison. None were pardoned.
The conditions of Chicago’s jail were, I’m sorry to say, historically accurate and representative of jails all throughout our country during that time. The stories I read while researching this were appalling. And I’ll just leave it at that.
The major difference between our public playgrounds today and the ones at the turn of the century is that theirs were all supervised. Hull House’s playground was supervised from the day it opened. I fudged on that in order to set up the conflict with Kruse. Those kinds of conflicts did sweep the beginning of the playground movement, though, and then spurred organizers to make supervision the norm rather than the exception.
Hull House Playground was supervised by a “paternal and deeply interested” policeman so the boys would have a “big brother” and a man to guide and imitate. Experienced woman kindergarten teachers provided “sentimentalism.” (Ha.) The philosophy behind the supervision was not only to cut down on crime and dissention, but to break down racial, religious, and class prejudices. An important part of the female supervisor’s role was to teach American games and customs—thus Americanizing the immigrant children.
The land for Hull House Playground was donated by a man named William Kent. But it was in 1894. I changed it to 1893 so I could include the World’s Fair.
Kent found out about the deplorable conditions of the buildings on his lots through an editorial written by Florence Kelley—a longtime and influential resident of Hull House. She, however, knew whose property it was and mentioned him by name in the article. He immediately contacted her and went out to see it for himself.
The upper level of one of the tenements on the property was, in fact, operating as a brothel (unbeknownst to him). What I couldn’t discover was how the playground was funded. Jane Addams had a collection of benevolent contacts who gave toward her causes. I can only assume she called upon them. I have no idea if the Chicago Women’s Club donated anything, but it’s certainly feasible. I included the club as a way to show that Billy had to work for the funds (as I’m sure Miss Addams did). I also don’t know who graded the land, built the equipment, etc. So, I let that fall on Hunter and the boys.
I reconstructed the Opening Day of Hull House Playground—Chicago’s first playground ever—as close as I could to the way it really happened. There really were boys who scaled the fence and others who shimmied under it. The races, the maypole dance, the five-man brass band, the military drill, the cheating at tug-of-war, the flower prizes (and the importance the children placed on them), the retired sailor, and even the rain were all just as they happened back in the day. And, believe it or not, once the playground held regular hours, the mothers would roll their baby carriages to it and leave the babies there until “feeding time.”
The diagram of the playground was drawn by my daughter, Tennessee Gist, who is a designer. I know the dimensions are correct, but we had to hazard a guess as to where the equipment was. She placed everything based on photographs and interpretation. In some cases, though, I had her move things around to fit the way I’d written the book. For instance, I’m not sure if the Log Mountain was permanent or if it was simply a structure the kids build one day for fun with the pavers. I’m also fairly certain the sandbox wasn’t underneath the awning. But I wanted the little ones to be protected from the sun, so I made her put it there. What can I say?
As for Joey, there really was an abandoned baby found at the World’s Fair by a Columbian Guard. But it was in the northeast corner of the Manufacture’s Building inside a French perfumer’s exhibit. The guard called together the “scrubwomen” working nearby and after a “whispered conversation” they gave the child to a woman who worked with them and whose infant had just passed away. All the guards in the building raised a purse of several dollars on the spot and gave it to the new mother. The baby was a little girl and there was “nothing to lead to identification.”
When I read about this, I was so swept up that I was determined to include it somehow. Never did I realize what a big part the child would play in my novel! I changed it to a little boy. I can’t remember why, but I know I had a very good reason. (I’m super forgetful. My children used to go to the bus stop and say, “We have a really forgetful tooth fairy.” Then all the other moms would look at me. So embarrassing!)
Before we go any further, let me say to the Chicagoans: the Marshall Field’s Billy went to was brand-new in 1893. It was an annex building, not the one that is now Macy’s. It didn’t have the clock nor the beautiful mosaic ceiling. I’m not even sure it had ready-made clothing. But I needed it to, so I decided to use my creative license and stock some shelves. The greeter, the cash boys, the young attendants, the plethora of goods were all accurate—although I don’t know what floor everything was displayed on.
The cable car route Hunter and Billy took to Hull House started out accurately, but in real life they would have had to switch back and forth between it and ho
rsecar lines. Getting them on and off at the right stops became too cumbersome to handle within the prose, so I just stuck them on a cable car and had it go wherever I wanted it to. So, for the cable car aficionados out there—forgive me?
As for the Woman’s Congress, it really did take place in conjunction with the fair and that huge building really did fill to capacity. Hordes of women were turned away. I depicted that first scene as accurately as possible. There was even a speaker who had to sneak in through the cellar, though I have no idea if she went feetfirst. I do know she didn’t run into any guards. The Memorial Art Palace is today’s Art Institute. Even though it is north of Jackson Park, it was still considered part of the fair. If you ever find yourself in Chicago, it still stands, and I got such a thrill when I walked where those women had walked. (They wouldn’t let me in the cellar, however.)
Throughout the novel, Billy and Hunter face and discuss hot topics of their era—a woman’s place in society, the rights of children, the rights of the underprivileged, the drinking age, working hours, housing conditions, immigrant workers, prejudices, juvenile delinquency, etc. I worked extremely hard to keep my own personal views out of it and depict only what society believed at that time. So any episodes, speeches, presentations, or arguments among the characters were well researched and presented from an 1893 viewpoint (as best I could).
The challenges of tenement living, the filth in the West Side’s streets, the children who played there, the sweatshops, and the little tot who was chained up, sadly, were true accounts. The names were changed, of course.
Now let’s jump to the fair. I had some great scenes that involved Hunter, Billy, and the fair, but my word count was becoming cumbersome, so we had to trim those out. (So sad.) There was this one scene where a ticket taker won’t let Billy into the fair. He says she can work off her entrance if she’d like. But I never saw any indication that this was actually done. I only did that as a shout-out to my video adventure A Romp at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: The Invitation.
It’s an interactive video starring Cullen and Della (from It Happened at the Fair) and there’s a scene about working off your entrance fee by manning the ticket counter. If you haven’t seen the video, it’s a fun four-minute adventure (RompThrough1893.com) where you get to decide what happens to the couple. And in one of the scenes, Hunter, Billy, and Derry make an appearance. E-mail me if you think you’ve found them!
I looked and looked, but could never find any information about where the Columbian Guards stayed. I can’t imagine them staying anywhere other than on fair property, but I have no idea where. So, I simply invented some barracks. They are totally a figment of my imagination and are not based on any historical findings.
Numerous boys sold catalogs throughout the fairgrounds, but, again, I could not find any mention of their wages. I made a guess of a penny per catalog, but I truly have no idea.
I confess: I just love the Texas Rangers. Hunter is my second hero to be a Ranger, but I wouldn’t be surprised if another one finds his way into some future novel. The threat of dissolving them due to the fading frontier was very much a real one, but it happened closer to 1900 than 1893. In 1901 a new law was passed giving the Rangers a new mission—which was basically to suppress lawlessness and crime throughout the state. Their existence was threatened once again early in the 1930s when Texas’s governor handed out commissions to men whose character was questionable. But on their 100th anniversary, things were cleaned up and they were incorporated into the Department of Public Safety. They’ve been there ever since and are alive and well today.
Those of you who have been my readers for a while might have noticed a cameo appearance by Texas Ranger Lucious Landrum from Love on the Line. If you were really observant, you might have remembered that Lucious didn’t become a Ranger until 1900. So, by all rights, he shouldn’t have been at Hunter’s wedding. But what can I say? I couldn’t possibly have a gathering of Company A and not include Lucious. So, see? I even bend my own fictitious time lines to suit my stories!
Speaking of bending the facts, I wanted to let you know I fudged on three of the images included in the book. The photo of the “Sitting Room in the Woman’s Building” was not of the Bureau of Public Comfort, it was of the New York Room in the Woman’s Building. I used it because I couldn’t find one of the bureau, and the New York Room was fairly representative of what the Bureau of Public Comfort would have looked like.
I couldn’t find any images of any upstairs bedrooms in Hull House during the 1890s. So, the “Upstairs Bedroom” photograph was from a different house, but was true to the times and would give the flavor of what those rooms might have looked like.
The final photograph I cheated on was in the Epilogue. I couldn’t find an actual image of the first annual convention of the Playground Association of America, so I used one that was representative of what Ogden Park might have looked like at that time. All other photos are authentic and exactly as described.
In some areas of the book—particularly during the court trial—you might have noticed Billy being addressed as “Miss Doctor Tate” instead of simply “Dr. Tate.” Well, that was because I found references to women doctors of the time and that’s how the men addressed them. Those boys just couldn’t bring themselves to out-and-out call a woman “Dr. So-and-So” the way they did the men. Made me chuckle.
Last, I wanted to let you know that Hull House was just up the street from the home where the Great Chicago Fire of ’71 started. But the fire moved north and east, just missing Hull House. The mansion had been built in 1856 by Charles Hull and still stands today. Jane Addams moved into it in 1889 for the sole purpose of establishing a settlement for the underprivileged.
As it happens, I went to tour Hull House Museum while I was doing my research and found out that it was planning to do an exhibit about the Hull House Playground the same month that Fair Play was to be released. How serendipitous is that! So, if you are in the Chicago area, be sure to stop by and walk not only where Jane Addams walked, but where our fictitious Billy and Hunter walked.
As always, thanks for coming along on this ride with me. It’s been a joy!
FAIR PLAY
DEEANNE GIST
READING GROUP GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
The only “mannish” thing about Dr. Billy Jack Tate is her name. A female doctor in the 1890s, Billy graduated at the top of her class and won’t let anything—or anyone—stand in her way. When Billy lands a job as a doctor at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, she is already a successful surgeon and finds herself one step closer to her own medical practice. But after her chance (and revealing) meeting with the rugged and very traditional Texas Ranger Hunter Scott, a reluctant romance blossoms, and Billy is forced to consider a future without medicine—or without Hunter.
When Hunter discovers an abandoned infant in the White City exhibit, his and Billy’s search to find its parents leads them down a path of discovery, hope, and loss as they help erect a playground for underprivileged children on the West Side of Chicago. As Billy and Hunter pursue their common goal, their passion and respect for each other grow, and the two must decide whether love is more important than having it all.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Dr. Billy Jack Tate, a female doctor in the 1890s, firmly believes women are just as capable as (if not more than) men. What events or circumstances may have shaped her beliefs? What kind of challenges would a woman with these attitudes face in the late 1800s?
2. One of Billy’s strategies for being successful in a male-dominated profession is to make men forget she’s a woman. Is this a good long-term strategy? Why or why not?
3. What are your first impressions of Hunter Scott?
4. Describe Billy and Hunter’s relationship at the beginning of Fair Play. How does discovering and spending time with Joey change the dynamic between them?
5. Would you describe Billy as a feminist? Why or why not?
6. How does Hunter perpetuate female stere
otypes? What about male stereotypes?
7. In Fair Play, Billy often defies gender stereotypes and expectations for her generation. Can you think of any examples in which Hunter does not meet similar cultural expectations of how a man should act?
8. Do you think Billy was fair in her terms for her marriage to Hunter? Do you think her terms would be perceived differently if she were the man in the relationship?
9. Hunter and Billy’s mutual interest in creating a safe space for children to play on the West Side nurtured their burgeoning romance. Why do you think both were willing to sacrifice their jobs to make this happen?
10. Ownership is a significant theme in Fair Play. What are some examples of characters who believed they owned something or someone? How do those examples differ, and why were they important to the characters’ development?
11. Billy’s encounter with Kruse and his friends reminded her of how physically weak she was compared to some men. What do you think ultimately made her decide not to report them to the police? How do you think this changed her views on women’s capabilities compared to men’s?
12. In Fair Play, we are introduced to people of many nationalities, professions, income levels, and circumstances. Why was diversity so important in the plot? How was it a driving force behind Billy and Hunter’s relationship?
13. Billy and Hunter’s romance demonstrated that compromise is an essential element of a successful, loving relationship. Do you think their compromises for each other in the end were balanced? Why or why not?
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. Billy and Hunter’s romance centered on pursuing their passions, and building a playground was one of them. Pack a picnic basket and take your book club to a park for the day—preferably one with historical significance!