"A
Letter from Lee's Ranch" A letter to
Mary Lawton ("Mrs. Walton") from Annie Fellows
Johnston. Probably Easter 1902.
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My dear
Mrs. Lawton:
Your dear little Easter
remembrance came yesterday, and the card with
it, which meant so much to me. You have no idea
how much I have thought of you these last months. Your picture is almost
like a companion, for
although it can not talk back, it silently
suggests a great deal. And then too, I have been
using you quite freely
in the new book. The Little Colonel's mother is
away from home and she and Betty are boarding
for one term at the old Pewee College. Consequently
there are numerous times when "the Beeches"
becomes a haven of refuge, and Mrs. Walton has
to figure largely. She also tells a fairy tale to
them and the little Waltons which
points the moral and adorns the tale of the whole affair. A
thousand times I have wished for you to talk it |
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over with, for your enthusiastic interest was
always such a "booster."
A thousand times,
too, I have wished
for a good cosy gossip with you,
for the farther I get away from that little Kentucky "Cranford"
the dearer it seems. So many changes are taking place there,
and the old places going to strangers so fast,
that it will lose its old time
personality I fear before I get back to it.
We may stay here until
the middle of May and even later. The ranch closes the first,
but Mrs. Lee has
promised to keep me until the book is
done, and I am working like a beaver to finish.
That is why I have not written you once in awhile this winter.
My eyes have almost failed me.
This will be a notable week with
you, and I shall have
many a homesick spell thinking of it. You have
no idea how much I want to be |
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there. But it will all be
over by the time you get this, so there is no
use in crying over spilt milk,
or its equivalent, the missed opportunities
that fate shuts us off from.
We are quite undecided about
our next move. It will be California but we
probably cannot stay long (at the) coast and
shall have to go to some place like Redlands or some
(of the) mountain resorts near Los Angeles.
We'll blow up a feather (and) follow its course.
Give my love to all your
family and accept my
most appreciative thanks for the little nun who
bears me your Easter greeting. Lovingly
yours,
Annie
Fellows Johnston
Easter Sunday,
Lee's Ranch, Phoenix
Arizona |
Notes:
- Annie Fellows Johnston again
acknowledges Mrs. Lawton's ("Walton's") influence in the books.
- The Little Colonel's mother is away
because of her father's (the Old Colonel's) illness. In real life,
the Old Colonel will die. In the novels, he will come back, but play
a very minimal role in the following stories.
- The New Book Annie is referring to is
"The Little Colonel at Boarding School"
(1903). The fairy tale is "The Three Weavers" contained in the book, and
would later be published as its own volume (1905). The next Little
Colonel Book in the series will be the "Little
Colonel in Arizona," set here at "Lee's Ranch"
- More on the
"Pewee College"
- The
"Cranford" simile will appear many times in the little Colonel
stories. It first appears in "The
Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation." (chapter 12). This is obviously
the same affection Annie Fellows Johnston holds for her Pewee (Lloydsboro)
Valley.
- Lee's Ranch: This is the only
evidence we have found so far for a place in Arizona near Phoenix around
the turn of the century (19th/20th) actually called Lee's Ranch. And
with a real Mrs. Lee. Try as we might, so far we have been unable to
find any further information on this place. We can only hope that
eventually some kind-hearted Arizona history buff will write us and give
us a couple of tidbits of information on the place. A picture or two
would put us in ecstasy! Annie Fellows Johnston spent time there to
try to give some treatment to her step-son John (the model for Jack Ware),
who suffered from tuberculosis.
- Redlands, California: It's
interesting to see that she mentions this to Mrs. Lawton, as Mrs. Lawton's
husband, a general of no minor fame at the time he died in battle in the
Philippines in 1899, owned a home and property in Redlands that he was
never able to enjoy.
- "...the little nun who
bears me your Easter greeting..." Sorry,
we have no idea on this. But if one of you out there knows, please
share it with us!
More Letters
This Site:
Home Page
What's New? Biography of Annie Fellows
Johnston,
Books on Line (Complete
Original Little Colonel Book Series)
The Little Colonel (link to U. Penn))
The
Giant Scissors
Two Little
Knights of Kentucky
The Little Colonel's
House Party
The Little Colonel's
Holidays
The Little Colonel's Hero
The Little Colonel
at Boarding-School
The Little Colonel in
Arizona
The Little
Colonel's Christmas Vacation
The Little Colonel, Maid of
Honor
The Little Colonel's
Knight Comes Riding
Mary Ware, The Little Colonel's
Chum
Mary Ware in Texas
Mary Ware's Promised Land
Check our home page for more titles by AFJ on other sites
The People & Characters:
The Little Colonel, Papa
Jack and Mrs. Sherman, The
Old Colonel, Two Little
Knights of Kentucky,
Two Little Knights of Kentucky(2),
Uncle Sidney & Aunt
Elise, parents of the Two Little Knights of Kentucky,
Grandmother McIntyre,
Aunt Allison, The
Waltons, Rob and Anna
Moore, Betty,
Joyce Ware,
Jack Ware, Mom Beck,
Walker, Katherine Marks,
Gay Melville,
The Lees of Arizona,
Small Parts
Their Final Resting Places
The Places: in Pewee (Lloydsboro) Valley:
Map,
Map 2,
Where it all began, The Locust,
The Beeches
Edgewood,
The Little Colonel's Cottage,
The Railroad Station,
"Lloydsboro Seminary",
Clovercroft, The
Post Office, Churches,
The Haunted House at Hartwell Hollow,
Confederate Home
Rollington,
Minor Places In Old Louisville:
The Culbertson
Mansion, "Home of a Hero" Elsewhere:
The Cuckoo's Nest (Indiana),
Lee's Ranch,
Camelback Mountain &
Hole-in-Rock (Arizona),
San Antonio and
The Little Town of Bauer (Boerne),
Texas,
The Gate of the Giant Scissors (France)
Letters from Annie
Fellows Johnston and "Mrs Walton"
Scrapbook
Links
Cooking with The Little Colonel
Guest Book
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