One fun aspect of Evelyn Sibley Lampman’s stories set in Oregon is that I fall into her settings immediately. I’m from the rainforest of Oregon, so when her characters are slogging through the mud, contemplating days upon days of rain, I’m there! Obviously, not every reader will feel the same, but the characters’ matter-of-factness about the weather is a good indication that the author was well-acquainted with it.
The recently orphaned Bounce children, Matthew, Markia, Luke, and Johanna, have made the voyage from Rhode Island around the Horn to Oregon, then up the Columbia River to Oregon City. Before their mother died, she told them to make their way to Uncle Seth in Oregon and he would take care of everything. Mother also told them to stick together no matter what. Experienced readers will recognize these imperatives as clues that when the children arrive, all will not be what they have been counting on.
Upon arriving in Cynthianna, the children learn that Uncle Seth died only two weeks before. Now they are truly alone with nowhere to go and no one to help them. Except for the kind-hearted folks of Cynthiann’.
The scene where the townsfolk meet to decide who will care for the four children reminds me a bit of the public vendue in Amos Fortune, Free Man. They don’t auction the children to the lowest bidder, but they immediately acknowledge their responsibility to care for the homeless orphans. No one in the town has the means to take all four children into their home, so, despite the Bounces’ determination not to be separated, they don’t have a choice.
How each child handles the situation he or she ends up in, life in the relatively young town (founded twenty-five years before), and how acts of kindness and genuine love bring the little family back together is the rest of the story.
Many of Lampman’s stories are based on incidents her father related to her about the area where she grew up. The characters feel true, and warmly alive. Some standard episodes in stories about pioneer life written for young readers include a county fair, a circus, or some other celebration the entire town looks forward to and prepares for. Perhaps because I’m not a crowds and celebrations lover, these often seem trite and trying. However, though this story includes its share of these, Lampman avoids predictability. Whew!
Another aspect Lampman handles with remarkable sensitivity for her time is the matter of people of different races learning to live with each other. In this story she gives us the Native American character who behaves in ways quite irritating and inexplicable to the townspeople. She also introduces a Chinese man who, when he first comes to Cynthiann’, wants nothing more than to get home to China. Both of these men become true friends to the children.
Fans of Evelyn Sibley Lampman will certainly enjoy the story of the Bounce children’s life in Cynthiann.’ If you haven’t read a Lampman story yet, this is an excellent first read.
An extra bit of fun from the dedication page of Purple House Press’s edition:
From the city of Dallas, Oregon, website: Dallas was settled in the 1840s in Polk County . . . and was originally named “Cynthiann” or “Cynthianna.” It is likely the name was chosen by Mrs. Thomas Lovelady, naming it after her hometown of Cynthiana, Kentucky.
Just one of the reasons Purple House Press wanted to reissue The Bounces of Cynthiann’!