Comments on Various Subjects:

Location of Preble Home:

In Chapter 1 it says the Peddler did his best business from May to November when roads were open and weather not too cold. But that year he tramped further north than he had ever been before and got caught in a snowstorm. He was forced to knock at the Preble house where he had seen a light. It goes on to say that even when the weather cleared, the roads were impassable for many days and all vessels stormbound in Portland Harbor. Perhaps they were indeed, on an island and the Peddler had to wait for a boat for transportation back to the mainland.
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I think by further north Rachel meant further north than Portland and that the Prebles lived somewhere on Route 1 going north from Portland to Falmouth, because she mentions at one point traveling along the Falmouth Road. That still would have been close enough to the Back Cove for the children to walk to gather the berries and to see Cow Island and also for the family to travel easily on Congress Street to get to Cousin Robinson's where they left the horse (Charlie) and the gig.
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I think you must be right and that the Prebles did not live on an island. There's never any mention about crossing over to Portland (meaning by water). There's only mention of a gig and stagecoach. It would seem to me that if they did travel over from an island, some mention would have been made of mode of transportation or perhaps Hitty’s view of Portland Harbor as they are approaching it; and, also, perhaps Field would have written in an adventure for Hitty while aboard the “boat” on the way to, or from, Portland Harbor.
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GCI is Great Cranberry Island, one of the 5 that make up the Cranberry Isles on the coast of Maine. Rachel Field visited there and it is believed that the real life Preble family and home on the island were her models for the name and home in her book.
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Sea Captain's homes were generally very large. The home itself was built by Captain Samuel Hadlock, Jr. When he died his sister Abigail inherited the house and later it was known as the Preble House after her marriage to William Preble.

Age of Hitty:

Got to thinking about what age Hitty Preble, as a little girl's doll, would have been. She isn't an adult, and yet has styled hair. She sleeps in a cradle? Small children slept in low to the floor beds. Just what age was Hitty in the book? And what ages are your Hittys at home.
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Mine are in their mid teens I guess. Perhaps about 13-15 yr old?
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That's an interesting question. I guess I think of my Hittys as adults, sort of proper ladies, and my Bittys as little kids. Since the Hittys keep house, and cook, and travel so much, I find it hard to think of them as terribly young. The Bittys stay home a lot more (their smaller size makes them more fragile and easily lost), so I think of them more like kids who need more protection.
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I think there are Hittys of all ages, but Hitty Preble seems to me to be an adult even though she sleeps in a cradle. I think that's something a child would typically do. She talks like an adult doll and doesn’t look or dress like a child. Most of my Hittys are adults too, or rather, not children. I see them as being ageless, like spirits they always have been and always will be. I do have one, Hitty Wren, who is very young and has apprenticed to my Hitty group and Mei Yi who was adopted from China and is definitely a child. My Hittys are all about empowering girls. I think though that they are more interesting to me as adults because they're capable of doing more and are more self realized.
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As a child, my favorite books were about children who took care of themselves. For one reason or another, they had to assume much responsibility at a young age and they rose to the challenge. I think of many of my Hittys, as you do, as old souls, ageless. Some of mine are younger, like my harum scarum Hitty Plum, and some like Jacinta have always been older than they look. The very young children’s roles are met by the Bittys.
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My Hittys seem to have ages that change to suit my mood. Some are very childlike some seem to be grown women. Hitty Shaharazar has always seemed to be in her teens. Hitty Belinda seems grownup. Hitty Roberta is probably about 10 yr. old. The Thompson Girls are full of fun and I can't seem to pin them down to an age. Hitty Madison seems to be a grown up yet she sometimes plays like a child. Hitty Katie is in her late teens. Hitty Nancy might be 10 or 30.
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Love all of the ideas about Hitty age. Yes, Hitty lives in a space and time somewhere in our minds and hearts - where she can vary as wanted --- and travel anywhere. As I read, I realized that is a good sign of PLAY! THANKS!

Graduating Into Favorite Books:

The Boxcar Children springs to mind. I also was intrigued by The Borrowers, little people who lived under the floorboards and who "borrowed" small items to fashion things for their own use, a very Hitty trait.
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How about THE LONELY DOLL series by Dare Wright? I read those over and over again as a child. In the last few years they have reprinted several in the series and I have bought copies to keep - and a reproduction doll for my youngest. I also loved THE BORROWERS series and have copies of all those books. I also found a copy of a book that I enjoyed as a child at a used bookstore. I think it was called CHILDREN ALONE or some similar title. It was about a family of kids who were left alone on a prairie during a terrible storm. They had to bring the livestock indoors. Is that the title? What about NANCY DREW? I can't remember books that I read last week, but I'll never forget these!
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Does anyone remember a book about the "Teeny Weenies"? They were tiny people who made things into items they could use. Sardine cans for beds, matchboxes for furniture, etc. They lived outdoors by the water. I loved that book as a child. There was another about a little girl who never wanted to go to bed, so one night her bed ran away and she had to sleep on the floor on a rug by the fireplace. When she repented the bed came back. Now you all can see how OLD I am. Ha Ha
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The Bobbsey Twins, where there where two sets of twins in the family. I read every book in the series at least twice. I could only get two at a time. To me that was not fair especially when I told her I would have read them in three days time.
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I read the Bobbsey Twins before I graduated to Nancy Drew. Didn't the Bobbsey Twins solve mysteries too? And weren't they geared for slightly younger readers than Nancy Drew was?
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Oh, as a really dedicated young reader, I read all the Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, Twins of Many Lands and Corner House Girls series I could get ahold of! I have fond memories of many of them! Then there are the Borrowers's books, all of Elizabeth Enright, Patricia Beatty's excellent historical fiction, Louisa May Alcott's books, of, so many wonderful series! I think one of my very favorites were L.M. Boston's Greene Knowe series and Susan Cooper and Madeline L'Engel . . . Wow, no wonder my bookshelves are filled to bursting!
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What could be more fun that having bookshelves bursting with all these wonderful children’s and young reader books???
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Have you read Elizabeth Goudge's "Linnets and Valerians" and "The Little White Horse"? Julie Andrews Edwards' "Mandy." And new: Dale Peck's "Drift House" and Laura Amy Schlitz's "A Drowned Maiden's Hair." I love kids books as well and I have a friend who always sends them to me for every gift giving occasion. She is a font of children's book knowledge.
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Oh, Erin! I don't know anyone else who reads Elizabeth Goudge! Absolutely love them! Have you read "Smokey House"? Another book wherein children must think and react as adults! I will have to check out Peck and Schlitz! I love knowing there are new treasures for me to explore! Thank you! Do look at Cooper and Boston. I believe you will love them!
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Elizabeth Gouge books: And ME! I own many of her books, and read "The Little White Horse" so many times as a child that I almost had it memorized. I bought my own copy when in college, so I could quit reading it from libraries, and later read it to my daughters.
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Elizabeth Gouge: She wrote dozens of adult books, beginning in the 1930s, and only a few "children's" books. Some of her adult books are appropriate for young adults.
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Elizabeth Gouge: My goodness! In "real" life I hardly ever meet anyone who knows who she was! Have you read "Henrietta's House"? That's another of those books where everything and everyone must be managed, for their own good, by a child. Don't you like the name "Loveday" and Marmaduke Scarlette is a great character!

My copy of "The Little White Horse" was borrowed so often, when they came back to me, I found I had four copies! I am really tickled to hear several of you are EG fans!
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There are a number of web sites out there where you can read old books on your computer. Here are some of my favorites:

Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.60.00/

Page By Page Books: http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/

The Online Books Page: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

I like to read old boys' books, and most of these sites have good collections of them (like ones by Horatio Alger, etc.). I've seen the Bobbsey Twins and the Twins of Many Lands mentioned, too.
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I haven't heard of those authors, I feel like I missed something. But my daughter, who is grown and building her own house, tells me that she wants to have a loft where she can store pumpkins in the winter like they did in "Little House in the Big Woods". She'd also love to have a little stone house at the end of a long lane like Miss Lavender in one of the Green Gables books. These things leave such lasting impressions.
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Reading is such a great gift. It never loses its appeal, is never out of fashion and lasts a lifetime! When you were taught to read, worlds opened up and the library became your best friend. Travel, solving "Nancy Drew crimes", making things, laughing and crying .... MERCY, this love of reading has stayed with me all of this time --- just as it has for my children.

GIVE YOUR CHILD the gift of reading - they will NEVER be "bored Mom"
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Missing Pearls/Corals:

Taken from Reader's Comments:

When our group discussed this 'irregularity' we came up with no exclamation. All I can say is that a very high percentage of books have 'errors' that escape even the proof reader.

Before my interest in Hitty, I was into reading everything I could get my hands on about impressionist art. I bought over a period of several years, 63 books and there is an error in almost all of them!!!!! Some glaring, some just a misspelled word! I suspect that given perhaps a 'short' time frame and the excitement with wanting to get the public to know Hitty, it was just not caught. These two ladies were certainly excited about Hitty and I know myself, when I do something with Hitty, I can hardly wait to share it with someone. Ahem, wonder if that lady that was Dorothy's relative who talked about her at Stockbridge remembers hearing anything about it - like the two discovered it after the book was published. ???? -- Esther
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I think that the sisters made her a pearl necklace that probably got destroyed when the rest of her wedding finery got destroyed. My best guess is that the thread would have been finer and would have rotted in the muddy water and then just disintegrated. Anyway, that's my theory.-- Michelle
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I just assumed that the Larraby sisters made her a pearl necklace to go with her wedding dress.-- Margie
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I think if Field wanted the sisters to make a necklace to go with the wedding gown she would have made a point of saying something about it because the corals are such an important part throughout the book thus far. I think it was just a mistake and she missed it when the book was being put together with the pictures.-- Dawn
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I believe the sisters Larraby gave Hitty a pearl necklace. -- Pauline
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My opinion is that Fields forgot to write in a part where the ladies made her a necklace and yet, it did indeed rot in the river and scattered. Therefore the new owners would not have know she wore a coral necklace much less any jewelry at all. At least now we know and use the magical elastic thread to change necklaces if so want to. If in fact the proof reading was hurried, could it have been done by another person? -- Teddie
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It [the necklace] was "borrowed"! That is why it was gone in the remaining illust. The bridal tradition being, "Something old, something new, Something borrowed, something blue. Just my 2 cents! -- Kristine H

New Member of Hitty Group:

I joined this group when you were well into Hitty, so I just sat back and read what everyone else thought. I enjoyed every minute. I have already ordered my copy of Miss Hickory (I had no idea what or whom Miss Hickory was) and am looking forward to taking part in this adventure. I did a wee bit of research on Miss Happiness and Miss Flower also and hope that we will make that a discussion some day too. I can not believe I missed these wonderful books when I was a child. I was an avid reader too.

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