Over vacation, helping my mom clean out her parents' house and we came across a book that she suggested I read (we actually came across several, the house was full of books). It was an old book that she had probably read as a kid. I took it, more because she had suggested it than it really looked interesting. But it was a true example of the phrase, "Never Judge a Book by Its Cover." Not only did I like it but I loved it. The book was Christy by Catherine Marshall.
Christy was a bestseller when it first came out in the 1960s. Christy is about a nineteen year old girl who goes to teach in a one room schoolhouse before the first World War, as part of a mission project. She is from the city of Asheville in North Carolina, which is a modern city. Cutter Gap, where she goes, is a backwards community who considers that anyone not from the mountains is a foreigner.
At first, Christy is amazed by the conditions that she sees these people putting up with in their towns. But as time passes she begins to build lasting bonds with her students and the others who work at the mission, the founder, Miss Alice and the pastor, David Grantland. Christy sees that many of her students have been deprived of what is one of the most necessary conditions for confidence and proof of love, physical contact. She begins to show how much she cares for each of her students by trying to spend a little bit of extra time with each and she is amazed by the growth that she sees in them.
Christy also takes the initiative and tries to improve the materials and possibilities her students have by writing letters and soliciting to wealthy people. Christy is able to successfully get wire for a telephone wire to be build and works diligently to start taking a few students up to board at the school.
Not everyone in town are thrilled with the changes Christy has made. Some are, like her dear friend Fairlight Spencer. Yet she and David start to notice some corruption in the town. When they discover that liquor has been hidden in the schoolhouse for blockading purposes, things really get tense. While David tries to discover who has been breaking the law right under his nose, other events occur, including vandilism of the church alter, new school books, and abuse to the missions horse.
Things are only beginning to quiet down when an epidemic of typhoid occurs. the epidemic forces Christy to put everything she knows about herself, the people at the mission and in Cutter Gap, as well as the doctor, Neil McNeil, whom to her very surprise she finds herself confused and flustered in his presence. She must make a choice, Cutter Gap or Asheville, safety or danger, David or Neil.
Christy was a bestseller when it first came out in the 1960s. Christy is about a nineteen year old girl who goes to teach in a one room schoolhouse before the first World War, as part of a mission project. She is from the city of Asheville in North Carolina, which is a modern city. Cutter Gap, where she goes, is a backwards community who considers that anyone not from the mountains is a foreigner.
At first, Christy is amazed by the conditions that she sees these people putting up with in their towns. But as time passes she begins to build lasting bonds with her students and the others who work at the mission, the founder, Miss Alice and the pastor, David Grantland. Christy sees that many of her students have been deprived of what is one of the most necessary conditions for confidence and proof of love, physical contact. She begins to show how much she cares for each of her students by trying to spend a little bit of extra time with each and she is amazed by the growth that she sees in them.
Christy also takes the initiative and tries to improve the materials and possibilities her students have by writing letters and soliciting to wealthy people. Christy is able to successfully get wire for a telephone wire to be build and works diligently to start taking a few students up to board at the school.
Not everyone in town are thrilled with the changes Christy has made. Some are, like her dear friend Fairlight Spencer. Yet she and David start to notice some corruption in the town. When they discover that liquor has been hidden in the schoolhouse for blockading purposes, things really get tense. While David tries to discover who has been breaking the law right under his nose, other events occur, including vandilism of the church alter, new school books, and abuse to the missions horse.
Things are only beginning to quiet down when an epidemic of typhoid occurs. the epidemic forces Christy to put everything she knows about herself, the people at the mission and in Cutter Gap, as well as the doctor, Neil McNeil, whom to her very surprise she finds herself confused and flustered in his presence. She must make a choice, Cutter Gap or Asheville, safety or danger, David or Neil.
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