A Season of Gifts

The Barnharts have just moved into town.

Mr Barnhart is the new minister at the decrepit Methodist church, where all the windows have been shot out and the roof is a sieve. The Barnharts have three children; Phyllis (14),who's sullen and angry to be starting high school in a new town, the narrator, Bobby (12), and little Ruth Ann (6).

They've moved in right next door to old Mrs Dowdel (who was introduced to readers in A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way From Chicago.) Mrs. Dowdel's house seems like it's haunted and she herself appears to be a bag-lady. She is old enough to have one foot in the grave, and she's as big as a tent, with several chins. She wears overalls and an old straw hat, and when her garden is ripe, she prevents theft by sitting outside all night with a shotgun across her knees.

Mrs Barnhart warns them to stay away from the neighbor, but Ruth Ann makes friends with her anyway...she's always next door, helping Mrs Dowdel with gardening, baking, cooking, canning, and decorating for Christmas.

Soon after they move in, Bobby is waylaid and “initiated” by the older boys as a “welcome” to town, that results in his near-drowning, and then is strung up unceremoniously (and completely naked) in Mrs Dowdel's privy; this incidentally, is how they meet.

Meanwhile, Phyllis sneaks away to take hayrides with a 20-year-old named Roscoe, who smokes and drinks and drives a motorcycle. They go on hayrides together and Phyllis comes home covered in bits of hay. She has “stolen” Roscoe from Waynetta, so there's also tension among the girls of her class who have all chosen sides. When she's not out with Roscoe, Phyllis is writing letters to her idol, Elvis, who is in the army, and signing them “Love Me Tender.”

Finally, as Christmas approaches, a lot of changes are taking place.

Mrs Dowdel conspires with Mrs Barnhart to entrap Roscoe and have him sent away for his army service because he's been a draft dodger. “Maybe the army can make something out of you,” an elderly aunt says.

Mrs Dowdel “teaches” Bobby to drive the car to go cut a Christmas tree, a rather humorous episode akin to throwing someone into a pond to “learn” to swim, just because she doesn't want to pay two dollars and a quarter for a tree at the corner stand.

On the night of the church choir concert, Mrs Dowdel sends her great-grandson next door to go to the concert with the Barnharts. Just as the concert is ending, she barges in with Roscoe, on leave, and Waynetta, visibly pregnant, and Mr Barnhart performs the stereotypical shotgun wedding. Mrs Dowdel does seem to always be there to wrap up loose ends.

This family seems to be pretty dysfunctional at first glance.

The parents are clueless about their eldest daughter's disobedience and her behavior, their son's ordeal with bullies, and their youngest daughter's intense craving for a strong role model. And yet, by the end, they don't seem quite as clueless, and are working hand in glove with Mrs Dowdel to effect change in the town. I have to admit, this is the first time I have been introduced to Mrs Dowdel, and she certainly grows on a person. At first, gruff and blustery, crotchety and off-putting, she continues to give gifts and instill courage into the neighbor family until they all are her biggest fans, as am I.

The messages here are clear. There's nothing outwardly attractive about Mrs Dowdel, and yet she manages to save the family that moves in next door, even though they don't know they need saving. In fact, in her unobtrusive way, she brings justice, reconciliation, courage, and delight to the whole town.

Honestly, this story is very well-written, but there is a lot of content to wade through that many parents will find objectionable before you get to the enjoyable and redemptive ending. And at the age it's written for, that's somewhat concerning.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

Gruesome: Mrs Dowdel blasts rats with her shotgun and then throws their headless bodies on a fire. She slaughters turtles that she has found in her yard and butchers them.

The incident where Bobby is brutally bullied is hard for modern sensibilities to read.

Moral: Young teens “date,” go on hayrides together (returning covered in hay), lie to parents about where they've been, wear lipstick, smoke, give wolf whistles, steal younger kids' lunches, steal a car, drink and drive, and become pregnant out of wedlock. It's intimated that sheds “mysteriously” burn down if certain teen boys are accused of wrongdoing.

Spiritual content: Mrs Dowdel's house is said to be built over a Native American (Kickapoo) burying ground. Spooks and restless spirits are referred to, the house is considered haunted, there's speculation that Mrs Dowdel is a witch. After numerous sightings of a ghostly presence, a skeleton is uncovered on the property. Identified as a Kickapoo princess, a Christian service is read, and the skeleton is reburied in the churchyard.

A pastor's kid refers to her future reincarnation.

Mr Barnhart advises his son “to just let it Ring” if he grows up and hears God's call to ministry.