Prairie Lotus

Mr. Harris collects Papa to take him to a meeting at the depot. Papa confirms that the meeting is happening because several people went to Mr. Harris about Hanna. Papa tells her to stay at the rented house, but Hanna sneaks to the depot to eavesdrop. To her surprise, Sam arrives and waits outside with Hanna, and the two listen together. Mr. Harris asks Miss Walters to speak, and Miss Walters tells the crowd gathered that Hanna is a good student with excellent behavior who exemplifies kindness to others. Several people speak up, though, saying Hanna does not belong. Mr. Harris vouches for Papa’s merits next, telling the crowd that Papa helped his wife and him in Kansas. Mr. Baxter—Sam’s father—tells everyone gathered, “We’ve got the chance to make this town just the way we want it. And what we don’t want is trouble” (74). He means Hanna. Mr. Harris then has Charlie Hart speak in favor of Papa. Charlie is helping Papa build the new dress shop. Charlie says Papa pays him a good wage and provides dinner. Mr. Harris reminds the crowd that the town needs a dress goods shop. Then he introduces Papa.

Papa explains that his wife, May, died when Hanna was 11, and that May was raised by Christian missionaries. He tells them Hanna learned schooling from May and then from a “a good church woman” (76), Miss Lorna. He explains his intent to settle in LaForge, run a good business, and have Hanna help in the shop after she completes school. Mr. Baxter is not happy with this and asks Mr. Harris what the law says about “Chinamen” (77) attending white schools. Mr. Harris says he will write to Washington to find out, but in the meantime, that Hanna can attend the school. Hanna begins to leave. Sam, smiling, says he will see her at school. His response and smile make her blush, though she knows a relationship with Sam is unlikely; “every territory that had become a state in recent years had made it illegal for whites and nonwhites to marry” (79). Hanna thinks she is destined to work in Papa’s shop and then her own someday as an unmarried woman.

She beats Papa home, but he knows she disobeyed and snuck out because she left the door unlatched. Papa says she can finish out the week at school. More seats are empty the next day at school. Hanna still enjoys a penmanship lesson, remembering how she once practiced copying Chinese brush writing with Mama. Hanna copies the poem “To My Mother” by E.K. Hervey in her best penmanship and is happy with the result. She leaves the paper on her desk to use the privy during the noon hour. When she returns, it is gone.

Sam offers help when he sees her looking upset. He saw something while Hanna was out of the school building, and pieces together that “they” must have taken her penmanship paper. He finds it in the water bucket and fishes it out with the dipper. Miss Walters reprimands Hanna for not taking care of her possessions. Sam goes to fetch a fresh bucket of water. Hanna tries to put on an emotionless demeanor and expression, a trait she learned from Mama. Later, Hanna answers a grammar question correctly on inverting the subjunctive tense, changing “If I were you…” to “Were I you…” (88-89). She hears Dolly call her a “showoff” and hates the way the comment makes her doubt herself. She allows herself to escape with a reading passage on Mr. Audubon’s passenger pigeons.

Hanna grows angry the next day as the students begin to act against her. Someone ruins her dinner by filling the pail with water. Someone draws a rude cartoon of her face on a slate and passes it amongst the students. Hanna sees the words on the slate when she catches a glimpse: “Dirty Chinamen! Were I you, I would not come to school!” (91). After school, she discovers Sam threatening Tommy Heywood over his behavior. He shoves the boy and throws something at him which shatters on a post. When the boys are gone, Hanna sees that the object was the slate with the cartoon.

Miss Walters announces that each student will perform a recitation at the end of the term and that the Fifth Reader class, Hanna’s class, can choose their selection with her approval. Hanna spends the early weekend organizing supplies in the rented room for the shop and visits the shop site. She points out to Mr. Hart and Papa that hoop skirts are coming back in style, and that it would be good to have an entryway wide enough to allow easy passage for ladies. Mr. Hart agrees on a double door and one wide window instead of two. Hanna finds a short length of red ribbon when she is sorting supplies and trims the ends, knowing some use will come of it. She goes to church with Papa on Sunday. No one talks to them, though many stare.

The next day, Sam, Dolly, Bess, and Bess’s sister Sadie are the only students who come to school with Hanna. As Miss Walters begins the day, Sam’s younger sister Pearl, whom Hanna helped with the water dipper, comes to fetch Sam home. She says she will be whipped if Sam does not come. Sam leaves unhappily. Hanna feels the townspeople who dislike her are winning their fight against her, and that she will have to quit school to allow others to come back. Miss Walters calls the four remaining girls to the front for lessons. Hanna realizes Miss Walters could tell the school board to stop Hanna from coming but is choosing to teach her instead. This perseverance prompts Hanna to continue. When the noon hour arrives, Dolly, who usually walks the town and looks in the shops over lunch, invites Hanna to walk with her. Hanna is stunned. She says she does not want to go to the town. Dolly says they can walk the yard instead. Dolly puts her arm through Hanna’s and they stroll arm in arm. Dolly tells Hanna she “never knew anybody Chinese before” (107) and asks her if it is difficult to see from eyes that are shaped “so different” (108). Hanna feels a “weariness” come over her that she is used to.

Hanna knows Dolly might not intend the remark cruelly, but her thoughtlessness and insensitivity are “exhausting” (109). Hanna tries to get Dolly to understand that she, Hanna, would not be such a good speller and student if she had trouble with her eyes. Dolly seems to understand but insists it was “a natural question” (110). Hanna counters by asking if that means Albert has trouble seeing more than Ned, since Ned’s eyes are bigger, but Dolly is distracted by the thought of boys and mentions how Sam would be the “most fun to step out with” (110).

As Hanna tries to excuse herself, a wagon rushes near and its driver roughly insists that Dolly climb in. He grabs her and pulls her toward the wagon, telling her she almost “disgraced” the family. He spits on the ground near Hanna as he leaves. She tells Miss Walters that Dolly’s father came to collect her. At home, Hanna covers up with her sheet on her bed, figuring she will cry. She hears Mama’s voice instead, telling her to do some kind task for someone else, because sadness and anger come from too much focus on self. Hanna gets up and polishes Papa’s boots with oil, wax, and lampblack.

Feeling better, she decides to sketch dresses. She draws a lovely, fashionable dress for Dolly: “It was a strange kind of revenge. She was drawing Dolly a dress that she would covet hungrily—and never be able to own” (115). Hanna begins dinner preparations, deciding to not tell Papa what happened with Dolly and Dolly’s father. She feels a pain from missing Mama so much, who, she knows, loved Hanna and “the fact that Hanna was half-Chinese” (117).