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#1: Short Story: Joey Shoves Her Oar In Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:23 am
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Joey Shoves Her Oar In is available freely as a transcript here. First published in 1947 in The Chalet Book for Girls (pages 82-92), so quite a few years after it's predecessor in the Chalet timeline (Headgirl 1928). This might explain EBD's forgetting that Jack Maynard had already appeared in the series and become an established character.

This short story is a very slight little thing of less than a thousand words, but there are a number of issues within it. EBD must have had some reason for wanting to write a retrospective about Joey and Jack's first meeting together. 1947 is an interesting year for EBD - she published Rescue in 1945 and Three Go in 1949, and nothing much in between. Arguably, one of the key themes of Rescue is Joey and Jack's relationship - maybe this is what prompted her to write Joey Shoves Her Oar In?

There are really only three characters in this story - Joey, Jack and Miss Wilson - what do you think about the characterisations of each? Is Miss Wilson's boasting in keeping with her style in the rest of the series? What about Joey's moodiness and bad humour - does this show that EBD hadn't forgotten what Joey was really like as a teenager? And Jack - does he come across as aloof at all?

Anything you think about this little story at all, please post below and discuss it Very Happy

#2: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:43 pm
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Roisin, I've just tried to read it, and the link doesn't work, not for me, anyway.

#3: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:54 pm
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As it's so little, here it is:

Quote:

Joey Shoves Her Oar In

Miss Wilson was cross. Her pupil, obviously dreaming and forgetting
not only where she was, but the very meaning of the term "backwater",
made a sudden wild lunge with her oars, caught a large and complicated
crab, and ended up on her back in the bottom of the boat, most of the
breath knocked out of her. The other occupant wiped the wide grin off
his face as he leant forward from the stern to heave the crowing Jo to
a sitting position.

"Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously.

"Wa-ah - ha-ah! Just - winded!" gasped Jo.

"If you'd only remembered what I'd said, it wouldn't have happened,"
said Miss Wilson severely, as she left the steering to look after
itself and, seizing one of Jo's forlornly trailing oars, tried hard to
push off from the shingle-heap on which that young lady's exploit had
grounded them.

"Allow me," said Dr Maynard, seeing that Jo was getting her breath
back, and carefully moving overto where Miss Wilson was struggling
against the yielding shingle without much result. "Get her head
straight, will you? Now--" He thrust hard against the bottom, and the
boat moved a little. Two or three more good shoves did it, and they
were once more safely floating on the lake. Jo mopped her scarlet face
with a handkerchief that had seen better days, and gasped until she
had got her breath back.

Miss Wilson took no notice of her, for she felt very cross. It was too
bad! Only yesterday evening she had been boasting to the newly arrived
Dr Maynard of the rowing prowess of the Chalet School girls, and of Jo
Bettany in particular. He had smiled politely, and said how nice it
was for the girls to get a little boating. But this whole attitude had
also suggested that an Oxford Rowing Blue didn't expect much in that
line from schoolgirls. It was with the idea of expelling this notion
that the mistress had invited him and Jo Bettany to come for a row
that afternoon. The rest of the school disported itself in the other
two boats under the eye of Miss Nalder, the games mistress, or bathed
and swam with some of the other Staff on duty. And now Joey had let
her down!

Jo knew quite well what Miss Wilson was thinking. She put her
handkerchief away, pushed the thick black fringe of her hair out of
her eyes, and said apologetically,

"I'm awfully sorry, Miss Wilson!"

Miss Wilson's face did not relax.

"I've told you before not tolet your thoughts wander when you're in a
boat," she said briefly.

"I know; I'm most awfully sorry." Jo sounded so penitent that Miss
Wilson gave in.

"We'll say no more. But I shouldn't like to think what might have
happened if you were in a boat alone, Jo. Let her have the oars, Dr
Maynard. She really can row quite well, though I admit her latest
performance isn't calculated to make you think so."

Dr Maynard gave up the oars, and Joey, determined to retrieve her
reputation, put her whole back into the task, sending the boat
skimming across the mirror-like surface of the lake with long, steady
strokes. When Miss Wilson gave the word to return, the young doctor
gave her a smiling nod.

"Yes, Jo can row well on occasion. I congratulate you on her style,
Miss Wilson. But look here, young woman," and he swung round on
Jo. "You must learn to keep your head. It's the last thing to lose
when you're in a boat. Lose your oars, lose your rudder - if lose them
you must - but lose your head, and you're probably lost yourself!"

"Not necessarily!" retorted Jo. "I can swim, you know."

"Can you indeed?" he exclaimed. "But if you lost your head, even
swimming mightn't be much use to you."

They were nearing the shore by this time. The Tiernsee, loveliest of
all Tyrol's lovely lakes, is by no means large. The doctor glanced
across at the other boats, which were also pulling in rather expertly.

"Good style!" he said to Miss Wilson. "I must say I admire your
pupils."

They had reached the little landing-stage at this point, where Hansi,
boy-of-all-work at the school, was waiting to draw the boats in. The
doctor sprang out and offered his hand first to Miss Wilson and then
to Jo. But Jo's "back was up". She ignored the hand, jumped lightly
ashore, and turned away, leaving the mistress surrounded by eager
claimants for the next turn in the boats, and stalked off to the
school garden, where she sought a certain large chestnut tree and
flung herself into a deck-chair in the shade. Here she sprawled,
comfortable if inelegantly, for the next twenty minutes, scowling
blackly into the distance, and thinking things not lawful to be
uttered. She was roused from this unpraiseworthy occupation by Matron,
who happened to pass by and saw her.

"Jo Bettany!" she exclaimed in horrified tones. "If you have finished
with the boats, go and make yourself fit to be seen."

"Yes, Matron," said Jo sulkily as she got to her feet, and went off to
the house. "Oh hang!" she thought, making her way to her cubicle. "I
do wish people would let people alone!"

However, when she was washed and dressed in a clean frock, her
gollywog mop brushed smooth, she had to admit that she felt
better. She went back to the garden, where she found her own special
coterie of friends congregated by the chestnut, awaiting her. The
usual afternoon refection of Kaffee und Kuchen had been brought out,
and by degrees Jo began to feel soothed, though she was not yet ready
to forgive the doctor for having seen her make "a complete noodle of
herself" as she phrased it."

#4: Author: Jennie, Location: Cambridgeshire

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:02 pm
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Thanks for posting it, Roisin.

Thoughts: Jo was obviously doing a Joey - getting into trouble over something, then resenting being rescued from her Predicament, and sulking.

I think Nell Wilson's attitude is understandable. if Jak had adopted a condescending attitude towards the girls' rowing, it must have grated on her. After all, none of the girls is old enough for university anyway, and it might have seemed that he was belittling her efforts to teach the girls to row properly. And she was the guide Captain, and the assessor for the Boatswain's Badge.

Though that leads me to a question.

When the school races against St. Scholastika's crew, how is that so many of the doctors from the San can just drop everything and go to act as starters and judges, etc. when we are always being told that they work all the hours of the day and night?

#5: Author: Kate, Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:20 pm
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Jennie wrote:

Roisin, I've just tried to read it, and the link doesn't work, not for me, anyway.

I think you have to log in first...?

#6: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:29 pm
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Jennie wrote:

Though that leads me to a question.

When the school races against St. Scholastika's crew, how is that so many of the doctors from the San can just drop everything and go to act as starters and judges, etc. when we are always being told that they work all the hours of the day and night?

It's the same with the sports days in Switzerland! OK, maybe someone with daughters at the school might try to get the afternoon off, but they all seem to turn up at sports days Rolling Eyes

.

I also can understand Nell being annoyed, with Jack being patronising and then Joey showing her up like that.

#7: Author: Lisa, Location: South Coast of England

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:25 am
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You know - I enjoyed that little story, but I can't help but see it as a drabble - it doesn't really feel like EBD to me! (Not that I'm saying the drabbles aren't EBD but you know what I mean!)

Perhaps it's because it's such a short interlude.

I love Joey's "thinking things not lawful to be uttered" Laughing

Here EBD shows a real insight into human relationships I think - with the 'hindsight' we have about Joey & Jack's later relationship it's lovely to see Joey's embarrassment as it suggests an interest that even she is isn't aware of yet.

It's also good to see Miss W so irritated with Jo - again a fine understanding of human relationships and the kind of pressure one can (may) feel when trying to impress. I can relate to that feeling as a teacher when you've waxed lyrical about a student and they then publicly 'let you down'!

Nice toasty-feeling story! Very Happy

#8: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:55 am
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Er, I hate to be pedantic, but where's the rest of the story? In EBD's Short Stories the story has a whole other section in which Joey and Grizel rescue Miss Georgiana. Jo makes good on Miss Wilson's boast about her rowing by the way she saves Miss Georgiana, then she and Grizel perform resuscitation on the child. Miss Wilson basically demands that Jack acknowledge that boys can row as well as girls. The full story is at least four or fives times longer than the segment posted here and on the transcripts site.

#9: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:10 am
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Really?! That's what was on the word document that I downloaded from the transcripts site Shocked

I'll try again and edit this message soon.

#10: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:11 am
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Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I meant was that both what was on here and on the transcripts site was only a short piece of the whole story.

#11: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:15 am
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You aren't being pedantic KB - this isn't a small mistake you are quibbling about - it's a large glaring missing chunk of story Laughing

I don't have a copy of this short story beyond what is on the transcripts site - if you do have it KB will you give us a link to it please?

If KB doesn't have it, and it hasn't been transcribed yet, then we'll have to go on what we have here, unless people own the collection of Short Stories and can provide a summary of what else happens in the story.

#12: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:22 pm
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I can certainly give a summary. Don't have time to copy the lot, I'm afraid, but it would be great if someone else could:

Grizel, who is Head Girl, goes to ask Mademoiselle Lepattre if the Seniors and those over 15 can go for a walk along the lake to Gaisalm. They get permission to buy fruit, but as they go along the path, they find a small girl lying on the grass between the upper and lower paths that lead to the Dripping Rock.

After buying the fruit, the girls are interrupted by an English woman who comes along and asks if they have seen a child. As the nurse, Price, has not seen her on the path, the girls guess that she has gone along the upper path, but before they can go and look, they see Miss Georgiana standing above them on a rocky outcrop.

Before they can go up and get her, Georgiana's foot slips and she falls into the water. Jo is stopped from diving in after her and instead remembers a small rowing boat nearby. Marie von Eschenau goes with her and they find Georgiana when she surfaces. The two girls are able to get her carefully into the boat and then row back to the Dripping Rock, where the others are waiting for them.

Mary and Deira get Georgiana out of the boat and scrub her 'in the undergarments some of the others had discarded' ( Laughing

) before taking her and Price (who had, of course, fainted) on to Gaisalm.

Jo and the others are told that Georgiana is the niece of Lady Todd and that her parents are in the West Indies. The child is badly spoiled and very wilful. She had been refused permission to go on a moonlight row and had run away.

'It was very late when the girls finally got back, but not much was said. The 'saying' came the next day, from Miss Wilson to Dr Maynard, when she told him the story, and made him acknowledge that girls could row as well as boys. Her girls had shown in particular that they did indeed know how to manage a boat and keep their heads. She was fully justified in her boasts about Jo Bettany.'

#13: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:08 am
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Thanks for that KB.

#14: Author: keren, Location: Israel

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:58 am
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As for discussion,
I don't know what EBD meant here, but for me reading the section transcribed, it looked like Miss Wilson looking for a legitimate reason to be alone (almost) with Jack! (2 grown ups and a girl of 15, and she is telling him what a good teacher she is)

#15: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:15 am
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keren wrote:

As for discussion,
I don't know what EBD meant here, but for me reading the section transcribed, it looked like Miss Wilson looking for a legitimate reason to be alone (almost) with Jack! (2 grown ups and a girl of 15, and she is telling him what a good teacher she is)

Brilliant!

#16: Author: Carys, Location: London

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:18 am
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Yes I read it as Miss Wilson trying to impress Jack as well... Hmm they actually come across as quite a good couple here to.

#17: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:20 am
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Is she around the same age as him? Who would be older?

#18: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:23 am
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IIRC Nell tells Joey in New/United that she's 30. Joey would have been around 19 then and I think she was 10 years younger than Jack, so Jack and Nell would've been much the same age Wink

#19: Author: Carys, Location: London

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:47 pm
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Hmmm I now have a plot bunny running aroung my head...

Nell and Jack would have been good together, both strong personalities and she's a Catholic already, I want to rewrite the flight in Exile now...

#20: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:53 pm
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The above text, which is indeed an edited version, is what was published in the Chalet School Companion by, yes, you've guessed in, Armada!, in I think 1992 and in an earlier edition which was in large paperback format. I have both but I can't remember what the latter was named.

Miss Georgiana, Junior Van Allen.. I do like EBD's bratchildren and how they always get their just desserts! Very morality tale! Very Happy

#21: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:32 pm
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Carys wrote:

Hmmm I now have a plot bunny running aroung my head...

Nell and Jack would have been good together, both strong personalities and she's a Catholic already, I want to rewrite the flight in Exile now...

Please do!! Very Happy

Mia: you are kidding! *insert expletive about Armada* Could they not leave anything alone?! Gah.

#22: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:07 pm
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Róisín wrote:

Mia: you are kidding! *insert expletive about Armada* Could they not leave anything alone?! Gah.

No, I'm afraid I'm lying! Embarassed

Just checked the small Companion and Miss G is definitely there. Sorry Armada! Off to find the large paperback book now! Very Happy

ETA which doesn't have it in at all! Oh dear! Laughing

However, it is simply called 'EBD's Chalet School' and has a family tree in with Bride Bettany married to her sister's husband and Peggy married to her own son! Hee.

#23: Author: Rob, Location: Currently in a rainstorm

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:02 pm
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Well, my copy of the small Companion certainly has Miss Georgiana in it!! Laughing

I have transcribed the rest of the story, and have PMed Roisin to find out what to do with it now, as it is rather long just to post!

Hopefully those of you who haven't read the whole story will be able to do so soon!

#24: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:13 pm
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Carys wrote:

Nell would have murdered him! First time he'd tried to lay down the law. She would have escaped the death penalty and been out in seven years - just in time to Head St Mildreds. Laughing

#25: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:57 pm
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And it's done! I've temporarily uploaded it here until Raya uploads it to the transcripts site. THANK YOU Rob! *applauds* Am off to read the rest of it myself now ...

#26: Author: brie, Location: Glasgow, aka the land of boredom

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:44 pm
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Thanks Rob and Roisin!

#27: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 1:14 pm
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And now it's on the transcripts site too Very Happy

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