Originally published in 1915, The Corner Stone is a sweet,
plainspoken story set in Kansas in the early 1900's. In it, we meet
Edith Grannell, a young woman orphaned at an early age and
abandoned to boarding school by her wealthy uncle, Samson Grannell.
Edith's uncle is more interested in prosperity than family, but
fortunes are changing for him and his neighbors. Grannell calls
Edith back with a plot in mind to increase his acreage and his
wealth. The author, Margaret Hill McCarter, has given us a
character in Edith who is a strong, self-assured, independent young
woman. We discover that Edith is compassionate and caring despite
having received scarce compassion or affection from her only living
relative, her uncle. On returning to her uncle's farm, Edith
recalls being sent away as a child, and the goodbye kiss from her
only friend growing up, Homer Helm. The tenderness of the
recollection conveys the loneliness that was her life: "The memory
of that good-bye kiss had been a sacred possession in the poverty
of a loveless childhood." However, while she was away at boarding
school, Homer, it would seem, has grown up to be something other
than the kind-hearted boy she remembers. From there the story
unfolds. At first encounter, it might seem surprising to find such
a strong, independent female protagonist in a story of this era.
However, considering the conditions of the time, and the life of
the author, perhaps it should not be a surprise to find McCarter's
protagonist to be a young woman of such strength. In addition to
being a wife and homemaker, Margaret Hill McCarter was a successful
author, having published numerous short stories, pamphlets, and
books. She was also active in the community and in politics.
McCarter had the distinction of being the first woman to speak at a
national political convention, specifically, the Republican
National Convention of 1920, two months before the passage of the
Nineteenth Amendment acknowledging women's right to vote. As many
casual students of history are aware, suffragette members of the
militant National Woman's Party protested the Convention; what may
be overlooked are the efforts of women like Margaret Hill McCarter
who worked from within the system to help achieve the same goal.
McCarter wrote of life in Kansas in the late 1800's and early
1900's with directness and fondness, providing modern readers an
authentic, plainspoken view of American history in the years of
settlement and homesteading following the Civil War. Her body of
work -- the stories she wrote and her activities in the community
and politics -- make publication of The Corner Stone an appropriate
choice to be the first in the "Quiet Voices" series -- rediscovered
works from historical authors whose voices may be newly appreciated
by contemporary readers. This edition of The Corner Stone by
Margaret Hill McCarter has been annotated to include: --
biographical information and historical context relating to the
author; -- biographical information on the illustrator; -- a
timeline of events relevant to the author's life and to events of
the story; -- maps providing geographic setting and context, with
references to online resources; and -- a brief introduction,
summary and critique of the work.
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