Sterling North was born in 1906 in a little farmhouse on the shores of Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin, and grew up in the nearby town of Edgerton, Wisconsin. He graduated from Edgerton High School and then attended the University of Chicago, where he began his writing career. He wrote for the Chicago Daily News, the New York World-Telegram and Sun, as well as for many magazines, including Reader’s Digest, The Atlantic, Esquire, and Holiday. On June 23, 1927, North married his high school sweetheart, Gladys Buchanan. They had two children, David and Arielle. Even though North has written more than a dozen books, his two books that reference Indiana are Reunion on the Wabash and So Dear to My Heart.
The Reunion on the Wabash is the story of the Sycamores, a fictional Indiana family, who are about to reunite at the old homestead on the Wabash River, home to the late Senator Ed Bigelow. Even though the story focuses primarily on the life of Jim Bigelow (the Senator’s son) and the other Sycamore family members, Sterling doesn’t hesitate to add commentary from characters not native to Indiana as well. These characters only know of the land because of songs about the Wabash or because of Notre Dame football. One of these “outside characters” Reuben O’Malley, from New York, tells Natalie that he will be take her out of this horrible land and back to civilization “where the penthouses are all air-conditioned and above flood level.” (31)
Throughout the book, North frequently mentions the riverbank of the Wabash, and particularly, the flooding that occurs. The book’s main climax centers on the family levee breaking and the homestead flooding.
In an hour there was a ditch through the levee big enough to float a rowboat. Chunks of sod as large as pumpkins were ripped from either side. Then, an hour before dawn, the river came through with a roar. Willows were uprooted, fifty yards of earth went with a single splash, and the Wabash River, so long denied its ancient cutoff, recaptured its old channel with a wall of raging water which flooded the ox-bow lake and advanced like an express train upon the frame mansion where the sleepers still lay… (291)
Descriptive references to the Indiana landscape are made throughout the book. Through Jim’s childhood memory, he recounts what it was like growing up on the banks of the Indiana Wabash River:
How often he had walked this grassy levee as a boy…. Even in raging flood, the Wabash seemed to him a friendly river. He had explored its islands, built duck blinds in its marshy coves, plunged into its deepest pools as fearlessly as a young otter. (62)
The Sycamore family relates many historic tales passed down from their forefathers describing the long trip made to New Orleans each year along the Wabash. These stories consisted of “daunting Indians, river pirates, and treacherous currents.” (64) The family never forgot the Senator’s settlement history of the valley on which the homestead now rested. Many events occurred on this little plot of land that they were now residing temporarily, including “run-ins with the Indians, the trappers, the capture of Fort Vincennes, the battle of Tippecanoe, and the arrival of the wave of the pioneers.” (64) All this history, Jim remembered, was a part of the family, a part of him. They all would share this historical land in “God’s Country” (143).
North’s view of Indiana is shown through the characters in his books. His optimistic attitude and detailed descriptions continue in his other book, So Dear to My Heart, set in 1903 in Fulton Township, located in southern Indiana. Here, Sterling describes more of the small town life and growing up on the farm. Mention of the “big cities,” Indianapolis and Evansville, gives his readers a true small town feel as to how exciting the arrival of a train was to small town folks.
Recollections of early southern Indiana roads are mentioned as some of the main characters, Jeremiah, Tildy, and Uncle Hiram, take a road home from town.
“Talk about the rocky road to Dublin! It was the King’s highway compared to the Devil’s washboard from Fulton Corners to Cat Hollow. The creaking wheels thumped over the limestone ledges with violence.”
The native wildlife of Indiana is revealed as Jeremiah and Tildy hunt for the bee tree in order to raise money for the fair. They mention the sightings of many birds along the way, Redwing blackbirds and black terns perch above the marsh, and a hawk soars directly overhead on the rising summer air. More descriptive pictures of the Indiana wetlands are drawn as Jeremiah and Tildy continue on their journey:
“Now boy and girl were over a rail fence and following a clear little stream they had never explored before. The creek bottom was minty and cool under sycamores massive and dappled with light. Quails whistled from every corner, and a pair of raucous blue jays protecting their young from angry songbirds wove frantic patterns through a shadow gum tree.” (142)
Just like children’s adventures, however, nature can change from fun and exciting to dark and scary. As the hunt continues on, with no luck of finding a bee tree, a new look at their journey is taken:
“…they followed an old cow trail through the bog with water gleaming evilly in the ancient hoof prints. The pools were green with algae and oily with dead swamp growth.” (147)
Descriptions of Indiana also come through recollections of secondary characters in that of a bibliography of someone else, as is the case in North’s third novel, Abe Lincoln. Written primarily for the bibliographic information of the former President, many descriptive images of Indiana are seen through out the book since Lincoln did much of his childhood in Indiana. With that, we are given descriptions of the pre-civil war Indiana landscape as President Abe Lincoln recalled from his childhood:
“We reached our new home about the time the State (of Indiana) came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up.” (14)
Also described as “fertile and almost unpopulated” (11), Indiana at the time was seen as a place for opportunity for struggling farmers, which was the case of Mr. Lincoln (Abe’s father). The Lincoln family actually first moved to Indiana from Kentucky for the chance at a new life and a fresh start. Once there, Abe and his family learned to accommodate during the harsh winters and tough living environment of the early Indiana wilderness.
“…he failed to mention that the nearest water fit to drink was from a distant spring, or that the forest was filled with bears, wolves, panthers and wildcats, while the nearby swamps bred malaria.” (14)
Despite this harsh climate and weak living conditions, the Lincoln family survived a few winters in Indiana. It wasn’t until the fall of 1818 that Mrs. Lincoln caught the dreaded “milk sickness” and died short after. Knowing that his children shouldn’t grow up motherless, Mr. Lincoln went back to Kentucky and brought back a new mother for his children, Sarah Bush Johnston. This new family then lived in Indiana for a few more years before once again venturing onward to Illinois, once again in hope of a new life and more fertile soil.
With all his books, North relates the scenic Indiana landscapes and native wildlife seen through both fictional and non-fictional stories based in Indiana. Shown through a fictional character’s eyes, the reader feels personally attached to the Indiana landscape, or taken from a truly factual account, the reader is exposed to the true condition of early Indiana landscape. Whichever the case, North did a great job at allowing readers of today view the Indiana of our past.
-- HMI
Sources:
Magicgate Software. History of Sterling North. Retrieved September 7, 2005 from Produce A Web,(2005, February) The Sterling North Society Web site: http://www.sterlingnorth.com/history/
North, Sterling. Abe Lincoln. New York, N,Y.: Random House, 1956.
---.Reunion on the Wabash. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1952.
---.So Dear to My Heart. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co, Inc.,1947.
Links: The Sterling North Society
Disney's So Dear to My Heart on Video
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