Willa

Willa
By Mary Katherine Arensberg

* Set in 1860"s

* Rural Ohio, Chicago, The southern battlefields of William Sheridan, the Eastern Theater of war, Washington City.

* Characters are: Wilhelmina Rolf(Willa), Spinster daughter who inherits the family farm. Louie Rolf, younger brother to Willa. Seamus Rhyce, family friend and newspaperman, proposes marriage to Willa. Annie Coates, former teacher and confident of Willa. Joseph Finney, stable hand and friend to Louie. Amelia Butler, socialite, nemesis to Willa. Matthew Allison, artist, war correspondent, proposes marriage to Willa. Doc McCann, veterinarian, proposes marriage to Willa. Mother Bickerdyke heads up nursing school in Chicago. Thomas Revelle, furniture maker, a black businessman and his wife Odessa. Clara Spencer traps Mathew Allison into marriage. Little Louie, Clara's son, real father killed in battle before he was born or parents were married. Dr. Longworth, physician at Camp Chase.

* Spinster Willa Roth inherits the family farm at her tyrannical father's death; this causes quite a stir in the local community as the son (Louie Rolf) usually inherits land. Her only friends are a rescued border collie named Poseidon, and two large Percheron draft horses named Bea and Rollie. Always bound to the farm, Willa must go in to town to settle her father's affairs, the trip is terrifying for her, but she seeks out Seamus Rhyce. Her father's friend to give him his bequest. They become friends of a sort he a teacher and she an apt student of the world outside her farm; at one point he offers marriage to 'protect her'. She refuses. Annie Coates, once her childhood teacher, becomes her confident and social guide to life in the bustling town of Columbus, Ohio. Louie Rolf, Willa's much younger brothers makes friends with the livery boy, Joseph Finney, a hapless lad who is always breaking one bone or another. Amelia Butler is a vicious local beauty who pours out her hatred and frustration on Willa. Thomas and Odessa Revelle are friends of her fathers, he is a furniture maker, they are black. The rumor of cessation sparks a heated political contest and both Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln come to town to debate the issue; giving her the opportunity to meet the future president. The outbreak of the Civil War marks the opening of a military camp within two of Willa's farm and the daily news of the battles come right to Willa's front door. It is at the camp that she meets many important men destined to greatness in later life. She also meets the charming and urbane war correspondent and artist Matthew Allison, who falls for her on first sight. He must return to the Washington City and they agree to exchange letters. Much troubled by the young men she sees being inducted she gives thanks to God that her brother is too young to fight. Louie and his friend Joseph Finney use a visit to relatives to secretly enlist, both falsifying their age and are sent south to Arkansas before Willa even knows about their deception. From here the story is told from three different experiences, Willa at home, Louie marching to Atlanta with General Sherman and Matthew Allison as he sketches the battlefields in the east.

* Willa becomes restless at the farm. Matthew Allison passes through for a visit. Seamus and Annie, bitter adversaries, unite in a truce to help their friend cope with Louie leaving. Willa joins the Ladies Aid Society and knits and sews for the 'boys at the front'. On an outing to her farm to pick blackberries, Amelia encounters a fearsome danger and is saved by Willa; a strained understanding is born in that moment. The impending birth of Bea's and Rollie's colt brings Doc McCann, the local vet to the farm. Trying to reassure her, he tells an ancient Scottish tale and then suggests they might make a good match. Once again she refuses to marry. An act of hatred is perpetrated against the Revelle's,