In Which We
Discuss Hitty: Her First Hundred
Years
Written by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop
HITTY
Her First Hundred Years
Week of
Chapter Five: In
Which We Strike Our First and Last Whales:
The crew has been
busy with repair work after the storm and getting ready for the
sighting of the
first whale. With
the tropical heat, Phoebe started shedding her proper
Hitty and Phoebe
enjoyed watching the whaling activities from the catching of the whales
to the
process of cutting them up.
Problems developed with a crew member, Patch. Dissatisfaction arose amongst the crew over who had struck the final whale first. Since an extra share of oil was allowed the one whose iron first fastened itself in the whale, the men began to take sides amongst themselves. When they neglected their work to discuss and argue, Captain Preble declared that neither should benefit.
During the night a fire started on board. The Captain tried but eventually realized the ship could not be saved and set a course for some islands. Patch said the Captain’s plan was as good as murder. Several of the men refused to take the Captain’s orders and the Captain told Patch to steer his own course. He would rather go to the bottom than bicker with such a company of good-for-nothing landlubbers. The most loyal crew members, Jeremy, Reuben and Bill Buckle stayed with the Preble family and Andy.
Hitty was left behind on the burning ship as in all the commotion to abandon ship, her father and others did not hear Phoebe’s cries for Hitty. When they finally did, it was too late. Hitty was trapped on the ship, watching her family sail away without her. She needed a miracle and one came when the ship lurched and she was pitched over and flew right under the rail and into the water. Hitty shows her positive attitude as she’s plunging into the sea that “at least I shall not be burned up. Water is kinder to wood than fire and I have heard that salt is a great preservative.”
DISCUSSION:
Phoebe gets a hair cut!! It’s rather comical that the crew gathered around to watch a little girl get a haircut. Poor Kate – seeing her daughter go from a well dressed young lady to practically a crew member with short hair, and wearing men’s pants. She’s such a good sport though. She survived Phoebe’s redo, survived living aboard and feeding the burly seamen, and then was strong for the Captain and her family when the ship was burning. She’s quite a character.
It must have been a disgusting smell and mess working on a whaling ship, but apparently the money was good if they got their quota of whales.
I can’t imagine anything worse than being stuck on a burning ship, and the only way out is to go into the water. Thankfully, they had the long boats, and the water was warm as they were in the tropics.
Hitty is left behind on the ship quite by accident but she is on her way to more adventures even though she doesn’t know it yet. Think of all the dolls out there that have been lost, stolen, tossed away, sold at yard sales, etc. It would be interesting to see where they’ve been and what’s happened to them. I used to wonder why people would buy old beat-up dolls at shows or yard sales, and now I love looking at them and wondering where they’ve been and if somehow I could fit them into my doll collection.
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I would imagine Mrs. Preble's attitude did influence Hitty. How could it not? She seems like a very hard working lady and very devoted to her husband and daughter. She was obviously very kind to the Old Peddler, and the crew must certainly have been happy with her cooking. She seemed very adept at preparing meals on board ship, all with the rocking back and forth. Even when she was so scared with the fire burning and also during the storm, she kept herself together and was strong for her husband and family.