Mail Order Annie
Copyright© 2025 by DFL Runner
Chapter 4
And so it was that in September 1872, Annie started the school year – the last of the three years she was obligated to teach in Scranton in recompense for the scholarship she received – expecting to be asked to stay on as the town’s teacher, perhaps even with increased compensation.
Just before the first day of school, a package arrived for her via post from her friend Michaela Fields: a leather-bound pamphlet containing a document that had been created by the assembly of women in Seneca Falls all those years ago.
As Annie perused the bound volume, she thought of the letter Michaela had written to her just before her first day as a teacher: “I know you will equip the girls in your class to pursue the opportunities that will be presented to them, and will prepare the boys to support and even encourage that pursuit.”
Her spontaneous moment of bowing her head in prayer at the beginning of her first year of teaching had become a personal tradition.
This year, as she prayed, she felt, tangibly, an answer in her heart.
The Christ preached in the town’s church was one of meekness and compliance, gently sharing his message but never disturbing the social order. Yet the Christ she met in her private study of the Scriptures did not come to bring peace, but a sword, and called unto Himself those who His contemporaries had cast aside – including women, to whom He gave places of honor in His ministry, even if Reverend Sexton and his contemporaries seldom mentioned it. Surely if Christ Himself – who is the same yesterday, today, and forever – could bestow such honor and standing upon women even in His time, then there could be no sin in following His example and advocating for women to have such honor now.
In that moment, a lesson plan began to form in Annie’s head, one presented during the fifth week of the academic year.
“Class? Are any of you familiar with the Declaration of Sentiments?”
Annie was rewarded with numerous blank stares.
“I see. You are all familiar with the Declaration of Independence, correct?”
Recognition dawned on all the faces in the room. Shortly after school began, she had tasked all the students with memorizing the Introduction and the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence. Additional credit was offered if they could recite the other parts of that document.
“The Declaration of Sentiments was a document prepared in 1848 by a gathering of women in Seneca Falls, New York. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss the rights of women, or, more specifically, the rights that women did not have. In a majority of places in America, women still do not have them. The Declaration of Sentiments is a document patterned after the Declaration of Independence. Much like our Founding Fathers used the Declaration of Independence to list the rights they sought, the women who met in Seneca Falls used the Declaration of Sentiments to list the rights they sought, and that they still seek. So this morning, for our civics lesson, I am going to read it for you. I want all of you to think about these words. You older students, I want you to be prepared to write a theme about it, for or against, next week, and be prepared to defend your opinion.”
As Annie read the document, she saw a light dawning in the eyes of one of her younger students, Martina. She had taken an interest in the young girl, similar to the one Michaela had taken in her all those years ago, and Annie knew she was hearing, and absorbing, the message that in the eyes of God, she was the equal of the boys in her class, and ought to be in the eyes of society as well.
Mid-morning on the following day, a telegram was delivered to Annie at the schoolhouse, informing her that her father had died. She promptly made arrangements to return to Watertown to join her mother and brothers in their time of mourning.
As the train traveled toward her hometown, Annie thought about her mother. Her brothers all had families, while she had none. Her mother would, for the first time in more than three decades, be alone. Perhaps she should invite her mother to return with her to Scranton?
Upon her arrival in Watertown, she learned that the question was moot. Her mother had passed in her sleep the night before. Although the town doctor suggested it was simply her time, Annie had been amazed by how energetic and vibrant her mother had been during her visit just a few months earlier. Rather, Annie surmised, as did the rest of her family, that Lily Halsey wasn’t able to imagine facing life without her beloved Jonathan, and her soul had simply decided not to.