Hoggee (20 page)

I know you are thinking Cyrus will never allow it, but I am sure I can persuade him. Say nothing about it to Cyrus until I come to talk with him. I suppose you should go ahead and tell Laura what I have done for her and Sarah so that she can be prepared. I will arrange passage on
The Blue Bird
for them.

This is certainly a point in my favor, but I am sure you will be happy for the girls.

As ever
,

Your brother
,

Jack

Howard read the letter twice before he looked up at Mistress O'Grady, who stood watching him. “Is it bad news, then, lad?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “It is good news, just a bit of a shock, that's all.” He looked again at Jack's “As ever.” He sighed, folded the letter carefully, and put it in his pocket.

Laura was overjoyed when he told her. She jumped up and began to move about the kitchen, laughing and
talking at the same time. After her excitement had calmed a bit she came back to the table to sit beside Howard.

“But I'll miss you, Howard,” she said, “and I doubt I'll ever have a better teacher.”

“You will,” he said. “You will have fine teachers; Sarah, too.” He smiled, “Just think, Sarah can learn to read.” He dropped his eyes, took a deep breath, and continued. “After you've been to school, I won't be your teacher anymore. I hope you might consider me for the position of suitor.”

“Oh.” Laura pulled in her breath with surprise. “Oh, Howard, I will. I will most certain consider you.” She reached out to touch his hand. “And I'll write you letters,” she said. “I'll write to you and tell you all about our school.”

“And the ocean. You can tell me about the ocean.”

She clasped her hands under her chin. “Yes, the ocean. Do you think, then, that Jack can really persuade Grandpa?”

“I do,” said Howard, “and your mother will help if need be.”

Jack needed no one's help. He arrived one week after the letter to speak privately with Cyrus, catching him down at the barn. When he came back to the house, he shouted at the door, “Pack a satchel, Laura, and one for your sister. You're to leave on
The Blue Bird
with me this very day.” He came into the room, put his hands on Laura's waist, picked her up, and whirled her around.

Howard went with them to the boat. It felt strange to him to be standing on the dock waving to the girls on board. Jack came to Howard just before the mules
started to pull the boat. “Cyrus is sure I will marry Laura,” he said.

“It might turn out that way,” said Howard, “but if it does, it will be because Laura wants it, not because you beat me at some sort of contest. Laura is not a slingshot competition. It's a thousand wonders, but I am finished with competing. I am not in the contest. I will be your rival no more.”

Jack looked at him. “Of course you'll compete,” he said, and he smiled. “You always do.” He reached out to punch Howard's shoulder. “I've got to jump quick,” he said. “Good-bye, little brother.” He ran to hop on.

Delia stuck out her head from the kitchen window. “You done good, Howard,” she called. “Delia is proud of you.”

That night in his closet room he carved for the last time on his board. Delia was proud of him, and he felt proud of himself. Jack did not believe him, but his brother would eventually know the competition had ended.

Howard stacked his fourteen boards on the shelf above his blanket. He was glad he had recorded his story, but that chapter of his life was over. From now on, he would write with a pen in a journal. He was a student now. He took a history book from the shelf, and he began to read.

I was inspired to write about Sarah because my niece has a little girl who shares the same challenges as Sarah. Sarah's grandfather feared that she would be made fun of because of her inability to speak or hear, and his fears were realistic. In fact, Sarah would, at that time, very likely have been called deaf and dumb rather than deaf and mute. I did not use the word
dumb,
because I do not like it.
Dumb,
of course, means “unable to speak,” but many people did treat deaf-mutes as if they were stupid or unable to think well. Sarah's life would have been much easier today.

Howard Gardner was not a real boy, but there were many real boys who worked on the Erie Canal as hoggees. The word is pronounced hoe-gee, and it comes from a similar old Scottish word used to refer to a lowly worker.

It took eight years to cut the Erie Canal through 363 miles of mountains, valleys, rivers, and swamps from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. During the construction, more than a thousand laborers died, many from malaria. The original canal was only forty feet wide and
four feet deep, but when it was finished, three thousand canal boats traveled the waterway. Not much of that first canal remains to be seen today, but parts of the later canal have been refurbished to be used for recreational purposes.

BOOKS BY ANNA MYERS

Red-Dirt Jessie
Rosie's Tiger
Graveyard Girl
Spotting the Leopard
The Keeping Room
Fire in the Hills
Ethan Between Us
Captain's Command
When the Bough Breaks
Stolen by the Sea
Tulsa Burning
Flying Blind
Hoggee
Assassin

Confessions from the Principal's Chair
Wart

ANNA MYERS is the author of more than a dozen books for Walker & Company, including her most recent novel,
Wart. Tulsa Burning
was a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and
Assassin
was chosen as an Oklahoma Book Award winner. Anna lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Visit her Web site at
www.annamyers.info
.

What would you do if you had two days in the principal's chair to rule your school?

When, after a little mix-up, Robin is mistaken for the substitute principal at her new school, she has big plans to turn the place around—starting with cutting that queen-bee clique down to size and getting the hottest boy in the eighth grade to notice her. By the time her very brief term in office is over, the school will never be the same. Don't miss this hilarious middle-school mix-up,
Confessions from the Principals Chair.

Enjoy laughs of magical proportions in
Wart…

Wanda Gibbs is no ordinary substitute teacher—from the moment she arrived, Stewart has had a bad feeling about her. He soon finds out she might be a witch and is threatening to use her magic on him! Can they strike a truce before Stewart ends up as a frog?

Copyright © 2004 by Anna Myers

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First published in the U.S.A. in 2004 by Walker Publishing Company, Inc.
Paperback edition published in 2007
Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Walker & Company, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Myers, Anna.
Hoggee / Anna Myers.
p.   cm.

Summary: Always overshadowed by his competitive older brother, especially in their work as mule
drivers on the Erie Canal, fourteen-year-old Howard finally finds the courage to pursue his dreams
of becoming an educator after he learns about sign language and teaches it to his deaf friend in
nineteenth-century New York State.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-8926-6 • ISBN-10: 0-8027-8926-9 (hardcover)
[1. Brothers—Fiction. 2. Self-confidence—Fiction. 3. Erie Canal (N.Y.)—Fiction.
4. Deaf—Fiction. 5. People with disabilities—Fiction. 6. American Sign Language—Fiction.
7. New York (State)—History—19th century—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M98l4Ho 2004              [Fic]—dc22              2004049458

ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-9683-7 • ISBN-10: 0-8027-9683-4 (paperback)

Book design by Jennifer Ann Daddio

Visit Walker & Company's Web site at
www.walkeryoungreaders.com

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