Meet Tish

Since the early twentieth century author Mary Roberts Rinehart made the Washington Post this morning, I thought I would do a reprise of my favorite character of hers, the single older woman, Tish.

When I hear the old-fashioned word spinster, I think of bitter witch-like figures like Miss Gulch in The Wizard of Oz, a typical representative of unmarried women in American popular culture. That’s why I was so amazed to discover Tish, aka Letitia Carwell, the heroine in a series of stories and novellas by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Tish first came to life on the pages of  the Saturday Evening Post in 1910, and continued to be part of Rinehart’s repertoire until the late 1930s.

Here’s a short introduction. In her fifties, the fictional Tish leads a charmed life.  She has no money problems at all, although it is not entirely clear where her funds come from. Her two closest companions, Lizzie and Aggie, are also older and unmarried. They serve as comic foils for Tish’s many adventures—participating in car races, camping in the wilderness, riding on horseback through the Rocky Mountains, etc., etc. In each of these adventures, Tish manages to upend the expectations of her more conservative friends and unite young star-crossed lovers.

Without a family to occupy her time, Tish is a woman of enthusiasms. These include car repair, vegetarianism, Swedish movement, and hunting, to name but a few. For all these activities, she tries to find the correct new clothing. She dons a divided skirt for skating and shows up for aesthetic dancing “wearing no stays, a middy blouse and a short skirt.” (Tish, 1916). Inspired by the ideas of dress reformers, she declares “Drat a woman’s clothes, anyhow. If we had any sense we’d wear trousers.” (More Tish, 1919). It goes without saying that she advocates women’s suffrage.

There are five Tish books in all–The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Cranberry (1911); Tish: The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions (1916); More Tish (1921); Tish Plays the Game (1926); and Tish Marches On (1937). I’ve only read three–time to get busy!

This entry was posted in 1910s, 1920s, 1930s and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Meet Tish

  1. Bob Moeller says:

    Does Tish age in the books? Is she an ambulance driver in 1916? A “new woman” in 1921 and 1926? Tell us more!

  2. ceci says:

    I too want to know Tish’s life story.

    ceci

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