This week I’m hosting Susan Page Davis with The Gunsmith’s Gallantry and Lena Nelson Dooley with Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico. If you want to enter the drawings, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (June 6th) evening.
Interview with the heroine from Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico by Lena Nelson Dooley:
1. Madeline, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
Most interesting? I’ll have to think about that. My father was a wealthy merchant in Boston, and I’ve been well cared for all my life. Things really got interesting after my father died. Perhaps the most interesting thing is the fact that I go to shanty town to help a woman who is less fortunate than I am. I don’t know of any other young woman like me who does that. But my father practiced benevolence, and I do, too.
2. What do you do for fun?
I love to read. Sarah Sneed, the woman who helped raise me after my mother died taught me to embroidery, and I enjoying creating beautiful things. I like going to Jordan Marsh and checking out the latest styles.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
Since Sarah takes care of the housework, there really isn’t anything I dread doing. Of course, I’m not fond of going out in the extreme cold, so I stay in most of the time when it’s inclement.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
I’ve faced the two worst fears in a young woman’s life. Losing each of my parents at different times was hard to face. But that’s behind me, although the sorrow still lingers.
5. What do you want out of life?
I’m really trying to take one day at a time right now. Someday, I want to be a wife and a mother, but with the situation as it is at present, I’m sure that’s a long way off.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
This might seem strange, but having Frank and Sarah Sneed with me through this situation is very important to me. I don’t know what I’d do without them.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
I read quite a bit. I love to delve into history and read biographies. And my favorite novels are the ones written by Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. My favorite is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I enjoy reading the plays of William Shakespeare. Now don’t tell anyone, but I do occasionally read one of those dime novels. I also read Harper’s Bazar magazine. (Margaret, that’s not misspelled. That’s the way the magazine’s name was spelled in this time period.)
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My mother was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Although I share her features, I inherited my father’s brown hair and gray eyes. I would love to have those lovely blonde curls and eyes with more color.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Actually, I haven’t had a pet. Mother didn’t want animals in the house, and after she died, my father had Sarah maintain the household the same way.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I might like to travel the Nile River with Cleopatra. I’ve found that time in history fascinating. Or the time of Joan of Arc, but I would only watch from the sidelines. And I’ve always been fascinated by Queen Esther in the Bible. I would love to watch her as she courageously went to the king to save her people.
