Miss Bishop

by Bess Streeter Aldrich

Ella Bishop came to college a healthy, country-bred girl, alive to every fresh sensation, with an infinite capacity for work, love, and understanding. Her abundant energy and devotion to learning made her a superior student, then a gifted teacher. But her smile concealed more than one youthful tragedy, and tragedy did not stop with youth. A 1941 movie, Cheers for Miss Bishop, was based on the novel.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Historical, Literary Fiction

337 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1933

About the author

Bess Genevra Streeter Aldrich was one of Nebraska's most widely read and enjoyed authors. Her writing career spanned forty-some years, during which she published over 100 short stories and articles, nine novels, one novella, two books of short stories, and one omnibus. In her work, she emphasized family values and recorded accurately Midwest pioneering history.

One of her books, Miss Bishop, was made into the movie, Cheers for Miss Bishop, and her short story, The Silent Stars Go By became the television show, The Gift of Love.

Bess graduated in 1901 from Iowa State Normal School, now known as the University of Northern Iowa, and taught for four years. She returned to Cedar Falls and worked as Assistant Supervisor at her alma mater, receiving an advanced degree in 1906. She married Charles Sweetzer Aldrich the following year.

In 1909 the Aldriches and Bess's sister and brother-in-law, Clara and John Cobb, bought the American Exchange Bank in Elmwood, Nebraska, and moved there with the Aldrich's two-month old daughter, Bess's widowed mother, and the Cobbs. Elmwood would become the locale, by whatever name she called it, of her many short stories, and it would also be the setting for some of her books.

Aldrich had won her first writing prize at fourteen and another at seventeen, having been writing stories since childhood. However, for two years after the family moved to Elmwood, Aldrich was too busy with local activities to write. Then in 1911 she saw a fiction contest announcement in the Ladies Home Journal and wrote a story in a few afternoons while the baby napped. Her story was one of six chosen from among some 2,000 entries. From that time on, Aldrich wrote whenever she could find a moment between caring for her growing family and her household chores. Indeed, she commented that, in the early days, many a story was liberally sprinkled with dishwater as she jotted down words or ideas while she worked. Aldrich's first book, Mother Mason, a compilation of short stories, was published in 1924.

In May 1925, shortly before her second book, Rim of the Prairie was published, Charles Aldrich died of a cerebral hemorrhage, leaving Bess a widow with four children ranging from four to sixteen. Her writing now became the means of family support; with her pen she put all the children through college.

Aldrich's short stories were as eagerly sought and read as her novels, and she became one of the best paid magazine writers of the time. Her work appeared in such magazines as The American, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Collier's, Cosmopolitan, and McCall's. Aldrich also wrote several pieces on the art of writing, and these were published in The Writer.

In 1934, Aldrich was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Nebraska, and in 1949 she received the Iowa Authors Outstanding Contributions to Literature Award. She was posthumously inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1973.

Reviews

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was old fashioned, melodramatic, a little rushed in places, trying to fit the 53 year career of an old maid schoolteacher into under 400 pages, along with her disappointments and thwarted love life. It was also the history of the one building prairie institute which grew into a bustling university during the same period. It certainly didn't live up to the other two Aldrich novels I read and loved: Song of Years and A Lantern in her Hand.

But you know what? I enjoyed the heck out of Miss Bishop. A sense of responsibility, doing your best, taking what life hands you and making the best of it, decency, helping others; these things don't seem to matter much anymore to a lot of people. But they used to, and it was nice to spend some time among those for whom it mattered.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ella Bishop is one of the members of the first graduating class of "Midwestern University" (presumably in Nebraska, the author's home turf), one tiny building plopped hopefully in 1880 something in the middle of the prairie grass on the outskirts of a little town. A cheerful and competent student, Ella is offered a position teaching grammar at the college when she graduates, which she accepts, assuming she'll leave it in a year or two to be married. Then follows 50 years of life happening while she makes other plans. Bess Streeter Aldrich was respected enough in the mid-20th century to warrant an entry in my favorite reference book, the Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature, a bit to my surprise, as while I generally enjoyed the book, I found certain aspects of the plot a little maudlin, and the writing undistinguished. I did enjoy following the story paralleling Miss Bishop's career, that of the immense growth and flourishing of the college as she steadily gets older, and the differing experiences of two successive generations of students. The ending was touching.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book meant to be about strength and selflessness, but the soap operatic weakness of most of the secondary characters overshadowed any motivational theme or enlightenment and instead highlighted the mantra that "life is hard and then you die" (except that right before you die you may have a brief, fleeting epiphany that all the sacrifice and heartache was really worth it in the sad, lonely end)!

To be fair, I did learn to appreciate Miss Bishop and especially Sam, and one of my all time favorite prose quotes is from this story,("...I am weaving at a loom with a spindle of hopes and dreams. And no matter...how lovely the pattern-no matter how many gorgeous colors I use,-always the center of it is...just a little house in a garden and red firelight and...the man I love...and children...and happiness") but the pacing was so rushed that it was more like viewing snapshots in a life's photo album for an evening. And though it is said that "a picture paints a thousand words",you never can fully appreciate the experience through a scrapbook because too much footage is missing between shots.

[SJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of my childhood read now through adult eyes and is still just as lovely.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen this author's books on the shelf all my life and never could be bothered. Picked this one up on a whim and quite liked it - a good old fashioned yarn - sort of character who would have been played by Olivia De Haviland...we don't have any of these old maids around any more, but every family used to have one, who would raise all the abandoned or orphaned children, and never be loved enough.

[Liesel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book for several reasons. Miss Bishop lived by a set of values that are mocked today. I often think I was born a couple of generations too late, but I might be off that estimation by a couple more. I wish the story had continued through the rest of her life and not just to her retirement.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Bishop is such a great read. Sweet, enchanting, and not at all cliche. I absolutely recommend this book for (slightly older, maybe 12+) readers of Pollyanna and An Old-Fashioned Girl or fans of A Lantern in Her Hand or any other books by Bess Streeter Aldrich.

[Lori Hershberger]

Bittersweet and lovely. A good, old-fashioned read.

[Taneil · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I didn't like this book, but then my Mother pointed out the main character's (Miss Bishop!) selflessness, and I realized what a wonderful book it really was. This book seems really sad, but the events and circumstances are so interesting that you keep reading anyway. In the end (if I recall right) it is happy.

If more women and girls would take on this selfless attitude, instead of "If I don't work hard I won't get to the top", or "If I don't take it then I won't get it", and just be happy with what the Lord has given them, then they would obviously be a lot happier!

I can't say that I am the most content person in the world, I complain more than you care to hear, but when I read Miss Bishop it made me think, and inspired me to rid myself of my ugly complaints. (I'm still working on it!)

[The Storyteller's Daughter · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you do when your heart is broken, not once, but two times over? That is the story of Miss Bishop. I cried at the love she had to give up, but applauded it as a decision worthy of God's praise.

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

America's version of Goodbye Mr. Chips.

[Oolookitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miss Bishop deserves better for herself. Ella works hard her entire life, and continually and repeatedly sacrifices her dreams and her savings to help others, who, in my opinion, should’ve and could’ve worked a little harder to help themselves. She is in the midst of a lot of really selfish people who don’t appreciate her sacrifices, and some of them really make astonishing demands on her that would’ve had me running in the opposite direction. I really wanted her to just take her savings and go tour Europe like she should have.

[Emma Troyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some sweet parts, but not my favorite from this author. It reads a little like a historical account, with many chapters beginning something like, "And then this happened...and this person was born, and grew up, and the buildings grew more vines, and time marched on." I didn't feel like we got to know any of the characters very well.
Hope and Dick's love story was my favorite part.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an engaging story that kept me captivated from start to finish. The ways in which the characters’ lives are intertwined and the outcomes was very interesting.
This story was made into a movie in the 1940s.
📖 Recommended.

[Joy H.]

Added 2/15/15. (I watched the film adaptation. Did not read the book.)

I posted the following about the film at my GR group:
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Today I streamed (via Amazon Prime) "Cheers for Miss Bishop" (1941) a film adaptation of the book, Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich.

At first I thought the movie might be too "sappy" but it turned out to be a very appealing old film starring a lovely actress named Martha Scott. The film is filled with many truths about life's experiences, many narrated by the main character herself, Miss Bishop.

IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033459/?...
AMAZON PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Cheers-Miss-Bis...
"Sentimental story of young woman Ella Bishop, who graduates from a new college and stays on to teach English for over 50 years. At her retirement dinner she tells her students the story of her failed romances over the years and why she never married. She had failed romantic relationships with weak-willed Delbert and the unhappily married John Stevens. Although Ella believes her life was one of missed chances and poor choices, her students prove to her the triumphs of her life through their own successes. Rosemary De Camp's first film. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score."

The GR reviews of the book (first published in 1933) seem very favorable.
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PS-The story about Miss Bishop reminded me of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" by James Hilton, first published in 1934, a year AFTER Bess Streeter Aldrich's book about Miss Bishop was published! Exact same theme!

PPS-The story, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", was adapted to film in 1939, three years BEFORE the film about Miss Bishop came out. Since then there have been other adaptations of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips".

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have heard the LUX old time radio version March 17, 1941 of Bess Streeter Aldrich's "Miss Bishop" sticks mainly to the story but there is a lot of difference and director's license. I enjoyed the radio version but it is so different from the the story in Miss Bishop's morals and the mix and match storylines of Ella, Hope, Sam and John. Interesting that they did not stick to the storyline which is wonderful in itself, especially seeing the changes in morals, roles of women and teaching. I found the teaching style of Hope's teaching program, so weird and strange regarding food habits, but that is nothing to what they teach in schools now, which is absolutely nonsensical. One thing that reminds me of Zola's Rougon Macquart series, whereas the heredity in both physical and behavior of the family members. Seeing Delbert and Amy in their daughter and granddaughter proves the comparison.

Story in short- Ella Bishop's life, giving to others and disappointments in relationships looking back at her life and her teaching at the college.



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In 1846 the prairie town of Oak River existed only in a settler’s dream. In 1856 the dream became an incorporated reality. Ten years later a rambling village with a long muddy Main Street and a thousand souls welcomed back its Civil War boys. And by 1876 it was sprawling over a large area with the cocksure air of a new midwestern town fully expecting to become a huge metropolis.
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She was not pretty. One could scarcely say what it was that set her apart from the others,—humor, vitality, capability, or some unknown characteristic which combined them all. It was as though she said: “Well, here I am. Let’s begin.”
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“Oak River, now . . .” And in further explanation, “We just moved in from the farm—my mother and I—and settled here.” “I see. On what street, please?” “Adams Street—half way between Tenth and Eleventh.” He looked up as though at a startling piece of news. “Why . . . why . . . that’s right across the street from me.” And flushed to his thin forehead.
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There was prayer, in which the president informed the Lord of the current events of the morning, including the exact number of matriculations, and then, suddenly, abandoning statistics, asked fervently for divine love and light and guidance in the lives of these young people, which latter part of the petition seemed somehow to reach immediately the place for which it was intended.
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When he had finished, there was an announcement or two, a reading of many and stringent rules with penalties attached thereto for nonconformity,

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The close of day saw her at home in the modest wing-and-ell house “on Adams between Tenth and
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Eleventh,” where her widowed mother was attempting to settle the furnishings.
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Mrs. Bishop seldom finished her sentences. She was so uncertain about everything, so possessed by
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a sense of helplessness since her husband’s death, that at sixteen Ella had assumed management of the household and become the dictator of all plans. Just now she accomplished more in the first half-hour of her brisk labor in the unsettled home than the mother had done in the whole day. She whisked things into place with marvelous dexterity, chattering all the time of the greatest event of her life,—her first day at the new college.
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Ella in the radio version is morally flexible, in that she would marry John Stevens if he had a divorce. Ella in the book never lets others know her loves and life, she gives her wedding dress she never wears, without telling Gretchen who found the dress looking to wear it in a play. Hope and Gretchen do not know the relationship between her and Delbert their relative. In the book, Ella and John were good friends and felt an attraction, he married too young and would accept an affair but Ella is morally repulsed though she loves him. When he goes away with his wife he tells of coming back if it is possible but Ella says no. Later on in the book when he returns he is killed in a car accident trying to come back, whereas in the radio version killed in a train accident in Italy. When Ella found out that Delbert loves Amy, the wedding is broken off and even later on Delbert's deathbed he wants to hold her hand after he tells he loves her but wants her to take care of Amy who is pregnant, saying Amy is like a kitten, which reminds Ella of his words about Amy before he cheated on her. Amy dies too. In the radio version Amy comes back pregnant saying that Delbert left her, it seemed they did not marry and she did not tell of her pregnancy. Amy dies in childbirth. In the radio version Mrs. Bishop is not seen as weak and the relationship between mother and daughter reversed. Mrs. Bishop develops Alzheimer kind of symptoms.

The whole cast of characters from the town and college life are left out. Sam Peters is more in the background and their is only friendship in the novel. Ella sets Sam up from the beginning. Amy's coming to live with her aunt, Mrs. Bishop destroys so many lives. Chester loves Amy, her running of with Delbert after they have fallen in love. Chester leaves to a destructive life and returns ruined and dies with Sam Peters by her side. Ella's marriage is ruined and Irene loses her fiance Chester who seems to have committed suicide but that was not true. Irene married and her grandson falls in love with Gretchen, Hope's daughter and Amy and Delbert's grandchild. The War and loss of loved ones as well as the financial ruin of the 1929 crash shows the moving of the times as well as love being more blatant. Hope was more innocent than her daughter who is quite brazen, reminding Ella, a little of Amy but more worldly.

Would Delbert have left Ella for another, I am not certain but he was too much guided though Ella loved him and John Stevens, but only seeing Sam as a friend. Sam and Ella were both caring for others feelings and it is too bad she did not want to marry him.

[Barbara Radisavljevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The heroine of this novel, Ella Bishop, is a healthy, sensitive, energetic, and happy person as she begins her college career in the Midwest in 1876. Her energy and devotion to learning made her an excellent student, then a gifted teacher. People were drawn toward her friendliness and enthusiasm. During her life she was betrayed in love when the man she was to have married was stolen by her young cousin. She was called upon to raise their daughter when the cousin died. Later on in life Ella was sorely tempted to have an affair, but she resisted the temptation. She is an unselfish heroine whom one can both love and admire, and the novel is one the reader won't want to put down until it is finished. In this day of flexible morals, Ella shows us one can remain steadfast in doing what is right, and that one can forgive one who has inflicted deep emotional pain

[Christina Rothenbeck]

As a spinster freshman English teacher, I root for Miss Bishop. It's interesting to me how much of the teaching portions of the novel still feel relevant--some of these are conversations we're all still having about education. The ending of the novel left me crying and hoping that somewhere, I have students who remember me as fondly as Ella Bishop's students remember her--and that I won't end up penniless after years of service (another conversation we're still having, as so many English teachers work as adjuncts).

I appreciate Ella Bishop's nobility and uprightness--I do, really, and it's pretty revolutionary to find a heroine in early 20th-century American women's literature who doesn't end up in matrimony (even Willa Cather didn't manage that). But this novel also makes me grateful that I'm not living in this time period, and I've had the freedom to go my own way.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely old-fashioned story about a young woman who starts out life expecting to get an education to become a teacher, teach for a few years and then marry and have children (this is in the late 1800's)and life becomes nothing she expected (sound familiar?). You follow her through her whole life as a teacher and her incurable optimism and selflessness, and the courage to do the right thing was inspiring. Just more proof that Bess Streeter Aldrich is one of our most under-appreciated writers.

[Anajoy-rusticgirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Bess S. Aldrich. But I didn't like this book by her.

My first problem was the fact that her fiance made her cousin pregnant...oops. and his excuse was 'she's a cunning little thing-like a kitten. I'm so sorry Ella, so so sorry.'
Second was the fact that she raised that baby.
And I don't think it had a good story plot like the other stories by B.S.A.

[Christine Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good old-fashioned story about life, love and loss. Miss Bishop is an admirable character, positive, caring and altruistic. Wish there were more like her, in fiction and in real life! The book was made into a movie called Cheers for Miss Bishop, starring Martha Scott in the title role (way before she played Bob Newhart's mother!). I look forward to seeing it.

[Erin(and Hannah) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping this would be more in the style of "Mother Mason", but it was quite a bit more serious. As a reader, you really root for the main character and admire her. It's not an easy life for her, but it is sweet, especially if you like stories about great teachers.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my very favorite Aldrich books. I read it over and over again.

[Carol Frazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful and old fashioned but with truths we all know to be timeless.

[Barb Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book by one of my favorite authors.

[Jill Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story kept me reading until I was done. I could not put it down. The potential of her life and yet her disappointments were crushing. Loved it.

[Jeanne Pestal]

Loved

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow I ended up with two copies of this book, so I gave one to my daughter who called me up last week and told me I had to read it so we could talk about it. I think if this one made her bawl, she has no hope of getting through "A White Bird Flying" unscathed. I liked it a lot and would like to see the film, "Cheers for Miss Bishop," but it's not my favorite Aldrich and I still have a few yet to read!

Quotes to remember (spoilers probable):

"I am weaving at a loom with a spindle of hopes and dreams. And no matter, Mother, how lovely the pattern - no matter how many gorgeous colors I use, - always the center of it is ... you know, ... just a little house in a garden and red firelight ... and the man I love ... and children ... and happiness. For me, Mother, that's the end of all dreaming."". p.26

"Life does not appear to arrange itself into definite periods at the time one is living those years. It is only when a woman looks back upon it from the hilltop of maturity that she is able to say, "That was the period of my darkest sorrow," or, "Those were the years of my uncertainty."" p.125

"In the first place, everyone isn't entitled to happiness, not at the expense of someone else. Happiness gained that way ceases to be happiness."" p.164

"Wit and humor and lively spirits are of no age, --and a woman who holds them all with no conscious effort is ageless." p. 249

"Was it possible, then, that all the suffering and humiliation of that early day had to be, in order that Gretchen and Ronald might have this very beautiful love for each other?"p.299

" The remembrance of her in men's hearts would not be for anything she possessed,--but for what she had done."..."...by doing her simple duty from day to day..."p. 335

[Paterson Loarn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beth Streeter Aldrich, 1881-1954, was a popular American author who is now underrated. Written in 1933, the book was made into a movie, Cheers for Miss Bishop, in 1941. Miss Bishop is a wonderful character. Having been one of the first cohort of students to study at Midwestern University, her life story is interwoven with that of her alma mater. The undeserved suffering Miss Bishop goes through, as a result of the selfishness of others, is so intolerable that the reader truly feels for her. The lady herself is resolute and clever, and her humour and kindness help her through life events that would crush many women. What I like most about the book is the insight it gives into the lives of women, emerging from America’s late pioneer stage, when winter travel meant as many buffalo hides as you could pile on to an open buggy, and moving towards the thirties, when freshmen rolled up in their own automobiles. Between those two points, Miss Bishop delivers fascinating details of politics, clothes and food. The long divided skirts of Midwestern’s first women’s basketball team raise eyebrows, but by the end of the book sorority girls are wearing strapless dresses. Many of the issues Aldrich writes about are still live, and it is interesting to think that the ultra-modern young women she describes were the grandmothers of today’s grandmothers. I liked Aldrich’s style so much that I’m now reading another of her books, A Lantern In Her Hand, about the adventures of a pioneer family at the time of Abraham Lincoln.

[Jimmy Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because it was the basis for the 1948 "Our Miss Brooks" radio show, which continued into the four-year 1950s similarly-titled television series and the 1956 movie, all starring Eve Arden.

It's a pretty loose relationship between the book and the scripted entertainment - both are about single women teachers, dedicated to ensuring their students receive a good education - and that's where I'd have to say the relationship between the two end. "Our Miss Brooks" depended heavily on the wit and sassy delivery of actress Eve Arden, while "Miss Bishop" is a public servant of the post civil war period through WWI, supporting her mother. While each wishes for the happiness of a home and family of her own, Miss Bishop hopes, while Miss Brooks actively seeks.

Having said that, the book (my copy was published in 1933) is a wonderful story of a career woman who makes a difference in the lives of all those she touches. It's not maudlin or sappy, but interesting, entertaining, and well written.

Although I was hoping for something that had the witticisms of Miss Brooks, I got the inspiration of Miss Bishop, and I think I'm the better for it. An excellent story, and for the times, exceptional.