The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990 Page: 477
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Fain-Bledsoe Correspondence
Actually, the foregoing metaphor is probably a bit too romantic. The
letters clearly illustrate that courtship and marriage in the late nine-
teenth century in rural and small-town Texas were sometimes moti-
vated by practical, even business and financial, considerations rather
than by romance. The urgency of David Fain's proposals to Jessie Bled-
soe is no doubt explained as much by the death of his second wife early
in 1892-leaving a household with three small children and a host of
domestic duties generally thought to be the sole responsibility of the
farm wife-as by his desire for a loving marital partner. Under these
conditions Jessie's implicit attempt to introduce a modicum of intimacy
and playfulness into the courtship seems especially poignant.
Many today believe that a rapidly changing moral climate has placed
severe, perhaps irresistible, pressures on the traditional institutions of
marriage and family life. The Fain-Bledsoe correspondence-and,
more directly, what is known of the correspondents' lives before they
met-suggests that forces were at work in nineteenth-century rural
Texas that were scarcely less devastating to those institutions. Work,
whether in the fields or in the household, was physically demanding
and proceeded from sun to sun, and beyond. The need for help in per-
forming the never-ending labor of farm life, as well as a lack of reliable
birth-control devices, was in part responsible for making large fami-
lies common in that environment. It was a familial condition that was
particularly difficult for women, many of whom found themselves al-
most continuously in one stage or another of childbearing and child-
rearing.
To make matters worse, medical facilities were primitive or nonexis-
tent. Undoubtedly the factor that was most disruptive to family life at
the time was the prevalence of untreatable diseases and sudden death.
It is hardly surprising that David Fain, finding himself in middle age
and having twice before experienced the death of a spouse, adopted a
rather businesslike approach to his courtship of Jessie Bledsoe. Nor,
having some inkling of the situation that awaited her, was Jessie's reluc-
tance to answer David's proposals with an unconditional affirmative
unusual.
The Fain-Bledsoe letters, quite apart from their value as historical
documents, are a delight to read. Though they are genuine, they ap-
pear almost to be epistolary fiction. Throughout the correspondence
suspense is maintained by the vicissitudes of the courtship and by an
undercurrent of tension that ebbs and flows. A hint of intrigue here, a
hint of manipulative intent there add spice. But the aspect of the letters
that impresses me most is that of character revelation. Both correspon-
dents seem to reveal much more of their characters than they ever real-477
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990, periodical, 1990; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101213/m1/547/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.