Böcker av Liz Chrysler

Located in northwestern Louisiana, DeSoto Parish exemplifies the evolution of the Southern frontier. The parish was an early Louisiana meeting ground of Frenchmen from Natchitoches, who settled along Bayou Pierre and traded with the native Caddo Indians. In the 1840s, subsistence agriculture, cattle, and moderate trade were joined by the agriculture of the cotton kingdom with its flood of new settlers, who built small farms and sizable plantations. In the late 19th century, the economy diversified as the whistle of the railroad echoed against the roar of the lumber mills. Inhabiting new station-stop towns, DeSoto Parish residents built schools, filled churches, and settled their disputes in a fine new courthouse in the parish seat of Mansfield. Comings and goings, frozen by the flash of a camera, are presented in Images of America: DeSoto Parish.

This book presents family life on a farm in the early 20th century of rural Carmel, Louisiana, as well as the beginning of oil exploration and drilling in the area. The story begins with tales of school days in a one-room schoolhouse. The chief character is a girl with dreams of becoming a school teacher. Her dreams collapse when she is unable to go into town for high school. In her disappointment she walks into the pine woods seeking solace. She stops at the Little Rock Chapel in the woods where she prays for God's help in her life. Here she meets a sympathetic stranger. As they visit, she discovers this new friend is actually a ghost-the spirit of a great-great grandmother. Awakened from her grave by an oil company drilling in the family cemetery, she sought this young grandchild, aware she needed encouragement. She tells Lenora so much, the girls swears she's had a history lesson. Love and faith provide strength for life, even with hardships. There are tremendous challenges to the country girl in this new life. She holds precious the memories of her home in the pine hills, and her beloved family-including the spirit of one she'd never really known in life. Challenge after challenge arises, but with faith in God and stamina learned on the farm, Lenora's new transient family never gives up.