The Song of the Lark

Kronborg appreciates his wife’s fortitude. They never lost a child, and she runs the household with a tight and loving organization, though they also allow their children a good degree of individual freedom, as long as they discharge their responsibilities. Peter Kronborg was born in a Scandinavian community in Minnesota. He speaks both English and Swedish, but in English, “a good deal of his pretentiousness was because he habitually expressed himself in a book learned language, wholly remote from anything personal, native, or homely” (8).

Dr. Archie checks in on the new baby and brings treats such as grapes to Thea. Thea makes progress over several weeks. She is intelligent and loves to read in her spare time. Thea reads English classics and is sensitive about her immigrant background. Thea also takes music lessons with Professor Wunsch, who she insists is a good teacher despite his habitual drinking. Even though she is glad for a respite from practicing, she defends Professor Wunsch when Dr. Archie criticizes his methods. She convinces the doctor to give Wunsch an overcoat.

Mrs. Kronborg runs her household with strict organization. She expects each child to pull their weight and behave according to her view of propriety and the expectations of a minister’s family. Even so, “She respected them as individuals, and outside of the house they had a great deal of liberty. But their communal life was definitely ordered” (9). Mrs. Kronborg comes from a family that was better off financially than Mr. Kronborg. She owns property in Nebraska that provides her with an income from the sale of crops. Mr. Kronborg’s parents were from Norway and Sweden and immigrated to America in poverty. Mrs. Kronborg’s eldest daughter Anna and Mr. Kronborg’s sister Tillie help her run the household.

Professor Wunsch lives in the town tailor, Fritz Kohler’s, house. Thea’s mother supports her talent in and study of music, even though people in the town distrust Professor Wunsch due to his drunken lapses, his lack of care for his person, and his extreme poverty. Professor Wunsch is a good teacher. He is well-read and traveled. He takes a special interest in Thea and her talent because “[h]e had lived for so long among people whose sole ambition was to get something for nothing that he had learned not to look for seriousness in anything” (14). This refers to experiences earlier in his life with professional musicians in European and American cultural centers.

Dr. Archie invites Thea to pass by his house to pick strawberries. Dr. Archie’s wife closes herself off from the town; she is unfriendly and obsessed with keeping a dust-free house. Dr. Archie is dissatisfied with his married life, and Mrs. Archie is content that she lured the doctor into marriage so she could get away from her family. They were happy to see her go. Thea is frightened of Mrs. Archie. She brings her baby brother, Thor, who is her special responsibility and a source of pride and joy, with her to pick the strawberries. Mrs. Archie gives her a tiny basket, despite the obvious large basket Thea brought with her. She warns Thea not to trample the vines and shuts the door on her. Shaken by the older woman’s rudeness, Thea picks just a few strawberries then rushes home to tell her mother. Thea is embarrassed for Dr. Archie that he has such a wife.

Thea and Dr. Archie discuss the differences between city people and country people. Thea cannot explain how she knows they are different, just that they are. The doctor tells Thea he thinks Wunsch makes her practice too much and that it makes her nervous. She insists the doctor is wrong. Dr. Archie invites Thea to pay a medical visit with him to Spanish Johnny. Spanish Johnny was the first Mexican to move to Moonstone and lives in an area just outside of town called Mexican Town. While Dr. Archie attends to Johnny, Thea sits with Johnny’s wife, Mrs. Tellamantez. Although Johnny is popular in town, he has bursts of madness that make people pity and judge his wife rather than him. No one knows what exactly is wrong with Johnny’s psyche, but Mrs. Tellamantez explains that Johnny cannot deny the lure of playing and singing for crowds when he drinks. She insists it isn’t the drink but the performance and the crowds that egg him on that put him in his fevered state.

Ray Kennedy is a 30-year-old freight train conductor who wants to marry Thea when she’s old enough. He brings Thea, along with Johnny, Mrs. Tellamantez, and Thea’s brothers, Gunner and Axel, to the sand hills. Ray has traveled a lot and leads an interesting life. He is not formally educated, but smart, well-read and traveled, and he “had a collection of good stories. He was observant, truthful, and kindly—perhaps the chief requisites in a good storyteller” (25). Ray resolves to establish a stable lifestyle by the time Thea is old enough to get married so he can provide for her. Thea appreciates Ray’s adventurous life. She wants adventures of her own. Professor Wunsch discerns Ray’s plans for Thea and does not approve. He considers outings frivolous and doesn’t like anything that takes Thea away from the piano. He does not feel Thea should be wasted on an ordinary life with an ordinary man. While in the sand hills, Thea marvels at the beauty around her and remembers other times when she visited places away from towns and people. She likens the feelings she gets from nature to the thrill of a parade or band or patriotic speeches.

Thea takes on music pupils. This earns her enough money to decorate a little room in the half-story of the house as a space of her own. Thea’s new room is frigid in the winter, but it is an oasis of privacy away from her family. In this room, she feels herself become more her, separate from her family. She reads for hours with no one to bother her. Ray passes the house on his way from the depot to the boardinghouse each night and sees Thea’s light. He wonders what she thinks in that room alone and is convinced she is developing a fine mind. He is the only person whom she allows to bestow a nickname, which he pronounces “Thee” instead of “Thee-a.” He tells her he does it partly to honor his friend, Theodore, who died and whom he also called “Thee.” She doesn’t know how to deal with sentimentality in others, so she lets Ray have his nickname for her. Thea performs at the Moonstone Opera House for the annual Christmas celebration. There is a rivalry between the Baptist church and Mr. Kronborg’s Methodist church. Mrs. Johnson, the Baptist president of the concert committee, takes delight in rebuking Thea prior to the performances. She considers Thea’s friendships with Mexicans and grown men to be inappropriate. Wunsch wants Thea to play a complex, artful solo, but she and her mother favor a more popular tune because they both know the townspeople will not understand Wunsch’s musical selections. Wunsch wears her down, and she agrees to play the more complex piece. It is 10 minutes long and bores the audience after five. Thea’s rival, Lily Fisher, from the wealthier Baptist community in town, wears a dress trimmed in swan’s down and performs a “recitation” that is really a song she sings after she speaks a single prose line. She receives an encore. Thea is envious of the praise from a town full of people who don’t understand music, just what they like, but she also feels like the town, her family, and even the Christmas presents on the table are now tarnished in her eyes. She decides she would rather people hate her than be as stupid as Lily and the people who applauded her.

Mr. Kronborg knows Thea is remarkable, but he also thinks all of the other Kronborg children are remarkable. Mrs. Kronborg considers Thea more interesting than the other children and ponders her singular nature. They both agree that Thea is special. One of the reasons for this is her relationship with her aunt Tillie, who annoys most people. Tillie is Thea’s biggest fan and makes enemies for Thea by talking about Thea’s greatness as an established fact among people outside the family. Tillie is passionate about her drama club, but when the drama club needs a singer like Thea, Tillie makes it seem that Thea would find the drama club beneath her. The drama club is therefore astonished at Thea’s conceitedness. Thea is ashamed of the spectacle her aunt makes of herself when she acts or recites, but she tolerates Tillie as no one else does. This is one of Thea’s features that Mrs. Kronborg considers singular.

Professor Wunsch teaches Thea his favorite opera, “Orpheus.” He inspires her with a story of the famous alto he saw perform as Eurydice. She asks if the singer was beautiful. Wunsch tells her that she was ugly, like Mrs. Tellamantez, but that she had some quality he could not describe in English. The melody and words of the opera move Fritz, who notes that Wunsch always returns to the same refrain. Fritz, who is more artistic than the average tailor, as his textile “painting” of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow attests, understands what it means to have lost “a Eurydice.”

Thea turns 13. Wunsch advises her to learn German so she can better study singing. He knows she wants to be a singer before she knows it herself. When Wunsch suggests she may want to get married instead of becoming a musician, Thea says no. She laments that she can’t study German or singing in Moonstone because her school doesn’t teach German, and it is so far from Denver where she could study such things. Wunsch tells her that distance, people, and even the world are small—that only one thing, desire, is big. Wunsch promises to speak German to her more to help her learn. Professor Wunsch notices how her voice changes when she recites or sings in character, another one of her natural talents. Wunsch annoys Thea when he asks her to interpret a poem he teaches her. She says questions spoil things. He tells her he has to ask to see what she knows. He insists singers must have “something” inside from the beginning, that it can’t be taught. He says the other American girls have nothing inside of them. Thea also knows that there is something different about her, but she sees it as a friendly spirit more than a real part of herself. Professor Wunsch inspires the thought that she could leave Moonstone for something new.

Dr. Archie predicts that Wunsch will leave Moonstone soon because he’s been creating a ruckus in a drunken state more often lately. Dr. Archie wonders aloud how he and the rest of the Moonstone settlers ended up there. He says they are all nerveless gamblers not willing to ante or bet very much. He tells her he always thought she had more in her head than other kids her age, then asks her what her future plans include. She demurs, so he tells her she shouldn’t marry and settle down in Moonstone without giving herself a chance to do other things first. Thea tells him he needs to be nice to Wunsch because she doesn’t want the professor to leave, that he is the only person who can teach her what she wants to learn. She then confides in him that she wants to go to Germany to study music.

Dr. Archie regrets never having children of his own. He doesn’t feel that he truly belongs in Moonstone because “[h]e had the uneasy manner of a man who is not among his own kind, and who has not seen enough of the world to feel that all people are in some sense his own kind” (42). Dr. Archie feels that his life turned out fine but unsatisfactory, especially within his marriage.

Thea has a glorious summer. She makes a dollar each week from her four pupils, which inspires her family to take her practicing more seriously. She takes two-year-old Thor into the countryside where she sits in the shade and reads while he plays. This idyllic time lasts until the first part of September when Wunsch engages in an extensive binge. Mrs. Kohler sends Thea home without admitting her to the house for her mid-week lesson. On Saturday, Thea finds Mrs. Tellamantez in the ravine by the Kohler house. She sews and keeps an eye on the frightfully still Wunsch, whom Mrs. Kohler found unconscious under the train trestle. Thea sits down to wait with them for the men to come and carry Wunsch home. When they arrive, Ray, who disapproves of someone with Wunsch’s problems teaching Thea, tells Thea to clear out as this is an ugly situation. Thea resents his tone and assumptions. She refuses to leave Wunsch. Dr. Archie finally convinces her to go. The men move Wunsch to the house, where Ray sits with him until he has to leave for work. He looks at Thea’s favorite thing, the textile picture of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. The picture moves him as it does Thea. Spanish Johnny stays with Wunsch after Ray leaves, because Dr. Archie had to deliver a baby and he fears Wunsch’s state of mind when the man finally wakes.

Johnny wakes and finds Wunsch in a rage. The noise awakens the Kohlers, who move the dresser in front of their door and watch out their window in terror as the professor grabs an axe and destroys Fitz’s dove house. Johnny gets help and several men arrive to tie Wunsch up and subdue his violence. His actions become a didactic warning around town to avoid alcohol. When he recovers from his episode, Wunsch refurbishes his score of “Orpheus” as a gift for Thea. He writes an inscription for her that he believes she will understand later in life. Wunsch leaves town, because the owner of the rented piano he used repossessed it and everyone refused to send their children to study with him after the story of his episode. His last sight of the town is of Thea. She stands of the platform where she waves and shouts farewell. He thinks she is like a prickly pear flower rather than something more beautiful and delicate.

On an outing to a nearby settlement where Mr. Kronborg preaches, Mr. and Mrs. Kronborg discuss Thea’s future. Thea is old enough to leave school, where the Kronborgs agree she learns little due to the current principal, whom Thea considers a “natural enemy” like Mrs. Johnson. Mr. Kronborg believes Thea can take over Professor Wunsch’s job as the town’s music teacher and raise prices for the lessons, because the town respects her talent and knows she’s reliable. Mrs. Kronborg worries that Thea is “so serious that she’s never had what you might call any real childhood. Seems like she ought to have the next few years sort of free and easy. She’ll be tied down with responsibilities soon enough” (50). Mrs. Kronborg suspects Ray’s plans for Thea, and while she likes Ray, she believes Thea can do better. Mr. Kronborg doesn’t believe that Thea is the marrying type and that she needs an occupation so she can live independently.

The Kronborgs build an addition for Thea’s lessons, but Thea continues to use her nook as a bedroom instead of the new room, because she feels vehemently that the nook is hers. The townspeople talk about Thea’s increased prices, and Mrs. Johnson spreads the word that she will never pay “professional prices” to Thea. However, because Thea has so many pupils, she can afford to buy many nice things for the family. She finds rest and peace playing with Thor, who remains her favorite sibling.

Thea takes teaching each pupil more seriously than Wunsch did; he only took teaching Thea seriously. Mrs. Johnson goes back on her initial declaration and enrolls her daughter Grace in lessons. When Thea’s earnestness as a teacher comes out in sharpness with her older pupils, Mrs. Johnson threatens her reputation with the townspeople. Thea acquiesces to her demands out of fear of losing income. At home, Thea earns more independence after she drops out of school and works full time. Her parents allow her to go buggy riding with Ray alone and spend time at Spanish Johnny’s singing with the Mexicans. Ray plans to propose to Thea when she turns 17. In the meantime, he understands the pressures of her life, so he finds ways to amuse her. He is chivalrous, deeply kind, and never disrespectful. He suggests offhand that she study music in Chicago and come back in fancy clothes to quell the bile Mrs. Johnson spreads. He assures Thea that her students’ parents are quite content; the piano tuner told him so. Ray is content to wait for Thea as long as she wants. He never speaks to her about his plans.

The brakeman in the caboose, where Ray arranges for Mrs. Kronborg and Thea to ride to Denver on an outing, teases Ray about Thea. He insinuates Thea will not make a good wife because her teaching takes precedence over domestic arts. He stops before he insults Ray too much, because he knows Ray is good with his fists. Ray acknowledges Thea’s teaching is important and doesn’t seem to mind that she is not domestic. He takes all of the brakeman’s racy pictures of women off the caboose walls in preparation for the journey. Ray gives Thea a turquoise stone he looted from a mummified Indigenous body in an ossuary. He tells her about his hope to arrange a camping trip to Canyon de Chelle and to stay in the cliff dwellings. He does not tell her that this is his hope for his wedding trip. The journey is eventful, interesting, and fun. Ray tells Thea and Mrs. Kronborg about the landscape they pass through. At a layover in a very poor little town, Mrs. Kronborg provides charity to two men who ride the rails because they have “bad luck,” no home, and no work. She does not pass judgment, nor does she fear them.

Dr. Archie spends time away from Moonstone to oversee his new mining investment. Ray takes Thea for drives some Sundays to get her away from the weariness of her lessons. The Kronborgs, as a minister’s family, are acutely aware of how others perceive their actions. Because of his role in the community as a preacher, and to lead the young ladies in the congregation to be more involved, Mr. Kronborg wants Thea to do more with the church. He commits her to playing the organ and leading the singing at Wednesday evening prayer meetings. Mrs. Kronborg believes that people will gossip no matter what their role or status is in the community, but she doesn’t express this “dangerous” opinion to her children. Thea still believes that public opinion can be affected by one’s actions. She believes that “if you clucked often enough, the hens would mistake you for one of themselves” (62). Mrs. Kronborg and Thea attend the prayer meetings with Mr. Kronborg. The forlorn tone of the meetings brings down Thea’s mood. Thea takes comfort in literature to forget all the grim and ailing faces at the prayer meetings. The chapter ending foreshadows that one day, the memory of those same faces will fortify Thea.

Thea’s older sister Anna is conventionally devout, fits in with the town, and doesn’t look or act Scandinavian like the rest of her family does. While Thea likes people for their oddities, Anna judges them for the gossip she hears. Anna doesn’t approve of Thea’s secular music. Thea isn’t as interested in religion as Anna is, but she starts wondering about religion when typhoid kills many of her former school mates.

A man who is dirty and unhoused comes to town. He claims to be a clown and performs a crude spectacle in the street before the police arrest him. When the town expels him, he drowns himself in their water supply. People in town get sick and die from the polluted water. This event deeply moves Thea, and she wonders how life can degrade a human being so much. She realizes that everyone in town is to blame for not being kinder to the man. To Thea, this is a sign that even religious people don’t act out the tenets of their belief systems. Ray, who believes women should be devout, refuses to discuss Thea’s doubts. Dr. Archie advises Thea that religion is about telling people what not to do, and rather than worry, people should enjoy the lives they have as much as possible. Deep, adult conversations with Dr. Archie inspire Thea to leave her beloved Moonstone for new adventures.

A passenger train crashes into Ray’s freight train, and he is gravely injured. Thea, Mr. Kronborg, and Dr. Archie go to the scene of the accident. Dr. Archie cannot save Ray, so he gives him morphine to ease the pain. Thea holds his hand and comforts him. As he dies, Ray realizes that all his dreams were always out of his reach, including his dream of marrying Thea. Even so, Ray is grateful that he had so many dreams, and Thea’s gentle kisses to his cheek and forehead make him very happy just before he dies. Thea realizes for the first time her power to influence other people’s emotions.

Before his death, Ray stipulated that his life insurance money would go to Thea so she could attend music school in Chicago. He asks Dr. Archie to act as executor of his wishes. Mr. Kronborg has reservations about Thea moving to Chicago because the city is full of vice and danger. Dr. Archie convinces him it’s the best thing to do for Thea. Dr. Archie accompanies Thea to Chicago and helps her settle in.