The Idyl of Red Gulch

¹ "The Idyl of Red Gulch" was first published in 1869 a San Francisco journal, "Overland Monthly and Outwest Magazine." The term "idyl" in the title refers to a poem or tale describing an incident taking place in rural or pastoral surroundings. Harte is implying that this story is something like the mythic romances that can be found in ancient Greek tales or Arthurian legends.

² Our introduction to "Miss Mary" gives us quite a bit of information. She teaches in a "log schoolhouse beyond the pines," an idyllic rendering of the one room schoolhouses in California's small towns. The contrast with Sandy's dirty, drunken stupor makes her appear even more fragile and pure than she might have seemed from the description of her daintily moving through the dusty meadow to pick blossoms from an azalea bush.

³ Mary is a newcomer in California -- from Boston, we find out later. In depicting Mary's first encounter with Sandy, Harte patronizes her feminity in a way that is a bit offensive by today's standards but in keeping with the attitudes of the period.

⁴ Our understanding of the schoolmistress is enlarged in this passage. She is clearly much loved by her students, who appear to be both happy and well mannered. And, though she remains aloof toward the now-sober Sandy, her laughter at the end of the paragraph shows that she has humor and lightness. She is light years away from the birch-wielding schoolmasters appearing in so many stories in this collection. She is the ideal teacher, and she has the respect of all her children and, we find out as the story progresses, the surrounding community.

⁵ The reverence with which the community members treat the schoolmistress is a far cry from the suspicion and guarded respect shown toward the schoolmasters in other stories. This description indicates a more positive attitude toward the women who bestow their motherly graces on the schoolchildren than toward the gruff, barely competent men who so often inhabit the fictional schoolhouses.

⁶ The schoolmistress' virtue is clearly being tested. She has been seeing Sandy somewhat regularly, Harte implies, and is smitten. In these untrammeled woods -- an idyllic setting perfect for the"Idyl" of the title -- Harte almost leads us to the conclusion that Sandy is reformed. But the author is careful to tell us that love is simply a new intoxication for this weak man, and contrary to the storylines of many romances, the valiant gestures of an undependable individual are more likely to bring misery than salvation to the object of his affection.

⁷ In this scene, Harte has brought together two women who seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum but, because of their mutual affection for the dissolute Sandy, are revealed to be more similar than they appear. As the white-clad, virginal schoolmistress sits next to the overdressed, over-painted prostitute, the reader is expected to shudder at the image of the painted lady Miss Mary could become if she yields to sensual temptation.

⁸ The schoolmistress has left Red Gulch for good, having triumphed over her own wayward sensuality. Instead of leaving the town in disgrace with a babe in arms (a scenario that has been played itself out in countless stories), she leaves with grace and nobility, taking another woman's child from a world of shame to one of promise and opportunity. By removing Tommy, Miss Mary is symbolically fulfilling the ultimate schoolmistress' role: reforming and civilizing the rough children of the frontier.