The Old Five

¹ "The Old Five" was first published in 1876 in "Appletons' Journal: a Magazine of General Literature."

² Though our concept of the frontier is linked to the western parts of the U.S., Woolson makes it clear that the region in which the story is set, the southern border of Lake Superior, is also wild and untamed.

³ Woolson has given us a precise portrayal of Catherine the schoolmistress in the last few paragraphs. As in most portrayals of frontier schoolmistresses of the time, she is more educated and cultured than the local citizenry. Also true to form, she is prim and plainly but carefully dressed -- "as neat as a Quaker" -- carefully separating herself from the "cheap fineries" of the populace. The unusual quality we see here is her desire to climb to the next level of society, as epitomized by Miss Farno, a woman of breeding and sophistication.

⁴ Catherine's faults are accurately observed by Miss Farno's brother, whose class snobbery is absolute and unforgiving. Miss Farno notices the same qualities in the schoolmistress, but she is insightful enough to see that there is some depth and passion hidden behind Catherine's pretensions.

⁵ The story's feminine threesome is now complete. On one end stands Miss Farno, all coolness and sophistication. On the other is Polly, portrayed and described by the other two women as more animal than human, yet possessing a depth of emotion that neither of the other two can approach. In the middle is Catherine the schoolmistress, who hates Polly for reminding her of her own connections to the lower classes and worships Miss Farno's worldliness, which Catherine hopes someday to emulate.
It's worth noting that Catherine's clear dislike of Polly deviates from the typical portrayal of the schoolmistress' relationship with her pupils, which tends to be warm and maternal.

⁶ From this moment, Robert Kenrick becomes the pivot in the two women's relationship. He is similar to Catherine in that he is somewhat educated and does not come from a privileged background. However, he has chosen to live a simple, workingman's existence, the exact opposite of the sophisticated lifestyle Catherine envisions for herself. No wonder Catherine finds her attraction to him so unpleasant. He represents the world she is fleeing from, and the world she is destined to join if she lets down here guard for a moment.

⁷ In this scene, Woolson shows Catherine's utter inability to maintain the cool, graceful facade of her sophisticated ideal, Miss Farno. She cannot control her feelings as Miss Farno can and must awkwardly and forcibly deny them by refusing Kenrick's help, which Miss Farno graciously accepts. Her awkwardness is parodied as she crawls up toward the cave, and her position relative to Kenrick is also displayed as, in the moment she declares herself "far above him," she loses her footing and slides down the slope.

⁸ "The whole story" of Catherine and Kenrick's relationship that he alludes to in this interchange with Miss Farno is never explained in the story. It is possible that this passage is a leftover from an earlier draft that mentions a relationship between Catherine and Kenrick that ended badly, or it may be that Woolson simply wishes to plant the idea of a previous, failed relationship in the reader's mind by hinting at in in this passage.

⁹ As the three women struggle with Kenrick's life-threatening crisis on the mountain, their true natures determine their destinies. Polly, the most instinctual of the three, gives herself fully to the needs of the moment, discovers the nature of Kenrick's predicament and frees him in an act of selfless devotion without concern for her own safety. Catherine, who has spent the story fighting against her impulsive nature in an attempt to be a shallow sophisticate like Miss Farno, acknowledges her love for Kenrick when she sees his danger, then marries him and spends the rest of her life adoring him. And Miss Farno, who dabbled in the foreign world of emotions in her flirtation with Kenrick, distances herself from the rescue effort, leaves town hurriedly to run away from her lingering feelings for Kenrick, then marries a dull, middle aged man who gives her material comfort without danger of excitement or romance.