Mr. Kctchic. "I like them lo go to peo¬
ple who appreciate them. I've painted
houses and had the owners take one
look at the painting and just sit down
and bawl. That really makes it all
worthwhile."
He never tires of painting North
Carolina because it's what he loves
best.
"I like calling North Carolina home
— I have no thoughts of living any¬
where else." he says.
He may be the state’s most tireless
booster. Visitors to his Landmark
Gallery above Mooresville’s Main
Street often leave with a pencil-drawn
map pinpointing the Piedmont's most
scenic old mills.
give to out-of-state tourists he meets
on the ferries. He marks the best eating
places and points of interest off the
main highway.
"I like the ferries because you go at
their pace." he says. "You may as well
sit back and enjoy it and talk to people.
Some of the dearest people I've met in
my life I met on the ferries."
But even artists suffer from burnout
occasionally. When that happens to
Mr. Kctchie. he heads for the Blue
Ridge Mountains — sometimes to his
favorite spot, the top of Mt. Mitchell.
"Uptherc. the air is so clear you feel
like you can just reach out and grab it.
molecule by molecule." he says. "You
just want to embrace the whole area."
Mollie Meant
Business
Ferry Rider
On trips to the ( )uter Banks, he takes
a stack of North Carolina road maps to
Chmquo-Penn Ptonlotion. n«or Reidivtlle.
Otfocoke lilond Lighthouse. H,de Country (see
роде
32 tor another o* Cotton Kctchic’s lighthouse
scenes)
20
Anlo-bol I um southerners were
shocked by the bold writings of
“Mrs. M.E. Gorman. Editress.**
«Л
HELEN It. WATSON
"When a woman marries." declared
an anonymous male writer in 1857.
"she vows to love, honor, and obey. A
woman makes no reserve — her con¬
tract is unconditional."
"Ladies!" cried the outraged female
journalist whose gaze was caught by
these words. "Have you read this?
What think you of this tyrant's view of
marriage as far as women are con¬
cerned? He should have given his
name that it might have been handed
down in execration to the remotest
generation of Eve’s daughters."
Penned by an unusual young woman
in a then unusual occupation for
women, this feminist reply appeared in
a Raleigh temperance and family
newspaper, the Spirit of the Age.
When she wrote it. Mollie Gorman had
just agreed to contribute each week to
the popular paper that Alexander
Gorman, her husband, edited and pub¬
lished. In words and style, her reply
typified Mollie’s determination to
bring increased respect to women.
Alexander Gorman, a progressive
and able newspaperman, had for sev¬
eral years carried a column of "chaste
essays" by women. These con¬
tributors. mindful that females who
ventured beyond the privacy of the
home would be considered brazen,
carefully identified themselves only by
given names such as Flora. Lora. Inez,
or Kate. Among these contributors
was one Mollie. Innovative as such a
group was for North Carolina in the
early 1850’s, the editor would find that
Mollie herself was even more so. Tal¬
ented and outspoken. Mollie would
become Raleigh's first known female
assistant to an editor, the "Editress"
of the Ladies Department.
Mollie’s Convictions
When she submitted her first essay
to the editor in 1855. Mollie — then
Mollie Jordan of Isle of Wight County.
Virginia — stated that the Spirit of the
Age found its way regularly to her
plantation home where, she said
shrewdly, she would not trade it for all
the other papers, magazines, and jour¬
nals to which her family subscribed.
Alexander Gorman, whether drawn by
flattery or talent, put her in print. And
Mollie at once showed her true colors.
Not for her were wordy descriptions of
sunsets, baby smiles, or the seasons'
changes that occupied her sister con¬
tributors. Mollie had something else in
mind.
She was convinced that women
were the intellectual equals of men. a
concept far from accepted then, and
she believed that their full potential
could be realized through women’s
traditional role as homemakers. To
achieve, though, women must have
better education, increased respect
from society, and the discipline to im¬
prove themselves.
Probably Mollic's convictions had
gradually developed. She had been
brought up as most girls in cultured
families of the day. visiting distant re¬
latives. spending summers at the Vir¬
ginia springs or at Old Point Comfort.
Perhaps not so typically, she had re¬
ceived an excellent classical educa-
THE STATE. September
19ВЭ
