Dark Brown Is the River: A Memoir

Ruth Mugridge Snodgrass has written a memoir of childhood in the 1930's entitled DARK BROWN IS THE RIVER, set in the small town of Hollsopple in western Pennsylvania. The twelve chapters center around family events, such as the serious illnesses of diptheria and St. Vitus' Dance, childhood games in the neighborhood, and daring adventures in the nearby Stoneycreek River. (The first chapter, "Faraway Across the Yard," won first place for non-fiction at the 2003 Midwest Writers' Conference.) Other chapters entitled "The Playhouse," "Run, Sheepy, Run," and "Little Jimmy and the Great Fall of China" reveal the strength and optimism that could not be defeated by the poverty of the Great Depression or even the Johnstown Flood of 1936 that threatened to destroy her father's store. Far from being gloomy, this 160-page book celebrates those who survived hard times with humor, faith, and compassion. The book's title refers to the Robert Louis Stevenson poem learned by all second-graders in the little three-room school on the top of the hill, which begins with the words "Dark brown is the river."