Ohio

Ohio marks the point where two journeys crossed: Kirsten and her brother had made a life there after leaving Toronto, and the Travelling Symphony arrived on a hazardous expedition beyond its usual territory. The town where they met is never named, but Kirsten’s account makes Ohio both a place of loss and the setting of her entry into the company that would shape her life.

Kirsten’s refuge after Toronto

After leaving Toronto with her brother, Kirsten ended up in a town in Ohio. Her brother later died, leaving her there alone. The account does not identify the town or specify how long she had been living there, but it establishes that Ohio became her home in the interval between flight from Toronto and her encounter with the Travelling Symphony.

The expedition into Ohio

The Travelling Symphony came to Kirsten’s town during a spring journey intended to enlarge the company’s territory. Its route followed the Maumee River past the ruins of Toledo, then continued along the Auglaize River into Ohio. The rivers and ruined city locate the journey in a landscape reshaped by collapse, while the troupe’s stated aim gives the expedition a practical significance: it was testing whether its established range could be extended.

A costly experiment

By the time the troupe reached Ohio, it had already lost an actor to an illness described as resembling malaria. The expedition also encountered gunfire on three occasions in different places. One of the flautists was hit and nearly died from the gunshot wound. Kirsten remembered the trip as a disaster for the company, even as she remained grateful that it had passed through her town.

The encounter’s lasting consequence

The Ohio journey was a failed experiment in expansion. The Travelling Symphony never again left its usual territory, making Kirsten’s town the exceptional limit of its travels rather than the beginning of a wider route. Kirsten was fourteen when the company found her; in her later recollection, she describes that meeting as the start of her life with the troupe. Ohio therefore holds a double place in her story: she was alone there after her brother’s death, but the company’s risky detour brought her into a lasting community.