“I know exactly how to solve your problem,” James exclaimed. “It is very simple. I shall stand up in church after the sermon on Sunday and ask the congregation if anyone needs two maids.”
“Oh thank you, that is a brilliant idea,” said Cara.
“Come and see me on Monday morning,” said James. “I shall be at university after ten in the morning, so be sure to arrive here between eight and nine AM.”
“Thank you again, James,” said Cara, pumping his hand up and down. “What are you studying, by the way?”
“I am reading law at university,” he answered. The girls took their leave of James and made their way to the house of the lady who had wanted to hire Alva. They told her they would not have an answer until next Monday. She was not pleased and said that she might have hired another maid by then. Alva said that she would take that chance.
The following Monday found the two girls in James’ presence at 8:30 AM.
“I have good news girls, good news,” James cheerfully stated, rubbing his hands together excitedly as soon as he entered the dining room where they were waiting to meet him. “Mrs. Martin, a lady of great means has expressed an interest in hiring both of you. She assumes that you must be hard workers as you come recommended by me.”
“Oh yes, we are both used to heavy farm labor, so we are definitely not going to let you down,” Cara assured him.
And thus, the two girls found positions as maids in the house of Mrs. Martin, a very kind-hearted lady who paid them a fair wage that both girls sent home to Ireland regularly.
Chapter Four
Three years passed by in the blink of an eye. The girls worked hard, with their Sundays off, spent at church and with Uncle Liam.
But times were hard back home in Ireland. On a Sunday in June, Cara sat thoughtfully in church while the pastor was holding his sermon, the morning sun streaming through the church windows.
My beloved Ireland is hurting due to the potato famine and there is not much that I can do, except for providing for my family there. I must send them more money and more crates with smoked bacon, biscuits, wine and candied fruit. I have been sending them these food crates every month, and should do so every two weeks. So many Irish folks have had to come to America to escape from the misery back home… Oh, Ireland… How I hope that the potato crops don’t fail next year. And I long for mama and papa and my siblings, perhaps I should work towards securing their passage on the next ship… I shall write to mama and suggest that to her. The fastest way for me to earn their passage would be if I could get married to a farmer. I can make far more money as a farmer’s wife selling produce than as a maid. It is quite a bit of money, the fare for fourteen people. In any case, it is time that I get married. I am already twenty-three and could get left on the shelf if I wait too long… I noticed that Uncle Liam has a mail order bride catalog. I should get my picture taken and send it to such a catalog. That is the quickest way of finding a husband. I have heard that there is a shortage of brides in the Wild West. Perhaps I could find a farmer husband very quickly there. In addition, I could ask mother and father and the siblings to join me on the farm, and life would be perfect again…
The following day, kind Mrs. Martin gave Cara the day off. Cara told her that she needed to see a doctor, she did not want her to think that she would soon stop working for her.
Cara posed for a daguerreotype in a studio in Boston. She was surprised as to how beautiful she looked in the photograph. Her features lent themselves well to being photographed, her eyes looking large and starry in the picture.
She took the picture to the publishing house that produced mail order bride catalogs and dictated the text that she wanted to appear next to the image. She said, “Hard-working twenty-three-year-old woman who grew up on a farm in Ireland is looking for a man who lives in the West, age twenty-five to thirty-five. Irish girl would like to live again on a farm, prefers a man who has a farmstead.”
The mail order catalog that Cara wanted her image to appear in was meant for men living in the
West. She hoped that someone would write to her soon. She anticipated a letter or two in the mail every day, and she eagerly looked in the letterbox as soon as she and Alva arrived home from work.
One day in August that year, there was a letter from an unfamiliar address. Cara took the letter out of the mailbox with keen anticipation, her heart pounding.
“Oh, is that a letter from a man who saw your image in the mail order bride catalog?” asked Alva, whom Cara had informed early on of her plan.
“Yes, it seems to be the case,” Cara replied. She bound into the dining room, sat down at the dining table and opened the letter with trembling fingers. Alva politely went to the guest bedroom, to give her some privacy.
The envelope contained a daguerreotype and a few sheaths of paper. Cara first eagerly gazed at the image. It was of a man standing next to a chair, with his hand on the chair. He had a handsome, masculine face with strong features, a firm chin, and large eyes. She could tell that he must be quite tall. He was of medium build. She felt very attracted to him and knew with certainty that this was a person that she could fall in love with.
Alva peeked into the living room with curiosity. “Is he handsome?” She asked.
“It’s love at first sight, Alva,” said Cara, her eyes sparkling with delight.
“Let me see,” said Alva, and took the photo. She exclaimed, “Oh, he is handsome, my word. What a lucky wench you are! What’s his name?”
Cara laughed and gazed again at the image. “Aidan. I shall write him a reply immediately.”
She settled down to pen her reply.
Dear Aidan,
I am truly honored to hear from you and like your picture very much. I believe that we could make a happy couple. I shall not waste any more time here in Boston but will join you out West as you suggest. I take it that we can work together on your farm and sell produce at the market in town.
You say that most people travel in wagons to California. That is what I too shall do, then. I will make inquiries as to how to get to California. I have sent most of my wages to my family in Ireland, but I will ask my Uncle Liam to lend me the money for the trip to California.
I am a diligent and experienced farm hand and am also very good with children. I helped mother around the house regularly, with cooking, sewing and minding the children. I am the oldest child and thus have taken on many responsibilities.
I have heard many stories about the Wild West. That everything there is bigger and better, that the soil is more fertile and the land cheaper.
I will write to you again as soon as I know when I will be embarking on the journey to the West.
Yours truly,
Cara Sullivan
She heard Uncle Liam opening the door just then. Cara jumped up and exclaimed, “Uncle, I have heard from a farmer in California, he wants me to be his bride. I must travel out West to join him.”
“Dear girl,” said Uncle Liam, “Are you sure that that is the best path to take?”
“Yes, uncle,” said Cara. “I wouldn’t want to end an old maid… Besides, I am hoping to ask my family to join me in California on the farm.”
“Have you written to them about this plan?”
“Not yet, uncle, but I will write this very day.”
Cara sat down again to pen another letter, this time to her mother, discussing her plan to move to Aidan’s farm and asking her mother if she would like to live in California.
She then turned again to her uncle, who was smoking a pipe and reading the paper. “Uncle Liam, would you lend me the money to travel to California?”
“Well girl, do you really think that you should go? Why don’t you wait to see what your mother says?”
“Very well, uncle,” said Cara, feeling downcast, thinking, I shall have to earn my passage to the West. I will sew in the evenings for ladies who need a seamstress.
The next day, Cara knocked once again at James’s door. After an exchange o
f pleasantries, she announced to James, “James I have news, I am to be a mail order bride.” She also explained to him that she needed to earn her passage out West and needed to find extra work as a seamstress.
James looked sad and said pensively, “I am so sorry to hear that you will be leaving Boston. I should have liked to have you remain within this town. But you are right, you should marry soon. I must admit that I would have liked to marry you myself, but my parents would never have consented to our betrothal. You yourself have understood that, as I could gather from your demeanor towards me early on. But the least I can do to help you is to find work for you as a seamstress. Yes, I shall ask our church congregation if anyone has a need for a seamstress. And you must take the Oregonian trail in mid-March so that you reach the West before the winter sets in.”
In this fashion, Cara was able to find a way of paying for her passage out West.
She heard two months later from her mother that the family would try to remain in Ireland, and she should continue to send money home. But it was good that there was a place for the family to go to, should there be the necessity. Her mother worried, though, that Cara might not be able to make as much money on a farm as a farmer’s wife as she did as a maid in Boston.
Cara replied in a letter to her mother that she thought that she would be able to make far more money as a farmer’s wife, as she would be selling goods in the market and receiving money in return, rather than depending on someone else to pay her wages.
As the time grew closer for Cara to make her way to the place where she would rendezvous with the group with wagons, she had to live frugally and count every penny. Her work as a seamstress paid just enough for her to afford the passage out West. She had corresponded with a family that would give her a space in a wagon and feed her. She was to meet the Callaghans in Missouri at the end of March. She would stay for a few days with them, and then embark with them on the long trek, which would take up to six months.
Finally, the day arrived when Cara was to leave. She dressed in a sensible green gingham gown. Uncle Liam was to accompany her to Missouri. He was not happy with her plan to move West, as he believed that she would eventually have found a nice husband in Boston and would have preferred to have her continue to live in that town. But he realized that she wanted to earn more and send back more money to Ireland, to help the family through the famine. Cara embraced her good friend Alva and bade her farewell.
“Dear Alva, I shall write to you regularly. Maybe someday I will send for you, if we need a farm worker and if you would like to work on a farm.”
“I am used to living in Boston now,” said Alva, “And find that I like city life… But perhaps you will one day come back to Boston to see your uncle and me?”
“I most certainly will,” said Cara.
Loyal James was also at the river, with tears in his clear brown eyes, that he brushed away surreptitiously. Cara was thrilled to see him, and said, “Dear James, I have seldom had as loyal and kind a friend as you. I shall sorely miss you… But I shall come back to Boston for a visit with my future husband. Perhaps you will be married too by then. I would love to see you married. You deserve a nice girl.”
Uncle Liam and Cara were to take a series of steamboats and horse carriages to Missouri and he would then return back to Boston. He had taken some time off from his work at the mill, which had been difficult to arrange with his foreman.
The journey to Missouri was uneventful and Uncle Liam left Cara with the Callaghans. He knew she was in good hands. They were a family of five, two parents in their forties and three adolescent children, all boys.
They started at daybreak a few days later. They met with a large group with wagons, consisting of at least a hundred people. This way there would be very little chance of being harmed by Indians. It had been observed that Indians hardly ever bothered wagon groups that formed a large circle of wagons when they made a rest stop or overnight stop.
The plains Indians interacted in a friendly fashion with the travelers, bringing furs and moccasins to trade for metal cooking implements.
Missouri was flat with fields of grain. The horizons were expansive and conducive to meditative thoughts.
A month into the journey Cara sat down and worked on a letter that she wanted to send to her mother once she arrived in California.
We have remained safe on the journey so far. The Callaghans have been very kind to me, I have always had enough to eat. We make stops at forts and at stores where one can buy new supplies. We follow the route of rivers and streams so that we have enough to drink and to eat. Men sometimes fish and hunt. The plains Indians also sometimes give us food in exchange for metal implements. The route that we will be taking will go across South Pass, a wide and easy way across the Rocky Mountains. We follow the Sweetwater River and North Platte River. The North Platte River Valley heads West and slowly rises to take one across the Rockies. Some of the travelers with us will go to Willamette Valley in Oregon. The Callaghans and I will travel to California.
You might be interested to know that we have heard stories from the Indians about the bones of enormous dragons having been found in the soil in this region.
Two months later Cara continued:
There have been fatalities on the route. The Callaghans and I have been spared, but there were members of the party who succumbed to cholera and some were shot by Indians when they ventured too far from the group hunting buffalo. We had to bury them in mounds, as it was too difficult to dig graves. We have all lost weight and our legs have become quite muscular, from walking so many miles each day.
Her last entry stated:
You will not believe this, but I was kidnapped by Indians shortly before we reached South Pass. Our party had to wait for two weeks, negotiating with the Indians to let me go. It was a very difficult time for me. The Indian chief had set his sights on me and wanted to make me his squaw. I indicated to him in no uncertain terms that I had no interest in him and must return to my group. The squaws were fortunately on my side. They did not like the idea of the chief having a white wife and they also took pity on me. They convinced the chief to let me go. Also, the party had to give the Indians a sum of money in exchange for me. I am so glad to be back amongst my own people. The Callaghans were very worried about me.
The Indians all lived in teepees next to a spring. The squaws worked very hard all day and the men were usually gone all day, hunting. The squaws put me to work grinding corn to make flat cakes. They had planted squash and other vegetables and harvested nuts and berries. The food that I ate while I was amongst them was very good and nourishing. I gained weight in the two weeks that I was amongst the Indians.
Chapter Five
In October that year, six months after they had started out, Cara and the Callaghans arrived in California, exhausted and dusty.
Cara made her way to El Dorado County in California, where she was supposed to meet with Aidan Brown on the day in October 1847 when they had agreed to meet. She took a horse carriage to the village of Coloma, where Aidan would meet her the next morning.
Cara stayed overnight at the inn in Coloma. She awoke the next morning with a sense of heightened expectancy, full of eagerness to meet her future spouse. The momentous day, a day she had been waiting for all her life, was finally here.
While Cara was still having her breakfast at the inn, Aidan arrived on a horse. She could see him from the dining room. He looked very similar to the daguerreotype. If anything, he was even more handsome in real life, she could tell. He had fine blonde hair.
He entered the lobby of the inn and saw her immediately at the breakfast table. Aidan rushed to her side. Cara stood up and he embraced her and swept her off her feet.
“Oh my dear, dear Cara,” he said, “I am delighted to see you. You are an enchantress, my queen.”
Cara replied, “You are wonderful, Aidan. I too am elated and consider myself blessed to be meeting you at long last.”
They sat down at the breakfast ta
ble. Aidan said, “My farm is not far from here. Finish your breakfast and we shall go to what will from now on be your welcoming home.” He sat at the table gazing happily at Cara eating her ham and eggs.
In ten minutes she had finished eating and they made their way outside. Aidan had brought another horse with him for Cara to ride.
They rode for about half an hour to the nearby farm. The farmstead building looked charming in the morning light, with ivy growing up its walls. It was built of orange-colored adobe in a Spanish or Mexican style. There was a square open courtyard with bushes and hibiscus flowers in the center of the building. The land next to it was planted with rows of vegetables and there were wheat and corn fields and an orchard laden with fruit.
“I take it you know how to bake bread,” said Aidan. “I make a fair income selling loaves of bread, honey, fruit and vegetables to people who live nearby. I have the wheat ground at a nearby mill.”
“Yes, I do know how to bake very good bread. I did notice that you have a hive with bees near the orchard,” said Cara.
Aidan and Cara sat down at the dining table in the spacious farmhouse. “So are you a good cook?” asked Aidan.
“I certainly am,” Cara replied. “I make really good corned beef and cabbage.”
“I love corned beef and cabbage. A staple Irish dish. I too have Irish ancestry,” said Aidan.
“Where in Ireland are you from?” queried Cara.
“I am from Galway,” he replied.
“I have been there once or twice,” Cara commented.
“Come, let me show you the orchard,” said Aidan. He took her hand and led her outside. She felt a tingling that reached to the depths of her soul when he held her hand.
[2016] The Precious Amish Baby Page 12
