On the Trail of the Truth

by Michael Phillips

Mrs. Parrish nodded.

  “I wondered what you could possibly want me to check up on. I don’t know anything about the business.”

  “I just wanted to see what you’d think about being my family representative while I was out of town. But go on, tell me about Mr. Ashton.”

  “He talked to me real peculiar, all formal and stiff, calling me Miss Hollister! No one ever calls me that!”

  Mrs. Parrish laughed loudly. “He probably thinks I’m going to make all sorts of changes now that I’m married again. He probably figures I’ll turn it into a family business and he’ll be out of a job.”

  “That’s why he was being so polite.”

  “I’ll have to talk to him and put his mind at ease,” she said. “But I did speak to him about the possibility of your working in the office a little—when you’re not helping Miss Stansberry, of course. What do you think, Corrie?”

  “I—I don’t know . . . it’s such a new idea.”

  “I’d pay you, of course.”

  “You wouldn’t have to do that, ma’am,” I told her.

  “But I would do it, Corrie. You’re old enough now to have a money-earning job. It would be good experience. There’s nothing like being in business to gain valuable knowledge. You meet people, you learn how things are run, you sometimes travel to new places. Whatever other things the Lord may in time lead you into—and we must be faithful to pray for his guidance—helping in the Mine and Freight Company will give you experiences you’ll be able to use anywhere. And perhaps one day you’ll be running the business in my place, who can tell? I’ve suddenly got a family to manage. I might find myself with more than I can handle.”

  “I’m willing to try, I reckon,” I said finally, “if you think I can do it.”

  “I know you can, Corrie.”

  Chapter 5

  Adjustments

  For the whole next year I worked with Mrs. Parrish at the Freight Company. I kept going to school every day, both to learn and to help Miss Stansberry. But most days after school I worked a couple of hours, and I even got to make some deliveries with Mrs. Parrish and Marcus Weber to some of the outlying areas in the hills.

  Mrs. Parrish had been right. I learned things and met a lot of new people. I still didn’t figure I was cut out to be a businesswoman like her, but it never hurt to have a few more possibilities of things I might be able to do if I needed to.

  That fall after the wedding, Pa and us kids all moved into Miracle Springs to Mrs. Parrish’s house so that Uncle Nick and Katie could have the cabin to themselves while they finished building their own place. Mrs. Parrish’s house had seemed so huge before, but all of a sudden it was a pretty tiny place with seven of us living there!

  Pa went out to the claim every morning, the kids and I went to school, and Mrs. Parrish went to the freight office. Pa and Uncle Nick would work mornings at the mine, and then afternoons on the two cabins—finishing Uncle Nick’s and adding on to Pa’s to make more room. Alkali Jones was there most days, and on weekends several of the other men would come out and help too. Usually Rev. Rutledge was there pounding nails or carrying lumber just about every Saturday.

  Katie stayed at the claim nearly all the time, helping too, feeding the men. The grass and trees she’d brought us from the east were all growing, and she’d started clearing a garden spot up by their new place for next year. She had plenty to keep her busy, though she started feeling poorly later in the fall and had to keep to her bed a lot. Pa said it was probably just the weather starting to turn cold.

  Mr. Alkali Jones, who always seemed to know everything about everything, was now ranting every day about what a miserable winter we were fixing to have. “Them squirrels got twice the winter fur I seen on ’em in fifteen years,” he’d go on. “An’ they’re hidin’ acorns in places I ain’t seen afore. I tell ya, we’re in fer a heap o’ snow an’ cold!”

  They finished the adding on to our place about the middle of October, and then with the work concentrating all at Uncle Nick’s, they got his and Katie’s new home closed in and the roof and the doors and windows on by about the second week of November, just before any of the big rains Mr. Jones predicted began to fall.

  Two days after they moved and got Katie comfortably settled—though she was feeling better by this time—a huge storm came through. It rained for two days and the streets around Miracle turned to mud. Up in the hills to the east a lot of snow had fallen. Alkali Jones said that with a start like this—as early as it was—it was “unmistakably gonna be the dad-blamest, coldest, most ornery winter ya ever done seen!” He finished off his words with that high-pitched cackle and gave his beard a scratch with his dirty fingers. But what he said sure turned out to be right!

  Once the storm had passed and the sun came back out to start drying up the mud and grass and fields, leaving big ruts in the roads with muddy water standing in brown pools in the low spots, I figured we’d all be moving back out to the cabin, especially since now it was bigger and they’d added on a couple of rooms. That’s what Pa’d been thinking too.

  But Mrs. Parrish was having some second thoughts about it. It was so hard not to keep calling her Mrs. Parrish! I knew someday I’d probably have to start calling her either Mother or Almeda. But right then I wasn’t ready for the first or old enough for the second, and I just couldn’t keep from calling her Mrs. Parrish like I’d always thought of her.

  Anyway, one morning I heard Pa and my new mother, Almeda Parrish Hollister—that ought to take care of just about anything I might think of calling her!—talking. The conversation was getting louder than usual. I’d never heard them argue before, and I didn’t figure they ever would argue! But I suppose even married people who love each other have differences of opinion now and then, though never having been married I can’t say for certain.

  They began talking about the two houses, but pretty soon they were talking about lots of other things.

  “It only seems, Drummond,” Mrs. Parrish was saying, “that since we are all here now, and since the children and I all have to be in town every day, perhaps it would make more sense just to stay here in my house—at least through the winter, as long as the children are in school.”

  Pa was quiet for a minute. I had to admit what she said made sense, even though I hadn’t thought of it before. I’d never stopped to consider what would happen to Mrs. Parrish’s house when we all went back out to the claim.

  Finally Pa spoke.

  “I reckon you got a good point there,” he said, “but I got the place all fixed up so there’s more space. You and I can have a room off to ourselves, and the boys got a room, Emily and Becky can share a room, and the little one Corrie can have by herself. It’s a dang sight more space than we got here, Almeda.”

  “But the trips back and forth into town every day, and in the cold and wet of winter . . .” She didn’t finish the sentence.

  “Yep, I know. But it just don’t seem right somehow, livin’ at a woman’s house when a man’s got a place of his own.”

  “The woman’s house is not as good as the man’s?”

  “I didn’t say that. I just said it don’t seem altogether right. It’s kinda like it’d be if you kept on with your Freight Company and I quit working the mine. I know we talked this out a while back. But I been doing a lot o’ thinkin’ on it since.”

  “As I told you when we discussed this before, I intend to keep my Freight Company, Drummond.”

  “I know, for a while. But you know as well as I do that it ain’t right for a woman to support a man, and that’s kinda like it’d be if we kept on living in—”

  “What do you mean for a while?” she interrupted, her voice sounding a little agitated.

  “I mean I know you can’t just shut down an operation that size right away. It’ll take you some time.”

  “Shut down? Drummond, I have no intention of shutting down my operation at all. You didn’t think my marrying you meant I would give up my business? There was never any talk of that when we disc
ussed it before the wedding.”

  “I guess I figured that was sort of understood.” Pa’s voice was quiet. I couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed or was slowly getting riled. He got the same kind of quiet in both moods.

  “It was not understood by me,” said Mrs. Parrish. “I thought it was understood that we both had been married before, we both were involved in livelihoods of our own—your claim and my company—and I had no idea you were thinking that any of that would change. Why, I would never think of asking you to give up your claim or your cabin because of marrying me.”

  “That’s different. I’m a man.”

  “What’s different about it?”

  “A man’s work—well, it’s more important than a woman’s. Maybe you had to run your company so as to provide for yourself. But you got me now. You got a husband to take care of you, so you don’t have to anymore.”

  “And if I want to?”

  “Women ain’t supposed to be out doin’ what men do, not unless they have to, and you don’t have to no more.”

  “Maybe I want to. Did you ever consider that I enjoy what I do, that maybe I’m a good businesswoman, and that I don’t want to just be at home sweeping the floor and fixing a supper for you to eat when you’re through with your work? Did you ever consider that?”

  “I reckon I never did. Women are supposed to be at home, men are supposed to be out working. What you’re saying just ain’t natural. I know I never said this to you before, but it just ain’t done that way.”

  A long pause followed. When Mrs. Parrish spoke again, her voice was calm but determined.

  “Look, Drummond,” she said. “I know most men, and even most women, might agree with what you say. But I’m not most women. I’m me! And after my first husband died, I found out some things about myself. I found out that I had a strength down inside that I could depend on. I found out that I was a good businesswoman, that I could fend for myself in this rough California world, a man’s world. I found out a lot about the person I am down inside by having to stand up for myself and make it on my own when my husband was suddenly gone. I liked what I found, Drummond. The things God built into me during that time—I’m just not willing to let go of. I love you, Drummond Hollister. You are the best thing that has happened to me since my first husband died. I will love and obey and cherish you all my life. But that doesn’t mean I will stop being myself—a woman, a person with my own dreams and goals and things I want to do in life. Please don’t ask me to give up my business for you, Drummond. I would do it if you asked, because I will obey you. But I don’t know what would become of me if I did. A piece of me would die. Please, don’t ask me to do that.”

  It got quiet for a long time. The next thing I heard was the sound of Pa’s boots on the wood floor, and then the back door opening and then shutting again. I guess he had to think about it all. And usually when Pa was thinking he went someplace alone, outside or in the barn or on the back of one of his favorite horses.

  I never heard the two of them discussing the business or the houses again for a long time. I think they did, though, because every so often I could tell from the quiet between them that they’d been talking and had seen things differently.

  But however they decided to work it out, nothing much changed. Most of the time they were as loving and pleasant as could be to each other. Mrs. Parrish went to her office every day and the Mine and Freight Company kept doing business just as before. I went on working there after school. And Pa seemed pleased with me learning different aspects of the business. Pa kept mining with Uncle Nick and Mr. Jones, and they continued to bring gold out of the stream and out of the mountain the deeper into it they dug.

  I guess Pa saw that Mrs. Parrish’s idea about the houses was pretty smart. Most of the time that winter we stayed at the house in town—Mrs. Parrish’s house—during the week, and then on Friday night Pa’d come in to fetch us all with the big wagon and take us out to the claim. Since there was no school, Mrs. Parrish didn’t go into her office on Saturday, and so we’d stay there all weekend, and ride back in on Monday morning for the week. During the week, Pa’d come into town every evening for the night.

  It was a bit of a cumbersome arrangement. But we were kind of an unusual family, and it was gonna take some time for things to get figured out.

  Chapter 6

  Winter 1854–55

  Without even thinking about it, Christmas dinner was becoming a kind of tradition. Maybe our Christmases stand out in my mind because each of the three was so different, and every time I remembered them it reminded me of how fast things had changed since we’d been in California, and how much the Lord had done for us.

  This Christmas was no exception. It was the best ever!

  Now we were two happy families, and Mrs. Parrish was there with us. I hadn’t been happier since her and Pa’s wedding day. All morning she and us three girls worked and sang away in the kitchen, baking pies and sweet potatoes and a big ham, while Pa was outside with Zack and Tad. Pa’d got Zack a new rifle for his very own, and Zack could hardly stand it, he was so excited. So as we were working, we heard the shots firing in the woods where Pa was giving him a lot of instructions about aiming, which Zack really didn’t need.

  We loaded the food and some extra chairs into the wagon about noon, and took it up to Nick and Katie’s new place where we were going to eat. It was their first chance to show off the new cabin, and they’d invited a couple of other families, and of course the Stansberrys and the minister. Katie had been excited for days, planning and telling us she had a surprise for everyone.

  We got there first, and soon the others began to gather. When Rev. Rutledge’s buggy drove up, Miss Stansberry was with him, alone, with the news about her brother. Hermon Stansberry had taken sick and wasn’t going to come. We all prayed for his health before sitting down to dinner, and Miss Stansberry took a nice basket of food back with her for him when the day was over.

  But Katie’s announcement was the highlight of the whole day!

  “I have some big news to tell you all,” she said, with a wider smile than I’d ever seen on her already wide mouth. “Some time along about the middle of next summer”—she looked at the five of us kids—“your Uncle Nick is going to stop being just an uncle and start being a pa himself!”

  Mrs. Parrish was on her feet, exclaiming excitedly almost before the words had left Katie’s lips. She gave Katie a great hug, which was followed by the other women doing the same, while Becky tugged at my arm asking me what all the yelling was about. I whispered to her that Katie was going to have a little baby. “And it’ll be your cousin,” I said.

  The men were slapping Uncle Nick on the shoulder and shaking hands. Then Uncle Nick went to the fireplace where he picked up a small box from on top of one of the stones, and started passing out cigars that he’d bought. The minister didn’t take one, but Uncle Nick shoved one into Zack’s hand with a laugh.

  “It’s high time you tried it, Zack, my boy!” he said.

  “Can I, Pa?” said Zack, expecting the usual answer.

  Pa shrugged. “Maybe your Uncle Nick’s right, son. I guess if he’s finally old enough to be a pa, I reckon you’re old enough to try one of those things.”

  Uncle Nick wasted no time. With a grin on his face, he struck a match and held it up to the end of the cigar that was now sticking six inches out of Zack’s mouth. Zack sucked in a couple times, got a few puffs going as the tobacco caught fire, and Uncle Nick cheered him on. Pa seemed to know what was going to come of it and just stood back watching, with a half grin on his face.

  It didn’t take long. After only about an inch had burned off the end, Zack’s face began to turn pale. All of a sudden, amid what must have been an embarrassing roar of laughter for poor Zack, he handed the cigar back to Uncle Nick and bolted for the door and outside to get fresh air. In a minute or two Pa followed with a look on his face that seemed to say that he knew what Zack was going through, while Katie and Mrs. Parrish were talking about �
��these ridiculous rites of passage that men insist on putting each other through,” both with disgusted looks on their faces.

  But even Zack’s getting sick from the cigar couldn’t spoil the impact of Katie’s announcement about the baby coming, and the other memories of the happy Christmas Day.

  Alkali Jones was right. It was a rough winter—cold, wet, with lots of snow and frost. The stream got bigger than I’d ever seen it, and the men were saying that if the rains kept up, maybe they’d wash down lots of new gold from up in the mountains. It was so wet a time or two that we stayed at the house in town for two weeks each time. The stream was so full of water rushing by that Pa and Uncle Nick had to pull all their equipment out and couldn’t do much work. They worked some inside the mine, but with the cold and wet it was a miserable job. They gave that up, too, after a while, waiting for a break in the weather. But everybody was talking about the rain being good. It had been uncommonly dry, they said, for the last couple of winters, so the crops and pastures needed the rain, and the miners were glad for it, hoping it’d shake some new gold loose. Probably the only people who weren’t thankful for the rain were the children, who had to stay cooped up inside the schoolhouse all day long on the worst of the wet days.

  Throughout the winter, I learned a lot about the freight and mining business and took several wagon rides with either Mr. Weber or Mrs. Parrish to deliver things that people had ordered. Mrs. Parrish always introduced me real proper-like to the people we were doing business with, saying, “Mr. So-and-So, I would like you to meet my daughter Corrie, who is helping me now in the business.” She had such a way of making me feel grown-up, like she respected and appreciated me! Soon I knew most of the roads for twenty or thirty miles around Miracle, and had been to nearly every little town or hamlet or gold camp around those parts. I’d never realized how many customers Mrs. Parrish had all over. Some of the places we went and people I met were pretty rough-looking. But she always marched right into wherever we had to go with her head high and without showing a bit of fear. That’s probably why the men came to respect her, because she could be as tough as they were if she had to. And that was something I would have to learn, too—if I planned on making my way alone in California.