Hogarth II

by Vicky Saari

  Caleb Hogarth carried the morning’s milk into the springhouse, where it would cool, and the cream could rise to the top. Moses was carrying boards and sawhorses out of Caleb’s workshop to begin setting up tables for the dinner. The night before, the Hogarth men along with Abner and Moses had dug a pit and built a fire for roasting a hog, which was now buried under the coals. Moses had led the way, as he had done this before on a plantation. While the fire was burning, they killed and dressed a couple of Jed’s smaller hogs. Moses had pointed out that a bigger hog would take too long to cook, and he had spent most of the night watching over the pit. Jessie and her daughter were busy scrubbing potatoes, which they would roast in the fire. They also assembled pots of beans and other vegetables to be added to the meal. Meanwhile, each of the other women had agreed to bring along at least one loaf of their freshest bread. Fortunately, each family would also bring their own dinner service, as no one family was in a position to provide for them all.

  Job and John were perhaps the last two people in Sethsburg to begin to stir that morning. Despite the flurry of activity surrounding them, the morning seemed to have a dreamlike quality. As the two men dressed and began looking about, their eyes were drawn to the happenings down the road at the church. Jed had followed Seth’s wagon into town, and it was now drawn up before the church. Job and John watched for a moment and then walked down to meet their parents. Jed and Seth were about to remove the first box but stepped back for the Bascoms’ sons. Brother Pritchett stepped forward and offered a word of prayer. Each of the sons placed a hand on their parents’ coffins and bowed their heads. “Dear Lord,” began Pritchett, “we have two sons here with heavy hearts that have come to bid good-bye to the two people who gave them life. We ask that you ease their pain and free Minnie and Opal to come into your heavenly home. Amen.”

  Upon the closing of the prayer, the two sons assisted the other men in carrying their parents into the church. The floor was still damp, but each man stepped carefully to the front of the church. As soon as the first coffin was settled, they returned for the other. So it was that Minnie and Opal lay in state through the morning in the little church/school. The fresh spring flowers gathered by the women were arranged in clay jars on either side of the pulpit. Since all of Job’s belongings were lost in the fire, John and Zeke managed to come up with a set of new clothes for him to wear. In this manner, the town of Sethsburg and her people prepared to bid farewell to two of the town’s original settlers.

  Lucy and Cindy sang hymns to start the services, and after Brother Pritchett had spoken his eulogy, he asked members of the congregation to share their own memories of Minnie and Opal. Caleb rose and spoke of the first time he had met Opal. He and the late Brad Parson had heard an ax in the forest and had gone to explore the sound. He looked at Job and John and told of the woman with two small boys who had hidden from them until their father was assured of their safety. For nearly an hour, each member of the congregation stood and spoke, clinging to their memories as though no one wanted the day to be over. After one final prayer, the procession followed Jed’s wagon to the cemetery and then to the Hogarths’ home, leaving Abner, Brad, and Zeke behind to finish filling the graves.

  Moses had never experienced the feeling of family before and wasn’t sure what his place was at this time. Should he stay in the old cabin or move out into the forest? He did what he normally did when left alone among whites; he withdrew into the shadows and tried to appear as invisible as possible. Caleb and Seth would not allow this to happen. Both men thanked him profusely for all his help and immediately began telling him stories about their old friend Opal, whom they now mourned. They took turns blaming the loss of a dear friend on the evils of the brew to which he had fallen prey. Martha was the first to interrupt their session by telling her childhood friend about the first time she had met Minnie. “I was so ashamed of myself when it was over because I didn’t want no Indian woman touching my niece,” she sobbed.

  “That was the night she told me about you and what her pa did to you and your ma.” Seth put his arms around his wife and drew her close.

  “I sure never expected Minnie to become my best friend, but she did,” Martha confided.

  Caleb watched Moses as he talked with his old friend. It was clear he was uncomfortable with the conversation, but Caleb recognized the admiration in his eyes for his childhood friend. “Have you learned anythin’ that might help us?” he whispered to Seth as he directed them away from the rest of the party.

  “Martha, I think the other women are waitin’ for you,” Seth suggested as he turned with Caleb and Moses toward the old cabin. “We’d better talk down here. The less the others know the better off.” He went over his trip to Madison again and was sorry to report nothing new. On the other hand, he had heard nothing more from the village, so he considered that good news, to some extent. This information didn’t help Moses much. Suddenly, he was more worried than ever about the problems his presence had created for so many people. He looked toward the house where the women and children were gathered, and he knew what he had to do. He had no choice. It was tonight or not at all.

  Greta Hamburg and Agnes Turner volunteered to watch the store and inn so that everyone else would be free to attend the funeral and the dinner at the Hogarths. They were also concerned about the effects these events might have on the Maynard children, who had lost their own family a mere two weeks earlier. The two women sat on the porch of the inn where they could observe the younger Maynard children at play and watch for travelers who might be in need. Although they were neighbors, the two women had never spent much time getting acquainted. This was perhaps their first real visit. Part of the problem had been Greta’s accent and limited English. Agnes Turner had never been a very patient person and, for the past year, had found it much easier to avoid the strange woman who spoke funny. Much in the same way she had avoided the Maynard woman, whose eight kids and slovenly housekeeping had appalled her. Instead, she had busied herself with the spinning she did for Mrs. Hodges.

  Ironically, in the midst of so much tragedy, the two women had now come to be close friends. They found that they each enjoyed the other’s company and had spent the afternoon using drop spindles to spin wool for Martha while they talked. The fact that they each had taken in one of the Maynard children and that their husbands were both drivers for Mr. Hodges gave them additional common ground. Although it was a somber occasion, the two women soon found themselves laughing at one another’s stories of their experiences in this growing new land. By late afternoon, they had just about resigned themselves to a day of spinning when the children announced that riders were coming. The four children moved to the porch with the women as the men neared the inn. Both women rose to get a better look and waited until the three strangely dressed men had hitched their horses to the post in front by the road.

  “Gut evening, ladies,” one of the men spoke as he alighted. “Ve are Friends. Ve are passing trough thy town and are in need of a night’s lodging. Is there space in thee inn for tree?”

  Surprised by their German accents, Greta was impressed but was too shy to speak up. Agnes rose to greet the men and said, “We’ve had sickness in the town and the innkeeper is at a funeral, but we have two rooms available. It’s a dollar a room for the night. Will you each need a room? Meals are twenty-five cents each.”

  The three men looked at one another, nodded, and turned back to Agnes. “I teenk ve can make do with one room, but ve vould like tree dinners. Can thee arrange it?”

  “Todd, can you take care of the men’s horses? Gentlemen, I will show you to your room. Dinner will be ready in about an hour,” Agnes said businesslike and turned to lead the men to the upstairs room.

  Greta rose and went to the kitchen, where Mattie followed while the two younger children had wandered after Todd and the horses. Greta had never been in the inn before and was not familiar with the fancy cookstove. Fortunately, Mattie had
been helping Lucille for the past two weeks and knew her way about the spacious room. She reached into the coal bucket behind the stove and pulled out a lump of coal and began stoking the fire in the firebox. She was in the process of showing Greta around when Luke came in the back door carrying a basket of food from the dinner. “Ma wanted to be sure you all had a chance to eat, too,” he spoke as he set the basket down.

  “Luke, there are three strange men who talk funny looking for a room. They have asked for supper,” Mattie spoke over the older woman’s shoulder as Greta sorted through the fixings. “Is there enough in here for them?”

  “I tink ve can make it enough,” said Greta as she began setting pans and baskets around the kitchen. “Zeese men, they say they Friends. Do you tink Mr. John or Mr. Seth might know them?”

  Luke paused at Greta’s words and reflected for a moment on his conversation with his dad on the way home from Madison. “I’m not sure, but I’ll check.”

  Job had ridden along in the wagon with Luke and was somewhat surprised when his friend came rushing back to the wagon and hurried the horses along faster than usual. “You look like you seen a ghost,” Job inquired curiously. Job and Luke had been friends for as long as either could remember, and neither kept secrets from the other. As the two boys rode back toward the family gathering, Luke told him about his trip to Madison.

  Job listened thoughtfully, remembering his own involvement in the runaway slave episode. “I guess that’s who that darkie is at the Hogarths’ who’s been helpin’ with the dinner. You know, I’d never seen a darkie before!”

  “Oh, I did when ma and pa took me to Louisville to visit my uncle Frank. I don’t really know much about the story, but I gather this darkie has somethin’ to do with ma’s past,” Luke confided to his oldest friend. “Anyways, it seems kinda funny, my uncle Frank thinks darkies are somethin’ to buy and sell, and Pa thinks darkies are people just like the rest of us.”

  “Well, there’s a lot a people who think the only good Injun is a dead Injun,” Job added remorsefully. “I remember the time Pa took us to the village, and one of the men there spit on me and called me a half-breed. He never took us back.”

  “You mean you ain’t never been anywhere but here?” Luke questioned.

  “Whatever happened to your talk about bein’ a riverboat captain?” Job changed the subject. “For years, that’s all you ever talked about.”

  Luke thought for a moment before he answered, “I don’t want to end up like my uncle Frank. When I told Pa, he seemed kinda pleased. When I was in Madison and I got to lookin’ at one of them steamboats, I got to thinkin’ about them black rocks that Jed hauled in for Zeke and John to use. We took a load to Madison for Jed, but it took a while to sell them.” He then went on to tell his old friend about his ideas for trying to sell coal to the steamboaters on the river. “Do you think it might work?” he asked. “They bought the load Dad had.”

  Job looked at his lifelong friend and shrugged his shoulders: “Ma liked to use them in her cookstove. Gatherin’ up those rocks was a heck of a lot easier than choppin’ firewood.”

  *****

  Despite the sadness of the occasion, Hogarth was heartened by the warmth in the friendships surrounding him on this night. He missed those days, and he missed the modern Parson family, who now came in summer and left in winter. He sometimes wondered if he’d have been better off as a shopping center. At least he’d have had people coming and going.

  Chapter 19

  As soon as the two boys alighted from the wagon, Martha was handing them well-filled plates and encouraging them both to eat. Job hadn’t felt hungry until he was confronted with food, and he very quickly emptied his plate while Luke escaped his ma and sought out his pa. Seth was at that moment talking with Jed and Sarah and holding the new baby. “I think I need to get back into practice if what my wife thinks is true,” he quipped as Jed and Sarah looked on in surprise.

  “Are you sayin’ my brother is about to become a father?” Sarah asked hopefully.

  “I haven’t heard it officially, but there’s a strong rumor about,” Seth said, grinning slyly before he was interrupted by Luke.

  “Pa, can I talk to you a minute over there?” he nodded toward the tree where he’d tied the wagon and horses.

  “Is there somethin’ wrong with the horse?” Seth questioned concernedly.

  “No Pa, it’s somethin’ else. Mattie and Mrs. Hamburg just told me there were three Friends at the inn. I don’t think the women knew what the men meant when they said they were ‘friends.’ They just assumed they must know us,” said Luke seriously. “I didn’t see them, but I have a feeling they may have followed us from Madison. Didn’t you say that you tried to talk to several people when you were there?”

  Seth glanced around at his wife, who was talking with Jessie, then at Moses, who sat alone with a plate of food on the step to the cabin. “Tell your ma that I’m goin’ to check on Hiram and the men to see if they have had any luck with the water,” he said, and rather than take the wagon, he walked back to the inn.

  Hiram waited as Hans dumped another shovel of mud into the bucket, which Hiram then hauled to the top. Ellison Turner was still recovering from the fever and had been given the task of constructing a wooden housing to fit over the well. “My feet are getting vet,” called Hans from the well as Hiram returned the bucket.

  “That’s good,” cried Hiram as he watched the young teamster swing the pick that opened a fresh new vein of water. “I think you’d better call it a day,” Hiram called wryly as the young German hurried up the ladder one last time. “Not bad for a day’s work,” he boasted as the younger man pulled the ladder from the well and attempted to clean the mud from his boots.

  All three men gathered around the thirty-foot hole in the ground and watched with pride as the water rose slowly in the bottom. “Oy, I forgot the candle,” Hans said, smacking himself on the forehead before he leaned over and tugged on the rope attached to a bucket with a candle burning inside near the bottom of the well. “Back home, dey say dis candle tells ven it’s safe or not safe to be in ze vell. Mine papa vorked in de mines, and dey alvays took candles vit dem. If de candle don’t burn, de mine’s not safe.”

  They were about to hoist Ellison’s housing in place to cover the well for safety when Seth appeared from the woods. He was more than a little surprised to find they had accomplished so much in a single day. “I thought sure this was goin’ to take days or weeks to finish,” he smiled at his workers. “Maybe we can work on a stronger wall around this tomorrow,” he thought aloud. He turned to his workers and asked, “Have you men eaten yet? Why not go on over to the Hogarths’ while I check on things inside?”

  Surprised by this announcement, the three men looked at one another, and Hans spoke up, “But Mr. Hodges, ve’re muddy and dirty. Ve need to clean up first.”

  Seth caught himself and laughed. “I guess you can wash up in the creek on your way. Tell my son that I sent you over.” With that, he turned toward the inn.

  Inside, Greta and Mattie were serving dinner to the strangers. Todd had finished with the strangers’ horses and was carrying in firewood and coal for the kitchen. Agnes had wandered over to the store to make sure everything was in order. So far they had had no other customers that day. Seth entered the inn by the front door and surprised both Mattie and Greta. Mattie immediately ran to greet him and asked if there was a problem. Seth looked at the young eager-eyed girl and smiled, “I was wondering why you and the other ladies hadn’t joined us for dinner, but I see you have customers.”

  He glanced toward the three Quaker men sitting around a table in the front dining room. One man he recognized as one he had spoken to in Madison more than a week ago. “Perhaps Luke was right,” he thought to himself. “Gentlemen, please don’t let me interrupt your dinner. Mrs. Hamburg, would you like to get Mrs. Turner and Todd and the little ones
so you can join the rest of the party at the Hogarths’?” he asked. “You have worked hard and should not be left out. I will take care of things while you are gone.”

  Before she could excuse herself, she turned toward the guests to ask after their needs. “Go on, Mrs. Hamburg. Ve vill be in good hands. Ve are Friends,” said the man whom Seth had met before.

  “Very vell, danke.” Oblivious to the double meaning of the man’s words, she curtsied as she removed her apron and followed Mattie out the door.

  Seth waited until he heard the group walking toward the Hogarths’ before he spoke. “I trust everything is to your liking.” He looked closely at all three men as he spoke and was taken slightly aback when the hidden meaning of his words were immediately recognized by all three men.

  “One of our agents informs us that thy vife is very good vit peaches,” said the most austere of the men, smiling.

  Seth studied the man for a moment then broke out with a laugh. “I take it you gentlemen are with the Northern Light Society?”

  “I don’t know if that is vat thee call us, but yes. Ve follow our guiding stars. After all, that vas God’s purpose for putting ze stars in the heavens, vas it not?” said the third man.

  Seth went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee and joined the men at the table. “You know I’m a businessman, but I’m not really used to doin’ business when I don’t know the other man’s name.”