The Homestead: Part Twenty-One

~ beetleypete

This is the twenty-first part of a fiction serial, in 832 words.

The new arrivals soon proved their worth. Daddy had not only promised them a free house to live in, but also a fair share of any crops, and cash payment to Walter for any work he took on. And they had some good ideas too. Goats for milk and meat, and a few pigs to fatten up for eating. Mary and Susan were good with a needle and thread, and could make waistcoats from skins to keep us warm, as well as mittens and bedcovers too. They worked hard, and it seemed to me and Henry that daddy had made a right good choice in Walter.

I was given the job of working with Walter to build their cabin. It weren’t to be nothing fancy, just one big room with a curtain across the back to separate the sleeping area. Walter fetched the mud from the creek to make the chimney bricks, and the women helped fashion them as I concentrated on the wood working. Daddy brought planks from town for the floor, and Walter chopped trees for the log walls. Mary was in a fine mood, so happy to be settling down. Susan didn’t say much, but she smiled whenever I showed up to help.

Walter worked like nobody I had ever seen before. Out at first light digging the clearing to make ready for planting next year, and shifting the hard earth like it was flour. Daddy made good shelters for the pigs and goats, and went into town to arrange the purchase of them. He came back with news.

Shawn Ryan had sold his place next to ours, as his pig farm had never took off. Ryan’s negroes were in town looking for work, and one had offered to work for us raising the pigs. But daddy told him we didn’t need him, as we were only getting a few. Rumour was it had been bought up by a cattleman for keeping steers, and that same man was buying any adjacent land he could find. The railroad was heading south from Topeka, and once that arrived, the town was sure to grow real big.

Once their cabin was finished, and the tent put away, Walter and the women settled in well. They still cooked and cleaned for us, as well as washing our clothes. Nobody had ever told them to do that, and they seemed happy to help. Most evenings, we all ate together in our house, and they went to their cabin after dinner. Mary was real nice to Henry too. Seemed she thought a lot of people who were slow in the head, something to do with her background, daddy said. In a strange way, it started to feel like family, although we couldn’t have been more different.

Our homestead was feeling smaller by the time winter came around. With the plots prepared for crops, Walter’s house, and the new pens for goats and pigs, the only spare land was the woodland to the north. That was going to keep us in firewood though, so we had no intention of clearing it. With less work in town now, daddy set to building a barn next to our cabin. It took me and Henry to help of course, and even Walter was needed once the roof went on. We were going to need it to store next year’s crops, and it would come in right handy for storage too.

Daddy sat me down one night and talked about the future. He was real grey now, even his beard, and the sides of his hair were turning silver. “This town’s gonna grow much bigger, Phin. There are a lot more men working now, so we are not gonna get so much work. We have to think more about what we grow, and the animals we keep for food. I reckon there’s still plenty of game further south, so we should think about a hunting trip this winter too. You’re coming up eighteen next year, and I want to be sure you’re happy to stick with your old daddy. If you want to strike out on your own, you know that’s fine with me”.

I told him I was just fine there, and had no notions to move on anywhere.

That winter weren’t too bad at all, though we lost some of the barn roof in the strong winds that came from time to time. Mary asked daddy to get some buffalo hides in town, and she made us all fine heavy coats to wear in the cold. They didn’t smell so good, but boy, were they warm. Susan made me a hat that came down over my ears, and she lined it with some old cotton too. When I walked around trying it on, everyone laughed.

One chilly afternoon, two men rode in. They were smartly dressed, and quite old. One had a big moustache, hanging right off his jaw.

They said they had come to see Henry.

26 thoughts on “The Homestead: Part Twenty-One”

  2. Sounds like they could know whose name the land is in…unless they are long lost relatives of Henry’s…the story was going so nicely as well ..great descriptions of life back then, Pete an enjoyable tale 🙂 x

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  3. Another terrific chapter, Pete…love the attention to detail and insight…I have a book all about life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the few years after it was settled…it is interesting to see life in those times!

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  7. (1) “Goats for milk and meat, and a few pigs to fatten up for eating.” How come Jessie and Phin don’t live in a straw bale house? And how come Mary doesn’t make soap? My friend, Jeremiah, the bullfrog, asked me, “Aren’t those folks at least a tad Pole?” To which I replied, “No, they live across the Pond.”
    (2a) Overheard:
    Shawn Ryan: :”Do you think our pig farm will take off?”
    Jessie Fuller: “When pigs fly!”
    (2b) “Ryan’s negroes were in town looking for work, and one had offered to work for us raising the pigs.” Jessie didn’t hire them because no matter how high you raise a pig, it still won’t fly.
    (3) Whip and buggy drivers were eventually railroaded out of town.
    (4) “That winter weren’t too bad at all,” though Santa failed to come down the new chimney. Phin blamed the snub on Walter’s narrow brick chimney. “Your name is mud, Walter!”
    (5) Before Mary met Walter, she lived in squalor.
    (6) Bad citation: “Mary was real nice to Henry too, though she caught him lyin’ in winter.”
    (7) Mary thought a lot of people who were slow in the head, but couldn’t figure out why their hair grew so fast.
    (8) “One chilly afternoon, two men rode in. They were smartly dressed, and quite old. One had a big moustache, hanging right off his jaw.” He seemed OK, but claimed that if he didn’t find a doc soon he’d end up beneath a tombstone.

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