CHAPTER 14

As expected, there was much speculation in the community about Elisha because of the widespread interest in the story about his parents’ death, which continued for many years. In the meantime, he lived happily with Effie, whom he loved like a mother. In time, his grandfather Uriah let it be known that he would like to have Elisha living at his home, provided Effie would come along to help care for him. He hesitated to separate the two of them under the circumstances. After all, the little guy had lost his real mother, and it wouldn’t be fair to take him away from his “other” mother. The Russells had the space, since their children were all grown up and away from home. And they had the resources to care for him and pay Effie’s expenses if she would come.

Effie was torn. She wanted to continue caring for Elisha but had to think about her aging parents who needed looking after.

The Sanders and Russell families both were chipping in to help with the little one’s needs at the moment, which were not many, except love and attention.

- * - * - * - * -

As time went on and the war continued, things were getting harder for most everyone. Life became a struggle to survive in many cases.

Finally, the war was declared officially over to everyone’s great relief. Thank God! The young men who had survived could now come back home.

At the farm they waited anxiously for word about Jessie. Emmaline was still alive, mentally about the same. She had, however, now become capable of doing some small chores such as peeling potatoes and apples, and snapping beans. She often inquired about James and Sarah as she worked, wondering when they would get home from their honeymoon.

- * - * - * - * -

About a week after the war was declared over, Jessie came riding up and dismounted at the front gate, miraculously unharmed. Nell had been working in the garden hoeing weeds and had just stopped to take a drink of water when she saw him coming toward her. She dropped her hoe and ran to meet him. Oh, what joy she felt! As she ran, she cried, “Jessie, Jessie, you’re home. We were beginnin’ to worry. Are you home for good?”

“Yes, Nell, I’ve been discharged and am home to stay.”

“Come on inside. Don’t tell me that’s old Jake?”

“No, I’m afraid not. Old Jake was killed in the war. But when I left the other day, I managed to grab one of the old horses out of the pool that was left. I figured they owed him to me.”

There was much rejoicing later when the family all gathered to welcome him home. There was so much to tell him. Jessie was deeply saddened to hear about Sarah and what had happened to his mother.

They, of course, all wanted to hear about his experience in the service. But he didn’t want to talk about it very much, saying that he hoped never in his life would he or anyone else in the family have to go through it again.

The one thing he did gladly share with them was his meeting with James before he died, and all about Sgt. Percy Crabtree who had been so helpful to them and Sarah. “But let’s talk about the future,” Jessie said. “I know things are really tough. I was amazed at the situation on the farms along the way as I rode home. So much destruction, homes burned to the ground, few crops growing in the fields. Some had just packed up and were movin’ on West, hopin’ to start over somewhere else.

“But I wouldn’t want to do that. I want to stay here. This is home to me. Too many memories to leave behind. No, I couldn’t leave here.

“And Caleb, with the way you’ve managed to care for everything here, things look better than lots of places. So between us I think we can get things goin’ again.

“The big thing, I realize, is money for seed to plant next year’s crops and some new equipment. But we’ll manage somehow. I just know it.”

- * - * - * - * -

While he was away at war, Nell had received a few letters from Edward Duffy, but not as often as she would have liked. He had been sent to places farther away like Tennessee and Kentucky, so the mail service was not very good.

Reading between the lines, she could tell that he was awfully homesick and couldn’t wait for the war to be over. He seemed to be trying to keep his spirits up, and he wrote about some of the amusing things that had happened, which were not many.

Finally one day she got a note from him saying that he was in a hospital in Tennessee. He said the good news was that he was going to be sent home shortly just as soon as he healed a bit more. The bad news was that he had lost two fingers on his left hand, and also that the battles he had engaged in had left him slightly deaf.

He said he was pretty discouraged at first. But after being in the hospital for a while and seeing all the really badly wounded brought in, he decided that he was one of the lucky ones. His injuries could have been so much worse.

- * - * - * - * -

A couple of weeks later, Nell was busy in the kitchen washing some vegetables she had just picked. Then she heard someone knocking on the front door. When she ran to open it, there was Edward looking as handsome as ever. They just stood looking at each other for a minute until she said, “Oh my gosh, look who’s here. I can’t believe it! Come on in, Edward. How good it is to see you.” She took his hand and pulled him inside.

She was a bit flustered because she knew she didn’t look her best, having been outside working in the garden. But when she apologized, he said, “You look just great to me, Nell.”

They were actually a bit shy, having been away from each other so long. So much had happened they didn’t know where to start. Finally they both started talking at once and had a good laugh. This broke the ice, and from then on they didn’t stop talking for the next hour.

“So tell me about your parents. I’m sure they’re so glad to have you home.”

“Yes, it’s been hard on them havin’ to carry on. All of a sudden they look older to me, and I’m goin’ to speak to the doctor about them. I’m afraid they’re not too well.”

He showed her his hand with the missing fingers. He said, “I’m havin’ to learn new ways to handle tools and things. You’d be surprised how much you miss a couple of fingers when they’re no longer there. But I’m so thankful they were on my left hand. I’ll manage.”

Finally Edward got up, saying, “My goodness, I’ve kept you long enough, and I need to start home if I’m goin’ to get there in time to do evenin’ chores before sundown. I’ve enjoyed talkin’ to you, Nell, and seein’ you again. I’ve thought of you so much while I was away and really appreciated hearin’ from you. I can see that you have a great responsibility here now keepin’ the place runnin’ and lookin’ after your mother, but I hope to see you from time to time.”

“Yes, yes, I hope so too.”

But they both knew that a courtship would be difficult now with each having the responsibilities of keeping their farms going and their aging parents to look after.

- * - * - * - * -

Nell and Edward remained close friends, seeing each other at church and other social events. He was a frequent guest for Sunday dinner at the farm.

Emmaline continued much the same, just a shadowy figure walking about the farm lost in her own world.

One night when they were ready to sit down for the evening meal, Nell went to the foot of the stairs and called out to her mother to come down. It had been a busy day for Nell; so when she got no response, it suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t remember seeing Emmaline since breakfast.

After going upstairs and not finding her, she became a bit alarmed. She ran outside and called her name, and then went on up to the barn where Jessie and Caleb were standing outside talking after finishing the day’s chores. She asked if they had seen Emmaline and they both said no.

Realizing there could be a problem, they all fanned out and started calling her name, looking here and there. Caleb finally yelled out that he had found her just outside of the chicken house.

When the doctor arrived, he said she had apparently been dead for hours, and assured Nell that she need not feel any guilt. He said, “I knew that her heart was bad and that she could go anytime, but there was nothing I could do about it. And I saw no need to concern you with it. You had enough on your mind. Besides, maybe she is better off where she is now with Samuel and the others.”

- * - * - * - * -

By 1867, two years after the war had been declared over, people were trying to get back to normal. The after-effects were still being felt. Many had just barely survived. The loss of so many young men was a problem in lots of families, and the injuries others suffered made it hard for them to pick up their lives as before. Some folks were bitter over having had to fight in a war they didn’t believe in or thoroughly understand and which had caused so much havoc in their lives.

In many instances, with their husbands away for a long period, it became a back-breaking chore for the wives and children just keeping things going – taking care of the home, the farm, and what livestock they had, and growing enough food to eat and store for the winter.

- * - * - * - * -

Of the two men who early on were recruited into the Army along with James, Miles Patterson’s family was still mourning his loss.

The other, George Stanton, released earlier, was again enjoying life with his wife and young daughter. He was well liked by everyone. He considered himself very lucky to have escaped unharmed, and he mourned the loss of his friends. Immediately upon his return, he had spent considerable time with each family, filling them in on as much as he knew about what had happened to their loved ones since the three of them had left for the trip to Rolla.

Although he was the son of a prosperous farmer, he decided early on that he wanted to do something different for the rest of his life. Later he opened a small general store not far from the school building and was eventually appointed postmaster for the area, a job which he ran out of the store. It was a great convenience for the people in the community who no longer had to ride quite a distance just to get a few supplies and mail.

- * - * - * - * -

At the Sanders farm, Jessie and Caleb were doing better than many others. They were determined to get the farm operating well enough again to support the family, which meant a lot of work.

Even so, Jessie found the time to court one of Edward Duffy’s cousins, and one day let it be known that they were planning to marry soon.

Shortly after this was thought to be definite, Nell started doing some planning of her own. With her mother no longer in the picture, and with Jessie soon to have a wife, she felt she would be free of some of her obligations at the farm. She decided that if Edward still wanted her to, and she was sure he did, then she would marry him and help him run his farm. Besides, no farmhouse needed two head housekeepers.

It was the right thing to do. Edward had waited long enough.

- * - * - * - * -

Young Sam, now a grown-up young man, was some help around the farm. But it soon became obvious that he wasn’t interested in farming. He read every book he could get his hands on, and later he became the local schoolteacher and would-be lawyer, reading the law in his spare time.

- * - * - * - * -

Both her parents died about two years after Effie returned home to care for them. It hadn’t been an easy life, but she got lots of satisfaction out of doing her job, especially caring for Lish. He became the son she never had, and she loved him as if he were her own. Fortunately neither the father nor mother became bedfast until the very end, which made caring for them a little easier.

In the meantime, Uriah and Lucinda hadn’t given up on their hope of having Elisha come live with them. After her parents died, Uriah help begged Effie to rent out her small farm and move in with them, and then to sell her farm later after prices came back up.

Finally she decided that this would be the best thing to do since Lish would seem be at the age where he needed to be around a father figure.

After Effie and Elisha were comfortably settled in and everything was going smoothly, Mr. Russell petitioned the court to be named the official guardian of Elisha. The petition was granted on September 2, 1867.

- * - * - * - * -

So Elisha grew up as a happy youngster living with Effie in the Russell home. The whole community, knowing his story, doted on him and wished him well. It was as though they all helped raise him. He was possibly a bit spoiled by all the attention he received, but the Russells and Effie saw to it that he did his share of the chores and did his studies – and made sure he visited the Sanders family often.

The years passed quickly. Elisha loved all the animals on the farm and his favorite chores were taking care of them all, especially the horses and cows. Early on he wanted to learn to ride a horse, and it became his favorite pastime.

As a teenager, the girls started giving him the eye, especially one particular little Irish lass by the name of Rebecca Patrick, daughter of a well-respected physician. She was considered quite a “catch” by many. Their wedding was the social highlight of the season a few years later.

- * - * - * - * -

Lish had a contented and happy life, buying and selling cattle, riding around the countryside on one of his favorite horses, sitting tall in the saddle and wearing a white hat – one of the good guys.

He and Rebecca raised a large family – two sons and six daughters – one son and daughter having died in childbirth or in early childhood. He lived to the ripe old age of 72.

One of his most prized possessions was a faded picture of his real parents, James W. and Sarah Louise Russell Sanders, the story of their life imprinted on his mind by hearing the telling and retelling of it many an evening by the fire.