Acts of Courage

by Connie Brummel Crook

  Did her father know what battle that was? Laura could not be sure but couldn’t think of any excuse and was too weak to try.

  Red was almost hidden in the loose-fitting shirt and big twill breeches. His eyes looked even larger and his face thinner as he peered up at Laura’s father and waited.

  Father’s eyes softened, and then he said, “You saved my daughter. So I’ll find you a job if you’re willing to work hard. Nobody wants an idle boy.”

  The boy’s whole face lit up as he gave Laura and her father a wide smile. “I’m not afraid of hard work. I’ve grown up on hard work,” he said. “It’s like mother’s milk to me, ’tis.”

  “You can help Sam around here for now,” said Father. “Come, and I’ll show you where there’s an extra bed in the servants’ quarters. If you’ve warmed up, I could take you over there now.”

  “I’m fine, Mister.” Red was still shivering a little as he followed Father, but he turned back toward Laura and winked just as he was going out the door.

  Part Two

  Upper Canada

  SEVEN

  Laura rearranged the furniture in her father’s study. She’d had to bring two extra chairs from the dining room. Father had called a family gathering. Bett wasn’t able to keep up with the growing family anymore, and Laura had become a maid-of-all. Father had told Laura on the side that his announcement this afternoon was very important. Whatever it was, he was being very secretive, and that made Laura uneasy. Her father had a way of dropping news unexpectedly.

  As she gave the furniture a once-over with her flannel duster, Laura remembered back eight years to that horrible time just after Father had quelled Shay’s rebellion. Her step-mother Mercy had died and, four months after that, Father had announced that he was marrying Elizabeth’s mother. Yes, that had come as quite a shock. Then, both Elizabeth and her mother had moved in.

  Laura had been pleased that Father had found work for Red with Judge Whiting. Perhaps that had been the beginning of her father’s courtship of Sally Whiting Bachus. Laura had never wondered about his visits there because she thought he’d just been checking up on Red. Laura had been upset about the marriage for a long time. The way Father picked wives—Laura had thought Sally would probably die in a couple of years, too. Laura had secretly vowed that she would never become attached to another mother. But Sally was still well and had added two healthy children to this family—Charles, now four years old, and baby Appy who was just one.

  “Thanks, Laura,” said Father, striding into his study and over to his captain’s chair. Right behind, Sally came along with baby Appy, and Elizabeth followed her with a struggling Charles in hand. Laura lay her duster aside and sat down on the horsehair loveseat near the fireplace.

  Next, Mira came bursting in with all the energy of her almost fifteen years and plopped down beside Laura. Charles broke loose and ran over to wiggle onto the love seat between Laura and Mira.

  Father didn’t waste any time beginning. “I’ve decided to move us to Upper Canada next month,” he said.

  They all stared at him in shocked silence.

  Then the questions began. “To Upper Canada? And why so soon?” asked Laura.

  He didn’t like to have his decisions questioned. “I’ve been considering this move for two years.”

  “You knew about it, and you didn’t mention a word to us!” Mira burst out. Elizabeth blew her nose with a limp lace handkerchief.

  “I went to Upper Canada two years ago to look into their land offer for settlers. I made application then. I didn’t see any need to tell the family, because I didn’t know if we’d be accepted. And I hoped that affairs here would improve, so we could stay.” He looked straight into the glowing flames of the fireplace, and Laura saw pain on her father’s face that she had never noticed before.

  Father put his chin in his hands as he continued. “I just can’t go on here. The court decisions that have been forced on some people have been so unfair. I can’t stand to watch it anymore.”

  In the years since Father’s marriage to Sally, times had grown worse, and Father had been away more than ever. Laura and Elizabeth had finished at the local school and were busy at home helping Sally. Father could not afford to buy more slaves, and Bett was growing too old now to keep up with another baby.

  “The farmers have suffered terribly,” Father went on. “They’ve worked hard all their lives. They’re honest, God-fearing, hard-working people; yet they’ve seen their family farms taken away to pay debts. It’s not their fault they can’t sell their produce for a fair price and pay their taxes.”

  Thomas Ingersoll talked on, still staring into the fire. Laura had never heard him say so much in one conversation. She had not realized that his work had been so hard or that times had been so difficult.

  ‘There are men who are willing to go to Upper Canada with me. They have already lost their land here, and their hope along with it. I must persuade them they can still have hope—in Canada. Rugged it may be, but there is law and order there, and a man will receive justice. The British seem to have learned from their mistakes with these colonies.”

  “Was the revolution for nothing, then?” Laura asked. “Didn’t the colonies fight to stop the harsh taxation?”

  “No, the war was not in vain,” Father spoke more evenly now. “Freedom and justice will come, but it will take time. A new country always has growing pains. But I’m too old to go through those pains. I want more security for my family.”

  “But Canada is still under British rule,” Mira objected. She had been only three years old at the end of the Revolutionary War, but she had learned about it in school and from her father.

  Father’s face brightened now. “They are offering settlers a good deal. Two years ago, I travelled to Newark—that’s the capital of Upper Canada near Niagara Falls—and I made a petition to Lieutenant Governor Simcoe for a land grant there. I agreed to take forty settlers over a seven-year period. Each family will receive two hundred acres for a nominal fee. My friend, Captain Brant, the Mohawk Chief, has agreed to help me choose a stretch of fertile land for my settlement.”

  Father had first met the great Mohawk chief before the war on a visit to Moor’s school in Connecticut, and Captain Brant had visited the family at Great Barrington three years ago. He was on his way home from a meeting with General Washington, with whom he had discussed the Muskingum River boundary for the dissenting tribes still on American soil. The chief had told Father then of the great opportunities in Upper Canada. But Laura had never once thought that the family would actually settle there.

  Sally handed the baby to Elizabeth and went over to sit in the chair beside Father. She was frowning. “But the land grant is just the beginning, isn’t it?” she said. “The settlers will have to break up the land, and build houses and barns, and start from scratch just like our great-grandfathers did. It will not be easy.”

  “No, it will not be easy,” said Father. “But life never is. It hasn’t been easy here, either. In fact, it is impossible now. My own resources have dwindled, and I have just enough left to take us to Upper Canada. We’ll have to sell almost everything before we go—I simply can’t afford to transport more. We must go. We have no other choice.”

  “We do have a choice. Papa will take us in.” Sally suddenly turned away from Father, grabbed the baby from Elizabeth, and rushed out of the room.

  “Never!” Father boomed as he stared at his wife’s retreating figure.

  Elizabeth blinked back tears.

  “I know this is not easy,” Father said, “but we must be brave. I have to get to work now. I have so much to do before we go.” He turned to Laura. “Please try to reason with Sally.” Laura nodded and hurried the girls and Charles out of the study. She hadn’t accepted the idea herself yet, but for her father’s sake, she would have to try.

 
“Well, I still don’t like it,” Mira grumbled.

  “Father has been planning for two years. So it’s not a sudden decision. We’ll manage fine.” Laura hoped her voice sounded more confident than she felt.

  “I don’t know,” Mira began. Her deep brown eyes were brimming over with tears.

  “Well, I don’t like it,” said Elizabeth, “and I don’t know why you do, Laura, unless maybe you hope to find a beau up there.”

  “Yes,” said Mira, “I’ve heard there are lots of unmarried men up in Canada.”

  Laura blushed. She would be twenty in September, only five months away, and it was true that she had no beau. Elizabeth already had a beau. Now that she was eighteen, Thomas was calling on her every week. But Laura had little time to attend social events. As the oldest of the family, she was always busy.

  Laura smiled mischievously and responded, “I hadn’t thought about that, Elizabeth, but perhaps you’re right. I may just marry a Canadian and leave you two to do the work without me.”

  Mira looked even more distressed, and Laura regretted her joke, but she was pleased by Elizabeth’s deflated expression. “Stop worrying about Canada. You may just be surprised. You may like it there.” She smiled across at Mira’s shocked face as she walked out of the room. And maybe it was true. Maybe she would like it. Since there wasn’t really any other choice for any of them, they had better make the best of it.

  As she passed the hall mirror, she stopped for a moment. Her fine, straight features and long, thick, wavy hair told her that she was not unattractive. But she had never gone to a party escorted by a young man. Many girls younger than herself were married, and quite a few were already mothers. But Mercy and Sally had both been past twenty-five when they had married Father, so there would be time yet.

  Then she thought of Red, the boy who had come and gone that horrible year when her stepmother had died. She had hoped he wouldn’t go back to Ireland but, a year later, he did. Laura had made many a trip down to the Whiting residence to see if there might be a letter for her. But there was never anything. He had not even written to Judge Whiting, except for one letter, thanking him for passage money.

  As the days had dragged into months, she had finally gone to Judge Whiting to ask for Red’s address but was surprised to find out that he had never given it to the Whitings. In fact, they didn’t even know his real name. Laura knew that Red must still fear being tracked down for his part in Shay’s rebellion.

  Busy now with her thoughts as she hurried into the kitchen, she almost bumped into Sally, who was perched on a stool at the long utility table, peeling potatoes. Sally brushed the back of her hand across her eyes to hide the tears, but she kept her head down, intent upon her work.

  Laura grabbed a paring knife and started to peel a potato. “You don’t need to help, Laura,” she said. “You spend too much time helping us all.”

  “Are you complaining?”

  “Why, no! Whatever would I complain for, Laura? I couldn’t have managed these last few years without you, but sometimes I feel that the household is taking too much of your time.” She wiped a hand across an eye again. “Every girl needs a life of her own.” They continued to peel potatoes in silence.

  “About moving to Canada,” Laura said finally, “you know we’ll manage fine with the children. They’re strong. And we can come back on visits, too. It’s not like it was at first, after the war. Please say you’ll come with us.” Laura put her arm around Sally’s shoulder.

  “Why…should I…leave?” Sally gasped out between sobs.

  “Because I need you, Sally. First I lost Mother, then Mother Mercy. I can’t lose you, too.” Laura’s voice trembled and her eyes were misted with tears. At that moment, she realized how important Sally was to her. Though she had never thought of Sally as a mother, she had become like a very close sister.

  Sally looked up through her tears, pulled back the long, dark hair that had fallen across her face, and stared with surprise at Laura. The afternoon sun shone through the window across Laura’s face, and Sally could see the sadness that Laura had covered up for so many years.

  “You won’t lose me, Laura,” she promised. They clasped each other tightly as tears fell down their cheeks.

  ***

  Laura watched as Thomas and Levi helped Father load the family’s belongings onto the wagon. She spotted her own small horsehair trunk near the top of the load. They would take a sloop upriver to Schenectady. From there, they would travel by boat up the Mohawk River and portage to the Oswego River. They’d end up at Oswego on Lake Ontario, where they would board a ship for Newark.

  Thomas held both of Elizabeth’s hands in his. “I’ll come to Upper Canada one day,” he said, “but I can’t leave my folks right now. They need me, now that Levi has his own farm and a family to support. But sometime I’ll come, Elizabeth.” Laura stepped off the verandah and slipped quietly around the south side of the house.

  Laura remembered saying goodbye to Red under that very apple tree the day he had come up to tell her he was leaving. Laura stood and looked at the bare branches of the gnarled apple tree. It looked half-dead today, but the day Red had left, it had been full of white blossoms.

  “I’ll never forget you, Laura.” Red had smiled his lopsided smile, and his red hair had looked bronze in the sunlight.

  “Why can’t you wait just a few more years and I could go with you, Red?” Laura had pleaded.

  “There’s no future for me here, Laura,” he’d said. “Back home, at least, I have family.”

  “But there are things you can do here that you won’t be able to do in Ireland. You’ve already learned to read and write, and the judge could teach you lots of other things…and I could…”

  “Don’t be daft, Laura. It’s all settled, and it’ll be the best thing, in the end. I’ll see you again, too. You just wait.”

  The tears had started to stream down her face then, and he had leaned over and kissed her gently on the mouth. She had never been kissed by a boy that way before, and she looked up shyly into Red’s twinkling eyes. He smiled then and left her standing there, leaning against the apple tree. At the end of the lane, he turned and waved. She waved back and watched him disappear down the highway. She had never heard from him again.

  “Laura!” Father’s voice broke through her thoughts. She hurried around the side of the house. The whole family was all ready to go. Charles was sitting on the back of the wagon, swinging his short legs back and forth over the edge.

  “Come sit here, Laura,” shouted Charles. He patted an empty spot beside him. Sally and the baby were sitting on the front bench with Father, and Mira and Elizabeth were just behind them. Laura put her hands on the flat of the wagon and shunted herself up beside Charles.

  “Ready to go?” Father shouted.

  “Yes, all ready!”

  “Get up!” The reins fell lightly on the horses’ backs, and the wagon started moving slowly down the lane.

  Laura looked over to the gravesites of her own mother and her first stepmother. They were on top of a small knoll where red roses grew from June to August. Laura would not see those roses this year. Nor would she see the blossoms come out on the apple tree at the side of the house.

  “I don’t want to go,” Charles whimpered, staring up at Laura with his big hazel eyes, so like his father’s. His lips were starting to quiver.

  Laura blinked back her tears and smiled at Charles as she put her right arm around him. “And miss that boat ride? You’ll love the boat ride, Charles.”

  Reassured, he nodded and leaned his head against his sister.

  Laura drew him in closer. The only home she had ever known grew smaller and smaller as the long lane stretched behind them.

  EIGHT

  The schooner completed its turn from the lake into the mouth of th
e Niagara River, plunging between the steep shale and limestone cliffs that rose up on either side of the water. Scrubby bushes and trees jutted out from the steep banks. Beyond the riverbanks, Laura could see huge stands of oak, maple, ash, chestnut, and pine. The current in the river was so strong that the ship shuddered as it made slow headway upstream.

  The whole landscape was at once gentle and wild. The trees and grass looked almost like the ones that grew at home, but here they were not contained in neat woodlots and meadows. They had grown up together in a wild majesty that no one had yet disturbed. And everything seemed larger and deeper here than at home. A booming sound echoed from up the river.

  “What is that sound?” asked Laura, as she looked over the side railing with her father.

  “Ah, that is the sound of Niagara Falls. I travelled down here when I visited Newark two years ago. It sounded as loud then as now. And look, the spray from the falls is just over that rise. Can you see it?”

  “Oh, yes, I thought it was a low cloud.”

  “No, that just shows you how powerful the falls are—to send up a spray like that. I’ve heard you can see the spray from forty miles away on a clear day.”

  What a strange country we are coming to, thought Laura.

  Mira walked up beside them. A robust girl, she had taken on the appearance of a farm worker. Her cheeks looked all the more ruddy from the windy, sunny days on deck, and she was almost Laura’s height—five feet four inches. Laura was paler than Mira, which made Mira’s eyes look even darker.

  “When are we going to see Niagara Falls, Father? Mira asked.

  “Oh, not today.” Father gave Mira a big broad smile. “But isn’t this a grand country? This is where we’re going to make a new life, and where we’re going to stay. Right here in Upper Canada.”