The Amish of Ephrata Collection: Contains Four Books: The Tomato Path, The Quilting Bee, The Hope Chest, and The Clothes Line

by Sarah Price

  “Meadow tea?”Sarah said, her eyes sparkling at the taste of the drink.“Now, where did you get that one from? Ours hasn’t even begun to sprout in the garden just yet!”

  “Mamm had frozen some concentrate last fall,”Priscilla admitted.“I just love meadow tea. So refreshing, ja?”

  After the meal was finished and the dishes cleaned, the four women retreated outside to sit at the picnic table that Stephen had set up under the large oak tree near the driveway. It was cool in the shade and a perfect afternoon for visiting. Sylvia and Sarah had their heads bent over linens that they were cross-stitching while Polly and Priscilla crocheted doilies that they would sell at the local Amish stores.

  That was when the conversation turned to the local news.

  “I heard that Susie Byler moved away from her parents,”Sarah mentioned.“She’s working at a store in Intercourse.”

  Priscilla gasped.“Moved away? I wondered that!”She glanced at her friends.“Although, I just saw her working in Intercourse the other day when Stephen and I went to the garden center! At that small gift store near Kitchen Kettle, I reckon.”

  Sylvia remained unusually silent while Sarah nodded her head.“Ja, I heard that, too.”

  “Why on earth would she have moved out from her parents’house?”

  Polly gave a typical tsk, tsk in response.“Seems her mamm’s been going back to the bottle a bit. Evil in that.”

  Sarah raised an eyebrow.“I heard it is more than a little bit.”

  “Really?”This news was shocking to Priscilla. After all, alcohol use was not typical but certainly not unheard of among the Amish. And the Byler parents were baptized members of the church. But if Susie’s mamm was back into drinking, she would be shunned, for sure and certain. Just one more unfortunate hardship for the Byler family.

  Sarah nodded, a solemn expression on her face.“Oh ja,”she added.“And a nasty spell she’s going through. Taking quite a bit out on that daughter of hers for getting them shunned.”

  Priscilla looked up, startled by Sarah’s words.“But they weren’t shunned.”

  With a casual shrug of the shoulder, Sarah seemed to indicate otherwise.“Told to move church districts might just feel like being shunned, ain’t so? And I heard from my brother that this drinking business is quite the issue for their new g’may. The bishop isn’t used to alcoholics among the adults. One of the reasons Susie moved out and took that job.”

  Priscilla frowned. She didn’t like gossip and certainly not about that particular woman. She had heard more than enough and hoped to change the direction of the conversation.“I don’t think I want to ruin the day talking about that Susie. She’s not been bothering me since the bishop sent her away.”

  “Lucky you,”Sylvia added glumly. The downcast look in her eyes made it clear that there was more to the story than met the eye. The other women looked up, staring at Sylvia as they tried to ascertain what she had meant by her comment. The sad expression on her face made it clear that something was bothering her.

  “Is everything all right, Sylvia?”Priscilla asked.

  There was a hesitation, a moment of withdrawal before Sylvia finally shook her head.“Nee,”was all she said.

  “What is it, then?”

  Polly rolled her eyes as she set down her crocheting.“Not again, Sylvia. Please tell me you haven’t received another one!”

  Priscilla looked at her friends, confused by the conversation. Certainly she was missing something for she did not understand what they were talking about.“Another one what?”

  “Letters,”Sarah answered for Sylvia, a serious look on her face.“She’s been receiving horrid letters from an anonymous person.”

  “I don’t believe you!”Priscilla gasped, staring first at Sarah and then Sylvia.

  “Well, not always anonymous,”Sylvia added with a sigh.“The first few had your return address on them.”

  At this news, Priscilla felt the color drain from her face. Could it be possible that Susie Byler had shifted her attention to someone else to bully? Yet, at the same time, she was busy impersonating her original target! Priscilla felt her heart begin to beat faster as she wondered at the depths to this woman’s misery.“What do you mean? They had my return address?”

  “Ja,”Sylvia said, lifting her eyes to stare at Priscilla.“I hadn’t wanted to tell you. But they keep coming and are signed with your name. They even have this address as the sender.”

  “But certainly not written by my hand!”Priscilla stared at the other women. She was stunned by this announcement and horrified that anyone would think she could write letters that were anything but godly and Christian.“You know that, don’t you?”

  Sarah reached over and touched Priscilla’s hand.“Of course, we all do,”she replied.“You are not capable of writing such vile and horrid things. Polly and I received letters too, just before Sylvia received hers. Letters that said you are no true Christian and not to be believed.”

  “Me?”

  Both Sarah and Polly nodded their heads at the same time.

  Priscilla felt her heart race.“And were those letters signed?”

  “Nee,”Polly admitted.“Not by name.”

  “‘An Amish Friend’,”Sarah said.“That’s what mine was signed.”

  Priscilla could scarcely believe her ears. It was incredulous to her that Susie hadn’t stopped her crazy antics yet. Surely she was a mad woman, intent on trying to ruin lives.“I don’t even know what to say,”she whispered.“It doesn’t sound like it could be true!”She looked at Polly.“You don’t know for sure and certain that it’s Susie, though.”

  “Nee, we don’t,”Polly admitted with a sigh.“But who else would do such a thing?”She reached into her pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper.“Mayhaps you’d like to read this?”She slid it across the table toward Priscilla who merely stared at it for a moment, as if a true serpent had been placed right in front of her on the picnic table.“Go on, read it.”

  Reluctantly, Priscilla reached for the piece of paper. Her fingers hesitated over it and she glanced at the three women seated before her. Polly nodded encouragement while Sylvia kept her eyes downcast. Picking up the letter, Priscilla unfolded it, the paper crinkling in the silence, and read through the words, her heart beginning to palpitate and her stomach lurching as if she might be getting sick:

  I am a friend who believes you need to know the truth about what kind of person you have been associating with. I have enclosed evidence against Priscilla Smucker/Esh! I hope you will see how much you have been lied to by Priscilla Smucker, and who was telling you the truth all along!

  Signed,

  An Amish Friend

  Stunned, Priscilla looked up. She could hardly believe the words that she had just read. It didn’t seem real. Could this really be happening again?“Lied about what? And what is this‘evidence’that she’s talking about?”

  “Look at the second page.”

  Indeed, on the second page was a document, a legal-looking document, stamped with a round seal that said Lancaster County. As Priscilla’s eyes tried to make sense of it, her heart began to pound, her head felt dizzy, and she feared that she might faint. Indeed, despite knowing nothing of the Englische legal system, it certainly looked as some official document showing that the police had been involved.“Is this…?”

  “It appears to be what they call a restraining order. States that you and Stephen went to her new house on February 5th and threatened her.”

  At this, Priscilla flung the paper across the table. Her cheeks burned red and she felt tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.“Get that evil accusation away from me!”

  Sarah reached out to touch Priscilla’s hand, comforting her while Polly shook her head and picked up the papers.“Oh please, Priscilla! It’s not real. I had my brother, Gid, ask his friend about it, you know that Mennonite fellow that he hangs out with. He knows Englische law better than us.”

  “Oh help,”Priscilla muttered again, waving her hand before h
er face, fighting the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks.“I have to talk to Stephen about this.”She glanced behind her at the calendar hanging on the wall.“And February 5th was a weekend! We were visiting with family.”Even from where she sat, she could still see the dates circled when they had gone visiting during their first months of marriage. She had brought the calendar with her from her parents’home and had hung it in the kitchen.“In fact, on that day, we were with his cousins in Lititz, just down the road.”

  The other women nodded.

  “We know that,”Sarah said.

  “Besides,”Priscilla continued, her tears suddenly dissipating as her hurt began to turn to anger.“I don’t even know where she lives now! And I have plenty more to do than to bother with the likes of her and her craziness.”

  “A trailer park just south of Intercourse is what I heard,”Sarah added.

  That announcement caused Priscilla to stop in mid-sentence.“A what?”

  “Trailer park. She’s living in one of those Englische houses that are pulled by cars.”Sarah pointed toward the paper that Polly was folding up in order to slide it back into the envelope.“States in this so-called restraining order that you shall not trespass at the Country Haven Campground where she is staying, nor approach her trailer.”

  “And she filed this…this restraining order against me? And the police believed her just like that?”The entire situation sounded incredulous to Priscilla. What crazy laws the Englische have, she thought.

  Polly rolled her eyes.“She’s pretty good at lying.”

  Priscilla was speechless. Lying? That was an understatement. How was it possible that someone who had professed to walk with Christ could make up such stories and be able to live with herself afterwards?

  Polly tried to reassure her again.“Listen to Sarah. Gid’s friend found out that anyone can file for something like this and even have it stamped but, unless a police officer brings it to you, it’s not legal. Obviously the judge didn’t sign anything nor did he believe her.”

  Regardless, Priscilla was in shock. First Susie had taken out that ad in The Budget, telling everyone those horrible lies about her and Stephen. Now, she was mailing horrid letters to her friends and filing false documents with law officials! What exactly was Susie trying to prove? What was her motivation? Her motive? Would her personal vendetta ever end? Priscilla just didn’t understand what fueled her anger.

  Indeed, this was not good news at all. Everything had been so quiet, so calm. Why would Susie Byler continue her harassment and now, to spread the cloak to her friends?“I simply don’t understand this woman,”Priscilla muttered, a growing pit in her stomach.“I feel that we should pray for her, pray for the return of her mental health which, clearly, she no longer has.”

  Polly and Sarah scoffed while Sylvia grew more despondent.“I won’t be praying for that lost soul,”Sarah added, not too kindly.“She’s done more than enough to harm you and now us. But any letters that come for me, I just throw them in the rubbish heap. After all, that’s where they belong.”

  It was later that evening when Priscilla finally had a chance to talk to Stephen about what she had learned from her friends. She repeated the story to her husband who, to her surprise, said nothing. But his expression spoke of his disapproval in what she told him. With his lips pressed tightly together, he continued with his chores, Priscilla working alongside of him.

  “Have you nothing to say, Stephen?”she found the courage to ask, fearful that she had upset him by sharing the story.

  “Nee,”Stephen replied tersely. Despite what he said, she could tell that he was upset.“I do not.”

  Priscilla fought the sinking feeling inside of her stomach. Surely he was unhappy with her for what he must consider idle gossip. Without another word, Priscilla bent her head to the side of the cow that she was milking, trying to focus her attention on the task at hand and not at her beating heart. Had she upset him? Was sharing that story truly gossip? It worried her that he might feel that she was just that: a gossiper.

  Several minutes passed before she heard him mutter something under his breath and, when she looked up, she was surprised to see him reach for his hat and rip it from atop his head. He stood up and began to pace in the aisle behind the cows, shaking his head and mumbling to himself; she couldn’t exactly hear what he was saying.

  “Stephen?”

  He exhaled loudly and turned to stare at his young wife. His eyes looked as though they were on fire, an expression Priscilla had never seen on his face before.“When will it stop?”he said, none too kindly.“First it was jealousy over the tomatoes. Then it was trying to break us apart and turn the community against you over the wedding quilt. When that did not work, she tried to make both of us look as though we were unchristian with that horrible letter to the Budget!”He raised his clenched fist into the air.“When will it stop? Tell me that, Priscilla! When?”

  Without a second’s hesitation, Priscilla jumped up from the stool she had been seated upon by the cow and ran to her husband. Placing her hands on his arms, she tried to calm him down.“Don’t let her win, Stephen. Please,”she pleaded.“We are so much stronger than she is and we have the love and support of not just each other but the entire community.”She tried to force a weak smile.“She has nothing, ain’t so? No family, no real friends, no true faith in God.”

  Her words seemed to soften his fierce expression and look of determination.

  “Stephen,”she continued, trying to calm down her husband’s anger.“You are such a godly man, so pure in thought and action. Don’t let someone like Susie Byler change that. Not for one second, you hear?”

  “Ja, I hear you, fraa,”he said, his tone softening as he listened to her words. Yet, she could tell that he was still distressed.“It just sickens me to think that she actually believes that she has fooled anyone. And it pains me to harbor such ill thoughts against one who clearly is in need of prayers more than most.”

  Priscilla held his hands and smiled, a real smile this time, not forced.“I would expect nothing less from you, Stephen Esh: to recognize that she is a woman in pain and in great need of prayer. Mayhaps we should pray for her salvation together…right now?”

  He hesitated, staring down at his wife and pondering her words. She could sense his inner conflict and knew that her Stephen would come to the proper conclusion. And that, he did. With a sigh, he took his wife’s hand and led her toward the back of the barn so that they could kneel by the hay bales. With their heads bowed down and their hands clasped before them, they both said a silent prayer to God, praying for His eternal love to shine on all of them, especially Susie Byler who needed His love and compassion more than most.

  Chapter Three

  It was at the following church service when Priscilla noticed that Sylvia was not well. She looked thin, too thin, and there were dark circles under her eyes. However, since Priscilla now sat with the married Amish women, she knew she wouldn’t be able to find out what was bothering her friend until it was time for the fellowship meal.

  From across the room, her eyes continued to glance in Stephen’s direction. The young growth of his beard clearly identified him as a newly married man and, the way that his eyes drifted toward her time and again made it clear who his bride was.

  After the second sermon by the bishop, the Ausbund books were opened to Song 91 for the closing hymn of the service. Priscilla reached beneath the wooden bench where she sat to pick up the chunky Ausbund book and opened it to page 475 where the song began:

  O child of man, understand me now,

  I want to give you a summary

  Of how one should fear the Lord,

  And live according to His will.

  In the fear of the Lord, you shall be pure,

  Which He allows to flow through you

  Here in this time.

  It will bring you wisdom,

  Perception and true righteousness,

  So that you can shun evil.

  The fear of God i
s a beginning

  Of wisdom that is pure.

  It produces repentance

  In this time of opportunity.

  Wisdom alone acknowledges

  What is genuine righteousness.

  It makes a distinction here,

  In a life of godliness,

  Herein the Holy Spirit gives confirmation,

  Whereby one is called sanctified in this time,

  To the one to whom God gives this gift.

  This fear also raises questions here,

  Of unfamiliar things.

  If you are given a discernment,

  Then take it deeply to heart.

  Take wisdom with you as your counsel,

  Consider what the issues of life and death are,

  Until it makes them plain to you.

  Then the distinction will be made,

  When wisdom gives you the clear discernment,

  It will divide life from death.

  Faith comes from this understanding,

  Thereto also love.

  These gifts flow forth from God alone,

  Faith and love live in hope.

  We are assured of these here.

  All that God has promised

  Shall be appropriated by patience.

  If you have faith, love, hope and patience,

  You are truly standing in God’s mercy,

  And experience His glory.[11]

  Priscilla lost herself in the words that were being sung, listening to each syllable and feeling the power of each word. The congregation waited for the first syllable of each line to be sung by Yonie Esh, Stephen’s cousin, before joining in, singing the rest of the verse.

  When the congregation sang the last verse, Priscilla paused at the words: faith, love, hope and patience. She wanted so much to stand in God’s mercy but had been guilty of judging others and lacking love for her fellow neighbor. A wave of guilt washed over her and she realized that she needed to focus more on forgiveness, even when her patience was stretched too thin. In order to be a true servant of God, she needed to focus more on her fear of God, not her fear of mankind.