by Sarah Price
This makes sense, she thought, watching as the door opened and six men walked in. Mary leaned over and whispered,“The bishop and his deacons.”
Like the women, they made their way through the line of women, shaking hands with each one of them. There was no verbal greeting, no smile on their lips. Just a firm handshake before they moved onto the next person.
Unlike her church at home, worship was a serious matter in Mary’s district. The day was not meant for catching up and chatting about the happenings of the week. At least not yet. Mary had told her that, after worship, it wouldn’t be as somber. The room would be converted from a worship room into a fellowship hall in what Mary could only explain as“organized chaos.”That was the time for more social interactions, she told Elizabeth.
Once the bishop and his deacons moved to the center of the room, taking their places, the women began to single file to their seats. Mary and Katie went first, since they were the hosting family. As their guest, Elizabeth sat next to Katie. The remaining women assumed their places, the women arranged by age and marital status.
When they were all seated, as if some silent signal had been given, the men walked through the door, their straw hats planted firmly upon their heads and their black suits looking as somber as a funeral. They, too, single filed to their seats, the line being led by the oldest man in the district.
The last two groups to enter the room where the unmarried women followed by the unmarried men.
Everything seemed orchestrated by an invisible hand, not one step out of place as the people moved through their routine. Elizabeth realized that it was most likely the same manner of worship as the Anabaptist, the Amish in particular, had practiced for hundreds of years. Their culture was renowned as resisting change, whether political, social, or religious. The one place of autonomy, the place where they had no worries about intrusion from the government or society, was within those four walls during their three-hour service every other week.
Once everyone was seated, the men removed their straw hats and slid them under their seats. A young man from the back of the room began to sing the first syllable of a hymn, his voice carrying the note to a tune that Elizabeth had never heard before. As soon as he was finished with that first syllable, the rest of the members joined him, singing the rest of the hymn’s first line.
As the same young man began the next line, the bishop and the deacons stood and left the room. Only because Mary had told her beforehand, Elizabeth knew that they were leaving to discuss who would give the two sermons that day. They would discuss it, pray on it, and then decide before returning. In the meantime, the gathered members of the g’may continued to sing.
The resulting chant-line song stunned Elizabeth. The music was like nothing she had ever heard. It didn’t matter what range people sang. No one cared if anyone’s voice carried each note in tune. They simply sang, their hearts lifting each syllable up toward God.
The hymn took almost twenty minutes to sing, even though it was just four verses long. But Elizabeth didn’t mind. She could have listened to that melodic chant for hours. When the singing finished, after the bishop and the deacons had returned to the room, Elizabeth was left breathless, realizing what an amazing experience she had just witnessed.
For the rest of the service, Elizabeth merely observed. She found herself amazed that the little children barely squirmed during the long, three-hour service. A few of the older men shut their eyes, an occasional head nod awakening them, but most of the people seemed to sit without fidgeting or falling asleep.
Try as she might, she couldn’t imagine her own children behaving in such a respectful manner when they were younger for such a long amount of time. While she knew that Ryan and his wife went to church every Sunday, she suspected that Sophia had strayed from regular attendance. Her daughter certainly would not have sat for three hours, even if it was every other week.
The sermons were long and, since they were given in German, she understood nothing. However, she admired the passion with which the deacon gave his sermon and the sing-song lilt of the bishop who gave the second sermon.
With over two hundred people sitting in the room, the air began to get stuffy during the second hour. Elizabeth knew that, at her own church, this would be the time that people began to fan themselves with the weekly program. None of the Amish seemed to mind. However, when Katie quietly left her seat to open the windows in the back of the room, Elizabeth realized that the stuffy air might have bothered others, but they were simply too well mannered to complain.
“Well now,”Mary said when the worship ended.“What did you think of that?”
Elizabeth reached out and touched Mary’s arm.“I think that was very special, indeed! I can’t thank you enough for inviting me!”
A pleased look crossed Mary’s face.“Wasn’t too boring then? Being held in German and all.”
“Not in the least!”And she meant it.
As the older women retreated to the kitchen and the younger ones with children slipped outside for a few minutes, the room began to rapidly transform. It was just as Mary predicted…organized chaos.
The men began to convert the long wooden benches into tables by slipping the ends of two benches into a wooden board with holes in the top. Within ten minutes, the room no longer resembled a worship room but a fellowship hall.
The women began to set the two long tables, first covering them with an assortment of table cloths and then placing an assortment of plates evenly spaced on either side. The unmarried women followed them, placing utensils and plastic cups at each plate.
Despite over two hundred people working in the room, there was a method to their movements. No one needed to be told what to do. No one had to ask if their help was needed. They simply knew and, without any complaint, did what needed to be done.
Mary guided Elizabeth to the table, explaining to her that there would be two seatings and, since they were older, they would eat before the younger women. The women sat at one table while the men sat at the other. As soon as everyone was seated, the room became completely still as heads bowed for a silent prayer.
“So you’re the woman staying at Mary’s, then?”a woman seated across from Elizabeth said.
“I am, yes.”
“There’s no electricity there,”another woman said, a twinkle in her eyes.
“I have discovered that,”Elizabeth responded playfully. She found it amusing that one of the first things most women asked her about was how she fared living without electricity. Of course, she also knew that most tourists had the reverse question for the Amish: how can you live without electricity?
The first woman looked over at Mary, an incredulous expression on her face.“And she’s still here? Would’ve thought she’d head for the first motel along Main Street!”
The women laughed and Elizabeth joined them. By now, she knew that their gentle teasing was a way of letting her know that she was accepted. After all, if Mary Troyer let Elizabeth stay at the cottage for so long and invited her to the worship service, that was enough of an approval for them to welcome her to their extended family of faith.
“Heard you were at Susan’s this past week. Quilting, ja?”
Elizabeth nodded her head as she spread some home-made butter on freshly baked bread.“That’s correct. It was a wonderful afternoon.”
Mary leaned forward.“She actually quilts very nice stitches.”She looked at the two women seated across from her.“Small and even.”
That seemed to impress the women and they nodded their heads approvingly.
For the rest of the meal, the women talked amongst themselves, occasionally asking Elizabeth a question or two, but they focused mostly on the upcoming two weeks. She realized that, without phones or computers, this was their time to learn about upcoming events in their district as well as among the more expansive community. If there was a gathering to be held or help needed at market, this was the time for that information to be shared and plans made accordingly.
> The meal itself was simple, the light fare not meant to do more than quell rumbling tummies and provide a time of socialization for the church members. Elizabeth knew that all of the food had been prepared in advance so that no one had to cook on this day of rest and worship.
When the variety of pies were placed on the tables, she noticed that no one refused dessert. At her own fellowship meals, Elizabeth knew that many of the women would have been demure, shying away from any sweets as they mentioned that they were on a diet or that they preferred just having coffee. Here, among the Amish, no one made any such comments. Desserts were served at every meal, the extra calories hardly a consideration for people who worked so many hours a day, both inside and outside of their homes.
When the first seating was finished, someone from the men’s table cleared his throat and, almost at once, everyone stopped talking and moving around the room. Elizabeth glanced at the women seated across from her and noticed that, once again, they bowed their heads so that they could take a moment for a silent after-prayer. Quickly, Elizabeth did the same.
As soon as the prayer ended, the people who were seated began to get up and the younger women moved into action, clearing plates so that they could be washed, dried, and reset on the table for the second seating to enjoy the food. The older women began to move toward the door, lingering in small groups while the room was reset to order for the rest of the church members. The men retreated outside to continue their discussions.
Elizabeth took this moment to excuse herself.
“I’m going to get going,”she whispered to Mary.
It had been a long morning and now, with it being almost one o’clock in the afternoon, she felt it was time to return to the cottage. She was sure that Mary would visit with her friends for a while and, if Elizabeth left, they could speak in Dutch, rather than English. Besides, Elizabeth was tired and wanted nothing more than to take a short nap. It was the perfect weather to crack open the windows so that she could curl up under the thick quilts on her bed for a mid-afternoon sleep.
“You’ll come back later for the singing, ja?”Katie asked as she walked by, having gathered that Elizabeth was leaving.
“Singing?”Elizabeth glanced at Mary, curious about this new offer from Katie.
Mary shrugged.“Elijah and Katie will be hosting the youth tonight for a singing. They’ll be leading it.”
“Will you be going?”she asked Mary.
“Nee,”she said, clearly not interested.“But I’ll be able to listen to them from my kitchen, I’m sure. You can always stop by for a cup of coffee if you’d like to sit a spell and hear the singing.”
Grateful for the chance to hear the singing without actually having to go, especially without Mary who had become her barometer of appropriate behavior among the Amish, Elizabeth nodded.“That sounds a little more to my liking. I’m sure young people wouldn’t want any intrusions at their social gathering.”
After saying goodbye to the few women that she had met, Elizabeth slipped out the door and wandered up the path toward the cottage. As she passed the driveway, she noticed that it was lined with buggies, the different black and brown horses left grazing in the nearby paddocks.
Earlier, she had seen David and Jonas help direct the arriving buggies, indicating where the drivers should park them. Some buggies were on the pavement; others on the grass. The Troyers’two young sons had also helped unharness the horses. She wondered how the Amish could tell the buggies apart. Mary had laughed when she asked that question.
She passed the barn, nodding to the small groups of Amish men standing there. She noticed Elijah and John talking to the bishop and deacons, their long beards, all but Elijah’s completely gray, touching the top button of their black vests. The bishop’s eyes seemed to follow her, even as John lifted his hand to wave.
For a split second, Elizabeth wondered if Mary would get reprimanded for having brought an Englische woman to the worship service. However, when he, too, nodded at her, a solemn expression worthy of Sunday reflection upon his face, she realized that he was merely curious as to who she was.
As soon as she got into the cottage, Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and lay down on the bed. She rested her head on her bent arm as she stared at the ceiling for a moment. What an amazing day, she thought. It was something she never would have imagined happening to her: being invited to attend an Amish worship service and then enjoying the fellowship meal with the entire congregation?
There was a bittersweet irony to this: William never would have sat through a three-hour long worship service conducted in a German, a language neither of them understood. And, despite being a well-versed man, thanks to his hunger for reading, he tended to be shy around strangers. Elizabeth wasn’t so certain he would have agreed to sharing a meal with the Amish men. Still, he would have delighted in her telling him about her adventures, listening attentively to her describing the sounds of the singing and the conversations at the table.
The only thing, Elizabeth realized, was the fact that her adventures never would have happened while William was alive. For starters, she would never have agreed to do something like that without him. He certainly would not have pressed her, either. She wondered how many opportunities she might have missed over the years because of her reluctance to do anything without her husband by her side while he was unwilling to have new experiences.
It was that thought, the conflicting emotions of regret over opportunities missed in her previous life and guilt for even recognizing that they existed, that lingered in her mind as she shut her eyes and let sleep overtake her, at last.
CHAPTER 12
The path through the forest behind her cottage was covered with a thin layer of leaves. Elizabeth clutched her coat shut, shivering as she began her morning walk. As the sun began its ascent in the sky, the air was cold. She preferred it that way. The cold air heightened her senses and woke her, almost as much as a good cup of coffee.
Her footsteps made a soft crinkling noise as she walked, the leaves rustling underfoot. Once in a while she could hear animals scurrying among the fallen leaves, readying their homes for the upcoming winter. In the distance, she could hear the men working. She knew that they were cutting down some trees this week. With the crops harvested and the fields fertilized, it was time for the Troyers to focus on lumber.
Making her way through a clearing, she recognized the Belgian mules grazing in a field. She must have walked to the other side of the farm through the winding path. Glancing to her right, she saw the gate to the paddock and realized that, indeed, she was on the other side of the farmhouse. Carefully, she climbed over the wooden fencing and made her way toward the gate. No sense in backtracking, she figured.
Morning walks were a new addition to her routine. After she awoke and had two cups of coffee, she walked every day, usually down the road. Today, however, she had decided to follow the path through the forest. She was getting the lay of the land and took comfort in the familiar landscape.
As the white farmhouse came into view, Elizabeth made her way around the back. To her surprise, she found Mary hanging laundry on the line to dry. While she didn’t wear a watch, Elizabeth was fairly certain that it was not quite nine-thirty. That was a busy morning if the laundry was already washed, especially since Elizabeth suspected that Mary washed it all by hand.
“Good morning!”
Mary turned her head, holding a sheet up to the line as Elizabeth approached. Four wooden clothes pins poked out from her mouth but she managed to smile anyway.“Gut mariye!”she replied, quickly taking the pins into her hand and, with the speed of an expert, slipped them over the sheet and onto the line.“God has surely blessed us with a lovely autumn, ja?”
Elizabeth nodded.“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was taking a walk and found myself back by your mules.”
Mary reached for another sheet and began pinning it to the line“There is no interruption,”she said cheerfully.“I can work and chat at the same time.”With the sheet properly
pinned, she leaned down into her basket for the next item, a white pillow case.“If you wound up by the mules, you must have wandered through the forest. Sure is pretty back there, ain’t so?”
“That it is.”
Mary glanced at the sky as if accessing it. With the sun in her eyes, she squinted.“Nice weather for a walk. Won’t be many more days like today.”Then, abruptly, she returned her attention to the laundry, pulling the next pillowcase from the basket at her feet.
“No there won’t,”Elizabeth said.
Mary stopped pinning a pair of trousers to the line and glanced at Elizabeth.“You seem a bit downtrodden today, Lizzy. Something the matter?”
Elizabeth tried to smile. The truth was that she was feeling a bit lonely and contemplating leaving Ohio early to return home. But, as the thought rolled around her head, she realized that she wasn’t certain what was waiting for her back home anyway. That realization depressed her.“Just wallowing in self-pity, I suppose,”she admitted.
That got a little smile from Mary.“I can understand that. Been there myself a few times.”
This admission from Mary surprised Elizabeth. How was it possible that Mary, of all people, could ever have experienced self-pity? “I find that hard to believe.”
Mary narrowed her eyes and stared at Elizabeth, a curious look on her face. She pursed her lips as if deep in thought, her hands on the clothesline as she contemplated something. Whatever it was, it was something powerful strong. Elizabeth held her breath, realizing that she must have said something that struck a chord with Mary.
“You don’t know what happened here, do you?”
Elizabeth felt as if there was a pressure building in her head. Uncertain how to respond, she opted for the truth.“I…I know nothing, Mary.”
The older woman seemed to ponder on Elizabeth’s words before she responded.“I suspected not.”She dropped her hands from the clothes line and motioned toward the house.“Come. Let’s go inside for a spell. Mayhaps a cup of warm coffee and a chat is in order, ja?”