by Alan Black
The central room had two permanent features. On the wall opposite the entrance in the back of the room, a large chalkboard covered the whole space, nailed into the wall, unmoving and solid. A few pull down maps hung over the chalkboard, old maps and well used, having teacher added corrections. A closed curtain hid the chalkboard on Sundays. It gave the room a more church-like atmosphere. It was easier to convert the school benches into church pews than it was trying to convert rabbits into Methodists. The early arriving church members went about swapping readers for hymnals and exchanging writing slates for Bibles. No one had figured out how to hide the big cast iron heater in the middle of the floor, nor its long stovepipe, shooting upwards and angling out through the roof.
Just inside the door to the church was a water bench, filled with basins for washing and a bucket with fresh water hauled in from the well. A long row of nails held drinking cups, each with a student’s name printed neatly on the tin. A long dipper hung above the water bucket. There was also a long bench for pulling off muddy boots, set under a row of hooks for winter coats, for spring rain gear, and for fall hats and jackets. Also at the back of the room was a large wood box for the heater.
As the mule cart came into the churchyard, LillieBeth pointed around at the open knob on the top of the hill. It was bare and rocky, not at all like the rest of the terrain.
She said, “Miss Harbowe says this knob is a dolomite glade.”
Daddy said, “Huh?! All this time I thought it was a bald knob. Okay, Miss Smarty-britches, what is a dolomite glade?”
She said, “Miss Harbowe says it is where the dolomite rock underneath pushed up too close to the surface for much to grow. She sure is smart.”
LillieBeth thought her teacher was just about the smartest person she had ever met. Daddy was smart and very clever with making and fixing things, but Miss Harbowe had book learning. Miss Harbowe was not a very pretty woman and had become a spinster at almost twenty. The gossip was she had a suitable marriage engagement once, but lost her intended to the war. That was just gossip; she never talked to her students about her personal life. Everyone knew, students and parents alike, whether she talked or not, that she rejected any suitor, as infrequent and unsuitable as the candidates were, with speed, dispatch and undue haste.
Daddy reined the mules around the edge of the knob, as close to the tree line as he could drive, looking for a place that would be in the shade for most of their time in church. Ruth and Naomi tried to pull the cart toward any spot with grass.
The Hazkits waved and called to everyone. LillieBeth stood behind her parents. She stood stiff and ladylike in her Sunday dress. She nodded and smiled with her parents, in her best imitation of a regal display.
“Oh look,” she squealed, barely able to keep herself from pointing, as Mama would have slapped her hand. “There is Fern and Magnolia Schmitt. My, my, my! Those are such pretty dresses. Fern said their father brought new dresses from up Columbia way. Store bought and everything. Can you just imagine? It must be wonderful to be rich and not have to worry about silly things like dresses.”
Daddy glanced over his shoulder at her. “No. Now there you have it wrong. I imagine that both girls worry like the dickens when their sister has borrowed and is wearing one of their dresses. What if she tears it? What if she gets a stain on it? No, scamp. Rich people worry more than us regular folks because they have a lot more things to worry about.”
Mama nodded, “Besides, we are as rich as we need to be. Who provides for us, LillieBeth?”
Without hesitating, she said, “Daddy takes care of us. And you take care of me. And I…”
Mama said, “Yes. We all take care of each other. But it is God who provides all that we need. And he works through Daddy, and he works in me, and he even works with you. After all, didn’t he put the rabbits in the world for you to hunt and harvest for our lunch?”
LillieBeth was about to respond when she spotted her best friend Pearl. Forgetting to be ladylike, LillieBeth jumped off the moving cart. She raced around saying hello to all of her friends she had not seen since last Monday in school.
Her friend Pearl hugged her. “Oh, LillieBeth, it has just been forever since I saw you.”
LillieBeth hugged Pearl back. She squeezed so hard Pearl let out a little squawk and a giggling gurgle.
LillieBeth and Pearl had become very close friends since the death of Pearl’s mother in a hunting accident. It was rare for women to die that way, but not completely unheard of. Pearl spent many a weekend sleepover at the Hazkits, crawling into LillieBeth’s bed, giggling at all hours of the night, telling stories, sharing wishes and becoming as close as two people could at their age.
Pearl’s father was a good man, but he was lost without his wife. He was unable to cope with a pre-teen daughter on the verge of womanhood. LillieBeth’s mother helped as a surrogate, talking to both girls about anything and everything as if they were both her children.
LillieBeth said, “It is hard to only come to school one day a week, but it is a long trip riding a mule here and back home again. We are lucky Mama still lets me come every week on Mondays.”
Pearl said, “Fern Schmitt said her father said that in the big cities they send a big motor bus around to pick up the children for school, so they can go every day.”
LillieBeth said, “Every day? That’s just silly-”
Clayton Grissom interrupted, calling everyone for the service, greeting his neighbors at the door, ushering everyone into the church.
LillieBeth raced across the yard and squeezed between her parents. She grabbed their hands and pulled them into the church. Daddy liked to sit in the back row. He said he liked it in the back so he could duck out if he got to coughing. Mama liked to sit in the middle. She did not say why. She just liked it there. LillieBeth liked to sit in the front row, so she pulled her parents to the front and plopped down.
A young man in a dark frocked coat stood behind the pulpit. LillieBeth was surprised to see he looked younger than Daddy. He was also not going to make an entrance from the vestry like other circuit preachers. He just stood there, smiling and nodding his greeting to everyone who came in.
It did not take long for the church to fill up.
The preacher spoke. “I am David James. Welcome to God’s house.”
LillieBeth was surprised at his voice. It was deep, rich and full for such a young man. She was lost in his voice as he led them in prayers. She was enthralled when he grabbed and strummed a guitar as he led them in song. That was a very un-Methodist thing to do. Even more unusual, it was the first time she ever noticed her father tapping his foot to a hymn and singing along.
Reverend James said, “Your school teacher, Miss Harbowe, will be leading the Sunday school class under God’s great blue sky this morning. I understand she has been making use of scripture cards. Can I have a volunteer to recite the message before we dismiss the youngsters for Sunday school?”
LillieBeth’s hand shot up before he could finish the question. At his nod, she stood up and recited Matthew 22.39.
He said, “Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Not only can she recite scripture, but she is pretty as a button to boot. I must say that I am really partial to young women with freckles.” He smiled at LillieBeth as she sat back down between her parents.
He dismissed the children to go to Sunday school. Daddy nudged her shoulder, but she shook her head. She was not going to miss a word this man said. She was not a child anymore to run off with the babies. She was a young woman with freckles. An ordained minister told her so. And, she was pretty as a button.
Mama shook her head at Daddy and he quit nudging LillieBeth.
Reverend James said, “Matthew 22:39.” He paused. “Matthew 22:39.” He paused again. It seemed he looked at every face. He shook his head. He took a paper from the pulpit. He folded it and put it in his coat pocket. “Matthew 22:39 is a scripture that seems to be easy to understand, but is it?”
He let the question hang in the air. LillieBeth h
ung on the question with the rest of the congregation. He flipped open his big Bible and turned through a few pages.
He looked up. His eyes seemed to lock onto everyone’s eyes in the small church. He looked last at LillieBeth.
She would not have moved if the church had caught fire.
He said, “Matthew 22:37. ‘Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment’.”
Reverend James stopped and looked at his congregation. “All Christians feel this way in their heart. We all love God. We put Him in our hearts in the morning, we wrap our souls with love to Him all day, and we think on our love for Him with our minds at night. This is God’s great commandment for us. Our living Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has said this.
“Matthew 22:39 says ‘And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’.” He stopped and waited a moment before he continued. “‘The second is like unto the first.’ My good people, this is our instruction to love our neighbors with all of our heart, all of our soul and with all of our minds.
“This is second only to loving God. Let me ask this; do we stop loving God because we have a bad day? No. Do we stop loving God on the days that it rains? No. Do we stop loving God when we become sick? No.
“The same holds true with our neighbors. Do we stop loving our neighbors because we have a bad day? No. Do we stop loving our neighbors when it rains? No. Do we stop loving our neighbors just because we had an argument with them? No.
“And who are our neighbors? Is it just the people who live next door to us? Our neighbors are everyone around us. It is everyone who has an impact on our lives. It is everyone we speak to and everyone who speaks to us. And most of all, good people, do we only love those neighbors who love us back?
“John 3:16 says ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.’ God so loved the world. Does everyone in the world love God? No, no, and no again; but God loves them anyway. Will all of our neighbors love us back? No, no, and no again, but God loves us. God loves them. We love God, therefore we love them.”
LillieBeth was lost in his voice as Reverend James spoke to his congregation. She was sure he was talking only to her. She knew she had been thinking too small. She had to expand her love. Reverend James did not mean just the people living next to the people living next to her. He meant for her to love those who were hard to love.
She knew whom she had to love and who to make her friend.
SUNDAY - NOON
Fern Schmitt said, “You can’t try to be friends with that crazy old man.”
Magnolia nodded her head in emphatic agreement with her sister’s statement. The two girls were dressed in their Sunday finest. Their dresses had bows and ribbons with matching hats. The two girls smiled and laughed a lot, but were not attractive even when they smiled. They had the sharp hawk-like faces of the whole Schmitt clan.
They were a few years older than LillieBeth. The girls were both fifteen, but they were not twins. Fern was ten months older than her baby sister Magnolia. They were old enough to be married, but suitors were scarce. Even with their father offering a large dowry, the promise of twenty acres for marriage, both girls remained single. So many young men had been lost to the war that single men were in short supply.
LillieBeth had wondered why Trance and Dangle Braunawall came visiting her when her father had no dowry to offer. She also knew the Schmitt girls had five dresses each to their name. Being able to switch clothes with a sister of the same size meant they could go for ten days without wearing the same thing as they did the day before.
Of course, the girls were not as smart as they should be. At least, they did not pay much attention to their schoolwork. Fern often said they knew everything from books they needed to know. She said they needed to marry and have children. LillieBeth wanted marriage too, with lots of children, lots and lots of children. But, she was still too young. From today’s sermon she learned she had two things to do. First was to love God; got that covered. Second was to love her neighbor; that was what she had to do next.
“Why not make that man my friend?” LillieBeth asked Fern and Magnolia. “Reverend James said to. You were out with the Sunday school. You did not stay inside to hear his sermon.”
Fern said, “You can’t go over to that old hermit’s place. Everybody knows he is crazy mean.
Magnolia nodded and said, “Crazy and mean.”
LillieBeth said, “But he is our neighbor.”
Fern said, “Father said that old hermit killed his parents and ran off to fight in the civil war when he was younger than we are now. Father said he was probably wanted for murder in Kansas because he rode with Colonel Quantrill in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas.”
LillieBeth said, “That was,” she did the math in her head, “fifty-seven years ago. Did your father say he knew for sure?”
Fern said, “No, of course he doesn’t know for sure. No one really knows ‘bout that old man for sure.”
Magnolia said, “Mean and crazy is what he is. He is likely to cook your bones up for bread if you go up to his place.”
LillieBeth shrugged. “I do not see that I have much choice. I have to be his friend if I want to love him. I do not know any other way to love a friend.”
Fern said, “Well, how about you being a good friend to us?”
LillieBeth said, “You are my friends, both of you. You know that I will do whatever I can if you ask. What do you need?”
Fern leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. Magnolia looked around to see if anyone was watching. She leaned in with her sister.
Fern said, “We need husbands. Why there ain’t a single man in the whole of the Methodist church on this knob.”
Magnolia nodded but did not say anything.
“How are we supposed to get married if we never meet any single men?” Fern said. “Why the onlyest places we get to go to are church and school! I heard the circuit preacher is not married, but he only comes around once in a long while. The oldest boy in school is Billy Hollister and he is only ten. I can’t wait for him to get old enough to get married. I’ll be an old maid by then.”
Magnolia nodded and said, “Me too.”
LillieBeth said, “I want to get married someday, too. But I am not looking yet, so if I run across any single men I will send them up your way.”
Fern grinned, “I’ll love you for that.”
Magnolia tugged at her sister’s arm. “Father is calling us for picnic lunch.”
Fern said, “LillieBeth, you stay away from that old man, hear?”
The two sisters raced off to gather with their family at the edge of the knob under a shade tree. LillieBeth spun about in a slow circle. The whole church ringed the knob sitting in the shade of the oaks and pines. It was a long drive back to the Hazkit’s place so they usually ate a picnic lunch. They would spend much of Sunday afternoon socializing with the rest of the congregation before heading for home.
She wanted to invite Reverend James to join them, but she did not want to be too forward. Plus, even though she was not embarrassed about their picnic lunch, she knew there were better meals waiting for the offering. She knew the Schmitt’s would eat sausages and they would have plenty of side dishes. Her friend Pearl’s father raised chickens. Every Sunday, they had fried chicken for their picnic. The Hollisters raised pigs, the same as the Schmitts, but kept a more generous portion of any slaughter for their family. The Hollisters were sure to have ham, or side meat, or even beans and hocks.
There were many Sundays when the Hazkits joined one or the other of the families and shared their bounty. Many other Sundays, LillieBeth sat with her friends for their picnic, leaving her parents alone to enjoy each other’s company.
With all of the bounty around the knob, all she could offer the preacher was common rabbit. She spotted Reverend James coming out of the church. She raced up to him. She knew running was not lady-like, but sh
e did not care.
She said, “Reverend James, I am LillieBeth Hazkit. I recited for you today, remember?”
He said, “Of course I remember. Yours was the best scripture recitation I have ever heard. You were accurate, clear and loud enough for the back row to hear.”
She said, “I wanted to thank you for your preaching. I do not know how to tell you how important it was for me. I had questions on that scripture. You told me more than what it meant. You told me what to do.”
“Thank you, Miss Hazkit. It means a lot for a preacher to hear that his words are not falling on deaf ears.”
She said, “I know now that I have a neighbor I do not love, or even know. I need to change that, right?”
He nodded. He looked around the field as if looking for someone.
LillieBeth knew he had received more than one invitation to sit for a meal with various families. She was emboldened to ask, knowing he would say no. “Reverend James, my folks and I only have cold, fried rabbit for lunch, but we would be blessed if you would join us.”
He looked at her and smiled. “Cold, fried rabbit is my favorite. However, I must confess I have already accepted another invitation for lunch.”
LillieBeth was both relieved and disappointed. She was not sure what to do with those conflicting emotions. She would have to remember to talk to Mama about it. Mama always seemed to know the answer about emotions and her growing pains.
She asked, “May I ask who are you eating with?”
Reverend James replied, “Miss Harbowe invited me to join her. She did not offer me anything as nice as cold, fried rabbit, but she did ask first. Besides, I do like the cheese sandwiches she offered, especially if there is apple pie afterword. I don’t see her. Do you?”
LillieBeth said, “I know exactly where she is, Reverend James. May I show you?”
“Lead on,” he said. He startled LillieBeth when he grabbed her hand and put it through the crook of his arm. He patted her hand.
She had seen Miss Harbowe spreading a picnic blanket next to her parent’s raw canvas ground cover near the biggest oak tree at the back of the knob. Miss Harbowe and Mama often sat together.