A half hour later, he had Axtell trotting back slowly and awkwardly. He had poor leg action and he was knocking his ankles together. Mr. Williams was shaking his head at Gilbert as he approached. He could tell Mr. Williams was thinking intently as if not totally giving up on Axtell. Gilbert’s thoughts of the problem were probably caused by his oddly bent legs. Out of frustration Mr. Williams snapped his whip lightly on Axtell’s back. To Mr. Williams surprise, Axtell suddenly began to trot with a burst of speed and a gait that was exquisite.
Gilbert was amused by Mr. Williams facial expression and words, “He’s a natural.”
“Looks good.” Mr. Williams didn’t want to stop, so they went past the barn and back out onto the road that headed toward the state hospital for the insane. He wasn’t sure they were going to make the turn out of the barn yard onto the road. Mr. Williams made no attempt to slow Axtell down as they came to the sharp turn. Gilbert couldn’t tell if they made it through all the dirt kicked up by the buggy’s wheels. They returned ten minutes later, with Axtell’s fine gait powerfully pulling the buggy.
“That was exciting, sir,” Gilbert said.
“I was afraid there for a while he was going to have that awful gait forever. But, he sure showed what he can do.” Mr Wiliiam’s expressed with a smile he couldn’t relinquish.
“He looked good and powerful.”
“I hated to use the whip like I did.” Mr. Williams shook his head shamefully. We went north of town when I started him to trot. It was so bad that I stopped him as we went through town then started him up again. I shouldn’t be concerned with what others think, but for the first time in my life I was second guessing myself.”
“I can understand that,” Gilbert consoled.
John Hussey strolled up, “I see Axtell looks good.”
“He sure did at the end,” Gilbert said.
Mr. Hussey looked a bit confused so Mr. Williams explained, “He wasn’t until I put a firm whip to him.” Mr. Hussey gave a look of surprise. Mr. Williams gave himself a rare excuse, “I was tired and frustrated, John.”
Gilbert quickly chimed in, “It was better for Axtell. He was busting up his ankles. Which I should look after presently.”
Mr. Williams gave Axtell a loving hug around the neck softly saying, “You did wonderful today.” He addressed his two men, “Give him extra oats. Give him all the carrots he wants.”
“Yes, sir.” Both Gilbert and Mr. Hussey said together.
“I’ll be back soon,” Mr. Williams said, “I will give him a rub down myself. Could you do Lou for me.”
“I already did it, sir,” Gilbert said.
“Great.”
As Mr. Williams walked away Mr. Hussey moved closer to Gilbert. “He used the whip aggressively?”
“It was not like him, but it wasn’t done in anger,” Gilbert explained while releasing Axtell from his harness. “It was more in frustration than anger. Axtell’s ankles were knocking badly.” He pulled on Axtell’s left front leg to get him to raise it. “It was ugly.”
“His gait?”
“Yeah, it was bad.” Gilbert added, “I thought it may have been his crooked legs.”
“That bad, huh.”
“I was afraid he would never be able to trot properly. But, when Mr Williams firmly whipped him, oh my gosh.”
“What I saw was a very fine gait. Impressive in fact,” Mr Hussey said.
“It was, wasn’t it.” The two men nodded. Gilbert led Axtell back to the barn.
“Gilbert,” Mr. Hussey addressed, “We could use a horse to move the carriage.”
“We can’t use Axtel, he is not a work horse, ya know.”
Mr. Hussey chuckled, “I’ll need your assistance in moving the carriage.”
Mr. Williams or John Hussey repeated taking Axtell out for a jog often and went for longer distances each time. Each time they were taking Axtell out for a jog, they would have Gilbert bring Allerton out to watch. Gilbert felt sorry for Allerton, he may feel some resentment, Axtell getting all the attention.
They started jogging Allerton in the same way a month later. Allerton had also grown into a beautiful horse. He was brown with a black mane and tail. Very similar to Axtell except, Allerton had white socks on his hind legs. Unlike Axtell’s oddly bent legs Allerton was in perfect form for a horse of his age.
The first time Allerton was hooked up to the buggy, Gilbert noted them walking into town. Unlike Axtell’s first buggy trip, Allerton returned to the fairgrounds walking. Mr. Williams eventually got Allerton to trot during the second trip to town. His gait was fine and powerful as well.
In the latter days of August, Mr. Williams wanted to stay close to home since Nellie was soon to give birth to their first child. However, the obligations to his many business ventures kept him away a great deal of the time.
It was the early afternoon of August 27th, Mr. Williams was on his way home to Independence, when a telegram was given him while his train was stopped in Oelwein north of Independence. He fished around in his pockets for change to give the delivery boy while reading the telegram. “No,” he said. He jumped out of his seat and handed the boy a handful of change. He pushed past the boy and quickly found the conductor. “I need to get my baggage off immediately.”
“Yes, sir,” the conductor responded quickly to have his baggage removed.
Mr. Williams went to the station ticket office, “I need passage to Ossian right away.” The telegram informed him his mother was dying. She had been ill with inflamation of the bowels earlier in the week. His sister, Alice Hedding, had been staying with her since Wednesday. Her condition was not considered serious until this day.
Mr. Williams’ baggage was removed from the train. He sent a telegram to Mr. Hussey, to inform his wife and continue to take care of things at the fairgrounds. He requested to be notified, at his parents home, if Nellie had any problems.
There were no passenger trains headed north. so he secured passage on a freight train. His mother was unconscious, when he arrived in Ossian that night.
Mrs. Barnhart stayed with Mrs Williams whenever Mr. Williams was out of town. Gilbert and Mr. Hussey spent a lot of time at the house, assisting in whatever they can do.
The sun had barely dropped out of sight when Mrs. Williams started having, what appeared to be, labor pains. Mrs. Barnhart was convinced they should send for Mr. Williams to return immediately. Mrs. Williams insisted he not be burdened with anything inconclusive. She knew he needed to be with his mother at this time.
Gilbert was on the edge of his nerves, never having been around for a human birth. He would have been confident knowing what to do if it were a horse giving birth.
The contractions kept coming, soon it was apparent this was the real thing. Mr. Hussey and Gilbert were lost souls on what to do or expect from this blessed event. They tried comparing a foaling of a horse to what a baby being born curtailed. They were able to determine the head should come out first. They were not sure if the front legs should be tucked up together with the back legs, since legs on a human bend differently than the legs of a horse.
Mr. Hussey said, “She really doesn’t want us to contact Charles, doesn’t she?”
Gilbert shook his head, “She seemed very determined about that. She didn’t want him to have to decide where he needed to be.”
“Well, I think we should sit down and relax. I guess these things take time.” John began to sit down on a comfortable chair. Gilbert strolled over to another chair and sat down. There was a scream from the upstairs. The two men sprang from their seats and began to pace the floor once again.
“She’s all right isn’t she?” Gilbert asked. “I mean, screaming is normal isn’t it?”
“I’ve never heard a horse scream while foaling. But I’m sure she is fine,” John said, “the doctor is up there.”
“Horses don’t scream, Mr. Hussey.�
�� Gilbert said with a forced smile.
“Yeah.” He weakly gasped. There were a few moments of silence as the two men paced the floor bumping into one another from time to time. “There just is no way to relax in this situation, is there?”.
“I think we are doing what we are suppose to do,” Gilbert said.
They agreed they should take the posture of the absent father, and pace the living room floor some more. They deemed it to be a great honor to do so.
There was a doctor and a nurse with Mrs. Barnhart attending to the needs of Mrs. Williams. The housekeeper was assisting in making meals for everyone. Mrs. Barnhart would come down from the upstairs room once in a while to give a report. Each time the two men would hear the door open upstairs, they would anxiously gather at the foot of the steps, waiting for the blessed news. Each time Mrs. Barnhart would tell them everything was going very well.
They paced, slept and worried themselves, until the sun came up and Mr. Hussey said, “Well, I’d better go and take care of the horses.”
“Don’t leave me,” Gilbert pleaded. “I’ll be here all alone.” Mr. Hussey smiled as Gilbert went on, “Besides it can’t be much longer.”
“Well, the horses will be all right for a few hours,” Mr. Hussey chuckled, “It’s not like they have to be milked or anything. We better not tell Charles though.”
It was mid morning when Mrs. Barnhart came out of the bedroom and scurried down the stairs. “It’s a boy.” She turned around and went back up the steps laughing delightfully.
The two men looked at each other, beaming with delight and shook hands. Gilbert said, “I’ll send the telegram to Mr. Williams.”
“Well then, off with you,” Mr. Hussey said as he gestured Gilbert to go.
“Right!” Gilbert tore out the door. He looked at his watch, then bolted in a hard run toward the telegraph office at the Burlington Cedar Rapids Northern Railroad station.
Mrs. Barnhart slipped out of the bedroom and scurried down the stairs again. Mr. Hussey had picked up his hat and was preparing to attend to the horses. “Mr. Hussey,” Mrs. Barnhart addressed, “there is another boy. We have twins.”
Mr. Hussey’s mouth fell open, then he bolted out the front door. He spotted Gilbert nearly two blocks away. The normally soft spoken Mr. Hussey woke the dead with a holler a Confederate would have been proud of. “Gilbert!” Gilbert stopped in his tracks, turned around to see John holding up two fingers. “Two!” He hollered with all his volume. He filled his lungs with air again, “Twin boys!”
Gilbert hollered back, “Twins?”
Mrs. Barnhart burst out of the upstairs bedroom screaming in a restrained yell, “Mr Hussey! You are going to wake the dead with that screeching.”
“Yes, twins!” He yelled, disregarding Mrs. Barnhart’s objection. Mr. and Mrs. Williams had twin boys born on August 28, 1887.
Mr. Williams had been up all night with his mother. He once sat briefly on a chair in the parlor. He did not sleep while he sat in silence and unmoving in the chair. Soon a messenger boy knocked at the door that his sister Alice answered. She brought the telegram addressed to Charles W. Williams to him as he sat in the chair. He read it carefully, then read it again.
He looked solemnly towards the room where is mother lay dying. Then he spoke softly to himself, “I have twin sons.” His expression was a mix of joy and sadness. His sister had heard him. She looked at him and smiled. He got up out of the chair and slowly walked across the room to the door to his mother’s room. Alice went to him and gave him a loving hug. “I must tell mother,” he told her.
“It will be the best news she can possibly get,” she told him.
He entered the room where his father, George W. Williams a former sea captain, was sitting on the right side of the bed next to his wife. Charles knelt down on the other side of her bed. Even though she was not awake, he reached for her hand and clutched it.
“Mother,” he said softly and plainly, he didn’t know for sure if she could hear him, but continued to speak. “Nellie gave birth to twin boys early this morning. We were going to name the baby, if it were a boy Rush Park Williams. Since we have twins, I guess we will name one Rush and the other Park. The middle names, I’ll leave up to Nellie to decide.” He felt it was important his mother know the names of her grandsons.
Juliana (Reynolds) Williams died a few hours later on August 28, 1887. The family agreed to lay her to rest at a family plot in Oakwood Cemetery, in Independence.
Mr. Williams was very sorrowful not being there for Nellie during the birthing of the twins. Nellie tried to convince him it was important to be with his mother when she died. She convinced him he would never forgive himself if he hadn’t been with her and he had the rest of his life to make it up to the twins.
Charles W. Williams was notably somber for several days after the funeral, but still continued to work with his two colts.
Soon after his wife’s death, George W. Williams moved to Independence and enjoyed spending time with his new grandsons. He would also assist in caring and training of the two young colts. He especially enjoyed playing and reading to his young grandsons who couldn’t understand a word he read.
They worked on the horses through the next winter, exercising them daily, when weather permitted, except, of course, on the Sabbath. Nellie and the Williams family planned a birthday party for Charles’s thirty-first birthday on December 4th. Many of the local townspeople were invited. Gilbert was employed to help serve the guests.
There was another girl from town helping with serving the party. This was a pretty girl with long black hair named Laura Willard. Her father was the owner of Willard’s Clothing Store, the store Gilbert was accused of stealing from. She had been one of the friends of Clara’s before Clara claimed Gilbert as her best and only friend.
“Hello Gilbert,” Laura greeted as she came through the back door. Since Gilbert had been employed by Mr. Williams his classmates had been more accepting of him.
“Hello Laura.”
“Can I get you two to peel two dozen potatoes, please?” Mrs. Williams asked.
“Yes Ma’am,” Gilbert answered. He pulled a large bag of potatoes out of the pantry and heaved it up onto a butcher block table.
Laura’s eyes widened as she smiled, “Wow, Gilbert, you are really strong.”
“Well, yeah, you get that way when you work with horses.”
“Are you going to the Christmas dance?”
“No, I hadn’t planned on it.” He handed her a potato peeler.
“Don’t you like to dance?”
“I don’t dance,” He responded with a hint of shame.
Why not?”
“Never had a reason to.”
“If you could dance, would you?”
“I didn’t say I couldn’t dance.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“I don’t dance.”
“Why?”
Gilbert was frustrated by the badgering questions, “I don’t have to tell you why.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I don’t need a reason why.” His voice was beginning to elevate in volume and in an angry tone, which was unusual for him. “Just leave it alone!” Mrs. Williams and the cook looked over to him. Gilbert smiled weakly, “Sorry.”
Laura quietly spoke once again, “You don’t have to get so angry about it. I was just trying to make conversation.”
“It was more like a grilling.”
“Just a simple question, why?”
“It is none of your business.”
“I don’t think you know how to dance. I can teach you how to dance.”
“I don’t need to know how to dance, because I am not going to any dances.”
“How are you going to meet a girl to cou
rt if you don’t go to any dances.”
He knew deep down he had already found the girl of his dreams. He didn’t dare admit verbally to anyone, especially to Laura. “I will find my one true love in a manner fitting for the situation.” This statement confused Laura, she remained quiet for several minutes.
Mrs Williams instructed them, “All right you two, I need you to clean and dust the dinning room and the parlor. Then can you set a formal setting for twelve, please.”
“Sounds like fun,” Laura responded, then turned to Gilbert, “Do you know how to set a formal table?”
“Sure,” Gilbert said. He had no idea how to set a proper formal dinner.
“I’m impressed,” she said. “Will it be all right if I arrange it anyway.”
“Sure,” he said willingly, “you just tell me where you want things.”
She had a feather duster in which she began using to dust the furniture in the two rooms. Gilbert swept the floors.
“Gilbert you should wait until I have finished dusting, before you start sweeping, otherwise you will have to sweep again.”
“All right, good idea.”
Laura coyly asked, “Have you heard from Clara lately?” Gilbert ignored the question and began to wash the windows. “It doesn’t surprise me.” Laura sighed, “That is too bad. I thought you two made a nice couple. But if things aren’t working it is best to know early.”
Gilbert tried to change the subject, “I have to get some soap for the windows.”
“I’ll be here.”
Gilbert left the room to get some soap to mix with his bucket of water. When he returned, Laura had finished dusting. She said, “I’ll do the place settings.
He said, “I’ll finish the windows.”
She stepped directly in front of Gilbert and looked him in the eyes. He didn’t move or flinch. “You and Clara may have thought you were in love, but you were too young to know what love is.” She looked deeper into his eyes, her chest heaved with a deep soothing voice, “You feel love.”
Gilbert felt a rush of passion, but didn’t know what made him blush. Laura could see he was embarrassed, but wasn’t sure if it had anything to do with her.
Allerton and Axtell Page 10