Part 2 (1/2)
Ariana Sat.u.r.day walks became an antic.i.p.ated part of Ariana's week. She no longer resisted her mother's counsel. She had learned that she was more productive after a stroll in the neighboring woods or along the local stream. Often she invited one or another of her students to accompany her. It became a time to build relations.h.i.+ps and teach lessons that could not be learned in the schoolroom. Ariana prayed that she might be able to teach not only about life but also about the Giver of Life. Not just scientific facts of the world but about the One who established the Laws of Nature. Not just mathematics but about the One who made the consistency of mathematics a possibility.
”G.o.d has given us an ordered world,” she said often, and she hoped her students would see and understand what she was trying to convey as they looked at the world around them.
If there were any whose children attended the little schoolhouse on the hill who thought that the preacher's daughter was bringing ”too much religion” into the cla.s.sroom, they never voiced it. Even the owner of the local saloon suggested that ”a little law and order wouldn't hurt” his two offspring any. He thought the world was bound to quickly chip away any ”excess goodness” they might obtain.
”We need us some high principles,” said the school board chairman in a community meeting. ”And I for one don't know where to find 'em 'ceptin' in the Good Book. Far as I'm concerned, thet little gal can pour in 'em all the Bible learnin' they can hold. Make upright citizens of 'em, the way I see it.”
Others seemed to agree. Ariana thought of her teaching in the local school as an addition to her Sunday school cla.s.s in her father's church. Not all the townsfolk felt Sunday services a necessity. So her Sat.u.r.day walks were one more means of bringing valuable lessons to her students who might not be attending church.
There were those few who had little patience with the biblical teaching. But it could also be said that, by and large, those individuals had little use for any teaching at all.
”Can't 'magine a boy his age goin' off to school. When I was his age I drove a team of mules and put in sixty acres of crop each summer,” huffed one elderly man.
”What do young gals need all thet book learnin' fer?” scoffed another. ”Don't help none with makin' a pot of stew or hoein' a garden.”
Ariana chose to ignore such remarks. But she often had to bite her tongue to keep from responding with a lecture.
”If the West is ever to be civilized and prosperous,” she wanted to say, ”we need people who are educated. Educated not just in book learninga”but in moral living. That's the only hope for taming the West and making it a place of fulfilled promise for future generations.”
Ariana determined to do all she could to prepare her students for the future, whether or not every townsperson approved.
”You have such pretty dresses.”
The words were spoken with such wistfulness that Ariana almost felt like apologizing. She had chosen Chloe Travis, a seventh-grader, for her Sat.u.r.day walk companion. The girl was sallow skinned and frail and came from a poor home on the edge of the town. Ariana supposed that the girl's slight frame was due to the fact she never really had enough nutritious food. Her father seldom worked, and her mother sat in the shade of the front porch from sunup to sundown.
”The poor woman must be ill,” Ariana's mother had said with honest concern. ”No one who is well would be content to sit and let the family do without.”
Ariana secretly wondered if her mother was being generous. Now and then a pot of stew or a roasted chicken was sent to the home from the parsonage. There was little verbal response from the adults in the family, but the looks on the faces of the hungry children were enough thanks for the preacher's wife.
Ariana turned to the girl in the patched, faded frock. ”My mama sews,” she said simply.
”Wish my ma could sew,” the girl replied.
”Perhaps ifa”” But Ariana was not allowed to finish.
”Nawa”she wouldn't. Not even iffen she had a machine, she wouldn't. She don't like to do nothin'.”
Ariana was tempted to gently correct the grammar, but in order to do so she would have needed to restate the girl's comment. She couldn't do that.
”Yer really lucky,” went on the girl.
”Yes,” said Ariana with deep feeling. ”I amareally luckyaonlyaonly I don't see it as luck. I see it asa””
She stopped. She had been about to say that it was because G.o.d was good to her. How could she say that? How could she claim that G.o.d loved and cared for hera”and left Chloe struggling along in a family that did not even function? Ariana bit her lip.
”Shall we sit down and rest for a little while?” she asked instead. ”Mama sent along a little lunch.”
The girl's eyes lit up, and Ariana could see her tongue pa.s.s quickly over her upper lip.
They found a place to sit, and Ariana brought out the cold beef sandwiches. She held one out to the young girl and watched as she hungrily devoured it. Ariana broke off a small piece of another sandwich and took a bite. She felt hungry too. The crisp fall air had a way of increasing one's appet.i.te. But she held herself in check. There would be plenty of food waiting for her when she returned to her home. Who knew when Chloe might get another meal?
Ariana's thoughts were on the previous conversation. She wished to say more to the young girl. Something that would make sense. Something that might give her reason for hope. Ariana hardly knew where to start.
”You know, ” she said at last as she pa.s.sed the rest of the sandwiches to Chloe, ”you said I'm luckya”and I am. I have beenablessed. My parents are wonderful. I love them dearly. I have been blesseda.”
She let the words fade away as she thought on them. Then she turned again to the young girl and spoke. ”It wasn'ta”well, always so. Did you know that?”
Ariana took a deep breath before she went on. ”My parentsa”my birth parentsa”wereawere killed in an Indian raidawhen I was a baby. The whole wagon train of people wereakilled.”
Ariana saw the eyes of the young girl open wide with surprisea”then horror.
”What happened?” Chloe asked around the rest of the roast beef sandwich.
”We were traveling west. For a new life. A new beginning. IaI don't remember, of course. I was justajust a baby. But one nighta”for some reasona”the Indians attacked. There had been trouble in the area. I don't know what had happened. Some Indians had been killed. They blamed it on the scouts from the train. So theyathey decided to get revenge.” She paused a moment.
”Anyway, the people were killed,” she told the young girl. ”All but me and Aunt Lucy.”
”Who's Aunt Lucy?” asked the young girl, her voice little more than a whisper.
”Aunt Lucy was aaa dear old woman. Not really my aunt. And not really old, I guess, though she seemed old. She was a friend of my mama's. I think of her as my second mama.” Ariana's voice threatened to break. ”She took care of me until I was five years old. IaI don't know how she managed. She was crippleda”from a fall anda””
Ariana stopped again.
”When the Indians attacked,” she was finally able to explain, ”Aunt Lucy s.n.a.t.c.hed me up and ran. There was a cliffa”all rocks. Aunt Lucy bundled me close and jumped. Jumped right off the cliff. Both of her legs were broken. The Indians were so sure the fall would have killed us that they never even came down to check. Just looked over the edge, Aunt Lucy said, and pointed and shouted. Blood-curdling yells, Aunt Lucy said.
”Then theyathey finished theiratheir raid and set fire to the wagons. A storm was approaching and soon it was pouring rain. Some of the wagons didn't even burn.
”Later, Aunt Lucy heard someone come to the train. Local ranchers or maybe soldiers from the nearby garrison. She didn't know. At first she was afraid it might be the Indians returning, but they spoke English. She heard them cursing as they looked at theathe carnage. She called and called until she was hoa.r.s.e, but she was already weak and she couldn't make them hear her.
”For three days we lay there. It was hot. Aunt Lucy dipped water from a small puddle and gave me drinks from her cupped hand. She was sure I would die before help came.
”On the third day a band of soldiers did come by. Aunt Lucy was able to make herself heard, and they came to us. They checked the wagon train. There were no other survivors, but theyathey saved a few things that had been my mother's. Aunt Lucy insisted that they bring them when they took us into town.
”Gradually Aunt Lucy's legs healed enough that she could struggle along with two canes. She never did regain her healtha”she had been hurt inside, tooa”but she cared for me for those five years. I don't know how she managed to make enough pennies to keep us feda”though I do know that she often went without.
”Aunt Lucy was getting weaker and weaker, and I often heard her prayinga”for mea”that G.o.d would take care of me when she was gone. Then a miracle happened. At least, Aunt Lucy said it was a miracle. A preacher moved into the town. Aunt Lucy went to see him and heahe and his wife agreed to take me. They had no children of their own.”
”The Bensons?” asked Chloe, her eyes large.
”The Bensons,” nodded Ariana.
”I thought they were your folks.”
”They area”now,” smiled Ariana.
”Where's Aunt Lucy?”
Ariana's eyes filled with tears. ”She died about two months after I went to the Bensons,” she said softly.