1 Arlington, Vermont
November 1829
“Be a schooled and tough woman
who understands what is fair and just.”
Urania Knapp, 1829
We all stood frozen over the huge hole now reserved for our Mother. It seems like Thanksgiving was all but forgotten that year, just taking place for everyone else three days earlier when Mother had been dying. Oh, how she wished they had been able to enjoy the smells and sounds of Thanksgiving together as a family one last time. She wanted to taste the textures from Mother’s pumpkin custard, smell the aromas from breads and pies her grandmothers baked, and wonder over Elvira’s creative and newly concocted cranberry cornbread. Father even carved wooden turkeys with movable legs for the little children to play with in front of the fireplace.
Viola’s lips were in a cold, terse, straight line as she stood graveside. There was a crease just above her left brow. Her violet-colored eyes were clear but moist. Her skin, the color of Vermont snows, and her long blonde hair topped the aristocratic and statuesque figure, just like the female Viola in Shakespeare’sTwelfth Night. The strength of her character stood out above all the others gathered. She realized the success of this family depended upon her ability to support and defend them. She watched Father shovel dirt over the beautifully crafted coffin he had made with care for Mother. As a local mechanic in the wood shop, he had spent days measuring, hammering, and gluing the white oak taken from the Green Mountain forests to envelop the body of his late wife as she transitioned into heaven.
Figure 2 Vermont Telegraph 1829
Father assigned the scripting of Mother’s tombstone to Viola and her older sister Elvira. They studied Mother’s books for hours and finally chose lines from Reverend Edward Young’s poetry.
Smitten friends are angels sent on errands full of love.
For us they languish and for us they die,
And shall they languish, shall they die, in vain?<
