She Came and Went
By Sarah J.

We were walking down the road,

The breeze was light and mild,

The pebbles tumbled around our feet as we strode,

A road stretched far, as if to beguile.

As we all walked home from school, admiring the glistening morning dew,

We watched in dread as it came into sight,

We knew all the work we’d have, as soon as it came into view,

And then when we neared it, our muscles screamed in fright.

 
We saw a white dot that was a clue that it is our house we are coming near,

With these shudders that showed off the black of the midnight sky,

But some other houses look like it I fear,

We knew what it looked like though and our house is almost nigh.

 
Since our mother passed away,

We mourn for only a year,

After that everything has to go back to normal and be okay,

We’ve got to be full of cheer.

 
Ironing and mending one day,

Laundry comes up next,

We can die any time, right now any day,

Maybe we’ve have all been hexed.

 
Preserving food, hauling water, baking,

In charge of the farm garden and livestock,

Family garments is what we’ve also been making,

What’s all this work that stares at us and mocks?

 
All of this and there is still more!

Is hard work and grandchildren all that we are here for?

 
On the day she laid on her deathbed,

We are sure if she knew what she laid upon us three,

She would have stayed alive instead,

And make all the labor leave us be.

 
But also do not forget,

What fathers have to do,

They work hard to get us food and pay off debt,

Our father is the support that holds the family together, that’s true.

 
Our father could have given us to a friend, or his aunt, or mother,

He could have just sent us to an orphanage and see how it went along,

But he didn’t, he raised us himself, which makes him like no other,

It’s a rule that our father can do no wrong.

 
As his children, we can’t say it without breaking out of our frown-

Our father is ‘Mr. Joseph T. Brown.’

 
The young day has yet begun,

All of us three child,

That gets up early before the yellow golden sun,

We take upon these mother’s chores-they aren’t mild,

 
Yes, she came and went a while,

Doing these hard women’s jobs is really not our style.

 
Cora, with her russet brown curls,

Her light curtsies, her beaming smiles,

Her playful skips and her twirls,

She can keep going on for miles.

Cora seems to be the most innocent at heart,

But she needs to speak her mind more-she shouldn’t quell,

On top of her head, her locks make a perfect part,

But don’t underestimate her, she can yell.

George, who has a look that all its own,

With his muscles and dirt crusted on his hands from working hard,

He’ll do what has to be done, without a moan,

Even the livestock, he would have to guard.

George is the eldest child, so the family business he gets,

Digging and planting with his little hands-putting seeds into the dry dirt and soil,

Telling off all the pests, crows, and threats,

He’s spending some of his day in the ground; he’s doing much a-toil.

Thomas, with his slicked-to-the-side hair,

With his questions and toys,

And the knowledge of what’s right and fair,

Well, he is only a baby boy.

Thomas is the youngest son, but seems to be in fathers favor,

He looks at everyone with all-seeing eyes,

He’s not the one to tremble or quaver,

And when he’s waiting for us to finish our chores, he only sits and sighs.

My father stared down at the stone gray rocky grave,

And he laid his callused hands light upon our shoulders,

There was the bouquet of bright red Vermillion flowers that we gave,

And he looked at us all in silence, and gave us the warmest smile he could smolder.

We gazed and studied his blank face,

Searching for what emotion he was wearing,

We fixed our eyes on his stubbly, dark beard looking for a trace,

Along his stern-like eyes and balding dark hair, we seemed to end up staring.

At that shred of a moment, one second from the clock

 All 3 of us had the same thought,

“If our mother was alive now-would we be okay, not in a state of shock?”

We asked our father, and in return, he would only say, ‘Don’t fret about that now, work with what you got.’

We saw my mothers pale hand fall unto the floor,

A tear trickled down my father’s cheek,

As we peeked in through the crack in the door,

And something fell upon me, and suddenly my legs felt weak.

We all walked back inside, the soft, fir green grass feeling like pillows under our feet,

The trees leaves rustling and falling like dancers, floating down in a dance,

And the trees of the woods, shading us from all the sun burning heat,

The flowers that dot the outskirts of them stand still, like they’re in a trance.

None of us remember doing anything bad,

We don’t think we ever sinned,

But our mother is gone now,

Like that blinding brown dust that’s in the wind.

We all gave one last glance down that long road,

We imagined our mother standing there, and we smiled

Our mother is dead now,

But we all like to think that she just came and went a while.

Afterword / Author’s Note

          Joseph T. Brown’s wife died from Consumption, also known today as Tuberculosis. All the women’s chores-which included ironing, mending cooking, child care, preserving food, have to be in charge of the garden, help with a portion of the farm, hauling heavy pails of water, cleaning, manage the parlor and kitchen, laundry, making clothes, and more-would naturally be handed down to the children and maybe a servant.

         It has been said that offspring are only supposed to mourn for parents for only a year or become sickly.

       In that time, many people were Christian, Catholic, or just very religious, so when I say ‘We don’t think we’ve ever sinned’, that’s what I’m referring to.

        When I wrote ‘We can die, right now any day,’ there was another meaning behind it. I’m not just stating that the work was so hard that you might feel like dying, (which is semi-dramatic compared to some other cases) but many children back then had a high chance if dying before they even turned one, like stillborn or some sicknesses which were treated very poorly and had no medicine or vaccine for it  yet.

    There were such things as adoption-even back then, and orphanages in the late 1800’s. But most of the time they would give their children to relatives, or a friend, but right now that’s not the case.

    So, in conclusion, the children stayed with their father after their mother died, which must have been hard for them, George was next in line for the family business since he was the oldest son.

    I’m not completely sure what happened after that. Something bad could have happened they could’ve all died from Consumption; they could’ve run away or disappeared. I’m not sure, I might never know. But I personally like to think that they went on with their lives, and maybe they even lived happily ever after. But hey, I don’t know, that’s for you to ponder about.

Bibliography

Web Site resources

 “Facts about Women in Mourning in the 1800’s from Food Fun and Facts”

http://www.foodfunandfacts.com/womeninmourning.html

Accessed on: 2/10/05

“School Days of the 19^th Century”

http://www.geocities.com/victorianlace12/school.html?

Accessed on: 2/12/05

“Pioneer women information and 19^th century pioneer woman”

http://www.foodfunandfacts.com/nineteenthcenturywoman.html

Accessed on: 2/13/05

“Women’s roles in the late 19^th Century”

http://www.www.connerprarie.org/historyonline/1880wom.html

Accessed on: 2/14/05

 “Women’s roles in the late 19^th Century”**

http://www.www.connerprarie.org/historyonline/1880wom.html

Accessed on: 2/14/05

“CHILDREN the earlier 1800’s”

http://www.multied.com/NN/America/children.html

Accessed on: 2/10/05

“CHILDREN the earlier 1800’s”**

http://www.multied.com/NN/America/children.html

Accessed on: 2/10/05

“The American Women of the Early Nineteenth Century”

http://www.connerprarie.org/HistoryOnline/womrole.html

Accessed on: 2/12/05

“The American Women of the Early Nineteenth Century”**

http://www.connerprarie.org/HistoryOnline/womrole.html

Accessed on: 2/12/05

“Nineteenth Century Adoption Advertisements (1856)”

http://www.merrycoz.org/articles/ADOPTION.HTM

Accessed on: 2/12/05

 “Chase Home for Children, New Hampshire, 1900”

http://freepages.geneology.rootsweb.com/~orphanshome/censusrooms/uscensus/newhamp/1

Accessed on: 2/9/05

“Marrige: 19th Century On…”

http://www.cyberparent.com/women/marrige5.htm

Accessed on: 2/12/05

“Victorian Era Games, Pastimes & Other Activities”

http://www.geocities.com/victorianlace12/games.html?200512

Accessed on: 2/12/05

Book Resources

 “Womens Movements”

World Book Millennium Encyclopedia

2000 Edition

A Primary Resource

 “Case of Conviction” by Francis Wayland

 Shown in Baptist Magazine in 1831

pp.296-301