Sunday. Church day.
After breakfast, Ina prepared a pot roast to simmer in the oven
while they were at church. The minister came only once a month, and he had
promised to come the Sunday before Christmas, so Ina and Bertha had agreed to present
the pre-Christmas Sunday school lessons. Today, Ina would read the traditional Christmas
story from Luke 2:1-22 and discuss the birth of Jesus, including the role of
the shepherds. Some might think it too early for this reading, but Ina decided
the story couldn’t be told often enough.
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| The church bells rang out over the land |
The old church pews were roughly constructed and not comfortable, but it did no good to think about that. Even though Ed had arrived at the church well ahead of everyone else to light a fire in the stove, the heat it produced was not enough to totally dispel the chill. The congregants didn’t remove their outerwear – not even hats and mittens – and they sat huddling together in those pews closest the stove. As time for the service approached, Ed rang the church bell and the glorious sound rang out over the countryside, calling everyone to the service.
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| Julian and Ina Dobson stand just right of center |
Truth be told, not many remained in the community to be called. The congregation had dwindled considerably since the early days, the small homesteads gradually absorbed into larger farms as people sold out and moved away. The post office and general store had closed ten years ago, putting an end to the dream of a real community here. Ina found these changes sad to contemplate because she knew the sense of community would never be the same as it was in the beginning – many young couples helping one another, lots of children, and hope for the future.
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| Be watchful and vigilant |
Anyway, I suppose thirty-five or so attended the service. They sang hymns and carols, and young and old alike were inspired by Ina’s lesson. As if on cue, when the church doors were opened after the service, they saw that it had commenced to snow again. The beauty of it seemed to fit the holiday message.
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| Embroider by my mother, early 1970s |
After
dinner, Shirley curled up on the sofa before the fireplace to read and sleep.
Jack was there ahead of her and already snoozing in his rocking chair. Ina took
advantage of the quiet hours to begin writing letters for her Christmas cards, and
now and then she made a few more loops on the doll’s wig.
5 comments:
I'm about to join Jack and Shirley in a Sunday afternoon nap! And lovely work by your mom.
This story reminds me so much of Cavendish. The church not always being real warm and congregation dwindling. People sitting closer to the stove. The ringing of the church bell. The closing of the store. And so many times looking out the window watching the snow come down. Thanks for the memories! :)
Thank you for the reply, Becky, because it's good to know that it had rings true. I mostly just imagined how it must have been. However, I attended the Christian Church in Orofino, and I seem to remember that the heat source was a wood stove, and it was cold. And they would have fellowship dinners, and the ladies of the church would heat the kitchen by leaving the oven door open -- but they were COLD!
I hope the families were able to stay warm in their homes. It would be miserable to be cold all the time.
I think the winters were hard in the "old" days, especially if you lived in one of the early cabins. Even so, our farmhouse wasn't insulated, and it was drafty. They would basically live in the kitchen and diningroom when it was cold. And Ina often left for a month or six weeks in winter and visited relatives in Seattle, Portland, Drain, Idaho Falls, etc.
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