The Major

Angebote / Angebote:

Excerpt: "Like a lot of farms in the southeastern Pennsylvania area, the Brenneman farm had flourished for years. The climate with its more than just adequate rainfall year round combined with the seemingly naturally rich soil made it possible for many farmers around the countryside to successfully grow and harvest their crops, not just for their own use but for selling in the various marketplaces scattered throughout the area. Native Americans had also managed successful vegetable gardens of their own long before Jacob Brenneman's ancestors had ever settled in the area. With the help of his two eldest children, Daniel and David, Jacob had always been pleased with the productivity of the seventy-five acres he inherited from his parents, and the farm itself was admired by many throughout the community. With his wife Rebecca, along with their five children, Jacob had been very content with and grateful for the simplicity of his life within the Amish community the Brennemans called home. What was beginning to concern him recently was the effect of the war between the states, sometimes referred to by his Amish brethren as the Brothers' War, would ultimately have on his family, the people he loved so very much, Rebecca, Daniel, David, Rachel, Katie, and little Samuel. He contemplated that very concern as he walked toward the barn where he knew David was unharnessing the horses, which Jacob had always believed to be the finest pair of Morgans he had ever seen. Jacob and his two eldest sons had put in a full day's work, and he was very pleased with the progress they had made working together in preparing for the spring planting. As he reached for the reins, he said to David who was carefully maneuvering the horses out from their harness rigging, "Here, son, I'll give you a hand with that." "Thank you, Father." At the age of eighteen and being nearly as tall and as strong as his father, David knew he could easily have taken care of the task at hand on his own, but for as far back as he could remember, he always enjoyed having his father's help in whatever farming chore was assigned to him. He knew in his heart that the love and respect both he and his brother Daniel had for their father was an undeniable bond that would last forever even though his decision to enlist in the Union Army was not what his father had wanted him to do. Until the war, Jacob's sons had usually agreed with him on just about everything, but David's decision to help with the war effort by enlisting disturbed him as much as it saddened him. Aside from the fact that David's leaving to enlist was against the basic principles of Ordnung that he had always tried to instill in all his children, Jacob's greatest fear was that of losing any of his children, especially his first born. David and Daniel were twins albeit fraternal, but David had made his entry into the world nearly an hour before Daniel, thus securing the special spot of first born in his father's heart. Jacob looked at his son. "David, you know that I respect your decision to try and help with the war effort, but I truly wish with all my heart that you would reconsider, son.