Chapter 9
Evie followed her mother into the rundown hovel, hoping and praying that there wouldn’t be any medical needs.
Her mother had mentioned they would go and share food baskets and other supplies with the poor prior to going to Charlotte Van Cleve’s house for a meeting.
Evie’s stomach had clenched at her mother’s direction to pack a medical bag.
Mother always tried to think of everything and pulled out two candles once they were inside the dark shack.
“Let’s light these, Mary, so that we can have a better look at what is needed,” Mother said, handing the weary-looking younger woman the candles.
Mary nodded and went to the cupboard to take down candle holders. She secured them, then began searching for matches.
“I’ve brought my daughter Evie with me today.
You’ve met her sister Meredith,” Mother said.
The woman nodded and continued her search.
“Oh, here, I’ve brought matches as well.
” She handed the woman a small thread-bound bundle of twenty matches.
Evie smiled. She and her sisters had made those little gifts as far back as she could remember.
It had been another of Mother’s brilliant ideas.
Matches weren’t free, and it was difficult for the poor to keep them on hand.
The bundles were secured with a simple white sewing thread wrapped around many times, giving the recipient a yard-long piece when unraveled.
Women kept these for sewing and mending.
“Oh, thank you. We’ve been . . . well . . . short on such things for a long time.”
“I understand. Most everyone is struggling with the poor economy. There are banks and businesses in every city closing their doors.” Mother pulled up a crate she’d carried into the house.
“I have some donated items here to share with those around town and thought you might have use for them. If not, you are free to offer them to your neighbors, although I will be stopping in to see most of them.”
She pulled out a stack of flannel diapers and set them to one side. “Your baby is due next month, and I thought perhaps you could use these. I know you have two other little ones, so perhaps you’ve diapers a-plenty, but hopefully, you can find use for them.”
“Oh!” The young woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, for sure I can use them. Thank you.”
“How has it been this time around?” Mother asked, nodding to her swollen abdomen.
“It’s been easy compared to last time. I thought for sure I’d die from my sour stomach with little Abby. Could hardly do anything for myself. It was hard on my man and the children.”
“I’m glad you’ve had it easier this time.
Hopefully, that means you’ll have a contented child.
” Mother smiled and pulled out a ten-pound sack of flour.
“I have this and sugar, as well as dried beans. Oh, and someone donated oranges. I put a few of those in. I don’t think anything is quite as delicious as a fresh orange. ”
Evie wondered if Mary had ever even had an orange. From the looks of her well-worn dress and home, it was doubtful that such an expensive treat would have found its way here.
Just then Mary’s children came to join them from the only other room in the shack. Mary motioned them to her and spit on her fingers to wipe dirt from their faces.
“Abby, John, tell Mrs. Turner thank you for all the lovely things she’s brought to share with us today.”
Evie surmised that John must have been around four, while Abby was two, possibly three. John looked up with a grin. “Did you bring candy?” Abby ducked behind her mother’s skirts.
Mother laughed. “Have you been helping your mother and washing up regularly?”
He nodded in a most serious manner. “I wash my hands good.”
Mother pulled a peppermint stick from a bag she carried over her shoulder. “Then here you are.”
The little boy’s face lit up with a huge smile. Evie knew this candy represented dreams come true and all that was good in the world to the child.
Seeing the candy, the little girl edged around to the front of her mother.
“I want one.”
“Abby, you need to ask please.”
“Peese. I want one.” Her eyes were wide as she held out her hand.
Evie spotted the sores on the child’s bare arm. It appeared some sort of infected scratch, or perhaps other injury.
“Abby, you have some sores on your arm,” Mother said, kneeling. “What happened?”
The little girl shook her head. “I got some bites.”
Mary nodded. “It’s the rats. They go after the children in their sleep. I try to keep a clean house, but still they come.”
“They come to the finest houses, believe me.” Mother handled the matter without disgust or condemnation. “Evie is a nurse, and she will look at your bites, Miss Abby. She is very gentle.”
Evie drew a deep breath. These were just little infected wounds. There was no reason to worry about getting sick over them. “Come, Abby. Let me seat you on the table, and I can see better how to help.”
The little girl looked apprehensive, but her mother picked her up and placed her on the table by Evie. “I didn’t have any medicine to help, but I tried to keep them clean like your mother told me to do.”
Evie gave a cursory examination of the child, searching for other sores and bites. She had three on her arm, but thankfully those were the only ones. Evie opened her medical bag, pulled out a cleaning solution her mother had put together, and grabbed a clean washcloth.
Abby was more than a little apprehensive and began to tear up, but Mother handed her the candy and the child’s concern over her treatment was forgotten. She popped one end of the peppermint stick in her mouth and began to suck on it for all she was worth.
Evie cleaned up the sores and put salve on them before wrapping a clean bandage around them.
She didn’t feel sick, and for that she was grateful.
Perhaps it was the heady scent of peppermint.
It had always helped during more major medical ordeals.
Evie forced a smile, but her heart ached for the wretched living conditions these people had to endure.
“I have a couple of iron traps in the wagon,” Mother said, standing. “I’ll get those for you, Mary. If you set them near where the children sleep, perhaps it will attract the rats. I’ll show you how to set them.” She left the shack.
Evie was finished with Abby’s arm by the time her mother returned. The child glanced at her arm, then waved it up and down as if to determine whether the bandage would impede her. Evie helped her from the table, and Abby dashed over to her mother.
“Lookie. Lookie.”
“You have a bandage now. You must keep it clean,” her mother chided.
“Evie will leave you some bandages and a little container of salve. We made it ourselves. My husband Dr. Turner helped us to come up with the ingredients, and it works very well,” Mother declared. She looked to Evie. “How often should she change it and clean the area?”
“Once a day is just fine. Unless, of course, it gets wet or really dirty.”
Mary nodded. “I’ll do just that.”
“If you should see proud flesh or streaks of red, you must let the doctor know. It will mean the infection has worsened. Sometimes that happens, and it can be deadly,” Mother said, looking to Evie for approval.
Evie appreciated her mother’s thorough manner. “Yes. It’s very important to keep an eye on wounds inflicted by animals. Hopefully, this will take care of the problem.”
“That and these traps,” Mother added. “Here, let me show you how they work. Where are the children’s beds?”
Mary frowned. “There are no beds. We’ve a mattress, and we all sleep there. Can’t afford to get a frame. We had one, but it was in really bad shape and we burned it last winter when the cold was so bad.”
Evie’s emotions were almost her undoing. She fought back tears. They lived in such luxury compared to this poor woman who couldn’t even protect her children from rats.
Mother took it all in stride. “You know, we have some sturdy pallets that we’ve wanted to get rid of. We could bring those over, and you could put them under the mattress. That way you’d at least be up off the floor. That along with the traps will deter the rats.”
“We can’t just take all this charity.” Mary looked around the room. “My husband wouldn’t approve. He’s very proud.”
“Well, I’ll have my boys bring them by when he’s at home tonight. They’ll convince him that they’ll go to waste otherwise. It’s a good use of something that might otherwise have simply gone to rot. Once he knows that, perhaps it won’t cause him concern.”
Mary bit her lower lip and dropped her head. “You’re a good woman, Mrs. Turner. We know how generous you are.”
“The things I bring represent hundreds of generous people. We believe that God calls us to love one another, Mary. We’re just doing what we feel God asks of us.”
They soon enough left Mary’s hovel and headed to another home and then another.
There were hundreds—maybe thousands—of Marys in Minneapolis, and it had been breaking Evie’s heart since she first started helping with the poor.
At first she had just helped put things together like bandages and little bundles of matches.
As the years went by and she became old enough, she had accompanied her mother to places like Mary’s house.
Mother had done most of the work back then, but now she relied on her children.
And every time Evie went to offer assistance, she suffered heartbreak in a way that had forever changed her.
She hated that she couldn’t be the nurse she’d always planned on being. She hated that she would have to tell her parents the truth. And most of all, she hated that she had let everyone down. They were counting on her, and she had failed them.
“I’ll drive us directly to Charlotte’s for our meeting. No one will care that we’re dressed for working. I’ll simply explain what we’ve been doing,” Mother announced as they approached the wagon.