Jacob's Way (25 page)

Nineteen

A
cold wind whistled around the house that evening, but the group sitting around the table paid no heed to it. The stove had warmed the kitchen, and the food on the table sent a delicious odor that filled the room. Reisa had cooked a Jewish dinner using the fish that Sam had caught. She had stuffed them with chopped onions and seasoning and cooked them in salt water. There was a cold spinach soup that she called
tshav
that had astonished Phineas, who had sworn nothing good could be made out of spinach. It was delicious, however, and it disappeared quickly. She made
grieven
, fried chicken skin, which surprised Sam. “I usually throw the skin away and eat what's under it,” he remarked. “But this is mighty good.” She also made a bread suet pudding with raisins, which was called
kugel
.

Phineas had made pumpkin pie, which neither Reisa nor Jacob had ever eaten before.

“Why, this is delicious, Phineas,” Reisa said. “You're a fine cook.”

Phineas shrugged. “Do the best I can with what I got.”

Sam bragged on all the food and then remarked, “Sure was better than what we got in the army, wasn't it, Ben?”

“Better than anything I ever got,” Ben said.

Sam turned to Phineas, and the two talked for a while about their experiences in the army. Neither of them seemed to be particularly bitter, having apparently been able to put the war behind them. Sam mentioned the Battle of Antietam. “You wasn't there, Phineas, but it was the worst.” He turned and asked, “Were you at Antietam, Ben?”

“Yes.”

“Was it as bad as they say it was?”

Driver did not answer for a moment, and Reisa saw that he did not like to talk about it. But to the surprise of everyone, he began speaking of that time. “I never quite understood what General Lee had on his mind at that time,” he said quietly. “I guess men have been arguing ever since the battle about why he stayed on there to fight when he was so badly outnumbered. We was worn down to nothin'. I think altogether we wouldn't have had forty thousand men, and we knew McClellan had nearly ninety thousand and more comin' up. And yet General Lee decided to stay and fight. I remember talking with a lieutenant, one of the smartest officers I ever saw, who loved Lee. He said it was a mistake, but he told me not to tell anybody else.”

Leaning forward on the table, Driver locked his hands together, seeming to gather his thoughts. The planes of his face were highlighted by the oil lamp. He had filled out since his sickness, and Reisa, as she watched him, saw that his shoulders and arms were stronger, for he had picked up some muscle.

“We was sure a ragtag bunch. I don't think any of us had on any underclothes. All I had was a ragged pair of pants and a stained jacket and an old slouch hat with the brim pinned up with a thorn. I was carryin' a grimy blanket over my shoulder, a greasesmeared haversack full of apples and corn, my cartridge box, and a musket. I was barefoot, too, as many of our men were, and I had stone bruises on both feet. I think we'd been run in by the police if we had appeared on the streets of any city. We sure weren't much to look at!

“I remember we got there, and it was a beautiful day. Antietam Creek was all that separated our armies. We could look across sometimes and see the blue, and we knew they would be comin' at us.”

“I heard Stonewall took care of a lot of those Yankees,” Sam said.

“Yes, he did. Once I was close enough to reach out and touch him. He was suckin' on a lemon, and from time to time he would hold his right hand up in the air.” Driver smiled. “He said it equalized his blood or somethin' like that. Strange man, Jackson. Calm and quiet when there was peace. But when the battle came his eyes blazed, and he was a cold killer. They called him ‘Old Blue Light' because of those eyes.

“Well, there we sat on the side of a big cornfield with stalks higher than a man's head.”

“Yep, I was with Jeb Stuart over on the flank.” Sam nodded. “I remember that real well. There was open pasture rolling off to the hills. I never will forget that whitewashed Dunker church out in the open grove of trees.”

“That's what it was like.” Driver nodded. “I remember our lieutenant got us all in a line in that cornfield because we knew that an attack would come through there. We heard that Hooker was going to lead it. They called him Fighting Joe Hooker. He was a fighter that day, all right! He put three dozen field pieces on a low ridge, and he had the gunners blast that cornfield out. It laid it level, and most of us that were in it either got killed or had to back off.”

“I heard them guns,” Sam said. “It sounded like the world was comin' to an end.”

“Well, finally the attack came, and it was rough. They pushed us back—all the way back to that Dunker church where Jackson had some of his infantry.” He smiled. “The Yankees were about to overrun us when John B. Hood from Texas sent his men into action. They were mad as hornets because just when they were cookin' their first really good breakfast in a week, they had to leave. Well, they came runnin' in there and formed a line. I never saw such volleys! It tore that Federal column all apart. All of us were screamin' and yellin', and then D. H. Hall came in and run 'em off.”

Everyone waited for Driver to finish. He said slowly, “I never saw anything like that cornfield. You could have walked across it on the bodies of men, theirs and ours, without touchin' the ground. I went over that battlefield later, and the bodies were so swollen and black, covered with dust and crushed, that they looked more like clods of earth. Had to look twice to be sure they were human bein's.”

Apparently that was all of the story, and Dov, who had been listening, said, “Did you win the battle?”

“Well, they didn't run us off, but we lost a fourth of our army, Dov. The worst day of the whole war. I learned one thing, though. We had always said one Confederate could whip four Yankees. I found out different that day, all right. Those boys in blue fought like men possessed. Charged right into us. I never believed after that that we had a chance. There were too many of 'em, and they were just as determined to win as we were.”

Suddenly Driver looked up and laughed shortly. “Always swore I'd never be one of those veterans sittin' around lyin' about how they won battles. I'm gettin' talkative in my old age.”

He lapsed into a long silence. Then, his voice quieter, he asked, “How does God let things like that happen?”

Sam said, “You can't blame God for what men do.”

“That is right, my son.” Jacob nodded. “Man is evil, but it was not God who made him so.”

Reisa saw that Driver was disturbed by his memories and changed the subject. “We're all going into town tomorrow for the celebration.”

“What celebration?” Dov asked.

“Didn't I tell ya?” Sam said. “Why, it's Founder's Day. I can't even remember the feller's name, but every year everybody in the whole county comes. They have all kinds of contests, runnin' and wrestlin' and horse races. All kinds of food. They get some acts sometimes to come—tumblers and circus folks and like that.”

“Good excuse for people to get drunk.” Phineas sniffed.

“You got to go this year, Phineas,” Sam said. “You ain't been out of this house in two months.”

Phineas shrugged, but finally said, “I reckon I will. Somebody's got to be responsible for this bunch.”

Later that night, Driver was reading, as usual. He'd borrowed a book called
Oliver Twist
from Phineas. Reisa came to sit across from him. She spoke up over the voices of Sam and her grandfather, who were once again discussing the Bible. “Do you like the book, Ben?”

“It's pretty grim. It's about an orphan that gets shoved around.”

“I don't know why people write sad books.”

“I guess because that's the way things are.”

“But things are nice, too, sometimes. Like tonight. It's been such a good day. We got out and worked, and we had a good supper, and now everything is all right. Nobody's sick.”

Closing the book, Driver looked across at her. After studying her for a moment, he said, “You always think things will turn out well, don't you?”

“I try to.”

“I'm glad you think that way, Reisa,” Ben said quietly. “And I hope you always will.”

“I dreamed about a wagon and team, and I got them, didn't I?”

“Well, you got the wagon, but you don't have nothin' to go in it. You can't go out and sell anything with an empty wagon. I've heard you say that yourself.”

“We'll get it. I believe that it will come.”

Ben noted her shining eyes and smooth skin. “What does your hair look like?” he asked suddenly.

“What?” Reisa asked, surprised.

“I'd like to see your hair down sometime. It's always tied up under a scarf. It looks pretty, what I can see of it.”

“It's black,” Reisa said shortly.

“I can see that. How long is it?”

“Why do you care, Ben?”

“I don't know. Just that I'd like to see it. A pretty woman doesn't have any business hiding her beauty.”

“Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. That's in the Scripture.”

“Nice to look at though.” Ben grinned.

“Are you going into town tomorrow?”

“Yes. I've got to get some clothes to wear. I've worn out these old rags. Maybe I can get some credit at the store.”

“I have money,” she said. “After all, we're partners.”

Ben studied her. “All right. Lend me ten dollars. I'll pay you back. Maybe I'll get in another poker game.”

“No. Please don't do that.”

“I won't, but I do need some work clothes.”

“Will ten dollars be enough?”

“For what I need it will be.”

As usual, Samson and Delilah gave Driver a hard battle. He fought them until finally all three of them wore themselves out. Dov finally came over, and with his mighty hands jerked Samson's head down and held him so tightly he could not lift it. “Now you be good,” he said. Quickly Driver hitched the mule up, then Dov simply grabbed Delilah by the ear and led her out. She squealed and tried to kick, but when he twisted her ear, she uttered a pitiful cry. “You hush. I won't hurt you.”

Driver hitched Delilah up and then grinned. “From now on this is a two-man job. I'm tired of these critters.”

Driver got in the seat and drove the team out in front of the house. The others came out, and Reisa got in front with him. Jacob, Sam, and Phineas sat in the backseat, while Dov sat with his legs straight out in the wagon box, occupying nearly the whole width of the wagon.

The trip to town passed pleasantly enough. Phineas had brought his fiddle, for there would be musicians there, and he liked to play with them. He played many songs for them on the way. Once Dov called out, “Play the bean song, Phineas.”

The bean song was sung by the Confederates. As Phineas had told them, they had often pooled their beans and baked them in a bean hole in the ground:

There's a spot that all soldiers love
,

The mess tent's the place that we mean
,

And the dish we best like to see there

Is the old-fashioned army bean
.

As he swung into the chorus, Sam and Dov joined with him:

Tis the bean that we mean
,

And we'll eat as we ne'er ate before.

The army bean nice and clean

We'll stick to our beans evermore.

There were many verses to this song, and finally they reached the last:

TheGerman is fond of sauerkraut
,

The potato is loved by the Mick
,

But the soldiers have long since found out

That through life to our beans we should stick.

Then everybody joined in, even Driver, who had heard the song many times during his service.

Tis the bean that we mean
,