IN THE HOME OF A WITCH
A mother's love--how sweet the name!
What is a mother's love?
A noble, pure, and tender flame.
Enkindled from above.
To bless a heart of earthly mold;
The warmest love that can grow cold;
This is a mother's love.
--Montgomery.
Yes, this is the nature of a true mother's love, but such love poor Edwin
had never known. At the age of fourteen the unwelcome child felt that there
was nothing in life for him except that which was hard and unreasonable.
The things that he had learned from his kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hahn
concerning nature often helped him to forget his sorrows, and the fact
gained from his mother, that God's eyes were ever upon him, beholding his
actions all the time, was a constant source of comfort and satisfaction,
for he was sure that he was always trying to do his best.
"If I do as well as I can, God will surely know and care," he reasoned.
Thus, his Creator filled a place in the lonely life that had never known a
father's or mother's love. And strange as it may seem, the neglect and
abuse that Edwin endured did not rob him of his strength and ability to
perform all the duties assigned him. So if Mrs. Fischer had hoped to bring
on the premature death of her son through her cruel treatment, she was
disappointed, and within her evil heart she conceived another plan.
In a distant part of the country, among the hills where two public highways
crossed was a home, large, aristocratic, and almost elegant in appearance.
The large two-story-and-a-half brick house nestled amidst the dense
evergreen and floral shrubbery, the large luxuriant orchards widening
around it, the immense barn on the corner opposite, and the wheat- and
corn-fields waving in the distance, caused many a passer-by to envy the
possessors; but a look at the interior of the house and only a brief
acquaintance with the occupants were sufficient to disillusion any one
regarding the family's culture and happiness.
Mr. Fitch, a thriving and ambitious young farmer, had inherited the home
and, having married a woman of an evil and superstitious family, soon
discovered that he was bound to a person whom the community looked upon as
a witch. The years had rolled by, and Mr. and Mrs. Fitch were now old. The
fame of the evil woman had been published, and she was considered as one
who was able to relieve people of any sickness or to drive trouble away
from their doors. The treatment, called powwowing, consisted of repeating
long lists of words that she had learned from a book called "The Black
Arts." This book and an almanac made up the entire Fitch library.
As this Mr. Fitch passed the home of Mrs. Fischer on his way to and from
the city, it became his custom to stop at the uncle's blacksmith shop. In
this way the two families became acquainted, and Mrs. Fischer learned
something of the nature of the witch. Just why and how it was suggested to
the mind of Mrs. Fischer that the Fitch home would be the proper place to
send her son is hard to tell. It would seem that Satan (understanding
Edwin's desire to do right) helped her strive to throw every wicked
influence possible about him and plan to discourage, deceive, and tempt him
to do evil and become like the rest of the family. And she may have thought
that there was a possibility of a mysterious and unquestioned death. At
least, it happened that one day late in the summer she asked Mr. Fitch the
question:
"How would you like a fourteen-year-old boy who would work for you for his
board and clothes?"
"To be sure, I need one very much!" was the old man's reply. "My wife has a
little girl to help her, and I need a boy to be with me. He could help with
the chores and herd the cows. I've tried several lads, but they always run
off."
"Well, my Ed will be just the one for you then," said Mrs. Fischer
confidently. "You needn't be afraid that he will run off, for he knows too
well that he must stay where I put him."
"How about his wages and schooling?" Mr. Fitch inquired with a suspicious
glance at Mrs. Fischer, but he was instantly assured that such would not be
necessary. "Only his clothes and board will be required, and I shall expect
you to see that he earns them."
"Very well, ma'am, then we can count it a bargain, and I will take your son
right home with me today if you like," and the old farmer and Mrs. Fischer
hastened to the house to inform Edwin of the plan.
Edwin, brush in hand and down upon his knees, was diligently brushing away
the crumbs from under the table in the dining-room when he was told in a
few words to stop his work and prepare for the journey.
"You are to go home with Mr. Fitch," his mother explained. "He wants you to
live with him and be his choreboy."
Perhaps Mrs. Fischer did not understand the expression that came over
Edwin's face, but the news gave him intense satisfaction. He could compare
the change only to his visit in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hahn, and he could
desire nothing better. Any place, Edwin reasoned, must be better than his
mother's home, and he was soon sitting beside Mr. Fitch as he drove away in
the direction of the mountains.
When they arrived at the place that Mr. Fitch explained was his home, Edwin
was more delighted than ever, for he had never pictured anything more
beautiful. But when they drew near the house and he heard oaths and
language still more vile than he had ever heard from his mother's tongue,
he wondered if he heard aright. Even during her most terrible tantrums he
had never heard such words, and when through the open kitchen-door he saw
Mrs. Fitch with a rolling-pin in one hand and a pie-pan in the other and
with her face turned toward the sky, blaspheming the great God of the
universe for permitting a certain crop to fail, he felt faint and sick.
Again and again the wicked woman blasphemed that holy name because of the
failure caused by drought, and threatened, on account of the failure, to
enter other fields and with a burning torch to set fire to them all. Then
as curse after curse upon other things rang from her lips, she continued
beating the air with rolling-pin and pan until it was dangerous to be
inside the room. Edwin remained very close to the door, and the girl whom
Mr. Fitch had mentioned as being his wife's helper, he saw spring to one
side just in time to escape being struck by a huge piece of dough that was
thrown by the wicked woman at her head.
How long the unearthly scene had been going on or would have continued is
hard to say, but from exhaustion Mrs. Fitch sank heavily upon the floor and
for some time was in an unconscious condition. In answer to Edwin's worried
expression Mr. Fitch remarked, "Oh, that's nothing! She'll be all right
after a while," and together they went out to the barn. Edwin asked no
questions, but he wondered if such things were right and had to be.
In this new place he soon discovered that he must bear, in some ways, even
greater cruelties than had been forced upon him in his mother's home, for
in rainy weather or during the hardest storms as much was expected of him
as when the sun was shining. Many times he was forced to work all day long
without a dry thread of clothing upon his body and often without sufficient
food. For all this he never complained, but he wondered why it was
impossible to please some people, when he was always satisfied with so
little.
The greater part of the Fitch property that was used for pasturing purposes
was low and swampy and had long been the haunt of many poisonous snakes.
One portion of the land that was higher than the rest, Mr. Fitch had
decided to have prepared for spring plowing, and Edwin's work was to gather
the brush and the stones into piles that they might be burned or hauled
away. He was also instructed to drive the cows from those parts of the
pasture in which the snakes were the most numerous. With nothing to protect
his bare feet and with no understanding of the danger of snakebites, he was
often tramping in places where the reptiles were gliding past him in many
directions, but upon none of these occasions was he ever bitten.
It was said that ghosts and many strange objects were often discovered in
the house or grove of the Fitch property, and also that some unearthly
creatures had been frequently known to rise from an unused chimney and,
moving slowly toward the large field, to disappear always at a certain
place. Others said that ghosts and horrible-looking forms had been met in
the grove, and still others had heard strange noises, as the slamming of
doors and windows when no breeze was blowing, the moving of heavy pieces of
furniture, and the rattling and dragging of heavy chains.
One man said that once while working for Mr. Fitch he was sleeping in a
certain room when suddenly the covers from the bed began to move and that
although he resisted with all his strength, they were torn away. Feeling
confident that he was the only occupant of the room, he left the place in
the night vowing that he would never return.
These stories and many more were told by the visitors who congregated in
the evening about the home from time to time, and they were usually
approved and strengthened by Mr. and Mrs. Fitch, who could tell of many
worse and more absurd happenings. Edwin often listened to the weird tales
because those telling them were anxious to frighten him, but sometimes it
was because of his own curiosity. He was often seized with a strong desire
to investigate and to find out for himself whether the things that they
said were really true. Upon different occasions he was allowed to sleep in
the rooms that were supposed to be haunted, but never did he see or find
out anything that was unusual.
Lying and stealing and other evils were often freely discussed by the boys
and girls of the neighborhood when they gathered in the grove, and it was
no uncommon thing to hear some one telling of a narrow escape from
detection. Occasionally Eldwin was asked to tell a lie to help another
cover up some evil deed, but this Edwin always stoutly refused to do. When
fun was made of him or he was mocked for his principles of right, his
answer was always, "I never want any one to lie or steal for me, and I will
not do such things for any one else." His reason for speaking thus was not
that he looked upon either of these things as sins, for he had no
conception of what sin was. It was simply his sense of duty and his
admiration of doing that which was right and just. Thus, his mother's
desire to have him educated in wrong-doing was in no wise gratified, and
his young life, even in the home of one of Satan's most efficient servants,
was protected and preserved pure and blameless.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners." (Psa. 1:1).