One day, on our last ride, we rode directly across to Bonnar's landing.
Mr. and Mrs. John Bonnar had bought and settled on a very fertile piece
of land. At that time there was not much cleared; later they had a
beautiful home. Mr. Ray Peckham and wife also had bought a good farm
near Mr. Bonnar's. This day Mary and I rode around all the homes out on
that road, then came down and took the road leading out to Long Lake,
near Font Lake. Our horses were walking, Mary was pointing out and
telling me about the people that lived on this road. We soon came to a
home that it seemed to me I had seen before. I said, "Mary, who lived
here?" "Oh, this is where Mr. H---- lived; the man who treated his wife
so badly because she did not like it when he brought home another wife."
We tied our horses and walked about the yard. Yes, here was the home.
There were the rose bushes about the windows, the flowers down the walk,
a mountain ash with its red berries, the vegetable garden at the back
of the house with the currant and gooseberry bushes. I looked a long
time, seeing it all in my mind as the woman had told me her story. I
could see the man and woman standing together in the door while the wife
was hurrying away to her mother for sympathy. I could not keep the tears
back. Mary saw I felt sad and said, "Why do you cry? Are you lonesome
for the friends you have left in your old home?" I said, "No, I am
crying because I have heard the story about the woman. She told it to me
herself." "Oh yes, I remember hearing ma tell me about this woman. She
says she thinks it was the most cruel joke Strang ever planned." (Strang
always called such things jokes.) Over there is where her father and
mother lived and way over there (pointing to the woods) is where that
deaf and dumb sister of her's lived. We walked over to the woods. The
little log cabin stood almost hid by the trees and bushes. It had a more
deserted look than the rest of the houses. Bushes and weeds were right
up to the door. Mary said no one had ever lived in it since the deaf and
dumb man had died and his wife and children had gone away. We hurried
away. It gave us such a gloomy feeling. We were glad to come back where
the sun was shining.