It was a mild winter, free of severe storms and cold, the pleasant days punctuated by an interim of new-fallen snow. The four young people, often with Lisa, enjoyed sleigh rides and evenings around the fire, eating popcorn and playing games. Often on a clear, starry night they would walk as a group home together from the meeting room, the snow soft beneath their feet as the lanterns twinkled down Main Street. Stephen usually led the way, with Lisa trailing behind the older girls. Occasionally he would fall in line beside Jennie and the two of them would become engrossed in conversation.
Although some days were bleak and cold, darkened by the thickly falling snow, before long a burst of sunlight would return, causing the snow to begin melting from rooftops or dropping in chunks from the branches of the trees. The red cardinals here and there added a spot of color that delighted Jennie and Stephen as they sketched the winter scenes.
Julia was spending the night at the Bentons. The girls gathered around the fire, with Muffin curled up on the hearth, enjoying the warmth. Mrs. Benton carried in a large bowl filled with popcorn and sat down in her favorite chair. Kara laced the popcorn with melted butter and reached for the salt, carefully stirring it into the popcorn.
Kara sighed, "Lectures, lectures—nothing but lectures!" There were a good many times when she and her father disagreed on the subject of which clothes are modest and which are not. She was referring to the reading meeting earlier that night when the subject of women's dress had come up. Mr. Marshall read the verse at meeting: "Ye are our epistle... known and read of all men" (2 Cor. 3:22Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: (2 Corinthians 3:2)), likening it to the testimony a woman can be through her appearance.
Mr. Benton turned to Kara as she was taking a mouthful of popcorn, "There are many times when a woman might not have the courage to speak out," he now suggested, "but she can still be a good example of a Christian by the clothes she wears and the way she does her hair." Recognizing her mood, Mr. Benton settled back in his chair and said with a smile, "If you girls think you have problems with your clothes, let me tell you what happened to me when I was a boy!
"We were very poor. One day my father bought me a pair of yellow high-button shoes. It was obvious they were girls' shoes, but he wouldn't admit it. I remember him saying, Now Peter, I want you to wear these shoes. We can't afford to buy another pair for you."'
"Did you have to wear them, Dad?" Kara asked, finding it hard to believe.
"Yes!" he answered, breaking into a grin. "One night after I had worn them for some weeks, I took them off and set them by the fire. When my father saw the shoes sitting there, he thought they should be put away. And so, forgetting they were mine, he turned to your Aunt Betty and said, 'Betty, put your shoes away."'
The girls laughed along with him. "That finished it for me," he continued. "If even your grandpa thought they were Betty's shoes, there was no use pretending that I was fooling any of the boys at school. A few days later I walked through the marsh with them on and completely ruined them. Grandpa must have understood, because he didn't punish me that time. And girls, believe me, I got plenty of spankings. I got spanked when I was naughty, and I got spanked when I felt I did not deserve it. Sometimes my sisters would put the blame on me for things they were responsible for. It wasn't easy having four sisters," he remarked.
The girls wanted to hear more stories. Mr. Benton, always a ready storyteller, leaned back in his chair, his mind traveling through the past years. "Did I ever tell you about how I derailed the streetcar?" he asked.
Mrs. Benton sighed, "Oh Peter, I've heard it so many times. I'm sure the girls have, too."
They couldn't remember, however, so he began: "When I was about twelve years old, I was fascinated with the streetcars that ran in front of our house. My father was away much of the time, preaching, and your poor grandma was left to carry the burden of managing us children. We were pretty unruly at times, and having no man in the house, I tended to be off with my boyfriends whenever possible.
"The kind of mischief we got involved in during those days wasn't the bad things some boys do now. We didn't get mixed-up with drugs, or steal, or smoke. It was what a lot of you would consider just good, clean fun; but it was hard on your grandma, and I'm sure many times it wasn't pleasing to the Lord. I'm sorry for a lot of those things now as I look back."
Jennie tried to visualize her father as a small boy growing up in that home. Sometimes she could see the way he must have been, with his inherited sense of humor and ready laughter.
"There was one time when Grandma caught me packing my suitcase. I was going to run away from home," he remembered. "I missed not having a father around, so I thought the best thing for me to do would be to just pack up and leave. Your grandmother found me in the middle of it! Instead of scolding me, she just said, 'Peter, would you like me to help you pack?"' He smiled at his daughters. "Of course that took all the pleasure out of it and I quickly unpacked, thankful inside to have such a wise and loving mother.
"But this other time I started to tell you about was a little different. I decided one day I would derail the streetcar, imagining how much fun it would be to see it run off the tracks. I could envision all the excitement and everyone standing around wondering how such a thing could have happened. But when that car came down the tracks and actually derailed and all the people gathered 'round, I got frightened and disappeared. It occurred to me then that if anyone started looking for the culprit, they might realize that I was the guilty one, so I just hid far away.
"That night when I returned home, your grandma said to me, 'Peter, did you do that to the streetcar?' She knew by my face that I was the guilty one. Grandma figured out that any other time I would have been the first one there to enjoy all the excitement. She went to the authorities and reported me, her own son!"
He looked solemnly at Lisa. "Lisa," he said, "do you think I ever did something like that again?"