My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge by Pepper Basham

Author:Pepper Basham [Basham, Pepper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781683227816
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2019-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

True to Laurel’s words, Maggie arrived back in school the following Monday, not more worse for the wear than when he’d last seen her at her cabin. As another week passed, then another—with Jonathan learning his place among the children, editing Laurel’s work, burning enough biscuits to build a fence out of them, and finally beginning the boys’ after-school woodworking class—Jonathan found his rhythm.

The news of taking homemade items to sell for “cash money” at the open market in Wilkesboro brought a wide variety of interest from the young people in his class. Before he knew it, he had carvings from the boys, along with a few excellent horseshoes and handcrafted garden tools.

A few of the girls supplied some items for him, especially Luanne Jacobs. She had a knack for sewing girl’s dresses, from mostly feed and flour sacks. Though you’d never know it from the detailed embroideries on the smocks. After some coaxing, Maggie added a few paintings, two of which Jonathan purchased on the spot and had the woodworking boys teach him how to make frames for them. With the addition of the items Jonathan had ordered from town, his mission house was becoming as cozy as his uncle’s.

Enoch Spencer and Bent Morgan had become Jonathan’s right-hand men, staying after school almost every day to help him with packaging items or asking for extended lessons. Enoch especially wanted to know how to manage money for running his own business. Jonathan even won Mrs. Cappy over enough to have her come answer questions from the older students who wanted to learn more about owning a business. He made a mental note to ask Elias to come speak too on his way to Wilkesboro on Friday.

After speaking with Mr. Spencer to gain permission, Jonathan asked Enoch to accompany him to market and help keep accounts. The boy shook Jonathan’s hand for so long, his fingers became numb, but there was such a joy in sharing opportunities with these children. And Jonathan was quickly learning that “smarts” came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Being compared to athletic and socially apt brothers his entire life, it was an easy segue for Jonathan to search for all sorts of ways people showed their talents. Not just book learnin’, but also in music and debating and crafting. Once he began to have the students show their specific smarts to the class, an amazing reciprocity occurred. They became more invested in the lessons.

Jonathan even started a class after school on simple medical care, allowing Dr. Hensley to speak about certain mountain herbal remedies while Jonathan touched on various procedures he’d learned in school, even adding a few simple hygiene options.

On the way to Wilkesboro on Friday, Jonathan made certain to leave early enough to stop in at the sawmill. Enoch waited outside with the wagon as Jonathan walked through the open door, a host of high-pitched grating sounds coming from all around. The massive room looked like the inside workings of a clock. Gears moved in careful, repetitive motion, grinding through a massive log in the center of the room.

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