Charis in the World of Wonders by Marly Youmans

Author:Marly Youmans [Youmans, Marly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781642291117
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2020-01-23T16:00:00+00:00

7

Wedlock

Haverhill and Andover, December 1690—mid-January 1691

On the fourth day of my marriage, I journeyed to Haverhill with Jotham Herrick—sometimes holding the reins, sometimes riding pillion, and sometimes walking—and was welcomed as warmly as any newly married daughter by the Saltonstalls. My old room, where memories of the time before stood all around, was restored to me, though all was changed for the better. We had brought with us nothing but garments and as many lidded dishes and utensils as Hortus could carry, and occasionally we welcomed visitors from the town who, hearing of Mr. Herrick’s skill, wished to inspect his wares. We had not been there ten days when we were quite depleted of silver, in great degree due to a traveling party of merchants who spent a night with the Saltonstalls.

At times, my hours seemed nothing but an idyll of easy work and pleasant talk. As before, I sewed with Eliza Dennison and her mother and young Damaris Hathorne, although now we sat close by the fire and never out-of-doors. John was larger, and the months had taught him new words. Now he called me Care, and I thought it not so wrong a name for someone who had owned many cares and had been a care to others—who felt at fault in the death of someone she loved. In March, he and Eliza were to return to Ipswich for a visit to their former haunts if the weather was clear.

The air was fragrant with the pastilles I had made at the close of summer, and the time moved strangely—often the afternoon only a day before seemed like some golden fall hour already long past. The days fled from me. My time in Haverhill was mostly sweet, and I shall not forget it—and yet the memory glides by with only a few distinct moments that stand above the rest like splashed, glittering stones projecting above a stream.

We would sew and laugh and tell stories; the major would come in, followed by his younger sons, Mr. Richard Saltonstall and Mr. Nathaniel Saltonstall, arrived from college, and my own Mr. Herrick, and all would be changed. The brisk, snow-charged air of December came with them, and often their shoulders were sprinkled with snowflakes. Once we met the party with cinnamon water, made with good sack infused for three days and three nights, and then they were glad to be home! Their talk was of the militia or town business, for Major Saltonstall and Jotham Herrick had much in common and spent some considerable time visiting Haverhill notables or gathering with soldiers of the militia, inspecting arms and readiness.

One time, the youngest son read aloud from a letter from his brother, Mr. Gurdon Saltonstall, already serving as a minister in Connecticut and seeming fair to be an important personage in that colony. It struck me that Nathaniel and Richard Saltonstall were both quieter in their ways than their sister Eliza. At the table, Nathaniel was often silent, or leaned to his neighbor

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