Saturday, February 16, 2013

Threads of Life

3rd Weekend Writing Warrior

I am writing of my family, great grandparents, August and Auguste Schumann,  to make vital records come alive for the family. They are farming, I think subsistence, in Boguslawka, Volhynia. This is a particularly hard time in their lives. It is harvest time and three of there four children are ill, requiring their mother's attendance.  (I do not know what has happened to the fourth child.)



"As the day is coming to an end, August enters his home, hot, sweaty and tired, carrying his scythe from his day’s work. However, there is no aroma of dinner and the only candle shines from the bedroom. Entering the room, he finds his exhausted wife, tears running down her face.
            Taking her in his arms to try to sooth her, he inquires what has produced her distress. Her hand gestures to the children’s bed.  “Auguste Pauline is dead. I’ve tried to get the boys to drink some water, but they are unable. It is a whole month until the circuit pastor comes to our community and my prayers are not working.” "


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20 comments:

  1. "... there is no fragrance of dinner and the only candle shines from the bedroom." Oh, this sets the mood and paints such a bleak picture.

    Excellent post, Carol. So sad.

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    1. I fear people will tire of the tragedy, but only one more, then I promise to move on.

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  2. Beautifully descriptive, a grim scene indeed.

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  3. Sad but beautifully written...excellent excerpt.

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    1. Thank you.Not everything in our families is positive, as is true of our own lives. It is the ability to go on that is important.

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  4. You captured the tragedy well. Good post.

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  5. Powerful scene...I saw it all. Particularly intrigued with your present tense structure--it works here, for sure!

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    1. Wow, never really realized that I was writing in the present. However I very deeply felt what was happening in the lives of these people.

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  6. Heartbreaking. We forget how tenuous life was not so long ago, eh?

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  7. Wow. Really powerful and heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing your family with us!

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    1. Thank you for helping me to begin the stories. It is all of you who give me courage to do this.

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  8. It hasn't been that long since a good fraction of the people born died in childhood--or childbirth.

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    1. Indeed and they must have had the support of others to get through these times.

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  9. I agree with the other comments here. This tugs at your heart. It can't be easy for you to write and I commend you

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    1. Thank you Antonia. It's easier to write because I have thought about it for a long time.

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  10. Shows what can be achieved in just 8 sentences. I can picture the entire tragic scene. Powerful extract!

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    1. Thank you Catherine. You have all given me the inspiration to get started.

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