Saturday, February 23, 2013

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Weekend Writing Warriors

I really messed this up! Sorry! I thought that I double checked everything, but obviously not. I hope that it is corrected now.



My great-grandparents, August and Auguste Schumann are having a bad day. It is mid-summer, the height of grain harvest season and their 3 little children are very sick. One has died. The two boys are having trouble breathing and cannot swallow water. I want to write more than 8 sentences but stick to the rules. I have put "teacher" in quotes because I do not know the qualifications yet.

"August and Auguste traded off staying awake with the children that night. Even so, dawn found Auguste dozing between the body of Auguste Pauline and Karl. Awakening at dawn with a start, and then a shriek, she found that she was now lying between two dead bodies. That brought August out of bed quickly, trying to think of what he, as a father and husband, must do next. Since neither of them had eaten last evening, it was agreed that she would make some porridge while he went to the home of the “teacher” who kept the records and read the scripture in the absence of a pastor.

Passing the homes of his sisters, he told them of the deaths in his home and  husbands offered to help dig the graves before going to the fields.  He then arranged for the “teacher” to be at the cemetery for a burial later that day.

Returning home to have porridge before digging the graves, he found not only porridge, but a second dead son, Friederich, the third child to die within two days."

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14 comments:

  1. Carol, this really paints a bleak picture of how life was. It makes me think of going to an old Catholic cemetery with my son--he was doing a school project. We saw little headstones of siblings, all died within days of each other. We assumed it was an influenza, or a childhood illness-- which we are now vaccinated against. Those people were tough.

    Looks like you had some trouble with blogger while doing your post. Sometimes it just refuses to cooperate. :-)

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    1. Yes, I see that I really messed up. I hope that I have corrected it now and really apologize to every one. It is not up to your standard this week.

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  2. Sad...it's amazing people persevered through times like these. You have to admire them! A poignant excerpt.

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    1. Sorry sorry for the mess that I made. Thanks for your comment.

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  3. Bleak indeed but beautifully written.

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    1. Thanks for your gracious response after the mess that I made. I am trying hard to come up to the standard of all of you and need to double check more.

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    1. I apologize for the mess that I made for you early readers. Yes, I am so glad to live today and hope to learn from the courage of some of my ancestors.

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  5. Unfortunately, life was like that for people. We have it a lot easier today in many ways.

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    1. Indeed we do. And sorry for the mess that I made of my blog. I need to double check more, next time.

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  6. Sad but true events. We have a family right here where I live that lost 7 children in a month from influenza in the late 1800s. I commend you for documenting your family's story.

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  7. This is such a sad story and emotion pours from every word. I echo the comments of others today

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    1. Thank you Antonia. I am honored by all of you great writers reading my sentences.

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