On a sunny Sunday afternoon in September, 1910, Dr. Thatcher
and Katy took the buggy out to the Stoltz's farm to pickup
Peggy Stoltz. Peggy was almost fifteen and newly hired to help
Mrs. Thatcher. It was there Katy first saw Jacob. He was standing
silently at the upstairs window of the farmhouse watching his
sister leave. Peggy waved. Jacob let go of the curtain and turned
around.
"Why didn't he go to school?" Katy wanted to know.
Jacob had just turned 13 and was "touched" Peggy responded. Touched
in the head. Later Katy learned some people said Jacob was an
imbecile, but Dr. Thatcher said that was untrue. An imbecile means
having no brains. Jacob knew what he liked and how to take care
of himself. That takes brains.
With much enthusiasm Katy showed Peggy her third floor bedroom
at the Thatcher's house. The Bishop family lived next door,
and when the leaves had fallen from the big trees between the
two houses, Peggy could see her sister Nell's room. Nell
worked for the Bishops. Katy noticed the scratches on the back
of Peggy's hand. Just playful kittens Peggy remarked. Their
barn was full of cats and little kittens.
A month later Katy turned eight. Dr. Thatcher and Katy took the
buggy pulled by their horses, Jed and Dahlia, to the flour mill.
Sturges, one of the workers, had cut his hand in a piece of machinery.
Dr. Thatcher had stitched it and was now ready to take out the
stitches. Katy knew she, too, wanted to be a doctor one day. There
by the side of the dirt road stood Jacob. Jacob gave each of the
horses an apple and climbed in the back of the buggy for the ride
to the mill. He was always so gentle with animals. Jacob made
clucking noises like Dr. Thatcher when he started the horses.
Jacob was good at imitating sounds. "Shoooda, shoooda, shoooda,"
Jacob murmured as he sat in the buggy and moved his hands on his
knees. It was the sound of the great grindstone crushing grain
at the mill.
At the Stoltz's farm Jacob helped with the animals. He
fed them, took care of the lambs and calves, and brushed the horses.
When there were too many litters of kittens, Jacob took them to
the creek to drown. Jacob is a gentle boy Peggy explained. It's
the kindest thing to do when there are too many kittens.
Katy Thatcher, now a very old woman, looks back on her life and
tells the story of the Bishops, the Stoltzes, her family, and
most importantly of Jacob, the silent boy. They are intertwined
with the story of Jacob.
What is right and wrong? Wherein lies compassion?
