A Sweetness to the Soul
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Authors: Jane Kirkpatrick
A Sweetness to the Soul
“Jane Kirkpatrick’s particular gift is for capturing the authentic feel and flavor of frontier life;
A Sweetness to the Soul
is absolutely true to the people and the land as they once were. This is a novel that calls up a period early in the history of Oregon marked not only by hardship, sudden death, spiritual fortitude, and physical endurance, but also by community, one person reaching out to help another so that they might all survive.”
—M
OLLY
G
LOSS
, winner of the Whiting Writers Award and author of
The Hearts of Horses
“This book portrays a love that conquers all obstacles and offers testimony to the miracle of God’s healing power.”
—Bookstore Journal
“In
A Sweetness to the Soul
, Kirkpatrick offers a testimony to God’s ability to fulfill our dreams, in spite of our human propensity to question the why and how of situations. Through the eyes of Jane Sherar, readers come to recognize that blessings are hidden in the midst of everyday life and often only understood within the context of the passing of time.”
—Cascades East
magazine
“With profound skill, Jane Kirkpatrick weaves a tale of place and time. While entertaining, she teaches me history; while making me laugh, she unfolds significant soul lessons. The only good thing about coming to the end of Kirkpatrick’s superbly crafted book is knowing she is writing another.”
—M
ARY
A
NNE
R
ADMACHER
, artist and author of
Lean Forward into Your Life
and
Live Boldly
“Her research gives the book depth; her empathy gives it a soul.”
—The Sunday Oregonian
ORE
B
OOKS BY
J
ANE
K
IRKPATRICK:
A Land of Sheltered Promise
D
REAMCATCHER
C
OLLECTION
A Sweetness to the Soul
(winner of the Wrangler Award
for Outstanding Western Novel of 1995)
Love to Water My Soul
A Gathering of Finches
Mystic Sweet Communion
C
HANGE AND
C
HERISH
S
ERIES
A Clearing in the Wild
A Tendering in the Storm
A Mending at the Edge
K
INSHIP AND
C
OURAGE
S
ERIES
All Together in One Place
No Eye Can See
What Once We Loved
T
ENDER
T
IES
S
ERIES
A Name of Her Own
Every Fixed Star
Hold Tight the Thread
N
ONFICTION
Homestead
Aurora
(on sale spring 2009)
A S
WEETNESS TO THE
S
OUL
P
UBLISHED BY
M
ULTNOMAH
B
OOKS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
A division of Random House Inc
.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Copyright © 1996, 2008 by Jane Kirkpatrick
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
M
ULTNOMAH
and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kirkpatrick, Jane, 1946–
A sweetness to the soul : a novel / Jane Kirkpatrick.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-56915-8
1. Frontier and pioneer life—Oregon—Fiction. 2. Pioneers—Oregon—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3561.I712S94 2008
813′.54—dc22
2008019599
v3.1_r1
This book is dedicated to those who remember:
The People of Sherman and Wasco Counties,
The People
of The Confederated Tribes of
the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon,
and Jerry.
G
LOSSARY
O
F
I
NDIAN
W
ORDS
All words are Sahaptin (Warm Springs language) unless indicated.
ach’ái
—magpie
akw’álq
(Wasco)—root bag or sally bag
aswan
—boy
chuush
—water
chchuu txanati
—“Please be quiet” said to a group
hehe
—happy
ikauxau
—owl
ikawa
(Wasco)—badger
inanuksh
(Wasco)—otter
iyái
—pregnant
kápn
—digging stick
kot-num
(Wasco)—long house
k’usi
—horse
k’usik’usi
—dog
k’aalas
—raccoon
kása
—grandmother
lukws
—round root with white flowers
nana
—sister
niix máicqi
—“good morning”
páwapaatam
—“help me”
piaxi
—bittersweet root
pimx
—uncle, father’s brother
shaptákai
—Indian suitcase
spi’lya
—coyote
wapas
—root bag or sally bag
wilalík
—rabbit
yáiya
—brother
From
Warm Springs Sahaptin: How the Warm Springs Language Works: A Grammar
. Copyright © 1991 by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. Used by permission.
“Desire realized is a sweetness to the soul” (Proverbs 13:19).
“ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the L
ORD
, ‘plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope’ ” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Round and wrapped in rawhide with a feather hanging from the leather, its center is crisscrossed like a spider web with sinew. A bead or stone symbolizing the mythical goodness of the spider forms the center; the feather represents the eagle, the only bird believed to fly between the dream world and our own. Hung over a child’s bed while he sleeps, the spider web catches the child’s bad dreams to be burned by the sun in the morning; the good dreams know their way through and wait—to be chased by the child into the future.
D
ESCRIPTION OF A
N
ORTHWEST
I
NDIAN
D
REAMCATCHER
PART
I
T
HE
B
EGINNING
CLOSE
E
NCOUNTERS