Our Kansas Home (6 page)

But standing alone in the dark night, Charlie understood better why his father had wanted to come to Kansas.

“If Kansas is a free state someday, no one will have to hide,” Charlie whispered to Lion.

Lion whined, but didn't bark. The sounds came closer. In the deep shadow a wagon came into view.

Lion leaped away from Charlie's grip and raced toward it, barking fiercely, his whole body shaking.

Charlie could make out the shapes of two men. He held his breath.

One of the men raised his arm and called out, “Looks like you've got a good watchdog there, Charlie Keller!”

It was Papa

They woke Sadie so she could say good-bye.

“Lizzie is leaving, Sadie,” Papa told her. “This is our friend Ed Dillon, who will help her get to Canada where she can be free.”

“You're sure it's safe now?” Momma asked.

Papa nodded. “Yes, all the arrangements are made.
Besides, things are about to change in Kansas. The president of the United States has appointed a new governor named John Geary. He'll arrive soon, on September ninth. But already people are saying he'll be able to put an end to the fighting.”

“We're hoping the proslavery folks will give up on Kansas. Eventually we'll pass some new, better laws,” put in Ed Dillon. “You'll have your father back from now on, Charlie. And when I return your wagon I'll stay for a few days and help harvest your corn.”

Lizzie held out her arms to Sadie. “I'll miss you, Sadie Sunshine.”

“Thank you for everything, Lizzie,” said Momma, handing her a bundle. “Here are some biscuits, and a dress I made for you.”

Charlie wished he had something to give Lizzie. Then he remembered. He still had the little piece of type from the newspaper office. It wasn't much, but somehow it seemed just right.

He ran to find it and held it out to Lizzie. “It's a letter of type from a newspaper in Kansas, the
Kansas Free State.”

“Why, it's an ‘L' for ‘Lizzie,'” said Momma.

“Or for ‘Liberty,'” suggested Papa.

Ida Jane smiled. “It's an ‘L' to remind you of Lawrence.”

Sadie wrapped her arms around Lizzie's legs and whispered, “It's for ‘Love.'”

Lizzie smiled. She leaned down and hugged Sadie.

Lion came up and nudged Lizzie's hand.

Charlie grinned. “Lion doesn't want you to forget him, either. ‘L' is for ‘Lion.'”

Lizzie reached out and patted Lion gingerly on the head. “I never thought I'd like a dog. But I'll even miss you, Lion.”

CHAPTER TEN
 

Charlie spotted the doe before Lion did.

She was heading up a low hill, making her way through the tall grass. The September sun glinted off her sides. If she hadn't moved, Charlie might not have seen her at all.

“Look, Lion,” he said softly.

The doe must have been a half mile away, at least.
She couldn't have heard me,
Charlie thought. But as soon as he spoke, her head came up. She froze, listening hard.

Then with a strong, graceful leap she bounded. She looked incredibly light, as if she might fly.

Above the deer the sky was filled with swirls of clouds. The sun was just low enough to paint them a deep purple.
Like a prairie violet,
Charlie thought.

Charlie could hear crickets in the grass, humming and chirping. The wind blew in his ears, making a kind of music, too.

“It's so beautiful,” Charlie whispered to Lion. “Let's just stay and watch a while.”

Charlie knew he would have other afternoons on the prairie. Of course on some of them he would be in school.

Mrs. Engle had been talking about starting a school at her place this fall, now that things had settled down and most of the border ruffians had gone back to Missouri.

Sadie wasn't too happy about the idea of school. “What if something happens to my chickens when I'm gone?”

“You're too young for school yet anyway,” Charlie had told her. “But when you do go, Lion will watch your chickens during the day.”

Ida Jane, though, couldn't wait for school to start.

“I can be a teacher myself when I'm fifteen,” she had announced. “And that's exactly what I aim to do. And by then Kansas will be a free state!”

Of course, no one knew yet whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free state or not. But the Keller family would keep fighting against slavery. Papa was even talking to some folks in Lawrence to see if they could help in the Underground Railroad.

“Who knows?” he said. “Maybe Spring Creek will be a stop on the Liberty Line someday.”

Momma nodded. “With the brave children we have, I believe we
could
be of help.”

Charlie thought of Lizzie. He thought of everything that had happened since the first day Papa had told them about moving to Kansas. “Yes, let's help, Papa Let's do what we can.”

I'll have hundreds and hundreds of afternoons like this, because it's for sure now. We're here to stay,
Charlie thought.

But this one afternoon seemed so perfect he wanted to remember it. He would write to Grandpa and tell him exactly what it felt like to stand under these prairie skies.

Charlie and Lion stood still. They stood until the deer was out of sight, and the sun sank.

“Time to go,” Charlie said at last, his hand on Lion's fur. “It's time to go home.”

BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS
 

Charlie's mother bakes baking-powder biscuits in this story. Making biscuits was an everyday event on a farm at the time
Our Kansas Home
is set. In an article in the collection of the Kansas State Historical Society called “Daily Routine of a Kansas Farm Wife in the Last Quarter of the Nineteenth Century,” Mrs. Georgie Steifer describes daily farm life based on her memories of her grandmother. She writes that in the morning women usually made a big batch of biscuits, which would then be eaten throughout the day. Biscuits were popular because they could be made more quickly than bread. This was especially helpful in the days before people could run to a store to get a loaf of bread.

There are many different recipes for baking-powder biscuits. Here is the one my parents (especially my dad!) always made at my house when I was a girl:

RUSS HOPKINSON'S BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ cup Crisco (butter or margarine may also be used)

1 cup milk

Combine ingredients quickly in a bowl. Spoon batter into an ungreased muffin tin, dividing equally among the cups. The batter will rise when baking, so don't fill the cups to the top. Bake at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes twelve biscuits. Serve with butter and jam, or as strawberry shortcake.

ABOUT KANSAS HOME
 

Our Kansas Home
is fiction, but it is based on a period of time in the 1850s when the Kansas Territory was known as “Bleeding Kansas.” During this time people in our country were arguing about whether slavery should spread to new territories in the West. The summer of 1856, when this story takes place, was a time of conflict between proslavery people and freestate settlers in Kansas. Eventually Kansas entered the Union as a free state in 1861. Many historians think that studying what happened in Kansas helps us to better understand the roots of the Civil War.

In this book Charlie and his family and friends are made-up. Other characters that are mentioned, such as Sheriff Samuel Jones, John Brown, and Charles Robinson, really lived. Some events in the story, such as the burning of the Free State Hotel in Lawrence on May 21, 1856, are based on things that did take place.

To research the Prairie Skies books I read many works written by people who lived in Kansas during this time. For instance, many abolitionists lived in Lawrence,
Kansas, and the town played an active role in the Underground Railroad. The story of Lizzie is based on an incident in Richard Cordley's
Pioneer Days in Kansas,
written in 1903. Mr. Cordley and his wife were living in a stone house south of Lawrence in 1859 when a young woman named Lizzie, who was fleeing slavery, came to stay with them until arrangements could be made to take her to Canada on the Underground Railroad.

When they learned Lizzie's master was pursuing her, the Cordleys came up with a plan to hide her. Mrs. Cordley's friend would lie in bed, pretending to be sick, with Mrs. Cordley at her side. Lizzie would then hide between the mattress and the feather bed. They felt sure the searchers would not disturb a sick woman. Mr. Cordley wrote that Lizzie said, “I will make myself just as small as ever I can, and I will lie as still as still can be.” Eventually Lizzie was helped to go to Canada by her friends in Lawrence.

History is like a giant quilt, with many pieces.
Our Kansas Home
tells only a small part of a complicated story. You can learn more about Kansas history by reading other books, visiting museums or historical sites, or looking on the Internet.