“Yet another day,” Lily thought as she sleepily threw the quilt of(f) herself and headed over to the clothesline. Mama had hung two lines, one on each side of the sheet that divided the room into half. On one half of the room slept the girls and on the other slept the boys.

It was Wednesday and their (there) was plenty to do in the month of May (this is crossed out, but I didn’t put a new month in, so who knows.) Pa and the boys would be working in the field. Lily, Rose, and nine-year-old Caroline would help Ma work in the garden. Both Lily and Rose loved working outdoors much better than house work which the older girls Charlotte, Martha and Laura would be doing.

Lickety-split Lily’s dress was on and she raced down the ladder and ran into Benjamen.

“Whoa. Slow down little Tiger Lily. You’re running like the sky is falling,” Benjamen joked. Lily gave a giggle. Everyone called her Tiger Lily and Rose, Prairie Rose. 13-year (old) Benjamen patted Lily on the head then sat down at the table.

Martha placed a bowl of molasses on the table, “Lily don’t!” Martha had caught Lily just as she was about to dip a finger in the thick brown syrip. “You will eat the same time as everyone.”

“Little Lily, come over here and let me plait your hair. Single or double?” Ma asked asked (yeah, I repeated it, lol). Lily sat down in front of her.

“Two please Ma,” Lily politely replied.

The quaint little kitchen/eating area looked exactly like Lily remembered it since before she could remember. (??) All her life she had lived in this house. The house had four rooms, three on the bottom and then in an attic-like room slept the ten kids. Downstairs one room was Ma and Pa’s bedroom, the second room was the kitchen/eating. And the third was the living room. Also on the 140-acre land owned by the family was a barn, meadow, crop field, garden, forest and creek. As Lily sat down at the table next to Daniel she recalled memories of her romping through the land playing with her family and friends.

“Mmm. Looks and smells good. Martha, your cooking is among the best,” Pa awed licking his lips as he sat down on the other side of Lily.

“Rose! Hurry up! You’re holding back the whole group!” Ma yelled upstairs. Rose was always late getting downstairs.

“Ta-da,” Rose gasped as she landed on the floor.

“Prairie Rose looks like their (there) was a prairie fire,” Joseph laughed aloud.

“Rose, your dress if a mess. I thought you were growing out of it and now I’m sure. Looks like I’ll have to make another one. Tomorrow we’ll go buy cloth from Berley’s General Store. Now come over her(e) and let me plait your hair. One or two?” Ma asked.

“Two. Like Lily’s,” Rose smiled. Lily and Rose always dressed in the same dresses. Since they were identical it made it hard for people to tell them apart.

Lily looked down at the skirt of her dress. Sure, it was faded. The red had turned to a pink and the skirt was above her knees. Ma had said that as long as the dress fit it stayed. Now Rose would be getting a new dress. ‘Uh well,’ Lily sighed.

“Pa would you please say blessing?” Martha asked. As soon as Pa said grace people started pouring syrup on their hot cakes.

“What’s wrong Tiger Lily?” Thomas asked froma cross the table.

“Oh nothing. I just miss Cindy,” Lily answered trying to perk up. It was true although it wasn’t what was bothering her.

Before even realizing it she had eaten up all her breakfast. She headed outside. It was early morning so the birds were singing. Lily started feeling better and made words to go with the bird’s song. The boys headed out to the field and so the day begun (began.)

A few days before Pa had broke(n) the sod, the rocks and twigs so all that had to be done was plant. Ma and Rose came out and Caroline soon followed. By noon Lily’s back hurt from bending over. Her fingers hurt from hauling water and her skin hurt from the sun. Caroline, Rose, lily, and Ma kept on working and just barely finished and (as) the sun began to set. They even ate a picnic lunch while working.

“Supper!” Martha’s voice rang out in the evening air. Quickly the gardeners picked up their supplies and headed back to the house. They got there a few minutes before the boys and washed their hands in the tub by the door.

Supper wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Salt pork with some kind of stale corn bread. There was butter for the corn bread and milk to drink from Daisy the brown spotted cow. The boys came stomping in and washed their hands. Ma took one look at their faces and sent them back. The girls hadn’t noticed it but the wind was blowing so the boys(‘) faces were streaked with dirt.

“We got many acres of wheat planted. Tomorrow we’ll plant oats and the next day corn. The wind’s blowing mighty hard. A storm might be a-brewing,” Pa informed them as he sat down. Everyone bowed their heads and Ma said blessing.

Lily was so hungry that she gobbled her supper up and had to wait while everyone else finished. Henry was the last to finish because he was known as the slowest eater in the family.

Then all the kids headed upstairs for bed. Lily was the youngest, three minutes younger than Rose, so she changed first. Then (then) Lily watched the same thing that happened every night. First Laura took her doll from the window sill. It was wearing a yellow dress. Next Charlotte took her doll which was in blue. Martha followed and her dress was in purple. Caroline’s doll had a green dress. Every girl on their 6th Christmas received a handmade doll from Ma and Pa. Last Christmas Rose had received a doll in a red dress, but Lily had gotten a new writing journal.

It wasn’t that Lily didn’t like the writing journal. She loved writing, especially in this journal. It had a leather-like cover that was white and had the word “Lily” printed in blue. It was just that, well, Lily had really wanted a doll. And watching every ceremony of dolls made her want one more. But Lily never complained because she knew that wouldn’t get her anywhere. So she kept quiet as she lay down in bed and closed her eyes.

NEXT DAY

Lily knew it was going to be a bad day when she woke up with a thud as she landed on the floor. When she put on her dress she found a hole in the hem. As she climbed down the ladder she tripped on the middle rung and landed on her rear. Thomas told her that Ma and Rose had already gone to town. Breakfast was only toast and butter with water. Lily didn’t know how Rose had plaited her hair so she had Caroline do a single. As Lily and Caroline grabbed their two favorite horses to go riding Pa told them he needed all the horses for working.

“I’m having an awful day. And look Caroline. I ripped my dress. Ma will be very angry. It’s my only everyday dress,” Lily told Caroline as they headed through the woods.

“I’m not trying to make you feel worse but look. Your whole skirt seam on this side is ripped out. And your hair ribbon is gone,” Caroline said sympatheticly. Lily gasped as she touched the back of her unraveled braid.

“Oh no! We have to find it. Ma won’t let (me) play for a week! Please help me,” Lily pleaded.

Caroline was about to answer when Joseph came running, “Good thing I found you two. Pa said that a bad storm is coming. We all have to get back to the house. Gosh Lily, what happened?”

“Oh Joseph. Please don’t tell Ma. I’m having the worst day,” Lily replied as her and Caroline followed Joseph home.

“Your secret is safe with me Tiger Lily. But you may want to borrow one of Caroline’s ribbons for now. As far as I know Ma and Rose aren’t home yet,” Joseph assured her as they neared home. Laura opened the door for them and Caroline raced upstairs with lily on her tail.

“Hopefully Ma won’t notice that you have a different color ribbon on.”

“Ma! Rose! Boy are we glad you two are home,” Martha said from downstairs. Lily and Caroline looked at each other, crossed their fingers, and headed down the ladder.

The wind howled fiercly outside as Charlotte put dinner on the table. Ma told of the trip to town and Rose showed of(f) her new dress. After dinner Thomas and Daniel played checkers while Benjamen whittled some horses and Joseph read a book called, “Revolutionary Times.”

“I wish I could just sit back and read,” Lily sighed as she listened to Rose repeat the events of the trip to town.

“Ma said we must come home right away because of the storm.”

“Excuse me Ma. Can me and Lily please go upstairs and grab our books? We’d like to do some reading,” Caroline asked as she saw the look on Lily’s face.

“I think that’s a fine idea. Bring Rose’s down too.” As Lily stood up she remembered something she had been trying to hide all day. Lily stood up and slowly walked to the stairs.

“Little Lily. Come here for a second,” Ma said. “My stars! Lily Alexandria Hamilton! Your dress is totally ripped out on this side and this is Caroline’s hair ribbon! What on earth!”

Lily sobbed as she explained everything to her mother. About the day and how she was jealous of Rose’s new dress. Also (which you don’t know about yet) how the kids at school made fun of her name. But what surprised her the most was when Ma took her into another room and started crying. Lily didn’t know what to do. Ma had only cried once when Uncle Jim died.

“I’m sorry,” Ma apolizied. “I didn’t know you had so much on your mind. I try to be a good mother but if you feel that you have to keep things from me then I’m not doing a good job. What is this about the kids at school?” Ma asked as she said (sat) on the floor and took Lily in her lap.

“The kids at school bully me. They call me Little Lily Lulu Head and Hammie. They make fun of my dress and my stories when I’m talking to Rose or Caroline. They try and help but they’re too small to. And sometimes, when Rose and Lily (supposed to be Caroline) aren’t watching, they take my dinner,” Lily wailed.

“That’s awful. Who’s doing this?” Ma asked.

And so all through the afternoon Ma and Lily talked about odds and ends. They sang and told jokes. All while sitting on the floor in the pantry.

Just before Charlotte came to get them for supper Ma asked one more question, “What’s this about being jealous of Rose?”

“I always thoguht you liked her better. Because you two always talk. Also, Roses are prettier than Lilies,” Lily explained.

“Says who?” Ma asked in a gentle voice.

“Everyone in this family except Caroline and you.”

“Well. If I like Rose so much why didn’t I just spend a whold day talking to her?” Ma raised her eyebrows. Lily smiled and gave Ma a hug as they headed into the kitchen.

Everyone seemed very quiet as LIly and Ma sat down. Ma broke the silence as she began asking questions. As Lily took a bite out of her cornbread she saw Caroline and Rose smile at each other. But this time Lily didn’t feel jealouse. She just smiled at Ma and Ma smiled back.

After supper Lily helped dry the dishes since she was too young to wash. This time Laura and Martha smiled at each other but Lily thought nothing of it. But the weird part came when after supper instead of heading upstairs Caroline took Lily’s hand and Rose put her hand over Lily’s eyes and they lead (led) her into the family room. Rose didn’t move her hands but Lily heard Charlotte say they were all sorry for taking heir littlest sister forgranted.

And when Rose moved her hands Lily couldn’t say a word. For there in front of her lay a doll. It was dressed in a white dress with long brown hair and a lily in her hair. The dolls eyes were tiny blue buttons and her red mouth was sewed (sewn) on. There were even freckles across the bridge of her nose, just like Lily’s.

Lily cried, “Thank you!” She picked the doll up and hugged her like the world was going to end.

“Careful Tiger Lily. You’ll squeeze the stuffing (out) of her,” Benjamen joked.

“I’ll name her Patsy,” Lily said to no one in particular as she looked into the doll’s eyes.

“Well I believe it is time for bed children. Hopefully the storm will be gone tomorrow,” Ma said as she whisked the children off to bed.

The day had been so exciting that Lily hadn’t noticed the rain, wind, thunder and lightening. But Lily soon fell asleep holding Patsy in one arm and Rose’s hand in the other.

The next morning the storm hadn’t gone. In fact, it was worse. You could not see the sun and dark, black clouds hung all over the place. Even the chickens seemed grey as Lily huddled against Thomas and fed them. The minute breakfast was over, Lily, Caroline, and Rose grabbed their dolls.

“Why don’t you girls play school with your dolls. It’s been two weeks since you’ve been and I don’t want you falling behind,” Ma suggested.

“I’ll play with you three if I can be the teacher,” Laura said as she stood up. The girls nodded in agreement.

“Oh Ma. I do wish the storm would quit soon. I’m so sick of being inside all day. Even though this is just the first day I feel like it’s been a week,” Charlotte sighed. This was a surprise because Charlotte was ladylike and never complained. ‘I guess everyone gets cabin fever,’ Lily thought.

“Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!” Laura made a fake bell noise and Lily walked Patsy up to a little spool which Laura had set up for desks.

And so for the rest of the day Laura quizzed Rose, Lily and Caroline on their studies. The storm was so bad that Ma couldn’t get to the root cellar. Dinner and supper were whatever could be found in the pantry.

As Lily was getting ready for bed she became aware of a slight tapping at the window. As she went over to inspect the glass blew full force into the room. Lily scrambled to the ladder.

Daniel was going up into the room to get his playing cards. He saw Lily trying to get down the ladder so he picker her off the ladder and set her down. lily was about to tell Daniel what had happened but she couldn’t it out. Daniel went up into the room and didn’t noticed the shattered glass. But when he picked up the cards he noticed blood on his hand. He wiped away the blood but there was no cut. Then he noticed the glass and jumped down the ladder. Lily was still sitting there. Daniel immediately saw the bleeding on her side.

“What happened?” he managed to ask through his shock.

“I heard a tapping at the window and went over to see what it was. When I got over there the glass blew in. It cut my side,” Lily explained as she gritted her teeth.

“Stay here,” Daniel ordered. As Lily sat there she tried to think of other things. Like Patsy or the poor garden that was outside in the storm. Then realization struck her. The crops, the garden, all those were out in the storm. If the storm tore those things up they would have no money or food. Although Lily didn’t like thinking these things it did take her mind off the horrible pain now gripping her side.

Pa and Ma came running in. Ma’s face turned white and she looked away. Rose shrieked.

“Hush now Rose. Lily is going to be fine. It’s just a little cut,” Pa soothed Rose who was ecstatic. Lily was lost in thought about her poor chickens she was responsible for. And the pigs that would have broken out of their pen and huddled under the porch.

Thomas, Daniel, and Benjamen climbed into the room to inspect and see what the tapping was. Caroline robotic like (course at the time they didn’t know what robots were but we do) handed Thomas a broom. While Thomas swept Daniel took the window frame out, being careful of the jagged glass. Benjamen pinned a sheet over the now empty window. All this was done as the wind howled madly and the rain pounded down in torrents.

Back in the kitchen Pa nodded and Joseph went upstairs to help the other boys. Pa took Lily’s dress off and raised her arm. The cut was bigger than Pa had thought but nothing deadly. Laura brought Oa a wag (rag, lol) that was wet. That wasn’t hard for all she did was stick it out the door. Pa washed the cut as Charlotte tore strips of white cloth. Pa tie the strips around Lily’s tiny body, thus applying pressure to the cut. He then slipped the dress back over her head and buttoned her up.

“Good as new,” he assured everyone. Martha told the boys they could come down.

“I think the window shattered because a pitchfork hit it. There is one lying right under the window,” Benjamen announced.

“Thomas, will you please bring the blankets off the beds into the family room? We’re camping out tonight,” Pa said. Thomas went up into the room to follow Pa’s order. Ma picked Lily up and carried her into the family room. Ma knew nothing big had happened but no mother likes their children getting hurt.

Thomas and Joseph brought in the blankets and everyone helped lay them out. Even Lily was talking to Rose and Caroline about the poor animals. Ma and Pa added their blankets and pillows to the lage pallet and layed down with the kids. In a row from left to right was: Laura, Charlotte, Martha, Rose, Caroline, Lily, Ma, Pa, Benjamen, Joseph, Daniel, and Thomas. Twidly, the black family dog, circled three times then lay down at Pa’s feet.

The fire flickered in the fireplace and the window shutteres rattled. No stars were seen because black clouds were smothering the sky. The chirping of crickets had ceased, the singing of the creek was no more than a whisper. Lily snuggled closer to Ma as a bolt of lightening lit the sky. Her side stung and Pa was restless. He too was worried about the crops and livestock.

Lily lay there for what seemed like hours, still sleep did not take her. Quite a few times Pa would get up and walk to the door to glancea t the storm. In the dim light Lily would see him shake his head. She knew that there was no hope for the freshly sown seeds and there was no money to buy new seed. They would have to keep praying. And Lily did so as she lay there. Then she felt a little better and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning when Lily woke up to Martha’s persistent shaking she knew something was wrong.

“Put this on,” Martha handed Lily an old dress, patched up, of Caroline’s, but Lily didn’t have time to be sad. “That Baylors’ house was struck by lightening last night. All of us except you, Rose and Joseph are going to help. Be very areful, the weather is being very strange,” Martha explained as she bustled about. She patted Lily’s head and raced outside. Joseph came in from the kitchen as soon as the wagon was out of sight.

“I guess I have to help two tiny women fold blankets,” he grumbled. The blankets were neatly folded and stacked in a corner, a smal breakfast was had and then cleaned up.

“Joseph, why is it storming?” Lily asked. She added some wood to the fire and dusted some ashes of(f) the mantle. Joseph answered with an, “I don’t know.” “Why did the Baylors’ house get struck by lightening?” she asked.

1. Hm..where to begin, lol. Okay, first off, if you’ve read Revolutionary Times. I was eleven when I wrote this, I’m pretty sure, which means at one point I was writing the two simultaneously. I’m not sure why I chose to use so many of the names twice; perhaps I just really liked these names.
2. I loved the name Lily when I was younger, and I still think it’s pretty, but I hate Lily’s. The smell of them makes me nauseous.
3. I’m actually pretty impressed with this story. Even though it was written when I was so young, and there are tons of grammatical and spelling errors, and even plot inconsistencies, it’s pretty in depth and historically accurate. And some of the details are impressive, even now, to have been writing when I was little.
4. Lily mentioned a Cindy in there. That would be Cindy from Sincerely, Cindy, another story up here, lol. I loved crossing things over then and even know.
5. I remember what I’d planned to happen after all that. In fact, I could have sworn I wrote it all out, but it’s not in the journal. Maybe it’ll pop up somewhere else. Anyway, Lily is outside for some reason, I think the barn caught on fire or something, and a tornado comes and whisks here off, lol. She gets planted in a tree, basically unharmed, and found by this farmer and his family several miles away. I think they had a son named Malcolm, lol. So she stays with them until the storming is over before going home...I esriously remember writing this all down. It’s frustrating me now, haha.
6. I may have written it and just cut it out, because here’s what I found in the back of the journal: