November 2008

            It was so quiet in the little white church that a robin, chirping from a tree limb just outside the open window, could be easily heard above the organ and the choir.

            Rev. White had just finished his Sunday sermon and Ben's father and Mr. Woodward were taking up the collection.  It was a sparkling Sunday morning as the thirty-seven church members arose from their pews and slowly moved down the aisle toward the front door.  A man in a brown suit, with large, dark brown eyes and a set of nicely combed white hair and equally white beard, stood just inside one of the double doors at the front of the church.  The organ music from the choir loft was still softly drifting down over the pews and the altar.  The organist, Mr. Chambers, always spent ten minutes after every service practicing new hymns he would play the following Sunday.

            Ben, his mother and his brothers, Luke and John, along with his sisters Marion, Ella and Doris, stood just inside one of the double doors, exactly opposite the tall man in the brown suit.  Ben's family always waited there after the service because his father had to go into the vestry to put the money into the large, wooden case, way back under the low, wide shelf.  Most church members were usually all out the door as his father joined the family.  As Ben quickly turned around, his two year old sister loosened her grip on her mother's hand, raced across the floor, and stood looking right up at the tall man.

            "Lily, Lily," her mother called, in a quiet, but commanding voice.  At that very same moment, Ben's father arrived and quickly took Lily's hand, as he looked closely at the tall, brown suited man.

            "John B.!  John B.!  For heaven's sake!  How did you get here?"

            "Benjamin, what a nice surprise to see you here.  I had almost forgotten that your family had farmed this beautiful place here for.......let's see, is it three generations?"

            "Just right, John.  Yes, my grandparents came from England in 1767, and here we are, right in the same place and it is 1831.  But John, tell us.  What are you doing here?  Oh, wait a minute."

            "Benjamin quickly swung around to face his wife.  "Come over here, Maggie."

            Ben's brother and sisters, along with their mother, joined his father, as he talked to John B. Jervis, who smiled broadly and shook hands with everyone in the family, even little Lily. John's gaze traveled from Ben to his father, as the older Ben explained that both of them had been named for Benjamin Dickson, young Ben's grandfather.

            Maggie spoke, "Mr. Jervis, please come and have Sunday dinner with us?"

            "Wonderful, Maggie!  Wonderful idea!  Com on John B.  Come on!  Let's go and get our buggies out of the shed and head for home."

            Maggie and the children waited.  The buggies stopped in the cloud of dust they had stirred up.

            "Come on Ben.  Hop in here with me."  Ben's 14 year old legs raced over and he swung up onto the black leather seat beside Mr. Jervis.  The buggies took off down the road to the family farm, with Lily cozily snuggled on her mother's lap.

            Maggie's dinner was delicious, as usual.  While she cleared the table and went into the kitchen to pump water from the well to wash the dishes, Ben and his oldest sister Marion, his father and Mr. Jervis went into the living room.  The men lit their pipes and settled comfortably into the two rockers.

            "All right, John.  Now is the time.  When I saw you about a year ago, you said you'd have a great story for me in about a year.  That was 14 months ago.  Come on, let's hear it."

            Ben and Marion squiggle around on the sofa to find the most comfortable spot.  They knew, from the eager look on their father's face, that they were in for a great story on this bright, but cool afternoon.

            Mr. Jervis put his pipe in his mouth, took two big puffs, and blew three smoke rings out into the air.

            "Well, Benjamin, remember when I mentioned May 7, 1831 to you?  I'll bet Ben remembers, don't you son?  Do you remember when you heard me mention that date Ben?"

            "Sure.  You told us that day on the wagon."

            "Excellent memory, Ben.  Very good.  And now I'm saying it again, May 7, 1831.  Why is that date so important?  It's because so many scattered, non-connected ideas about transportation in this country seem to have come together like magnets on an iron bar."

            "John, I know a lot of activities are taking place right near here.  I've been watching closely, but I must admit that some of the things I've seen and heard were way beyond my ability to understand.  Some of them seemed unbelievable, just too good to be true."  "I agree," said John.  "But, let me give you a peek into some of the changes which are influencing many parts of my life.  They will affect yours too, Benjamin, but I'm positive, that it is your children who will truly benefit in many ways from all these recent activities."

            "All right, spill the beans, John."  Benjamin chuckled as he spoke.  "Come on, out with it.  Let's hear about all these vital transitions."

            "Fine, but let me warn you about one thing.  Many of the things I'm going to recite are directly related to my own ideas and my own activities and I do no want you to feel that I am just tooting my own horn.  I will just give you information, just the facts, about this whole, gigantic project and it most certainly is enormous and mind boggling, to say the least.  But, when all is said and done, after many succe3sses and, of course some failures, from which we learned a great deal, it was early in 1831 when, by a special act of the New York State Legislature, The Saratoga and Schenectady railroad company began to build, between Saratoga Springs and Schenectady, a railroad that ultimately became a part of the system of The Delaware and Hudson Company."**

            "Oh, good heavens.  So this is why we have seen all of the activity and why we have heard countless rumors."  Benjamin's eyes lit up as a big smile appeared on this face.  "And now, with one of the most important men in the whole process, John B. Jervis, my long-time friend, sitting right across from me in my own living room, we will get all of the facts, which may dispel some of those rumors."

            "Mr. Jervis, please tell us all about what has been happening around here.  I can hardly wait."  Ben seemed to be pleading with Mr. Jervis.

            "Well, I will do my best to....."  At that moment Ben's mother came into the room with a plate full of molasses cookies, and the delicious smell of those little cakes filled the room, as hands reached for the just baked treats, from the tray mother held.

            "Hey, no story, not even my own, is better than a mouthful of aroma laden, molasses cookies."  Everyone laughed, especially as they watched Mr. Jervis try to sneak his second cookie off the blue dish.

            When all the cookies had been devoured and mother had gone back to the kitchen, Mr. Jervis, or John B., as everyone called him, seemed lost in thought.  He seemed to hesitate as he looked at Ben, Marion, and their father.

            Marion, sensing his hesitation, spoke out.  "When will it be finished?"  Her intense curiosity was most apparent. She had often asked her father about what she observed and what she heard.  Benjamin felt proud of here interest and her knowledge, but deep down he had some very real concerns about Marion.  All her friends had interests totally different from hers.  They were elated to learn a new knitting stitch or how to do double crochet.  But no Marion.  And he worried.

            "Well, to answer your question, Marion, I could use one word, MONEY.  After the legislature's approval on May 7, 1831, constant efforts to raise money for the construction of this railroad from Saratoga Springs to Schenectady, began in earnest.  I am sure you heard about all of that."  "Mr. Jervis, I don't understand.  How will all of this help us?"  The expression on Ben's face betrayed his puzzlement.  He was scowling.

            "Well, Ben, I am not good at all in predicting the future. But of one thing I am sure.  Your father will no longer have to get out the horse and buggy whenever all of you plan a visit to your grandparents in Saratoga Springs."

            "Great!  Great!  Benjamin almost shouted his delight at this news.

            "But, things will be moving quite rapidly from now on.  I have to leave not to meet my engineer friend.  But, don't worry.  I will be back next month to update you on the progress we are making.  Goodbye.  See you then."