March 2008

        "Mom, did your teacher always put the date on the chalkboard each morning when you were in school?"

        "Yes, why?"

        "I was surprised today because he didn't write the date until after he had rung the bell and we were in our seats.  Then eh wrote, Thursday, June 8, 1828.  That's when I began to count the days until my ninth birthday."

        "It won't be long now."

        She continued to knead the dough for our bread.  Suddenly she looked up, brushed a bit of hair back off her face with her flour-covered hands and smiled as she pushed her hands back into the dough.

        "How well I remember June 20, 1819.  You were such a handsome baby and the only time you cried was when you were hungry."

        "Do you remember other dates also?"

        "Of course I do, and so do you.  You know when grandma and grandpa celebrate their birthdays, don't you?"

        "Sure, and I know when Uncle John and Aunt Lydia got married and when Father's birthday is celebrated.  But I mean, do you remember dates not connected with our family?"

        "Let me think.  Oh yes, I remember 1783 very well."

        "How come you remember that year?"

        "Because your grandfather used to remind the whole family about that year.  I was born on July 4, 1786 but my father constantly reminded us of a year three years before I was born."

        "Why, what's so important about 1783?"

        "Time after time my father would say the same thing about 1783 and the years after 1783."

        "What did he say?"

        He said, "Yup! that was the year.  Yes sir, that was the year we was over-run."

        "Over-run. Over-run. What the dickens does that mean?  Over-run in 1783?"

        "Well, he meant that it seemed like all of a sudden more and more people made their way right straight to our small Town.  In a way he was quite upset by all of the strangers who kept showing up on our doorstep."

        "Didn't he like to have a lot of people here?"

        "In a way he didn't. They were buying up a lot of land and there were too many wagons and buggies out on the dirt roads all the time."

        "So....what did he do?"

        "Well, he couldn't do a thing, really.  But, you know a funny thing happened in the next few years."

        "What was that?"

        "My father and mother became best friends with many of our neighbors and little by little they got together and did a great many things which were very good for all of us who lived here; many important things which we still have today like our schools and churches, the glass factory, the graphite mine and our Town government.  And remember, we weren't even officially a Town in those very early years."

        "Oh yes, I remember.  We didn't officially become a Town until March 12, 1793.  Mother, you were quite young when many new people began to come here to live, weren't you?  Do you remember them and some of the things which happened after they got here?"

        "Of course I do.  I remember many things that happened and I even remember many dates when things happened.  One thing I especially remember was when we celebrated my tenth birthday.  It was a huge celebration with delicious food, games, dancing and fireworks in the evening."

        "Was all that for your birthday?"

        "Oh, no, no!  Think about this for a moment.  Remember......my birthday is on July fourth."

        "Oh my gosh!  I forgot!"

        "What was it you forgot?"

        "You're trying to trick me, aren't you, Mother?"

        "Of course not.  I would never do that.  I just asked what it was you forgot?"

        "I forgot that the Fourth of July is a very special day."

        "Why is it so special?"

        "Well, on the Fourth of July we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence."

        "Yes, and I truly believe it is the most important of all of our holidays."

        "Why? What makes it so special?"

        "Go and get the history book on Grandpa's desk and turn to page 115."

        "Hey, how did you remember an exact page number like that?"

        "When I was in school, our teacher was absolutely certain that the Declaration of Independence was the most important document ever written in all of our history, so he made all of us memorize the information on pages 115 and 116."

        "Do you still remember all of that?"

        "Yes, I do.  Look at page 16 and test my memory."

        "All right.  I have page 116.  Go ahead."

        "These united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them, and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

        "Wow Mother!  That's great!  I know that I could never remember something like that.  And every word you said was exactly like the book."

        "Well.....I enjoyed studying about how our Country got free of British rule.  I just wish I had been able to meet Thomas Jefferson in person and talk with him about his own ideas of government and the ideas of the other members of the committee who worked with him to develop the Declaration."

        "Oh I wish I'd been able to do that too."

        "Yes, but you can read, and study, and memorize some of the words he wrote."

        "I know.  Hey, I just thought of something.  Did the people here in our Town know about what Thomas Jefferson wrote?  Did they believe the same things he wrote about?"

        "Many of them did.  But there were quite a few who did not agree with some of the ideas in the Declaration.  Say....I have a good idea.  Why don't you go and get my history book.  You know where I keep it.  Read about Jefferson in that book and then read the rest of the chapter in Grandpa's history book.  It is truly a wonderful story and those ideas certainly gave us a good start as a new country and also for the, about to be, Town of Greenfield."

        "See!  I'm on my way right now to the secret little place where you keep all your favorite books.  I'm going to count how many footsteps it takes to get there."

        Mother laughed as she turned back to the kitchen table and plunged her hands into the bread dough.