Blue Shadows Farm: A Novel

39. Picnic—July 4, 1895

July 4, 1895 The years sped by. The Depression of 1893 had its grip on the country, especially in the cities, where many people were out of work. Thousands of urbanites were hungry and near destitute by 1895. As farmers, Sophia, Silas, and Abe always had enough to eat, but they, too, felt the sting of low prices and knew about the terrible problems in the cities. Even in good years, farming the sandy soil of central Wisconsin was unpredictable. Crop yields depended on the weather. Periodic rains determined whether farmers grew adequate crops or not. In 1895, ample spring rains resulted in a hay crop that had grown tall and rank, one of the best in years. At the breakfast table, Silas announced, “It’s the Fourth of July. Let’s stop haying and spend the day at the lake.” Both Abe, who was now nineteen, and Sophia had been waiting for this, because Silas said the same thing each year. And he always added, “We must celebrate the birth of our country.” Sophia spent the morning preparing a picnic lunch of cold-beef sandwiches, strawberry pie, German potato salad, and lemonade. On the way to Link Lake Park, Silas stopped at the newspaper office and bought a newspaper. (The office had a sign: “Closed at noon for 230 39 Picnic 231 Picnic—July 4, 1895 the holiday.”) Once at the lake, Abe went swimming, Sophia laid out the picnic lunch, and Silas read the newspaper. A lead article reported that the depression had caused hundreds of the country’s banks to close and thousands of workers to lose their jobs. He thought how fortunate he and his family were to be farming , especially now that he owned the farm after long ago meeting the homestead-law requirement. He had no mortgage payments on his land; he did have taxes to pay, but by selling a few pigs, he could usually meet this obligation without difficulty. Even though the World’s Fair in Chicago had opened back in 1893, the paper continued to carry extended articles about its great success. Silas read about George Ferris’s big wheel that stood 264 feet high and had thirty-six cars, each with a capacity of sixty people. He couldn’t imagine such a creation turning around and lifting its load of fairgoers high into the air for a view of Chicago and Lake Michigan . He read about the electrical exhibits and the inventions of Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse and how the buildings at the fair were illuminated with electric light. He couldn’t fathom what it must be like to have electrical lighting. He remembered how great it was when he and Sophia bought their first kerosene lamp and put aside their smoky candles with their dim light. And now this. No kerosene. No matches. No open flame. Silas smiled when he read about Buffalo Bill Cody’s stunning success at the fair or, better said, just outside the fairgrounds, because the fair officials had not allowed his famous Wild West Show inside the six-hundred-acre lot. The officials had claimed it was too “western” to fit the theme of the fair. I guess old Buffalo Bill showed those city slickers, Silas thought as he continued reading. “Lunch is ready,” Sophia announced. “Yell for Abe to come out of the water.” Abe, who had become quite an accomplished swimmer , had been swimming back and forth from the shallow water to the diving raft anchored in about fifteen feet of water. The Starkweathers gathered around the picnic table that overlooked the lake, with Abe still in his wet bathing suit. It was a hot, humid day, the kind of weather rather common to central Wisconsin in July. Families from throughout the area gathered at the park on Sunday afternoons and summer holidays. Because of the warm sunny day, the park and the bathing beach were even more crowded than usual. About halfway through the meal, everyone heard a loud scream and then a series of screams coming from the direction of the beach. A young girl came running toward the Starkweather table. They immediately recognized her as the neighbor girl Faith Hanson. “It’s Bertha! Bertha Walters! She’s drowning! She’s drowning!” Faith screamed. “Where?” Abe asked as he jumped up from the table. “Out there, just beyond the raft.” Faith pointed...