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Ralph continued reading: “I send this book to you in the assumption that you will see to its proper disposition. “I have no doubt you are aware of the high regard in which we hold your sister-in-law, Charlotte Spencer. We trust that she lies in the bosom of her Lord and Savior whom she so strove to emulate. You’ll be comforted in the knowledge that although her physical sufferings were great, she bore them with great courage and fortitude and died peacefully . “Rest assured that we did all that we could to aid and comfort your sister-in-law in her last days, and she died with the praises of her savior upon her lips. We buried her in hallowed ground, beside the remains of our own beloved daughter, Alice. “Your brother in Christ, “John Martin” “She must not have told the Martins very much about us,” said Ralph as he slowly refolded the letter and closed it inside the faded cover of the ledger. He and Hattie sat down to their noon meal, and it was late evening before Ralph had a chance to open the ledger. Charlotte Spencer’s Journal ralph immersed himself in the book all evening, fascinated by the various vignettes of life for a group of American missionaries isolated in the eastern Turkish mountains. Charlotte had not made entries every day; he ›ipped through several pages, noting that days and sometimes weeks and even months might elapse between entries. Occasionally a page would be illustrated in the margins with a sketch of a bird, a ›ower or tree, and in one case a surprisingly lifelike cartoon of a young woman in Western dress. He read the entry on that page:“Betsy Jacobson and I packed a small luncheon today and went up the southern slopes of the yayla, where the women drive their goats for the summer grazing. We had seen those slopes in the distance so many times as we traveled to the villages, and indeed the surrounding peaks resemble pictures of the Alps of Switzerland . Betsy’s charm and good nature rendered the rather arduous journey a delightful adventure. We lingered for three hours at the highest vantage, her shoulder warm against mine until our elongated shadows 259 warned us that part of our travel home would be in the dark. The light in those eastern mountains is different from any light at home. It seems almost thinner, if light may be described as having a density . . .” Fascinated, he browsed through descriptions of the animals and the countryside, bemused by the affection and admiration that his aunt had for this missionary roommate. Betsy Jacobson, he learned, had returned to the United States in 1883, not long before Aunt Charlotte had left Turkey to rejoin the family to “help take care of Grandpa,” as it had been explained to him at the time. He ›ipped back until he found an entry in 1884. He had been quite young when Aunt Charlotte arrived. Five? Seven? He thought he had just begun school, his mind all engrossed with the joys of Morning Break with the other boys his age, with the glories of science and history books wrapped together with a strap, and learning to play ball on the large ‹eld when the college boys weren’t using it. The arrival of a stern and disapproving aunt hadn’t impressed him as much as it obviously had the adults around him. “The house is Bedlam Cottage today. I do believe the children grow more like a herd of western buffalo every week. Henry spoils them unbearably , and then goes his way and leaves poor Sister the task of training their unruly spirits to the right way. I admit to disappointment in young Lottie; I believe she has no affection for me at all, but obeys me from a sense of duty when her mother forces her to. The boys are simply young ruf‹ans, who go their ways and seem completely unaware of my existence at all. I am so lonely, sometimes, but I only weep in private. Sister is so good to me that it makes up for all the others . . .” His heart smote him brie›y. Auntie hadn’t been easy to live with, but then he supposed he hadn’t either. Sometimes Father would call Roy and him “you little hellions,” though he would say it with a twinkle in his eye. He ›ipped forward a year, to August in...

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