SALVATION WHEAT...

 

I'll continue this time with something my Grama always talked about..the story of  Grama Sarah's Wheat. I heard this enough to be able to just sit on the porch and tell it.

Canute had been gone three years............

Sarah's trees were growing fast, just like the two little ones. It was Spring and most everyone had their crops in the ground already. Everyone but Sarah. She had her vegetable and herb garden planted, but she wanted to plant wheat this year. And she knew if her own little field was to be planted with wheat she would have to do it herself. All the men were just too busy to help.

 

 Besides, she was too independent to ask anyone to do anything she could do herself. So even though it was a little later than the others, she set about to get her land ready for the planting. When she had it all leveled out enough, she took her hoe and the bucket of precious wheat seed and began planting the grain. By making furrows with a hoe, the only implement for planting she possessed, the wheat was planted deeper than if it had been done with a disc. When she had all the seed in the ground, she began irrigating the land.

She carefully put the dam in at the head ditch, then worked the water down the furrows she'd created. She was so proud of herself, walking down the furrows toward the end where she had put little Sanie on a blanket to play with Peter. Suddenly the water stopped coming down. She figured the water had broke through the dam and it just needed to be put back in place. She was so tired from the planting and asked 5 year old little Peter if he would run up to the top of the field and see why the water had quit. He was happy to be able to help and said he would, feeling very important.

Shortly thereafter the water began coming down the furrows again. But Peter didn't come back down. After a little while had passed and still no Peter, Sarah became concerned. She grabbed Sanie and started up to find the boy. Nearing the top of the field she still couldn't see him and started running, falling several times and calling his name. Her fears were mounting with each step. Finally getting to the top of the field where she could see the head ditch and the dam she had put in, there to her consternation, and relief, she saw Peter sitting in the ditch where the dam had been. His sturdy little shoulders and compact body were serving nicely as the dam...

Putting Sanie down, she ran to Peter and pulling him out, hugged him with tears running down her cheeks. Then told him what a good little dam boy he was. Not being able to understand the humor of her remark, Peter thought he was in trouble because she had used the word 'dam'. With a pleading look in his eyes he told her he was only trying to help. He couldn't make a dam for her so the water would run down, so he put himself in the hole to stop the water. So she told him he was her sweet little helper but the water was getting deep and he may have drowned, then what would she have done? She needed her little man to help till Papa came back home. So he promised he'd never get in the water again without asking her first. This made a lasting impression on Peter and he remembered it all his life.

As time passed, the grain in all the other fields came up fresh and green. Sarah looked at her patch and saw not one spear of green yet. She wondered if the seed had been poor, if it was planted too deep, or what. She worried that there would be a severe shortage for her family if it failed to come up. She knew they depended on this crop for the winter.

The next day a great disaster struck the little community. Grasshoppers in countless millions came upon them. Great hoards of the large black scavengers started devouring everything in their path. People came out with flaming sacks and shovels trying to drive them off. They remembered the earlier plague of crickets in Salt Lake City and the miraculous appearance of seagulls. But there were no signs of seagulls here. And although the settlers had done all they could by beating, burning and pounding, the hoard had devoured and devastated all the tender green shoots of the wheat fields.

When they had finally left, everyone stood and looked in horror. Their silence was the evidence of all the emotion they felt. Their crop was gone, all the work was for naught. There was no more seed and the thoughts of their empty flour bins in the coming winter filled them with dread and fear. What could they do but go back to their homes.

The whole settlement was filled with gloom and despair.

A week had passed and Sarah noticed her late planted wheat crop began sprouting and green spears started appearing above the ground. She ran to her friends and told them. They knew if she raised a good crop they would all benefit by it. Sarah always seemed to get a joy out of helping and giving to others. So the little crop was tended with love that summer and when harvest time came around, all the men helped her. It was the only field to be harvested that fall. When it was finally threshed, Sarah had raised sixty bushels of wheat. She divided it up with the settlers and it was their salvation. With careful, frugal managing, it fed the little settlement all winter.

 

They called this the 'Salvation Wheat'. When it was almost gone, Sarah put some in a bottle to keep and show Canute when he returned. She kept this little bottle of wheat all her life, and you'll hear of it again...

Of all the perils and hardship of pioneer life, Sarah's true fear was being alone at night and the dread of Indians. She could and did tackle any and all problems with courage and fearlessness in the daytime. But when night came she was afraid and lonely, and the dread of the Indians stalked her dreams.  Her fears were realized when the cries of some of them cut through the air one peaceful afternoon. All the settlers knew once more the Indians were on the war path. An alarm was sounded and everyone went to the fort for protection. It turned out the trouble was from a hostile band of Indians. But the ones who had received food and help from the settlers helped them run this renegade band from the area, stopping what could have become something serious. But how long peace would last no one knew. So they thought it best, for the present anyway, if the people would remain within the Fort for protection. They would all go to their farms and cabins during the day but back to the sheltering walls at night. Sarah missed her little log home, but felt much safer here with all the rest of the people close at hand and she wasn't alone nights.

In all this time, Canute had many experiences in Christiania Norway. He would go days and often weeks surviving on practically nothing. He walked the streets preaching during the daytime and most times, with no place to go, would sleep on park benches. He earned little money helping at farms sometimes or in little shops. Once when he had little money, he took it and bought a little bread and some cloves in one of the markets. He learned that by chewing on the cloves his hunger was satisfied for a little while, and he would convince himself he wasn't so hungry. But when he couldn't convince his stomach any longer, he would eat a little piece of bread and drink lots of water from a fountain in the town. He was able to make the bread last a couple of weeks by doing this. When he got to the last little piece of bread, he sat in the park to eat it. Doves flew around in hopes he'd share it. He wanted to give them some but he needed it so badly. Yet after a few moments of indifference, he threw them a few crumbs and ate the rest himself.

He hadn't noticed a young girl sitting on a bench, resting with a load of packages from her shopping. When he did, she asked why he didn't give all the bread to the doves, was he that hungry? Taking off his hat, he told her simply that he was so hungry he could have eaten one of the doves raw... She then asked why he was so hungry, didn't he have a home or money? He told her his home was in America. Then he explained to her all about his religion and why he was there. Her name was Maria Rolfson. she told him, and this all seemed very interesting. She invited him to go home and have dinner with her family and he excepted and thanked her.  In his weakened state, he couldn't go as fast as he wanted to. The thoughts of a good meal once more sounded like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Marie became very interested as Canute told of his life, the church and his beliefs. Her folks were very kind and sympathetic to the young missionary, and invited him to stay at their home, which he appreciated greatly. He stayed a couple of days, but not wanting to impose further, thanked them sincerely and left. The good food he had eaten in the Rolfson home helped him, but after a few days, he again felt the pangs of hunger. Not everyone was wanting to listen to him preach and help him out. 

But some of the church leaders in Denmark knew of Canute's trials and sent a convert to go find him and help him out. Carl Fjeld was his name. He'd never met Canute or even seen a picture of him. He had no idea where he would be staying, just that he was in Christiania somewhere. He told his wife he was going to go for a walk to look for Canute. As he was walking a few blocks away from his home, he saw a man carrying a satchel and stopped to ask if he'd seen a young man in the area, then told him his name. The man carrying the satchel informed him he was Canute Peterson!  Carl took Canute home to meet his wife and provided him with all the necessities he was so badly in need of. They became lifelong friends and although Carl and his wife stayed in Norway, they corresponded frequently after Canute was back in America. A while later, he visited the Rolfson home and found that Marie had been going to church and was about to be baptized, hoping to make her way to America with a group of converts soon. There were many Norwegian people planning for this departure...

And I'll try to post more later...

See ya yesterday