Levi and Clara--Part 5

Tonight I had supper with the Millers at Carolyn's Essenhaus.  Gathering there for this event is a once-a-month tradition for Levi and Clara's children and their spouses.  Anyone in the extended family is welcome, and often someone accompanies an aging parent to the gathering.  I had been told the meal was at 5:00.  I got there only five minutes late, and everyone had already ordered, so I'm wondering if I was slightly misinformed.  Present were Edwin and Leanna, Willis and Susie, Lizzie, Perry and Judy, Orpha, David and Mary, Mahlon and Fannie, Paul and Martha, Fred, Ollie and Emma.  They're a fun bunch to be with.  Paul paid for my meal--a real surprise and treat.

A "Dinky" dessert was obviously the favorite dessert of the evening.  I guess that's what they call a little dish of ice cream.  I didn't see it on the menu.

We cleared out just ahead of the Menno Nisly family, who later used the same room we ate in.

My sister Linda had sent some of my aunts and uncles a copy of the last installment of the series on Levi and Clara and conveyed my invitation for more input.  Paul handed me something this week which he had written, and tonight I heard more.  A few tidbits that go into other sections also surfaced.  Under the appropriate heading, I'll cobble them into this one post.  I might have more later if more comes in.

One more note--The perfectionist in me would prefer not to share any of this until it's done right.  My realistic self knows that getting it down--and out--in some form is preferable to not getting it done at all.  I rely on people's forbearance here.

Spiritual Legacy

Thanks to Uncle Paul for the words to the prayers below--

The bedtime prayer the children learned first is this  (I had one word wrong in the second line I thought I remembered.) :

Ich bin klein  (I am small)
Mein Herz mach rein (Make my heart pure)
Dasz niemand drin wohne (That no one lives there)
Alls Jesus allein (But Jesus only)

The older children prayed:

Mude bin ich, geh zur ruh (Tired am I, go to rest)
Schliesze meine Augen zu (Close my eyes)
Vater, Lassz die Augen dein (Father, let your eyes)
Uber meinem Bette sein. (Be over my bed.)

(I needed several umlauts in there, but didn't go looking for how to put them there.)

More from Paul, on Levi and Clara's interactions with their children:  (very slightly edited)

I noted that Mom (Clara) was more open to discussing the content of a sermon we heard than Dad (Levi) was.  She seemed to have retained more.  It may also reflect Dad's full-fledged support of God-ordained leaders.  To discuss it may have been too close to questioning God's men.  I'm thinking freely evaluating our ministers would more likely have shaken our confidence in their integrity.

Dad dealt thoughtfully with us when he needed to use corporal discipline.  Once when we had stooped to mocking the bass voice of Harlan Cooper (who lived where LaVerne and Rebecca now live) when he had stopped in to use our telephone, Mom was embarrassed and reported it to Dad, who was not home at the time.  The next morning we reported to the barn and he used (not excessively) a hame strap from a harness and said, weeping, this hurt him more than it hurt us.  I'm glad Dad didn't brush mockery aside.

I have the impression that he may have mellowed in his later years with his younger children, from the methods he had used with his earlier children.

Parental praise was not effusive, but once when I hitched up the team and brought the buggy (unbidden), Dad said, "Paul you have done well."

Once when we needed to have welding done at Red Grant's shop in Partridge, Dad and I were on our way when we discovered I had failed to put the broken part on the buggy.  We returned and Dad didn't scold, but because it was late, expressed regret that I would need to stay and start on evening chores.

*****************

Others moderated the impression I got from someone else that Levi had difficulty with public speaking.  Some at the gathering tonight remembered that he did well when he was assigned a topic at church.  He handled the English language exceptionally well, compared to others with a similar background.  Perry remembered someone saying it would take a Philadelphia lawyer to find fault with Levi's English.  (Perry had doubts about his memory when no one else remembered it tonight.  I believe him.) Levi's own mother (Mary [Yutzy] Miller) had a reputation also for having an outstanding command of English.

Perry remembers that when his father was in the lot at the time of an ordination, he wished he'd "get it" because he thought he would make a good preacher.

Putting together what I've heard, I suspect Levi didn't like having public speaking surprises sprung on him, but felt OK about contributing when he had adequate preparation time.

*****************

For the first year of their marriage, Levi and Clara lived next to Daniel E. Mast (Clara's grandfather, and the much-loved and highly respected spiritual patriarch of the community--Dawdy Mosht).  Levi spoke afterward of the close contact with this Godly man  as having been a great help to him spiritually.  Arlen and Gloria Mast live now on the Mast farm.

****************

Family meals were always preceded and followed by prayer.  Lizzie remembers when they also started reading Scripture after breakfast in the morning.  Each person who could read would read aloud a German Bible verse, presumably taking turns reading in the same passage.  Edwin and Perry had opposite feelings about singing.  Lizzie having mentioned it makes me wonder if the family's practice didn't vary somewhat with regard to singing.  The family sang sometimes from the Church and Sunday School Hymnal after supper in the evenings.

Physical Appearance

Levi and Clara were both about 5'6" tall.  Levi wore a size 6 1/2 shoe--unusually small.  In commenting on that, someone said, teasing, "It takes a good foundation for a man . . ."

Levi answered, "That's not all it takes."

Levi's sons could wear his hat and shoes long before they were grown.  (My dad wears size 13 shoes!)  When his sons began to need larger shoes than his, Levi referred obliquely to them as having a "big understanding."

Challenges

Levi and Clara never kept their children out of school to help work on the farm.  Although neither of them had gone beyond seventh grade in school, they valued education enough to not deprive their children of any of their grade school time.

*******************

Clara's cancer surgery took place eight or ten days before Ollie and Emma's wedding.  They had hoped to have the wedding in the basement at Center, although the rest of the building was not yet complete.  Because Clara could not comfortably use the stairs, they changed plans and had everything at Elreka.

I asked Emma tonight about her mother's surgery, and she said that at the time of surgery, the cancer was discovered to be quite advanced, and no efforts were made to remove anything surgically.

Personality and Character

People with whom Levi did business respected him very highly.

*******************

When Levi was alone with one of his boys, such as on one of the rare occasions when they rode to town together, Levi would talk to his boys "man to man."  He did not talk down to his children.

******************

Clara valued good stories and would often tell them to her children.  Somehow, even during the Great Depression, Levi and Clara found the money to subscribe to a number of publications.  Tonight their children remembered the following publications coming to their home during their childhood:

For the children, from the Mennonite Publishing House at Scottdale, PA:

Beams of Light
Words of Cheer

For the young people:

Youth's Christian Companion
Christmas Carol Kauffman wrote many of the cherished serials in this publication.

For Adults, from a variety of publishers:

Gospel Herald (another Scottdale publication)
Capper's Weekly (A Topeka, Kansas publication that arrived on Fridays.)
Kansas City Star (This arrived on Wednesdays.)
Drover's Telegram (Forerunner to the High Plains Journal)

Perhaps intentionally, the family did not subscribe to a daily paper.

Aunt Mattie (Mast?--Clara's aunt?) was well-known for giving an Egermeier's Bible Story Book to her relatives' families.  Willis remembered reading their Bible story book through three times.  He found it again recently and finally threw it away.  Aunt Mattie  also often gave away Moody-Colportage books--paperbacks, I believe.  Uncle Tom's Cabin was another book in Levi and Clara's home.

I find this a pretty impressive lineup of reading material.