Lyddie finds out that Agnes died in Chapter 12.
When the book starts, Agnes is four years old and Lyddie thinks of her as a baby. Their mother decides that she can’t stay at the farm any longer after the bear incident, and takes Rachel and Agnes with her to Lyddie’s uncle’s house. Lyddie stays behind with Charlie until they finally let out the land and hire out Lyddie and Charles.
When Lyddie is alone at the factory without the rest of her family, she is still longing for them all to be together again. Unfortunately, she gets a letter from her mother telling her about her youngest sister.
if you can send muny it will be help to Judah and Clarissa. They fel a grate burdun. Babby Agnes is gone to God. Rachel is porely. Miny hav died, but Gods will be dun. (Ch. 12)
Despite her mother’s difficulty with spelling and capitalization, it is clear that Lyddie’s littlest sister has died. She was just too young and weak. Rachel is not in good shape either, according to the letter.
Lyddie barely remembers her sister Agnes.
She tried to remember Agnes's little face. She strained, squenching her eyes tight to get a picture of her sister, now gone forever. She was a baby. She couldn't have been more than four the winter of the bear, but that was now nearly two years past. (Ch. 12)
Lyddie feels bad for not sending money to her mother and sisters. She hardly makes enough to cover her room and board, but she sends a dollar and tells her mother that she will send more. Lyddie feels the burden of the family's debts and well-being.
It is not long after Agnes dies that Lyddie’s uncle shows up with Rachel, telling Lyddie that he is putting her mother away in an insane asylum and selling the farm. Lyddie does not know what to do. She has no place to keep a child, because Rachel is too young and weak to work in the factory and children are not allowed in her boarding house. When Charlie comes to take Rachel to his new family, Lyddie feels like she has lost her family forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment