Teaching Patience (Homespun) Read Online Free PDF

them was apparent even to a stranger.  He’d always had in the back of his head that a woman couldn’t love another woman’s children the way she would her own, which was another reason he hadn’t been willing to remarry.  Hearing about Millie made him think about that assumption.
    “Oh we were.  Mama had four children of her own, but she never treated those of us who were there before she came along any differently.  I’m as much her daughter as Faith is.”  Patience dabbed at her eye as she spoke, the love for her mama obvious in her voice.
    “Not many women are willing to take on another woman’s children and treat them as their own.  I’ve talked to her once or twice, but I don’t know her well.  I can see it in her, though.”
    Patience smiled.  “Everyone can see how special my mama is.  I wake up every day hoping I’ll be half as good as she is.”  She stood taking his empty bowl from him.  “Do you want more?”
    He shook his head.  “We don’t know how long the storm will last.  We need to make sure there’s enough to keep us going for at least a week.”  He was still hungry, though, and the soup had been good if a little bland.  He wouldn’t eat his fill, because they did need to make sure they had enough to last.
    She nodded, calling two of the older girls over leaving the others with the smaller children.  “We’re going to need to wash the bowls so we can eat again in the morning.”  She looked in the pot.  There was enough soup left for another meal.  “Will you girls wash the dishes for me, please?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” 
    She called Daniel and Amos over.  They were the two oldest boys in the school.  Most boys quit going to school by fifteen so they could start farming.  She handed them three lunch pails.  “Go and fill these with snow and put them on the stove to melt.  We’re going to need to wash the dishes.  Don’t walk more than two feet from the schoolhouse.  I don’t want you getting lost in the storm.”
    Hugh got to his feet.  “I’ll go out with them and make sure they’re okay.”  He took one of the pails himself and the three went to bundle up and get the snow they needed for the dishes. 
    Patience pushed the soup to the corner of the stove where it would stay warm, but wouldn’t cook any more.  It would need to be breakfast in the morning.  She thought longingly of pancakes, but knew she’d not be hungry, and that’s what truly mattered.
    She went to her pantry and pulled out the blankets she’d brought.  There weren’t enough for everyone, but there were enough for each pair of children to share one.  She and her mother had made the quilts together when she’d decided to teach school.  Her mother understood her fear of being at the schoolhouse in a storm with no provisions and had simply gotten to work helping her. 
    Patience did her best to group siblings together with the blankets.  The big boys and Mr. Walker pushed the school desks to the sides of the room, and they all camped down in the middle of the big room.  They had to sleep on the hard floor, but they were all thankful to have a place to sleep.
    Patience took a spot near the stove so she could feed it throughout the night.  As the children drifted off to sleep, she lay awake listening to the wind howl almost as if it were jeering at them, laughing as they were stuck away from home.  She smiled to herself.  The storm wouldn’t get the best of them.  She was ready and determined to make it feel like an adventure.

Chapter Four
     
    There was a lot of fidgeting throughout the long night.  She and Mr. Walker, by unspoken agreement, took turns feeding wood to the fire.  They kept two of the lanterns burning in case anyone needed to get up to use the outhouse.  Patience got very little sleep as she tried to keep track of each of her students at all times.
    Finally, just before dawn, she got up and stirred the soup, moving it to the center of the stove.  It