Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume VI, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the 1860s and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the sixth in a series. Volume I is Amelia Changes Her Tune. Volume II is Isaac and Wolf Paw Find Their Home. Volume III is Autumn Keeps Her Secret. Volume IV is Mr. Gamble Starts a School. Volume V is Jacob Blows his Horn.
March 13, 1863
Dear Assistant;
I hope the grocery business is safe in your hands and that you have looked after my brother Timothy enough to be sure he doesn’t make the store go bust while I am away.
I long for the familiar hills of Mansfield, its beautiful square and the friendly faces of neighbors for whom I have much affection in my absence.
We are still camped here in northern Virginia, waiting for our next assignment. It is boring to be encamped for the winter, but that will soon change.
We want to be able to take it to Johnny Reb and get this war over with so I can go back to important things, such as coffee grounds and saltine crackers.
Mother has been sending that new cereal that someone in Holmes County invented. They call it Shredded Wheat. The boys here can’t get enough of it, especially if a friendly cow nearby has milk to offer.
Anyway, little Cassie, thank you again for helping at the store. My mother sends many compliments of you my way.
We will soon be on the move. I hope our letters will find each other. Greet your parents for me, and Jacob. I pray for the safety of your brothers Nate, Philip and Levi.
Sincerely yours, John
I can’t believe a Captain writes to me, and he’s still just John.
That letter occupied a special place in her top dresser drawer. Cassie had always liked John Costin, from her first memories of going with Mama to the grocery store, when John was helping his father stock shelves and collect food for orders.
He was always friendly — taking extra time to make her and Jacob smile. He would sing a silly song, make funny faces and sounds and, when his father wasn’t looking, slip some licorice to them.
By the time the war started, John and his brother Timothy were running the store, after their father died suddenly. The twins took piano lessons from Mrs. Cole upstairs and so every Wednesday they stopped to pick up Mama’s order on their way home from the lesson.
John did not join the Sherman Brigade, as Papa and her brothers had. He waited until the next year, when the Union Army needed more volunteers and his grocery store was stable enough for him to go. That is how he explained it to her, anyway.
Now he was somewhere to the east, camping or whatever soldiers do for the winter. Cassie was helping Tim Costin three days a week after school and on Saturdays if he needed it and Mama did not have something for her to do. She would measure things, sort things, clean things, collect things, deliver things and generally enjoy being in the same space in which John had been.
She loved just remembering him with what she did. She wasn’t in love with him — he was twice her age for goodness’ sake — not a crush or a puppy dog love, like her brothers teased her of with people like Sheldon. She just loved him; he was the nicest man she knew outside of her family.
Mrs. Costin was nice, too, taking a special liking to Cassie, perhaps because she knew that Cassie’s brothers and father were gone, too. They would often talk while they sorted things together.
“Johnny seems to have more responsibility every time he writes to me. Now he is a captain. So many men to look after. I hope he is getting his rest,” she said one day in May.
“I don’t know if soldiers ever sleep, even then they are camping,” Cassie said.
“Always drilling, digging, marching, cleaning, I know,” she said, then laughed. “The grocery store will be spotless once he returns.”
“At least he will have learned some useful skill in the army,” Timothy said, not even looking up from his ledger, which occupied much of his time.
“John always was the idea boy, and Tim made the ideas happen,” Mrs. Costin said.
“You mean, fixed his messes,” Tim quipped, and Cassie looked at him to see if he were serious.
“You are a good team, you two,” Mrs. Costin replied. “I don’t think either of you on your own could have made this grocery store work after your father passed, but together, you have what it takes.”
“And now we are not together,” Tim said.
“It’s that way for many people,” she replied. “Just be thankful that God has protected him, and us, so well, so far.”
“Will you be needing me for anything else today?” Cassie asked.
“No dear, we are all caught up. Thank you. And grab some licorice on your way out.”
I was hoping she’d say that!
Cassie headed out onto Main Street and immediately turned right onto Third. Normally, she would stop to examine new items in the stores nearby, maybe walk up Main Street to the square to see what Mr. Sturges had in his store.
But this day, she wanted to get home and see if Mama had any more news about Nate coming home, and to see if Papa was back from a trip he had taken to Wooster and Canton. And to see if Sheldon were there by any chance, since he and Jacob were going to join a few boys at Touby’s Run.
That thought alone made the walk seem much longer than the five blocks it was.
