Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the 1800s and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. The books are available from Lintern for $25 a set, tax and shipping included. Each book is about 120 pages written for intermediate readers (4th grade) with local illustrations. 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. Volume VI is Cassie Fights the War. Volume VII is Emilene Adopts Her Family. Volume VIII is David Dances the Bases.
“Welcome, Cassie. Hello, Marty. How nice of you to come. And hello to you Miss Natalie. Your grandparents are already inside. They will be glad to see you and little man there.”
Miss Vasbinder was a favorite older adult for Natalie. She always was attentive to her, and her decorations were very nice. Natalie loved to look at all the exotic things she and her brother David had gathered in their house just west of the square in Mansfield.
Although Natalie was here to look after Johnny while her parents and grandparents talked, Natalie was glad to get to be part of what sounded like an exciting project in Mansfield.
She gave her grandparents each a hug and let them hold Johnny a few moments, before she took him to a corner of the room, where Miss Vasbinder had a collection of toys, which to Natalie looked as though they may have been what Jane and David played with as children.
The Vasbinders had a farm south of Mansfield, out on a road called Possum Run, but they had moved into town before Natalie was born. She and Mama had been talking about cleaning up Central Park as long as she could remember, and it looked like it was going to happen. It was wintertime, but the frozen ground did not keep the inside of the House from being warm and filled with ideas that thawed out the bleakness of the Square.
“We’ve been talking about this for some time, I know,” Miss Vasbinder said to the others. “Since I moved here, I think.”
Mama nodded her head.
“Sometimes it takes awhile for people to hear. Like a brook babbling over a dirt wall until it washes away,” Mama said.
“Well, it looks like a break in the dam,” she replied. “I think we will see a big improvement.”
Central Park was also known as the Square, because from the founding of Mansfield it had been the center, and it was square. Houses and businesses were built around the square but not in it, except for two blockhouses that protected people during the War of 1812, and the courthouse, until the newest, biggest one was build east of the square about 10 years ago.
It had mostly been a pasture for farmers to put cows and pigs as they herded them through town. A fence around it had made pasturing easy.
In the summertime, the smell of all the animals was very annoying.
Taking down the old courthouse made people realize how big, important and potentially beautiful the Square could be. It made Jane Vasbinder and Autumn Zimmerman ready to charge into that project.
“Mayor Bigelow has said he will quietly have the fence removed this spring, when improvements are underway,” Miss Vasbinder said. “He thought it would be easier to just do it and let some be upset, than to seek permission, which would would make everyone upset with someone in the process.”
Natalie saw Mama smile.
“Politics,” she said.
“Makes sense to me,” Father smiled.
“Judge Purdy will contact people about donations, for general improvements. We want to plant more trees, to pave pathways in an orderly way, add flowers and clean up all the edges once the fence is removed,” Miss Vasbinder said.
“And David and I want to donate a fountain, in memory of our parents.”
A fountain!
“This is the time for that. Now that we have a water works at the bottom of the hill, and that people in town can all have running water, it will be symbolic of that improvement in Mansfield,” Papa said.
“Exactly,” David said, the first thing Natalie had heard him say.
I want to do something! I wonder how I can help.
“That would be the best thing for our city, to have a special place like that in the middle of downtown,” Papa said.
Natalie heard many ideas floated, and had ideas of her own with everything said.
How about picnic tables, a pond, swings and a slide, a stage or bandstand. Wonder if I should bring them up.
She looked at Johnny playing with a wagon.
How about a little train that takes people around the park? Or maybe a statue of our founders, whoever they were.
And plenty of trees to climb!
The meeting ended with everyone obviously excited, and Natalie perhaps most of all.
“Who is going to be part of this? All this improving?” Natalie asked her Mother.
“Papa has a long list of people that have agreed to help in some way, with money or items or work. I think we will see a lot of people as happy as we are to see things get better. I am looking forward to it, and I know Miss Vasbinder is. She has been talking about it since I have known her.”
“But why…”
“Has it not happened yet? Timing,” Mother said. “Sometimes we just have to be patient for the right time, but then to be ready to jump in and get going when that time comes.”
Well, I’m ready.
