Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 15 Ah! Sure thing. Have one good time. Dance, drink, play cards, eat, sing! Ah 'Dobera' time, Roset-VVhat? You no like that?'7 Rosetta made no reply. She sat niutely and waited for her tatherls sentiment to spend itself. The thought of these crude weddings with shouts, loud sounds and bright colors made her sick at heart. No, she could never as- sent. Still, it was useless to dissuade. For this was the way all the foreigners celebrated the Hconjugal tic. The bigger the demonstration the greater the event and the louder the social. benedietion. Not only was it socially urgent. but traditionally Bimperative and even brooked somewhat of a reli- gious duty. The appointed time came. Prepara- tions were made. UEat and Drink in abundanee-enough to last all possi- ble guests from Saturday noon until Monday morning. Everybody had an open invitation. And everything was at high pitch all the time. .lt was now Sunday evening and the mad revel continued. Rosetta had gone to the home of her soon-to-be step-mother, for the religions part of the ceremony, merely out of respect. She had returned home and now sat at an upstairs win- dow. Not a sound was heard. Most everyone had gone over to the Wedding, for the last demonstrations. The sun had set and night was fast filling the vaulted East .The black beetles flew in at thc window and buzzed and bumped against the wall. The noise and loud shoutings were slowly dying down. The long row of houses was silhouetted in the foreground. Farther on were the double rows of coke ovens A thousand tongues of flame leaped up. The ever-forming cloud of smoke as- cended and melted away in the dis- tance. A rosy glow was retiected against the heavens. And there sat Rosetta at the window, meditating on a thousand thoughts. Once she fancied an angle flew across the sky. Then she thought of Mrs. Carson. A maze fell before her eyes. She was asleep. Wlieli she awakened the sounds of the revellers were only muffled murmurs. The weeding was over. The wife of Rosetta 's father came as the charge of the house. We dare not call her mother. For if drunkenness brutalizes a father, it untits a mother. Both hus- band and wife stepped themselve in the degrading life, so rife in mining towns. Rosetta was forced to do all the work. And yet her industry was little appreciated. She was reprimand- ed for everything she did. If she sang, she was noisy. lf she took a moment's leisure she was lazy. 'When she tidied herself. she was proud and extrava- grant. Her religion was heresy. Her meagre education an empty delusion. The weeks lengthened into months. Like a pent-up bird that frets and wor- ries awayg so Rosetta dwarfed in body and soul. Little wonder that Tony llarnello should awaken one morning to hear no response when he called for Rosetta.-She had left. From city to city she Went only stopping long enough at each place to earn passage to the next. At last she came to the land of golden sunshine. The flowers bloomed and the birds sang, perpetually for her. All nature SBGIII- ed atuned to her soul. Here she could live and be happy. With an honest heart and a willing hand she easily secured a place in the household of a well-to-do fruit packer. The paeker-Mr. Seaton with his Wife

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14 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. Oh mother! Mrs. Carson! I don't want to go. I want to stay here. This seems more like home. And with this Rosetta Barnello, sob- bing and leaning against Mrs. Carson 's shoulder, buried her face in her hands. She was an Italian girl, now in the blushing bloom of young womanhood. In Rosetta's ninth year, her mother had died, and she with an elder sister was left to keep house for an unkind and unappreciating father. Then Rosetta was sent to the country, to the Carson home, to earn at least her board and clothes. Here she had for ten years received the motherly care and interest of Mrs. Carson. She had finished the eighth grade and then high school. She had learned to worship God, as a lov- ing, caring, forgiving father. She had breathed the freedom, purity and fresh- ness of rural peace. She had caught a gleam of hope, an impulse of real liv- ing. Little Wonder then that the tears burst forth and her joys turned to sorrow. To go home meant to smother all these hopes and joys. Night came and went. On the mor- row, Mr. Carson with his foster daugh- ter drove to the mining town ,six miles distant. Not a person met Ro- setta when she arrived home. Home? Dare we call it home-those four small rooms with dirty, finger- stained windows and walls, those un- kept, bare floors. Home? When the entire house furnishings could be haul- ed in a wagon load Rosetta did not need directions in such surroundings. She unpacked her clothes and opened the door of the closet to hang them up. Ah! Alas! What a surprise. There was no sign of clothes here. And here was Where Rosetta's sister kept her garments. But no time to solve puzzles. There was much work to be done. lfluried in thought too deep for words and not stopping for dinner, Rosetta had by evening turned disorder into order. Scarcely had she finished and prepared a hasty supper, when her father came home. He was covered with dust, in- cidental to coal mining. t'Hello Father. I come home. lach-sa-mus! Rosetta! When come you home? Mr. Carson brought me this morn- ing.-Father! Wll61'8 is sister? Wll6l'8 is Maryi' ' t'lllary?. I do11 it know. l go to work one morning-two days agov-and she is here when I go. Wlieii I come home at night she is no here. Then I think she be gone. I can no cook pretty good. So next day I come for you. Well, supper is ready father. Clean up and eat, while it is warm. Yes, l come right away, replied Tony Barnello-the father, rather obl igin gl y, The man and his daughter sat down opposite each other. The one devoured the food hurriedly, while tl1e other ate little and sat absorbed in thought. L'Well Rosett! Don't you want no supper? Querried the father rather bluntly. UNO. l don't care for any, was the subdued reply. AIN My good Rosett, she die if she no eat something. The Rosetta lone- some? Yes? Now the good Roset, Ah! Hal Ha! l know. l get you mother. No understand? Me get woman, A111 Ha! Me will get married next Satgur- day. Me get one nice fran, Maybe she be good to you. She be good mother. She cook-a the macaroni pretty good,

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16 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. and son, Ralph, just home from college, were the members of the family. They were well-to-do but not pretending or showy but rather modest and sensible. 'Twas such an atmosphere as this that Rosetta had enjoyed at the Car- son home, several years ago. Her work seemed easy. And yet she always did it perfectly. Honest toil begets joy. It was this joy in Rosetta, that over- flowed into song. Mrs. Seaton was so motherly and good. And both father and son were kind and considerate. At meal time, Rosetta had her place at the table with the rest. On Sunday, she was taken to ehureh and shared part of the fam- ily 's pew. The work done, after supper, how Rosetta and Ralph would play the piano and sing together, or go strolling down among the palms, pepper and citrus trees. And how she was swept awey in admiration by the profusion ot' roses. How lovely it all seemed as they would go autoing on the smooth oiled roads. As time flew on, the two found each other more and more agreeable. Each felt a vague longing when alone. Neith- er knew or at least little realized they were treading on lated soil. The warn- ing songs of the mocking bird were passed unheeded. The suspicious ol' the Father and mother were not unfounded. One evening the son and servant girl sat on the portico, overlooking the orange groves fenced in with rose bushes, the long rows of Eucalyptus trees and the white sand road threading out across the valley, winding and ascending and finally loosing itself on the slope of the snow-capped mountain, far in the distance. A long pause had elapsed. Then Ralph hesitatingly spoke: Ro- setta, do you know it is almost a year since you came to our house? Almost a year! And yet it seems but a month. It seems but yesterday when you play- ed and sang for me the tirst time. The song you have sung l'or me so ol'ten since. The one you sing so ol'ten when at work, about nature, the birds and Howers, the silver clouds and tlod in His heavens. Uh! it. has rung in my ears ever since the lirst. time l heard it. And Rosetta. when the song is not in my ears, before my eyes in fancy, I see your lovely fare and whining smile. Then Rosetta, I admired you For the songs you sang, the smile you wore and for your simple beauty. .lint now my admiration is deeper than that. Ro- setta no longer do I admire you only for your song and your lovely lace. But I love you because of your beauti- ful soul. because of your kind words. your loving deeds and purity olf heart. I love you with all my soul. I love you with all my heart. A heart that would spend its last drop to assure you of joy, ot' eomfort and happiness. Ro- setia eau we not vouch our lives to each other till death. Deathl .Death and all its stings shall not separate us. You ean't say -f-. tlhl Why Ralph! Ral-I 'V--setta--Rosetta I You ean't say no. You 1-an't reject me. We eau live so happy together. Hut Ralph. l'm only a servant girl. What would your father say? What would the people say V7 lf'ather? lllother? People? The wroltl world? Tlmt makes no differ- ent-e to me. You won 't. need to be a servant girl then. Uliut Ralph, that's not all. I never