Diamonds in the Field
A good father, Walter Johnson, lay dying
of cancer in a Salt Lake City Hospital, the early months of 1915. His family of eight children and the young
wife, Hettie, lived in Lynndyl, Utah, where they had moved from Leamington, to
be on the new farm.
The youngest child, a baby of about a year
old, was also dying of a birth defect, an open spine, and required constant
care.
The mother was torn between the needs of
her family and the desire to be at the bedside of her husband.
They both knew well, there was not much
time, maybe a few weeks, filled with pain and anxiety. Walter knew the mother’s troubles. He had been the breadwinner and could no
longer keep his job, working on the railroad crew, and fill his place as the
provider for the family. The doctor and
hospital bills were piling up, and the family’s needs continued.
One day Hettie got on the train and went to
be with Walter. He was in great
pain. Hettie could see that he was under
medication but grateful to reach out his hand to the woman that he loved. She sat beside him with tears dripping to her
jacket. He said to her, “There are
diamonds buried on that farm. You find
them and they will provide plenty of money.”
The mother knew that in his drugged mind,
and pain filled body, he had found a way for the family to get along, and all
the needs to be met.
The baby died and was buried on a
Leamington hillside. Two days later the
father died. His body was brought home
and he was buried beside the baby.
The Family lived in a small home of three
rooms, for the seven growing children.
The home had been moved to the new farm, north of the railroad tracks
near Lynndyl. The oldest, Mina, a girl
of about 15, Lester, Effie, Mary, Bert, Max, and Alice, the youngest, about two
and one half years old looked to their mother for comfort and support.
The mother gathered her children around
her, “Your father said there are diamonds buried on this farm. If there are, we will have dig them out with
plowing and planting, irrigating and harvesting.”
Hettie knew how the work on the farm would
have to be done. She would have to do it
with the help of the young children.
She worked in the fields. She helped the young boys reach to fasten the
collars and the harnesses on the horses.
She helped the young boy hook the horses to the plow, the mower and the
rake. She carried the lantern and helped
the children irrigate in the fields at night.
She bargained with other farmers, to sell the harvests of the
fields.
She hitched the horses to the wagon and
took her children to see her mother and their grandmother, in Oak City. It was a time of recreation, of support of
her brothers and sisters. One day her
mother said, “how can you do all that you have to do and take care of baby
Alice? Let me keep her for a while. I will love her and take good care of
her.” So, little Alice was left with the
good grandmother and Aunt Ida in their good home in Oak City.
The girls were taught to keep the home, to
cook the simple meats, to plant a garden, to sew the family clothes, on the
foot pedal sewing machine. They went out
to work in other homes when there was an opportunity. Hettie went to help in homes where good
nursing was needed, or where a new baby was born, wherever there wan an
opportunity to help someone and to make money to help her family. They learned the value of all working
together, for the common good. They
learned the important values of living.
At the end of the day, they knelt together and thanked the Father for
all blessings.
Walter’s brother, Peter, came to help the
family. He and Hettie soon were
married. He was a great help to the
family. He worked on the railroad and
gave his check for the family needs and was a good father to the children.
The family of seven children grew to nine
when two girls, Helen and Muriel, were born.
The grandmother got old and the little
girl was able to come home to live with her brothers and sisters.
The children grew up, all good faithful
people, taking their place in the world and meeting the vicissitudes of life
with courage, knowing how to work and make a place for themselves. They all reared good families and passed the
values of their good heritage on to them.
Alice said, “I was not able to live with
my mother when I was young, now that my mother is old, I will live near her and
take care for her,” and she did.
All the children came and said, “When you
were young, you cared for us, now that you are old, we will care for you and
Uncle Peter.”
The father was right, there were truly, “diamonds
in the field” in the courage of the good mother and Uncle Peter, and the lives
of nine resolute children.
