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The sky was a dirty gray. Clouds hung so low it
seemed you could reach up and touch them. It was spitting a few flakes
of snow with a slight wind. The temperature was in the 20's. The
winter of 1940 was cold in the mountains. It was a bone chilling, face
freezing, penetrating kind of cold.
Lilly was going about her morning chores in the
warmth of her home, when she heard a knock on the door. Opening it,
there stood Mr. Gibson, her neighbor. "Come in out of the cold." She
opened the door wide for him. "Is everything ok? How is your wife?"
she asked. Mrs. Gibson had cancer and was confined to her bed most of
the time.
"She is about the same. I have come to ask a
favor. We are almost out of wood for the stove and wondered if you had
some to spare until we get our welfare check?"
Lilly didn't know how to reply. Her wood supply
was pretty low. Her husband was gone for the week. He had a job sixty
miles away in the town where Lilly’s sister lived. He usually stayed
with his sister-in- law and her husband to avoid the extra expense of
buying gas. Sometimes the road was impassable due to weather.
This morning Lilly had wondered if she would have
enough wood to last until her husband came home with a load from her
sister’s farm. Now with the severe cold, she was concerned it would
not last. She couldn't suggest the Gibsons move in with her
temporarily. Mrs. Gibson needed to be in her own place. She told Mr.
Gibson she would see what she could do and be back in touch.
What could she do? Lilly's sister lived two
blocks away. She would go and talk to her. Maybe she had some wood or
coal to spare. Two heads were better than one.
Lilly bundled up as warmly as she could and made
the trek to her sister’s house. Sitting in the kitchen with a hot cup
of coffee, the sisters talked about what to do for the Gibsons. June
told Lilly she had very little extra wood to burn as the weather had
turned so cold, the stove seemed to eat it like tissue paper. They
didn’t have enough money to buy wood for the Gibsons.
Lilly had an idea. The railroad tracks were not
too far away. Train cars loaded with coal sometime spilled coal onto
the tracks. Maybe they could take a sack and borrow a wagon from one
of Junes' sons and pick up some coal. It was a plan.
They put on all the clothes and scarves they
could find, got the wagon and a tow sack before going out in the
bitter cold. The ladies would walk, stop to pick up a few pieces of
coal, put it in the sack, and walk for what seemed a mile before
finding a few more pieces. The icy wind brought tears to their eyes,
and the tears froze on their faces.
When they reached the unloading depot, a man was
on top of a boxcar of coal. He would shovel the coal down a chute to a
waiting truck. The man greeted the ladies and remarked what a cold day
it was. He asked why they were out in this weather. They answered they
were picking up coal to burn.
The man lifted his large coal-filled shovel and
then turned the shovel sideways pouring the coal on the ground. Twice
more he spilled his shovel of coal on the ground, commenting he was
clumsy today, couldn't hit the chute and what went on the ground was
left there. Somehow, he knew those ladies would not take any coal
unless they thought it was going to waste. Next he climbed down the
ladder and muttered he needed a cup of coffee and would be back soon.
The women had just finished filling the sack
when he returned with two cups of hot coffee for them. They took the
coffee and thanked him profusely. Lilly asked his first name,
explaining she wanted to mention him in her prayers tonight.
The man smiled. "Do you think the Lord will
bless me for spilling my employer’s coal on the ground?"
June spoke up. "He will bless you for your act of
kindness. He will bless you for keeping two elderly people warm during
this cold spell. Not only will this coal warm their bodies, but it
will also warm their hearts. Yes, you will be blessed."
Thanking him again, they left. Somehow the trip
home didn't seem as far. They took turns pulling the wagon, now heavy
with coal, but their hearts were much lighter. Upon reaching the
Gibson home, the four people held hands while they thanked God for the
total stranger whose act of kindness had helped them accomplish their
mission. The Gibsons had enough coal to last them until the weather
broke and their check arrived.
©Clara Wersterfer
January 2007 |
