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Possum Hollow. Books One, Two, and Three. Levi B. Weber. (Herald Press, 2001, 2002, 144 pp., 167 pp., 173 pp. $7.99, $8.99)
Levi Weber, a retired contractor and real estate developer, has served on many church boards, MEDA, and produced a local radio broadcast. He is an avid storyteller and was encouraged to write these stories. POSSUM HOLLOW is the story of his early life on several farms where his family lived during his growing-up years, his age of innocence as he recounts his childhood recollections.
In Book One he tells of his family beginnings in Farmersville, Pa., at "Oakalone" where the farm did not do so well. Levi's four older siblings remember this place. Their widowed Grandpa Weber, who made wooden farm tools and baskets, lived with them here. Papa Weber (Henry S.) looked for better times in Virginia and moved his family by train to a farm between Richmond and Petersburg. Bad luck ensued when the house burned down. The neighbors rallied round, contributing lumber and labor to help the family rebuild. Shortly thereafter Levi was born. Sister Helen had polio here, too, and became lame.
Again Papa Henry looked for a better farm and the family moved to Amelia County, Virginia, for seven years. The name "Possum Hollow" was tossed around a bit but never really stuck to this farm. Here Papa Henry built several houses. "Mama" Mary became a Mennonite and tried to start a Mennonite church. "George R.," a bishop from Denbigh, Va. and L.J. Heatwole of Harrisonburg, Va. came to give the small, struggling congregation communion.
The four older children played imaginative games and the oldest daughters wrote plays which the children presented to the parents and anyone else who would come. Admission, 1 cent. Levi relates incidents that happened in the local country schoolhouse. Levi tagged along to school although he was really too young. The usual strict teacher, big bully boys, and embarrassing incidents were present here. There was much that the innocent little Levi did not understand. He also misunderstood names and other words. For example, "Mishoos" was what he heard others call the teacher. So he did, too. Esty, his older sister corrected him, "Her name is Miss Hughes." One day the older children were sad and so were the parents. Mama was sick in bed. A small baby was wrapped in a blanket and buried on the farm as there were no local cemeteries. Levi was puzzled by where the baby came from but no one explained to him.
Discipline was strict at home as well as at school. Corporal punishment for various offenses included a "dressing up" with a scolding and switching simultaneously administered. A "paddling" was mostly for errant girls, involving swirling skirts and much screaming. The "thrashing" was administered with a strap or switch while the offender bent over Papa's knee. One of the siblings seemed to receive most of these. When Levi tried to interfere, Papa warned him that if he didn't desist, he would be next.
Miscommunication often happened, as when Papa mentioned that those elderberries by the fence made good pies, the children picked them (eating many until half sick) and Mama made pies of the berries. Years later Papa admitted that he only ate the pies because he thought Mama enjoyed making them. Mama admitted that she only made them because she thought he liked them. She hated the job of making them as much as he disliked the pies.
After a long visit to Pennsylvania relatives, Mama convinced Papa that they should move back to Pa. especially since their small church had ceased to exist. When Mama went to Richmond for a couple of days and came back with a new baby girl, Levi again could not figure out where the baby came from.
In Book Two the family is back in Lancaster County and living on a rented farm between Rothsville and Lititz. Papa discovered a small farm for sale on a road above the Hammer Creek near Lexington, Pa. When he took his family to see the farm which had been neglected for seven years, the family was shocked. The fields were overgrown with weeds. Rats and mice had inhabited the farmhouse and barn. The well was polluted with all sorts of horrors. But with much hard work, they cleaned up the house, disposed of the varmints, got the well into acceptable order and moved in. Here the children attended Webster school which was just up the road from their farmhouse. Levi describes the one-room-school activities both the bad and the good. Bullies were here, too, as were accidents, and illnesses. Downhill coasting in snowy winters was great sport. Coaster wagons became the vehicles in warmer weather.
He describes the work of the farm, even how to raise tobacco, which Papa did for one year to get a "cash crop." The family began truck farming of vegetables to sell at the streetside market in Lancaster. Eggs from the ever expanding flocks of hens helped pay the bills. When the family gathered at the dining table to count the week's income, Papa began giving the older children allowances from those dollars for their help on the farm. Levi first learned about banking here as his father gave him a savings account book with $1 in it to start him off.
During World War I the flu epidemic hit Webster school and the local community. The Webers all suffered but survived the illness. Some of the other school children did not. Levi describes the Mennonite churches they attended, the "Hothouse" his father built to start plants, relationships with the neighbors, barn and house fires in the area, and much more.
Book Three describes the years in Possum Hollow (where the name finally stuck) as Levi matured from a nine-year-old to a 13- or 14-year-old. He takes music lessons. His two oldest sisters teach at Webster school at different times. A baby brother joins the family after his mother spends some time in Lancaster. He is still puzzled by this event but no one explains anything to him, only evasive answers.
His oldest sister Eva is courted by Reuben Carper. Levi tries to sit in the parlor during Reuben's first visit to Eva at the house. Levi finally catches on that he is not welcome there at that time. Eva eventually marries Reuben and they buy a farm a few miles away. Levi spends a summer working for them. Eva has a baby girl and Levi still is innocent of where she came from. Even overhearing women gossip at church and fuss over new babies does not give him a clue.
Levi then discovers that some of his friends are now "joining church." He wants to do the same. He also helps one of his friends to overcome his shyness and tell the evangelist that he, too, will join.
Throughout this series, the reader sympathizes with little Levi who has so many questions which do not get answered. His big brother Franklin answers some but not the BIG ones.
Book Three concludes with Levi passing the test to move on to eighth grade in Lititz. He is now finished at Webster school. No doubt a Book Four will tell about his adventures in the seeming metropolis of Lititz.
Children and adults will enjoy these books. This is a narrative of family memory from an earlier, simpler, more innocent and more rural time. This was life without indoor plumbing or electricity, before radios, movies, TV, before Dr. Spock's advice on raising children. Church life, visiting relatives and neighbors was the social life of the time. These are an easy, fun read and I'm happy that Levi was my father's brother. By reading these events I better understand my own dad's childhood. Other readers will discover again the way things used to be. Some readers may be inspired to remember and record their own stories.
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