No. 34
The Elders in 1826—Debtor’s Prison
Dear Stewart,
One month after Henry Brother, the father of Railway Postal Clerk Charles Brother, was back on the family farm in Geneva, he developed a routine of traveling to Bath, New York, every other Sabbath.
Earlier in the week he had logged in his diary that he was NOT:
interested in buying or selling, but only in getting to know the men who would become business partners and future customers.
sure they would get along or if his competition would play low.
finished with his study of the land and test the waters for mill work, which would be needed.
ready to test church socials and strolls in the park.
going to be chained to something only Dudley wanted.
This was by now a third or fourth time he slipped in the back of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, but on this remarkable day he overheard Mrs. Metcalf report to Mrs. Howell the sad situation with Ira Pratt, who, at age 39, was once again called to the courts as an insolvent debtor but with an even more fervent appeal to the public not to send him to prison.
Upon hearing this, Henry spun around and looked high and low for young Mary Ann Pratt, knowing he would not be able to see her for her size, but felt sure she would not miss church at a time when the Pratt family needed most of all their friends. He started to study the hats. He was only interested in the best one would be attached to his best one. But what was this? What was he even saying?
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Henry said, leaning in, “I am a judge and patron of Mary Ann Pratt’s bonnet work from Geneva. Am I to understand that her work has been compromised by this situation?”
The women looked him over with their fanning. What judge?
“With my partner, Mr. Dudley of Rushville, I am buying stock for my store,” Henry continued, “Miss Pratt has been commissioned to provide millinery. Pray help me find her this morning. I must determine at once if our agreement remains intact.”
The ladies, squinting, placed their hands on their scarves and adjusted their collar closures, but pointed out which pew was rented out by the Pratts. While others were standing and visiting, Mary was sitting in that said pew, swinging her feet, but staring down, as if waiting for a ride.
Henry quickly wrote down his invitation, an accounting one, to Mary: an order for twelve bonnets, their first contract to test her product. He handed it to her, testing her to see if she might choose hope!
When she turned to him, asking "What is this?" his knees gave way to and he was pressed down, indeed asking himself, "What is this?" but his weakness for her and her blossoming and independence was all grown now and ready for him.
This fill satisfied a void of entertainment since his father died and he at once told her of the order she was to fill. He confessed, using that language, that he needed to prove a concept so that he could generate his own good news. When she smiled and nodded, business-like, he knew he could go on. He skipped out of the church as if moved by good news, more confident in Bath, New York, than ever. He was, alas, both finished and ready and locked in.
— Miss Minnie
2025 Copyright Christine Friesel
