finds out that Agnes died in
Chapter 12.
When the book starts, Agnes is four years old and
Lyddie thinks of her as a baby. Their mother decides that she cant stay at the farm any longer
after the bear incident, and takes Rachel and Agnes with her to Lyddies uncles house. Lyddie
stays behind with Charlie until they finally let out the land and hire out Lyddie and
Charles.
When Lyddie is alone at the factory without the rest of her family,
she is still longing for them all to be together again. Unfortunately, she gets a letter from
her mother telling her about her youngest sister.
if you
can send muny it will be help to Judah and Clarissa. They fel a grate burdun. Babby Agnes is
gone to God. Rachel is porely. Miny hav died, but Gods will be dun. (Ch. 12)
Despite her mothers difficulty with spelling and capitalization, it
is clear that Lyddies littlest sister has died. She was just too young and weak. Rachel is not
in good shape either, according to the letter.
Lyddie barely remembers her
sister Agnes.
She tried to remember Agnes's little face.
She strained, squenching her eyes tight to get a picture of her sister, now gone forever. She
was a baby. She couldn't have been more than four the winter of the bear, but that was now
nearly two years past. (Ch. 12)
Lyddie feels bad for not
sending money to her mother and sisters. She hardly makes enough to cover her room and board,
but she sends a dollar and tells her mother that she will send more. Lyddie feels the burden of
the family's debts and well-being.
It is not long after Agnes dies that
Lyddies uncle shows up with Rachel, telling Lyddie that he is putting her mother away in an
insane asylum and selling the farm. Lyddie does not know what to do. She has no place to keep
a child, because Rachel is too young and weak to work in the factory and children are not
allowed in her boarding house. When Charlie comes to take Rachel to his new family, Lyddie
feels like she has lost her family forever.
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