Chancing The Frontiersmans Heart – Andrea Byrd

She held up her hands for them to see. “God seemed to make me where I cannot sit still for much more than a minute. Even when I pray or read my Bible, I will pace about this floor.” Was talking ceaselessly another quality God blessed her with, or was it simply that she was glad for the company? What a blessing it would be to have this woman’s boundless energy. “I have always found it good to keep busy,” Dawn agreed.

Though, often, hers had not been by choice. When not forced to by her stepparents, Dawn had sought busyness as a way to distract herself from the pain of her circumstances. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? Have a seat.” The woman gestured toward the table. “We are well.” Dawn pulled out a seat for Mary, then for herself.

“One can always eat.” She poured a couple cups of water from a pitcher and set them on the table before them, then went back to the counter where she fetched a partial loaf of bread from the basket and a couple of plates. She cut two slices, placed them on the plates, and handed them over as well.

Then she was off again, whirling over to a place in the floorboards where she lifted a hatch. In what must have been a small root cellar, she withdrew another bit of food which she took over to the counter and sliced. When she added it to their plates, Dawn’s eyes widened. “Cheese?” The woman nodded, her smile ever-present. “Goat cheese.” Dawn gingerly picked up the delicacy and placed it atop her bread before taking a bite. She closed her eyes and savored the unexpected and delightful flavor.

She had not consumed even the tiniest morsel of cheese in years.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

— ISAIAH 40:3-5 KJV 1kitap1.com/en J CHAPTER 1 The moon and the stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever. — PSALM 136:9 June 25, 1782 Raccoon Springs, Kentucky acob stared into the black abyss above, speckled by a multitude of tiny white dots. The full moon off to the right cut through the dark, illuminating the leaves on the trees at the periphery of his vision as they danced in the breeze.

As he laid on the hard ground, their rustle filled his ears, along with the chirp of crickets and the croak of a bullfrog. It was an enchanting cacophony…but one that set his nerves on edge. His brain would not quiet on this night. Over a month on the trail with fifteen other families making the move west, and every day seemed to be the same—breaking camp in the morning and remaking it come afternoon, riding all day in the saddle with only his brothers and mother to converse with and the same few meals over and over.

It was growing mundane. And he still had no idea what lay at the end of the trail for him, besides helping his brothers as usual. It seemed all he was born for. As the youngest male in the family, Jacob constantly followed in the footsteps of his three elder brothers.

As a child, it had provided great excitement to tag along on tasks he might not have been allowed to do otherwise. But as they grew older, the choices they made were larger—life-changing, even. First, they all went off to fight in the Revolution. Now, they ventured westward into the wilderness of Kentucky. While both held their own thrills and challenges, at some point, he had to break free and become a man of his own. Jacob frowned at the dappled sky.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: d30f29bc1051e0e9
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 4,518,553 bytes (4.309 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 183
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 251.34 minutes
• Total Words: 50,269
• Total Characters: 272,785
• Average Words per Page: 274.69
• Average Characters per Page: 1490.63

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