Happy Holiday !

I had had a wonderful Holiday and hoped you did also.  I will post again in the new year.   

WEBQUEST

I am having difficulty publishing my WEBQUEST at my blogs.  It is a webquest for elementary students covering the topic of Colonial America. You may view it at classwiki45.wikispaces.com .  I have developed a page for webquest and it has a link at this WEBQUEST page.  Also, you may view the webquest at gabbyspace-gabby.blogspot.com.  However, the navigation bar and links do not work at this page.  They really did not publish as links.  I will keep working on this.

Julienne and Joe

     Julienne, Lil's fourth daughter was in love with Joe.  All she thought of was Joe.  They would sneak away from their families to spend time together.  Her mother did not like for her daughters to be around the young men.  Too much happened to girls these days.  And besides Joe's father was no good.  And that usually ran in families.
       'Joe you are a fine young man." Lil began. "And the Lord knows with me having all of these children, I am in no position to be turning down a marriage proposal.  But 'Lil is only fifteen and if you don't mind, I think you need to wait at least a year."
      "Well, Miss Lil, Julienne and I want to marry next week if we could!"  Joe was very nervous. " We're in love why wait? " 
       "Why?"  "Lil was almost shouting." You don't have a father, a job and anywhere to live.  I don't have any extra room here."
        "We'll work something out Mama," Julienne replied.'
        "Let me think about it."  said Lil"I'm going to pray and see what the Lord says.  Something tells me this is just not right."   Lil had not heard about the fights Joe sometimes got into or the drinking.  But as a mother she just did not feel right about this. 

"Alex"

      Alexandria was a pretty girl.  She still had a youthful appearance but was somehow sensual for her age.   She was also very intelligent.  Everyone called her "Alex".  Alex was confident  and determined.  She was certain that she would move north and become something more than a "colored girl". 
        The Smith's who were relatives from New York  were visiting.  Whenever, they visited they asked Alex to play something on the piano.  Then they would ask her questions about school.  "Alex, when did Columbus discover America ?" and  "What is the capital of North Carolina?"   Her parents were very proud of their daughter.
       Her parents had planned to send her to a colored  college and then hoped she could move up north.

June 29th Posting

I am posting excerpts from a short story that I wrote several years ago. In this excerpt from the story, time has passed and Lil and John have married.   The children have grown, and Lucy, Lil's daughter, has married Thomas.  They have five children and a troubled marriage.

Fourteen years had passed since Lil had caught Lucy and Thomas together.  Lucy and Thomas had had three children and rumor had it that he had three additional   "outside children" with  a  woman on the side.
Lucy did not listen because everyone had "outside children " in that town anyway.  Lil and John were having trouble in their marriage.  Being a christian woman Lil never thought of divorce.  They stayed together and somehow managed to raise the children.

Moving to Town

     Ma 'Lil finished her chores and sat on the porch.  The family was poor.  Most sharecroppers were poor there was nothing unusual about that.  Their home was nothing more than a shack on a dirt road.
"Mae, come and sit with me for a while."  Lil said.
"John promised that he would come by to see me today.  It's so hot that I can't stand to sit on the porch."
Mae looked a Lil and then said,  "John has been coming by a lot lately. "
 All the children liked John Mayes.  He was a tall handsome man.  And he had a big smile.  He had been visiting with Lil on every Sunday for a little over a year now.
"I think John is going to ask me to marry him."  Lil Said ." He's been saving his money so that we can move into town."
Mae was still quiet.

ABOUT THIS PAGE

Ma Lil is a short story written by Gabriella Robinson.  This blog has excerpts from this story and will have postings from other short stories.  The following is the second post from this short story.


Strong, firm unbending this woman survived  through the worst of times.  Like a strong swaying tree in the midst of fierce winds, she bent but never fell.   The lines in her face revealed her suffering.  However, her pride prevented her from revealing  her true feelings to anyone.  Pride was the only thing that this rural community left their black plantation workers.  The less fortunate in the community were left with nothing.

Ma Lil

      " Mae ! Mae wake up !  Get up girl. You know you have to feed the chicks.  I'm not going to tell you again. "     Reluctantly, Mae awoke. 
"Yes mam.  I'm coming."
      Mae quickly poured some water on her lean dark body.  At twelve, she was beginning to  "fill out".  Yet she still had the slender frame of a young girl just reaching puberty.  It was Saturday morning  and Ma Lil had fixed molasses and biscuits.  Mae ate her molasses and biscuits and ran to feed the chickens.
      Ma Lil was the mother of twelve children.  Eight years ago in 1919 her husband had abandoned her and settled in a small town in Virginia.  Stoicly with the pride and courage that one can only achieve at the depth of oppression and brink of disaster, Ma Lil raised her seven sons and five daughters.  They were  well trained obedient children.  The boys worked the farm, Ma Lil had struggled so desperately to maintain.  The girls assisted Ma Lil as a seamstress for "white folk".  Ma Lil was a survivor, and  her family had survived in rural Georgia.  It had been rough on Ma Lil but she managed.

(This is an excerpt from a story written by Gabriella Robinson)