Three huge rocks lay in a row on the side of the hill. Their tops were flat, which made them perfect for all sorts of things. On some days, the village children turned them into islands in far off lands.
On other days, they were clipper ships on the high seas. Today, a warm spring day in May 1838, a little girl in a blue dress was using them for three covered wagons.Alone on the hilltop, she gathered a stack of fallen branches and small stones. From her stack, she chose some items to make walls for her wagons, and others to be supplies. She spent some time placing them just so. At last, she climbed up on the rock closest to the old oak tree to look over her work.
Suddenly, her face scrunched into a frown. A nine-inch black and yellow snake was crawling up onto the middle of her three rocks, now warm in the sun.
The little girl studied the snake for the markings her father had taught her. No yellow or golden diamonds. No brightly colored rings. No rattle. She counted three long yellow stripes.
She smiled. With her thumb and forefinger she grabbed the snake behind the head and lifted it from the rock. She was gentle, though. She didn't want it to leave that bad smell on her hands.
"You're going to mess up all my supplies! You need to find somewhere else to play."
"See you later, silly snake. . ." she said, dropping it into the grass off to her right. She watched it slither away, then brushed off her hands and stood up.
"That's done," she said, very pleased with herself. "Now, Jamie and Adam Blackwing can go in the first wagon. Hannah Gray-Eyes can be next. I'll be here, in the third one, and we'll all go to Kansas together."
There was one more thing to do. She sat down on the flat rock and looked up through the branches at the sky above. "Hello, God!" she called out. "It's me, Mary Muhlenberg." She waved and pointed proudly. "See my wagons? They're all lined up!" She thought for a bit, then confided in a whisper, "They're not really wagons, of course. They're just big old stones. But You can fix that! You're God. You can make it so my friends won't go away without me, can't you!"
Without waiting for an answer, the little girl hopped off her wagon to go try out the other two. From the top of the lead wagon, she suddenly exclaimed, "We'll need food!" and jumped to the ground. "I'll have to go get some from Mama."
The next moment, she was up and running toward home. It would only take her a few minutes. Right over the next hill was the road to her house, the missionary house, at the edge of the Munsee Indian village near London, Upper Canada.
Mary really didn't expect to meet anyone on her way back. Mama and Margaret were baking bread, and baby Edward was sleeping. All her friends lived farther down the road in the village. But as she ran up and over the hill, she saw something that made her squeal with delight.
A tall blond man had just tied his horse to the hitching post.
Papa! He was home a day early!
In the same instant, Peter Muhlenberg spotted his six-year-old daughter. He waved and called out.
"Mary! Come walk with me to the house! I have some good news!"
Her wagons forgotten, Mary danced down the hill. What could Papa's news be? Maybe her Munsee friends weren't going to leave for Kansas after all! Maybe Jamie and Adam and Hannah would stay here in Upper Canada and they would play together all summer long. Or maybe...
She stopped at the edge of the road. "What news, Papa? Tell me, tell me!"
Her father's blue eyes twinkled. "Now, Mary, this news is for everyone. You'll have to wait till we get to the house.""Yes, Papa," she replied. She meant it too. But he had been gone for three whole days. The questions that had piled up inside her head burst out.
"Are Jamie and Adam still going to Kansas? Will I ever see them again? And Hannah-is she staying here or going to the prairie? Oh, Papa, is it true what they say, that the prairie has no trees?" She barely paused for a breath before she went on. "The Munsee say the sky goes on as far as you can see, and the grass has waves-like an ocean! But Papa, what's an ocean? Is Lake Erie like an ocean?"
Peter Muhlenberg scooped the little girl up in his arms and chuckled. "Too many questions, little one! Shall I tell you now? Or wait five steps more until we walk through the doorway and I can tell Mama and Margaret and baby Edward, too?"
Mary scrunched her lips together as she and Papa walked up the creaky steps to the open door. The smell of freshly baked bread made Mary take a deep, happy breath.
"Tell us what, Papa?" asked sixteen-year-old Margaret, closing a book and rising quickly from the stone hearth.
Mama dropped her knitting on the wooden table at which she sat, then stood to give him a warm smile and a hug. "Welcome back, Peter! What did you find out in London?"
"The best news we could hope for, Virginia!" said Papa. "God is with us! A blacksmith can replace me here at the village shop in just a few weeks. Also, the mission board in New York wants to meet with me. They are planning several new works out west, and think there may be a place for us early next year."
West! Mary perked up. She knew where that was. Kansas was west.
But before she could say anything, Margaret asked, "Early next year? But where will we go until then?"
Papa winked at his older daughter as he set Mary gently on the floor. "We'll be in New York City, Margaret. I promise you'll find something to do." He added, "I thought we could visit your Aunt Ellen and Uncle James, while we are there."
Mama liked that idea. "That's right! They live in New York now. Their little Sarah turned nine last month. She was just a baby when we saw her last."
Mary could hold her silence no longer. "Out west, Papa? That's Kansas, isn't it? Where all our Munsee friends are going?"
"Well...maybe, Mary," Papa answered. "The West is a big place, and Kansas is only part of it. We do not know where God will send us, but if He does send us to Kansas, that is where we will go."
The folds in his forehead and the pause in his voice told Mary that Papa wasn't at all sure where God would send them. Well, he had better find out quickly. Jamie and Adam and Hannah were leaving soon.
Mary opened her mouth to tell Papa how important it was for her to go to Kansas, but then she closed it. If Papa was waiting for God to tell him where they would be going, it was God she would have to talk to.
And she needed Him to answer really fast!
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