Over the next few weeks the Muhlenberg family sorted and folded and stacked. Margaret pulled things off shelves. Mary emptied drawers. Mama and Papa looked things over to choose what to take with them. Mary hummed happily as she packed things away in the big chests. She knew that these things would come with them.
But sometimes she didn't hum.
One day Mary had to say goodbye to the dog next door. He belonged to the neighbors, but he loved Mary. When he came back from hunting in the woods, he brought her things. Mary wasn't sure what to do with dead squirrels he dropped into her hand. But she saved the salamanders' tails. Somehow, whatever he brought, she knew he was offering her his best. It was hard to say goodbye to that old dog.
The next day a man came to buy Papa's bookshelf. Papa said cheerfully, "I'll make another one!" But Mary remembered how hard he had worked to make it.
The worst day was when Mary found out the piano wasn't going along. She fussed about that. She begged and pleaded.
Margaret took Mary's hand and led her outside. She drew a big rectangle in the dirt and said, "This is how big the wagon will be for the last part of our journey. The crates will be here. The bedding will be over here. The chests will have to go here. Now… how could we take the piano?"
Mary stepped carefully inside the rough shape and looked around. She tried to picture chests on her left, and crates on her right. They had to bring the clothes and bedding. Papa needed his books and tools. And they would need to pack food, too! For a long part of the way, there would be no farms or general stores.
Margaret was right. The piano would not fit.
Mary looked up at her sister. "But we will still have music, won't we?" She couldn't imagine their Moravian love feasts and church days without music.
"Of course we'll have music. We can always sing, can't we?" Margaret smiled gently. "Come on, now. Let's go see what Mama wants us to do next."
Inside the house, Mary's mother rocked Edward in his cradle. She called them over and spoke very quietly. "When he's asleep, we can pack my sewing things." She smiled. "That way he won't see where we put them."
Thinking about baby Edward made Mary smile. If he saw them pack the pins and needles, he would try to eat them! He seemed to want to taste everything.
The new blacksmith came on a Tuesday morning, early in June. With him there to take over the village jobs, Papa could go. By Thursday morning all the crates and chests were ready.
"In just a few hours, you'll be standing on the deck of a boat, Mary," her papa told her.
"Like the boats we saw when you took me to town, Papa?"
"Just like those! Our chests and boxes will go below. You'll want your coat. We'll be up on the deck in the wind. It will get cold."
"No, Papa! I won't be cold! I want to feel the wind blow." She was sure she would love it.
That afternoon, the boat left the dock right on time. Mary stood out on the deck, facing the wind and letting it blow her long brown hair back. It whipped around and got all tangled, but she didn't care.
After a while, though, she was shivering a little. Papa had been right after all. Now she would have to go get her coat.
Later, Papa asked if she wanted to go to the stern to see the town they had left behind. The buildings were so small! It looked as if they were sinking down into the water.
"Papa?" she asked, alarmed. "Are the houses sinking?"
He laughed. "No, little one. Lake Erie is very wide, and you are seeing the curve of the earth itself."
"Oh!" Mary was silent for a long time. Finally, she said, "Papa? Our God is a very big God, isn't He? To have made the earth?"
"Yes, Mary, He is a very big God. Bigger than all of our fears."
"Low bridge! Everybody down!" came the loud call. It was their second day on the Erie Canal.
Mary and Margaret knew what that warning meant! In just a few minutes, the barge would squeeze under the bridge ahead.
Margaret hopped down promptly, but Mary hung back. She wanted to wait until the last minute. The bridge came closer and closer, and then she leaped! She barely made it in time.
Mama caught her breath. Papa scolded Mary gently. "What do you think you are, a cat? You know that worries your mother."
"I'm sorry, Mama," she said. Then she added happily, "But, Papa, I made it!"
Papa tried to look stern. But then he smiled. "Still, I think you should stay down with me here for the rest of the day."
The next day, during one of the longer breaks between bridges, Mary spotted Papa along the railing and climbed down to join him. "What are you looking at, Papa?"
He pointed at one of the mules that was pulling the barge. "Do you see how eager he is to work, Mary?"
Mary looked. The mule's eyes were bright, and his ears tilted forward. He seemed to want nothing more than to walk for miles, just pulling the barge. Sometimes she had seen drivers whip their mules to get them to walk faster, but this mule's driver didn't even have a whip.
"Why, Papa? Why does he work so hard?"
"Watch the driver. See how he leans over to talk to his mule?"
She looked again. Papa was right. She watched the driver whisper something, then reach over and scratch the mule between the ears. The mule closed his eyes for a second, then started pulling even harder.
Mary laughed. "He really likes that, doesn't he?"
"Yes, he does! So, why do you think this mule works so hard?"
She thought about that, very carefully. Finally, she said, "I think he really loves that man, Papa... because the man loves him."
Just then, the driver looked back and saw them watching him. He smiled and winked at Mary. She laughed and waved at him.
"He's nice!" she whispered to Papa.
The barge stopped at the next town for supplies. 
While crewmen harnessed up a fresh set of mules, Papa asked, "Shall we go for a little walk?"
As they stepped onto the bank of the canal, Mary spotted the mule driver coming over to greet them. He stopped right in front of them and tilted his hat respectfully to her papa. "I couldn't help noticing the little miss here, sir. I was wondering if... well, I thought she might want to meet my mule."
Mary's eyes lit up. "Oh, could I, Papa?"
Papa took her hand. "Yes, Mary, shall we? Let's go see this mule who follows his master's voice!"
The mule's name, Mary learned, was Henry. "He likes apples," the driver told them. "He even likes the cores. Do you want to feed him?"
Mary did. And she wanted to pet him, and rub his nose, too.
"Does he have to work a lot?" she asked.
"He works a lot, and he works hard," the driver answered. "But I think he enjoys his work. I tell him all the time what a good job he does. He's all done for today, though. He knows we'll be going home soon."
The mule nudged Mary with his nose. Mary knew what she wanted to do.
"May I sit on his back, please, before we go?"
Mary noticed that Papa had a worried look as he glanced back toward the barge.
"Yes! Henry would love to have someone so light on his back," the driver answered. Papa lifted Mary high in the air and placed her on Henry.
"I'm taller than you are, Papa!" Mary giggled, leaned forward, and lightly scratched between Henry's ears.
"Yes you are! But now we must go. Let me help you down."
"I can get down by myself," Mary said with her biggest and proudest smile.
But swinging her leg over Henry's wide back and sliding down off his side was harder than it looked.
Mary could tell Papa wanted to help, but instead he shuffled his feet and waited. Finally her feet touched the ground. She patted the big mule's side one more time. As she thanked the driver, she felt her father's hand on her arm.
"We must go quickly, little one, or we will miss the barge."
What Papa had feared turned out to be true. They had taken a little too long with Henry.
By the time they reached the dock, the barge was already pulling out on the canal!
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