The Heritage of Nymphs

Abstract

200 acres, 10 miles north of Evart, Michigan. Quaint, antique farmhouse, four bedrooms, 2 baths, io-acre pond. Swimming and fishing in the summer, ice-skating in die winter. Cabin on north side of pond. Fields ready to be farmed. Maple groves willing to produce scrumptious maple syrup. Lilacs, four varieties, waiting to fill the spring air with heady fragrance. Marsh marigolds, lady's slippers, miliums, spring beauties and many more, poised to bloom from spring till fall. Morel mushrooms in early May. Blackberries for jam and pies in late summer. Tart, firm apples in fall. Ivan and Clara Orwig, my great grandparents, bought a piece of land in northern Michigan, intending to become farmers. They built a barn where they put cows, sheep, and chickens and plowed fields for hay and clover, but diey didn't have die knack of planting and harvesting the hay at just die right time, or ensuring the cows would produce enough milk, and ended up working at a factory most of their lives. They kept the two hundred acres and the green and white farmhouse, though, and my great-grandmother consoled herself by turning the front yard into a lavish garden, spending evenings and weekends weeding and watering the delicate blooms with a teacup. In this house, they raised my grandmother, Onda, their only child. She helped weed the flowerbeds, and dragged herself out of bed every morning at five A.M. to help with the milking. She gathered eggs from the chicken coop, even when roosters would fly at her knees. Every couple of years, she climbed a ladder to help repaint the peaks of the house. When she got married, she became Onda Woods, and followed her husband to the small city of Midland where he worked. My great-grandmother eventually decided that she didn't want to maintain a farmhouse that needed frequent coats of paint and constant repairs. Filial piety prompted my grandmother Onda to return to Evart with her family in tow and purchase the house and forty acres, allowing my great-grandparents to move into a house in town. As it happened, my great-grandparents still spent the majority of their time at