Wednesday, February 6, 2008

The Wrong Turn

When Jonathan Heaton and Sons were building a home for their hired help, Rass Allen and family, in 1905 or 1906 (the home Aunt May now owns), they had Mr. George Burnham, from Orderville, out to do the plastering. He was staying at Grandma's house and one evening wanted to go up to see how the plaster was drying as, to get a good finish on the wall, the plaster had to dry out gradually and needed to be wet down several times to prevent cracking.

Being a dark night, Mr. Burnham borrowed a lamp to light his way along the path, through the grape arbor, past the tunnel spring, along the bank of the long reservoir, and then up past the new fruit orchard to the house. Mr. Burnham had asked some of the men to go along with him in case they were needed - and need them he did. He was in the lead and not watching too closely where he was going. He made a turn in the path too soon and walked right off into the reservoir, which was full of water. The men fished him out but had to wait until the reservoir was emptied to get the lamp back.

C. Leonard Heaton

No comments: