Across Five Aprils Summary
The book begins as Ellen Creighton and her nine-year-old son, Jethro, plant potatoes for the summer crop. Ellen has had twelve children, four of whom have died. She is a tired woman who favors Jethro most of all. Three of Jethro's siblings died from children's paralysis the year Jethro was born, but Jethro managed to escape the disease. Ellen knows he is special, "as if, somehow, Destiny had marked him." They break to say goodbye to Shadrach Yale, Jethro's teacher who, upon not having enough money to continue his studies, began teaching at the school where Matt Creighton, Jethro's father, worked. Ellen had nursed Shadrach back to health after he contracted typhoid fever, and Shadrach is now part of the family—especially to Jethro's sister Jenny, who has been in love with Shadrach for some time. Shadrach is planning to leave to go to a neighboring town to receive news about the dispute between the North and the South. Ellen worries that he will bring back news of war. As they are working in the field, Jethro tries to distract his mother by telling her about Copernicus, but he knows that nothing can make her forget about the troubles. Talk of Abraham Lincoln's election, issues of tariffs, free states, slave
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Tom Eb, Ross Milton, Yale Jethro, South Carolina, Abraham Lincoln's, Burdow Travis's, Matt Creighton, Shadrach Bill, Eb Eb, Nancy John's, tom eb, tells jethro, matt creighton, ross milton, letter shadrach, sherman's army, jethro feels, union soldiers, travis burdow, ed turner, tom eb leave, burdow tells jethro, help jethro fields, milton warns jethro, jethro feels sorry,
Approximate Word count = 5039
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page double spaced)
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