God gives him a vision in the trees of the woods, buffeted by the wind, but remaining ever faithful. Toppan looked at him until his eyes seemed not to see the boy Jared, but the man Jared might become, then he said quietly, “It’s letting God take your hand so that it does the work He wants you to do.” (p.46, Patterns on the Wall)Īnd this lesson takes deep root in Jared’s heart. “What do you mean by keeping true?” Jared asked, laying down his brush to rest his arm. Toppan takes him under his wing not only in teaching him to stencil, but in faith, and in becoming a man. Jared Austin is apprenticed at twelve to a painter, freeing him from the hatred of his abusive father, but not his fear of him. Originally titled Patterns on the Wall, it is the story of an itinerant stenciler in New Hampshire in 1816, a year so harsh in weather that desperate farmers give in to fear, and seek someone to blame for their struggles. While she is perhaps best known for her Newbery winner Amos Fortune, Free Man, my personal favorite of the more than forty books she has written, is The Journeyman. One of the things I am looking forward to in Heaven is having tea and conversation with author Elizabeth Yates. All quote citations are taken from this.)
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