paul

his sister ellen / religion

excerpted from 'my grandparents' by pauline anderson gibbs about her aunt ellen

> ELLEN was the prettiest of girls. she was rather slender with light blond hair and blue eyes. she had a great deal of artistic talent and could paint anything. many times she wished her folks would let her go away and study art. she fell in love with her cousin, which was not unusual in those days, and planned to marry him. on saturday at a church meeting she saw him with another girl. the next day when everybody had gone to church, she first went out and picked all the ripe raspberries, and then went in the house and took poison. none of the family knew that she was pregnant until it was too late. big charlie came home from school that day and withheld comment as long as he could. finally he cut loose and criticized his parents for not being more understanding. the lutheran church would not allow her to be buried from the the church so the services were held on the lawn. paul was young then, but it affected him greatly. when he was old enough to have a voice in the matter he left the church for good. ellen was the favorite of agnes, paul, and charlie.