Maryland pick up

"Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller's cornfield and fighting swirled around the Dunker Church." That's a sentence from wikipedia's entry on Antietam, which was the bloodiest battle in the Civil War, it adds. Antietam is close to this MacDonalds in Maryland. Twenty-three thousand soldiers were killed here on Sept. 17, 1862. And they weren't shoving in line to get a hamburger.

This is exit 9A of Interstate 70, just east of the 81/70 intersection close to Hagerstown.

One single death brought me here last Monday--Rachel's. I came here to pick up Evelyn Brown, a retired colleague of the Yoders in the work at Seventh Avenue Mennonite Church. She had come from Charleston, S.C.

The Maryland state flag salutes the power of the mega-hamburger joint. We're all looking for some authentication, I guess.

the team

Another look at the team pulling those wheels. They look like Percherons to me. Belgiums are similar but tan. I think Percherons are the largest draft horse. The grandfather of the youth driving the team was killed by a horse kick. You have to watch the kick, but horses are vegetarians and will never eat you.

three more wheels

Now the wheels. Reminds me of going down the snowy hill on sleds hooked together, or of pulling a wagon behind a go-cart.



The main thing is--the wheel has been invented. If you are wondering where the tires fell off--well, I'll have to tell you about the Amish genius for avoiding flat tires.

funereal detour

Out of the blue, Dorcas' sister, Rachel Yoder, died suddenly, on Ascension Day. Rachel and Monroe lived in New York. On their way to Grantsville, Maryland, she took sick and died in a Harrisburg hospital.

On Wednesday the funeral was held at the Maple Glen Mennonite Church, Grantsville, and the burial was in this cemetery beside the church.

For over forty years their church was Seventh Avenue Mennonite Church. A good two dozen members and friends of that neighborhood and church and others from the Bronx attended.