Hancel
They Don't Buy Me No Peanuts
by
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Each evening as she walked home from work, Hancel began to notice a handsome young man standing in the vicinity of the café. She assumed he took his meals there. When she passed him, he always smiled, tipped his hat, and murmured "Signora." He was clean-shaven and usually wore black or navy blue trousers, and a white shirt. He always wore a tie and sometimes a suit. Hancel began to look forward to his greetings. She found herself missing him when he was absent. One day he was not in his usual place, but she spied him walking a short distance ahead. She quickened her pace. She was carrying an umbrella and as she approached him, she transferred the parasol to under her arm, allowing it to protrude frontward. Then, seemingly engrossed in something and not heeding where she was looking, she allowed herself to bump into him jabbing the tip of the umbrella into his back. She apologized for her clumsiness and a conversation ensued. As Hancel said later, "Otherwise he would still be tipping his hat." – Thus my father and my mother met. Each evening their conversations grew, comments about the weather and idle remarks. She found his accent delightful. She learned that he had emigrated from Caserta, Italy, a small village near Naples, Italy. He arrived at Ellis Island sometime in 1906. She always remembered that it was the same year as the San Francisco earthquake. His name was Louie Benedict. In Italy the name was know as Benedetto. One day Louie finally got up enough courage to ask if he could walk her home. She let him walk her to the corner near her home. It soon became a daily ritual. However, she never let him walk her all the way home, only to the corner. She didn’t know exactly why except she was concerned about what her father’s attitude would be. There was David and their understanding. William was happy about their contemplated marriage. When William learned of her friendship with Louie, he forbade her to see him again, saying, "You shouldn’t be involved with anyone except David much less some damn Italian. Isn’t a good American boy, with marriage intended, good enough for you?" Hancel was emotionally confused. She and David had merely drifted into the habit of thinking about marriage. She wondered if he was also having second thoughts. They had both matured during their friendship. One Sunday when David made his usual appearance, she suggested that they go for a walk. Admitting her mental confusion, and mixed emotions, she told David about Louie; and that she believed herself to be in love with him. "I have serious doubts about us getting married. It isn’t as if we have made any announcements or finalized our plans. Perhaps we should let the matter rest until I sort out my feelings about Louie. I’ll return your ring." "I gave the ring to you in friendship and affection. Keep it. I would never give it to another. Better we discover now what might prove to be a mistake than later. We can still be friends. I will hold no bad feelings toward you, or toward Louie." When David did not appear as usual, William asked why. He was adamant that Hancel should cease all contact with Louie. "You’re not to see that damn Eye-talian again. That’s an order. He’s probably a papist, at that." Hancel continued to let Louie walk her home. They often stopped at the ice cream parlor, or went for a stroll in the park, but she would never let him take her home. When William discovered her persistence in disobeying his order, he delivered an ultimatum. "It’s your choice. Either you obey my wishes; desist seeing that man, or you can leave my house. Stay away from that Dago!" A next-door neighbor, a woman once married to William’s brother but now divorced, was Sadie’s friend. The children still thought of her as Aunt Lizzy. Hancel went to her in tears. She explained her predicament to Lizzy, who told her, "Bring your young man around for a visit. Before I can intercede, I must judge if he is worthy. If I like him, I will talk to Sadie." "My mother will never go against my father’s wishes, no matter what. She will not help." Aunt Lizzy liked Louie immediately. He was courteous and mannerly in every respect. He talked of missing his family and the little village where he grew up. His father owned a small farm and vineyard. He had four brothers and a sister, all now living in America. He said he had been very lonesome until meeting Hancel. He related how the family had come to America. "My Godfather came to America first. He wrote to my father and older brother telling of the opportunities to be found here. My oldest brother immigrated first. His marriage had been arranged months before he departed. He saved passage money for the girl to join him in New York where they were married. Next my father and I came. In time, we saved money and sent for my mother, two younger brothers, and a sister to join us. I have a good job as a glass blower, and have saved my money. I love Hancel and I can offer her a good life." Lizzy found nothing objectionable with him and tried to convince William. " William, young people in love will do what they will. You should adapt to the situation. You are being stubborn and unjust in your condemnation of Louie. " It was to no avail. Escaping an intolerable situation, Hancel soon moved in with Aunt Lizzy. Louie was unhappy with the situation. He received a letter from a friend, a foreman working for the railroad in Greensburg, Ohio. He wrote that if Louie cared to join him, he could assure him of a job. Realizing that this offered an escape from William’s dominance, Louie asked Hancel to marry him. "I love, Hancel. Marry me and I will write my friend that I will take the job in Ohio. We will leave this town. Time will change your father’s feelings. Once we are married, he will change his mind." When Hancel accepted his proposal, Louie went to talk to William, to seek his permission and his blessing. William was sullen and said he wanted nothing more to do with the matter. Louie politely, but firmly said, "With or without your consent, Hancel and I intend to get married. Won’t you reconsider and give your daughter your blessing?" William would not relent. Plans proceeded for the wedding. Through letters sent to Greensburg, a job was forthcoming. Year later, Hancel reminisced about their wedding. "I wore a white, ankle length, linen skirt, and a simple white georgettes blouse with an ivory hand-kerchief linen jabot. I was upset that I had to wear black shoes but they were all I had. Louie wore a blue serge suit. After the ceremony Aunt Lizzy led us into the dining room. The round oak table was covered with a white embroidered cloth and a beautiful wedding cake, which she had baked, sat in the middle of the table. Candlesticks sat on each side of the cake and two tiny rose bowls filled with red velvet roses sat beside the candles. It was a beautiful wedding. Only Aunt Lizzy, her brother, and the minister were present."
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About the Book
The story of HANCEL takes the reader from the discovery of natural gas in Indiana, in the horse and buggy era, to the Space Age. The memoir relates the struggles of Hancel, a young widow, raising five children during the depression. There’s humor and pathos in the antics of Hancel’s children growing up Dago in a small town with few families of foreign descent. Two town bad boy characters enliven the tale and the reappearance of long lost Aunt Maudie as a hoochie-koochie dancer at a county fair; and how, despite the fact that it was during prohibition, Uncle Tony made home-brew. There’s history in the stories of meeting the man who really invented the first motion picture machine and Radio Vision, forerunner to television; the 1930 lynching in Marion, IN, World War II letters and one of touring the Kennedy Space Center; and how a bicentennial celebration leads to a tale about Tennessee’s Civil War monument at Gettysburg. ANCESTOR OF YORE a step by step genealogy research leads to the discovery of an ancestor who fought in War of 1812. It contains facts of steamboats plying the Wabash River, a speech by Chief Logan, and pioneer settlers to America. There is also Lincoln’s visit to a wounded ancestor during the Civil War, and how nurse Molly and her missionary husband in Alaska, prepared the bodies of Will Rogers and Wiley Post to be escorted back to the states by Col. Charles Lindbergh.
About the Author
When faced with the empty nest syndrome, after raising three children, Julia worked as a licensed real-state agent in northwest Indiana. When, at age fifty-nine, her husband announced he was taking early retirement in order to travel the continent in a recreational vehicle, Julia recorded their vast experiences. Those tales are currently appearing in her weekly " Time Traveler" column in the Logansport Pharos Tribune. After attending Elderhostel sessions at the University of Iowa in Writing Your Memoirs she wrote Hancel, a story of her mother. Later a seminar on genealogy inspired her to ad the prequel, Ancestors Of Yore. When her husband, of sixty-four years, died in November of 2000, Julia, to keep occupied, bought a computer, reworked the tales and decided to try the new print on demand method of publishing her book. Julia is an avid basketball fan and her hobbies include gardening, activities with her great grandchildren and writing and researching genealogy. Via the World Wide Web, she has recently made contact with distant family members connected through their great-great-grandfather Samuel Chappel. One cousin from California recently visited her in Indiana May of 2001.