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Chapter 4
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Across Five Aprils, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
The Realities of War
Self-Determination
Personal Conviction
Hardship, Suffering, and Beauty
Summary
Analysis
By the spring of 1862, the war has begun to affect the prices of goods like coffee. Ellen suffers terrible headaches without it, but she’s also appalled at the rising prices and ashamed of her dependency. She decides to quit cold turkey but ends up in bed, too ill to work while Matt and Jenny tend to her. Finally, Matt sends Jethro to borrow some coffee from Nancy.
Jethro finds Nancy outside doing chores. Her two young sons wait for her in a darkened house; she’s too afraid to leave them alone with a lit lamp. She hands Jethro her whole bag of coffee. Then she asks if he and Jenny would come play with their nephews sometime to try to fill the gap their father’s absence creates. She wishes the war would end and things would go back to the way they used to be, with Bill and John close friends and all the brothers (and Shad) back at home. Nancy has never said so many words at once to Jethro. He’s surprised and doesn’t know what to say, so he just nods at her in a way he hopes conveys sympathy.
By the time the war approaches its first full year, it has become clear that civilians, even those far from the front lines, aren’t spared the hardships and difficulty it creates, whether this is the absence of beloved husbands and fathers or the shortages of (sometimes necessary) luxuries like coffee. Nancy’s confessions also draw Jethro one step closer to adulthood, since she talks to him like an equal despite the fact that he’s probably closer in age to her children than to her.
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A cup of fresh black coffee quickly revives Ellen. After consulting with her, Matt calls Jethro and asks the boy if he feels capable of taking the wagon into town for coffee and other supplies the next day. This is a man’s job, and Jethro swells with pride at being asked. He assures his father that he’s up for the task. Matt sends the boy to bed early, since he’ll have to be up at 4:00 a.m. to accomplish the trip.
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In the morning, Matt and Jethro load the wagon with sacks of corn. Ellen shares her cup of coffee—diluted with hot milk—with her son, and Jenny makes him a special breakfast. Jethro feels proud and exhilarated as he guides the teams over the 15-mile journey into Newton. They pass many people hard at work with morning chores, but one man, Jake Roscoe, hails the wagon. He doesn’t know Jethro, but he does know Matthew Creighton, and he knows that Jethro has a bunch of “growed-up” brothers in the war. Jethro brags about Eb, Tom, and John, but Jake presses him with some degree of ill-will about Bill, the brother who rebelled and joined the Confederates.
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Jake believes his grandson, who serves in the Union Army under General Sigel, might have been at the recent battle of Pea Ridge. Jethro and Jenny recently read about it in the newspaper, and he relates some of the details to Jake. Jake asks Jethro to bring him a paper from town. He thinks that if his grandson died in action, he'd hear about it fastest by looking for his name in the papers. Jethro promises to bring one.
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Soon after Roscoe fades into the distance, Jethro and the wagon team enter a shady forested stretch that makes the horses nervous. The muddy path here presents challenges that Jethro meets with calm maturity. Soon after the woody stretch, the road passes the rundown, untidy Burdow place, which—unlike the woods—scares Jethro. By eleven o’clock, however, Jethro pulls into Newton. In March, without the soft skies and green-leafed trees of summer, it’s an unattractive town. But the novelty of its bustle, stores, and delightful restaurant—where once he ate with Bill and Shadrach—still charm Jethro.
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Jethro works diligently through the list of chores his family assigned him. The last involves stopping at Sam Gardiner’s general store. Six men sit around the store’s fireplace. These include Ross Milton, the arthritic general editor of the county newspaper, and—to Jethro’s horror—Travis Burdow’s giant, filthy father Dave. When he approaches the group to ask Milton for a paper, one of the men asks his name; when he identifies himself as Matt Creighton’s son, Jethro, Dave Burdow winces slightly. A red-faced young man (later identified as Guy Wortman) leans into Jethro’s face and demands to know if the rumors that Bill has joined the Confederates and is “down south shootin’ our boys” are true. Jethro replies, truthfully if vaguely, that the family hasn’t heard from Bill since he left.
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Guy Wortman turns to Dave Burdow, suggesting that he might be able to pay Matt Creighton back for keeping Travis from the lynch mob by talking locals out of murdering Bill, should he ever return. Burdow silently gathers his purchases and leaves. Ross Milton struggles to his feet and pointedly suggests that a few more shots of whiskey might give Wortman enough courage to pick on someone who could fight back—Burdow has no friends in the county, and Jethro is a child. Still, other men join in expressing the general low opinion about Bill joining the Confederates.
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Milton replies that folks should keep their argument with Bill and not shun his family for his choices. But Wortman turns on Jethro again, demanding to know whether Matt teaches him to hate his “skunk” brother. Jethro tries to remain calm and replies that he thinks more of Bill than anyone else in the world. Wortman turns vicious, stepping forward to attack Jethro and hurling insults at the men that hold him back. Milton tightly contends that, despite his big talk, Wortman’s cowardice keeps him from joining the Union Army himself. Wortman glares at the crowd and declares his intent to leave. Another man joins him, remarking that, although he has no use for “thievin’ Burdows,” at least Travis fights on the right side of the war.
Milton turns to a cowed Jethro and apologizes for the mean talk. He himself disagrees with Bill’s decision, but he respects Jethro for standing up for Bill. Milton helps Jethro carry his purchases out to the wagon and then has one of his employees feed and water the horses while he takes Jethro out to lunch at the restaurant. To Jethro, who expected to eat the simple cold lunch he carried with him to town, this is an unimaginable treat. Milton wants to know if Jethro can read. Jethro proudly—and defensively—replies that he can. Moreover, he’s read some political philosophy, like that of Thomas Paine. He also reads the newspapers. Milton reflects on the importance of good teachers like Shadrach Yale—he himself hated most of his—and offers to add his own book of English grammar to Jethro’s growing library.
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After the meal, Ross Milton warns Jethro that Guy Wortman—whom Milton believes fully capable of making further trouble—lives on the road between Newton and the Creighton place. He wants to see Jethro on the road before the time Wortman usually leaves the saloon. In the newspaper office, he gives Jethro a fresh St. Louis newspaper for Jake Roscoe. Then Milton sends the boy on his way.
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On the road, Jethro reflects with satisfaction on his day’s adventures, trying to push the ugly scene at the general store to the back of his mind. He knows it would worry his parents to hear about it; although Illinois has a long history as a free state, the close ties between many southern Illinoisans with the Confederate states has fueled rising tempers which sometimes spill over into violence. Twilight has come by the time Jethro passes the Burdow place again; the Burdows’ dogs bark at him and his team while a woman silently watches him pass. The two miles of wooded road lie ahead, but they still hold less terror for Jethro than passing the Burdows’ property.
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But no sooner has Jethro lost sight of the Burdow cabin than Dave Burdow himself materializes among the trees, standing beside a saddled horse. He stops Jethro and climbs up into the wagon with him. Jethro becomes increasingly terrified. Recalling Burdow’s reputation, he worries the man wants to steal his purchases from town. But eventually, Burdow reveals that, far from meaning Jethro ill, he has come to protect him from Guy Wortman, who passed down the road a little while ago. When Wortman springs from a ravine beside the road and whips the horses, sending them into panicked flight, big, strong, and experienced Burdow regains control before they can tip the wagon and injure or kill its passengers. Jethro only realizes that he’s clinging to Burdow’s arm after it’s all over.
Dave Burdow rides with Jethro past Jake Roscoe’s place. Jethro hands over the promised newspaper wordlessly, still too shaken to speak. When Burdow stops the wagon and climbs down, he shows no sign of hearing Jethro’s mumbled thanks. Overcome with weariness, Jethro gives the horses free reign, trusting them to cover the final four miles of road while he dozes on the wagon bed, occasionally rousing and checking his parcels. When the lights of the cabin appear, he sobs with gratitude and exhaustion.
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Matt, Ellen, and Jenny greet Jethro with relief and excitement. They praise his good judgement and able handling of such a big responsibility as a trip to town and eagerly listen to the news of the day. At first, Jethro only tells them the good parts—the meeting with Roscoe, the lunch with Milton at the restaurant. When Matt and Jenny rise to prepare for sleep, he motions for them to sit again, and begins to tell them about his encounters with Guy Wortman and Dave Burdow.
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