A Brother for Francis

Time passed rapidly. On November the second, eighteen forty-nine, at ‘Brandon’, England, a bonny son was born to Alexander and Sarah Williamson. The birth of this child had taken a toll on Sarah, who was thinner than before. It was not so much the birth itself as the fears she held—that this one may be another delicate little one, like the four she had lost in earlier years.

That he had arrived and was in such good health did not at once allay her fears. With time, Sarah slowly improved, and the baby, named Alexander Watt, gave her much pleasure. Little was it even thought at this early age how the new Alexander was to become an intellectual who would break into a completely new way of life.

The news of the new brother did not reach Francis until mid-May of the following year, when a large assortment of mail arrived from home. The news delighted him, and once again hope revived that he would eventually have his family with him. But he never let himself build his hopes to the pitch that had earlier flung him almost into despair.

He was now a man of twenty years of age and had acquired a knowledge of his land, the trees, birds, and other animals that surpassed that of most others in the area. Indeed, many came to him to learn more about the natural phenomena. His teacher had been the faithful Koro, but it was Francis’s application to that learning that made him so knowledgeable in everything around him—including the gathering and cooking of wild foods, building methods using the available materials, and ensuring a fresh water supply from a nearby spring.

The spring water was very pure and made good drinking in hot weather. Very little came his way now that could dampen his newfound happiness, and he knew he had achieved something that would be a welcome for his family if they should sometime make the voyage.