There are some things that just make you scratch your head and wonder and the year that I was a junior in High School we blundered up on one of them. To say that it was one of the strangest things that ever happened to either one of us is an understatement of epic proportions.\u00a0 We were the youngest kids of youngest kids. Our grandparents were all born in the late 1870s to the mid 1880s. Papa was born in 1881 and Mama Carrie was born in 1888. That put us a whole generation, almost two generations closer to the 19th century than other kids our age \u2013 and had it not been for the fact that our grandparents raised us we would never have had this experience.<\/p>\n
We grew up hearing about things that happened long before we were born \u2013 in the \u201clast\u201d century from people who were there and remembered them instead of reading about them in history books. We grew up thinking of it as being “our” time and “our” place far more than the time and place that we were in. After seeing something else that I’m attaching here we both became convinced of it.<\/p>\n
Papa had been in the Spanish-American War. He was one of the first doctors… very first… to be in the Army Medical Corps. It was organized for the Spanish-American War. Up until then there were no doctors who were actually in uniform. They were all civilian “contract physicians” until 1898.<\/p>\n
When we were in High School Papa still had one of his old blue uniforms from \u201cthe war\u201d in his closet and Mama Carrie had a whole bunch of her old dresses from that time in hers. The whole thing started when our High School scheduled a costume party for Halloween and we got right up to the last minute and didn\u2019t have any costumes figured out. Naturally we wanted something that would complement each other as usual.<\/p>\n
Well, we dug around in our grandparent\u2019s closets until we dug out all of those old clothes and… with their permission of course… wore them to a school costume party.\u00a0 I wore Papa\u2019s old uniform and Sherry wore one of Mama Carrie\u2019s old dresses. When we were dressed we came out and showed ourselves off to Papa and Mama Carrie to get them to fix anything we hadn’t done right in putting them on. Papa almost passed out when he saw us. The look of shock on his face was something that we had never seen before. He turned as white as a sheet. With thirty-six years in the army \u2013 they didn\u2019t make you retire back then until you were sixty-two years old no matter how many years you had in \u2013 and a lifetime in medical practice it took a lot to shock Papa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong Papa?\u201d I\u2019d never seen him like this before.<\/p>\n
\u201cPapa are you alright?\u201d Sherry had never seen him that way either.<\/p>\n
He didn’t say anything for a long time \u2013 it was almost like he couldn\u2019t. We just thought it was the old memories coming back. It was to a point but we didn’t understand just what that “point” was until the a little later Finally, he just started muttering \u201cWell I\u2019ll be damned. I\u2019ll just be damned,\u201d under his breath. His eyes were as big around as saucers. \u201cI\u2019ll just be damned \u2013 Jimmy and Emmy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEmmy? Who\u2019s Emmy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, who\u2019s Emmy Papa?\u201d He seemed distant \u2013 far away. He was, but we didn\u2019t know how distant that was yet.<\/p>\n
Then the old man got real quiet. \u201cYou\u2019ll see Little Squaw.\u201d He stared at us a little longer. \u201cYou\u2019ll both see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he left the room, but he never took his eyes off of us while he was leaving. When he came back, he had a box full of old photos. It was the kind that are made on the thick cardboard backs and all of them were from the Spanish-American War period or the War in the Philippines. He must have dug in that box for an hour before he found the picture he was after.<\/p>\n
What he showed us made us almost pass out.<\/p>\n
He handed us an old, faded picture and then turned to Mama Carrie. \u201cCarrie, do you have a mirror in your purse?\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded, opened her handbag and handed him an open make-up compact. He handed it to us. \u201cNow look.\u201d He held the little mirror beside the old photo. \u201cLook\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
We did. It was a picture of a coupe, and they looked exactly like us… I mean exactly like us. They were dressed exactly the same way and in exactly the same pose that we had used to show off for Papa and Mama Carrie just a few minutes before. They looked enough like us to be us or vise-versa. It was like looking in a mirror at ourselves. It\u2019s hard to explain still. It was us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaby Girl, do you see what I see?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I do, but I don\u2019t\u2019 believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither do I.\u201d<\/p>\n
Papa took the old picture and handed it to Mama Carrie. She had never known the people in the photo. \u201cCarrie do you see what I do?\u201d<\/p>\n
She squinted and then took out her glasses. She looked back and forth between that picture and us for several minutes in total silence. \u201cYeah Lee, I do. I don\u2019t believe it but I see it. It\u2019s as\u00a0 plain as the nose on your face.\u201d<\/p>\n
He chuckled under his breath in spite of himself. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty plain Carrie.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded. \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day we all loaded into Papa\u2019s little ’49 Ford and took a trip to one of the neighboring towns… to the cemetery. He took us directly to a big granite monument… it stood over six feet tall.<\/p>\n
We both came down with a case of cold chills and thought we were going to pass out.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaby Girl, you\u2019d better pinch me. I think I\u2019m dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJimmy, you\u2019d better catch me. I think I\u2019m going to faint.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mama Carrie sat in the car while we walked through the wrought iron gate and directly to one of the biggest monuments in the tiny graveyard. When we got there, Papa just stood and stared at us like we had two heads, looking back and forth between us and that big tombstone. He had known these people before they died. They had been close friends but he hadn’t though of them in years until he saw us that Saturday evening dressed up for the party. I will always wonder what went through his mind. All he could manage to say was the same thing he\u2019d said the day before when he saw us all dressed up. \u201cWell I\u2019ll be damned. I\u2019ll just be damned. Jimmy and Emmy.\u201d He took off his glasses and clasped his temples between his thumb and second finger. \u201cI just can\u2019t believe it. I just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither could we.<\/p>\n
The three of us looked back and forth between each other as we read the inscription on that monument.<\/p>\n
IN LOVING MEMORY<\/p>\n
Of<\/p>\n
OUR PARENTS<\/p>\n
Major James Lee “Jimmy” Masterson MD AUS (MC)<\/p>\n
Dec. 4th, 1845 – Jan. 11, 1901<\/p>\n
Emily Marie “Miss Emmy” Fields Masterson RN<\/p>\n
Sept. 11, 1848 – Jan. 11, 1901<\/p>\n
Died in field service with the Peking Relief Expedition<\/p>\n
There was never in their lifetimes,<\/p>\n
Not a single minute\u2019s span<\/p>\n
That the two were not together;<\/p>\n
This woman and this man.<\/p>\n
From the time that they were children<\/p>\n
To the time that they grew old<\/p>\n
They stood beside each other<\/p>\n
In the wind and rain and cold.<\/p>\n
From a far-off land called Texas<\/p>\n
To the forests of Vermont<\/p>\n
To the shores of distant China<\/p>\n
They cast a single lot.<\/p>\n
The Major healed their bodies<\/p>\n
While Miss Emmy held their hands;<\/p>\n
And they raised a loving family<\/p>\n
In a dozen different lands.<\/p>\n
So pay good heed what love can do;<\/p>\n
How long that love can last.<\/p>\n
And know that God can give us<\/p>\n
Both a future and a past.<\/p>\n
Know that God can give us<\/p>\n
Loving families and friends<\/p>\n
And God on high can give to us<\/p>\n
A love that has no end.<\/p>\n
For there is no one beneath this stone<\/p>\n
No earthly shells lie near.<\/p>\n
Their bodies lie across the waves<\/p>\n
Their hearts are buried here.<\/p>\n
From All of Us:<\/p>\n
Josephine, Emily, Kimberly, James, Timothy, Grace, William, Norris, Doris, John and Samantha Masterson<\/p>\n
Papa finally came to himself and told us a little of the \u2018story\u2019. \u201cYou see kids, the Mastersons were killed in China during the Boxer Rebellion. They were part of the International Relief Expedition that went to relieve Peking under General Chaffee and Admiral Sydney.\u201d He paused. A sorrowful look crossed his face. \u201cTheir bodies were never recovered.\u201d\u00a0 He pointed to the tombstone. \u201cNow I want you to look at that. It\u2019s the damndest thing I ever saw. Except for the years you were born, you and Sherry have the same birthdays\u00a0 as Jim and Emmy did.\u201d He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then he slowly went on. \u201cAnd, there is exactly the same amount of time between you \u2013 thirty-three months.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t\u2019 have to figure it up. I knew it was right. Except for the years they were the same dates.<\/p>\n
He reached into his pocket and handed us that old photo again. \u201cI\u2019ve seen this rock a thousand times and it never registered on me. I\u2019ll just be damned.\u201d<\/p>\n
We looked at the picture again and that same cold chill shot through both of us as the long-dead couple smiled up at us.<\/p>\n
Sherry grabbed my hand and squeezed it hard. \u201cJimmy, it\u2019s like they\u2019re trying to tell us something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know. I can feel it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
We stood there for a long time. I don\u2019t know how long. Finally we walked slowly back to the car, settled in and Papa drove us home.<\/p>\n
There was something else. We really didn\u2019t pay any attention to it at the time. Papa and Mama Carrie pointed it out to us later. All the time we were getting all dressed up in that old uniform and that old dress, it was just like a \u201chabit\u201d for us. We knew what we were doing. Sherry didn\u2019t even look while she was using a button hook to fasten the buttons on a pair of high-topped shoes and I never down while I was buttoning the fly on the uniform\u2019s trousers (no zippers back then).\u00a0 The thing is, clothes from the 19th century are a LOT different from the clothes we wear now. We shouldn\u2019t have had any idea what we were doing, Sherry buttoned the detachable collar onto my shirt without any trouble at all, and helped Sherry into all of those petticoats and bloomer just like I\u2019d always done it. We had seen Papa in his uniform before for parades on Veteran\u2019s Day (he still called it \u201cArmistice Day\u201d) but neither one of us had ever actually seen him put it on. Neither one of us had ever seen Mama Carrie in any of those clothes except once or twice in old photos. There\u2019s just no way that we should have known how to do any of that, let alone get it completely right the first time.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
We kept that old uniform and that dress. For the next twenty years, every time we saw them we remembered Papa and Mama Carrie and that first time we ever put them on\u2026 and any time we went to any kind of \u201ccostume\u201d party, we were \u201cthe Major and Miss Emmy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are some things that just make you scratch your head and wonder and the year that I was a junior in High School we blundered up on one of them. To say that it was one of the strangest things that ever happened to either one of us is an understatement of epic proportions.\u00a0 We were the youngest kids of youngest kids. Our grandparents were all born in the late 1870s to the mid 1880s. Papa was born in 1881 and Mama Carrie was born in 1888. That put us a whole generation, almost two generations closer to the 19th century than other kids our age \u2013 and had it not been for the fact that our grandparents raised us we would never have had this experience. We grew up hearing about things that happened long before we were born \u2013 in the \u201clast\u201d century from people who were there and remembered them instead of reading about them in history books. We grew up thinking of it as being “our” time and “our” place far more than the time and place that we were in. After seeing something else that I’m attaching here we both became convinced of it. Papa had been in the Spanish-American War. He was one of the first doctors… very first… to be in the Army Medical Corps. It was organized for the Spanish-American War. Up until then there were no doctors who were actually in uniform. They were all civilian “contract physicians” until 1898. When we were in High School Papa still had one of his old blue uniforms from \u201cthe war\u201d in his closet and Mama Carrie had a whole bunch of her old dresses from that time in hers. The whole thing started when our High School scheduled a costume party for Halloween and we got right up to the last minute and didn\u2019t have any costumes figured out. Naturally we wanted something that would complement each other as usual. Well, we dug around in our grandparent\u2019s closets until we dug out all of those old clothes and… with their permission of course… wore them to a school costume party.\u00a0 I wore Papa\u2019s old uniform and Sherry wore one of Mama Carrie\u2019s old dresses. When we were dressed we came out and showed ourselves off to Papa and Mama Carrie to get them to fix anything we hadn’t done right in putting them on. Papa almost passed out when he saw us. The look of shock on his face was something that we had never seen before. He turned as white as a sheet. With thirty-six years in the army \u2013 they didn\u2019t make you retire back then until you were sixty-two years old no matter how many years you had in \u2013 and a lifetime in medical practice it took a lot to shock Papa. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong Papa?\u201d I\u2019d never seen him like this before. \u201cPapa are you alright?\u201d Sherry had never seen him that way either. He didn’t say anything for a long time \u2013 it was almost like he couldn\u2019t. We just thought it was the old memories coming back. It was to a point but we didn’t understand just what that “point” was until the a little later Finally, he just started muttering \u201cWell I\u2019ll be damned. I\u2019ll just be damned,\u201d under his breath. His eyes were as big around as saucers. \u201cI\u2019ll just be damned \u2013 Jimmy and Emmy.\u201d \u201cEmmy? Who\u2019s Emmy?\u201d \u201cYeah, who\u2019s Emmy Papa?\u201d He seemed distant \u2013 far away. He was, but we didn\u2019t know how distant that was yet. Then the old man got real quiet. \u201cYou\u2019ll see Little Squaw.\u201d He stared at us a little longer. \u201cYou\u2019ll both see.\u201d Then he left the room, but he never took his eyes off of us while he was leaving. When he came back, he had a box full of old photos. It was the kind that are made on the thick cardboard backs and all of them were from the Spanish-American War period or the War in the Philippines. He must have dug in that box for an hour before he found the picture he was after. What he showed us made us almost pass out. He handed us an old, faded picture and then turned to Mama Carrie. \u201cCarrie, do you have a mirror in your purse?\u201d She nodded, opened her handbag and handed him an open make-up compact. He handed it to us. \u201cNow look.\u201d He held the little mirror beside the old photo. \u201cLook\u2026\u201d We did. It was a picture of a coupe, and they looked exactly like us… I mean exactly like us. They were dressed exactly the same way and in exactly the same pose that we had used to show off for Papa and Mama Carrie just a few minutes before. They looked enough like us to be us or vise-versa. It was like looking in a mirror at ourselves. It\u2019s hard to explain still. It was us. \u201cBaby Girl, do you see what I see?\u201d \u201cYeah, I do, but I don\u2019t\u2019 believe it.\u201d \u201cNeither do I.\u201d Papa took the old picture and handed it to Mama Carrie. She had never known the people in the photo. \u201cCarrie do you see what I do?\u201d She squinted and then took out her glasses. She looked back and forth between that picture and us for several minutes in total silence. \u201cYeah Lee, I do. I don\u2019t believe it but I see it. It\u2019s as\u00a0 plain as the nose on your face.\u201d He chuckled under his breath in spite of himself. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty plain Carrie.\u201d She nodded. \u201cI know.\u201d The next day we all loaded into Papa\u2019s little ’49 Ford and took a trip to one of the neighboring towns… to the cemetery. He took us directly to a big granite monument… it stood over six feet tall. We both came down with a case of cold chills and thought we were going to pass out. \u201cBaby Girl, you\u2019d better pinch me. I think I\u2019m dreaming.\u201d \u201cJimmy, you\u2019d better catch me. I think I\u2019m going to faint.\u201d Mama Carrie sat in the car while we walked through the wrought iron gate and directly to one of the biggest monuments in the tiny graveyard. When we got there, Papa just stood and stared at us like we had two heads, looking back and forth between us and that big tombstone. He had known these people before they died. They had been close friends but he hadn’t though of them in years until he saw us that Saturday evening dressed up for the party. I will always wonder what went through his mind. All he could manage to say was the same thing he\u2019d said the day before when he saw us all dressed up. \u201cWell I\u2019ll be damned. I\u2019ll just be damned. Jimmy and Emmy.\u201d He took off his glasses and clasped his temples between his thumb and second finger. \u201cI just can\u2019t believe it. I just can\u2019t.\u201d Neither could we. The three of us looked back and forth between each other as we read the inscription on that monument. IN LOVING MEMORY Of OUR PARENTS Major James Lee “Jimmy” Masterson MD AUS (MC) Dec. 4th, 1845 – Jan. 11, 1901 Emily Marie “Miss Emmy” Fields Masterson RN Sept. 11, 1848 – Jan. 11, 1901 Died in field service with the Peking Relief Expedition There was never in their lifetimes, Not a single minute\u2019s span That the two were not together; This woman and this man. From the time that they were children To the time that they grew old They stood beside each other In the wind and rain and cold. From a far-off land called Texas To the forests of Vermont To the shores of distant China They cast a single lot. The Major healed their bodies While Miss Emmy held their hands; And they raised a loving family In a dozen different lands. So pay good heed what love can do; How long that love can last. And know that God can give us Both a future and a past. Know that God can give us Loving families and friends And God on high can give to us A love that has no end. For there is no one beneath this stone No earthly shells lie near. Their bodies lie across the waves Their hearts are buried here. From All of Us: Josephine, Emily, Kimberly, James, Timothy, Grace, William, Norris, Doris, John and Samantha Masterson Papa finally came to himself and told us a little of the \u2018story\u2019. \u201cYou see kids, the Mastersons were killed in China during the Boxer Rebellion. They were part of the International Relief Expedition that went to relieve Peking under General Chaffee and Admiral Sydney.\u201d He paused. A sorrowful look crossed his face. \u201cTheir bodies were never recovered.\u201d\u00a0 He pointed to the tombstone. \u201cNow I want you to look at that. It\u2019s the damndest thing I ever saw. Except for the years you were born, you and Sherry have the same birthdays\u00a0 as Jim and Emmy did.\u201d He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then he slowly went on. \u201cAnd, there is exactly the same amount of time between you \u2013 thirty-three months.\u201d I didn\u2019t\u2019 have to figure it up. I knew it was right. Except for the years they were the same dates. He reached into his pocket and handed us that old photo again. \u201cI\u2019ve seen this rock a thousand times and it never registered on me. I\u2019ll just be damned.\u201d We looked at the picture again and that same cold chill shot through both of us as the long-dead couple smiled up at us. Sherry grabbed my hand and squeezed it hard. \u201cJimmy, it\u2019s like they\u2019re trying to tell us something.\u201d \u201cI know. I can feel it too.\u201d We stood there for a long time. I don\u2019t know how long. Finally we walked slowly back to the car, settled in and Papa drove us home. There was something else. We really didn\u2019t pay any attention to it at the time. Papa and Mama Carrie pointed it out to us later. All the time we were getting all dressed up in that old uniform and that old dress, it was just like a \u201chabit\u201d for us. We knew what we were doing. Sherry didn\u2019t even look while she was using a button hook to fasten the buttons on a pair of high-topped shoes and I never down while I was buttoning the fly on the uniform\u2019s trousers (no zippers back then).\u00a0 The thing is, clothes from the 19th century are a LOT different from the clothes we wear now. We shouldn\u2019t have had any idea what we were doing, Sherry buttoned the detachable collar onto my shirt without any trouble at all, and helped Sherry into all of those petticoats and bloomer just like I\u2019d always done it. We had seen Papa in his uniform before for parades on Veteran\u2019s Day (he still called it \u201cArmistice Day\u201d) but neither one of us had ever actually seen him put it on. Neither one of us had ever seen Mama Carrie in any of those clothes except once or twice in old photos. There\u2019s just no way that we should have known how to do any of that, let alone get it completely right the first time. *** We kept that old uniform and that dress. For the next twenty years, every time we saw them we remembered Papa and Mama Carrie and that first time we ever put them on\u2026 and any time we went to any kind of \u201ccostume\u201d party, we were \u201cthe Major and Miss Emmy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}