MY WESTWARD TREK Chapter 13

Romance courtesy photobucket.com

Morgan continues his journal;

"Our trip took about six months and it being impossible to cover everything on a day to day record I decided to put them in categories starting with romance on the trail.”  

Captain John was adamant about sexual conduct on the journey; for the married, they were on their own to do as they pleased. There were times it seemed like no one was driving the team and the teams were just following the wagon ahead of them. Since the children usually walked along side the wagon this led some to suspect something was going on, maybe.

The men employed by Captain John were given strict orders not to mess with any of the women or they would be left beside the road on their own. The crew took that very seriously and except for a few that could not obey they had to be dealt with harshly.  

Captain John cautioned the parents to keep a watch on their girls, especially those who were unmarried between the ages of thirteen to twenty and they should know where their boys were all the time.  

He wasn't against courting but the courting was to be done out in the open and not in the bushes. If as in some cases the romance became too heated and the parents were willing the parson was available to marry them. This happened several times, a couple of times out of necessity."

Morgan and Virgil were not immune to interest in the opposite sex and in fact Virgil became enamored by a woman in her late thirties who had never been married.

She wasn't altogether uncomely in fact she was attracting interest from several of the men who were aiming to seek for gold. Virgil took offence at the attention she was getting and took these men aside one by one and advised them that it would be better for their health if they ceased having interest in her.  For some reason he would be sharpening his long Bowie knife while talking to them.

Rather sudden like, it seemed Virgil was the only one interested in her. She was a little puzzled by this, and wondered what she had done to turn the other men away.  

Anyhow she felt good about having Virgil show interest in her for he was a man with prestige being a scout and hunter, and because of this he was a very prominent person in the camp.

Most of the evenings Virgil would sit around the fire talking to her, and from time to time they would whisper in each others ear where no one else could hear.  When Morgan asked what they were saying, Virgil would say; "None of your business."

With the memory of Ellie still fresh in the mind of Morgan he was a little slower than Virgil to become friendly with the ladies, but there were three or four prospects that had caught his eye.  Of course there were also other young men interested in them also which he was aware of.

Since he had set up Ellie as his ideal none of the girls seemed to measure up to her and that became a problem for him.

Then one day he noticed a shy young girl who was fourteen years old, whose mother shooed away any of the boys that came around her. The girl kept her bonnet down on her face, and looked down as she walked.  Often Morgan would bring a rabbit or squirrel as a special treat for her folk’s dinner and soon he was one of their favorite people.  

His good manners and his respect for the family soon dispelled their objections to him talking to their daughter named Bessie.  He would join the family in the evenings when he was free and sit next to Bessie and chat, he didn't whisper in her ear for he wasn't as bold as Virgil.  Sometimes they would walk through the encampment and when out of sight of her mom they would hold hands.

He felt he would like to kiss her but wasn't sure how he felt about her and having been burned once he decided to take it slow.   

 

To be Continued