Moby

35. An Answered Prayer

Both Alphy and Margurita had planned a family, but they had
not planned on things happening so quickly. Both of them had
grown up in poverty, and Alphy was determined that he wanted their
children to have more. Still he had not counted on such hard
economic times. There was so very little work, and money was
scarce.

Alphy had a credit account at Nellie’s General Store in St.
Louis. The family would charge for basic necessities over the winter
months, whenever there was no work. Then over the spring and
summer, when work would ‘pick up’ Alphy would always pay off
the bill. In the spring of 1939, work had not picked up and Alphy
was starting to worry about providing for his family.

Alphy was not one to stand idle, so he decided to go to his
property of woodland with his plough, and pull out some tree
stumps. He told Margurita that if he could clear the land, then they
would be able to plant a larger garden.

Alphy went to the woodland with his plough and pulled out
some of the stumps. The sun was beating down, and Alphy was
preoccupied with thoughts of the long winter ahead; how was he to
provide for his family with no work and no money?

Alphy stopped the plough, he took off his cap and knelt down
in the meadow. He prayed out loud. He asked God to send him
work, for ‘the daily bread’ to provide for his family.

Alphy uprooted a few more tree stumps, before returning home.
When he arrived, Margurita told him that someone had been to the
forge and had left a wagon wheel for him to repair. Alphy felt
sure his prayer had been answered. Later in life, when Alphy recalled

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