Chocolate for the Poor: A Story of Rape in 1805 - Softcover

Beasley, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0915317044 ISBN 13: 9780915317042

Publisher: Davus Pub, 1999

Synopsis

Rape and wife and child abuse are common news today. Their distressing frequency make us question the safeguards and the very nature of our society. Where have we gone wrong? Yet these crimes have always been present in civilized societies. CHOCOLATE FOR THE POOR is a fictionalized account of an actual event from 1805. Ephraim Wheeler, an unemployed labourer, raped his 13-year old daughter in the Berkshire Mountain community of Massachusetts. His trial and the reactions of his family, friends, and the authorities to this rarely revealed violation bring out the political divisions and varying attitudes of different segments of the society. By looking back to a simpler community struggling with the issue of rape, we are able to see the crime in the round and judge the actions of the protagonists from the perspective of our experience. Through the fears and suffering of Wheeler's immediate family and the victim, Betsy, we see the terrible effects of the crime on one side; through the investigations of Wheeler's defence lawyer and Wheeler's radical friend, we discover Wheeler's past which accounts for his action and for his defence on another side; and through the manipulations of famous figures from Massachusetts' history such as Governor Caleb Strong and Attorney-General James Sullivan we see the public reaction and the political response on a third side.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. David Beasley has written books on biography, travel, political economy, library methodology, and the fine arts as well as novels, all of which have been highly praised. While working as a librarian in the New York Public Research Libraries, he came across a rare pamphlet which he saw as speaking to our day, if it were thoroughly researched and cast as a novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

TWO

Betsy desperately wanted to cry for help to Mr. Martin. But she could not. She felt Martin's eyes watching them go, and she felt ashamed. Her Daddy was in a temper tantrum. He would brook interference from no one. She knew that she had to submit to him to keep from provoking him further. But she was frightened. She felt that there was danger with him this morning. There was an unpredictable side to him that terrified the family. Betsy had learned to stay clear of him when he was in one of his moods. For months now she had sensed him contemplating her in a sexually suggestive way, but she had avoided his approaches which were few and inhibited because of the closeness of their living quarters. Her Ma had said nothing, and Betsy did not know if she had divined Ephraim's altered attitude toward her, although on occasion she had seen her Ma frown as if preoccupied with unpleasant thoughts. Oh! she thought, if only Ma could come upon them now, be returning to retrieve something, or because she was not needed at her workplace. But the road sloped down empty of human traffic straight by the farmlands to the woods at Partridgefield, which she saw with apprehension in the distance. There she would be hidden from view. The day was beautiful and the sun was climbing in the sky winking through the clouds. A breeze bent the long grass. She held Ephie firmly about the waist. She had to protect him, which added to her sense of hopelessness and uncertainty. From the moment her mother had moved her father's bed, Betsy sensed her descent into unfathomable depths. She was still falling, falling. She would not stop until Ephraim did something to bring them out of the fatal spiral and restored them to an even equilibrium. Ephraim's angry glances back at them as he walked, leading the horse, warned her that he was thinking of them. She had a premonition that he intended to hurt them, to pay them back for-his frustrations this morning. She watched with dread as they approached the woods at the hamlet of Partridgefield. Across the fields in the distance she could see the cabin they had lived in years ago. Ephraim pointed it out to them, his harsh voice smashing the happy thought of those other days when her Daddy was a very different person. "Built that house with my two hands," Ephraim called back to them in angry justification. He dropped his head as if the memory was grievous to him, and Betsy heard him cursing to himself. Betsy knew how much her Daddy loved these valley roads and rolling hills. He had told her that they calmed him when he was restless and unhappy, which was why, whenever he had to move, it was to one of the villages in the area. He said that when he was at sea, he would slide the images of farms, hills and forest across his mind. She began to hope that his thoughts of the past were calming him now, and that he would lead them round the bend in the road beyond the woods toward the hills and Cummington. She began to relax slightly and sensed the pain of apprehension as her nerves released the tautness strung throughout her body. The copse was very close now. It was thick and ran far back from the roadside. She saw gloom and danger in it and held her breath as they began to pass it by. But, suddenly, Ephraim brought the horse to the side of the road and tethered the reins to a tree. Betsy glanced up and down the road but saw no one. Her heart sank. "We'll stop here," Ephraim said sharply. "Get down." Betsy burst into tears. Ephraim reached up, put his hands about her waist, and dragged her off the horse. "Get down, son." "Why are we stoppin' here, Daddy?" Ephie asked, jumping to the ground. "Betsy and me are going to look for avensroot," Ephraim said impatiently. "You wait here with Daniel." Betsy thought of running, but she knew Ephraim would catch her and drag her into the woods in front of Ephie. She could not bear to be shamed in front of her brother. "Please, Daddy, I don't like avensroot," she cried. "I don't want to go." She pulled against the firm grip he had on her arm. "Your Ma likes it," Ephraim's eyes glinted with meaning. "You're goin' to like it." "I don't want any," Betsy said, tears coursing down her cheeks. "I'll go with you, Daddy," Ephie cried. "Let Betsy watch Daniel." "No," Ephraim said. "You watch Daniel. We won't be long." He half-lifted Betsy off the ground and pushed her in front of him. "If you help me get avensroot," he said. "I'll let you take it back to your Ma." Betsy heard his offer as if it were a reprieve. If she could see her mother again, she thought, she could be saved from Ephraim. She stopped crying, walked through the shrubbery and trees ahead of Ephraim, and stumbled disconsolately over tufts of grass all the while sensing Ephraim's growing desire for her. "Keep goin'," Ephraim said, pushing her by the shoulders. "You do what I tell you, and I'll let you see your Ma again." Betsy knew that she could not plead or argue with Ephraim. He had his mind set on her submission. She wanted only to get far enough away from Ephie so that he would not hear them. She felt mortally ashamed as if it was her fault that her Daddy wanted to make love to her. She was helpless to know what to say or do. As they stepped into a small clearing, Ephraim seized her from behind and moved his hands over her body. She felt him trembling as he caressed her breasts.

About this edition

• Publisher: Davus Pub
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0915317044
• ISBN 13: 9780915317042
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 274