Chapter One
Senator Lucius Lyon Invests in Sugarbeets
United States Senator Lucius Lyon was in his country clothes… black alpaca coat over a brilliant white shirt bearing a high collar that heightened the richness of the fringe of dark hair, the remnant of an abundance that once covered his scalp. His boots were made of fine black oiled leather designed for wear with equal comfort in Michigan's loamy farm fields or Washington, D.C. streets. He was thirty-nine years of age. Though pattern baldness added a decade to his appearance, he had lost none of the physical qualities that had made him a legendary land surveyor who had trekked the vast reaches of the Michigan Territory when it included, in addition to the state of Michigan, all of what …show more content…
I’m going to clear those ashes out of the stove for Caroline.”
As he moved through the door, Lyon’s thoughts lingered on the room. Two large windows allowed a stream of warm September sunlight to soften the otherwise harsh surroundings. The senator owned the house occupied by his farm manager, wife, and children although Isham had performed the labor in its construction. His own home, one he shared with his sister, Lucretia, was in the nearby village that bore his name. He let his eyes take in the yet unfinished space that the family used as a kitchen. Caroline Isham never complained—unlike Lucretia, who never seemed to have enough of the material things in life.
Until recently, the Isham kitchen had been just so many planks of wood, no more than a place for a wood-burning stove plus a shelf for storing supplies. No meaner than most farmhouses in Michigan's rural Ionia County, the house had in the short time the Ishams held occupancy taken on a homey atmosphere. Aromas reminiscent of Lyon’s Vermont home roast meat, baking bread, and spices permeated the room. Rocks lined the pathways to the barn, pigsty, and vegetable garden. The hooves of farm animals and hurried steps of children did not trample the garden; the door to the house guarded against insects, wandering farm animals, and the intrusion of uninvited