Summary

One evening soon after Caddie’s clock repair, the family gathers together one evening, as usual, this time telling stories of earlier adventures as they crack butternuts. All that storytelling reminds Caddie of the breeches and clogs she had found: what was their story? Father and mother decide to tell the story.

John Woodlawn was born in England, the son of the second son of an English Lord. John’s father, Thomas, married the seamstress — a shoemaker’s daughter instead of the child of a noble family. That did not fit with the Lord’s plans, so he disowned his son, Thomas, John’s dad. Thomas went from living in a large estate with peacocks prancing about, to roaming from town to town, painting murals for inns and taverns in exchange for room and board. The change proved too abrupt, and Thomas died when his son...