Section 2 (pages 9-37) Summary

John tells how he and his father undertook a month-long journey from Iowa to Kansas to find the grave of his (John's) grandfather. He describes at length the hardships they experienced (including evading an angry farmer from whose garden they were stealing) and the blessings they encountered (such as the generosity of a poor farm woman and the beauty of a simultaneous sunset and moonrise). He also describes how they found the grave in an untended field where there were several other graves, tidied all the graves and planted wildflowers, and then journeyed back to Iowa where they were met with angry concern by John's mother, for they'd been away more than a month.

John then recalls his first marriage, which ended when his wife Louisa gave premature birth to a girl they would have called Rebecca, and they...