Jubilee

The land on Pippin’s farm turns out to be poor and “hard with rock” (391). With Vyry’s diligence, however, the cabin begins to shape up. Jim is unhappy to go into the woods with Innis Brown to chop down trees for firewood. Brown explores the area and finds that they have 25 acres. Vyry insists on starting a small garden, in which she grows collards and turnip greens. Brown finds some fruit trees on the place that are in poor condition, but he figures that he can nurture them into shape. Vyry insists that they won’t buy any seed from Pippin. Instead, they’ll produce a crop and have him pay them. By this time, Vyry is far along with her pregnancy and can’t do much. When she goes into labor, Innis Brown becomes very anxious. Vyry calmly tells him that all he needs to do is “make a fire in the kitchen stove” (394) to make the house very warm. He should also boil water. Around dawn, their new baby boy, named Harry, comes into the world.

By spring, Minna is old enough to look after Harry while Vyry and Jim help Innis in the field, where they hope to produce cotton and corn.