Elizabeth Thompson

A tailored suit hung from the doorway.  The gentle breeze swept through the long farmhouse hallway and swayed Elizabeth's blouse along with it.

 Suits were a powerful statement of their own in 1900.  Elizabeth had seen drastic changes in women's clothing throughout her lifetime.  A statement of male power,  they were questioned for that reason if nothing else during that time.

 An office party had been the right place to wear a suit Friday afternoon.  Working a few days away from the family farm gave Elizabeth a sense of value.  She did general office work for a lawyer who spent most of his time at trials.  Along with the challenge of the work was discovering what was happening in the city of Fairfax,  Virginia. 

 Listening was one of Elizabeth's best talents.  The lawyer did not always provide her with extensive details and her listening skills were put into practice for a discovery process of her own.  She knew how to read between the lines.

 A supply closet was located next to the lawyer's office.  When he had meetings at his office,  she was able to find a need for supplies from the closet.  She could not help but overhear the conversations between the lawyer and those who he met with.

 The women who Elizabeth knew outside of work listened for hours when she told them about her job and the involvments that she had with those who the lawyer represented.  The weight that Elizabeth's job carried in the community was more than most of them had known during their lifetimes.  She frequently explained about how she assisted the lawyer with trial preparations and her need within the courtroom.

One morning,  Elizabeth went to court with the lawyer and his client who was a widowed woman dressed entirely in black.  Strands of long red hair fell out from under Raven's black hat with a veil.  At twenty,  Raven was only a few years older than her daughter Sarah.  Elizabeth had married Jeremiah when she was twenty five.  Their newlywed lives were different than those of newlyweds in 1900.  Elizabeth realized that there were more opportunities than what she had before 1900.

 Elizabeth travelled along with the lawyer,  Raven and her four year old son to the Fairfax County Courthouse.  There was a chill in the early December air that was further felt by the silence of the ride there.  They parked next to the small hill that led to the courthouse.  Walking towards the courthouse that morning,  a red bird flew across their path with a welcoming chirp.  Elizabeth approached the courthouse with a sense of excitment that morning.  Walking up the marble steps towards the courtroom,  she wondered what important role she was going to have in the courtroom.

They were at the Fairfax County Courthouse to argue for Raven's pension from her recently deceased husband.  He had served and been awarded honors in the Civil War.  She had little family and her son was the only child that she and her husband had.  There were documents required by the court to prove that there was a relationship betwen Raven and her husband and that they had a child.

The lawyer pulled Elizabeth aside and across the hallway.  They looked towards Raven who was with her son.  Elizabeth was asked to watch him while he was in the courtroom with Raven.  There was also a possibility that she would be needed as a witness at the hearing.

After the hearing was over,  Elizabeth knew that she had done a winning job that morning.  Alone in her suit,  she had the four year old boy for at least an hour.  The final result was the Raven was awarded the pension.

Elizabeth and Sarah saw Raven a few short weeks later at the farmers market.  Still dressed in black,  she was buying a loaf of bread.  Raven hoped to make it a Christmas worth remembering for her son.  Although her first pension check would not arrive for months,  she earned money of her own by being a first grade teacher in Fairfax County,  Virginia.  She hoped to invest the pension into her son's future education.

Elizabeth felt that her job was a challenge.  It also gave her money to buy fabric and sewing supplies since she made clothing for her entire family.  Sewing was a need that was beginning to come to an end at that time during American history.