The early 20th century was not a good time for local farmers in Derry. The railroads could deliver flour from the Midwest at a cheaper price then we could afford to grow it in New Hampshire. Big dairy producers, like H.P.Hood and Sons, could sell rich, sweet, pasteurized milk in sterilized bottles at a price that undercut the local producer. Many locals had no choice but to allow their fields to grow up into brush and took a job at the shoe factory. It was a tough decision but their families had to be fed.
It was back in 1904 that a Derry farmer decided he badly needed to make some money. The holidays were almost here and he wanted to buy some Christmas presents for his wife and children. The man only had a few days left as this was the afternoon of Dec. 22. This was the shortest day of the year. The next day winter would begin its annual decline as the days began to grow longer. In just two more days it would be Christmas. The 30 year-old farmer hitched up his horse Eunice to his wagon and filled its bed with eggs and farm produce. He thought he knew some places in West Derry where he could sell his goods.
All along Broadway he tried to peddle his goods but he had no luck that afternoon. Everybody in town had all the farm goods they needed or could afford. By dusk, the farmer started to make the long, trek back home. He had made not a single sale. This would be a Christmas without presents and holiday sweets. All he could think was how sad would be this Yule time.
Silently he drove down Birch Street, past Shute's Corner and then up Rockingham Road. The farmer didn't have to use the reins to tell Eunice the way to go home. At Webster's corner the horse made the turn to go up the old Londonderry Turnpike. It now beginning to snow and was air felt colder as the sun went down behind the tree line. With each passing minutes the snow began to build up and made it harder for the horse to pull its load up the slope toward Ryan's Hill. He was now almost within sight of his farm that was just about 100 yards further down the Windham road. At that point, the farmer gave a sharp tug on the right rein to signal he wanted the wagon pulled off to the side of the road. Undoubtedly Eunice thought it strange to pause by Head's Woods when home was so near. There, by a dark deserted wood lot, the farmer paused. From this hill side, he could just about see the frozen expanse of Beaver Lake to the south. He wanted to be alone so he could think. Here he knew no one would bother him. The wood lot's owner was Nat Head, who lived miles away in a big house at Glidden's Corner in East Derry.
Here, all alone, the farmer's eyes began to well up. In his own words, he "bawled like a baby until there were no more tears left." He thought of his wife, his children and a Christmas tree with no presents. He thought of Christmas dinner with the same plain food they ate every day. He could not stop his compulsion to feel sorry for both himself and for his family. This proud man must have thought himself a failure as a husband, a father and a man.
After a few long minutes, the horse gave a quick shake to her harness and the sleigh bells jingled. That cheerful sound brought the farmer back to reality. He then re-thought his position in life. Maybe his family did have little money and no Christmas presents; they did, however, have love. And love the family had in rich abundance. And it would be this love that would bring them through these hard times. The horse seemed to read the farmers mind and without a word, Eunice resumed the journey to his stall in the barn by the side of the road to Windham.
The farmer was Robert Frost. In 1922, he was sitting at a kitchen table in Shaftsbury, Vermont. when a poem came to him "in a flash." He later said it was like "I'd had an hallucination" as he thought of that cold Derry winter evening on Dec. 22, 1904.The poem is, of course, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and today it is America's favorite piece of verse. Most of us will forever be moved by those haunting last lines of the poem, And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.
I guess the moral of this story is simply that the road we have to travel in life is made much smoother if we have a loving family to help us along the way. And as some mop-topped singer once said;" Love is really all you need."
The Derry Holmes family wish you all a wonderful holiday, a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, a joyous Kwanzaa and a peace-filled new year.
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Rick Holmes latest book The Road to Derry is available at the Municipal Center as well as Depot Antiques and the Derry Museum of History.
